Third-Day of August, In the Year of the Empire 6777 Continued

On our walk back to the mansion, Sienna asked, "I love what you did, but why did you do that for them?"

I laugh just a little. "I enjoy it. But what you're probably asking is how did that come about? When I was little and still at home, my older sister, Callie, was mean and a bully. My mother and father would discipline her, yes, but they would also discipline me if I tried to get back at her. Father told me that the only true way to deal with a bully was to leave them in the muck and make my own life better. Then when I got to the Mage College, I was so much younger than all of the others, it made me a perfect target for bullying. It's probably why so much of my time there was spent in the library.

What was worse is that several of the teachers blatantly did nothing or did the bullying, Instructor Bings is that way to every student unless you pay him not to be. It was either go to the library or go home. It did not matter though, I was going to be a mage, and no one was going to stop me. Sometimes I would see someone else picked on and would help if I could. The people I've helped have been at least friendly toward me, if not real friends, like you. I keep moving forward and those I left in the 'muck,' most of them are still there. Like Bings."

Sienna was quiet afterward.

I was nearly dusk, and there was still no sign of my parents. I stopped to speak with Mr. Milbery, "As late as it is getting, would it be a good idea to start cooking and be ready to feed all of them?"

He nodded. "I'll speak to the cooks about it, Sir."

"Thank you, Milbery."

I went to sit in the study, looking out the window at the road.

Sienna sat down nearby and was studying the rituals and runes primer again.

I am not supposed to need sleep with these rings on, but it must not cover emotional stress because I had fallen asleep again. I discovered this when Sienna was shaking me to wake me up.

"Sienna, I'm awake."

She laughed and hugged me for no reason. "Come on, sleepy. They're here."

It was nearly dark out, but I could see a real caravan out there.

"Let's go." Somehow, I managed to grab her hand and drag her outside.

There were only a few lanterns with hardly any light. I dragged Sienna over to the tree we sat under earlier. The first time I sat down there, I did so on a flat rock that was not quite big enough. I got out my brush and green paint and quickly built a ritual. Okay, I may have been a little excited and wanted to see them. When I finished, I grabbed Sienna's hand again and went looking for my parents. Sienna was not helping, and she kept trying to look at the tree.

There were a lot of people stopping to look at the tree, so I yelled. "Mother! Father! Jean!" a few times until I heard Mother shout, "Hartson!"

I dragged Sienna further until I found Mother. "Hello, Mother, I've missed you."

She wrapped me in a bear hug. "We've missed you too." Then she stood up and looked at me, Sienna, and our hands."

She smiled like she did when being tricky. "So, who is this Hartson?"

I suddenly realized I was holding Sienna's hand and let it go. "This is Sienna. Sorry, Student Mage Sienna Green."

My mother gave her a hug saying, "It's lovely to meet you, Sienna."

"Hartson!" Jean grabbed me in a big hug then let me go pointing at the tree. "Did you do that?" she asked accusingly.

I looked back at the tree. When I left it just a bit ago, it was only just beginning to glow. Now, however, the entire tree was shining brightly, every leaf and branch. Now, this was no ordinary tree. It was a giant of a white oak nearly thirty meters tall, and the trunk was almost two meters in diameter. It was bright enough at one-hundred meters away that I could see everyone around me even though it was very nearly dark.

Sienna laughed, "Yes, that was the Honored High Mage himself!"

Father had walked up as she said this. In a very stern voice, he said, "Hartson, what have you done?"

I knew they were teasing me this time, so I just smiled back at him. "I missed you too, Father."

He grabbed me up in a bear hug for a moment.

Then I heard Mother say, "Jean, this is Hartson's 'sweetheart,' Sienna."

Father let me go as I was trying to see Sienna, I thought she might run away or punch Mother. But when I turned around, Sienna was grinning a lot and blushing at the same time. "What?" I said softly.

Father heard me though they didn't. Then he was introducing me to everyone as his son, the baron.

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"Father, wait." He was not listening.

"I'm sorry, Father, but I am no longer a baron!"

He turned to look at me, genuinely concerned, "What happened? What did you do to lose your title?"

Oh yes, it's time for a little revenge.

"Father, it's kind of hard to explain."

Father's frown grew more serious. "Hartson, I'm so disappointed, but I'm sure you can get your title back."

I kept a serious look on my face. "Please let me explain."

Mother then asked, "Hartson, what happened?"

"Well, it's kind of embarrassing around all these strange people."

Father tried to lighten the air, "You were always running between most of their feet, you know them."

Jane even asked, "Did you kill the king or something?"

"No, nothing like that, I swear."

Suddenly everyone could hear a lot of horses coming toward us fast. I knew who they were, though.

"I'm sorry, Father. They've come for me."

Mother was nearly in tears, so I had to stop this. With a huge grin, I asked, "So this is how you all felt teasing me? I think I quite like it."

Jean figured it out first and started laughing, which caused Sienna and I to burst out too. Mother and Father looked confused. Especially, Father.

Father was starting to look cross, "Hartson, you said you were no longer a baron. Did you lie?"

Jean was now on the ground laughing so hard she was gasping for air. Sienna was almost as bad.

I looked directly at Father, and with an earnest face, I told him, "I am no longer a Baron because the Crown raised me to Viscount. I now have three Baronies to serve."

I watched Father's face as he went through a mix of emotions, then he was laughing and wiping tears from his eyes. He stopped laughing but was still crying and grabbed me up in another hug.

"Father, it's a good thing, you don't need to cry."

"Hartson." Sienna placed her hand on my shoulder, and I turned my head to see her, she said, "He is proud of you."

"Thanks, Sienna," and then I was hugging Father as tight as I could and crying too.

Soon Mother was hugging us too. When we broke apart, I noticed that Mother had her arm around Sienna as well.

Sienna had been hugging me too.

Knight Commander Bradley said, "Excuse me, Sir, but is everything well?" I looked to see him holding his bare sword down by his leg.

"Yes Bradly, this is my family, have the men stand down, please. And I'm sorry for disturbing you all with the light."

"Yes, Sir." He quickly turned and began giving orders.

I noticed Jean looking as white as a ghost.

Jean asked, "Hartson, how many soldiers do you have?"

"Seventy here, more in the other two baronies and the city."

Jean squeaked, "Seventy?"

I need to make her relax. "Yes, Seventy. So, no more teasing me or pissing me off. Or I will have you thrown in the biggest damn mud puddle available!"

Jean looked like she just heard the most horrible thing ever possible. Sienna was trying to hide her smile but turned close and put her face into my chest, laughing while hugging me. It was a lovely feeling.

Jean finally worked out what I had just said, and she started grinning. "Well, brother, you're certainly not four years old anymore."

Sienna suddenly stepped back, but we still had an arm around each other. "Um." She looked at Jean. "I'm not sure," she said, pointing at the bright tree, "sometimes he can be."

That got a laugh out of everyone. I even grinned proudly.

"I like her brother. She can be my sister."

Both Sienna and I were blushing but still smiling.

Mother spoke up then, "Don't worry, Sienna, at least he knows when a girl likes him, his father was just, a rock."

Everyone was laughing at Father now.

Mr. Milbrey interrupted when the laughter it slowed. "Sir, the food has been put out by the very bright tree."

"Thank you, Mr. Milbrey. Mother, Father, this man is my steward, Mr. Milbrey. Mr. Milbrey, these are my parents Hubert and Audrey Perrin. Mother, Father, If I am not around for some reason, Mr. Milbrey can help you."

People started moving toward the few tables we had, but now there were several logs around the tree for people to sit on too. 

"Excuse me, Sir," Stablemaster William said to me. 

"Yes, William?"

"My lads and I will take care of their animals tonight. They'll be at the Fort when they are wanted, Sir."

I smile, "Thank you, William, that is a great welcoming gift."

After Mother and Jean ate, I asked to speak to them privately. They both knew something was going on. "I'm sorry we pulled you away, but I am hoping you'll look in on a woman and her two daughters. I healed them as best I could."

Sienna broke in, "You healed their bodies completely."

"True. Anyway, the mother is Ava, and the girls are Emma and Olivia. There is no easy way to say this. The bandits were using all three. My men slaughtered all of the bandits and brought the three of them here. " 

Mother and Jean both blanched at that news.

I took a deep breath. "The little girl and the mother both had severe damage. If I hadn't helped them when I did, they would be gone. They barely tolerated me to help them this afternoon. What I'm asking is for you to look in on them. Make sure they are all okay, maybe get the girls talking."

Mother grabbed me in a fierce hug and said, "Of course, we will, son."

"Thank you."

"Jean, are you using magic to heal?"

Jean saddened, "No."

"Well, when I healed them, I saw, I knew everything about their bodies." I cleared my throat and looked at Sienna. "And despite the teasing, I'm probably more like my father than you think if you ask Sienna." Sienna smiled at me and nodded.

"Thanks for that." I smiled back at her.

"Anyway, Mother, I was not joking when I say that when using magic to heal them, I saw everything, of all three. I repaired the damage. So, I feel like I did something bad, and I need to know about other stuff."

I was no longer embarrassed after admitting things, but Sienna blushed. 

Mother kissed my forehead with a smile and then looked me in the eyes. "You did absolutely nothing wrong, Hartson, you helped them. Don't confuse what you did with the evil the bandits did. You helped, not harmed. And I'm proud of you for doing so, no matter what you saw."

She stepped back, "Now, the three of us will go talk to those poor people tonight and hopefully give them some comfort. And tomorrow, you speak to your father about the 'other stuff,' and I'll talk to Sienna about it as well."

"Thank you, Mother."

Sienna was scarlet now and looking at the floor. Not sure why, but I leaned forward and kissed her cheek. Then I went back to the tree to find father.

When I sat down beside my father, he asked, "Is everything okay?"

I leaned close to him, "Yes. I asked Mother to check on a woman and two girls who were being used by the bandits that died today."

I could see my father getting mad when he understood. "The soldiers saw one bandit using the little girl, and they all became furious. None of the bandits survived, I assure you."

Father nodded and let go of his anger.

I was still leaning in close and whispered. "There's one more thing. I had to heal some horrible and ugly wounds with my magic. Could we talk tomorrow about, well, that kind of thing between 'normal' people?"

Father put his hand on my shoulder and said, "You’re a good man, son. And yes, we can."