The morning of the day that the ssenger returned, Alistar was busy making up his bed and folding his freshly laundered clothes. The last part didn’t take too long, seeing as how he only had two sets. He’d had three, but one was ruined when Anice emptied an inkwell down his front.
Once he finished, he stood back and admired his work. The house servants had taught him how to perform so of their daily duties, but only after he’d insisted past the point of politeness. The two won that he interacted with the most, who were around his mother’s age, had said that he was the first little lordling they had t that desired to learn the ways of their work. Apparently it was unheard of, but to Alistar, it was simply natural to look after himself.
Once he’d gotten the hang of using the washing board and hanging clothes up to dry, he had quickly tackled the challenge of making up a bed. Anice had dragged him into Caedmon’s chambers on more than one occasion, and one thing that always caught his notice was the neatness of his bed, which was always made up in an orderly fashion. Her room, on the other hand, was usually a ss of discarded bedding and scattered clothing, and it was here that he’d practiced his skills at tidying up under the delighted tutelage of the two won.
After making his bed, he quickly cleaned his room and headed to the dining hall where Caedmon and Anice were waiting for him. As always, they sat at the sa end of the table. The food was already laid out before them, a place set for him opposite from his cousin.
"About ti!" Anice grunted, her tone and mannerisms crushing any illusions that her pleasant appearance gave off. "I’m starving." She was dressed in a simple pink dress, a sleeveless piece from her unnecessarily large collection. She had shown off her wardrobe to Alistar a few days earlier, and had taken his hanging jaw as a sign of awe. What he’d felt was a shocked sort of disapproval that one person might hoard so many clothes all for themselves.
"Good morrow, Alistar." Caedmon smiled at him. "I was beginning to think that you would skip out on breakfast."
"Never," he said happily, jumping onto his seat with enthusiasm. He was in good spirits knowing that his mother would arrive any day now.
"With how much ti you spend in the library, I wouldn’t be surprised if you forgot about alti."
Today’s breakfast consisted of fried eggs, thin slices of roasted ham, warm, buttered bread, and a few little wheels of cheese. As soon as he took his seat, a house servant that he didn’t know brought out a variety of fruits and so milk to drink. As the other two began helping themselves, Alistar portioned his food sparingly. He never took more than he needed.
"It’s been years since that room saw so much use," his uncle went on.
"Sobody has to read those books," Alistar shrugged. "And I doubt Anice will be doing it."
A slab of ham collided with his cheek.
"Now, now, play nice," Caedmon reprimanded.
Whenever Alistar had played with Kaila, the two of them had always been on the sa page. They had gotten along so well that they had usually known what was on the other’s mind. Things were different with Anice. Sotis he doubted that even she was aware of so of the thoughts that ran through her mind.
After peeling the ham off his face and biting into it, he brought up sothing that had been on his mind for a while. "Uncle Caedmon, can we all go swimming at the river when Mama arrives? I’ve always dreamt of swimming with everyone, you see, but with Uncle and Father gone..."
"A fine idea. I can’t rember the last ti I went for a swim."
"I don’t want to swim!"
"You can’t avoid it forever, Anice," Caedmon advised her. "It’s about ti you learned. Aren’t there tis when you wish you were capable, like when your friends play at the river in the sumrti and you’re stuck watching their fun from the riverbank?"
"When did that happen?" she blushed. She glanced at Alistar and then assured him. "I can swim."
Alistar decided to throw her a bone. It wouldn’t do if she wasn’t onboard with his idea. "I’m not too strong a swimr, myself," he admitted. "I only learned a short while ago, but it was really fun. Why don’t we practice together?"
"Who needs to practice?"
"Don’t be stubborn." Caedmon tapped a beat on the tabletop, with the expression of one lost in thought. "Let’s make it a picnic. We’ll spend ti together as a family."
A family...
It had been nearly weeks since his arrival—almost four, really, if he counted the ti that he’d spent unconscious—and he still felt uneasy about the idea of living in Mayhaven as part of the Silverkin household. His new lifestyle was just too different from the one that he’d left behind in Crystellum. Although he was surrounded by kind people, nobody understood what he had been through, the depth of the pain that had taken root within his heart, or the sadness that he struggled with at the start of each day. The more he learned about the world outside of the mines, the more he began to understand the horrid nature of the depravations that he’d accepted as normal throughout the majority of his life.
None within the manor house had eaten the sa tasteless gruel for thousands of days on end, or had been made to relieve themselves in front of others in the waste tunnels without leaves, water, or cloth to wipe themselves with. Everybody that lived on the property had multiple sets of clothing, which were always washed within days of use, and nobody here went hungry. It wasn’t their fault, but he felt lonely nonetheless.
Anice’s voice drew his eyes up from his plate, dispelling the frown that had found its way onto his face.
"Fine," she mumbled, oddly compliant.
Anice was the type of person that did whatever ca to mind, without giving things much thought. Seeing her appear so pensive was a bit odd. Coming to so conclusion, she downed the rest of her milk and hopped off of her seat, hurrying through the doors as she called over her shoulder. "I’m off to see Lessa!"
Caedmon nodded at a nearby house servant, a young woman that followed Anice out the door. Although he’d already finished his al, the man stayed back to keep Alistar company.
"How many books have you read now?"
Looking up from his roasted ham, Alistar replied, "Ten, as of yesterday. I’m partway through the eleventh, The Denizens of the Tall Forests."
"Ah, that’s a good one, though it’s a bit short. It was written by my uncle, you know, the forr lord of Distan. How are you finding it?"
"I never thought there would be so many creatures in the area." He paused for so milk. "I’ve gone over the first half twice, just to be sure that I rembered everything correctly." As Caedmon had ntioned, The Denizens of the Tall Forests was a short collection of entries logged in an old, leather-bound book that docunted all of the known animals, insects and danger beasts that were common throughout the region. It detailed things such as known habitats, diets, average sizes, observed behavior, and all sorts of other aspects.
"You can’t an that you’re attempting to morize each entry?" His uncle’s surprise was well founded. There were countless hundreds of entries in the journal, which had taken the forr count nearly a decade to complete.
"Why else would I be reading all these books?"
Looking at the innocent expression Alistar had on, Caedmon thought for a mont. "What is the most dangerous predator found in these parts that isn’t a Danger Beast?"
Alistar’s look hardened. "The giant moss snake." It had been a giant moss snake that had killed Bertrand.
"Do you know what danger beast they transform into, whenever one makes the transition?"
"It can either beco an armoured moss snake, or a colossal serpent. Apparently, most big snakes seem to turn into either of those if they live past a certain point."
"Can you tell the most abundant animal?"
"Um, I’m not sure. In the book it said the brown-tailed squirrels, but I also read that sotis they get preyed upon too much and then they beco hard to find."
"The largest animal?"
"The great brown bear, and then the bull deer."
"And the most dangerous animal?"
"I’m not sure," he said, noting the specification of ’animal’ as opposed to ’creature’ as had been asked of him before. "Of the ones I’ve read about, perhaps, dark-maned bobcats or dagger-mouthed mountain lions? Or maybe the bear I ntioned earlier."
"You are bright beyond your years, truly Laisha’s son. Hah, sotis I forget that I’m speaking with a nine-year-old." Impressed, Caedmon patted Alistar’s shoulder. "Well then, I’ll tell you what. After you finish reading your book, I’ll have you co by my office and you can pick sothing out of my personal collection, the best in my possession. There’s a lot in there that you won’t find in most libraries, even in the royal libraries of so kingdoms."
"Can I really?"
His uncle was always covered in ink, and his fingers were heavily calloused in places from working with a quill. Of all the people on the property, Caedmon was the only one who enjoyed reading as much as him.
"I pride myself in my collection, you know, and rarely do I hold back when I see things that catch my eye." He laughed in a way that was similar to his daughter’s laughter when she’d boasted about her wardrobe. Caedmon cleared his throat after a few monts, and glanced down at Alistar’s wrist. "I’ll do sothing about that bracelet of yours, too. There are also other things that we must talk about, but all in due ti—"
"My lord!"
One of the house servants that Alistar was familiar with—Madeline—skittered into the room while holding up the bottoms of her black skirt. Her face was flushed, her eyes telling of an urgent matter.
"Yes? What is it, Madeline?"
"Stason has just returned from lsian!"
lsian was the county where Crystellum was located, which ant that Stason must have been the ssenger sent to retrieve Alistar’s mother.
Both Caedmon and Alistar found their feet in an instant, their conversation forgotten.
"Where is he?"
"He should be dismounting any mont," Madeline breathed. "I recognized his cloak from afar, and thought to inform you imdiately."
"Have him report to my study. Quickly, now."
Madeline turned to go, but Alistar called out to her. Anxious, his voice left his mouth in an awkward pitch, his mind fighting through the haze of mixed emotions that spread within him like an early morning fog. "What about my mama?"
Caedmon said nothing, but stared at Madeline, his gaze hard, desperate.
eting their expectant looks, she seed as if her knees might give out. "It looked like he was alone. I could be mistaken, he was far—"
"Leave us."
She left almost as soon as the words fell from Caedmon’s mouth. His face was rigid as a rock, his body still. When he spoke, his voice was dry, empty. "Co along, Alistar."
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