Shadows of the Past (Spirit Night)

[Darastrix]

Another four years gone by, another Spirit Night.  Unlike the last, the spirits of the dead were free to wander without (much) fear of encountering demons, and a pair of ghosts slipped into the Khelek palace with little concern for anything but who to visit.

~All things considered, we should probably leave him and the possible shouting match for last,~ Luca commented to his wife as he walked the hall at a sedate pace while Leto hurried ahead.

~We'll see.  If he's with any of the others, that idea won't work.  I do want to find our granddaughter, though.~

~Check her room and the one he likes to sulk in.  If she isn't there, we'll bother the temple priests.~

[Kender Bard]

Harmony was resting on her bed, one leg bent at the knee, the other resting across it as she wiggled her foot back and forth and wondered how best to kill the remainder of the night.

For a lot of people, Spirit Night could be filled with pain or happiness. Once upon a time, Harmony had somewhat yearned to be in contact with her heavenly mother. Since the events of the war, though, she no longer had that drive.

So what was a truly magical holiday was just another night for her. Another... Boring... Night.

I think I need to get out of here soon, she decided. She'd spent enough time at home. It was time to go abroad again. Khelek was and always would be home to her, but good fucking Forces it was boring.

She picked up crumpled piece of parchment from the floor near her bed, studied the map of Naruta on her wall, and threw. It bounced off the middle of the map. "Reave or Ilyamen, I think," she told Shiver. The dog snored on the floor and ignored her. "Whichever one is warmest."

[Darastrix]

Leto poked her head through the door in time to catch Harmony's comment and smiled as she stepped into the room.  "From the look of things, either would be warmer than this place.  Not that I can feel it, of course, but you can see the snow for miles."

Her voice carried a distinct Morilantan accent that Harmony would be likely to recognize after her time posing as a Morilantan with Schuldig, and her dress was Morilantan as well, though a touch on the outlandish side with wide black and purple stripes.  Her long, brown hair was kept out of her face with matching band of cloth, much like Schuldig's.

"Really, Leto?"  Luca stepped through as well, flipping his thick orange hair over one shoulder.  "We wait over thirty years to actually speak to anyone here, and you start going on about the weather?"

[Kender Bard]

Harmony froze at the sudden intrusion and her first reaction was to reach out to her father for help.

Then she saw Luca walk through the door and, well, that explained that. Sort of.

"Who are you?" Harmony asked with a frown as she sat up on her bed and studied the pair. "You both look like Dad... Wait. Really? Are you both who I think you might be?" As she spoke she cracked a tentative grin.

[Darastrix]

"Well, that depends on who you think we might be," Luca said dryly.  "If you thought we were Schuldig's siblings, for example, you would be wrong."

Leto rolled her eyes good-naturedly and stepped closer to the bed.  "Schu is our son," she told Harmony.  "Which makes you our granddaughter."

[Kender Bard]

Harmony laughed, a short little staccato of surprise and incredulity. "Wow!" She grinned back and forth between the two, finally allowing herself to relax a little. "I have real grandparents!" How novel was that?

Her smile abruptly vanished as a thought occurred to her. "Does Dad know you're here?"

[Darastrix]

"He will," Leto told her.  "We're not planning on leaving without seeing our son; it's been far too long.  We had to visit his friend Mikasi years back to get things rolling so that we eventually could visit him."

"And then some idiot had to open a rip to the Abyss and set us back four more years," Luca muttered.  "Given his temper, we--I--" he amended at his wife's raised brows.  "--think we should visit him last."

[Kender Bard]

Harmony snorted softly. "I don't blame you there. I'm kind of curious how it would go but I don't think I could handle what's probably going to be a very intense meeting."

She drew her legs underneath herself and studied the two of them. "So how much do you both know about me and my family?" she asked curiously. "Can you guys see us down here?"

[Darastrix]

Luca snorted softly.  "Intense" would probably be an understatement.

"We can sometimes, but it's not all we do," Leto told her. "It's an afterlife, after all, and it wouldn't be much of a life if we only watched what was happening here.  But we've been keeping tabs on you and your family, so I like to think we know a decent amount about you all."

[Kender Bard]

"That saves time," Harmony giggled. "Well... What do you think?" She sat up a bit straighter. "I'm not a great embarrassment to the 'family' am I?" She wasn't exactly ambitious or had much of a plan for life. Then again, she didn't know anything about the two of them either. "What were you two like in life?" And what would it have been like if they'd been around, alive, with the rest of them like Lilith had been?

[Darastrix]

"An embarrassment? Harmony, this family is half-respectable, half-disreputable, and that was before Schuldig was grown," Leto said with a laugh.

Luca gave his granddaughter a wry look. "Lady Discordia. I think that name suited you."

Leto rolled her eyes good-naturedly. "In life, Luca was sarcastic, stubborn, passionate...and it's really not gotten much better. Schu takes the most after him in personality and looks, I think. Well. In part." She framed her own face with her hands. "I think he has my face more than Luca's. It's just all that red hair makes it hard to see."

"I have the control that he tends to lack," Luca countered. "His impulsiveness is more you."

Leto grinned at that and winked.

[Kender Bard]

Harmony giggled, itching to throw her arms about Leto in a sudden hug. They were...

Perfect.

"What was Dad like when he was really little?" Harmony asked as her eyes roamed Leto's face, picking out the similarities between her and her father. She was beginning to see it more.

[Darastrix]

"A handful," Luca replied as Leto moved to perch on Harmony's bed. "He was always getting into things or trying to sneak out."

"And scaring us to death in the process," Leto added. "He was playful, too. Affectionate. And alllllways trying to grab as much attention as he could."

[Kender Bard]

"Not too much has changed then," Harmony giggled. "Hmm, what else? Well... What are some things that you both do beyond the Veil?"

[Darastrix]

"Well, I have a garden I like to tend to," Leto said. "And I love going around to meet new people, which there is no shortage of. Luca likes to spend a good deal of his time in the great library; he's dedicated to both Thuoth and Soahc."

"I'm just less academically-focused than some. I prefer to know people, and things that they'd rather not be known." Luca smirked at that.