Bio

“Hmm?” The beautiful young man turns, pulling his gaze away from the painting on the wall. He had been staring intently at it for some time from the edge of the sofa.

“Is it that obvious? Yes, yes I am new to the Consilium.” The young man’s smooth brown eyes slide across the room, attracted by a haughty laugh. A brief shadow of embarassment, or was it concern, flit across his face.

“Do I know her? Yes, Yuko, but you call her the Shopkeeper, right? She’s my Mistress and I’m her apprentice.” His eyes rest upon the lovely Asian woman at the bar. Tonight she is wearing a black kimono patterned with butterflies, a ring of cigarette smoke swirls above her.

“Yes, she is as powerful as the rumors say she is. However, the rumors don’t mention how she can be rightout childish, from flighty to tyrant in less than sixty seconds.” The young man tries to hide it, but his mouth takes a small, mirthful upturn. While he may be telling the truth, clearly it’s not as serious as he makes it seem.

“How did I meet her?” His eyes take on the far-sightedness of one remembering an important day, a fateful day. “It began with a wish. I had been working on a project and things were going frightfully. I needed to do well, no, more than well. There was a contest, you see, and if I didn’t take first prize then I would have had to join my father in the family business. Really, could you see me in a boring suit, sitting in a boring office?

Well, I was walking along, when I found myself in front of a tea shop. I wasn’t sure how I had missed it before. I had, oh, you’ve heard how Sleepers find the Shop? Then you know about what I experienced. I felt drawn in, and I met her. She granted my wish. It’s why the Shop exists, but there was a price. She said that I had to pay her back in service, four years long. I thought that four years in a tea shop was nothing next to a lifetime of dulldrums.

Four years I did all the cooking,” The man shakes his head, “and she has a very discerning pallet. I cleaned for her, fetched her sake, did anything she asked. I got to see a lot of her clients in that time. I even assisted in her work. It was all just smoke and mirrors to me. I never realized what she was doing, slowly peeling my eyes open to the Supernal. Four years, almost to the hour, I Awakened to the Path of the Lunargent Thorn. Then she began all over again.”

“Hmm? Is it that time already? Yes, I can see Yuko waving me over.” The young man rests his left hand on a silver and black cane, a magical tool? He puts forth a well manicured right hand. “A pleasure to meet you. My name? You may call me Feather.”