{-Tinath-}
Ornetta almost reminded Tinath of her grandparents; kind, talkative, and understanding even if they didn’t quite know what was going on. She almost wondered if it was intentional, knowing that Rachel had been the one to breathe life into most of these characters.
But at least that meant that Ornetta gave them something else to focus on, other than the situation at hand. She might’ve even acknowledged that she was doing it, though that was a little harder to know for sure.
“Have I told you three dears yet that my nephew has a sister?” she asked.
Reynneak shook his head thoughtfully. It looked like he might’ve felt the same as Tinath about her. “No, I don’t think you have.”
“She’s a bit younger than him. Not a researcher, though. She moved quite a while ago, in order to be with some of our other family members.” Ornetta thought about it all a bit more. “I think it was Kehnore that she went to. It’s a bit hard to tell, though, we’ve got family all over the place! Do you think you’ve seen her? She looks a bit like her brother. Oh, well, I suppose you wouldn’t know what that would be. I’ll just tell you her name—Parpar.”
“I think she was in one of the quests we did,” Zetai recalled.
“Would you say the dear was doing alright? I worry about her all the time. She doesn’t write to us a whole lot anymore.”
“We didn’t have any reasons not to, so I guess so. Depending on what we’re doing, we could probably check on her later? We’re not going to have a lot of stuff left to do in Anseshara anyway at this rate. Might as well make a quick trip over to Kehnore.”
“Oh, that would be lovely! It’s actually another quest I have after we complete this one. If you really mean it, come back to me tomorrow, and I’ll be able to reward you for your troubles as well.”
“We’ll definitely try.”
Ornetta considered it for a moment, then added, “Could you check on Iris while you’re there, too? She’s the other family member we have there. And Kaerio, if you can find him—even if you can’t, Iris has her ways of locating him. It’ll give you all a good time to talk to one another.”
Maybe the other two didn’t notice anything strange about it, but Tinath knew a bit better; she knew more about what Nankohm used to get information. She’d been a part of it just earlier that year, after all, and she doubted their methods had changed much.
“Why do you think we’d want to see him?” she asked casually. Reynneak and Zetai quickly picked up on what she was trying to do, so they didn’t say anything.
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Ornetta casually shrugged. “Maybe I was wrong, then, but I thought you were the players with the twins. You look a lot like what others said you did, at least. I might’ve gotten something mixed up, though, so please, pay me no mind. I didn’t mean to offend you if I was wrong.”
A nod between the three of them confirmed that they were alright with Reynneak saying, “No, it’s okay. You’re right. They’ll probably like the opportunity to talk to Kaerio—we’ll be sure to let them know as soon as we can.”
“How are they, by the way?” Ornetta asked. It was clear that she had no idea; all of this was just simple questions from someone who knew just as much as she looked like she did. “I would’ve thought they’d be with you. Didn’t sound like the five of you spent too much time away from each other.” She paused when she noticed their extended silence. “Oh, did I say something wrong again? Sorry, dears, my curiosity got the better of me.”
“No, it’s fine,” Zetai said quickly. “I guess we just weren’t expecting it. They’re… both doing fine, though. We’ve just been running around on a lot of extensive quests recently and they needed to take a break. They’re just resting back at the inn for a little bit.”
“Well, then, I hope the dears feel well-rested soon. Perhaps I could drop by with some cookies later—I bake so many of them, even if they don’t all go to Haris. I can’t give any to you three, as players, but it should be a nice treat for the twins.”
Tinath couldn’t stop herself from mumbling, “Yeah, they probably wouldn’t argue with a cookie right about now…” She paused and added, “I think we should just let them rest for now, though. Maybe you could drop by in the next couple of days? If we’re not in there, then Vamir would probably hold on to them for us.”
After all, no one wanted Ornetta to realize what was really going on. That was the kind of information that no one needed to know.
Luckily, she didn’t seem to notice. “Alright, I’ll be sure to do that, then! You can be sure I’ll get to it. I’ll mark it on my calendar, even, once we get back.”
Tinath thought that might’ve been it, too, but Ornetta undoubtedly surprised them all when she kept finding things to talk about.
“And what about you three?” she then asked. “I know players don’t often like to talk about themselves, but I’d like to know how you’re doing. It’s only nice, you know. Besides, I know quite a lot of people—I’ll be able to tell you about a couple more quests if we talk a little longer.”
“I think we all appreciate the offer, but I doubt any of us have come here to talk about the real world…” Zetai mumbled.
“It doesn’t have to be about the real world, not really. Just whatever comes to mind. Or just telling me about your day.”
Tinath casually remarked, “Yeah, we haven’t really had the best of days either. Just a lot of running around without a lot to do in between.”
“Hopefully things calm down for you,” Ornetta offered thoughtfully.
Reynneak nervously nodded. “We all do. With any luck, it shouldn’t take things to get back to the same old predictable stuff.” He laughed nervously. “No one really appreciates those quiet moments when they’re there, but always want them back when they’re gone, you know?”
“You’ll get out of this. There’s light at the end of every tunnel, after all, even if you have to dig it out yourself.”
“Thanks. I think I speak for all of us when I say we all need that.”