Lyda was currently watching over Alaric, she was usually the one who watched him most of the time Ms.Graywood wasn't available. Lyda has always been a troublesome girl, it's just in her nature to cause some mischief. She was abandoned by her family when she was young; when the Graywoods took her home. She sees the Graywoods as her real family; so she would never disobey any of their orders.
Lyda was a curious girl at fifteen winters' old, and for the moment no one could see her sate her curiosity. She held Alaric's hand up so he was grasping her neck, wondering how it would feel to be owned by someone other than Mr.Graywood. She felt his forefinger twitch against her neck, she stiffened and slowly looked at Alaric's face. He seemed as lifeless as usual. A moment later his fingers twitched again, then his feet twitched.
Lyda looked back at his face and watched as his eyes slowly fluttered open and closed, until they snapped open and dilated and locked onto her gaze. At that moment Lyda knew that Alaric had woken, she could hear his breathing quicken and see the clarity in his gaze; not the hazy distant look from before, he was definitely looking directly at her.
'I need to tell Ms.Graywood' she mentally concluded, and without wasting any time she rose and left the room to search for her. She found her singing a lullaby to her youngest son, only a season old. Lyda walked past the servant– that was attending to Ms.Graywood today– and grabbed her arm while looking her directly in the eye, clearly conveying her severity. Ms.Graywood flinched on contact, clearly not expecting anyone to suddenly grab her, but the abnormally serious look in Lyda's eyes gave her pause.
She finished her lullaby and left the rest to the other servant while following Lyda out of the room. After leaving the room she asked her favorite servant, "What caused this action?". Lyda slowly answered, "I… believe Alaric is awake." Maria's eyes widened in shock and without another word spoken between the two, she fast walked all the way to her firstborn's room. When she entered she could immediately see two piercing icy blue eyes looking right at her, not the distant look the boy normally had.
"As do I." was the last thing he heard before his vision faded into darkness, and only a moment later there was the bright light of daylight piercing his eyelids. As he slowly regained consciousness, he had the feeling of waking up from a very deep sleep. The first thing he saw was a brunette girl with green eyes holding his right hand up against her neck looking at him with shock on her face.
After a moment of internal debate the girl silently left the room, leaving me alone with time to think. 'I remember the mistress saying that my soul needed to adjust to the new body. So I might be a couch potato until I can move around again.' I concluded. 'I might as well try to learn how to move again.' I tried to move a finger and it did move, but all I can manage right now is twitching. 'It's better than nothing.' I internally lamented.
After a few more minutes of 'moving' my fingers the door opened and a woman entered the room. When I looked at her a warm fuzzy feeling bloomed in my chest, 'Is this my mom?' I asked myself. The blonde woman with deep azure blue eyes turned to her right and spoke in complete gibberish to that same brunette girl from earlier. 'Is she some kind of servant?' I wondered.
The brunette left in a hurry and the woman walked up to my bedside and grabbed my hand. I flinched when she touched me, she slowly opened and closed my right hand. My sense of touch was dull, but I could feel it grow sharper with every movement. I tried to move my fingers again and this time I could move a finger, 'Yes! Progress.' I internally cheered.
I spent several hours with the woman rehabilitating, when a man entered the room. That weird feeling came back once I looked at him, 'This must be dad?' I guessed. He had white hair with black streaks in it and his eyes were a gunmetal gray. 'He looks really cool.' I commented to nobody. His visage had a stern stony demeanor about it, but he looked at me with kind eyes filled with relief. My two 'potential parents' seemed to discuss something and come to an agreement.
The man left the room after giving me a loving smile. Next a young girl entered after he left, she looked almost identical to the man but with the deep blue eyes of 'mom'. She looked at me with a smile and waved; then left the room 'sister?'. The woman I think was my mother continued her rehabilitation motions while singing to me in a gentle melodious voice. By the end of the day I could open and close my right hand, but I still didn't have great grip strength. The next day was much the same, just instead of my 'mom' the one doing my rehabilitation was the brunette servant girl.
For some strange reason she seemed to like when I grasped her neck, because she kept holding my hand up to her neck. I just went along with whatever because I really didn't have any other choice. Eventually I could move my left hand with the same proficiency as my right and we moved onto my feet; and thankfully she stopped doing strange things. My progress was slower than I would have liked but that's just life.
The next day I could move my feet around but not the legs. My excitement was growing with every passing day, even though my progress was slow. It took a full week before I could sit up, and at this point the two that were definitely my parents sat me down in a desk and began attempting to teach me their language. I couldn't make heads or tails of the language or the letters, some letters made several different sounds with different emotions or meanings, while the spoken language was even more confusing.
I could see the frustration building in Alaric's demeanor, he really didn't comprehend northern common. I completely understand his situation, because it would be difficult for anyone to learn a second language. I had a suspicion about my son, hero's are either summoned or reincarnated; and the Lady of Chains clearly said hero in Maria's vision. I knew that this might be difficult to teach the boy, so I was very patient and never showed any signs of annoyance.
After pronouncing another letter wrong in the sentence I placed before him, he clenched his fist tightly and scowled at the parchment. Then suddenly his eyes grew distant and his head dropped slightly before he caught himself. His entire image changed, the scowl on his face was nowhere to be seen; he calmly placed both hands on desk and read the sentence perfectly. "The cat ran in the woods." He said in a cold apathetic voice.
When I looked at him I couldn't see any emotion at all, it was like he was a different person entirely. He went from struggling for several hours to a perfect understanding in just a moment, it wasn't natural. "Good job Alaric." I praised my 'son'. "Alaric. Is that my name?" He asked me in perfect northern common. I answered but I felt compelled to ask "Yes, Alaric Graywood; but you're different. Why is that?". "I might elaborate on this later; but for now can we continue with the lesson? I have a few questions." He dodged the question. I was a little wary of the sudden change in demeanor but I pressed on, I knew Alaric would be different.
Alaric could read and write northern common perfectly before dusk, considering he started in the morning this was a phenomenal learning speed. "This is incredible, to think you didn't speak this at all the day before is ludicrous." I complimented him. After I said that his eyes grew distant and his head fell again before he caught himself again and shook his head. He looked at the paper again and spoke the text perfectly again. "The local baron's name is Windvine, and he's my close friend. He also likes pastries, especially the ones with blood berry filling."
He looked at the text with a puzzled face and casually asked, "What is a 'blood berry'?" I had a gut feeling to compliment him again and see his reaction, "Nice job Alaric, you're a quick study." I said with a smile. "I-I can understand you! I was 'sleep working' again; I'm so happy I can still do that. Wait! You called me Alaric? Is that my name?". He enthusiastically asked me like I didn't tell him earlier, 'Almost like I wasn't talking to Alaric.' I concluded to myself. "Yes, your name is Alaric Graywood." I told him again.
"I like that name. Are you my father?" Alaric asked me. "Yes, I'm your father. My name is Benard Graywood; and your mother is the one who has watched over you all this time. Her name is Maria Graywood." I informed him. "So mother was the nice blonde haired lady?" he asked for clarity. "Yes." I clarified. "Who was the brown haired girl?" he asked in curiosity. "Her name is Lyda; and she is one of the servants I own." I stated simply. After I finished my answer Alaric scrunched his nose with a frown and asked, "Own her?". "Yes; in the kingdom of Breigerton we cared deeply about our possessions." I explained, but it seems like he still didn't like my answer; so I asked him about his displeasure.
"Is something wrong?" Alaric answered rather quickly, "I don't like the idea of owning another person. I think it's wrong." This answer took me aback, considering it was the Chained one herself who summoned him. Instead of being offended at my son for casually saying blasphemous things; I asked why he felt that way and he explained his reasoning by using an example.
"A rock doesn't think; doesn't feel, and can't protest whatever I do with it or to it. If I place it somewhere it will remain there without protest, but you can't do that with a person; they will ask why am I here; why am I doing what I am; and most importantly, why aren't you standing there with them. This will cause them to think and take action; a thing doesn't do this. So people can't be things, they are beings." Alaric took a deep breath before continuing. "I understand owning a being, like a pet, but a pet isn't typically capable of rational thought. A pet doesn't question most things; for example let's say you order your pet to attack someone, they will do it without any thought, with no regard for why they're attacking the person. Now a person is capable of rational thought, so they will question why they're doing anything for you."
Alaric then finished his tirade with, "For these reasons a person isn't an object to be sold or bought. It's against the natural order to own another being." I wasn't expecting such a long and deliberated answer so it took me a few seconds to respond. "What if the person wants to be owned?" I asked him; the idea of someone wanting to be owned seemed like a foreign concept to Alaric. "Why would anyone want to lose their free will?" he asked. "The Lady of Chains has decreed that souls tied together through the chains of ownership will remain together; even after death. Do you like the notion of always being with your cherished ones?" I asked him.
He seemed stumped, but he answered a moment later, "That does sound nice, but only if the person wants to become a slave." I quickly cleared up his misconception, "You misunderstand, she isn't my slave. Lyda is a servant that I 'own'. She's not a servant because I 'own' her. I don't own all the servants in the villa; being owned by a prestigious house is considered an honor. I 'own' you because you're my son and a part of my family, much like I 'own' your mother because she's my wife." Alaric took a few moments before responding. "So it's another way of saying that you brought Lyda into the family?"
I looked at him with more than a little confusion and answered slowly, "Yes and no; I've agknowlegded that she's important to me, but it would be impossible to 'add' her into the family." He seemed to understand something, "Thank you for explaining this to me; It will take me a while to get used to the idea of owning another person." Both Alaric and I looked out the window to check the time and saw that our discussion went into the night. We both had an unspoken understanding to call it a night. 'I can't wait to walk around!'.