Zemira had not seen her mother for some time, and time was growing short.

At first it had been that they were busy, jointly busy. Where Zemira was involved in challenging tasks the marshals set her to - with her mother as the Warden at the time, no one dared to ignore Zemira in the class, and they often gave her interesting (but doable) assignments to accomplish - Isabel was involved with the island.

The island.

Zemira's eyes darkened when she thought of it; she traced one of the four parallel scars she now bore along her left forearm. Toward the end when Mother was doing all that she could to keep the island alive, when the marshals were threatened to be overwhelmed, the older inmates stepped in, and then younger and younger still as the need arose. Creatures came, creatures that they all fought. Horrible creatures the likes of which Zemira had never even heard of, even having been raised under a pureblooded roof. She'd fought many, and obviously she had won or she would not be here today, but she hadn't won perfectly. The scars were a mark of that.

She let out a sigh and let her eyes roam across the room.

It was breakfast, and serving bowls - a refreshing change to the old method where gruel of varying qualities was served - were set across the tables. Inmates filed in and out, eating bland oatmeal, trying to steal bits of toast, or being screamed at by whatever marshal happened to be near them. Zemira's gaze finally fell on one in particular, one she'd been wishing to speak with for a long time.

Tobias Maldechor.

Her mother was no longer the Warden, but that didn't change Zemira's confidence. She raised her chin and strode over to the marshal's table, only pausing once she got there.

"May I sit here, sir?"

After their re-location Tobias had been trying to get his bearings, without any luck; something expected for this was still the Furiae despite the re-location and it wouldn’t just let anyone get their way right. The last couple of days he had been lost, a feeling of missing something pounding hard against his heart. The last days of the old island had been the stuff of nightmares. Untold creatures, creatures he’d seen through the Seal in his late laboratory, had made a claim on the island and they all fought for something the darker side finally took it.

He’d seen more than his share of inmates, marshals and professors die in this horrible place and seeing the things the monsters did to people made him a little paranoid back then. He remembered he spoke with no one on the last days, he simply fought whatever evil showed up and expecting his end soon, his liberation from this place but that didn’t happen either.

Now he was getting used to the ‘calmer side of this new place’ and it simply gave him the creeps.

He walked towards the mess hall watching the familiar faces of very unknown people. He’d been here for nearly thirty years now, it was crazy. He simply pretended he knew them, but he didn’t; he didn’t want to anymore. Suddenly the face of old Professor Mendelsson came to his mind, his words echoed in his mind, ‘don’t get to know them Professor…that will keep you here forever.’
And the poor bastard was right.

Tobias didn’t pick anything to eat, the wonderful gruel they were all eating wasn’t at all palatable so he simply sat down on a far corner table. He touched the wooden surface of the table, it was dark, stained and scratched. He turned around trying to see these children eat, they seemed so tranquil. He looked at the Marshals, they too seemed at ease.

Then an inmate approached. He watched her walking towards him. He didn’t know who she was, but her face was strangely familiar.

“May I sit here?” she asked. He watched her face, it reminded him of someone.

“By all means.” He said quite elegantly pretending he was somewhere else. He even stood as she approached.

“What do you think of our new facilities?” he gave her a half smile as he asked this as a joke.

Zemira's brows shot up a notch when Tobias stood for her, but she recovered from her surprise smoothly and sat down. "Thank you, sir."

She could be polite when she wanted. Politeness, like anything else, was a means to an end and (as she did not really know Tobias well enough to make a judgement call on what sort of person he was) she decided to play it safe. What marshal didn't like a little bit of manners?

The teen helped herself even if Marshal Maldechor was not, plopping a glob of oatmeal into a bowl and pouring some milk over it. She toyed with her spoon then, uncertain of how to begin.

"What do you think of our new facilities?" Was the marshal... joking with her? Zemira realized that she might have taken the wrong approach with him entirely. "They're... different." She chuckled then, her mouth a little grim. "I liked the old one better, really. But maybe it'll just take some time to get used to."

Zemira frowned at her spoon, which was hovering empty above her bowl, before taking a bite. Swallowing, she added, "What about you, sir? What do you think of them?"

Tobias watched as the girl answered his question, with the usual small talk. She then asked him in return, that he expected and he was more than prepared to answer right back at her.

Tobias looked around casually, another smile protruded on his face; "Well if you ask me its going to take a while." He took a deep breath, then he relaxed a little and playing with the surface of the old table he continued, "The old Island had been my home for more time than you can imagine, and seeing it sink beneath the waves truly shocked me."

The Wizard fixed his eyes upon Zemira's, "You know something? For years I secretly wished for the whole island to disappear." His expression went blank. "I truly wanted it to be dragged down to hell with everyone inside, however now that its gone....I miss the darn place." He then realize he hadn't introduced himself.

"Oh...don't mind me, I get boring from time to time. I am Professor Tobias Maldechor." He knew there were no professors around anymore, but he liked the title; besides he wasn't lying. He was professor after all and a darn good one too at Evocations and the Psyche.

Zemira didn't agree, exactly, with Tobias's sentiments, but she did not disagree either. Truthfully, she hadn't been on the island long enough to feel particularly strongly about it either way, and now that it was gone... well, it was gone. She neither lamented its disappearance nor was she happy - as many of the inmates were - that it had sank. But she did not begrudge the marshal for his opinion - he'd been there forever.

"I am Professor Tobias Maldechor," the man finally introduced, and Zemira was surprised by this. Her brows raised slightly; she'd somehow thought they were already acquainted. No, she realized, she knew him because she'd made a point to learn the names and faces of all of the marshals from a distance. But she hadn't been in class with him, she hadn't had any experiments ran by him. She'd just assumed everyone knew her, but of course that was ridiculous.

So she said, "Zemira Parker." She emphasized the Parker very slightly. "Number 27."

As soon as he heard the "Parker" part he lifted up his head at her. The Professor narrowed his eyes at her. A small curving smile produced on his lips. Could it be possible, or maybe just another trick of this old place?

"Parker....are you related to the old Warden?" It was actually a rhetorical question, her facial features betrayed her, she was Isabel's daughter alright. Isabel, his mind rambled a little bit.

Isabel had been his student long ago, and then she became a friend...a good friend in this rotten and vile place, but as everything in Furiae; things get to be taken away, robbing you of your sanity and whatever strip of happiness you happen to have around.

"I knew her...I considered her a friend. I wonder where she is now" he said under his breath, a look of sorrow invading his face. Then he looked back at the young girl, "What happen to you? Why are you here?"

"Parker...." The marshal stared at her. "Are you related to the old Warden?"

He didn't need an answer though; it was clear that he'd figured it out for himself, put one and one together and realized that Zemira was indeed the flesh-and-blood daughter of Isabel. Zemira watched the marshal as he trailed off for a moment, lost in whatever memories seeing her brought back to him.

He snapped out of it, locked on Zemira. "What happen to you? Why are you here?"

"The same reason she is... was," Zemira didn't wince, but she corrected herself dully. Mother and she had planned the murder of Isabel's father together, had executed it together. And where was Mother now? She didn't know, but hoped that Tobias might. She continued then, "I just took longer to get here than she. The court took forever to come to a decision..."

The witch paused here, brushing a strand of hair off of her forehead. She didn't know exactly how to proceed, but decided in the end to just get on with it. No sense in beating about the bush. "Sir, I was hoping... well, you knew her the longest out of anybody I can think of. I was wondering if..."

If what? If he'd reminisce about her? If he'd tell her what it was like back in the good old days? If he had any stories about the pair of them?

"...What was she like when she was younger?"

The bell tolled and Zemira sighed, getting up from her seat. "Perhaps later, sir?"

She moved for the door.