Aureum watched as Vitreum got into the chair across the table with a frown. The girl hunched in the chair. She was obviously in ownership of a guilty conscience.
"If you did anything wrong, this isn't about that," Aureum clarified.
"Yes!"
As Vitreum responded, she brightened and looked at Aureum directly.
"I still don't think this will be a fun conversation for you, so brace yourself."
Now, Vitreum looked confused, with a dawning of fear. Aureum gave up on it.
"It's about the situation we find you in," Aureum said.
"You said you would take me back to my mom," Vitreum said, her hands like fists. "You promised."
"Well, which one?" Aureum replied. "Because according to Benedic, you have two."
Vitreum's mouth clapped shut as her eyes widened.
"Don't get me wrong, Vitreum. I'm not mad or trying to fight you. I owe you a trip to your mother and will carry out my promise to the best of my ability. But I at least want to make certain which one you wanted to go to."
"I don't have two mothers!"
So she wasn't aware.
"I see," Aureum said. "Then, the mother you want to return to is Benedic's mother, the woman who I understand allowed you to be sent so far from home?"
Judgment dripped from Aureum's words as she spoke, and Vitreum slowly nodded.
Does she not know what's wrong with that statement?
"I don't even know how to contact your mother," Aureum said. "Do you?"
Letters need an address. Aureum would need a name at least. The better the address, the less chance it would get lost in a pile.
Vitreum shook her head, starting to shiver.
This next part is what might hurt the most.
"Viti, are you sure—were you truly happy with your mother?"
Aureum stopped short and reworded things. It felt like her hands were around a butterfly, panicked and fluttering and oh so fragile.
"Yes! I want to return to my mother!"
She doesn't even call her mother mom at her age.
Aureum squashed that thought. Such a small context was not enough to take a child away from their guardian.
"Would you feel happy if I returned you to your mother?"
"Yes!"
"Would you feel safe?"
Vitreum startled.
"…why wouldn't I?"
Aureum let it drop for now. Nothing was happening today or tomorrow. Maybe letting the kid consider the answers to those questions further was enough.
"I've contacted your great-grandfather already. I did back in Triviis, before all this started. I haven't gotten any reply yet. I don't know how he'll react. It's very likely you'll return to Lapis unless you reject strongly."
"I'll get to go home?"
"I have no idea. No reply yet. But I assume so."
"Are you playing with me?"
Vitreum's voice rose in pitch, making her sound even smaller than she was.
"No," Aureum said. "I wanted to know how you felt about it. I didn't pull you from that mess just to drop you into another."
And be convinced that it would be what's best for you, but I don't know why I bothered.
Aureum didn't feel confident in sending her back to the Lapis'. Problem was, there wasn't a better place she knew of.
"I want to go back home!" Vitreum said.
"Yes, yes, I've taken note of that."
Vitreum hopped off the chair.
"We're not done, get your tush back on there."
Vitreum slowly climbed back on it and slumped.
"This next stuff is just housekeeping, so relax. You're at the age where you should be forming your pearl. So, we're going to test your mana favoritism and see if we can begin the process."
"I'm going to get to form my pearl?!"
"No," Aureum said. "Not with us. We're just beginning the process because it's time for it."
"Why not?!"
Viti, I understand the frustration.
"Most bloodlines have—heck, most families have—specific tricks when forming their pearls. It's something that should really be done when you get home. But we at least want to prepare you so you don't get too behind."
Vitreum puffed up in her chair.
"Well, I'm a lady of the Lapis. Of course, I'll have to wait to be specially trained!"
"Allllriiight, my lady," Aureum's shade and amusement colored her tone.
Vitreum huffed and looked away.
"You can get down now, we're done."
She did, all the time ignoring Aureum.
When Mendax came, he found Vitreum sleeping in his bedding. He looked at Aureum, who shrugged.
"I'm no longer her favorite buddy, I guess," she said.
"That's nice, but where am I supposed to sleep?"
"I'll use my bedding to make you another spot."
"Is giving up the bed not an option?"
"No."
The bedding sorted it itself out, as things had a tendency of doing. Not that it sorted itself out at all in practice. Like the bedding, children only found their place when people made sure to take the effort to make a place for them.
———————————————————
The next day, Vitreum performed the most basic mana test there was.
A bowl was placed before the child. Inside the bowl was dirt, seeds, and water. The child placed their hand into the water while an adult directed the smallest amount of mana inside the child. The child's mana would react to the adult's mana, and the reaction their mana created would be observed from the bowl.
The idea was that the mana the kid had naturally accumulated at this point would be a majority of what they were drawn to.
If it was ice mana, the water would cool. If it was stone, the dirt would stir. With wood and the seeds might twitch instead, and so on.
It had its shortcomings. Most of the time, the adult had the most difficulty making certain the kid's hands didn't move anything for long enough. The test usually took around thirty minutes.
Aureum remembered doing it with her sister, being too impatient to wait for any official test. The wait had felt like an eternity, and they'd ultimately failed to get any usable results.
Another problem was the potential that the children's environment hadn't exposed them to certain types of mana.
There were many more specific ones if the water showed no reaction. The problem is they either required specific materials or a proctor. Announcing themselves to a stranger as a group still wasn't in anyone's best interests. So they didn't do that.
The worst thing a wrong test would do was a few wasted months, since forming the pearl was off the table. Which would happen whether they trained or not. Vitreum would probably learn it faster the second time besides. So there was only experience to be gained.
The water slowly began to move.
Is it wind?
It wasn't ripples, but bubbles.
"It's steaming," Aureum said.
"What does that mean?" Vitreum said.
"You show a favoritism towards flames," Mendax said.
"Oh. OH!"
What's with the delayed response?
Of course, it just had to be the one element that Aureum didn't have anyone she could grab with.
Great.
"What do we do next?"
Vitreum was all excited. She danced in her chair as water splattered Aureum and Mendax.
"Next? It's gonna be a whole lot of sitting with someone's hands on your shoulders."
"Really?"
"Yes, it's very boring. We'll get around to it later. For now, wanna watch me train?"
"No."
"Too bad. You can't even get started until I find somebody with the fire element."
Vitreum glowered at Aureum like this was a personal attack.
Well, I did a pretty good job of setting her up for disappointment, didn't I?
"Cheer up. We'll get you some candy as a reward for sitting still for so long."
This perked the kid up a bit.
"Goodbye, your majesty Snowfluffles!"
Vitreum said her farewells to the hauty white furball, that only yawned in response.
Despite Vitreum's lack of interest, Aureum and Mendax trained for the remaining hours of the day. Vitreum was true to her word and wandered off too far while Mendax and Aureum were distracted.
Mendax solved that problem by having her "train" too. After a few laps, Vitreum kept within view to play the following day.
Throughout the mundanities and sweating efforts, a thought continued to creep around Aureum's mind. It continued to bug her. For two days, when she went to look at it, it dissipated like a dream.
Perhaps that's why it came to her when she should have been dreaming.
In the middle of the night, half dazed, Aureum snapped her eyes open.
"Passer."
Passer has a fire pearl.
The next morning, being uncharacteristically awake, Aureum knocked on the door next to theirs.
After leaving them the room, Aureum hadn't spoken to them once. Since no one had raided the inn yet, it seemed everyone who had recognized them as escapees had been dealt with. Still, why would Aureum continue to tempt danger for no purpose?
Without anyone agreeing out loud, they had avoided interacting with each other.
Mendax had told Aureum that Passer seemed to be doing better in passing, so he had at least checked up on them at some point.
It's due time to check up on Passer myself.
She wasn't expecting Passer to leap up from her sickbed and teach Vitreum, but at the same time, she had to know if there was a possibility.
Aquila opened up. He frowned at her as she smiled. He cautiously peered down the hallway in both directions before he let her in.
It seems everybody's paranoid at least.
Maybe Aureum, despite everything, was the least paranoid.
Passer sat at the little table of their room, a mirror image of the one in theirs. The room looked about the same as when Aureum and Vitreum were in it. Maybe a little tidier.
Aureum saw the healthy flush to Passer's pale skin and felt tension drain into relief.
"What do you want?" Aquila asked.
It was a normal question for Aquila to ask, with Aureum knocking at their door in the early morning without warning. Perhaps because Aureum came here with a specific purpose, his tone crawled under her skin.
"What do you think I want from you?" Aureum said.
"Hah, I suppose I stand corrected," Aquila replied.
Aureum sat down, confused. Passer leaned in with her broad shoulders framing the posture.
"He thinks you're looking down on us by using us, but you've just shown him an option he didn't consider, that you look down on us so much that you wouldn't request anything from us."
"I am here for a favor, Passer," Aureum said. "But only if you're up to it."
Passer smiled.
"So your assumptions made you an ass twice, Aquila," she said.
"Are you feeling better?" Aureum said.
"Much. Clean air, dry food, and a warm bed broke the fever in two nights. I'm still not up for any long treks, but we'll be leaving soon."
"Which is why we're unable to help you," Aquila said.
"Oh," Aureum said.
She felt small and silly, the malformed plans she made half-dozing as she waited for morning shattering themselves into shards of a daydream upon their first brush with reality.
"She can still ask us for pearls," Passer said.
"Stop! We need to pay for the ship," he said.
As Aureum watched his hands wave away the proposal with irritation, she noticed the gloves he wore. Passer's hands resting on the table were the same.
Probably a good habit for them to have.
It might look a bit odd, but it was better than showing the mark of a slave for all to see.
"Vitreum, the kid, we found she has a favoritism towards fire."
"And?" Passer said
"You do too," Aureum said.
Passer chuckled at this, not unkindly. It was a combination of shock and amazement. The older woman leaned back, her hands spread across the table.
Aquila heaved a sigh.
"Do you know of no one else?" She said. "Somebody who isn't going to get on a ship in a week?"
Aureum felt her hands curl into fists in her lap.
"No."
Passer studied Aureum.
"I can understand your desire for the child to grow well, but we are about to leave. What you're asking is impossible—
"I'll do it," Passer said.
"Really?"
"Really?!"
Aureum and Aquila spoke at the same time.
Passer's sandy voice made her soft chuckle pleasant to the ear.
"But only for a few hours every day, and only until I leave," she said, raising a finger. "I'm not putting my health or my escape on the line."
"Thank you, thank you, thank you!" Aureum said. "I'll pay you!"
Aquila shook his head.
"You think everything can be solved with money?"
Aureum felt her grin stiffen.
What is his problem? Didn't I help him out? Multiple times?
"When it's my money, yes."
She grinned wider. Aquila shrugged.
"As long as it doesn't delay us any further, I have nothing I can object to," he said. "But give me this one more try. I'll be back."
He left with a wave.
Passer chuckled as she watched him. She seemed full of laughs compared to the last time Aureum saw her.
Circumstances were very different. This peaceful little room that let in the light of the early morning they sat in was pleasant.
Aureum's brown eyes met Passer's green.
"Why the sudden rush?" She asked. "To the point that you'll come begging a slave for only—hmmm, maybe a week's worth of service?"
Aureum didn't have an immediate answer to that.
"Well, I guess I just know the need to strike while the iron's hot!"
"I see. Don't get worried. You saved our lives. I owe you what I can give, but I won't risk my life in return. Sound fair? You don't have to pay me."
"Thank you."
Aureum felt relief wash over her.
I can't let Vitreum end up in my place.
Even if the little girl had to be returned to her family, it would be as prepared as Aureum could make her.
Aquila returned, with Mendax in tow. Vitreum popped out from behind them.
Aquila's expression was stormy while Mendax's was mild amusement. Maybe. Mendax's expressions could be difficult to read.
Mostly, Mendax was relieved. He'd heard Aureum leave and assumed she'd gone out for the restroom. When Aquila had come, his worries had catapulted.
What he met with was a small concern to him.
"Apparently, this fellow wants me to talk you out of this nonsense," Mendax said. "I told him that wasn't in my wide but shallow skill set."
Vitreum came up next to Aureum.
"Do I have to learn from her?" She whispered.
But it was a child's stage whisper. Everyone in the room heard it. Aureum felt her face flush.
"Yes, Vitreum. Passer, I'm sorry—
"Hahahahah!"
"Heh, ahah, eheheheh!"
Aquila and Passer burst out laughing.
"Kids, it's been so long since I've heard their honesty," Aquila said.
Passer pinched Vitreum's cheek.
"You must be a cheeky one, huh!"
Vitreum's lessons in controlling mana began that morning without any more trouble.