Chapter Sixty Three
The Matriarch had always known that Joe was an Eccentric, but never truly understood the power Eccentrics possessed. What her daughter had revealed to her last night had been so shocking, she had been unable to process what she had learned. Her daughter had never been one to exaggerate, but what was revealed was so extraordinary that she almost couldn't believe it, no matter that her daughter confird it.
The two had conspired together to gain the affection of the Eccentric. As the Matriarch was too old, given the apparent tastes of the Eccentric, Gwenvair was the preferable option. While Gwenvair had been quite against it at first, her experience last night had reinforced the Matriarch's advice and her daughter, if the Matriarch didn't know better, appeared utterly infatuated with the man now having t him, despite his age. Neither knew how old he truly was, but given his extre power and the ability of Eccentrics to take on any guise they desired, it wasn't surprising that the man was able to use his great experience to woo her daughter.
She was now second guessing her choices as the amount of power this Eccentric had was to the point which would devour the greater clans of this plane and even possibly all the clans of the Cradle. Fear, hope, and avarice warred within her in equal asure.
After they had separated the previous night, she'd been unable to sleep, her thoughts constantly interrupted and drawn towards Joe and who he was. Sohow, she had fallen asleep and was now awake in the morning, resting in bed, her mind once again pulled towards the Eccentric Joe. She remained in her room, awake, for almost a greater bell before finally rising as there was much to do today. Today was salvation and opportunity in equal asure. They'd sohow gained their twenty cores for the taxes they owed their greater clan and even paid off what was due to the Dungeon Guardians and Dragon's Spear; all cores which were gained from the Eccentric Joe. Everything cos back to the Eccentric! Who is he?
Stifling a sigh, she dressed quickly and prepared for the day, choosing to prepare herself for the day and not inviting any of the servants to prepare her. It was a day for private work and her daughter would join her soon without even their closest and most trusted of advisors. Both would take the cores to be evaluated personally. She could only hope that their quality reached the minimum they would need to pay their taxes.
When she ca out of her room, she was pleasantly surprised to see her daughter waiting. She nodded and both turned to head to her private office where they evaluate the cores quality themselves. Normally, such things would never be done by the Matriarch or her children, but secrecy was critical at this ti and they could not allow the cores to be out of their sight or possession.
They reached the room and settled, the pile of cores split in two between them. There were twenty base sli cores and a single master sli core which Gwenvair described as a tip. According to her daughter, Eccentric Joe had been pleased with her services. Wealth so easily given away only increased her consternation. She sighed, controlling her breath, preparing to evaluate the cores for their mana efficiency and purity. Her daughter, as a superior mage, was superior to her with all things mana, but her skill with mana emission was still enough to help her daughter.
She had picked up the first core to begin testing it when her daughter's gasp drew her attention. She looked at her daughter and saw awe, excitent, and fear. She put hers down and felt her worry only grow.
"What?"
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Her daughter held up her hand for a mont, asking her to wait and she did so patiently for another few monts. Her daughter looked up at her with excitent, greed, and fear.
"It's perfect!"
"What?" the Matriarch asked with so confusion.
"It's a perfect core!"
She gasped, shock juddering through her even as she held out her hand for the core, "Impossible!"
"It's perfect, mom!" Gwenvair insisted, handing the core to her mom.
The Matriarch accepted it, tested it, and struggled to hold her own shock in as she once again ran the tests, finding the sa as her daughter. Perfect mana expression, control, and purity. The core appeared to offer no obstruction of any kind.
"This… it can't!"
Gwenvair was breathing heavily now, and she realized her own breathing was almost as heavy as her daughter's. Both stared at the sli core for a ti, shock freezing them before they finally both let out a shuddering sigh.
"We need to … we need to protect this!"
"This is… this is treasure too great for us!" the Matriarch countered, denying her daughter's greed.
"No one knows but us!"
"It takes only one person seeing the ease of our use!"
"A treasure for troubled tis!"
The Matriarch shook her head with a bit more vehence, "A curse that would see our clan dead!"
Gwenvair sighed, unhappy with her mother's truth, but nodded, "But we still must protect it!"
The Matriarch agreed, nodding, "With this, I agree! Stay here and test the other cores for…"
The Matriarch slowed as she looked at the other cores when a creeping feeling of fascinated dread slipped over her. Her speech slowed to a stop and she stared hard at the other cores. Her eyes flickered between her daughter and the cores. Her daughter had looked up at her when she trailed off, but her eyes widened as her own realization ca over her.
The Matriarch reached a slow hand for another core, holding it in her hand before she emitted so mana into the new core. Her shocked gasp was more than enough for her daughter and Gwenvair quickly grabbed another core and replied with her own moan of shock.
"This one, too!"
"Three perfect cores?!"
They turned their eyes to the other cores, and their shock soon turned numb as core after core all proved perfect. When they had finished about half of the twenty, her daughter then interrupted her by reaching for the Master core, its three center's beautifully twined around each other. When she saw her daughter's hand reach for it, she imdiately denied what she knew was true.
"No. No… impossible. No! It cannot…"
Gwenvair emitted mana then gasped, shuddering in greedy ecstasy while whispering in awe, "Perfect."
The Matriarch's thoughts ground to halt, screeching in turmoil even as wild dreams of wealth, power, and control ripped free from her will, offering her impossibilities. Her own reply was just as whispered.
"A perfect master core! Impossible!"
Gwenvair looked up at her mother, "He's Eccentric. How could we know what's possible. He gave us all perfect cores!"
The Matriarch of the clan faded into the background as a mother fearful for daughter yet hopeful for her great future quickly ca to the forefront, "He must truly… appreciate you!"
Gwenvair's smile proved her not unwilling, "He's… he's a good man, too!"
"They are not incompatible traits."
Gwenvair giggled and shook her head, "Yet as rare… well… rarer than a perfect master core!"
As she spoke, Gwenvair held the perfect master core tightly to her chest, looking up at her mother with pleading yet hopeful eyes, "It was a personal gift."
Mother chuckled and shook her head, "We need to report to the great clan, imdiately!"
Fear rippled through her eyes as Gwenvair held the core even closer, whispering "No!'
Mother smiled but schooled her feature, the Matriarch returning, "We owe them twenty cores. You believe twenty perfect cores will not arouse intense scrutiny?"
Gwenvair's fear faded, replaced with consideration as she thought what it would an to hand over one perfect core, let alone twenty. She looked at her mother with careful consternation.
"There would be more than questions!"
"Yes. There will," the Matriarch whispered in reply as her glance turned to the twenty cores, thoughts whirling. And maybe a heartfelt and open eting with the Eccentric is necessary. At the very least, I must thank him!
For the first ti in a long, long ti, the Matriarch saw a future, even as her daughter strode from the room to report an urgent request to the greater clan.
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