A Funeral

Seluna gracefully walked through the crowd of nobles, her long black silk dress hugging her body and gaining her a few looks as she mingled with the other guests at the funeral. Lord Dawnsea's passing had sent shockwaves through the already weakened House Dawnsea. One by one others of the House were slowly succumbing to depression, or abandoning their possessions and fleeing the city as the House lost power and favor. Only recently had the fall of the House been slowed, and that was when Lord Dawnsea had married again after the passing of his wife. The new Lady Dawnsea had begun to reorganize the House, revitalizing lost trade opportunities and reversing the flow of gold back to the House coffers.

All of this of course was quite inconvenient for Seluna. Having appropriated one of House Dawnsea's outlying manor houses within Silvermoon, Seluna had the most to gain, or lose, on the whim of the Lord and Lady Dawnsea. With the Lord's death, her fate was in the hands of the new Scion of the House.

As she continued to pass through the crowd, she shared a word here, or a softly spoken consolation there. Her hands would often stray and pat the other guests on the shoulder, and she allowed the men to kiss her hand as they greeted her. Of course, none of them knew that the slightest touch was giving her access to their surface thoughts. Secrets, plots, schemes and desires all flowed into her mind, provided unwittingly by the other nobles that had come to attend the funeral. It was all fodder for Seluna to further her own goals, and the information would be put to the best of use soon enough.

She selected a small table to the side of the sitting room where the funeral guests were assembling, sipping of cup of rare wine and watching those around her for a time. She recognized many of the lesser members of House Dawnsea, as well as their allies and attendants. As she watched, the crowds parted and a black-haired Sin'dorei in an elegant mourning gown came through the open door across the room. Many of the nobles present bowed as she passed, whispering encouraging words and condolences. The Lady Kenzie Dawnsea looked puffy-eyed, as if she had been crying for many hours, and her hair was JUST slightly out of place, as if she had spent a sleepless night mourning.

She looked exactly how someone in mourning might look. As if she were wearing a perfect mask. Seluna's eyes narrowed and she focused on Lady Dawnsea as she stood amongst several of the fawning lesser members of the House. So this was to be the Sin'dorei that would influence Seluna's future, this prissy little thing with all of the power of a House behind her. The image, the scene, the entire affair was almost too perfect, almost too arranged.

Something seemed out of place.

Seluna focused, calling forth the dark well of magic within her that was once arcane force, and now something darker. Had anyone been looking Seluna's way, they would have noted that the fel green glow of her eyes was replaced with the icy blue of Quel'dorei eyes, if only for a second. A tendril of dark magic flicked outward from Seluna towards Kenzie; a spell to pierce the mind and control it. She'd find out what exactly the new Lady Dawnsea was planning, and influence her properly.

Seluna's magic touched Kenzie and stopped dead, as if no spell had even been cast. Her eyes widened slightly in surprise as she strained to penetrate Kenzie's defenses. She was WARDED! She probed further, feeling a blanket of fel magic surrounding the other noble, protecting her, blocking the power that sought to enter. Seluna's brow furrowed and she concentrated harder.

With an invisible crack of power, a fel ward on Kenzie's person activated, slashing Seluna's spell to nothing and riding it back to the priestess. Burning fel power flowed into Seluna, and it took all of her hundreds of years of training in magic to sit perfectly still and pretend nothing had happened. Had Seluna not been so skilled, and not had a unique constitution, the spell would have severed her spirit from her body instantly. As it was, all Seluna could do was raise her wine glass to her lips with a shaking hand, letting the burning sensation fade with time. She exhaled as it slowly dissapated, and looked up.

Kenzie Dawnsea was staring directly at her.

Impossible! And yet, there it was. Though no one else in the room had noticed the invisible and silent confrontation, Kenzie clearly had detected Seluna's spells. The look shared between the two went from open hostility to appraisal, to finally the slightest imperceptible nod of grudging respect. Seluna broke the eye contact first, rising from her chair and pretending that nothing had happened, mingling with the other guests.

The two nobles would need to meet. It was obvious that this Kenzie was not what she appeared to be at all. No, this was no simple spoiled brat of an upstart House. She was the first to have countered any of Seluna's spells since her return to the city.

Friend or foe, that remains to be seen. I'll be watching you Lady Dawnsea. Very closely.