After the incident Fiona had decided to spend more time with Elise. Elise still loved her old dolls as much as when she had got them. So Fiona and her little daughter had often played with them. Today was one of those days.
“Mom,” Elise asked while playing with a doll inspired by a sun dragon, “Are you done with teaching the alchemist’s daughter?”
“Yes,” Fiona replied and doubtfully eyed the doll Elise had given her, an orc with a wooden club, “Three days ago I made her do a mock exam, and she passed it. If she is still half as good in a month, she will also pass the real exam and become a merchant.”
“That is great,” Elise said and smiled before asking, “You don’t plan to teach the another alchemist’s daughter, do you?”
“No?” Fiona replied, slightly puzzled by the question, “Why are you asking?”
“Because playing with you is fun and Heinz is not that great. He always wants to play with the same doll…” she replied and grabbed a doll that looked suspiciously like a young version of Heinz, “I wonder why.”
Fiona laughed before pointing at her doll, “He plays with that one?”
“Yes?”
“The doll looks like Heinz,” Fiona said and smiled.
Her daughter eyed the doll before looking back at her, “It really does look like Heinz, but the doll looks better. I hate his beard. He looks so old with his beard.”
Fiona stared at Elise and smiled, the older Elise got, the more the young girl looked like her. After more than seven years, the midwife's words had come true. Still... Elise's eyes looked frightening, almost as if her eyes could tear souls apart, but that was only the case when Elise wasn't smiling. Besides, Fiona doubted anyone would feel threatened by Elise. She was still a petite girl, taller than most her age, but still not the size of an adult. The only reason why anyone would feel threathened was her monstrous strenght, something Fiona had witnessed when Elise had defeated the blacksmith's son in a fight. The smith’s son was a young boy just three years older than Elise who had become something akin to a student of Heinz. The old man had promised the boy that he would train him if he trained with Elise.
“So, Mom,” Elise asked and ripped Fiona out of her thoughts, “Where did you get all the dolls from?”
She pointed at the dragon she was holding in her hands. The dragon, even as a painted wood figurine, looked as majestic as in reality.
“A friend of ours made it for you,” Fiona replied.
The small girl eyed her with suspicion, “It was Heinz, wasn’t it?”
Fiona wondered how Elise had managed to find out. Apparently her face had betrayed her and had been like a piece of paper on which her question was written down. Elise simply pointed to the dragon's feet and Fiona noticed that Heinz had carved his name into one of them.
“It was Heinz,” Fiona, therefore, replied, “And he also created all the other dolls. We planned to give more to you on your next birthday.”
“Other dolls? Where are they?” Elise asked loudly and stood up, causing Fiona to flinch in surprise. Elise gently put the doll on her bed before saying, “I want to play with them.”
"You have to talk to Heinz," Fiona replied. Her little daughter eyed the door before she started to run. It was a close call, but she was tall enough to open the door herself. The door closed, a gust of wind had hit it. Fiona heard her daughter's footsteps getting quieter and quieter before she heard the familiar sound of the old wooden stairs. Fiona sighed. It was a good thing Elise hadn't been so energetic as a newborn, otherwise sleep would probably have eluded her altogether. A few minutes passed before she heard Elise approach the door again.
“Mom, can you help me?” she heard Elise’s muffled voice through the door asking, “I don’t have a free hand.”
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Fiona laughed and stood up before opening the door. She frowned, wasn’t this by far too much she was carrying? It looked as if she was carrying her own weight in dolls. Elise quickly approached her bed and dropped all the dolls on it before turning around, “Mom, granpa told me to give this to you.”
She rummaged through the dolls and handed her a small envelope. It was sealed with the emblem of the True God, a white cross. To her surprise, the envelope was not crumpled.
"Thank you," Fiona murmured, tousling Elise's hair, "I'm going out for a moment to read the letter. Probably boring adult stuff. Can you pick out the dolls you want us to play with?"
Elise eagerly nodded with a smile and immediately started searching through her hill of dolls. Fiona could not help but smile, she sure was an energetic little bundle of joy. She quickly left the room and opened the letter.
"Dear Fiona," she read, "I am one of the many servants of the Celestials and unfortunately unable to tell you my name. Much like the flame of a candle, the life force of the person responsible for your curse has gone out. We regret to inform you that we have found almost no information about your sister's whereabouts. What we have found is old, but she was last seen near Espanya and apparently tried to leave the country. To our great regret, we are unable to devote any resources to finding her. According to the Seer, the thread connecting her to Elise is virtually non-existent and will therefore not play much of a role in the future. But fear not, should this change, we will spare no expense in searching for your sister. As you may have noticed, this letter is not the only thing we have sent. We believe that the rings of the merchant and his wife are sufficient proof of the deed done. Do not be surprised if the letter slowly begins to disappear. This is only to ensure that you are not endangered. Should you need our help again, please contact the Abbot or the Seer. Yours sincerely, and may the Celestials bless your path, a devout chosen of the God of Honour, Order and Justice."
She took a deep breath and felt her heart beating wildly. All these years she had longed for revenge, and now and all these years seemed wasted. No, not wasted, they were finally behind her. Her fears were gone. Her parents wouldn't be coming back, but she hadn't expected them to. Fiona had only wanted the merchant to die an agonising death. But she strongly doubted that his death had been painful, after all, his killers had been servants of the Celestials and not of a demon.
The letter slowly began to glow with golden light and slowly dissolved, almost as if it were turning into air. The only thing that remained were two rings. Fiona didn't want them. She also doubted that anyone would buy them from her. They didn't look like something a simple maid should have. But a part of her wanted to keep them, as a reminder not to forget what had happened. Fiona reluctantly slid the rings into the pocket of her pants and re-entered her room.
Elise was already waiting for her. There on the carpet in front of the girl were six dolls. A knight, the sun dragon, a princess, a mage, a merchant and a wolf armed with a sword.
“Mom, you play the evil guys,” Elise said and handed her the mage, merchant and wolf, “I’ll play the heroes!”
Fiona forced herself to smile. Were the Celestials doing that to condemn her? If yes, then so it may be. She nodded and said, “If this is what you want me to do then I will do so.”
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Abbot Mario had received a letter from someone he would rather never have had anything to do with again. But recent events had forced him to accept that he could not spend the rest of his life peacefully in a small town. No, he had to justify the sins he had committed. Ordering the slaughter of a family weighed heavily on his shoulders, but those two deaths had been for the greater good.
Therefore, no matter what the Pope wanted him to say, he would tell the truth. He looked up and stared at the young priest who had read the letter to him. He wondered if the priest would simply forget what he had read or if the Pope had changed the priest's memories. Something the old man was certainly capable of, Mario had realised that much after all the years he had spent in the church.
“Brother,” he said and got up, “Prepare a carriage. Please send word to the Margrave that I require a group of guards to protect me on my journey to the border of his Holiness Pope Gregor's lands.”
The young priest nodded and left the garden. Mario sighed and hoped that the girl would live a life free of sin. The Seer had told him that the girl would become a person of great interest to the heavenly kingdom. He could only pray that this interest was because of her good deeds for humanity.
Her mother... If she had been born in this country, he would have welcomed her into the church with open arms. He had a gift given to him by the God of Honour, Order and Justice in exchange for his ability to see. By chance, he had managed to catch a glimpse of the young mother's Potential. It had been impressive. But if she had so much Potential, what was her daughter's Potential? That was what he had to find out ... Quickly, before anyone else would reach out to her and ask her to join them.
Not many organisations would wait until she was old enough to decide for herself. He prayed fervently that none of them would interfere with the fate. It would end much worse than with a massacre. Heralds and Seers were beings, albeit mortal ones, who should not be angered, no matter how powerful one was.