Liz listened without so much as a wavering look, hovering where she was, leaning against the doorframe like a statue. She had heard variations of the story, and each time she heard it she wondered if she was closer to or farther from the truth. Her eyes followed him as he cleaned, though the visual observations were nothing more than absentminded. Her attention was on the topic more directly.

Eventually the woman shifted, pushing away from the doorframe and straightening as she paced inside. "I wasn't just taught. I was born with it." She moved toward the nearest piece of furniture she could lean back against, almost sitting on its surface if she could manage it. "When I was a little girl, I would beg my brother to play the simplest of games. We were six years apart, so it was often my childish games irritated him... or bored him outright. Hide and seek is where I truly shined, or perhaps I should say I didn't shine. Quite the opposite really." She smiled a touch, almost wistful. "He would search for hours at times, refusing to give up too easily. I was never far from him. I simply had this uncanny gift for stepping into the shadows, so smoothly I hovered between realms. Some complain that the shadows are a maddening place. Too quiet, too eerie, too omnipresent. By the time I was seven I saw them just as a child might view a security blanket. They were my comfort. My home."

She pursed her lips, her arms unfolding so she could reach for the flask hidden under her cloak. She unscrewed the cap thoughtfully. "I was raised on a slightly different story, and it was of course more vague. Our focus was so heavily placed on the god that granted us our unique abilities... we didn't call her Lumina. We called her Aethia. Most often her name, regardless of whether it was accurate or not, was spoken with contempt."

She paused to take a long drink, fidgeting with the flask as it came away from her lips. "Our people believed we were cursed by her, believed our constant misfortune was a result of our nature. Wolves are nocturnal. For millennia our people worshiped our wolf god, and as such we held a unique respect for the shadows. Very few were gifted with the ability to work shadow magic...very, [i]very[/i] few. The more our people leaned into the shadows, however, the less we were concerned about the concept of perfect order. We were humans, originally. Creations of Aethia--Lumina as you call her. The belief was that upon accepting our gift and becoming the nocturnal 'beasts' we are portrayed as, Aethia saw it as a betrayal."

An almost bitter laugh escaped, a quiet hum rising afterward. "You'd expect with the Light turning its back on us, our people would turn toward Erebus more heavily. Even then, their focus was largely on the wolf deity. The Magna Lyceum. Some believed the 'Great Wolf' was simply a manifestation of the greater deities. Most didn't. An even smaller few believed it was a hierarchy, that Erebus was above this wolf god we worshipped. I was among the small population that looked to Erebus for comfort...but of course, from a young age his realm felt more like home than my own did. He may be in hiding, but he is still worthy of prayer."

She was quiet for a few moments, perhaps reflecting on the piece of herself she had offered in her response. Ebony locks hid her face for a moment or two as she turned her head to dig out a cigarette, though she didn't yet light it. She simply rolled the little smokable between her fingers. "The few of us that did turn to Erebus had something we considered to be the equivalent of what the humans deemed holy water, though ours was called shadow oil. The herbs I use in my blend are dipped in this oil. They offer a sense of tranquility..of calm. A disconnect when it is most needed. The effect seems to shift based on the need of the consumer at the time. You should stick your nose in the air less and try one sometime." 

A faint smirk lingered as she brought it to her lips, and though the tip flared to life he'd note she was kind enough to utilize magic and ensure the second hand smoke didn't taint the air. It simply furled up and dissipated into wisps of shadow. It was scentless now, because she willed it, and no cloud hung in the air to irritate the elf. "If anyone can teach an individual to harness their power to its full extent in rapid fashion, it's you, Thortan. We will be ready when the humans return. More than ready, I would even dare to say."