We left behind the book cluttered room and returned to the courtyard, where I saw Mom standing in the center of the gravel filled square, her blindfolded head tilted up towards the sun.
Long ashen hair sparked irregularly as she stood there, while her gray robes billowed in the soothing breeze that cooled our mountaintop palace.
Every time I saw her I was awestruck by the sheer regal aura that shrouded her every action, while the power that radiated beneath her muscular frame seemed to ebb and flow randomly, sometimes making her seem like a common person, and other times displaying the strength that made her the Empress.
My Mom, the Empress.
Sensing us, she turned her gaze from the sun and smiled softly, her serene expression as soothing as ever.
"Lei, Leone. What have you tried so far?"
