Chapter 202: Amends

Jen shuffled through cold morning streets. Her hands were chaffed from pulling the small vegetable cart behind her every day, but that didn’t stop her.

The sun had yet to rise. The autumn wind carried a frigid bite that sank through her clothes and ripped away the warmth.

Jen shivered and pulled her frayed cloak around herself. She wished she was home, sleeping in like so many others. But the vegetable stall wouldn’t run itself. If she worked from the crack of dawn to sunset for the next few weeks, each and every single day, she might just make enough to cover the family’s costs.

The house was in disrepair, the old wooden roof had several holes. They had managed through the summer, but autumn’s rains would be devastating. The yearly name-plate renewal was also coming up. If she couldn’t afford to pay for the iron name-plates for her children and herself then Hollow Shade would consider them outsiders and the undead sentinels would find them and… It was best not to think of such things.

Jen spotted her stall in the distance. The old wooden beams swayed in the wind. Things had been different a long time ago. She was a simple commoner, but through hard work and her parents’ savings, they managed to put her through the merchant academy.

A year after she graduated she married. Her husband and she had decided to open up the vegetable stall, in the hopes that one day they would be able to open up their own tavern. Things were going well until her husband died somewhere out in Dusk Valley. His commanding officer had told Jen that her husband had deserted the army and been caught by savage raiders. His body was never recovered.

After that, the bills had begun to pile up. Now Jen was barely managing to keep her head above water. Her hopes and dreams of putting the children into one of the city’s four academies had died with her husband.

Now all Jen had left was the simple stall. It would have to be enough, she wouldn’t let her children starve, no matter how hard she had to work.

Jen arrived at the market, and pulled the cart next to her stall, and began to unload the vegetables. She stopped, her eyes caught sight of a small wooden chest underneath the stall. She stooped down and with slow hesitance opened it. Inside was a leather pouch and a note.

She carefully unfolded the slip of paper and read its contents quietly.

“Jen, I’m sorry this came so late. Your husband was a brave soldier. No matter what anyone says, he died with his honor intact, please remember that. I know this isn’t much, but I hope it helps you and your family.”

Jen peered inside the leather pouch and gasped, dozens of gold coins rested comfortably inside. She broke down in tears and hugged the letter tight.

Loh watched her from a distant corner and smiled ruefully.

~~~

Loh opened her office door and dragged her feet inside. She glanced out the window. It was already late afternoon. She had managed to cross one more name off her mental list since this morning, it was progress.

She yawned, unclasped her cloak’s pendant, and let the cloak slip to the floor. When had she become so tired? The past few weeks had been a blur. Sleep had been difficult, she barely slept a few hours each night.

“Are you alright?”

Loh jumped back, startled. Vayu sat in a leather chair in the corner of the room.

Loh sighed, “Worse, now that you’re here.”

“Sorry, I didn’t mean to scare you,” Vayu winced.

Loh plopped down on her desk’s chair and stretched, “I’m not scared, just annoyed. What are you doing here?”

“Checking up on you. You’ve missed the several past academy meetings. Meetings Lord Noir explicitly told us both to attend. He’s been asking about you, he seemed worried.”

“Hah, hardly. That old man is only ever worried about his own interests. If he keeps asking you questions you can just tell him that I’ve been off drinking and spending all my time in brothels in the Night District.”

“We both know that isn’t true.”

Loh raised an eyebrow, “Oh? How would you know?”

“I can’t smell a whiff of alcohol on you. And I highly doubt you would leave the warm bed of a beautiful woman just to come into work in the middle of the day.”

Loh slumped in her chair and sighed, “What do you want me to say?”

“The truth is always nice.”

“No, it’s not. The truth hurts, it breaks people.”

“Sometimes. But you and I are different. I know you, Loh, the real you. Even if nothing ever happens between us, I am still one of your closest friends, and I care about your well-being. You can tell me what’s going on, you know that right?”

“...I’ve been trying to make amends,” she admitted.

Vayu furrowed his brow, “To whom?”

“To all the innocent people who have suffered because of my mistakes. These past few days I’ve been tracking down the families of the soldiers who my grandfather ordered killed to ensure no one found out what really happened to Aizel.”

Vayu nodded slowly, “And once you find them?”

Loh shrugged, “I help them in what ways I can. You’d be surprised how many could use some help. Many of them need proper medical care. Others need a place to stay.”

“Have any of them asked you why you’re doing this?”

“No, I’ve kept myself anonymous. I’m not doing this for their gratitude. I’m doing it because it’s the right thing to do. I am trying my best to right my wrongs, one by one… Someday I’ll even tell Tauri the truth.”

Vayu frowned, “Loh, you can’t do that! I understand your sentiments, I do. But telling Tauri that we let Aizel die won’t end with just you. She’ll tell everyone what happened. And besides, that… Monster killed Aizel. Even if we had gone to try and save your brother, we would have all been killed with him.”

“Maybe,” she said quietly, “But, that doesn’t change what I did. I tried to kill him.”

“Even so, we cannot tell anyone the truth.”

“Wait,” Loh placed a finger to her lips. “Someone’s coming.”

Heavy footsteps echoed down the hallway.

The office door swung open, Tauri walked in. “Hey, Loh! Oh? Vayu, you’re here too? Am I interrupting something?”

“Not at all,” Vayu smiled.

“Mmm,” Tauri looked at them suspiciously. “Loh looks stressed, really stressed. Wait, were you two talking about Stryg?”

Loh sighed, “You caught us.”

Tauri threw her hands up, “I knew it! That kid is a handful for anyone. Shame he’s your apprentice, I pity you.”

“I wouldn’t have it any other way,” she said resolutely.

Tauri sat in the chair across from Loh’s desk and crossed her legs, “Let me guess, you two were talking about telling Stryg the truth?”

“Something like that,” Loh mumbled.

“Bad idea,” Tauri shook her head. “I feel bad for him, but I’ve seen what it’s like when Stryg gets angry, if he knew the truth he would despise you.”

“That’s what I was saying,” Vayu nodded.

“Great. So Stryg won’t hate me, instead he hates himself,” Loh said bitterly.

Tauri scratched her cheek, “Have you thought about telling him a half-truth?”

“I tried that,” Loh said. “I told him that he had gone to the right cliff, but when my team and I went to meet up with the students we were attacked by several Cairn warriors and our team was wiped out.”

“Well, that’s basically what happened,” Tauri nodded.

“Except Stryg didn’t believe me.”

“What? Why?” Tauri frowned.

“Stryg didn’t think an entire team comprised of master magi and two high-masters could be defeated by a couple of Cairn warriors.”

“But what about your broken leg? He knew we were all injured badly that night!”

“He thinks there had to have been at least a battalion of warriors or a large group of enemy magi to have stopped us,” Loh said. “And if that’s the case, then he would have noticed the battle’s commotion from atop the cliff, after all, we were supposed to be nearby.”

“Except, we weren’t actually anywhere nearby,” Vayu added. “Which in turn confirmed Stryg’s suspicions. He had chosen the wrong cliff.”

“Well, shit,” Tauri cursed. “So what happened?”

“I tried amending my story,” Loh sighed. “But Stryg didn’t believe anything else I told him about that night. He said I didn’t need to protect him from the truth. He knew it was his fault and he’d bear those consequences.”

“Fuuuuck,” Tauri groaned.

“...Yup,” Loh muttered.

“Can’t we at least tell him about the so-called ‘Monster in the Dark’ then?” Tauri asked. “If Stryg knew that he would understan-”

“No!” Loh said sternly. “That Monster is a curse on my family. It’s more dangerous than anything we have encountered. I’ve already hurt my apprentice enough, I won’t bring Stryg into any more peril. My job is to keep him safe. I’ll find some other way to help Stryg with the events of that night.”

Vayu nodded, “I agree. Even if we told Stryg the truth, he has no reason to believe us. I mean, who would? It’s the same reason we haven’t even told our parents.”

“I didn’t tell anyone because Lord Noir asked me to, as a soldier on that mission I respected the chain of command,” Tauri crossed her arms. “But if I told my dad he would believe me.”

“Maybe you’re right,” Vayu said. “Maybe Lord Krall Katag would believe you. But what would happen if he told the rest of the city council? That some ancient, possibly immortal, evil Monster has been lurking in the shadows and is now helping the Cairn tribe of all people? They’d laugh at him.”

“Not if Lord Noir backed up my father’s claim.”

“Then they’d think House Noir and House Katag were working together for some secret scheme,” Vayu said. “The friendship between both your families’ leaders is no secret.”

“Guys, we almost died!” Tauri glared at them. “It's been three months and Lord Noir still expects us to just sit tight and twiddle our thumbs. Are you serious?”

“Until we figure out more about that Monster, yes,” Vayu said.

“Fuck our lives,” Tauri grumbled.

“You can say that again,” Loh muttered.

“On the plus side, Stryg’s mage abilities seem to have progressed by astounding leaps and bounds these past 3 months.” Vayu glanced at Tauri, “Or so I heard, from Lord Noir that is.”

“Really, is that what that blue brat has been up to this summer?” Tauri asked. “I thought he was taking classes on how to be a disrespectful ass. That kid is never on time to class anymore and he’s always so damn disdainful about even being there. I swear if he wasn’t your apprentice, Loh, I would have kicked his ass ten times over by now.”

“I appreciate your self-control,” Loh smiled wryly. “Honestly, I’m worried about Stryg. All he does nowadays is train. As if that wasn’t bad enough, my grandfather has taken a special interest in his training recently and has been spending a lot of time with him.”

“I guess it makes sense,” Tauri nodded. “Stryg does share the same three chromatic colors as Lord Noir. Though, why a secta-manifold archmage wants to train a cocky kid like Stryg is beyond me.”

“Have you seen Stryg?” Vayu chuckled. “The kid is talented.”

“Sure, he’s talented, but he’s no genius. Unlike that new girl,” Tauri said.

“New girl?” Loh asked.

“Yeah, that’s what I came to talk to you about,” Tauri said. “Her name’s Sylvie. She was in my class this afternoon and she’s hella strong, she’s a dire, so it’s expected.”

“A dire mage, like Lord Marek,” Vayu noted.

Tauri nodded, “Yeah, but get this. I just talked with Lily, Lord Noir’s personal secretary. She said that Sylvie passed the chrome-probe test with five colors! And she tested dark in all five.”

“She’s talented in all five colors?” Vayu’s eyes widened.

“Incredibly talented! A straight-up genius!” Tauri grinned. “Lily says Sylvie already has had some mage training and since she’s already 20 years old, Lord Noir is placing her in the 3rd year elite class. We actually have a shot at winning this year’s tourney!”

“This is amazing!” Vayu smiled brightly. “Right, Loh? Loh?”

“Hm? Oh, yeah, that’s nice,” Loh forced a smile.

Tauri twisted her lips, worried, “Hey, this is a moment to celebrate. Why don’t I fix us a drink?”

Tauri got up and grabbed a decanter from Loh’s shelf. She picked up a couple of glasses and began pouring.

“Make that two for me,” Loh said.

Tauri nodded, “You got it. Vayu?”

“No thanks,” Vayu said. “I don’t drink anymore, ever since… Well, it doesn't matter really.”

Ever since Aizel died, Loh thought glumly.

“Are you sure? Loh only buys the good stuff,” Tauri winked.

“Positive,” he smiled half-heartedly.

“Don’t worry about him,” Loh said. “He’s a horrible drunk anyway.”

“Guilty,” he chuckled. “I should get going, I’ve got a class to teach.”

Vayu stood up and headed for the door.

“Take care,” Tauri raised a glass.

“Thanks,” Vayu said. “And Loh, best if you keep the details of what occurred that night between us. It’s already bad enough as it is,” he closed the door behind him.

Loh stared at her glass of alcohol, her mind judging the weight of his words. She downed the glass.