Although Leonora was her Mother's old school friend, she was also her distant cousin, both of them being part of the Loriel Clan bloodline, and yet from what Lavender remembered of her Mother, they had been so very different.
In her memories, her Mother was kind and gentle, with soft hands that brushed her hair, yet she had her stubborn side. En had fond memories of her Mother stamping her foot as she bickered with her Father, then sweet words, hugs, and kisses, as they made up afterwards.
Apart from the personality, Leonora was the complete opposite... En was tall, the same height as her Mother, and yet Leonora barely came up to her chin; Mother's hair had been platinum blond, long and straight, and usually worn in a braid, Leonora's was a mass of short curls, the colour of honey; one was pale like marble, and the other though pale, was the golden white of the thick cream they used in those fancy Empire cakes she'd seen in shop windows.
However, the biggest difference was that her Mother was slim and elegant, and Leonora was most definitely not... To describe Leonora completely in one word, both physically, and personality-wise, Lavender would definitely choose the word 'lush'; a good one to describe her figure would be 'voluptuous', and 'decadent' for her personality; and En was pretty sure that none of those adjectives would have ever been used to describe her Mother.
As Lavender went to put her empty bowl on the tray, she caught a glimpse of herself in the mirror on the dressing table. En had her Mother's height, and had similar features, but she was as dark, as her Mother had been pale. Lavender's hair was the same dark brown as her Father's, she shared his jade green eyes, and had also inherited her healthy physique from his side of the family too.
En's was a body that had been moulded to be a fighter, a creation of lean muscle; though she still had enough curves to be considered sexy (or so she'd been told), with ample breasts that she'd actually found annoying growing up. Until she had got used to them, and found ways to deal with them, so they didn't feel like two mad rats trying to escape from a sack when she ran.
Lavender poured herself a cup of coffee, and picked up one of the apples. Just as she was about to sit back down, a whistle came from the perch that stood between the wardrobe and the bed, where a white bird stood that looked similar to a cockatoo.
En went over and stroked its crest, "I'm sorry Lucy, was I ignoring you, how about some apple to make up for it." Leonora came out from behind the screen, "You know most people wouldn't be able to hear her begging for food, never mind see her, and fuss over her... she can have all of my apple, so don't give her any of yours."
Lavender pulled a knife from the sheath in her boot, cut the apple into slices, and started to feed them to Lucy. "I thought I said that I would give her my apple, En... and how many of those knives do you have anyway?!" En clucked Lucy underneath the beak, and continued to feed her the apple, "I'll take the one still on the tray and as for the knives..."
Lucy finished the apple, and En wiped the juice off the blade with the cuff of her sleeve, "there are two of these knives, just like I have two boots, Dad had them both specially made for me." Returning the knife to its sheath in her boot, En continued, "As to how many throwing knives I have on my person... that is a closely guarded secret."
Leonora rolled her eyes, and started to run a brush through her golden curls, Lavender continued to speak, "Being able to interact with Lucy... that is one of the few advantages of being abnormal." Leonora turned sharply, and smacked Lavender on her upper arm, with the back of the hairbrush. "YOU are NOT abnormal... if Lavinia heard you say that, she would be utterly heartbroken."
Lavender rubbed her arm, that had actually hurt a bit. "Master's definition of a ‘True Shadow’ is... 'One who was born with a high shadow affinity, where neither parent possesses that trait, caused by the mother being corrupted by contact with a dark object during pregnancy. The higher the affinity of the child, the more corrupting contact during gestation, this later leads to illness, and often death for the mother, usually between one and two decades after giving birth to the child'... Most people would consider me a monster, which caused the death of my own mother."
There was silence for a moment, "Lavinia knew what she did back then was going to be dangerous... but she never thought that it would have such a lasting effect on you in her womb. It was her greatest regret... that, and the fact that she wouldn't get to see you grow up." Lavender felt like there was a lump in her throat at Leonora’s words, not because of her Mother, that was an old pain, but watching Leonora sneakily wiping a tear from her eye, she knew that she was thinking of her own regrets.
Both of their gazes were drawn to the expensive looking carriage clock on the dressing table, Leonora ran a finger gently, almost lovingly, over the engraved plate at the bottom, and En knew that it read 'To My Dearest Leonora, Congratulations on the birth of our son, Raymond Richards'. As the clock delicately started to chime the half hour, Leonora stood, and took her mage robe from the wardrobe. "Well, it's a good job I didn't have time to put any make up on isn't it... Guess I'd better be off to make the wind blow us into port." En couldn't really say anything to that, so she just nodded, downed her coffee, picked up her apple, and followed Leonora out of the door.
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