The Manor was in an uproar, despite his best efforts James's scheme had come undone swiftly due to a slight error in foresight, his wife had sent her children all letters to make sure they were all doing well during their first week of schooling, only to receive Nebbie's letter back, with a stamp indicating the address she had sent it to didn't exist.
"Dam her," James murmured as he waited for the arrival of his brother, James had covered his tracks well enough so that he was suspected based on nothing but past mis-trust, something that was itself covered up to keep his brother from suspecting anything might be wrong within the household.
Upon hearing that his nephew had, once again, seemingly been kidnaped, His brother had declared his impending arrival to help in tracking the boy down.
Zoey was currently being comforted by her sister, who had traveled all the way from their family estate in the Crescent Valley, James wasn't sure what she had been told, but judging by his sister in laws stares she had at least been told he was most likely to blame.
"I'll drag her down with me," James hissed, fully prepared to have his wife pay if her actions messed with his social status even slightly. James didn't have to wait too long before the doors were opened, he expected his brother to come striding in, and instead was met with his remaining three children greeting him with his brother coming in behind them.
"I had them all rounded up," James looked to his brother. The man was massive, he walked with a slight limp due to the old injury that had taken his ability to sire children.
"Thank you Edmin," James shook his elder brother's hand, taking care to show him the utmost respect as he spoke.
"Nonsense," King Edmin pulled on the hand shake and hugged his brother, before looking down at the children, "Now, it's important you three keep your mothers spirits high while me and my men locate your brother," Eric and Molly saluted their uncle, with Hanna looking like a deflated Balloon, having already tried and failed to find Nebbie upon hearing he had gone missing, she eyed her father suspiciously but had been told by her Mother, the help, and even Nebbie in the past that blaming their father in front of her uncle would cause problems and hinder any and all possible solutions.
"Come along," Eric was doing a good job of trying to keep his formal tone, but even Molly could tell that Nebbie's disappearance had at least caused him some bother.
"Any ID on the carriage?" Edmin asked as the children made their way to their mothers room. "I've already been filled in that the school he was supposed to be sent to was a fake, any ideas on who would have it out for him?"
"It's quite odd," James replied as he and his brother began walking and talking, "Nebbie is a truly unremarkable child,"
"Bahh," Edmin took the comment and readily tossed it aside, "Don't forget he already has the title King of Eels, add that to his birthright as Eric's successor if he proves unable to rise to the throne and Nebbie could end up being the King of Belmuse some day,"
"I'll remind you Eric has a seed of power," James noted proudly.
"And I'll remind you you've spoiled that child rotten, that seed is a blessing but if he fails to blossom it before adulthood then I can't in good conscious let someone who's never done a single good deed without the promise of a reward or praise take the throne, at least Nebbie has life experience, clearly those who seek to usurp the throne see him as their ticket over Eric, what even is this, the third time he's gone missing now?"
"I assure you, they're probably just trying to get under your skin, Nebbie would run the kingdom into the ground, and that's what they're counting on, even now your falling for their ploy of making him seem more valuable than he really is, they probably told him how to get back from that orphanage just to make him all the more appealing in your eyes,"
"Well if that's true they're doing a bang up job," Edmin looked around his brothers manor and noticed none of the help were out, not even one maid was pretending to clean in a bid to listen in, a problem all to real in the castle and just about every other manor he'd ever been in. "You don't suppose it might have been an inside job do you?"
"We did have an incident where an old Butler got his hands on Dragon rum and attempted to sacrifice Nebbie due to his hair color, so who could honestly say with my wife's history of giving second chances to low lives and immigrants, letting them work in these hallowed halls of mine, I want to eject the lot of them but my Wife refuses my demand time and time again,"
"She would probably know them better than you," Edmin noted, "You do spend most of your time out and about,"
"It's imperative I make sure Eric has all the connections he needs once he reaches the proper age, as the holder of the hero's title he will need to become an adventurer for a few years before becoming a King so he can gain the proper battle experience to become a strong leader,"
"And you intend to have his sisters join him?" Edmin asked suspiciously.
"Of course, having the Warrior and Mage Seeds his sisters will prove invaluable tools in his ascension to the throne, one of them shall inherit the manor and the other shall be granted a plot of land to build their own home on,"
"Quite the future planned I see," Edmin noted, "And what plans do you have for Nebbie,"
"He has no seed and little to no potential or social skills, frankly I doubt Eric will have much use of him, maybe if he's lucky Zoey's sister will let him inherit her estate in the Crescent Valley, although being the lord of such a podunk town might be too much for him,"
Edmin took note of his brothers poorly concealed contempt towards his youngest son, and pondered for a moment if his brother had anything to do with the boys disappearance, he tossed such actuations aside, his brother could be a lot at times, but he never did anything without some possibility of gaining something from it and he doubted he'd risk so much just to be rid of his own flesh and blood.
"I already have my finest hunters and their dogs hot on the carriages trail," James smiled at that, to his brother it might look like a father relieved his child would soon be found, to James it was the smile of a man who had been smart enough to burn the carriage and dump its parts before switching between several common ways of travel before reaching the stashed location of his personal carriage, linking him to the situation would be nigh impossible.
Edmin began bragging about the skills of his hunters as his brother took him around on a customary tour of the manor.
Eric opened the door to his mothers study and let his sisters walk past him as they ran to greet their mother and Aunt Lolly.
Lolly was a plump woman, not quite large enough to be called overweight, she had the air of a woman who both enjoyed long walks and long meals.
Lolly had been mid-sentence but trailed off when Eric and the others came in, Eric managed to catch the last few words about his father and their neighboring country of Tsundral, who had been the opposing faction that had caused their uncle the injury requiring Eric and his siblings be born in the first place.
"So," Eric said as he offered his Aunt his hand who shook it politely, "I heard talk of Fathers rumored connections in Tsundral?
"Even the Children know," Lolly immediately hissed to her sister, "You should have sent Nebbie to me sooner,"
"I'm aware," Zoey replied bitterly as her tea lay untouched on the table, having gone cold a long while ago from the looks of it.
"James has always seemed…overly fond of me," Eric noted to his mother, "Although I hope he realized his pandering won't put him in my good graces if he turns traitor against the country after I ascend to the throne, Nebbie is an…unremarkable child to say the least, so long as you look past the oddities in his physical appearance, but unremarkable or not he is still my brother, and I find the idea of someone tormenting him just to get to me an unagreeable choice of action,"
"Maybe you should tell your fans that," Hanna replied hotly.
"If they have to be told not to torment the weak they have no place at my side," Eric replied simply, "It's tasteless and would stain my reputation if they used my name to do unsavory acts with higher levels of malice in the future,"
"What, did you eat a book?" Molly asked in reference to her brother's overly dramatic vocabulary.
"It's called sounding the part," Eric said waving his sisters off, "Now Zo…" Aunt Lolly cleared her throat and Eric remembered himself, he didn't care much for calling his parents anything past their name, but Aunt Lolly had the unique position of both not putting up with it and being allowed to administer the occasional swat to the bottom if he acted out of line around her.
"Mother," Eric corrected, "If Father is having machinations with an enemy country we should inform Uncle Edwin, he will be…most displeased I think,"
"If that sort of thing got out it could stain our family name for generations," Zoey replied as she hugged Hanna, who was crying slightly now that she could hide her tears in her mothers shirt.
"The kingdom could fall into a civil war and I doubt Tsundral would pass up the opportunity to capitalize off of the chaos, keep quiet of this to your uncle until we can prove it ok honey," Zoey patted her daughters softly as Eric stood a respectable distance away, "Just let the grown ups handle the situation ok?"
"I suppose that's fair," Eric agreed, "If it comes down to it, when I am King I'll see to it father is forced to pay his dues,"
Molly didn't fully understand what Eric was talking about, so she pulled on her mothers dress to get her attention, "Is Nebbie going to be ok?"
"Your little brother has his own hidden powers," Zoey assured Molly, and Hanna as she wiped off her face to listen to her mothers soothing tone, "He might not show it but he's survived a fair few bad times in the past, I'm sure he's already found a way back home, he could be back any day now, or maybe he's having a little adventure before coming back, making a life lesson out of it,"
Eric was inwardly telling himself what a load that was, but something about his mothers tone, the way she seemed to wave the worry away from even herself, he felt that even if it was just a comforting lie, it seemed to be one she wholeheartedly believed.
"I've heard the help whispering about my brother," Eric muttered internally, "How life will be easier when they serve beneath him, I figured they were sentimental fools, but could it be that my brother has something special, something my father fears?"
Thanks to the Hero's Seed, even in its unblossomed form Eric had surpassed his sisters in wit by the age of seven, but his brother had never once bothered to try and argue, never seemed hurt by any barbs thrown his way.
His Brother, despite supposedly being the second born with a pigment disorder, was fairly well mannered for a child forced to live in a closet with the help while his siblings got their own rooms, dressing rooms, walk in closet, if Eric had been in that situation he'd have been furious but Nebbie almost seemed above it all.
"What could it be?" Eric bit his lip, even aided by the Hero's seeds passive buffs to his intelligence he couldn't quite piece it all together, Something was missing, a few more pieces, he just needed to find them and he might finally find out what it was about his brother that had his father so bothered, a concern his mother, nor any of the others on staff who presumably also knew had.
"Something wrong?" Lolly asked her nephew, "It's ok to be upset about your brothers disappearance,"
"You say he's survived his own bad times in the past," Eric noted towards his mother, "And Aunt Lolly makes it sound like she expected this to happen sooner or later, has this happened before?"
"This would be the fourth time," Zoey told Eric, despite her best attempts she had never been one to lie to her children and not be called out by at least one of them.
"Four?" Hanna demanded, tears turning to anger, "When?"
"Once when he was a baby, the second time we just told you he had gotten sick and was sent to be cared for by your Aunt here until he got better, the third time Madeline hunted him down before anyone even noticed he was missing, his kidnapers had snagged one of her prosthetics and luckily she has tracking spells on all of them to keep her staff from playing with them,"
"How many do you suspect James to be behind?" Eric asked curiously.
"No need to suspect, Madeline got a confession from the group she tracked down, but she didn't leave them in a state to confess again by the time she finished with them,"
"Was Nebbie ever questioned?" Molly demanded, "I bet he could help,"
"Honey," Lolly got down to Molly's level as she spoke, "This situation may seem black and white, but behind those two shades hide a Rainbow of hidden problems, even if we did find a way to prove your Fathers guilt it would only serve to cause more problems, for the time being you just have to trust that I will be taking personal care to make sure your father doesn't get the chance to try this again, now that your mother has finally given in to my request,"
"Upon his return, following a week of guarded rest at the bare minimum to recover from these events, your brother will be tutoring beneath your Aunt Lolly directly in the Crescent Valley, outside your fathers jurisdiction, and for safety measures since Mary was with me and your Uncle in person when the kidnapping happened only She, you three, and I will be permitted to visit him during his studies, Although I expect Mary will stay with him as added security,"
Zoey smiled sweetly as she spoke, "It's nothing personal against your father, four times is simply too much and the highest precautions must be taken to ensure my dear Nebbies safety,"
"I like this side of you mother," Eric smiled, even James, as stubborn as he was, would know how suspicious he would seem if he tried to press a visit to a child he so openly dismissed.
"You three enjoy some time with your mother," Lolly said as she got to her feet and brushed off her dress from when she had gotten on her knees to talk with Molly, "I'll be telling your Uncle Edwin the plan and making sure he gives his verbal approval," Lolly left her sister with her children and set about hunting down her two brothers in law.