The next morning, everyone came into the kitchen for breakfast at their usual pace; Adelinde came with Rene, Matteo arrived second, and Tara joined them after another few minutes. Adelinde took the chance to entertain some conversation with Matteo.

“You were going out today, weren’t you?” she asked to confirm.

He nodded, noticing that Rene was close to done making food and starting his work with getting out the plates and silverware.

“Yeah.” He reached the cabinets and took out four plates, glancing over at what Rene made and choosing the silverware accordingly. He came back to the table and sat it there for Tara to arrange, but lingered to look at Adelinde. “Do you want me to bring Tara?”

Adelinde offered a little smile. “I was actually thinking I could join you for today.”

Rene would likely have better luck holding a conversation with Tara if they were the only two home. It wouldn’t hurt for Adelinde and Matteo to have a few hours together, either.

He didn’t quite frown in response, but he did grow a bit more hesitant.

“I was thinking of going to the Qrian house to actually get the bedrooms fixed up,” Matteo said. “Your input might be helpful, sure, but I’m not sure if you’ll be comfortable.”

“I can manage,” Adelinde replied kindly. “But thank you for your concern.”

He flashed her his own smile, then did another two trips to the cabinets and back to get cups. Tara opted to get everyone’s preferred drink while Rene sat the prepared food on the table and the rest got their portion.

Adelinde and Rene both tried to keep the conversation light; Adelinde, on her part, hoped it might put the kids in a better mood. Seeing Tara’s slight participation gave her some encouragement that the girl would talk to Rene later. After everyone had finished eating and that particular topic ended, Rene stood up.

“I can do the dishes,” she told Adelinde. She glanced at Tara. “And can you stay here for a little bit?”

Tara didn’t seem to expect the request, but nonetheless nodded. It served as Adelinde and Matteo’s cue to leave, the latter leading his mother to the Qrian house. He tried to maintain some kind of discussion as they walked, albeit avoiding the topic of the house in question and instead focusing on what they could do after.

Adelinde let Matteo unlock the door and enter first once they arrived, appreciating how much the place has changed since she last came here. Most signs Aurik had ever lived there were removed or hidden; the pictures he had of the first island were replaced by photos of Matteo and his friends. Still, even if she could recognize how the interior changed, she could easily recall when Aurik would lead her into the music room, uninterrupted until she realized she had lost track of time.

Matteo went upstairs and Adelinde followed. There were only two bedrooms—the first used to be Aurik’s, and she had never gone into the second—and Matteo hesitated near the closest door to glance back at Adelinde.

“You’re sure you’re okay with it?” he asked.

“I’m sure,” Adelinde assured him. “You don’t need to worry on my account; it’s been close to nineteen years by now.”

He still didn’t look entirely convinced—she assumed it wasn’t that he believed she would be have trouble with it, just that he understood he couldn’t help if she did—but nonetheless opened the door. Every sign of life within the room—the open score book, the violin case—had a thin coating of dust overtop of where fingerprints had previously tried to clear some away. Matteo opened the window and started wiping away the dust.

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“I came in here a few years ago but haven’t tried to do anything since,” Matteo explained. His first cleaned object was the violin case, albeit somewhat incompletely, and stepped aside. “This has some pictures in it. You can look at those while I do some dusting? I feel bad making you do anything more than that.”

Adelinde nodded, walking over and brushed the case with a mixture of caution and admiration. She couldn’t recall the last time she even saw a violin case—much less the violin itself. She lifted the lid to see the violin underneath, gathering the photos up and shifting through them one by one.

Admittedly, they held some fond memories. Most of them were from the two arts festivals she and Aurik participated in while they were dating—as a result, a good portion were a little blurry. They agreed to only have one intentional picture taken each year, going together sometime in the following days to collect any that had been taken earlier; among the rest was a copy of the photo taken in honor of Adelinde’s coronation, a photo from Adelinde’s short visit to the arts festival in the October she was pregnant, and even a rough sketch of baby Matteo. Aurik must have asked someone to collect some for him.

“Aurik had always kept pictures with his violin,” Adelinde mused. Matteo paused—he likely didn’t expect it—but listened regardless, moving on from the chair to the dresser and now checking the bed to see if the mattress was still comfortable. “He said it helped remind him of why he played.”

“Did he have anything else aside from just…you and him?” Matteo asked, half-curious and half-cautious. He sat on the bed and positioned himself so he faced her.

“There were storybook pictures at first, or photographs of the places he went to,” Adelinde replied, shaking her head. “One or two drawings of his parents—they died before he could remember them, but he still honored their memory. I slowly overcame all but the fairytales in his mind.”

Matteo frowned a bit, seeming to recall something but not saying what. She expected him to entirely change the subject—instead, he stayed silent and considered something else.

“If Aurik hadn’t…done what he did,” Matteo said, staring at the bed instead of watching her expression, “Do you think you would’ve stayed with him?”

She couldn’t think of any way to clarify without sounding slightly insensitive, setting the photos down on the dresser and walking over to the bed.

“If he had accepted you, would I have stayed with him?”

“Yeah. Or…if I hadn’t actually came into existence.” He paused for a second and actually looked at her, quickly explaining with a bit of urgency, “I mean, I’m glad to be here, don’t get me wrong! You and Rene are honestly the best parents I could ask for, I just…think about it sometimes, you know? Because you and Aurik were happy up until he decided he didn’t want a kid.”

Adelinde honestly didn’t need to even consider it. She sat down in the spot next to Matteo.

“Knowing what I do now”—what he revealed at the trial, and what Rene told her about his goals being shared among other people—“it would’ve been a matter of time until one thing or another ended it. If not a child than marriage, if not marriage than his firm belief in stories even when he should have grown out of them.”

Matteo let out something like a sheepish chuckle.

“Right. Honestly, I can’t really say I can imagine having just one mother—heck, I can’t even picture living without Tara and she barely talks to me. Things are fine the way they are, my thoughts just wander the more I learn about him.”

Silence fell for a little bit, although Adelinde didn’t necessarily mind it. Her life would have been different with Aurik than it is now with Rene, but she preferred it this way—she wasn’t held to a position that she feared would pull her away from her children, and she had someone she knew she could rely on and trust to stay by her side. She couldn’t say the same for Aurik, even back then.

Matteo struck up conversation again after a minute, standing up to continue cleaning. Adelinde simply watched him—he insisted she did nothing more than talk with him—and offered input whenever she could.

She still worried about Tara—hopefully, Rene was able to get her to say something in Adelinde and Matteo’s absence—but at least she didn’t have to worry about Matteo. She knew there was a time where he didn’t mention Aurik—partly because he didn’t want to bother Adelinde, partly because the topic itself bothered him—so she took it as a good sign that he felt comfortable sharing general musings about his father with her, even if the topics afterwards barely mentioned it.