The Near Infinite Names of Autumn Aubrey (Psychological Fantasy Progression)

"What happened here?" Nami asked as the healers carried Maletta through the door of the big dueling room.

She had been placed on something that looked like one of the cots in Precept Zetta's sparse covery, but there were handles instead of legs.

I did not know when Alexei had thought things were bad enough to go and fetch them, but he was fast enough that they were there not very long after the duel had ended.

The Mother in Blue kept her eyes locked on my teacher's, but there was no sign of what seeing the second crescent being carried off towards the medery made her feel.

"She insisted. Underwitch Vivienne never showed face, so she offered to take her place." Precept Zetta explained.

Nami nodded slowly as her eyes turned to me. "Mmhmm. I see. And what happened in the duel?"

The only way I could have kept my shut was if I had suddenly disappeared. As soon as she finished looking me over and met my eyes, all my words came spilling out at once.

"Yume had blankets, real blankets, and all I had was my aura. And then Ailin was mean, so that made me mad, but then she ran off crying. And my afterglows were-" I started, trying to explain why I had been upset enough to hit Maletta where I had and feeling like I was saying everything but that.

A hand clamped down over my mouth and stopped my mad ranting before it could truly begin.

"What she is trying to say is that she defeated Lun's strongest moon in open combat," Ferrin Faux said from behind me. "I saw it happen myself."

I had never seen Nami look quite so surprised.

"What are you doing here?" She asked towards Ferrin.

I felt Ferrin do something with her body that I thought was a shrug, but I could not be sure because I could not see her.

"Underwitch Ire has caught my eye. I came to watch her duels and decide if I will take her under my wing." The blind underwitch explained.

I was wrong.

I had never seen Nami look quite so surprised as she did after she heard Ferrin Faux's explanation.

"Have you finally taken an interest in something besides your girlfriend and finding new ways to quiet your mind?" The Mother in Blue asked

Ferrin did something with her body again that felt far sharper against my back than her shrug had. "First, she is not my girlfriend. She is my betrothed. I know you know that and it makes me wonder why you would try and reduce her that way. Second, if you had the mind that I had, you would be willing to choke it to death for a moment of silence. Third, maybe."

I could not be sure, but it looked like Nami was trying to keep herself from laughing.

"And it is Underwitch Ire that is maybe, possibly, the reason you have left your quarters of your own free will?" She asked, her eyes narrowed and her full lips pursed.

Ferrin rolled the tips of her fingers across my cheek. Her hand smelled sweet like Anna's wine, but much more bitter. "Perhaps. Look at her. Doesn't even have a piece of a moon on her cloak yet, and she beats a third crescent. Everyone will be interested in her now."

I really didn't mind that she had silenced me. She was not holding me against my will. Her grip was gentle, loose, and I could have slipped out of it at any time. In truth, I was enjoying being the thing between her and Nami

"That's not what happened!" I heard an all too familiar voice shout.

Tana came stomping out of the big dueling room and took turns glaring at Ferrin and I.

"Is there anyone else I should know about hiding in there? This was supposed to be small, not a show for half of Lun to come and watch." Nami said as she leaned forward and peeked through the doorway.

Precept Zetta pushed her short hair back from her face and sighed. "That is my fault I'm afraid. Maletta has taken to her like Ferrin has potentially taken to Ire. To your quarters, Puddles. Tell the others that I will not wait for them if they are not ready before dusk."

"No," Tana said and looked up at Nami. "Mother Nami, that isn't what happened. She didn't beat her in a duel."

Ferrin pulled her hand from my mouth and stepped into my sight. Her head was raised like she was staring at the high ceiling of the hall, but she was smiling. "But she did. Both agreed to the duel, and when it was over, one of them had to be carried off by the healers. Am I wrong Zetta?"

"Is she wrong, Precept Zetta?" Nami asked and corrected the blind underwitch.

Precept Zetta tried very hard to hide the little laugh that snuck out of her, but failed to do so.

"If it is put that way, no, she is not wrong." My teacher laughed.

"Well then," Ferrin said as she stepped in front of me and tried to put her hand on my shoulder. She missed, but her face was turned to me enough that I knew she was talking to me. "Don't lose yourself before Underwing. I don't handle disappointment well."

Without another word, she turned on her bare heels and started down the hall towards the singing stairs.

I watched her go. She bumped into Tana on her way by, and I was only half certain that it had been an accident.

"Strange bird," Zetta said with a sigh before placing her hand on Tana's back and taking her out of the circle we all stood in. "Go tell the others that I will meet you in front of the hall of conquest at dusk. Look, your wolf is waiting for you. If any of them are not ready, I am holding you responsible."

Tana stomped her feet and clenched her fists as she walked, but she did walk.

"Master Alexei, will you see these two to my quarters?" Zetta asked as she waved for Nami to follow her into the big dueling room.

I looked at Anna, she shrugged, and then both of us took up beside my white haired guard and Precept Jasna.

The door to the dueling room closed, and I waited as long as I could stand before I asked one of the uncountable questions I had running through my mind.

"What did Ferrin mean, about being under her wing? Can she do what you can do?" I asked towards Precept Jasna as we crossed into the ghostly light of the singing stairs.

Jasna laughed. "That girl is troubling enough already. I cannot imagine her being able to fly. No. Underwing is a week at the end of the semester. Higher ranking moons take new moons under their wing to help them prepare for their trials. I did not know that you knew her, but to be honest, I did not know that she knew anyone. How did your paths cross?"

"We sort of just ran into one another one day." I answered honestly. It wasn't a lie, Ferrin had been moving too when I had run into her. I may have been running a lot faster, but I could not help how quick I had become.

Anna clapped her hands suddenly. "Oh! That's the blind girl you knocked over when you were running from the cre-I mean when you were running from Alexei."

Warm embarrassment stung in my cheeks but then a swell of pride replaced that heat with its own. She had said the thing I was trying to avoid being known, but then had corrected her name for master Alexei.

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I wondered if that was how Precept Zetta felt about me. Embarrassed when I was defeated by a blanket, but proud when I kept trying.

"It was far worse for Underwitch Ire than it was the second crescent, but Underwitch Ferrin had been searching for a way to meet you for sometime." Alexei said simply.

I stopped walking just as we reached the hall that I went to class in almost everyday.

"You saw that?" I demanded, annoyed that I had no memory of seeing him despite the searching I had done.

Alexei stared back at me with his one white eye. "I see everything, Underwitch Ire."

"I'm trying, but you are making it very hard to not think about you as a creep." Anna shook her head and sighed at the white haired man.

"But you weren't there! I looked for you!" I shouted, not truly angry but feeling like I could let myself be if I wanted.

Alexei smirked and shifted his swords on his hip. "Did you look for me the night that Lady Anna drank herself to sickness? Was I there when you and Underwitch Plia nearly scared each other to death?"

My jaw dropped.

"I thought you were sleeping!" I shouted again.

His smirk spread into a full smile and Nami's words from the week before rang true in my mind.

You have brought more life back to Alexei than I thought was possible

"Sleeping is for dogs, babies, and the ill. No man can become a titan while he slumbers." Alexei said, his voice low and forceful.

We stared at each other silently for a long moment.

Then, I laughed.

Precept Jasna did the same. She covered her mouth with her hand but could not stop the giddy laughter that came bubbling out of her. That made me laugh harder, and eventually Anna's nose scrunched as she joined in as well.

"What does that even mean," I wheezed and tried to repeat his words back to him. "Sleeping is for dogs, kids, and-"

I was able to lower my voice, but I could not keep it together all the way through.

Alexei glanced at Jasna as his smile faded and his usual mask of stone returned. "What did I say?"

"Nothing," Precept Jasna said as she started walking again. "Come along all of you, Zetta should be here soon."

It took me until we were past my teacher's classroom and sparse covery to catch my breath.

"Aren't titans big monsters? Like her dead bird or the spider?" Anna whispered to me with a nod towards Precept Jasna as we continued down the hall.

Alexei answered her without so much as glancing back over his shoulder. "No. Titan is a title. It is given."

"And you stay up all night because you want to be one?" I asked, the end of my words embellished with threats of even more laughter.

Alexei did not respond, but Precept Jasna turned around and nodded at me behind his back.

We reached the end of the hall and she waved her arm towards a door I had never seen before, her split back cloak an icy blue trail behind her as she moved. "Here we are. Precept Zetta asked that you go in and make yourself comfortable until she returns."

"If it's anything like her covery, I don't know if we can do that. There's probably a cot, a tin cup, and a blanket we will all have to share." Anna said as Jasna opened the door.

"You did not ask for it, but I would give you guidance on Ferrin Faux," Precept Jasna said as Anna went inside. "She has only ever taken one new moon under her wing, and that underwitch left Lun not three days later."

"Why?" I asked, confused.

Jasna shrugged and lowered her voice. "All we know is that she said that Ferrin showed her the truth. I should not say this, but I need you here far too much to let you be in the dark. Ferrin Faux is quite mad, be wary of her."

Before I could take a moment to think about what Jasna said, Anna grabbed me by my hand and pulled me into Zetta's quarters.

The door closed behind us, and I found that where my teacher lived was nothing like her covery.

Where I had expected cots, there were ornate chairs of gold, polished wood, and rich looking fabric. There were no tin cups, but there was so much shining metal inside that the reflections of the fire in the fireplace made it seem like the room was on fire. Swords, spears, shields, and all manner of blades lined the walls alongside many weapons I did not know the name of. All of them were painted with the firelight and it gave the entire space a warm glow. I found no thin blankets either, only opulent rugs and tapestries in Zetta's sapphire blue that hid much of Lun's grey stone.

"If teachers are paid well enough to have a room like this, I want to do it. I'm the only one in this place that actually reads anything anyways. I can teach." Anna said as we held hands and walked further into the room.

It was much bigger than our own quarters and held far more interesting things, but what truly caught my eye was the painting that hung above the fireplace.

There was no sign of M.D.G's initials, and it did not strike me like some of the others I had seen, but the two women who were the focus of it were still quite beautiful.

A city of white stone lay behind them, but where there should have been streets between the pristine structures, there were only rivers of shimmering water.

The woman on the left was the shorter of the two. She was full figured, with reddish brown hair and a warm complexion. A crown sat atop her head and the dress she wore looked like something out of one of my mother's stories.

Standing close enough to her that I knew the two of them were close in the way that Anna and I were was someone that looked very similar to my teacher.

Taller than her partner, and with the same sharp features of Precept Zetta, she wore a silver circlet with a small blue stone hanging in the center of her brow. Her hair was the same blue black shade as Zetta's, but it hung down well past her shoulders in one sleek curtain. There was no dress draping down her like the other woman. A suit of silver armor covered her from the bottom of her neck to the end of the painting.

She also reminded me of my mother's stories, but she was not a fair lady or some kind hearted queen like the woman on the left. She reminded me of a warrior, a knight, or some great hero.

Everything about it was warm, and brought back memories of when the bottoms of my feet would be sore from walking around on the sun warmed stones behind the manor.

I held Anna's hand just a little tighter and she pulled me just a little closer as we both took it in.

I had agreed to stay at Lun because Nami needed me to, but that did not mean I wanted to be there any more than I had before.

I still wanted to go back to Erosette, I just had to wait a little longer.

"They are quite a pair aren't they?" Precept Zetta asked from behind us.

We both turned to look at her, but I wasted no time turning back and pointing at the woman on the right. "Is that your mother?"

"No. Try again." Zetta chuckled as she snapped the lights of her quarters on.

"Sister?" I asked, trying again.

My teacher walked to the fire place and turned around before raising her hand to her brow. She let a small blue stone slink down from her closed fingers and hung it in the middle of her brow. "Does this help?"

"No," I admitted. "Is it your grandmother?"

Anna cleared her throat. "Uhm, Ire, it's her."

The sound of Anna using my false name sent a shiver down my spine.

"Is it that hard to tell," Precept Zetta asked, her eyes shifting back and forth between me and the painting. "This wasn't made that long ago."

"I don't see it. Your hair is different. Hers is straight, yours is all jagged and messy." I said as I crossed my arms.

I had been tricked to0 many times before, and her claim that she was the heroic looking woman in the painting felt like too much for me to just accept.

"That's why it is so messy. For someone like me, long hair is a weakness in battle. When I became the Conflict and Resolution Precept here, I cut it off so none of you little moons could use it when you duel me." Precept Zetta pushed her blue black hair back from her face and then hung the blue stone above her brow again.

I shook my head. "She has both her arms."

"Ire!" Anna gasped and gave my hand a painful squeeze.

"She doesn't. The painter thought it best if we hid what I am missing behind Lady Pazimane there." Zetta continued.

She had almost convinced me, but I was enjoying watching her try to look more like the woman in the painting. "She looks like a hero, the kind that slays dragons and rescues princesses before becoming a king. You look like my teacher."

"I do not blame you for forgetting, your first phase has been quite busy, but do you remember what I said on our first day of class?" Precept Zetta sighed through a smile and asked.

"That I looked dull and lanky." I answered honestly.

Zetta laughed. "I did say that, didn't I? In my defense, you did. Of course, you had some injury that I didn't know about, and you haven't filled out your frame yet, but that's not what I meant. I told you all to stop calling me Precept Mon Zetta. Do you remember what Mon means?"

I shook my head no silently.

"I have never slayed a dragon, and I am not a king, but I am a lord. I was then too. Pazi isn't a princess and she saved me more than I saved her, but she is royalty. Do you see it now or do I need to get insulted?" Precept Zetta said, standing tall and mirroring the pose she had been painted in.

I narrowed my eyes and fought to keep myself from smiling. "Is that the same circlet?"

"It is." My teacher nodded and held the jewelry out for me to see.

"I believe you. Precept Mon Lord Zetta," I nodded in return and looked at Anna. "Are we supposed to bow?"

Zetta laughed again. "I can still give you detention, you know. Do you like this?"

She placed the circlet in my hand and it took one touch of the cold silver for me to know my answer. "Yes."

"Then it is yours. You did very well today, strong girl. A gift is not inappropriate for Lun's newest half moon." She said as she ruffled my hair.

I looked at her, then Anna, then the circlet, and then back to her again but could find no words to say between any of them.

"If that is what you want. What do you say?" My teacher asked.

Nothing.

I said nothing.