“Congratulations, miss deep green core. Everything went according to your plans.” Dusk said from his mirror, without any trace of sarcasm in his voice. “You can now enroll in any academy of your choosing.”
“Thanks.” Kelia said, and after he remained silent for a while, she added: “I meant, thank you for your help, Dusk. I really messed up this time.”
It was actually what always happened when she didn’t follow his advice, but the Red Sun just accepted her gratitude.
“You are welcome. Before we move out, there’s someone I want to introduce to you.”
“Who?” Kelia asked, wolfing down her food.
“My mother.” He replied.
***
After Kelia was done taking her bath and combing her hair, she uncovered the mirror. It was not really effective since Dusk saw and heard everything through her senses, but she liked to keep at least the impression of having some privacy.
Then, they called together upon the Red Mother.
Baba Yaga had a special connection with her Firstborns, even those like Dusk who had fallen from her grace. She wanted to teach him a lesson, not to kill him so she had left the ability to contact her intact.
This way, the Horseman could ask Baba Yaga’s help when in danger and maybe even help her to locate Night. The Red Mother could feel from the strength of the call that her son had finally found a host.
With Dusk’s powers sealed and Kelia being incapable of using dimensional magic, they couldn’t Warp to the tower on their own. Baba Yaga had to give them a pick-up spot outside Gima where she would wait for them.
Kelia wasn’t impressed by the run-down hut, nor by the person that opened the door. She had expected the Red Mother to be an imposing figure, like a Queen or an Empress, not a hunched old woman that was even shorter than her.
In Kelia’s experience, old people used their harmless appearance to hide their intentions and their age as an excuse for their cruelty. When the Crone tried to caress her head, Kelia slapped the hand away and green flames burst from her fists.
“No one touches me, old hag. Not anymore!” She said with a snarl.
“What the heck did you tell her about me, Dusk?” The Red Mother’s voice was stone cold as she talked to Kelia’s chest, where the red crystal resided, ignoring the girl.
“He told me everything I needed to know, you sicko.” Kelia conjured a cape to cover herself, having misunderstood the situation.
“You called me here. If this is how you intend to behave, you have just wasted my time.” The Crone said. “I’m not going to listen to a word you say until I make sure that you have really changed your ways, Dusk.
“Either you let me check this rude runt with Sun and Moon or I’ll leave.”
Kelia and Dusk whispered to each other for a while before consenting.
‘Good gods, this girl is a mess. She mistook me for a pervert and she even refuses to use the mind link. At least her fiery personality means that Dusk has left her free will. Maybe even too much.’ Baba Yaga had no problem hearing the mean words the young girl used to address her.
When her hand touched Kelia’s head, Sun and Moon allowed the Red Mother to read her whole story. The breathing technique scanned both her mind and body, revealing scars that no healing spell could mend.
“Poor child.” Warm tears streamed from her eyes as the Crone turned into the Mother. “I’m sorry for how I treated you earlier. I assumed you were just another of my son’s experiments.”
The hunched back became as straight as an arrow and the dirty-white hair turned into a flaming red. Baba Yaga embraced Kelia who tried to resist, punching and kicking at her assailant with as much strength as she had.
Yet the Mother didn’t let go and Dusk showed Kelia his infancy again. She could see how even a piece of rock had had a mom. How he had been nurtured and schooled.
It made the void and the sense of loss inside of Kelia even heavier, yet it also made her want to find a way to fill it. As Baba Yaga gently caressed Kelia’s hair, she broke into tears, and the walls that she had erected to protect her heart collapsed.
The Mother’s aura made even happy people feel homesick. To a loveless orphan, it was a siren they couldn’t resist. Kelia returned the embrace, feeling through it only tenderness and affection.
Being touched still terrified her, but the joy that hearing the Mother’s beating heart gave her allowed the young girl to resist the urge of pushing that unknown woman away.
“Come in. It seems we have a lot to talk about.” Baba Yaga kissed her forehead and let her go, knowing that to such a miserable person even love was poison.
It couldn’t be just given, it also had to be accepted. Otherwise Kelia would end up growing suspicious of her host and mistake care for manipulation.
“By the Great Mother, this place is bigger on the inside!” Kelia said once she realized that the dining room that she had just walked into was thrice the size of the hut. On top of that, she could see many rooms and corridors departing from there.
“Yes, it is.” The Mother chuckled. “I am Baba Yaga, the Red Mother. Yet since you’ve come to me as my son’s guest and he’s raising you as I did with him, you can call me Grandmother, if you want.”
“I’ll go with Baba Yaga, thank you.” Kelia quickly regained her cool as the madness of that place kept surprising her. “To be honest, I have no idea why we are here.”
She could hear a lot of noise from children playing and running around the house. The ladle stirring the huge pot where lunch was preparing itself and the furniture moving on its own to accommodate her made Kelia flinch.
“I know that I’m asking a lot from you, Mother, but I need you to recycle the materials of the equipment I used for my previous host.” Dusk said. “They can shrink to Kelia’s size, but they were crafted for Wynwald and would ill-fit her needs.”
“Why should I?” Baba Yaga replied. “What you have done for this girl is a good start, but it’s far from enough to earn my trust again. On top of that, you are powerless and can’t craft anything for her.”
“That’s why I want you to do it.” Dusk replied.
“What?” Kelia and Baba Yaga said in unison.
“I’m not asking it for me, but for her. Without my powers, Kelia can only rely on me for information. She still has to face everything alone and that equipment can make the difference between freedom and a lifetime of imprisonment.”
Without a mind link, Kelia had no idea of what they were talking about, yet she was certain that Baba Yaga would have refused to help them.
‘Grandma my ass. We’ve barely met and she had no qualms taking everything away from Dusk the moment he disappointed her. Whatever this equipment is, it would make us stronger and weaken Baba Yaga’s influence on Dusk. She’d be a fool to give up on her advantage.’ Kelia thought.
