Serana stood in her living room, looking at a small portrait of a smiling black-haired woman in contemplative silence, having paused her work.

A drop of paint fell on the floor from the brush the Custodian held, bringing her out of her thoughts. She looked at the portrait once more, before continuing to paint the canvas in front of her once again. Great progress had been made in the past few hours and soon a new copy of the portrait would be born.

Truly, learning to paint had been one of her wisest decisions. Hounding artists good enough to copy the portrait to her exacting standards used to be both difficult and annoying. Especially since she did not wish to talk about the painted woman with anyone.

As she painted, she wondered what the long-dead woman would have thought of Serana now.

Would she be awed? Disappointed? Proud? Perhaps she wouldn’t even recognize Serana. The immortal had no idea. She remembered almost nothing of her sister. Feelings of warmth and safety, mostly.

She did not even know how accurate the portrait was. The march of time had claimed many of its predecessors and human hands were fallible. How many minor mistakes must have accumulated over the iterations, she wondered.

Still, some things she was quite sure about. The raven-black hair and the fiercely intelligent grey eyes in particular were burned into her memory, even if any context had long been eroded by time.

On some nights, she thought about getting rid of it entirely, but could never bring herself to do so. It was pathetic of her, but she still felt an echo of warmth every time she looked into those eyes.

That was, perhaps, the cruellest aspect of it. To forget just enough to know what it is you’ve lost.

She no longer remembered her parents or any friends from before and so felt nothing about their bones having long turned into dust, her sister the last artificial remnant of that time.

The portrait did remind her of a simpler time, she mused. A time when her word was not law. Perhaps, in that, lay its true value?

It helped with not seeing humans as worthless mayflies that died of old age when she blinked, at least.

The Custodian’s mouth quirked up.

It was perhaps a bit egoistical of her, but the thought of the second most influential person in the history of Eigos being her sister simply on the merit of her own existence amused her.

Not that humans died between her blinks now when things were so exciting. When she spotted the veritable armada of Terran ships arrive yesterday she had felt more alive than ever. Their attempt to hide behind Agnu had been quite amusing as well.

The Custodian added a few more strokes, before setting the brush aside. The portrait still needed more time, but duty called. The thirty-two newly minted mage-knights were supposed to depart soon.

She checked the unfinished portrait over for any problems before leaving and startling the handmaiden sitting outside of her rooms. The grey-robed girl got over it quickly and together they descended the tower.

It did not take long for her to reach the main courtyard of the Temple, where Aisac was finishing with his speech to the thirty-two.

Serana made herself visible but didn’t approach. The military was Aisac’s responsibility, after all. She had already spoken more than enough for a decade or two in the past few months anyway.

The knights straightened upon seeing her and Aisac paused and threw her a glance, but he quickly resumed, “Twelve of you will stay in the surrounding kingdoms, ready to react to any Terran presence or to reinforce your brethren. Ten will be stationed in the kingdoms further out, though we obviously won’t be able to cover all of them. The remaining ten will all move to reinforce the south, where we expect the Terrans to make their move, should they prove wise enough to not attempt another decapitation strike.”

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Some chuckles resounded at that. The Custodian wondered if they’d be able to laugh if they knew just how much firepower the Terrans had already brought.

Probably not.

Serana smiled.

When the crowd calmed, Aisac continued, “You’ll travel in pairs and with a personal protection detail. I have your assignments here.”

He reached for a stack of papers that had been hidden in a satchel beneath his feet and began calling out names in pairs.

When the first pair came over, Aisac gave them the papers along with some more personal words and advice that the Custodian didn’t care enough to listen in on.

The same thing repeated again and again, making Serana quickly lose interest, though she kept a slight smile on her face. Hopefully, it’ll encourage them a little. It was the least they deserved, considering the giant target they unknowingly carried on their back.

After all, the Custodian was well aware of the Terrans’ objective. They had hardly hidden their interest in her abilities. Perhaps they’d try for her one more time, but she expected them to go for softer targets once they realized such existed.

Not that it would help them much.

Perhaps she’d convert the Terrans yet? She had been wondering how such a thing would work, considering how tied Eternity was to Eigos. The stars were far away and even Gods had to have limits.

Well, Eternity would have to wake first for that.

Serana’s mood worsened at the thought, yet she kept any hint of it off her face. No reason to make people wonder, or worse, panic. The black-haired girl who stood behind her and currently acted as her handmaiden would probably faint.

As Aisac continued handing out assignments, The Custodian turned her attention subtly to her handmaiden. The girl was short even for her young age, with black hair and green eyes. She wore the customary grey robes of Temple servants and still sometimes picked at the fabric, unused to the rougher material.

The girl at least stood straight now, unlike when she had first arrived. Gone was the spooked little mouse and in its place stood a brave little squirrel. Serana remembered that her surname was Winterstar, for Aisac had mentioned it recently. That was about the extent of information she was sure of.

The girl was a something from somewhere, possibly in the north, if her name was any indication.

‘Probably good enough,’ she mused.

Though maybe she should learn a bit more about her, now that the girl wasn’t going to die of old age without anything of note happening.

With Aisac still going down the list of assignments in the courtyard, she turned to her handmaiden and whispered, “What’s your name?”

The girl’s eyes widened. First in fear, then in disbelief.

Serana suppressed a laugh. Maybe this wouldn’t be too big of a chore.

“Uh, Sylviane Winterstar, my Lady.”

The Custodian nodded, a mischievous glint in her eyes, “Ah yes, you’ll have to forgive me, I tend to be a bit forgetful in my old age.”

The little squirrel made quite the comical face, “Of course, my Lady, I did not mean to insinuate-”

Serana cut her off, “Don’t worry about it, Lilianne, we all make mistakes.”

The girl tried very hard to control her expression before realization dawned on her.

The Custodian chuckled lightly, before turning her eyes back to Aisac and the knights. Now the girl wouldn’t think that Serana didn’t know her name. That’d be quite preposterous with the amount of years the handmaiden had already spent in the Temple. No, Serana was just messing with her from the start.

A master plan, worthy of her age and wisdom. Truly, mortals danced in the palm of her hand.

Soon Serana’s attention returned to the lined-up knights and their Commander as he finished giving out their orders.

“Remember, do not be overconfident. Your lives are far too valuable to lose to such a childish emotion,” Aisac paused, surveying the assembled knights.

“Finally, remember that you now carry Eternity’s favour wherever you go. I’d wish you good luck, but I’m sure you won’t need it,” finishing his address, he saluted, putting his hand over his heart.

The Custodian mimicked the gesture.

The assembled knights did not cheer, instead bowing solemnly. Then they exited the courtyard, leaving in pairs.

Serana watched them go. She wondered whether the Terrans would take the bait and whether they’d actually be strong enough to do so.

The Custodian certainly did not intend to let them capture any of her departing students without a fight.