Chapter 1

"Mom!"

She looks down at me lovingly and I latch onto her leg.

"No, don't leave!"

She laughs and picks me up, snuggling against me.  I giggle and hug her.  I don't like when she leaves, she's always gone for a long time...

Mom pulls back and gives me a serious look, "You have to behave and stay here.  Auntie Eslyn is going to read to you today."

I frown and start to pout.  I know what that means, she's going to leave anyway and I'm going to be alone for a long time, then auntie Eslyn might show up, or just make an excuse.  She's always boring anyway.  At least if it was Uncle Mikdar we could play.  Maybe he'd have let me look around outside again...

Mom rolls her eyes and gives me a 'look', "You can't always have uncle Mikdar play with you.  Besides, you need to get used to real lessons.  We'll be getting you a tutor soon since auntie Eslyn and uncle Mikdar have responsibilities and can't always be available."

She smiles, "Aaaaand, you may even make a friend!"

I tilt my head, "But I HAVE a friend."

"Uncle Mikdar doesn't count.  Even if he IS just a big child.  I mean a friend your own age."

"But I don't WANT a friend.  I want you to STAY."

She looks sad, and I feel a little bad that it's my fault.  She holds me close to her and hugs me tight.  She suddenly squeezes me until I squeak and start flailing and push against her.  Once I manage to get a little room she drops me on my bed and looks at me with a predatory grin and her fingers curled into claws...

I giggle and scream as I climb across the bed away from her, "Ahhh!  No, no mommy monster!"

I almost make it to the other side before her claws wrap around my ankle and drag me back kicking, screaming and laughing, but I can't help the terror when the claws come down on my side and she starts tickling me!  I laugh and laugh and kick and scramble to try to get away.  Eventually I escape and do a run-crawl-tumble to the far side of the bed.

She sits on the bed and flops backward onto it, her hair flowing out in a halo around her.

"You know I'd stay with you if I could, right?"

I crawl over beside her, careful not to pull her hair.  I love being close to mom.  Aunti Eslyn and Uncle Mikdar are nice, but... they don't hug.  So I indulge in being close to mom when she's here.

"I know..."

I just wish she didn't have to leave...

she gives a soft sigh, then, "Will you behave for auntie Eslyn?"

I mumble a response.  I don't even know what I said.  I just try to hold onto her tighter because that means she's getting ready to leave.  She rolls over and curls around me.

"You know you're making this really difficult."

I nod and hold back a sniffle.

She gives me a tight squeeze and whispers, "I have to go now.  Be good okay?"

I nod again as she picks me up off her hair and stands up, then sets me back on the bed.  I look up just in time to see mom slip out the door and it clicks shut.  I can't help it when I feel the tears start to build up.  She always does something like this.  She says she has to work, then she leaves me here.  When I try to get her to stay she plays a little but suddenly leaves... I wipe at my tears.  Mom said that big boys don't cry and when I'm a big boy I can go outside.  When I can go outside... maybe I can go with her.

*sniffle*

I manage to calm down after a while.  I knew this would happen soon, mom had stayed a long time this time.  She'll be back, she always comes back after a few days.  I nod to myself and give a huff like uncle Mikdar does when he's right.  One day I asked why he ALWAYS does it, he said he's always right.  So I'm right too, mom will be back soon.

I grin at my perfect logic and climb down the side of my bed.  My room is really plain, I have a bookshelf, a bed and a toy chest.  Mom said the room was special, but it doesn't look very special.  It doesn't hurt my chest in here like it does outside though.  Uncle Mikdar said that's why it's special, but he wouldn't say anything more than that about it.

I stumble a little over one of the toys I forgot to pick up but catch myself on the bookshelf.  I stretch and grab one of the books on the third shelf and drag it out until it falls on the floor.  Mom said these are for later, but I got her to explain some of the pictures.  I flip the book open and start flipping pages until I find the one I wanted.  It's mainly blue but has three big jagged splotches of green and a lot of smaller ones.  The top and bottom are white.

I put my finger on the biggest splotch, it's in the middle, close to the bottom against the thick white section there.  I drag my finger up and to the left across the thin green section connecting it to the second splotch, then keep dragging until my finger is at the top left of that one.  There's the symbol of a city there and a word.

"Lienevrion!"

Mom says it's where we're at now.  I wonder where mom is going?  I look at the other splotch.  It's down and further to the left but isn't connected by any green.  I wonder if she's going there?  Then I look up at the white section at the top of the picture.  She said they call it the ice lands and all sorts of things are being found there all the time.  She even bought me a game from there.  It's a square board with a block pattern and pieces of two different colors.  She said it's to practice strategy, but I don't like it.  She never lets me win and it's not fun to play on my own.  I beat uncle Mikdar once, but then he learned the rules.

I look over to the right side of the picture.  It's almost all blue but there are four small green splotches, and lots of tiny ones.

Bored of the picture, I flip the page and start reading to myself out loud.  Well, I read some of the words.  Most of them I don't know so I just make them up as I go.  The history book turned into a fantasy story of a monster that eats aunties and is at war with green splotch number one to save the small splotches from being pulled into it.

"... Then he chews on the green arm of... Thane!  and has p-... pieces talks with-"

*Click*

I snap my head up as the door opens.  Uncle Mikdar is standing there.  I knew auntie Eslyn wasn't going to come, she hates my room... Something's different though.  Uncle Mikdar is holding a girl in his arm.  I think I saw her when he brought me outside right before auntie Eslyn yelled something about some Nathalia killing him.  He's big though, I don't think he has to be afraid of whoever Nathalia is.

The little girl is staring at me.  She has really big grey eyes and wavy bright green hair... I don't know why but I want to pull it.

Uncle Mikdar has a big grin as the girl and I size each other up.  Unless auntie Eslyn is involved he normally has a big grin like he knows some good joke.

When he walks inside, the girl looks startled and she starts looking around quickly before turning to uncle Mikdar.

"Daddy, what was that?"

He laughs and rubs her head, messing up her hair and making her pout, "Don't worry about it little sprout.  Nothing happened, there's just no mana in here.  Sidel has to stay here a little longer or he'll get sick."

He motions to me as he sets the girl down.  She looks confused for a moment, but when he motions at me again her eyes widen like she understood, then starts swinging her arms as she introduces herself,  "Hello Sidel.  I'm Saelmyra!  It's a per-... please-... nice to meetchoo!"

She grins and turns to her father expectantly, who laughs deep and loud, then kneels down and sweeps her up in a hug.

"Bahaha!  That's my little sprout!"

He swings her once, before letting her go.  She screams in terror as she travels through the air, which is cut off swiftly when she does a belly flop on my bed, bouncing with a giggle.

Suddenly I'm in the air with my back pressed against uncle Mikdar and all I can see is the ceiling as I feel weightless for a moment.  I bounce off him when he hits my bed on his back, but Saelmyra is the unlucky one.  Somehow when uncle Mikdar landed he bounced her even higher, but she's giggling as she falls and bounces a few times.

Uncle Mikdar plays with us for a while before we move to the floor and bring out the toys.  Uncle Mikdar builds a castle out of blocks and Saelmyra and I attack it with 'magic' (random toys being thrown) and 'monsters' (I may have torn some toys apart and put them back together wrong...).

Eventually we won and while Saelmyra was gloating about our victory I found myself staring at the back of her head.  Specifically a tail of hair that had been pulled back and tied with a ribbon.  My eyes flick to uncle Mikdar, who was watching me curiously... then a grin starts to spread on his face.  He's always smiling about something so I don't pay it much mind, though it's odd that he suddenly became much more involved in Saelmyra's declaration of victory, the comments about traitors and ambushes were odd too.  Finally I can't help myself.  I smile wide and reach up, gripping the bobbing 'tail' and tug it.

"EEEeeeeeeeee-RRAAAAAGGHHH!"

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The scream was funny at first, then became a horrible howl from the darkest of nightmares.  I did what any sane child would.  I ran and dove under the bed, thoroughly regretting my decision and scrabbling away from the creature chasing me.

Uncle Mikdar just made her more angry, "BAHAHAHAHA!"

Saelmyra got my legs, but I managed to grab one of the boards that holds the bed up.  We were stuck there, me kicking at her to get her to let go and holding onto the board so she couldn't drag me out, and her doing all she could to pull me from the safety of the bed and distribute 'Justice!'.

Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.

Help arrives in the sound of  a throat clearing, somehow audible even through uncle Mikdar's laughter.  At the sound, both Saelmyra and I freeze.  She, having not been under the bed or crawling on the ground, makes herself presentable quickly by simply brushing down her dress, standing straighter and acting as if the crazy boy under the bed had nothing to do with her.

I crawl out under the stern gaze of auntie Eslyn, who was standing in the doorway carrying a lesson book on reading and writing.  I was familiar with it since she had brought it last time.

Once I'm out from under the bed and have dusted myself off, auntie Eslyn turns her stern glare to uncle Mikdar.

"Dear, since you seem to have nothing better to do, rather than encouraging them to act like wild animals, you wouldn't mind continuing their lessons... "  Her glare suddenly turns much sharper, "Would you?"

He doesn't lose his grin, even under the glare I think could blow up a castle.

"Of course love.   I'll take care of them like YOU promised."

She flinches slightly and he looks like he just won some sort of battle.  I'm just in awe at how he's standing up to her without being scared at all.

Suddenly I feel a sharp pain in my foot and I bite back a yelp - I don't want auntie Eslyn's attention on me when she's angry.  I turn and glare at the girl that stomped my foot.  Her eyes flick back to the two adults for a moment before turning to face me and sticking out her forked, black tongue.  I couldn't let her win, so I pull down my lower lip on either side with my fingers and roll my eyes up while sticking my own tongue out.  She squishes her cheeks to make a face and I push up my nose to make a snout then-

"AHEM!"

We immediately go back to a proper demeanor and act like nothing's wrong, much to the amusement of uncle Mikdar.

Auntie Eslyn turns and scolds him, "This is YOUR fault.  If she does not become a perfect lady I will be getting rid of EVERYTHING in your work room.  You shouldn't have such a stupid hobby anyway!"

"But Love, it isn't stupid!  Besides, they're just kids, they need to play, you weren't exactly a little uptight noble when you were little either."

I tune out the griping between the two of them.  Uncle Mikdar always manages to win somehow anyway.  Probably because when he huffs he's right.  I shift my eyes to look back at the girl.  She's staring at my bookshelf with her head tilted... hehe, something I can win at!  I grab the book from before and kneel down next to it, flipping through until I find the picture with the lands on it.  She watches curiously and leans over to scowl at the picture.

I point at the symbol mom taught me and I put a bit of gloating into my voice, "Lienevrion."  Then I search around until I find it again, pointing at one I managed to read on my own, "Thane."

She glares between my smug grin and the book, then kneels down and scowls at one of the words for a bit, moving her mouth, then points at it.

"Tihyrst!"

We start naming what cities we can make out back and forth.

"Llany!"

"Wawold!"

"Kirab-... Kibaraz!"

I don't know any other cities so I point at the top white section, "Ice lands!"

She glares at me then puts her hand on the green section we're on with a smug grin, "Aravia!"

I struggle trying to find something I can name, but I look up when I hear uncle Mikdar groan.

"Oh gods, what have I done to deserve this?  They're LEARNING..."

He turns to auntie Eslyn, who at some point had passed the lesson book to him, "What are we going to do!?  At this rate they'll take over the kingdom!  You saw what type of kids they are, it'll be chaos!  We'll have to make faces at our enemies instead of using magic, tugging hair will be a greeting and foot stomps will be how you thank people!  Chaos I say!"

At some point he started exaggeratingly throwing his arms around, and even slumped against auntie Eslyn who had staggered under his weight and was doing her best not to smile.

"We're doomed!  DOOMED!"

I don't know who started giggling first, me or Saelmyra, but I couldn't stop.  Auntie Eslyn finally couldn't keep from smiling, so hid it behind her hand and rolled her eyes as she left.  Uncle Mikdar leans out the door and starts yelling after her about the end of the kingdom due to children.

Eventually things calmed down and uncle Mikdar taught us from the lesson book, though he used his own unique way.  If one of us got something right then we got to make a face at the other, and if someone laughed uncle Mikdar would hold them upside down by their ankles for the next few questions.

Saelmyra cheated when she found out I was ticklish...

Those days, along with a few others I was able to spend with mom, were some of the happiest days I had when I was growing up.  I didn't know anything and had little to worry about.  My biggest problem was having to learn history and trying to convince uncle Mikdar to bring me outside again.

One day, almost a year later when the doctors said I could go outside for short periods, I overheard mom speaking with auntie Eslyn and uncle Mikdar.  Mom was crying, and both auntie Eslyn and uncle Mikdar were trying to comfort her.

*Mikdar Lethera*

Nathalia is sobbing, and my wife is too set in her ways to properly comfort the poor girl.  She's practically become family in the years she's been here, like a younger sister.  I hold her as she wails, her tears soaking the shoulder of my shirt.  Her damn husband should be here, but he's off at his ranch with his damnable raptors.  I think he's only seen his son once and Nathalia had to drag him here for that.

Nathalia turns her head to look at Eslyn,  "It's over a MONTH just to get there!  She already keeps me too busy to visit him more than a few times a week!"

Her tears started to turn to anger and her fingers bend into claws as she takes it out on me and my poor shirt.  I subtly cast a strengthening spell over my skin.  The woman is a talent and occasionally unconsciously casts spells for physical augmentation when she's upset.

I decide to try to help, "Sidel will be fine, we'll take good care of him.  You two have practically become family in the last few years.  Besides, this trip will have to cover a huge amount of the debt you owe the hag."

I grin, since it's rare that I really get an excuse to insult my mother in law without being reprimanded by Eslyn.  It also draws a small laugh from Nathalia, though that just subverts her anger, which pushes her back into depression.

"But I won't be able to see him... He's been growing so fast, and that's just missing him for a week at a time.  A month there, a month back and a couple more to do the job, I won't see him for half a YEAR...."

I clench my jaw.  The witch really pulled a number this time.  Technically the estate belongs to the matriarch, so she rented the mana-void prison to Nathalia.  She also charged for 'maintenance' and 'charging' on the array.  I have a hobby of researching runic arrays and there's no one alive that could perform maintenance on that monster of an array.  The creator was an absolute genius with a lifetime of knowledge which was lost when she died.

When I found out about the scam I tried to make a fuss, but I was dismissed for not knowing what I was talking about and my wife always sides with her mother.  It's likely I'd have been ignored even if I produced the journal of the thing's creator and managed to make a copy of the array itself.

I'm distracted from my thoughts as Eslyn does her best to comfort her friend by placing a hand on her shoulder.

"I'm sorry... I-.... I just don't know why she would do this.  There has to be a good reason.  I know it's cruel, but the good of Aravia is more important than one child..."

I glare at my wife.  We have a child, how can she think that's something acceptable to say to a depressed mother!?  Suddenly Nathalia's fingers start to penetrate my defensive spell...  I really prefer taking care of the kids.  If they get upset I can make a face and make it better.  That and they can't tear your arm off and beat you with it if they get angry.  Well, until Saelmyra gets older.  Eslyn's the one that gets to tell her she can't date.

Nathalia's tone turns almost demonic, "Aravia can go to hell if it keeps my baby alive."

Eslyn looks like she was just slapped with a fish.  That's what you get for telling a mother that something is more important than her child!  It takes all my self control to keep from laughing, but then I decide I just don't care.

"BAHAHA!  You're face!  HAhahah!"

Now I have both of their attention.  Apparently laughing at treason is a good way to do that.

I take the chance, turn my expression to one of complete seriousness and grip the poor girl's shoulders, push her away and look her in the eyes, "You owe the matriarch for saving that boy's life.  She found the problem, then rented the room to you."  Of course I'm leaving out the part about 'maintenance'.  "In the end, you need to pay your debt.  Your pride and honor wouldn't take anything less.  That kid loves you with all his heart.  He'll still be here, and he'll STILL love you when you get back.  You'll miss some things, but you'll be there for others."

I hear the sound of small feet running down the hall.  It came from the door on the side of the house where the stairs go down under the estate.  I try to remember all that he may have heard... and I really hope Sidel doesn't get any strange ideas...