Nice!! Easy peasy. Smooth sailing. Effortless. No problem, and all those other phrases. The Queen doesn’t suspect a thing and now she just needs to easily integrate herself into the nobility so she can have a stronger influence on society.

She looked around the room she had been placed in that would serve as her little home for the next few months until she found her hero.

It was quite nice if a little empty but that was to be expected since they probably expected her to put her own things in here. Even had a whole balcony without any doors and windows so she can get a nice breeze and an uninterrupted view of the Town (City?). How fancy

…Actually that might just be a hole in the wall. But that doesn’t make sense. Why would she be given a room with a hole in the wall. It's most likely a type of fashionable balcony or something. Humans loved coming up with weird things like this.

Before her train of thought could continue she heard a knock on her door. With a tilt of her head, she walked over and opened the door to see a woman standing there shifting awkwardly and she couldn’t help but let out a gasp upon seeing the woman's appearance which caused said woman to flinch.

She looked like a fairly normal woman if you discounted the six other black glassy like eyes on the side of her head and forehead. Or the fuzzy mandibles by her lips. And the 4 other extra arms that seemed to have some extra white fuzz to them sticking out of her side.

“Oh My God!” She couldn’t help herself as she stared at the woman in front of her who started to fidget.

“I-I a-am terribly sorry mam.” She managed to weakly stutter out “I-I know my appearance will rightly offend you but I was assigned to be your personal maid by the queen herself and I can’t-”

Honestly she wasn’t listening to a word this girl was saying. She couldn’t believe it!! One of her arts and crafts projects was still here!

Well maybe not the ones she personally worked on but a descendent of theirs????

She remembered when a bunch of her Tymbots came back all at once carrying a bunch of people. She didn’t really know what to do with them so she decided to run a basic experiment with making chimeras with a human base.

It was a relative success and afterwards she told her Tymbots to bring them back wherever they found them.

Now here was one of their descendants standing before her! She needed answers!

“But I promise! I promise that I can p-put in the work and and will do eve- Wah!”

The maid let out a yelp when she grabbed her by the wrist and yanked her inside her room.

“Oh my gosh! This is great! Now tell me! What other body parts do you have? What were the parts your parents have? Were both of your parents chimeras or just one? What is your average life span of your kind? Does said life span differ depending on the chimera species? Do you consider yourself a separate species of humans or do you consider yourself the same? What do you think of- Actually hang on! I need some paper and pens so I can write down this stuff! One second!”

The maid awkwardly stood with a dazed expression on her face. She had thrown a ton of questions at The Maid at the same time so she guessed it was a little understandable but she was so excited she couldn’t help it!

After pulling out her pen and paper she marched up to The Maid ready to write things down looking at her expectantly.

The Maid just looked back at her, stumbling over her words for a bit before managing to mumble out “Um.. C-Could you repeat the first question”

“What other body parts do you have? Actually better yet, I need you to strip down so I can closely examine you” She moved to start undressing The Maid who quickly jumped back looking horrified, the human skin on her face turning red in doing so.

“I-I Think that. Or I mean.. Wait.. Just.. Um no! You wouldn’t want to look at me like that! Us forsaken aren't anything special!” She barely managed to stammer out

“Forsaken?”

The Maid nodded, still seeming flustered “Yes Mam, my kind. We are called the forsaken. D-did you not know this?”

Forsaken…. That was so cool! Of course the descendants of her lovely creations were given a cool name! It would only make sense.

“Nice! Love the name. Now strip! We got some-”

She was interrupted by a knock on the door and she glowered at it before looking at The Maid “were you expecting someone?”

She quickly shook her head and with some enthusiasm rushed to the door to answer it, almost tripping over herself in doing so. She certainly seemed enthusiastic about doing her job.

The Maid swung the door open and bowed quickly as a young man stood before grinning ear to ear. Or rather young by her standards. He was probably old for humans, looking somewhere between 40-80 years old? When did most humans get a bunch of wrinkles on their face again?

“Ah!” The man spoke with a jovial tone“ You must be the famous Captain Gates! I hope you don’t mind me visiting so soon after your arrival but I just had to meet you. See, I happened to see your carriage and was beyond impressed with the runes on it.”

She strained her back a bit at that “Why thank you. Glad to see someone can recognize art. Can I help you though?”

“Yes, how could I be so rude.” He gave a respectful bow towards her

“You may call me Riez, I am but a humble mage under the court of her Majesty Cathryn. And I must emphasize the word humble for seeing the enchantments on your wagon as well as your little show in the throne room. I have to admit that there is much I still need to learn. I am, after all, a researcher first and foremost and when I see something I don’t know or understand in magic then I must find out.”

He flashed her a smile “So what do you say, care to entertain this old man and offer me some of your limitless knowledge?”

“Nah” She used a bit of telekinesis to swing the door shut on him making The Maid jump back in shock. She had stuff to do and had no interest in teaching someone basic level magic stuff.

Unfortunately the moment the door slammed shut, the old man started pounding on the door followed by some utter pitiful whining. “Please! Just hear me out! Please! I need this magic to learn! I need-”

She swung the door open and glowered at the Annoying Court Mage who seemed to be groveling at the door but quickly stood up like he wasn’t just and readopted that air of jovial old man “Oh good, I am glad you agreed” And promptly marched into her room before she could even say anything else.

“I.. Okay look, what was your name again?” She asked the Annoying Court Mage who beamed at her

“Riez, pleasure”

“Right, Riez, I will happily show you a couple of tricks or something. But later. I just got here and I would like to start my search for the prophesied hero as soon as possible”

“Ah of course of course. I suppose that makes sense. In that case I shall leave you to it for now. I will come back in a few days with my grandson so we can start learning some of your magic.”

“Hold on! Grandson! I never-” The door slams shut as The Annoying Court Mage left. Gods she hated talking to pushy people. She was really tempted to just kill the guy when he came over next.

Thoughts to return too, right now though. She slowly turns her head towards The Maid making her illusion smile about as wide as the skull she has as the Maid slowly backs up “Where were we?”

The Maid backed up slowly. “Um… Mam. I- I’m really am not comfortable with whatever it is you have planned.”

She huffed in annoyance. “Fine. No stripping or body examination, for now, but you are an assigned maid or servant for me by the queen?”

She nodded quickly “I-if you would have me. I understand I might not be what you would hope for but I promise I am a hard worker and dedicated! I won’t let you down and will work twice as hard as any servant you have had in the past!”

She seemed worried she was going to get rid of her? But why on earth would she do that? It is pretty awesome to have a descendant of one of her arts and craft projects working for her. Plus this way she can examine and see how they acted up close. Maybe she isn’t very good at being a maid? Well that was an easy enough fix.

She walked over to her bag that she had set down in the room and began to shuffle through her time prisons. “Let’s see, not this one. Not this one either. Ah hah! Here we are.”

She went through the contents of time prison without taking anything out until she found a few books she was looking for and selectively pulled those out of the prison by stating the objects name followed by her pass code “Something something book time prison number six”

Once she pulled out the various books she promptly plopped them down in front of The Maid. “Right, here we are. A book about cleaning and the best ways to go about it, a few books about cooking, and a book about manners and how to prepare a place for guests. That should be enough wouldn’t you say?”

The Maid looked almost confused at the books before looking back at her “I… These s-seem to be odd books to carry around with you on person.”

“A lady must always be prepared and that means having books for every possible occasion on her at all times” she proudly declared.

“Oh, also take these.” She handed over a pair of enchanted glasses. “I don’t know if you’ll be able to understand the language so I think it would be best if you wore these, it will basically turn the text into a language you can understand.”

The Maid very gently took the glasses with her more humanoid looking hand as if terrified the slightest pressure would break them “Are you sure it’s okay to give someone like me such a valuable thing?”

“Yes? It’s because of who you are that I am giving you such things in the first place” Plus they weren’t really that valuable. She had several copies of all her books and multiple pairs of those glasses but if she wanted to think they were valuable who was she to say no. Then again all books were valuable so perhaps she had a point. But a book that isn’t read is a book that has no purpose. So giving them to someone who will read them lets them serve their purpose wonderfully.

“Anyways. If you are going to be my servant. I suppose I need to know your name. What should I call you?”

“Oh!” She seemed to realize she forgot to introduce herself and quickly bowed several times “I am so terribly sorry for my rudeness mam! I mean my Ladyship! You may call me Vera.”

“Vera huh” She nodded, that should be easy enough to remember.

“Alright Vera, how about you start studying those books, I need to unpack and make this place look a little more presentable for a lady of my position and standing”

The maid nodded and bowed again, much deeper then before “Thank you for giving me a chance M’lady!”

She waved The Maid off and turned to the room. Now how was she going to decorate this place.

* * * * * * * * * * * *

Riez grunted as he moved through the castle. Walking all the way from the north tower was annoying as his body just wasn’t as young as it used to be.

“Success?” Ignes had asked, standing by a corner that Riez just passed. He resisted the urge to roll his eyes. Most were intimidated by the man, scared they would be the next ones to vanish in the night to never be seen again. Perhaps he would be too if it weren’t for the fact he basically taught this man since he was a kid. He just found his antics silly and wished he didn’t bother doing so with him.

“Things went smoothly. I’ll be heading there again later down the road. Shouldn’t you be getting ready to leave?”

“I am leaving shortly. I wanted to check to make sure you didn’t screw up the first meeting. I have to admit that was some performance you gave her when she shut the door on you like that.”

Riez frowned, dropping his normal cheerful demeanor “You forget yourself Ignes. Never forget I was the one who made you who you are today. Do not question me or my methods. If debasing myself and throwing away any pride I might have means I can further my objective. Then it seems like a small price to pay. You should keep that in mind. Your ego tends to get in the way of your job.”

Ignes looked away before grunting and started to walk off. “I’m going to be late. I leave the Queens protection in your capable hands”

“Yes, I am sure.” He continued on his way till he eventually made his way to the part of the castle where several of the court mages practiced their craft. After heading into his personal laboratory he saw his grandson sitting at one of his tables reading a book on magic that was probably too advanced for someone his age.

“And what are you doing Marrow?”

Marrow didn’t respond, too engrossed in whatever he was reading. So Riez stepped closer and lightly bonked him on the head with his staff causing Marrow to snap up his focused gaze training onto him.

“Oh hi grandpa!” His beaming smile suddenly faltered as he slowly registered what Riez had done and then clutched the top of his head as tears began to form in his eyes. “Ow! What was that for!”

“For not greeting your elders when they come through the door. You should have better manners. What if I had been the Queen?”

Marrow just rubbed his head and didn’t acknowledge his comment.

“Now, I want you to start getting ready. Have you heard of the guest that is currently staying in the north tower?”

Marrow titled his head “The north tower? I thought that was under construction?”

“It is. Can you perhaps tell me why the Queen might have given someone a place to stay like the north tower despite it being under construction?”

Marrow sat in thought for a second. “I don’t suppose its because she forgot it was under construction… Did she do it perhaps to insult her?”

Riez let out a grunt, not expecting his answer but happy that he could get it partially right. “The queen gave it to her as a show of force and as an insult. It was a way of showing that the guest is still reliant on her and her accommodations of luxury will be poor if the Queen so desires”

Marrow didn’t look entirely convinced. The boy was a prodigy with magic but he feared for his weak heart. The boy was just too soft. He was actually worried about needing to use Marrow in his schemes for simply the reason he feared Marrow would grow too attached to her despite the threat she posed. But that was a potential problem in the future and they needed the information. An earnest child seeking knowledge was hard to say no too for anybody. And it was easier for someone to drop their guard around too, even if there were other people in the room.

“I will be making visits to our guest and I will be taking you with me”

“What?? But I don’t want to go! I’d rather stay here and keep learning about magic!”

“She is a talented mage, one who possesses more magical knowledge than even I.”

“Nevermind, I’ll go!”

Just like that? Marrow could have at least protested and said something like ‘What? No way Grandpa! No one is better at magic than you’. Instead of just quickly accepting it!

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

Trying to ignore the insult, Riez continued “We will be visiting her in a week. So be ready. I am about to cram a lot of magical information into your head. I want to impress her how much of a prodigy you are”

Marrow simple puffed his chest out in pride as a response. He was talented, extremely so for his age but he was also arrogant. Riez was going to have to crush that out of him by any means necessary starting today.

* * * * * * * * * * * *

Sharrel kept herself composed with the rest of the servants as the maid in front of her was beaten by the lord of the manor. Each loud crack of his whip threatened to break her composure but if she did she would be the next one on the post.

It was shortly after she had gotten the job she learned what it really entailed. The head maid would hire kids off the street like her, ones desperate for money that had no connections.

They were largely used as expendable assets for the lord of the manor to whip and beat so he wouldn’t take his anger or frustration out on any of the more important work staff that had connections or ties to important family members.

The lord of the city cracked his whip once more against the maid that was tied to the post before she completely slumped unconscious.

“Weak little girl” The Lord growled as he turned his eyes to the servants that were lined up before his eyes landed on Sharrel as his eyes narrowed “You. You are new here, correct?”

Sharrel nodded keeping herself as composed as possible “Yes sir”

The lord smiled cruelly as he pulled his whip ready. “How about a game? If you flinch, you get tied to the post. If you don’t, then you all get to go back to work”

She knew it wasn’t really a question as she straightened her back, her nails digging into her leg. She could do this, just don’t focus on the

CRACK

She bit down on her tongue as the whip snapped towards her face and she felt a stinging on her cheek but she held her composure as she kept her eyes forward.

The lord watched her carefully before grunting “My aim was off, I was going for your eye.”

He wrapped the whip up around his arm. “Let it be known that I am a man of my word. You are all dismissed. Someone clean up this sorry mess on the ground” He stated gesturing to the collapsed maid on the ground before turning and leaving

The moment he stepped out of Sharrels sight, her legs gave out from underneath her and she fell on the ground. Her breathing went harsh and fast as she felt tears threatening to fall down her cheeks.

Several of the servants went to pick up the maid that was tied to the post as another went up to her. “Hey, are you doing okay?”

Sharrel looked at the servant and quickly did her best to compose herself “Yeah, yea. I’m fine. Thank you”

She accepted the hand the other maid gave her and was pulled back to her feet. “I know how to do some basic stitching for your cheek if you’d like”

Sharrel almost declined as she knew she needed to get home to Aion but he would probably get really upset if he saw a fresh wound on her cheek so she agreed and she was lead to a servants quarters where she pulled out a sewing kit and started to stitch Sharrels cheek

“I’m Nancy by the way.”

“Sharrel, and thanks”

Nancy gave a small smile “I take it you will be coming back tomorrow”

“Is it that obvious”

“It’s how it always is. Everyone here, or at least everyone doing the more messy work can’t afford to leave. All of us need the money, and they know it. Just don’t lose heart and don’t make any serious mistakes and you’ll do fine”

Sharrel was about to respond when the Head Maid burst into the room and anger covering her beautiful face as she glared the two of them. “There you are! Nancy get back to work this instant and you!”

She jabbed a perfect pedicured finger towards Sharrel. “You are done for today right? Go home! We don’t need more of you street rats in this palace then is necessary! Now move!”

Nancy quickly bowed towards the head maid and scampered off as quickly as she could while Sharrel kept her head low and went to change out of her maid outfit into her usual clothes. They weren’t allowed to take anything back from the mansion as they didn’t want them selling anything. That also included food too sadly.

After she changed, she got her days worth of pay and began to head home leaving through the low class servants exit.

She wanted to try scrounging around for food to bring home but she was already late and Aion would be worrying.

She started to dart through the various back streets and alleyways towards the slums. Going through the safer alleys she had learned so as to avoid the attention of guards looking to abuse their power or the more unsavory people looking for whatever it was they were after.

As she made her way to their little hovel her steps slowed down as she heard a deep voice coming from inside.

“It is quite clear the flowers are well taken care of. You should be very proud.”

Sharrel felt a spike of dread as she quickly opened the door and saw five men standing around their shack, with a sixth sitting on the bed with Aion. It was so cramped that she was surprised anyone could actually move.

“Ah good” The man sitting on the bed as he turned to Sharrel, a man she knew all too well. Whines

She reached for the makeshift dagger she kept hidden on her leg but the man closest to her was far quicker and his meaty fist slammed into her gut knocking the wind out of her before grabbing her and shoving her into the ground before Whines.

She could hear Aion screaming before a loud smack echoed through the room and he fell silent.

She saw red and despite having the wind knocked out of her she launched herself up with her makeshift knife and thrusted the pointed end at the bastard who would dare strike Aion, aiming for his eye.

His hand smoothly grabbed her wrist before she could get close and twisted. Flipping her over onto the bed post with an audible crack before he grabbed her hair and brought her face down into the ground with yet another loud crack and her vision swam.

As things slowly came back into focus she made out Whines yelling at the goons. “What if she actually got close! She could have hurt me, you useless bastards! What the fuck do I pay you for!”

She shifted, trying to get her body to get up so she could stab the asshole in the back but her body wasn’t listening to her properly and she awkwardly fumbled on the floor. Which was enough to draw their attention.

“Ah! Good, glad to see that didn’t kill you. Where the fuck is my money you brat”

“Fuck you! I already gave you this months payment!” She spat out some blood her mouth with as much vitriol as she could muster.

Whines simply grunted “The monthly payment just went up, and you haven’t delivered.”

He then turned to one of his goons. “Strip her and find whatever she might be carrying.”

The men moved quickly and ripped her clothes off of her and took her pay that she got from today's work.

Whines then counted and pocketed “Hmph, a paltry sum but along with the money we found hidden in the floorboards I would say that will cover this month's payment. Lucky you. It would have been a real shame if you couldn’t have made the payment and we had to take something else to cover it.”

His face twisted into a cruel grin “I know of a few people who might enjoy a girl like you. Or perhaps that sickly brother of yours. They would definitely enjoy someone as frail and feeble as him for a night or two.

“You best have the new payment for next month. Don’t care how you get it but you better have it. And if you try to move into another place again I will have to assume you are trying to nag your debt and will not be so nice the next time I find you.”

She watched as they started to move out but she couldn’t just let them leave with all the money Sharrel had been saving up and she reached and grabbed Whines boot “Wait, please, I need that money for Aions medicine. I have been saving it up for several months. I promise I will start with the new monthly payment next month and I won’t run or anything. Just please leave this money so I can get-AH!”

She let out a pained scream as Whines ripped his foot out of her grasp and slammed it down onto her hand. “If you want to blame anyone then blame your parents who couldn’t afford having kids. Be thankful my bleeding heart has given you more chances then I would have with anyone else. If I were you, I’d kill your brother as all he does is drag you down. But if you ever decide to go that route contact me and I will take whatever he sells for off of your debt.” He said with a sneer

With that he stormed out with his goons leaving Sharrel to lay there as the adrenaline died away and she felt the pain all over her body.

It was then she heard a very weak voice from behind her “I’m sorry” Followed by sniffling of Aion clearly trying hard not to cry.

Despite the pain she slowly pushed herself up from where she lay and made her way to the bed and placed a hand softly on Aions forehead. He was starting to burn up. No doubt from everything that had happened. His body wasn’t able to take it.

Aion tried to push her hand away though “Stop! I am Fine! I will be fine! You need to stop! You need to stop doing these things for me! He’s right! You should have just killed me! Our parents should have never had me! I can’t even do anything to help or protect you! I’M USELESS! IM USE-less”

His last word broke as he broke into a fit of sobs and Sharrel just grabbed and held him in her arms. Pushing her own tears down.

She wished she could offer words of comfort to him but knew anything she would say would just come across as disingenuous so she just held Aion as he continued to cry until his sobs slowly lessened into whimpers, and those whimpers turned into soft breathing.

“We will get through this. One way or another we will get through this.”

“How…” His voice was meek, soft, yet scratchy from his crying.

“I don’t know yet but I will figure something out. Name a single time I have ever let you down?”

“I can’t think of anything…”

“Exactly. One way or another we will get through this. Get away from Whines, get you healthy. What would be the first thing you’d want to do when you are healthy.”

“Flowers… I want to see a field filled with flowers”

Sharrel couldn’t help but let out a small laugh at that. “Then let that be your goal. To keep going, to keep living and moving forward so you can see a field of flowers that go on forever and ever.”

Aion gave a meek smile “I’d like that. But what about you… What would your goal be”

“To make sure you see that field of flowers.”

She thought that answer would please him but Aion simply frowned. “But thats mine. What is yours!”

Sharrel didn’t really respond because she knew she didn’t really have any goal outside of taking care of Aion. Wasn’t that enough?

Instead of answering she kissed the top of his head “You need to get some sleep. Your fever is already getting worse. Maybe when you are feeling better I will tell you.”

Aion looked like he wanted to protest but his body clearly had had enough and he quickly drifted off into sleep.

Seeing him asleep she got up from where she sat and began to clean up her clothes. She would have to do a quick patch job fixing them and make sure she didn’t have any serious visible injuries for tomorrow. Or at least not ones that she could easily explain away.

She grabbed her dress and started to sew it back together. Her hands were shaking making sewing difficult.

She couldn’t do anything again. Just like Aion she felt so utterly useless, utterly powerless. This time, now that nobody was around to see, the tears began to fall and they didn’t stop throughout the night.

* * * * * * * * * * * *

Jacob knocked on their room loudly “Clair! Unlock the door! You can’t just keep me out of my room like this just because you-”

The door swung open and his older sister glared down at him “What Jacob! I am trying to work and don’t want to hear your pestering or badgering”

Jacob made sure to roll his eyes as visible as possible while also trying to stand up straighter so she looked down on him less “Please, no matter how many pieces of clothes you patch it’s never going to be enough and it's my room just as much as yours. Now let me in.”

“Wow, way to act like more of a dick than usual. No, all you are going to do is disrupt my work. Now go away. I don’t have time for you.”

Before she could slam the door on him Jaocb quickly spurted out “Mom is in one of her moods again.”

The door froze and Clair closed her eyes in clear frustration before swinging the door back open for their room “Fine. But if you start to disrupt my work I am kicking you out”

Jacob nodded and quickly scurried into the room and towards his bed that was near the only window in the room, much to his sisters annoyance and much to his delight.

“I take it she is upset about dad again?” Clair asking him and Jacob nodded

“Something like that. So naturally it's our fault he isn’t ever home or blows his money on who knows what” he vented out.

“Whatever. You can stop talking now.” Clair sat at the workbench table they had in their room with a massive pile of clothes that was stacked to one side and some other clothes that were neatly folded on her bed.

The money she was saving up from patching and fixing other people's clothes was so she could eventually leave Haven and move somewhere that was away from their parents though he didn’t see how she’d ever be able to save up enough.

Even if she did somehow save up enough money to leave, where would she even go? Their aunt lived in the capital and probably wouldn’t want a useless niece like her hanging around her place even if she claimed she wanted Clair there.

“I still don’t know why you keep bothering with that stuff. It’s not like you will ever save up enough to actually leave. You should just listen to mom and dad and apply yourself towards something more useful.”

“Jacob” Clair said through gritted teeth “One more word and you will get kicked out”

“Fine fine.. Just telling the truth, no need to get pissy with me” He muttered that last part but the room was small enough for Clair to hear and she slammed the clothes she was working on down on the table and stood up and marched over. Forcefully grabbing his arm and throwing him out of the room despite him trying to fight back.

“Wait Clair! Come on! You can’t just throw me out like that!”

“Look Jacob. I can’t deal with your shit today. Go find Erin and bother him or something. He is always more accepting of your stupidity then anyone else anyway” She then proceeded to shut the door in his face.

“Tough talk for someone like you. Just you wait. When I get older and stronger I will be throwing you out of MY room and there is nothing you’ll be able to do about it!” There was no response from the other side of the door and he turned around and stormed off.

He walked past his moms painting room where she usually stored all her alcohol and his dads study which he usually used as a gambling den for him and his friends and began to make his way down the stairs to the ground level.

He quickly shifted to moving as sneakily as he could creeping through the floor before he heard his mom suddenly shout in a drunken voice “There you are! What are you doing sneaking around here like some common criminal? You're trying to avoid me aren’t you! After all I do for you and for this family this is exactly the kind of thanks my ungrateful child would do!”

Jacob did his best not to outwardly flinch at the sudden barrage his mom just dumped on him and put on the necessary smile that was needed as he turned around “Not at all mom. I wasn't trying to avoid you. I was just trying to move quietly to not disturb you as you had asked me to do.”

“Lies! You are trying to avoid me cause you hate me! Why do you hate me! I swear you are just like your father! Now why! Why do you hate me!”

Jacob was actually lying and he did hate his mom but acknowledging any of that would just cause more trouble for him so he doubled down “Nonsense mom. I love you”

He gave her a quick hug “You probably don’t remember cause you were distracted with some of your painting when you said it. You know me. Always accidentally making noise at the least opportune times. That is why I was trying to walk quietly. Trying to fix that issue so you can have some more peace and quiet while you work”

His mom mumbled something as if she was trying to remember if she had truly said something to him about being quiet so before she could push past the haze of the alcohol he continued

“I will be heading out for a few hours. Take care, shouldn’t be gone for too long”

“Fine. Have your fun and let your mother rot away. And if you happen to see your father! Tell him if he doesn’t bother showing up tonight then he can not show up at all! I’m sure he would take delight in watching his family rot away.”

Jacob was loathed to admit that he actually agreed with her statement there. He probably would take delight in seeing all of them rot unless it hurt his image that is.

He quickly left the house before his mom could go into another tangent and began to make his way over to the wall. He hoped Erin wasn’t on duty as he did not want to be alone. It was pretty sad that he was having to resort to hanging around Erin of all people. Just went to show how desperate he was at this point.

As he made his way to the wall he began to poke around looking for him but had trouble. He shouldn’t have been that hard to spot given his appearance. He was probably in the barracks then. He briefly debated about heading over there to see if he could find him when a voice called out to him.

“Hey, aren’t you Manis’s son? Was it Quill?”

Jacob turned around to see who the speaker was and spotted a man in a helmet with a red feather sticking out of it signifying his captain status. “It is Jacob actually and yes, Manis is my father”

“I see, what are you doing here then? Your father should be with the Baron should he not?”

“Yes well I…” He let out a sigh as he couldn’t think of a good excuse “I am looking for Erin. Is he at the barracks?”

The captain made a face “No he isn’t. The bastard is actually taking the test to be a ranger. The leader of the rangers is here looking for new recruits and he actually thinks he has a chance.”

Jacob almost laughed at the stupidity of Erin actually being accepted into the rangers. If the captain of the rangers were to actually accept someone like him then their standards had certainly lowered.

He thanked the guard captain as that was what was expected of him and left. He couldn’t go home so he mindlessly wandered through the streets, passing by people as he made his way with no real destination in mind.

Eventually his feet took him to the park that was close to this city's castle and he continued to wander mindlessly until he stumbled across a small pond and stared out into it.

It was all stupid. His mind flashed to the faces of all the people he past by as he wandered around the city. Their smiling happy faces were completely oblivious to the suffering he had to constantly endure!

If they were actually decent people perhaps opening up and asking for help would do something but he knew what would happen, they would offer their sympathies and leave him to rot. No one actually cared.

His eyes slowly drifted towards a tree that stood by the pond. It’s huge branches stretching up to the sky as he stepped closer and looked at the rough tree bark, his fists tightening more as he continued to process his thoughts.

They all meant nothing to him! Every single one of them was happy to let him suffer! Suffer for no crime he committed! Just cause he was an inconvenience to help he would suffer! They all probably looked down on him and secretly mocked him behind his back!!

His fists flew towards the trunk of the tree and slammed into the bark, pain flashed through his knuckles and up his arm but he slammed his fists into the trunk again and again till the dark brown bark was stained red and he collapsed to the ground desperately pushing back the sobs that wanted to be let out.

The pain gave him some small relief from the emotions that threaten to overwhelm him and he would not cry! That would show weakness and he was not weak! He will be stronger than that!

Gritting his teeth he forced his tears back and took a deep breath. He looked down at his bloodied up hands and if anybody questioned him on it he would just say he got into a fight with some lowly street rats trying to steal merchandise.

Jacob smiled a little at that. He sort of liked the sound of that. Perhaps he would try to find some, would be better than hitting this tree anyways.

He noticed the sun was starting to set and knew he needed to head back home. It was a frustrating day but at least it would be over soon.