Croft Sanctuary - Slippery Abyss: Mount Burdock
It was Rebrooks' biggest annual event. The Celebration of the Crimson Moon. Mundanes were never in attendance, only high ranking mystics and a few deserving ones. The Crofts always hosted the feast at their grisly Sanctuary and at the end, they resigned the Treaty- with blood from all the tribes.
Ian ambled past the staff prancing about the ballroom, narrowly escaping a lady with a stack of dishes. It was the usual storm before the calm. The preparations for the Crimson Moon feast was always over the top. He climbed down the short flights of stairs to the little podium where his mother stood scolding some wait staff.
He had always thought of the celebration as pointless. It was an outplayed and senseless agenda. They defeated Nebula's guardians and had reigned supreme over Her mundanes for centuries without an uprising, it was nothing worth celebrating. He would be far more inclined to celebrate their complete domination of Nebula. Her stones were still out there, and a guardian could rise without warning.
But they dismissed his ideas. A madman's attempt at tyranny, Martha argued once before the council. Even with all their condescension, mystics too were guilty of that attribute- rejecting what they did not understand.
He reached his mother beside the refurbished gold throne she favored for these events. She was now inspecting the crest on a napkin. Martha waved the servers away and turned to him with a smile. It was a wonder how much his sister Sarah resembled their mother. From the pitch-black long curls to those cold brown eyes.
"Ian, finally you show up." Martha held his face and kissed his cheeks. "I will need you to address the rift your brother caused with the Howlers."
"Oscar?"
"Who else?" Martha chuckled.
He nodded to her and couldn't help but smile when she just gawked at him. She genuinely worried about him and he did not understand why.
"What is it, son?"
He tucked his hands into the pockets of his grey pants, his silver-rimmed eyes breaching through the walls of whatever control she had. She knew this about him, it was why he was nicknamed the fixer, his ability to invade minds was impossible to repel.
"Mother," Ian said, sighing, "why do you continue to do this? The crimson moon doesn't serve any purpose, not anymore."
"I disagree." Her pitch high and harsh. Her anger was his undoing, booting him out of her mind instantly. "It marks the day we formed the Treaty of The Brotherhood. It reminds us of why we did this. To end the bloodshed and coexist." She explained.
Ian shrugged. He couldn't argue this again. The Treaty was nonsense, without the Elves and the Lycans, it was useless. With the Orientals vanquished, its purpose was served, he still couldn't understand why the council insisted on this when more focus should be on stifling Nebula's wake.
"I need you to look into something else."
"Of course," he said, a small grin on his lips. Martha smiled, letting him back inside her mind. "Cat got your tongue mother?" He asked when she just gawked at him. Martha chuckled. "What is it you need?"
"Amelia Mckenzie. She'll be at the gathering tonight, a special guest of the Core on account of her disregard for authority. Keep an eye out for her and find out what you can. She may or may not be a descendant of those damned Orientals."
He nodded at her. She kissed his cheek and hurried off after the staff, her metal heels clicking on the marble as she made her way to them.
Ian turned on his way. An Oriental? It was highly improbable, still, it was silly of the Core and his mother to invite her into the Sanctuary of the Council. He exited the ballroom and started up the stairway.