Adelinde suggested telling the kids; Rene could see Adelinde’s reasoning, but didn’t entirely agree with it. If there were any changes—Rene, personally, knew she would have a hard time letting Tara go out alone for a while—they would be more willing to accept them if they were aware of why the changes were made. On the other hand, Rene spent so much time trying to keep this from them that having to actually say it was…hard, to say the least.

Given the morning’s events, they agreed to wait until the day after, spending the rest of that day just…entertaining the kids’ whims. It’s been a while since Rene was able to sit down with everyone; Tara seemed to appreciate the slight change, and both kids enjoyed the opportunity. Rene and Adelinde kept the mood light enough to let the kids forget there had been trouble earlier.

Their schedules the next day weren’t quite as free—Rene had an hour or two of work, and Matteo had to visit Mark—but they managed. Rene tried to get everything done quickly, refusing extra work with the honest explanation of family matters, and her boss understood; Adelinde just went with Matteo to the palace and decided to wait until he was done with Mark before talking to him.

Rene tracked Tara down once she got home, grateful it wasn’t raining. She let her chose where to talk—the music room, in this instance—gave her a fair warning it might bother her, then carried on with an explanation and watched her expression.

She just gave her a blank look, at first—like she wanted to remain neutral but had a hard time. That eventually broke to a kind of concern that she carried through to the end of the conversation.

“…I guess that explains things,” Tara said after Rene finished.

“Do you have any other questions?” Rene asked kindly. She thought she said mostly everything—as much as she learned by talking to Elina—but it wouldn’t hurt to be sure.

Tara considered it, then shook her head. “I don’t think so. Still…”

She sighed; Rene half-expected her to walk off when she stood, but instead she took a spot next to Rene and leaned into her.

“I can’t say I’m surprised,” Tara admitted. “But I’m…worried. I don’t like how Itzun mentioned my ‘purpose.’”

“It took them since Dakari’s founding to find Aurik,” Rene pointed out, glancing down at her. “Another few years before they found me, but it’s still rare. I honestly don’t think another omyn with their qualifications would show up in your lifetime.”

“That’s assuming I’m allowed to die, if I’m supposed to lead another nation.”

“No one can live forever—you shouldn’t be an exception to that.” Oddly, that kind of promise seemed to assure Tara.

Rene shifted her position a bit so she could turn towards Tara, and in response the girl sat up and looked at her.

“If nothing else, they can’t physically hurt you,” Rene reasoned, “But I would still like to know you can fight back if they try to force you to do anything.”

“Which means..?” Tara prompted, frowning a bit.

“I can show you some things for self-defense, if you want,” Rene explained. “It’s not common to see someone carrying a knife around San Asari, but as long as you don’t threaten someone with it it’s not illegal. And if you don’t want an old port girl’s style, Mark could probably show you a thing or two.”

Tara looked about to protest, then must have realized there wasn’t much ways to argue against it. She nodded a little agreement, and Rene cast her a thankful smile in response.

The narrative has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

——

Matteo just blinked at her at first. Adelinde had an easier time telling him than she expected—remembering her conversations with Rene, rather than how it applied to others, helped—but it took him a minute or two before it seemed to click.

“So let me get this straight.” He counted off everything on his hand as he said it, and she nodded at each statement. “That gravestone we found was a weird color because it has Rene’s blood in it, and because Rene bound her blood to the gravestone it set a weird prophecy thing into motion. Said prophecy thing involves a creating a new nation, and Tara is supposed to lead it—but she can’t for some reason until there’s a second omyn. And at some point Elina came to our house? Which was to see if Tara knew anything and if I would be willing to tell them if I could be that second omyn? And to top it off—”

He hesitated, observed her expression, then finally said it with a bit more caution.

“Aurik tried to kill me because of the prophecy thing and the promise of a new nation. He would’ve been the first of the two omyn, but at the time they wanted to wait until they had both.”

Adelinde nodded with considerable evenness. Maybe the story just seemed…strange to her. Too fanciful and elaborate for life—yet here she was, living it. At least Matteo’s first response was to clarify, rather than try to avoid it.

“…Okay then. That’s a lot to register?”

“It is,” Adelinde agreed.

“Did Rene tell you any of this before now?” Matteo asked, half-curious. She wondered if it was his attempt at shifting the conversation away from his father; that would be the hardest thing for him.

“Not until recently,” Adelinde admitted in response. “But I can see why; if she had told me earlier—while we were dating, or in that first year or two of marriage—I don’t think I would have been able to listen. I was too close to the events in question.”

Matteo nodded, and he fell silent. She tried to offer him a kind smile.

“If it’s hard for you, you’re allowed to tell me.”

His thoughts travelled like hers on occasion; after she told him what Aurik did—what he wanted to achieve—Matteo tried to avoid bringing his father up in conversation and usually changed topics if discussing Aurik seemed inevitable. To him, she imagined, remembering his father among certain mindsets reminded him he might not be there if Aurik had succeeded. That bothered him as much as it used to bother her; he didn’t have the time she did to accept he was there and he didn’t need to worry about the ‘what if.’

Matteo seemed to only partially expect the offer, but regardless shook his head.

“It’s fine.” He gave her a smile instead. “On the bright side, I shouldn’t be in danger because I can’t bind things.”

“And Tara should be all right,” Adelinde added, nodding. “It still wouldn’t hurt if you could defend yourself, though.”

Matteo let out a mostly genuine chuckle in response.

“Mark’s like…five years ahead of you with that thought,” he said. “Do you really think we just sit in the office doing paperwork for hours? Got to get in that uncle-nephew bonding somehow—might as well make use of the knives lying around.”

“My father did the same for Mark,” Adelinde recalled. Just as Adelinde would only sit still to play an instrument, Mark could never finish any practice work without the promise of some kind of lesson.

“See! I’m inheriting a collection of knives from both sides—it’d be a shame if they just sat in a case until the end of time. I can do anything from self-defense to opening up a stubborn can of jars with the right knife.”

The smile he had gained faded, and he put on a more serious expression.

“That being said,” Matteo continued, somewhat firm, “If she needs it, I can watch out for Tara—or you and Rene, if necessary. That’s about all I can do.”

“Your understanding is all I really ask for,” Adelinde reasoned. “So to that end—thank you, both for the offer and listening.”

“I mean, it’s still weird,” Matteo admitted, albeit shifting back to a smile. “But it’s good to be in the loop.”

Adelinde nodded, and after a moment of silence she stood and gave him her own smile.

“Rene and Tara should be done their conversation, if you want to head home?”

“Sure. Could we do something together again? Yesterday was pretty nice.”

“We should be able to eat out for dinner, at least.”

Matteo sent her a quick grateful look, then left to let Mark know they were leaving. Once Mark came to personally tease Adelinde into visiting more often—when she wasn’t there to hold possibly-troubling conversations—they went back home for the day.