2013-10-24 - Phone Home

Lera slumped in front of her laptop, leaning into the wooden chair in her dormitory room. She was tired and the side of her face still ached; it had bruised along the cheek, turning a dark purple, and the cut was healed but left a dark line in it. She still had a hint of the shakes from the last fight that she had not entirely gotten rid of yet. She almost died -- that familiar had been ready to kill her -- and it was a new sensation.

And she had to explain it to her mother. She kept her laptop stowed away most of the time, because of the Mid-Childan spells built inside of it. She could speak with her mother in real time that way.

When the screen shifted, going from a blank black to the familiar layout of her mother's lab, she jumped a little. It brought some feelings of homesickness to see that and the red-haired woman standing in front of the laborator. Meria Camry frowned at her daughter, a hint of worry crossing her face, before it became one of dissatisfaction. "What sort of trouble did you get yourself into?"

Lera frowned at that. "Hi, Mom."

"Not the answer I was looking for."

"I ran into a familiar and some local mages," she said, with a sigh. "One of them pitched me across the room at the end. I got both of these--" She brought her finger up and pointed at the injuries on her face. "--from that."

"It's healing well enough?" her mother asked. The concern brought a brief smile to Lera's face. "I don't trust the medical technology on that little backwater hovel. They haven't tried to bleed you, have they? Are they concerned about your humors?"

"It's not medieval, Mom," Lera said with a sigh, but it was good natured enough. "It's healing fine. The cut isn't deep and I bet the bruise will be gone by the end of the week."

"Good," Meria said. The meister made an annoyed sigh in the back of her throat. "What brought you into conflict with them?" she asked. "Some lead on where Broken Ground was taken to? I take it that you found some clue."

Lera opened her mouth, then closed it. She looked to the side, feeling a flash of guilt. She had not been looking for the stolen Device that brought her to Earth when she fought them. She had looked, of course, but she found a cold trail. That work felt unsatisfactory at the moment. "No, it was... they were attacking and I helped," she said. "I couldn't just stand by, you know? Some friends were there, and--"

"And you got yourself hurt," Meria snapped, her tone harsh. "I suggest you remember why I let you go there. You're there to find stolen property. You can't very well do that if you get hurt gallavanting across the galactic hinterlands."

She opened her mouth, tried to form a protest, and it died in the back of her throat. "Mom, I--"

"Good night."

The video feed cut off. Lera let out something between a hiss and sigh, then put her head in her hand, careful to keep her fingers away from the bruised part of her face.