If someone had told Venza that morning she'd be coming home with a souvenir from Rentley, she would have thought it a toy, or perhaps food she could bring home to Mother.

Never in her wildest dreams would she have thought she'd be bringing home another girl. These were her thoughts as their group approached the settlement, wondering how she was going to explain to her father, who was trailing behind with Vosmer.

She could hear them arguing in hushed whispers about her.

"You could always just leave me," Aiela suggested, seeing her apparent agony.

"Absolutely not," Venza answered in a hushed voice. "If I do that, your grandmother wins."

"But she told you to take me with you," Aiela pointed out.

"Because she didn't think I actually would, obviously," Venza said. "It's a ploy."

Aiela looked like she had something more to say, but whatever it was, she kept it to herself, instead asking, "So you really are going to raise me?"

"Goodness, no." Venza gave the other girl an odd look. "But we can grow up together. It'll be fun. Don't have a lot of friends my age."

That was an understatement. She had friends in other noble houses, but she only ever saw them during large gatherings the nobility attended. That may or may not have been why she wasn't as resistant to the idea as she thought she would be.

Aiela looked unconvinced. "Something tells me your parents won't be keen on adopting a girl they've never seen before into the family."

"Well, if they don't, maybe Vosmer will take you," Venza said. "He always tells me I'm like the daughter he's never had."

"If you say so," Aiela answered, nonchalant.

"Why are you so calm about this? You just got thrown out."

The smaller girl shrugged. "There's no changing Oma's mind once it's made up. Well, unless she changes it herself, but basically, I can't do anything about it."

"Then why suggest leaving you behind?" Venza asked.

"I wanted to see how she'd react if you did," Aiela answered.

Venza groaned.

"Hey," Aiela suddenly said after a moment of silence.

"Yeah?"

"Thanks again," she said. "For not leaving me back there."

"I couldn't forgive myself if I did," Venza said. "I just can't ignore people in need, you know?"

"I realize that now," Aiela said. "I can already tell you're going to get us in so much trouble."

"Excuse me," Venza shot back. "But I could say the same about you."

It was mid afternoon when they entered the settlement. Lucius called for a medic to give the cut on her shoulder a proper seeing-to.

He stood nearby as she was bandaged up and she realized she couldn't put off talking about Aiela forever.

"Father," she began.

"Yes, Scamp?" her father asked. Her father was no fool. He probably had an idea what she was going to ask, especially since they'd brought Aiela to the village and she hadn't left them yet.

"I know you've kind of met already, but this is Aiela Durrell."

To her credit, Aiela lifted the skirt of her black dress and curtsied, as if she'd been living in the Imperial Court instead of Oma Mala's dank, decrepit hut in the middle of nowhere.

Lucius looked at her with a curious expression, like he couldn't figure her out. "I already asked, but you never said where we could drop you off."

"We were wondering if we could take her with us," Venza said, as though talking about the weather. "She's-"

The words caught in her throat, coming out in a hacking cough.

Venza blinked. She's Oma Mala's granddaughter, Venza had been about to say, but the words refused to leave her mouth.

Of course. There was no way the greatest witch in history would let some kid just bring an army down on her.

"You alright there, Scamp?" Lucius asked with some concern.

"I'm fine, Father," Venza answered. "Just tired from today, I suppose. Anyway, as I was saying: we were wondering if we could take her back with us."

Lucius looked at her like she'd just grown a second head. "I wasn't sure I heard right the first time, but I guess I did. I- what-"

It was his turn to be speechless, it seemed, though Venza doubted he'd had a spell cast on him by Oma Mala.

"Maybe you could slow down and explain why first," Vosmer suggested, ever the voice of reason.

The problem, of course, was Venza couldn't. She literally could not. The words turned to spasms in her throat. So, she improvised.

"She's an orphan," Venza said.

"It's true. I don't have parents," Aiela added.

Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

Vosmer and Lucius gave each other a look before Lucius finally said, "Well, I'm sorry to hear that, but we can arrange for someone here to take care of you instead of bringing you all the way back to Verdeholm."

It was a logical answer, really. She hated she hadn't thought of it, but then again, Oma Mala had been the one who'd suggested the arrangement. She bet the old crone defied logic on a daily basis. "But we've become such good friends!"

It was a weak argument, and she knew it. Her father doted on her a little, but not enough that he'd simply bend over whenever she pouted and made demands. Especially not after she'd gotten in trouble on the same day.

"Maybe we should at least consider if someone back home would raise her," Vosmer offered. He, on the other hand, favored Venza quite a bit.

Lucius seemed to give it thought, then said, "If I can ask: what happened to your family?"

"I don't know," Aiela answered. Venza wasn't even sure if she was lying or not.

Lucius pursed his lips. "I'm sorry for your loss, but why do you want to go with us?"

"I- I want to get away from here," Aiela answered, a hint of sorrow creeping into her voice, though it remained largely flat. "Get a fresh start."

"It's chilling, hearing something like that coming from one so young," Lucius said. "But are you certain? Surely, there's people here you're leaving behind."

He'd said the last sentence in a tone that said he really wanted to convince her to stay. Venza wanted to call him out on it, but Aiela had spoken up again. "There is another reason."

"And what might that be?" Lucius asked.

"I was hoping you knew someone who could help me control this," she said, opening her hands. Little sparks of lightning danced between her finger tips.

"Mother's already trying to teach me magic anyway," Venza added. "Please, father?"

"She's pretty talented, Lucius," Vosmer offered. "If not for her, you might not have gotten to us in time."

Lucius heaved a weary sigh. "Fine. Adam, double check if anyone would be upset at her coming along with us. If not, she can come."

Vosmer nodded and moved away from the group.

"Thank you, Fa-" Venza began.

"And you two can convince your mother to teach her," Lucius said.

Venza bit her lip. That might have been a harder battle than the one against the Bloodbeak.

Lucius eventually left them alone to discuss something else with the constable. Aiela looked at Venza with the usual unreadable expression, but Venza could swear she saw the girl's lips twitch into a small smirk.

The redhead shook her head just a little bit. She sincerely doubted the granddaughter of Oma Mala, of all people, needed help learning magic, but Aiela had gotten her foot through the door, and that's what mattered, wasn't it?

----------------------------------------

"Last chance to change your mind," Venza said. She and Aiela occupied the family carriage, seated across from one another.

Aiela gave her a searching look, then subtly shook her head as she ran an appreciative hand over the leather seat. "Oma has decided. I feel if I go back now, she won't even be there."

"What, she just packed up and left her hut? In the two hours since we left?"

"You assume she didn't take the hut with her."

Venza frowned. "Is she really that powerful?"

Making her forget how to get back to the hut was one thing, but making the entire place disappear was another.

"She has power and guile both," Aiela corrected her. "It's not easy getting entire nations to think you a mere fairy tale, though it helps when your magic is the actual stuff of legends."

"It would take a team of Odolenian mages to relocate a structure like that," Venza admitted, thinking of the team that did repairs on their house the previous summer. "And much more time."

"Oma has her ways," Aiela answered simply.

Before Venza could inquire further, the carriage door opened. She expected her father to join them, but instead of him, Vosmer peered into the carriage.

"Excuse me, ladies, could I have a moment?" he asked.

"Of course," Venza answered. "What is it?"

"Someone from the settlement wishes to speak with you," he said. "I found them while doing what your father asked."

What her father asked, of course, being to check if anyone in the village would protest to Aiela's leaving. Venza eyed the door warily. It would be most frustrating if she spent all that time convincing her father only for someone to stop her now.

"Lady Greyfield?" a man's voice questioned. He came into view as Vosmer stood aside. He was a tall, muscular man wearing an apron and a shirt. He had a head of blond hair, unusual for this part of the continent.

"That would be my mother, sir," she answered evenly. "You can just call me Venza."

"Ah, Miss Venza, then," he said, smiling behind a thick, blond beard. "My name is Ingvar Firebender. I am a smith in this village."

He had a thick accent Venza couldn't quite place, though it made it obvious at least that he wasn't a native of Odolenia.

"Good to meet you, Ingvar," she answered. "What can I do for you?"

"I wanted to thank you," he said. "For saving my daughter's life. And I apologize for her behavior."

Venza's eyebrow quirked upward, silently asking him to explain.

"Kindra has had a hard time fitting in because of her stature," he said.

The image of the blond girl with uneven pigtails and unusual bulk flashed in her mind.

"She is not short and slender like you Odolenian girls," Ingvar said. "It makes her a target for bullying, and so she has taken to being aggressive herself so she is not the one on the end of the bullying. I try to tell her this is wrong, but-"

"That's alright, Ingvar," Venza said. "But if anyone needs to apologize, it's her, and to Aiela."

She gestured at her friend, whose face remained impassive.

Ingvar scratched his head with a large hand. "I apologize, Miss Venza, but Kindra is fast asleep. She had quite an ordeal today, which is why I came in her stead." He turned his head to Aiela and bowed. "I apologize on my daughter's behalf, Miss Aiela. I will do my best to correct her."

A moment of stagnant silence hung in the air as Aiela’s face remained unreadable.

"Apology accepted," Aiela finally said.

"Thank you," he said. "I wish I had something to offer you, but we are new in this village and I have been busy with getting my smithy up and running."

"Don't worry about it, Ingvar," Venza answered. "It's part of my duty as my father's heir."

"Still, I cannot thank you enough," he insisted. "One day, we will repay our debt to your House. I swear on my ancestors."

"I-" Venza hesitated. Her instinct told her to insist it was quite alright, but she knew she was pushing the boundaries of politeness by refusing. "Alright. Thank you. I look forward to it, someday."

The giant of a man cracked a wide smile and bowed one last time before leaving. Vosmer stepped back into view, gave Venza a wink, and said, "See? Don't beat yourself up. Your father isn't always right."

Venza smiled at that.