Morgana Agonia. A powerful mage known to have led the second most impressive mage troop in the imperial army and an infamously powerful magic user. But what did she ask for at the end of it all, money?, power?. No. At the end of the 3rd great imperial war the only request Morgana made was this. "Never contact me again." And just like that she washed her hands of the entire ordeal. 2 straight years of fighting had been enough for her, she had earned her retirement.
Morgana's love of magic led her to start her own magic shop at the westernmost edge of the imperial capital, in a small town called Veilsedge.
However even someone as great and powerful as Morgana can come face to face with simple problems. Like the fact that her employees were complete idiots.
"Heeeeey Morgana~" I singsong gleefully as Morgana surveys the scene. I watch as her initial smile freezes on her face. "Tanya.", "Yeees?" "Why is Fierre in a security bubble?." A sharp grin cuts across my face. "Oh you'll love this…"
As I explain, I watch Morgana's expression slowly shift into a frown of mild annoyance, the action briefly wrinkling the olive skin of her face, exhaustion pulling at her features as she examines the store with her obsidian coloured eyes. She pulls a hand through the thick waves of her dark brown hair and takes a deep breath.
"So let me get this straight, in the 12 hours I was gone, Carina left for and came back from an unsanctioned research trip, then chased Charles around with my incineration scissors, causing Fierre to throw themselves into a security bubble in an attempt to protect their hair?"
I lean back as I soak in her rendition of the events "Pretty much, yeah." Her inquisitive gaze falls on Carina's immobilized form. "Tanya tell me you did not paralyze your co-worker." I shrug. "Okay I won't tell you." If looks could kill, Morgana was trying to murder me with the glare she sent my way.
"What did you want me to do, let her bald Charles?." I gesture at Charles, whose hands rise to cover his head protectively as though Carina was still after him. Morgana rolls her eyes as she strolls deeper into the store, finally registering the chains as well as the litany of sharp objects surrounding Fierre's security bubble. "And what the hells is all this?"
My grin returns full force at Charles's response, "We were trying to pop the bubble." Morgana freezes on the spot and slowly turns to face him, giving him a look as though she must have misheard him. "You what?" Charles shuffles on the spot under her scrutiny, but before he can offer any sort of explanation Morgana bursts into laughter, the sound of her amusement bouncing off the walls of the shop.
It takes a moment for her to regain her composure but once she does she simply shakes her head at Charles before pointing her pinky finger towards the security bubble, the ring at the base of her finger glows with soft blue light and with a flick of her wrist, the bubble pops.
She turns to a stunned looking Charles. "That bubble can't be popped without the security ring, please for the love of all gemstones, read the employee manual." She then turns to face me as I desperately try to quiet my giggling behind my hand. "And you, stop harassing poor innocent Charles with your antics."
I shoot a mischievous grin at a completely baffled looking Charles. "Oh no…" I saunter closer to him. "Not poor…innocent Charles." Just as I get within arms length of him I feel a sharp spritz of water hit the side of my face. I hiss and turn away to wipe the water off. "Down girl, You've done enough damage for tonight."
I click my tongue. I can never have any fun can I?
A groan sounds from the lobby couch, followed by a painful sounding thud. I look over to see Carina now face down on the floor. I sidestep Morgana and hop over a sleepy eyed Fierre who, now freed from their bubble prison evidently couldn't care less about anything currently going on. I stroll over to Carina and lift her into my arms. "Don't fall for me too hard Carina, I've been told I'm trouble." I shoot her a wink, to which she rolls her eyes. "How long will the paralysis last?" I flinch as I hear Morgana's voice come from directly behind me. For all my years of training, in the 2 years since I've met Morgana, I've never once been able to hear her footsteps.
I shake off the brief feeling of unease that tries to settle onto my shoulders and start heading towards the stairs, "It should start wearing off in about an hour or two, honestly I'm amazed she made it off the couch." I pause at the base of the stairs and turn towards Fierre, "No sleeping on the floor! Get up and go to bed!" They let out a whiney groan from their place on the floor but make to follow me regardless.
"You too Charles." Morgana commands. Charles, who had just set about cleaning up the various sharp objects leftover from the bubble incident, turned to look at her, his face a mask of confusion. "It's only 10 o'clock, I can still-". Morgana cut him off with a stern glare "Bed. now. all of you." I chuckle as Morgana shoos us up the stairs.
Fierre mumbles a sleepy goodnight as they shuffle past me into their room. I stop in front of Carina's room door and quickly realize I can't turn the knob with Carina still in my arms. "...Right, okay." I make to place Carina on the ground, although the glare she throws at me suggests she would very much despise that particular course of action. I've barely bent my knees before Charles turns the knob for me. "Much obliged-" Charles quickly walks off to his own room before I can inevitably start hitting on him.
I shrug and turn to walk into Carina's room. The room is dimly lit by a single lamp sitting on a clean, well-organized desk. The desk however, is the only thing in the room not littered with crumpled papers, stray books and… I swear I see something wriggling? I move swiftly, deftly navigating my way through the mess on her floor until I arrive at the side of her bed, I kick the sheets away and place her down gently onto the mattress. "Now don't miss me too much, I'll see you in the morning." I tuck her into bed and purposely ignore her pointed glare as I manoeuvre my way back out of her room.
I shut her door closed behind me and make my way down the hallway, past my room door, and head to unlock the stain glass window at the end of the hall. If I'm lucky I can hit up the tavern before Darcy gets off of her shift. I open the window only to come face to face with Morgana.
She floats gracefully just outside of the window, giving me a level headed stare "You cannot go out tonight." She informs me. I pause, trying to parse the issue with my going out from the seemingly neutral expression on her face. Alas I can never quite get a read on her. "Why not?, is something wrong?" At my question a frown briefly tugs at the corner of her lips before quickly vanishing as though it was never there. "Nothing you need to concern yourself with, the issue should resolve itself soon." Issue? The last time Morgana said there was an issue, a group of cultists tried to burn down the shop and kill everyone inside.
I frown at her. "What kind of issue is this Morgana?" She looks at me for a moment, floating silently in the moonlight like some form of especially secretive apparition before she finally speaks again. "...Goodnight Tanya." And just like that the conversation is over, The window slams shut in my face and I hear it lock from the outside. I feel a brief urge to call for her, to shout her name and demand she tell me what's going on. But I know better, and I have no interest in wasting my night on such a pointless endeavour. I turn away from the window and head into my room, forcing myself to ignore the unease that threatens to settle inside of me.
Looks like I won't be getting any sleep tonight either.