Two to three months passed by before Evelyn remembered to look into her daughter’s workplace. She ‘had’ called before then, but her daughter had been a bit too busy to chat and Evelyn had also been a bit too busy to chat, having made the call during one of her very short lunch breaks. Thus beyond being proud that her little girl had finally found herself an occupation that slowly drained her of her youth and energy, as Evelyn had, the clan head hadn’t thought to ask further.
Life and the three dozen, or so, ongoing dumpster fires that she had to put out during that twelve-week period made sure that Evelyn didn’t have any free time to think on the matter further. The months of distracting distress continued until finally Evelyn and her Wallace clan were finally able to see the light at the end of the tunnel. The numerous crises that had afflicted their clan finally falling to a more manageable amount.
Now two days after returning from the funeral of a cousin that she actually hadn’t liked very much, but still had to mourn and avenge, as was her duty, Evelyn finally had some time to herself. She had a large lunch. She indulged in a bit of phone sex with her husband who was currently on the other side of the country trying to see if he could set up a new enterprise for the family in the booming field of asteroid mining.
Then while Evelyn was browsing the internet to spruce up her much neglected social media accounts and make sure that the world knew that the Wallace’s had everything well in hand, she thought of her daughter and her workplace.
A quick check of Bernadette’s social media showed a lack of updates since as far back as a year ago. The last post was a picture of her at her workplace. Apparently the girl had adopted a puppy.
Evelyn smiled to herself, aware that it was all but inevitable that this would be the case. Bernadette had always been a friend to anything furry. In fact, she’d initially wanted to be a beast-tamer or monster breeder. But Evelyn had talked her out of it, feeling that those positions were unsuitable for a girl of her Bernadette’s status.
Then Evelyn did a web search, remembering what Beatrice told her. Searching for World Government departments that had started openly seeking new talents over a year ago. Her search found three options.
The first was a massive farming commune run by dryads and the North American Department of Agriculture that had raised a few eyebrows by specifically looking for single males and males in open relationships, who would be willing to fraternize.
The second department that opened up around that point, was the department of Planetary and Dimensional Defense that expanded itself a second time after the attack by the damned Terrans. The third department that started openly accepting new hires around that time, was the mysterious and little spoken of, Division of Cosmic Artifice.
Evelyn frowned as she discounted the farming commune, and then tried to decide which of the two remaining departments had hired her daughter. She remembered that Bernadette was working in Arcadia and then narrowed down the list.
Having found the most likely candidate, there was nothing left for Evelyn to do but do a little more internet searching to find out what the Division of Cosmic Artifice was all about. Evelyn was put out to find that there wasn’t much out there.
The secrecy of the Division fed her curiosity and Evelyn turned to some of her other sources. Wanting to make sure that her daughter’s new employer wasn’t a career dead-end or any other kind of dangerous situation.
Another week passed by, and Evelyn was shocked to find that most of her sources were drawing blanks regarding the goings within the Division of Cosmic Artifice. What little intel that ‘was’ available all seemed to show that everyone and their grandfather was trying to get a foothold in the organization.
The group apparently had very close ties to the Seth family, the world government, and the Department of Paranormal Authority and Administration. More significantly the group had ties to the House of Antipodes, an even more mysterious entity that quietly aided the World government as the world recovered from the Endless Night. The founders of this world’s DPAA. An entity that even the myriad faiths, and secret orders, tread carefully around.
By this point, Evelyn’s curiosity was positively burning. Her search continued and she started shelving certain matters, just so she could continue looking into her daughter’s new Employer.
Eventually, the high-end search led to a dead end. She didn’t want to go too far and risk raising any red flags, so Evelyn pulled.
Still, her curiosity continued, so she ended up doing the simpler thing, and simply going on the organization’s barely existent government website.
She found the names of the heads of the organization and was surprised to find that the two heads of the Division were related, either by blood or marriage. Which was a little strange for a government entity. It made it seem like the whole division was the property of one clan or family. Then Evelyn discovered that the entirety of the senior staff of the Division was similar to the DPAA in that they were all either immortals or as powerful as immortals, which made things even more questionable.
While sitting in her office and snacking on a granola bar, Evelyn looked at the name of one of the Division’s two Co-Directors. There was something familiar there. A certain idea popped in Evelyn’s head. It was ridiculous to think about, but for whatever reason, she couldn’t let the idea go.
It was only the passage of time that made Evelyn forget this issue, but she hadn't forgotten that she’d started this whole exercise to make sure her little girl was okay.
Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author.
If the amount of money some people were putting forward in their attempts to bribe the division’s leadership into hiring their brats was any indication, Bernadette was doing quite well for herself indeed. However, a mother still worries, so Evelyn ended up deciding to call her daughter more often just to see if she was okay, and also to maybe feel the girl out regarding her duties as an employee of the Division.
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“And you’re sure, you’re eating well?” said Evelyn.
“Yes, mom. I’m eating fine. Nothing too fatty, but no weird diets. Perfectly nutritionally balanced. Did you want to know if I am brushing my teeth properly too, mother dearest?” said Bernadette. Her tone sarcastic because between work, the weird thing she had going on between her and Samantha, and her mother’s frequent calls, she was starting to get stressed out.
“Oi, don’t get fresh. I call because I care…” said Evelyn.
Bernadette bit her tongue. Resisting the urge to ask where the hell this care had been while she was working for the pet store. On the one hand, being shut out like that really hurt. On the other hand, Bernadette was aware that her mother was probably just busy with clan business...like usual. Her mother didn’t avoid calling because she didn’t care. She didn’t call because she and the clan had been drowning in various issues, and on some level keeping her distance had likely also been a way of keeping Bernadette safe.
Exiled relatives were often spared from clan purges, and at the very least they were almost always given the most time to run and hide. Bernadette had dreaded the day that she might receive a call from Chloe and maybe one or two others of the clan youths, telling her that they needed to come and live with her, because the clan was no more.
Besides that, the money that sometimes popped up in her account so she could occasionally treat herself to something nice, had to have come from somewhere. Not only would it not have been fair to throw all that in her face, but the calls had also initially been quite nice when they started. Especially after being what felt like the cold shoulder for all those months. Unfortunately, there was such a thing as family-burnout.
On her side of the call, Evelyn was also aware that she was maybe overdoing it. It was just that as time passed, and Beatrice was able to take over more and more of her responsibilities, she found herself with that much more free time on her hand. Free time that Evelyn didn’t really know what to do with.
In theory, Evelyn should probably be spending that time cultivating and growing as a mage, but Evelyn wasn’t quite sure she was ready to move from one stressful segment of her life to another stressful segment, quite yet.
“Darling, I know that you can’t really divulge too much about what you do in that little division of yours, but can I ask one thing?” said Evelyn.
“...Yes, mother?” said Bernadette. Suddenly on guard, because the employment contract was quite stringent regarding its multiple non-disclosure clauses, and there was also the fact that there were certain things that Bernadette didn’t feel would be wise to share.
“I-, I couldn’t help noticing that one of the Co-Directors for the Division is named Margot Kaylan. Is that a coincidence or….?”
Bernadette sighed. She briefly considered lying to her mother but ultimately didn’t.
“....It’s not a coincidence, mother,” said Bernadette.
“It...isn’t?” said Evelyn. Gasping in shock and excitement.
“Yes. It seems my dear cousin has done quite well for herself. She is both very successful, and very, very, ‘very’ powerful. Powerful enough to have gods and devils calling her “ma’am”, mom, “ said Bernadette. Making sure to stress the point.
“.....” Evelyn froze. Not sure what to say to that. Eventually, she came out with an,
“N-, Now are we talking organizational power or personal power because organizational power is…”
“Both...Very much both, mother,” said Bernadette. Shutting down any plotting or scheming that her mother might have been on the verge of beginning.
There was another lull. Then Evelyn said,
“And...And she isn’t mistreating you, right?” The clan head’s voice filled with motherly concern and endless dread.
“Mom...When I went to the interview, I’m pretty sure neither of us knew who the other was. Then when we realized it, she let me live. Then when she hired me, she still didn’t kill me. The fact I’m still alive is very much a miracle, I think. And the simple fact is while I have no clue as to why she let me live, I can tell you without any hint of a doubt that it is ‘not’ because she’s forgotten or forgiven what any of us did,” said Bernadette. Laying open the various things she’d discovered, deciphered, and reasoned out for herself over the passing year. Making sure that her mother knew that her employment at the division was an anomaly, not something that could be mined or utilized.
“I...see,” said Evelyn. Her tone dejected.
“Well, I guess, send your cousin, my love, dear,” said Evelyn.
“Mother...I’ve inadvertently mentioned either you or Beatrice in the office a total of five times. While I can’t exactly prove anything, I’m pretty sure two of them got me sent on particularly difficult missions, and three of them, lead to an article of my clothing spontaneously combusting. I don’t think sending your love would be the wisest move for either my career or my life expectancy, and I find that I both enjoy this job and am actually pretty good at it” said Beatrice. Her tone dire.
“.....” Evelyn didn’t know what to say to that.
“If...If it makes you feel any better, I wasn’t joking about the whole her, ‘not-remembering me’-thing. I took the chance to apologize for being so...difficult, when I was younger. She just sort of seemed to nod and move on. But it wasn’t like she was accepting my apology and forgiving me, it was more like I’d become so low priority, that she was just sort of letting go of whatever small amount of space I was occupying in her mind. I’ve become convinced that I only have this job because I’m basically nobody to her now, and I don’t suck at the job,” said Bernadette.
“I can’t go into what working here is like, but I can tell you that there’s honestly a ninety-percent chance that she’s so thoroughly beyond, and above, our little family that there are little odds of her ever remembering her history with us, and uh, coming for revenge, unless we gave her a reason to,” said Bernadette. Peering out of her apartment window as if she half expected to see one of the FC-Units prepared to give her a new hole in her face, for saying too much.
“.....” Evelyn sighed. Pleased to hear that her daughter was really finding her way in life. Not so pleased to hear, that the little waif that their family had barely tolerated, and thoroughly exploited, had become a threat so large, and unassailable, that they could only thank their lucky stars that she considered them too insignificant to take time out of her day to deal with.
“And mom...As scary as I’m making her out to be...Her husband’s worse. So much worse. Trying to make this into a ‘thing’ wouldn’t be tossing an egg at a rock, it’d be tossing an egg at a ten-billion-foot-tall war mech powered by caged stars,” said Bernadette.
“Your cousin’s married?!” said Evelyn. Shocked. Unable to imagine the shy little girl she remembered ever overcoming her numerous issues and settling down.
“Er...yeah. This whole Division is largely a cooperative operation, between them, the DPAA, and the House of Antipodes,” said Bernadette. Doing her best to make it absolutely clear that the Kaylan couple were giants who rubbed shoulders with other giants.
“Well uh, mom...I have to go. My girlfriend's picking me up,” said Bernadette.
“You’re dating again?” said Evelyn. Glad to have something less dreary to talk about.
“Uh, yeah...Her name is Sam. She’s nice. Um, maybe you can meet her sometime,” said Bernadette.