Seren left the house, marking down what they’d taken and its approximate worth.

“Finished?” The guard asked, still restraining the homeowner.

“Yes, thanks.” Seren nodded. Annoyed at the sun’s position in the sky. Telling them it was far into the afternoon.

“All right. And next time we have to be called for this nonsense, you’ll be arrested for obstruction. You understand?” The guard thrust the homeowner roughly into their house. Immediately getting into another argument with them. Seren jumped down the walk, humming to themselves.

“Hey kid,” the partner called them back. Seren looked up at him. “You know you’re allowed to use force, right? That was made clear to you?” Seren shook their head.

“I didn’t know that.” Seren admitted. Knowing it was probably explained to them, they just didn’t soak in the information.

“Well now you do. Next time, try standing on your own two feet.” The partner said. Seren frowned.

“Hey, I didn’t call for you. I was standing.” Seren said defiantly.

“All right, whatever you say.” The partner shook his head. Seren faced the crowd, every single one of them was analyzing their face. Scowling and glaring at them, whispering to each other. Seren picked up all their courage and hurried down the sidewalk. As soon as they were out of sight, Seren ran all the way back to the Asche manor.

They rang the bell, completely out of breath and nearly in tears. Mrs. Houper came to the door soon after.

"Goodness, Seren! What's the matter?" She asked. Seren swallowed their emotions down.

"Nothing. I was just really excited to get back," Seren said. Stepping into the house and bending to take off their boots.

"Oh, well this certainly took a little longer than last time, good results?" She asked as she closed the front door.

"I hope so," Seren forced a smile onto their face.

"Well I believe Mr. Asche is in the kitchen." Mrs. Houper pointed."I'd be careful, dear. He's in a bit of a mood today "

"Thanks!" Seren waved. Feeling dread at whatever their dad said to cause Mr. Asche to be in a foul mood. They started to run but caught sight of Mrs. Houper's stare and instead walked quickly into the kitchen.

"I'm back!" They called.

"Why are you yelling?" Mr. Asche growled as he turned around from the coffee maker. A streaming mug in his hand.

"Sorry," Seren said. They didn't think they'd been yelling. “I’m back,”

“I can see that, let me see.” Mr. Asche snapped. Seren was taken back but they quickly fished the folder out of their bag and held it out. Mr. Asche grabbed it and opened it to look at the notes Seren took.

"What language is this?" He asked tiredly.

"What do you mean?" Seren asked.

“None of this is legible,” He dropped the papers onto the counter. “Your penmanship and spelling are abysmal. Your teachers should be ashamed, who taught you to write?” Seren rocked side to side and nervously picked at their fingers.

“I don’t really go to school.” They mumbled.

“Speak up. Stop that fiddling and stand up straight.” He barked and Seren jumped to attention. “What school do you attend?”

“I don't,” Seren said a little louder. “I mean. I do odd jobs and stuff around the academy and pick up some things but I don’t attend any schools.”

Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author.

“Are you kidding me? What is your father doing? Have you ever attended a school? The Winter district has the Mistletoe public school doesn't it?” Mr. Asche’s voice rose to the point Mrs. Houper was drawn to the entryway.

“No?” Seren said uncertainly. “That building’s been abandoned for as long as I can remember.” That staggered Mr. Asche for a second.

“Shit, really?” He mumbled but rebounded, “well the Autumn district has a public school doesn’t it? The… uh… Golden Apple?” He looked up at Mrs. Houper for support but she shrugged.

“Yeah, but they only accept a certain number from the Winter district every three years. And cause I didn’t get in when I was little they won’t accept me unless I can test a grade above my class.” Seren explained.

“The Spring district?”

“Only trade schools.” Mrs. Houper volunteered, “and you have to be sponsored by someone in the trade.”

“Damn,” Mr. Asche mumbled. Trying to accept defeat. “Let’s just see what you brought then. I hope you can read your handwriting enough to keep track of what belongs to who.”

“I think I can.” Seren took the bag off their shoulder and set it on the table. The first thing they saw was the jewelry box and their stomach dropped. They skipped that and pulled out coin purse with fifty ingts in it.

“This was the easiest one, the second house.” Seren said, handing over the purse.

“All from the second house?” Mr. Asche asked, taking the purse.

“Yup.” Seren agreed.

“ ‘yup’ isn’t a word. It’s ‘Yes’.” Mr. Asche corrected. Seren collected the few items from the third house, fairly sure that yup was a word.

“This is from the third house, it was pretty difficult.” Seren said as they handed over a few random items.

“Why?” Mr. Asche stared at the items around the table. “What the hell am I looking at?”

“The owner called the authorities on me,” Seren said. “They didn’t cooperate at all and I had to go in and judge what was worth the right amount. Which kinda sucked cause I didn’t find any ingts or obvious stuffs. So I grabbed stuff that seemed to have the right amount of value.”

“I see. What did the authorities say?” Mr. Asche asked warily.

“They were pretty sure that I was lying about my age, and that I was going to die…” Seren stared off into the distance for a minute before shaking themself out of it. “But I insisted and they let me go about my business.” Mr. Asche hummed, Seren couldn’t help feeling that hum was one of annoyance.

“So you brought me a bunch of random junk?” He asked.

“No, these things add up to the right amount.” Seren said. Looking over them again to make sure their instinct was right.

“You never learned how to do math. How do you know?” Mr. Asche asked, getting more annoyed. Seren bit their lip as their face screwed up in concentration.

“I don’t know how to explain it.” Seren said, just as annoyed. “It’s just something my mind knows.”

“That’s called arrogance. You’re arrogant. I don’t know what kind of behavior you’re used to getting away with, but here you do not get to half-ass a job.” Mr. Asche’s voice was raised to just below yelling as he reprimanded them. “You do your job to a professional standard asked of you or leave it to someone who will.”

Seren wasn’t able to move. Left out of body by the lecture. They didn’t even want to reveal the jewelry box in their bag.

“Last house. Let’s see it.” Mr. Asche snapped. Seren clenched their jaw and tried to stop the tears that were welling up in their eyes. They pulled the box out and placed it sheepishly on the table. He sighed.

“Get out.” He said simply. Seren nodded and left the kitchen. Hurriedly passing Mrs. Houper, her hand brushing their shoulder but unable to stop them.

“Eric!” She snapped but Seren didn’t hear the rest as they stomped into their boots and ran out of the door without tying them. They ran, somehow not tripping on their untied boots all the way out of the Summer district. Pressing against the steamworks wall, they slid onto the warm, wet ground and tied their boots. Trying to keep their tears back, they harshly wiped their face every time a tear fell but it soon was too many to keep wiping away. When Seren’s boots were tied they stormed through the snow, holding to keep their sobs inside.

“Seren? What’s wrong?” Wynne reached out and stopped them. Seren turned and buried their face into Wynne’s bundles of fabric. Wynne gently picked them up as they sobbed and carried them along. Bringing them to a little area along the steam works that was sheltered.

“Now what’s all this about?” Wynne asked. “Here, this should help your throat.” They handed Seren a little white mug without a handle filled with watered down stew. Seren sipped the warm brew and it soothed their throat enough they could rant about their day in its entirety.

“It’s not fair!” Seren concluded. Finishing off their mug.

“No, it’s not. But such is life, I’m afraid.” Wynne shrugged under all their coats.

“What do I even do?” Seren leaned their face into their lap. “I lost my job, and now what?”

“I don’t know,” Wynne wrapped an arm around them and leaned Seren against them. “But I know everything will come out right.”

“When? How is any of this right?” Seren leaned into them. Beneath the covers, Wynne was freezing despite leaning against the steamworks and having a little portable fire pit burning next to them.

“Don’t you worry. Everything will come out right.” Wynne soothed, “just wait and see, everything comes out right.”