“What is it now, Addie?” Her dad struggled to hide his frustration— now interrupted for the second time in as many days. His face and hair appeared disheveled, and he seemed deeply engrossed in his work, with letters stacked up, their wax seals still drying.
“This isn’t about yesterday, Dad. Something insane happened!” Addie walked further into the room facing her father’s desk.
As Addie entered the safety of her father's office, she felt a sense of relief having successfully escaped the basement, but also a nervous anticipation for her upcoming conversation. She didn’t know what to think about Christena anymore.
“Something insane? You haven’t conjured up some imaginary ‘emergency’ to try and convince me to find you a bond early, have you?” Her dad accused, tiredly.
Addie ignored her dad and instead plopped down heavily into one of the guest seats across from him, causing a big plume of soot to explode out from her skirt.
“Oh, you just got dust everywhere!” Her father remarked without any real annoyance, only surprise. Standing up from his chair he continued, “What have you been getting into.” He grabbed a handkerchief from his breast pocket as he stepped around his desk to approach Addie and gently wipe off her face.
With a touch of attitude, Addie said, “Stop it, Dad,” even as his efforts squished her face and broke up her speech. But, besides that one complaint, she made no real effort to stop him from his task. Instead, she sat patiently, waiting for her father to finish cleaning her up.
Satisfied with his cleaning job, her father grunted in approval and returned to his side of the desk as he took his seat. “I’m going to have to get a maid in here to clean up all that dust you spread around,” he grumbled, though Addie could tell he wasn’t really upset with her.
In a burst of mischievous retaliation, Addie jumped up out of her seat and walked over to her dad's side of the desk. She then hopped onto his lap with more force than necessary. She made sure to settle herself comfortably, all the while spreading soot all over her dad.
He took this development in good humor, “Now I guess we're the dusted duo,” her father quipped with a smile.
After a moment of Addie’s giggles, he spoke up again, “Well, tell me about this ‘insane’ thing you witnessed.”
Addie’s face turned somber, “Dad, is Christena supposed to be down in the basement with the peasants?” she asked.
Maybe, there was a reasonable explanation for this after all.
“Nothing beyond their normal duties. I wouldn’t expect a peasant to be down in the basement when we have housekeepers who do the normal chores around here. Why do you ask?”
“Dad, I think, Christena might have done something bad.” Addie’s heart dropped. She didn’t want to think of Christena like this, she didn’t want to think of her caretaker like this. Even though Addie knew on a logical level that what Christena did in the basement looked wrong, Addie desperately hoped she was misunderstanding something somehow.
“Something bad? Why do you think that?” He sounded contemplative rather than skeptical, “I will need more than that to take any serious action.”
From her position in his lap, Addie explained, “Earlier, I went into her office and found a really strange object!” Addie cupped her hands to demonstrate the size of the object, “It made me pass out, and then Mom had to come and take care of me. Then, later, when I tried to find out more about it, I...” Addie paused, a flash of guilt crossing her face. She couldn’t just admit she had been snooping around... “Well, I overheard that Christena was going to do something in the basement today.” Addie emphasized the word ‘overheard’. “When I went down there, I had to hide in the furnace!”
“That’s why you're covered in soot...” His voice trailed off, his curiosity piqued. “Why did you have to hide in the furnace?”
“I saw something crazy down there, Dad. Christena and Fluffy came into the basement shortly after me. Then, Fluffy just started flying all over the room trailing these bright lights—”
Her dad cut in, “Some kind of cleaning ritual?”
“No, Dad. Let me finish.” Addie replied with a roll of her eyes.
“After Fluffy did that thingy, Jeff joined Christena in the basement with an old lady. They threw the lady on the ground, but instead of hitting the ground, she just vanished! Like poof!” Addie gestured wildly with her hands as she explained.
For a moment, her dad sat up straight in surprise, “Christena definitely doesn’t have the power necessary for an ability like that, but if what you are saying is true I can’t just ignore it.” But then his tone took on a hint of disbelief, “Someone missing is supposed to be one of the very first things reported to an Area Lord. That helps us make sure dangerous magical beasts aren’t near the town. If what you are saying is true, someone should have told me.” Her dad put his hand gently on Addie’s shoulder. “You really aren’t making this up? It seems suspicious to me, Addie, that you’ve found an emergency all on your own.”
Addie hopped off her dad’s lap and turned around to face him. “I’m telling the truth! I swear.” With her firsts curled up at her sides, Addie tried to put on her best serious face and hoped to sound convincing, “This isn’t about me wanting a bond, Dad!” Some tears started pooling in the corners of her eyes. “I don’t want Christena to be killing people either, and you said there shouldn’t be a reason for the villagers to be in the basement.”
“Hmm. Well, your mother tells me the bauble you are talking about cannot be found?” Her dad’s tone bore down on Addie, making her feel as if she had done something wrong. It was so frustrating. She wasn’t making this up! And her dad wouldn’t even believe her! She didn’t want to believe it, either.
Unable to maintain eye contact, Addie averted her gaze from her father’s face, instead looking away at the floor. “I’m not lying,” she repeated.
Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.
Addie began to meander out of the room. Before she could finish exiting, her father’s voice reached her again, prompting her to turn her head back and look.
“In either case, Addie, I can’t leave such an accusation sitting idly. Though, Christena has been good to us, good to you as well. Let me look into it some more, in the meantime stay away from Christena.” His tone softened, and Addie heard him speak in a quieter tone, “I can’t imagine her doing something like that.”
“You promise you will look into things here?” Addie asked.
“I promise. Remember what I said, stay away from Christena, ok?” He reminded her.
“Ok,” Addie agreed.
With a bit more hope in her step, Addie left her dad’s office.
Her dad had mentioned that the villagers should have told him by now if something was wrong. Maybe she should go into town. Dad told her to stay away from Christena, but he didn’t tell her to stay away from the townsfolk. She just needed to speak with the villagers. They should easily be able to identify the missing woman. Who knows, maybe the woman wasn’t even missing, and the whole thing in the basement was some piece of complicated movement magic that Addie didn’t quite understand. Addie couldn’t believe Christena would do something so evil, too. With a somewhat renewed spirit, Addie resolved to visit the village in the morning.
The rest of Addie’s night passed by in a flash. She had a quick dinner, where only her mother showed up at the table. It was a common occurrence due to her father’s demanding schedule. His absence had long since stopped bothering Addie, but Mrs. Lomain still seemed troubled by it frequently. Addie didn’t focus on that much though, as too many other thoughts of the past day were running rampant through her mind. The taste of dinner hardly registered as Addie felt eager to finish and retreat back to her room. For some reason, Christena also missed dinner, that night.
Once she lay down into bed, the anticipation of the following morning kept her awake longer than she would have preferred. She thought about visiting the village in the morning. She hoped to find some clues about the missing woman from last night. She hoped to find out that Christena wasn’t a murderer. She had a rough night trying to fall asleep.
She tossed and turned as she found herself ensnared in a distressing dream. She envisioned malevolent spirits soaring through the air, leaving trails of bright lights in their wake as they chased down the elderly. Addie had to rouse herself from sleep multiple times, ensuring she was in her bed and not hiding within steel furnace walls.
Due to her initial fitful sleep early in the night, Addie slept in late into the morning. After waking up, she ate a quick breakfast in the dining room with her mother, engaged in a brief conversation about her plans for the day, and then darted out of the house and into the surrounding village.
Area Lords controlled acres upon acres of land. Mutually assured destruction deterred surrounding powers from invading each other's territories, or so the dramatic old-world history books in Addie’s dad’s office claimed. In truth, intricate webs of blood ties and arranged marriages ensured that any warmonger would find himself facing his own kin on opposing sides of the battlefield—an unsightly and bloody affair. This was something that hadn’t happened for at least a century. There was also the fact that bloodthirsty Area Lords tended to make a lot of enemies very quickly.
While Area Lords controlled extensive swathes of land, more often than not, a large portion of the territory remained unsettled. An Area Lord can only guarantee so much safety when villages start getting bigger, and only Lords and Ladies can create a magic bond, to begin with. The common villagers had no way to easily expand into the wilds without a bonded lord or lady to protect the surroundings. Like other Area Lords, her dad held a large amount of territory, but all the settlers lived within a single small town, not daring to brave the wilds without his direct magical protection.
In her dad’s case, the villagers lived directly near the main manor, with a population of less than two or three hundred. There were more benefits to living on an Area Lord’s land other than just protection, though. It was always fascinating to go out into the village and see how the villagers worked the land. Though in some cases, it almost seemed like the land worked itself, with how her dad’s powers worked.
Addie ventured out of the main manor, strolling along the cobblestone road until she arrived at the main fields. The villagers all lived communally, with large houses interspersed with great swathes of farmland. Her dad secured a house for each family. One of his responsibilities was to create a new house and extra farmland every time a couple got married. Addie loved attending those celebrations, where she got to see her father’s magic plow through the trees and create fertile soil with just a wave of his hand. The land was his in more than just name, after all.
Though each family had their own home, the farmland itself was fairly communal. Everyone would leave their homes in the morning and work on the farmland together. Wives, fathers, and even the small children would work together to harvest food each day. They didn’t have any animals to help with this process, and they didn’t need any. The land itself was clever enough that no animals were needed, anyway. Addie even had to join in sometimes, under the guise of ‘building character’. She hated getting sweaty in the hot Binary but also liked playing in the fields with the rest of the village children.
Most days, Addie would watch with wonder as long stalks of wheat would bend towards anyone walking by, allowing them to easily harvest the grains in great heaps. They didn’t even need any special tools, as the wheat berries seemed to pop off all on their own when a villager’s basket came near.
The fruit trees and bushes would twist their branches down towards the ground and release their fruits all by themselves into pre-placed baskets near their trunks. The villagers merely had to retrieve the baskets by the end of the day.
The main source of protein on the farms, the yolkulatch, would comb through all the fields with a cleverness unbefitting of their simple demeanor. These small, fat bird-like creatures with long beaks and stubby wings loved to eat any of the insects trying to harm the crops. Never once had Addie seen so much as a damaged leaf. In turn, their eggs would be harvested by the villagers, and the older birds would be slaughtered for their meat.
However, today felt different. The fields seemed unusually quiet even though the same amount of people were out as usual. No one was engaged in conversation, which Addie thought would be impossible in this tight-knit community. Even the siblings harvesting wheat side by side didn’t so much as look at each other. No children climbed the trees or played hide and seek in the fields. Addie didn’t see any of the children, actually. Even the plants themselves seemed to sway lethargically— as if the surrounding mood itself was poisonous.
Slightly put off by the unusual atmosphere, Addie gathered up the sides of her skirt and started stepping over the fields of grain. She walked over to one of the men harvesting some kind of small leafy green vegetable. Probably some kind of cabbage, Addie thought. As Addie walked over, she noticed how the topmost leaves detached from the main plant all by themselves, and seemed propelled by the wind as they flew up and into the basket the man was holding. He hardly had to move as all the plants near him followed this pattern, and a great trailing swarm of leaves swirled around in the air to reach his basket.
The man appeared caught off guard for a moment when he spotted Addie, but he quickly bowed from the waist, showing the top of his head, as he waited for Addie to finish approaching. Once she stopped in front of the man, he slowly came up out of the bow. She recognized his face, but couldn’t quite recall his name. She often played with this man’s younger son, who was about six years old. His son’s name was Litan, if she remembered right.
Addie felt slightly nervous, for a reason she couldn’t place. Maybe just the feeling in the air was throwing her off. She swallowed, and asked the man, “Do you know why everyone looks so down?”