“Oh. It is you.”

Lily looked at Widow Hari with surprise. This did not sound like the normal, religiously inspired, Widow Hari. The emotionless stare of the widow was highlighted by the bags under her eyes, and an unruly lock of hair poking out the side of her normally immaculate bun.

Lily forced a smile on her face and waved, “Good morning, Widow Hari, I’m here for my second day of service!” Especially since I don’t know where Agnetha’s gone off to, she thought to herself. This morning she had hoped to have more of Agnetha’s tutelage, to learn something practical for her class once again. But Agnetha’s cottage was empty, and she didn’t see her anywhere around the village. The donkey was gone too.

“Oh. Yes.” Widow Hari turned around and dragged her feet over to her prim chair with the straight back at the table and slumped onto it.

Stepping inside, Lily pushed the door closed behind her and then followed the Widow over to the chairs by the table.

“I’d like to ask you something, Lily,” Widow Hari whispered.

“Yes, Widow Hari?”

“Am I a bad mother?”

<>

“We have to trap you both somewhere together for a night.”

Tamrin looked up into her mirror in surprise at her mother’s words. The image of her mother was misty behind her. She reached up once more to wipe at her eyes again with the damp handkerchief she was clenching in her fist.

Then she replied, “Not this again, mother.”

“Why not?” Hariette persisted. “The Canewholds were supposed to have made your engagement with Layne formal by now. Instead, we’re spending an inordinate amount of time with Baron Canewhold, while Layne is nowhere to be found. Now, if your agreement was to the Baron, this would be a different story.” Her voice became quiet as a contemplative look slipped into her eyes.

“Mother, no!” Tamrin gasped, shocked. “Don’t even consider it. I simply will not!”

Hariette rolled her eyes. “Well, then you’re not making great progress with the son either. All I’m saying, is that there is a relatively easy way to bring this situation to its desired conclusion.”

“But will you please stop thinking about trapping Layne and me in compromising positions? I would say that between our relationship growing up and going on dungeon missions together, that ship would have already sailed. It just doesn’t work like that anymore!”

Stolen novel; please report.

“Maybe, maybe not. But for all that we are still aristocracy and there are expectations,” Hariette huffed. Then she sighed and asked, “Do you still want to be betrothed to Layne?”

“Of course I do, what do you take me for?” Tamrin answered, wiping at her wet eyes again.

“Then, I shall keep thinking,” her mother said, running her hand over Tamrin’s hair before exiting Tamrin’s quarters, leaving Tamrin all by herself. Well, alone except for the serving girl who came over to continue brushing her hair.

Tamrin eyed her knife bandolier hanging over the edge of her bed, mentally revelling in a fantasy where Layne gets to be the target of her knife throwing practice. But even this thought of revenge doesn’t manage to lift the annoying sadness she was feeling.

So what if he didn’t honour the meetings her mother scheduled so painstakingly? So what if he went back to the dungeon without her? It’s not like any of these things were really that important. And it’s not like they would be sharing their lives in this fashion anyway, once they are betrothed, and certainly not once they were married. She knew this only all too well from seeing her mother and father together, and she had heard the same from her other friends and acquaintances.

It’s just that… She guessed a part of her thought it would be different, because she was an adventurer too. Just like him. She shook her head, denying the thought. Then grabbed the second brush of her vanity and lobbed it at the wall with all her might. A piece of plaster came off where it hit. Because she was not just some witless debutante. She was an adventurer too.

<>

Meanwhile, Agnetha groaned as she slid off the donkey and onto the dusty street. The passage of time was not kind, even to one such as herself. Then she tied the creature to a rail at the back door in the alley in High Plantation she found herself in, before letting herself in at said door.

What am I doing here? She wondered to herself as she walked through the little kitchen at the back. Of course, the answer was simple. She had gotten herself involved in something after years of a nondescript life. Was it wise? Probably not. But when Lily confided in her, she couldn’t help remembering herself at Lily’s age so many years ago. How different her own path might have been if she had someone else watching over her.

Well, actually, she did have that. The whole organisation she was a part of, in fact. But there were always ulterior motives involved and to such a degree that she could never really decide whether her mentors were looking out for her, or for the organisation. And to what degree of each.

Agnetha clicked her tongue in distaste. All of it led her to her own rise until she ultimately also had to disappear for her own sake. What a foolish woman she was. But now she had committed to her young pupil, and she was determined to see it through. But she needed help to do it, and she knew it. Which is why she had already started a collaboration with Widow Hari, even though it was always a coin toss of whether you were going to get blessed or poisoned with that zealot. That was fine, though. Poisoning she could handle, and if you get out fast enough you could generally avoid any accidental blessings.

But skills were naught without knowledge, which brought her here to the back entrance of Cornelia’s shoppe. Agnetha might be old, but her instincts still worked fine. And they were telling her she needed more information about anomalous cores.

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