Chronicles of the Brotherhood: Genesis

Act XIII: Inopportune Circumstance

He didn't like to admit it, but since Lucius and Xekiel had come to the mansion, it had become more lively and at the very least less cold. The husk of the family's mansion was getting life back slowly but surely. Even if he wasn't fully comfortable with how it was returning.

Lucius walked down the hall opposite his direction carrying and reading over a book stepping carefully and gracefully as he usually did. In his free hand he held and apple just beyond the reach of his jaws. The Fallen looked up when he noticed Mason and closed the book.

"You seem distraught young Master Silverclaw," he said. "is something the matter?"

Mason shook his head with an involuntary grin at his title. "No, Lucius, but thank you for your concern. Why do you call me that?"

"Would you prefer Master Silverclaw?" Lucius said with a smirk.

"I'd prefer Mason, if you don't mind," Mason replied.

"As I would prefer L," Lucius' smirk turned into a big smile.

Mason couldn't help but chuckle. "Was that the point?"

Lucius shrugged. "Your guess is as good as mine, Mason," he said leaning back on a hall table taking care not to knock anything off it and holding the book and the apple low on his slender figure.

"How many books have you read?" Mason asked glancing at the tome in his friend's hands. "The Tales of Old Imperia? I didn't know we had that one."

"It's a charming read to say the least," Lucius said glancing at the cover. "I haven't been to the Elven country in many centuries and its always nice, I think to read what I can. I think this is number seventy-four, maybe?"

"Have you nothing better to do than read?" Mason asked.

"Well, I'm sorry that my life does not keep me hurrying out at the wee hours of the night to partake in Divine-knows-what and leave my home under the watch of two strangers, whom I apparently trust," Lucius said.

Mason furrowed his brow at the sudden change in subject, and hearing that his sneaking was not stealthy enough.

Lucius wiped his mouth and cleared his throat. "I meant no disrespect or cause for uncertainty, my friend," he said. "I rarely get sleep anyways and have often spent the nights looking up at the stars and have, on occasion, caught a glimmer of a white haired angel leaving the grounds. Whatever it is, it is your business and I won't ask you to convey it, unless you want me to know."

Mason relaxed himself and ran his left hand through his hair. "Thank you," he said. "I don't mean to be pent up and mysterious."

"No need to apologize, Mason," Lucius smile rising to posture and clasping a hand on his shoulder. "Your business, your house, I don't need to know more than you want me to."

Mason nodded his head and turned back towards the east wing. "So, seventy-four, thatch quite a lot of literature in only three months."

The two angels began walking together down the hall slowly.

"I am unfamiliar with the area and the lore of the place," Lucius replied. "I'm just trying to familiarize myself. If I haven't said it before, your home is quite beautiful."

"Thank you. I was built far before my birth and given to my family when we took on the title of Ambassadors to the Riokuvin," Mason explained.

"After the Purifix War I presume," Lucius asked.

"I would assume so," Mason replied. "To be honest, I haven't been very far away from this place ever in my life. Flenor and this place has been my home, my comfort zone. It's strange to think I've lived so long and have seen so little."