The Other Witch; At the Frost Queen's Table

"You're the lost princess, and the greatest villain of all time?"
"I'll take that as a no on the sandwich then.  Can we take this to the dining room?  I'm starving."
"I can't see why not."
"Thank you."  She motioned towards a room on the other side of the hallway that Salvia had come in from.  Salvia shuffled out of the way and followed the pale woman into the surprisingly simple dining room.  The table had stains and pencil marks and the chair that Arcania sat down in was clearly loose.  "I was once both of those things, now I'm just me.  I can't say I'm displeased by the change, being a villain is tougher than most people think."
"Well, for the record, you were quite good at it."
"Oh, not the...not that part; that's kind of...personal.  I don't want to talk about that.  I just meant the whole princess thing.  Working with mom and all, being a professional villain."
Whatever her rehabilitation had been, it had been incredibly effective.  Even the feelings she associated with the Frostbourne war were nothing short of terrified.  Salvia could only remember two or three times she'd run into quite that same level of raw fear and..helplessness.  Now that was an interesting thing to associate with a time when one ruled over most of the known universe.  She would have thought that stress or pride would be more likely.  But there it was, Arcania associated the height of her power with utter helplessness, despair, and sheer terror.  Perhaps there was more to this than she'd thought.
"Please, don't empathize me.  Just because you don't know what I think doesn't make it any less reading my mind."
"Oh!  I'm..uhm..I'm sorry about that.  I don't even really think about it."
"Most people wouldn't even notice, I don't blame you.  But I've seen things that even Petra and Rea couldn't imagine, and even if you know how I feel, you can never understand.  You trying to understand why I felt helpless would be like me trying to understand what it's like to be an orphan, or a witch, or mortal.  I may never be able to be any of those things, but I certainly hope the things I've been through remain as alien to you as they are to me."  Salvia realized that while she'd been listening to what Arcania felt, Arcania had probably been able to read through her entire life.  And she'd never even noticed her normally staunch mental defenses breaking.
"Yes, breaking defenses was always one of my strongest suits.  I can teleport almost anywhere in the universe, and I've peered into the minds of stars."
"What was that like?" Salvia suspended her fear at having her mind totally exposed to a mage of power she knew she would never be able to hold herself.  There were a thousand more vulnerable things she could have probed, but she seemed to linger on only the surface thoughts, which seemed rather sporting of her, considering.
"Boring, they're basically just really smug, the nicer ones are happy to provide lifegiving energy, the more cruel ones just like to screw up telecommunications equipment and give people sunburns.  Now cats, cats are interesting.  They're almost all prideful, vain, and selfish; but they're also curious, clever, and intelligent.  Did you know that Cats have been secretly plotting the downfall of sentient life for nearly fourteen millenia?"
"No."  But it did make sense, they were always sitting on important documents, blocking screens, and sleeping at the tops of stairs.
"They'd have probably done it too, except that no two of them can agree on how to do it.  Apparently every cat is taught four things by its mother; how to hunt, how to clean yourself, the inferiority of other races, and the history of cats.  I've actually been comparing accounts of cats from various parts of the universe in an attempt to compile an accurate history."
"Let me guess, none of them agree?"
"No, its just that they're all very dramatic about the strangest things, so they remember the strangest things, or in the strangest ways.  Four hundred  accounts from various bloodlines around the universe; they all agree that the main problem with the Frostbourne war is that nobody turned on the heat for several generations.  Their accounts regarding Dracula were much more productive, 'Pets softly at night' as they call him, was quite a big hit in the feline community, between his nocturnal habits and his tendency to treat them as fellow sentient beings."  Arcania looked around, setting down her sandwich.  "Alright, she's gone now.  What were you here for?"
"What?"
"There's a message.  It's all wibbly-wobbly when I try to read it, so you must have gotten it from someone who was Astral Projecting.  Since I'm the only one who knows how to do that, I know you got it from someone in the future."
"There was this voice, a girl of some sort I think.  She was kind of excitable, like a Mad scientist or something."
"That'll be Isabella.  She's one of Cyssie's twins.  We've..communed is probably the best word.  What did she have to say?"
"Uhm..you have a purpose.  you're supposed to pass on your knowledge or something?"
"Bugger, Witches are supposed to be great at this sort of thing."  Arcania furrowed her brow.  "Dad's here, isn't he?"
"Is he?"
"Funny cloak, probably got a bunch of unsuspecting people on some crazy adventure he hasn't really explained but could probably be solved really easily if someone just dropped Witch's Nocturne on a pistol and used it on the baddie.  I can tell by that look you're already travelling with him."  Salvia hadn't even been aware she'd been giving a look.  The realization that her new weapon had an enchantment that made adventure as silly and pointless as she'd always thought it was anyways was all the news she needed.  And it also explained the 'Witch' part of the enchantment's name.  Witches and adventure got along like trying to drink from a skull: you ended up with lots of adventure all over your new dress and everyone was left wondering why they'd ever thought it was a good idea to begin with.
"He said to call him Hack.  I just wanted to find Father Krell."
Arcania froze, then smiled.  "You don't know his full name?  Ah well, not going to spoil it for you; with as important as he is to you, he ought to be the one to say it anyhow.  Yes, I know where he is.  Dad probably does too.  Right now he should be at the annual Fashion Awards show with Rea.  They'll be late, but well dressed.  No one will recognize her and they'll end up just getting dinner instead.  Linguine with a Garlic and olive oil sauce, at a little Restaurant she knows just up the street."  She sighed.  "He'll see you when you speak with Hariel.  But you won't see him until you meet with Toln.  I'll be there when you do."  Arcania looked to the door, then checked her wrist, even though there was no watch to be seen.  "Dad'll be here in a bit.  If he asks, we fought, I won and forced you to listen to smooth Jazz while making me delicious sandwiches."
"I don't like jazz."
"Really?  I love it, never the same thing twice and no two people ever do it quite the same way.  Its like listening to someone try and explain why the chicken crossed the road, or build a perpetual motion device."  Arcania spun around, a pair of loose, light manacles appearing over Salvia's hands as she did.  The door swung open and suddenly she could hear Hack's voice.
"..poor kid couldn't apologize fast enough."  Braga and James broke out laughing, and it sounded like there was another man, tall from the sounds of it, and young, as well as a woman.  She sounded strong, exotic, and elegant.
"Hello Old Cloak.   Here to rescue your intrusive witch?"  Arcania's entire tone changed.  Suddenly the casual, intelligent young woman was replaced by a haughty brat who delighted in cruelty and enjoyed anything that could be decorated in lace, including other bits of lace, or barbed wire, especially other bits of barbed wire.
"Katherine?"
"Yes Old cloak, it is I.  Katherine, Princess of Gravaga!"  There was a purple flash, but with no effect to follow it was clearly nothing more than a flourish.  "Here to thwart you in the name of the..."
"Katherine, there are no cameras this time."
"Oh thank God."  She snapped and the manacles vanished.  "Sorry I made you make me all those sandwiches.  I just assumed he was up to his old tricks again."  Apparently that bit wasn't for the cameras.  Salvia decided to do her best to play along.
"I didn't mind the sandwiches so much.  But was that cacophony really necessary?"
"It's called music, cretin."
"Music is not a weapon Katherine.  And that's not music, music is a set work intended to be performed by a particular array of instruments.  Sorry about that Salvia, Kate is an old nemesis.  I'm sure she didn't mean it personally."
"I'm sure."  She looked up at Arcania and caught a glimpse of ZeeGee winking at her from under the white tresses of hair.  Whatever she'd just done, it must have worked.  But she'd have to try to remember that prophecy for later.