Mother of Mei Silverhand was opening packages and checking their content. It was not hard work, but it needed to be done and it allowed her to relax and not think about the current situation.

Her beautiful daughter was back home, but she was sick and she failed in pursuing her dreams. They pushed her daughter off the path of cultivators and that did not bother her, but the disease was worrying. She hoped Mei would get better soon and they would spend time together making up for the time her little daughter was away. This idea brought a smile to her face.

This smile froze when she saw her husband hurrying to her on the brink of panic.

“Elenna, we have a problem.” he said to her nearly out of breath.

“What is wrong?” She put the clothes down. She wondered if something happened to Mei.

“Mei figured out we are in debt and is furious about it.” he explained.

Ellena let the tension draw out of her.

“Xun, we knew she would figure this out, eventually. It is not exactly easy to hide. She would have to be blind to not see the difference between our rooms and the rest of the clan. It just happened much sooner than we expected. We had prepared for this eventuality. Our business just turned sour, and the clan is unwilling to bail us out. You did not tell her the truth, did you?” Ellena said.

Xun looked uncertain, ”No I kept my mouth shut, but somehow Mei came to believe our debts are her fault. I do not know who said that to her, but what will we do now?”

Ellena sat down.

“Do you know who told her that?” Xun asked her.

“I do not know. She wanted to check out the city, so she probably ran into someone, but no one outside of the clan knows about our decision.” Ellena looked lost.

“It really does not matter who told her. The question is what will we tell her?” Xun pointed out as he sat down next to his wife.

“I do not know, if we tell her the truth she will react badly, but if we lie, she will dig for the truth eventually and will be even more hurt, when she finds out we deceived her.” Ellena spoke the truth. Xun put his hand over his wife's shoulders to support her.

“I really should have told her truth from the beginning. Clan head even warned us about this.” Xun said regretful.

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Ellena shook her head, “You know she looked so happy, when the cultivator told her she had a talent and invited her to the trials. How could we have told her the clan’s decision then? Even when she was a little girl, she was too damn conscious about our situation. She would have refused the cultivator’s offer, even though it would have devastated her. It was an easy choice, and we were prosperous enough to bear it.”

“I am sorry,” Xun apologized once more.

“Stop this self-pity. You couldn't have known, the seven consecutive caravans would get trashed by the Beasts. It was not a realistic possibility,” Ellena reprimanded her husband as she held his hand.

“Mei will still blame herself. You know how she is. I remember the broken arm incident, when our ridiculous daughter decided a broken arm was preferable to disrupting social occasions. I still remember the sniffles coming from her. There is no way she will not try to rectify this situation, and she is in no condition to help us.” Xun pointed out.

“Speaking of Mei, where is she? I would have been expecting she would have demanded answers from us by now,” Ellena wondered.

Xun grimaced, ”When she was trying to get answers from me. She had another episode. She is checking with the doctor right now, but I promised her answers when she comes back.”

Ellena frowned, ”And you considered this less important than our debt situation?” she raised her voice.

“She was okay otherwise. I dared to raise concerns about her health, so she walked away rather cross. She is okay, relatively to her condition. Doctor Francos warned us that these episodes will occur before he starts his treatment regimen.” Xun defended himself.

“You are right, but you should have still started with that, instead of her knowledge of our financial troubles.” Ellena said.

“Her demanding answers from us is a more pressing issue at the moment. She will recover from her injury in time, but she will want an explanation right now.” Xun stood up and paced.

“We will have to tell her the truth. I do not see any other option.” Ellena said.

“She will be disappointed in us and will certainly blame herself. We could still deny everything and claim it is all out fault,” Xun hoped.

“Our little pearl is too smart for that and she can count. She will follow the money, if she suspects anything and the rest of the clan will not remain silent. It will not work in the short term, not to mention long term. She will learn the truth,” Ellena rebuked him.

Xun was walking for a long moment, ”How will we tell the truth, then. We cannot just pull out every little issue we had. Most of them had nothing to do with our deal.”

“We will just answer her questions. I do not think she will stumble on the core issue immediately. She does not have to know what bargain we made with the clan head, so she could become a cultivator,” Ellen rose to embrace her husband.

“It is funny. We wished the best for our daughter and now she is deeply wounded, sick and has very little prospects for the future. The Ancestors were set against us trying to breach the path of the mortals, weren't they?” Xun said, smiling sadly.

“It does not matter. Mei wanted to walk this path, and we supported her. We cannot just turn around and lament our choices now. Remember how proud we were when she visited our little cultivator who would make history and join the ranks of the immortals. We were so proud.”Ellena said.

“You are right, my wife. You must embrace the good and the bad.” He reached his wife for a kiss.

A loud knock interrupted their moment.