“Hold your horses!” Andrew Macnair snapped as he retrieved a new bottle, “you’d think you boys would have enough common sense to know that it takes a man time to get these things.”
“It’s your deal!” Kamen shouted over his shoulder.
“I’m coming!” Macnair thumped down another two bottles on the table as he resumed his seat. “Well, one of you dang fools better start pouring if you expect me to deal,” he grumbled as he started to shuffle the deck.
“Are you two sure you can handle this?” Sirius asked as he picked up his refilled glass.
“Bring it on old man,” William shot back, “didn’t I just take 5 galleons off of you?”
“Yeah, but you lost 10 the hand before that,” Sirius grinned devilishly at them as he loosened his collar and leaned back in his chair so that it’s front legs rose up off the ground, “if a little game of poker is too much for you…”
“We were just worried that we might be going a little too fast for you,” Kamen assured Sirius. One joke about his age and Sirius had only been too quick to take the boys up on their offer of a poker game.
Sirius only shook his head, “I was playing this game long before you two were born, don’t be too sure of yourselves.”
Kamen looked at his hand and threw 3 cards back down on the table, hoping that the new three Macnair gave him would be significantly better. Two low pairs, he hoped it would be good enough. He swore under his breath when Sirius took the hand with a full house.
“I warned you boys,” Sirius said mildly, only to look rather disgusted when Macnair took the next 4 hands.
“I’d like to remind you that I was playing this game before you were born,” Andrew informed Sirius as he collected his winnings. “Besides, I’m American. I can drink you lot under the table and out play you in poker at the same time!”
After a few more hands Sirius threw his cards down, “I should get going, I told Elizabeth I wouldn’t be over here for very long…” he said as he stood up.
“Ouch… has you whipped already, does she?” Kamen asked as he shuffled the cards.
“At least I have a woman to go home to who isn’t my mother,” Sirius shot right back.
“That’s disgusting…” William muttered under his breath, “She is my mother after all…” he shuddered and quickly downed the rest of his drink.
“I’m supposed to do a patrol run right about now anyways,” Macnair said as he too got ready to leave.
“I see how it is, you just used us for our deck of cards and now you’re both leaving,” Kamen shook his head sadly, “that’s not a very nice way to treat your neighbors.”
“I’m sure you’ll get over it,” Sirius assured him.
“What the hell is that?!” William asked as a high pitched shriek cut through the night. All four men were almost instantly out the door, wands drawn, as they raced out into the courtyard.
“Damn you all! You never show up soon enough to help out a lady in distress unless she can give you something afterwards!” Anastasia stomped one small stone foot and crossed her arms over her chest.
The men looked down at the charred body of a masked death eater at her feet.
“Sweet Jesus!” Macnair wiped a handkerchief across his forehead, “she sure did a number on him!”
“If he’s here, that means he knew where we were,” William said soberly as he nudged the body with the toe of his shoe.
“He knew nothing,” Anastasia asserted as she retrieved her stone jar from where it lay at her feet.
“Are you certain?” Sirius asked.
Anastasia nodded, “this place has been charmed so that anyone who looks at it will see nothing more than a run down house in a back alley… he was a deserter, looking for a place to hide from a gang of death eaters who passed by here.”
Macnair swore loudly as he raced towards the gated entrance to the complex.
“They’re long gone by now, I took the liberty of contacting a few friendly aurors,” Anastasia said distractedly as she examined her finger nails.
“How?” William asked.
“I have my ways…” Anastasia answered vaguely.
Kamen examined the fountain decoration carefully, trying to figure out exactly how she performed magic.
“I’ll thank you not to stare!” the statue huffed, looking thoroughly put out, “just because I’m not human doesn’t mean I don’t have magical abilities all my own. The guardians are a proud race, and you’d do well to remember it. However, if you were staring for other reasons…” she made a show of displaying herself as best she could from her pedestal.
“If all guardians are like her, I don’t want to meet any more,” William muttered as he rolled his eyes at her display.
“Not all of them are as… provocative… as our Anastasia,” Sirius told him quietly, hoping the statue wouldn’t overhear, “but they do tend to be rather on the vain side and very stubborn.”
William barely repressed a shudder as he thought about a whole race of stone figures with the same attitude as Anastasia, “still…” he mused to himself as they removed the charred remains of the unlucky death eater, “I’d rather have them on our side than against us.”
~~~~~~~~~~~
“Are we leaving soon?” Sophia was barely able to keep from bouncing in place. She had rushed through her morning duties in the temple and was now following Remus around, demanding to know when he was going to take her to Diagon Alley to get her school supplies.
Remus gave a slight shake of his head and barely repressed a sigh as he shot Kalliope a long suffering look. However it didn’t appear as though she was going to offer him any sympathy. “As soon as you go find your sandals, you have to wear something on your feet,” he finally replied.
“Do I have to?” Sophia asked as she made a face. The only time she wore the offending sandals was when she went down on the beach where the sun heated the sand to an unbearable temperature. She went without them while attending to her duties and lessons within the cool marble temple buildings.
“Yes,” Kalliope told her, not looking up from a letter she had received from a large raven a short while ago.
“Fine,” Sophia said, in a tone that clearly conveyed she was not happy about it.
“Can I go too?” Nimue asked from where she sat at Kalliope’s feet.
“No,” Remus told her, a bit more sharply than he had intended to.
“Why not?” Nimue demanded as she looked up at him, her large violet eyes conveying how hurt she was by his sharpness.
“Because,” Remus began more gently, “you were sent here so that you could be protected. If you were to return to Britain it would undermine all of the work that has gone into keeping you safe.”
“But you’ll be with me,” Nimue insisted, clearly confidant in Remus’ ability to protect her.
“You’re staying here,” Remus told her as he stood to go find Sophia.
“But…”
“Do not push the issue little one,” Kalliope said firmly as she cut Nimue off, “the decision is final and made in your best interest.”
“We’ll be back this afternoon,” Remus told Kalliope as he headed out the door, mentally making a note to pick up something for Nimue to try and make it up to her. He’d gotten the impression that no matter how much trouble she caused with Sophia, underneath it all she was trying to hide the fact that without her parents she felt very alone and afraid.
“Your hair is getting longer,” Kalliope commented as she reached down to stroke Nimue’s soft brown hair. She sincerely doubted that the girl’s parents would recognize her when it came time for her to go home. She was beginning to shoot up and her pale skin was already turning a rich, darker shade. Nimue had been sent here as a girl, but would be sent home, when the time came, as a woman. Only her eyes remained the same, large, mysteriously purple, and serious.
“I’m never really going to go home, am I?” Nimue asked softly.
“We shall send you home once it is safe.”
“The world will never truly be safe.”
“You know very well what I meant. As soon as Voldemort no longer presents a threat you will be free to return to your family and your schooling at Hogwarts,” Kalliope assured her.
“No I won’t. Once this is over I will no longer belong in that world,” Nimue looked down at the floor morosely, “I will no longer be a part of it, and I will not be recognized as a part of it.”
“You will still be the same person Nimue.”
“I don’t think I will ever be the person I once was,” Nimue said bitterly. Too much had changed. She received visions, she could now call them to her without pain. She was being taught the wisdom of the priestesses. She felt as though she were in the same position as the island that the temple sat on, of the world, but not a part of it. Not any more at least.
“When I look at you I see the same girl that I helped through the painful process of learning to control her visions. I see the same girl who stood up to Voldemort, the same girl who was willing to risk herself to save her family. It is that same girl who is routinely trying to get out of helping to tally the offerings and has skipped out on classes with Remus.”
“I don’t feel the same.”
“We don’t keep many mirrors in the temple,” Kalliope mused, “a few of the priestess keep carved bronze ones that they use for scrying, but even that is not common. I wonder… when was the last time you truly looked at yourself child?”
Nimue shrugged, “I don’t know… I suppose I sort of see my reflection in the water of the scrying bowl…”
Kalliope rose from her seat and moved across the room to kneel before a small carved chest. She knew how trying the training of a priestess could be, and had questioned on several occasions whether or not it was right to thrust that responsibility onto Nimue’s shoulders. But she had, because she truly believed the girl was priestess born. However, it appeared as though the girl needed some way to get back in touch with the reality that she had known, not the reality she now found herself a part of.
Kalliope found what she had been looking for, and lifted out a small, albeit heavy, linen wrapped object. “I want you to look at this,” she said as she laid the object in Nimue’s lap.”
Nimue carefully unwrapped the soft white linen and stared at the silver object in her lap. It was a silver hand mirror, and the reverse side, formed in heavy relief, faced up. “Who is it?” she asked as she traced a finger over the youthful man’s face, framed by heavy curls.
“Apollo.”
“But, why…”
“We honor all the deities here. The goddess in all her forms receives most of our attention, but we do not forget the rest of the pantheon. Apollo is particularly close to my heart, he is the protector of seers, and Kassandra herself was his favorite for most of her life.”
Nimue turned the mirror over and looked at herself in the polished silver surface. “How can I look the same and yet feel so different?”
“That is a question for the goddess.”
“But you’re the voice of the goddess here on earth,” Nimue pointed out.
“I only know what she has given me to know, I only speak the words she has given me to speak. I cannot tell you what she has not yet divulged, but I know that she has a plan for you.”
“I promised Theodora I would help with the serpents, they’re starting to shed…” Nimue said as she rose and held the mirror out to Kalliope.
“Keep it child, I know you will take good care of it,” Kalliope wrapped the linen around the mirror once more and pressed it into Nimue’s hands. “It can be used to See, I’m sure you will find it useful.” And I’m sure the calming charm placed on it will help to give you the peace of mind that you need. I hope it brings you comfort child, your shoulders are young to carry so heavy a burden.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
