New Beginnings (The Arcana)

Invitations

I wasn't able to think clearly after that.

I left with a shaky nod, and made my way down the street as fast as humanly possible. I wasn't exactly sure where I was going, but if it was anywhere away from the magic shop, then that's where I'd head.

Small cracks and bursts of my magic flared up at my fingertips, lighting my closed fist with a soft forest-colored glow. I willed myself to stop freaking out, solely for the sake of conserving my mana, and took a deep breath. My hand fell loosely at my thigh, finally free from the nervous sparks that were flying off of my skin only a moment ago.

That had never happened before.

I had always been pretty good at keeping control of my aura. Even as a little kid, Mama had told me that I never involved my magic in tantrums. She explained it as a sort of mental stability that I always possessed; some sort of otherworldly control that I had over something that even other mages found trouble with. And especially now, I had very little problems with my magic responding to my emotion. It's just something that I refrained from doing. Which is exactly why this experience was all the weirder.

It wasn't like it was entirely impossible to happen, though. I was in a new place, somewhere foreign, and somewhere I had never heard of until I became a stowaway idiot.

Feivel was just as restless as I was. He hadn't stopped squirming since we left the shop, and I had half a mind to blame him for my magical inconsistencies. I mean, he was my familiar now. I wasn't sure how to understand him yet.

I stepped into an alleyway off the side of the street, and tucked the book into my satchel, only laying the items on the ground for a moment. I reached my hand into the hood of my cloak, gently patting around in search for my small mouse friend. Feivel was so fidgety, at the time, that it took me a couple tries to get a good hold on him.

I gently removed the rodent from my cloak and stared into his beady black eyes, "You're such a pest, you know that?" I laughed. He nibbled harshly on the skin of my thumb, ripping a fiendish yelp from me. I nearly dropped Feivel in my startled state, and I frantically ripped him away from my skin.

He escaped my grip, and innocently left to stand at my feet. I huffed at my familiar, very clearly annoyed. On the edge of my patience, I squatted down to look at him.

That's when he bolted.

I ran after Feivel, more or less just to follow him than to catch him, and ram into too many people to count during the chase. I broke out of the crowd, practically heaving gallons of air, and searched around the clearing -which, I realized, was the plaza- for the mouse. I spotted the little turd sitting on a small ivory pillar, and I jogged over to where he sat with a large sigh.

He was staring someplace. I followed Feivel's gaze to the center of the plaza, where I found my attention stolen by a pair of the most extravagantly dressed people I've ever witnessed.

The first was an inexplicably tall woman, with a strong figure and sharp features. Every aspect of her screamed regal, as did her clothing, which looked too expensive for even my somewhat lavish upbringing to fathom. Long violet and auburn hair fell in thick waves over her shoulders, styled in a simple updo atop her cranium. The hair tie she had worn looked as if it were some sort of delicately crafted comb, from far away, and it was connected to a pearl diadem rested on her forehead. Tasteful.

Accommodating her very elegant appearance, she stood in a comfortable white and gold trimmed gown, with a lovely mint kimono to go with. The outfit was stunning in itself, even looking as if it could be worn as some sort of nightgown if she were bold enough to sacrifice it to such a simple endeavor.

The second person was very different from the woman.

Clad in a ruby-tinted suit --also with gold trim-- and a furred red cape, the man beside the other was more obnoxiously profound than anything I had noticed this morning. He was just as comparably gorgeous as the woman, though there was something about his underlying attitude that was unattractive to me.

His pale ivory skin and snowy blonde hair were complimented very well by his outfit, though, if I was going to give him credit for anything other than the fact that I didn't like him already. His cheeks were smeared with black eyeliner, and had one side not been smudged, I probably would have thought it was an interesting detail.

If I were to be honest, his whole persona was an absolute turnoff.

His smug expression bore into the crowd with an overwhelming self-centeredness. Not that this stranger was even looking at the crowd, since he was too busy staring straight past them to even notice how borish he looked.

Something about that sort of bothered me. Was I supposed to be paying attention?

... His mouth was moving.

Oh.

Simply to skip useless conversation, the two were introduced as Count Lucio and Countess Nadia of Vesuvia, which explains the expensive wear. The Count left the speaking to Nadia, whom I assumed was his wife, who explained that they were holding a masquerade party both to commemorate the arrival of the new Count and to celebrate his birthday. She had politely invited the entire city to attend the party, which would apparently be held in the palace, and ended off the announcement with other unimportant details.

The mention of a party really caught my attention, though, just as it had everyone else.

I'd never been to a masquerade. Actually, I'd never gone to any sort of celebration beyond my own graduation ceremony. Mama always thought that parties when I was a teenager --even though I'm already nineteen-- wouldn't help me develop my magic any more than it'd ruin it, so I was never really allowed to go to outings with my friends.

Which I'd never exactly complain about. One time, when we were sixteen, my friends Claire and Rachel got absolutely wasted on alcohol exports from the Rowdy Raven, and both of them got MIP'd within an hour. They said it was a pretty wild night.

* * *

I looked away from the count and countess, now even deeper in thought. Staring above the heads of the dispersing crowd, fathomless emerald eyes met my own silvery greys. I blinked, slowly but carefully, and the figure I'd seen disappeared as soon as they arrived. The only memory I had of them vanished just as they had.

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