Ask Luna #183

From: Celia

Hey Luna,

Have a quick question. I noticed that Morden and Richard both have mansions in Wales, and Alex’s safe house is also there. Why on Earth would Alex have his safe house so close to the homes of two of his biggest enemies?!? Did Morden just walk next door to pressgang Alex? 😉 I get that you can’t just chat up Morden and Richard to ask why they bought mansions in Wales… but is there a logical explanation for this, like is land in Wales cheaper and more available than in England?

Thanks so much,
Celia

I asked Alex about it and he said that he got to know the area while he was an apprentice.  So when he went looking for a safe house of his own, it was an easy place to start.  

Apart from that, it’s probably because Alex, Richard, and Morden were all looking for the same sort of thing.  People have been living in the UK for a really long time and it’s pretty settled.  If there’s a nice patch of land somewhere, someone’s probably built a house or a farm on it already.  So if you’re looking for an abandoned spot as far away as possible from everyone else, then your choices are Wales, the North, or Scotland.  Since Alex knew the area better, he went for Wales.  

(Also, I think you’ve got a bit of an exaggerated idea of how small Wales is.  Walking from Morden’s mansion to Alex’s safehouse would have been something like an 18-hour hike, and I can’t really imagine Morden spending that long trekking over fields full of sheep.)

From: Jenna

Hello Luna,
I have been following Alex’s adventures from the very beginning. There was one mystery that I was hoping that I would understand by the end, but the more I think about it—I just don’t understand. I don’t understand what Richard’s convoluted plan was all about. I know Alex asked him “why” at their final confrontation, but for Richard’s answer left more questions. Why did he need the death of an American teenager to fuel his portal? Why not just grab an adept from England? In fact, what was he even trying to accomplish by going through his portal to wherever? Did it increase his magical power? Did he just want an extended vacation where no one would try to kill him for being a dark mage? Was he trying to create his own shadow realm? I just don’t understand how doing any of that fit into his overall scheme of trying to conquer the world. Well, first England, then the world. Is there anything you can tell us about your own thoughts on this matter?

The portal Richard used was powered by some sort of blood magic ritual that needed the life force of an adept or a mage with an affinity for time/space magic.  I don’t know why he settled on that teenager in particular.  Maybe any time or space adept would have worked and she was just the easiest target, or maybe there was something special about her.  (Oh, and she was English, not American.  They ran to the U.S. to try to get away from Richard.  Obviously, it didn’t work.)

As for why he went to another world . . . that’s something we’ll probably never know.  Richard was always really secretive.  He didn’t tell anyone else about his plans, and the only way we ever figured out what he was doing was by talking to other people, or by doing old-fashioned spying.  Since there WEREN’T any other people who went to the same place that he did, the only way to find out what happened there would have been to ask him (not exactly very practical).  And given how many other things were going wrong at the time, it honestly just wasn’t very high on our priority list – we were a lot more worried about what he was doing right now.  

From: Ali

Hey Luna,

I was wondering what Alex’s last name was? And did he ever reconcile with his parents?

Ali

He’s very tight-lipped about his birth name.  Part of it’s because he’s concerned about people tracking down/harassing his parents, part of it’s issues with his mother.  

He did seem to get on better with them over time, but I’m not sure if it was reconciliation as much as gradually giving up on arguing with them about stuff.  Maybe he just lowered his expectations.  

From: Eleven

Good day Luna, I understand you talk with Chalice occasionally. How’s her political work going? Do you know who got the Council seat for Dark Mages?

Thank you,
Eleven

She seems to be doing pretty well.  Maybe a bit too well.  I think she’s still hoping to recruit me as an assistant.  

The Dark Council seat went to some guy I don’t know.  After what happened with Richard and Morden, anyone who was associated with either of them became politically radioactive to the Council.  So the seat ended up going to someone who’d never had any kind of dealings with either of them at all.