“You need to get yourself underground,” Sokomaur told Orenda as she pulled a tray from a cabinet and began to load it as full as she could, to the point that Orenda was afraid she wouldn’t be able to carry it. Soko had difficulty arranging everything she wanted, turned to look at Orenda, then pulled down another tray to fill up.

“Gary!” She called, and Little Gareth looked up from where he was sitting at the long table. He had just shoved his entire piece of cornbread into his mouth and didn’t like being called upon.

“What?” He asked with his mouth full.

“Take this tray down to Uncle Gary,” She told him, “And be quick about it. Come right back up. Tell Mary Sue she needs to get up here right now!”

“But I’m hungry,” The boy whined as he did as he was told.

“Hold on,” Soko called as he began to walk, “the sugar bowl. I reckon that’s everything y’all need. Just… Just keep down there and stay real quiet.”

Orenda took the other tray and prayed that she could stay on her feet on the stairs. She was the sort of bone tired she hadn’t been in a long while. Part of her wanted to stay, to see Bella, to help, but she understood why she needed to hide. There would be no way to explain a fire elf. Draco flew from her shoulder and ahead of them.

“They showed up so fast,” he said, “They found her almost as soon as I did. They had ran almost all the way back to Basilglen- and there was nearly nowhere to hide in those big open fields! I dove into a pile of grass that had been swept up to make hay. It clung to me half the flight back! But I think it’s going to be alright. They met Sarya on the road, and she managed to convince them that Bella belonged to her- that she had been stolen along with a bunch of other goods the night the ‘marauders’ attacked. Thank god that girl can think on her feet because the very first thing he asked was why her slave wasn’t marked.”

“What did she tell him?” Orenda asked as little Gary opened the secret doorway.

“That the branding ‘wouldn’t take’ and eventually she couldn’t afford to pay to keep trying.” Draco said. “I think she knew that Agalon knew Bella was a shifter. Because he said, ‘Yes, my father once had great difficulty with that, with one of his slaves’.”

“Xaxac once belonged to his father,” Orenda put the pieces together and they went down the rabbit hole, “His name on the poster was ‘OfAgalon’.”

“Mary Sue!” Gary called, “Soko wants you!”

Mary Sue came out of the hall to the bedrooms, followed closely by Sonny.

A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

“Why?” Mary Sue asked. She had seen Orenda and knew something was wrong.

“Bella and the other elf lady are back,” Little Gary said.

“Commander Agalon is bringing them back,” Orenda told her.

“Shit,” Mary Sue said, and wiped her hands on her apron, “When it rains it pours.”

She darted out of the room while Sonny took the tray from Little Gary.

“Get back up there,” Sonny said, and Little Gary ran after his sister, but Sonny, as if he had just thought of something important, called after him, “Wait!” And Little Gary paused in the doorway to the tunnel.

“Can you read?” Sonny asked him.

“No humans can read,” Gary said.

“Are you a shifter?” Sonny asked.

“None of us are shifters,” Gary said.

“Where do you live?” Sonny asked.

“In the slave quarters!” Gary said with much annoyance, “I’m not stupid! I’m not a baby!”

“Do we grow-”

“Starfruit is a myth!” Gary yelled as he ran down the hall.

“I better go lock that up,” Sonny sat his tray on the writing desk and ran after his brother, leaving Orenda to stand awkwardly in the living room.

Sonny returned a moment later, picked up the tray, and carried it off down the hall.

“We moved him to a bedroom, because he’s doing so much better,” Sonny explained as they walked. He was trying to stay upbeat, trying to project an air of ‘everything will be alright’, but Orenda knew he was worried. He held the tray expertly in one hand, as Orenda had seen human servers do back on the fire continent, and opened one of the many doors in the hall.

It opened into a pleasant bedroom similar to Xaxac’s, except it had twice the furniture- two beds, two wardrobes, two writing desks. Orenda’s staff leaned up against one of the desks, and it was on this one that Sonny sat his tray on before he walked over to a strange pipe that lined the place where the wall met the ceiling. It was not the same one that controlled the strange, non-magical lights.

Gareth had been lying on one of the beds reading what seemed to be a stack of letters, and he pushed himself up with great difficulty when they entered the room. He took one look at Orenda’s face and opened his mouth to speak, but his face lit up when Draco flew into the room and alighted on his bedpost.

“Commander Agalon has found Bella,” Draco said.

“Well, shit,” Gareth grabbed the nightstand and tried to pull himself to his feet. He made it, but he was unsteady and weak.

“Sit down, Gary!” Draco demanded, “The last time I saw you your guts were on the outside.”

“Well, they’re more or less where they should be now,” Gareth argued. “Sonny-boy, where’s my mask?”

“Still broken beyond wearability, I would suspect,” Sonny answered, unscrewing a valve. “Now everyone be quiet! I want to hear this. And sit down, Uncle Gary, you’re old as hell anyway.”