Having decided on jumping out a window, Yun trailed behind Maeve as she navigated the maze of passages and hallways.
They soon arrived at a double-door made of a dark wooden frame and glass panelling, where a human maid waited patiently. Maeve nodded at the maid, prompting her to open the door. The Housekeeper turned to Yun, her hand outstretched towards the interior.
"Please make yourself comfortable. I'll personally send for Lady Adelaide shortly."
Giving a curt nod, Maeve looked ready to leave, but not before scanning Yun from top to bottom. She'd done that a few times since they met, and each time, she looked like a butcher deciding if a chunk of meat was spoiled or not.
Usually, its smell would be the obvious indicator, but she didn't seem to detect that 'scent' in Yun, whatever that may have been for her.
"The jacket, you might want to remo—"
"Oh, this? It's nice, right?" interrupted Yun.
Maeve blinked. "... Yes… Nice."
She cleared her throat.
"Is there anything I can get you?"
A low rumble shook Yun's stomach.
He was tempted to ask for everything their kitchen could churn out in the shortest possible time; an obvious signal that he'd awakened Severin's Curse. What the Housekeeper would do with that information was unknown, but Yun would rather not test it.
"Just tea will be fine…"
The maid bowed out immediately, disappearing into the hallway.
"… Is Keeva home?"
Yun paused. That last part wasn't supposed to come out.
Maeve looked at the ceiling and hummed. "I'm not really sure. Last I heard, Herald Keeva had taken permanent residence in one of our clan's Havens in the Forsaken Realm."
Yun's eyes narrowed.
Weird. A High Clan's Housekeeper was not sure where one of their Divines was?
A simple yes or no would have been fine, unless Maeve had orders from Keeva herself to drive Yun off her trail.
No need to do all that, dear sister. The message was received a long time ago.
"Well, that's too bad," he replied as he sauntered into the lounge. Maeve left, presumably to call Mother.
The lounge had wide, curtainless windows covering most of the wall opposite its entrance. Yun could see both Descendant and human groundspeople working outside, all mundane. He could probably outrun them.
The room itself was divided into two sections. The right section had a long table as the centerpiece, flanked by armchairs, most likely for unofficial gatherings and meetings with visitors such as Yun. Pedestals adorned this section with monstrous skulls and strange relics, each telling stories of the High Clan's many victories in the Forsaken Realm.
The left section was more tame in comparison, which was still ostentatious as far as Yun was concerned.
From pre-Break era paintings to recovered sculptures belonging to the many lost civilizations of the Forsaken Realm, the gilded room rivalled the museums over at Saint's Cradle. Not that Yun had been there, of course. Outside the Hollows, the Market District was the other District he'd been to.
Yun chose the left section and made way to a sofa angled toward the windows, partly for the view of the grounds and partly because it put a clear line of sight to both the door and the aforementioned window. He sank into the cushions.
Two children occupied the far end of the same section, cross-legged on the rug, each holding a slim handheld console. The screens cast a pale light on their faces. Neither of them acknowledged him.
Yun watched them for a moment, then looked away.
Didn't even notice them.
So.
He was here.
The question of what exactly here was supposed to accomplish had followed him all the way up the incline from the Hollows, and now it had caught up and sat down beside him on the sofa.
Long story short, he didn't have a good answer for it.
He'd told himself the goal was simple: find Mother or Keeva. Tell them what happened. Get whatever answer from them and move forward with it. That was the plan.
Except…
If Mother had left the same way Keeva had — deliberately and without looking back — then what? Keeva at least had the excuse of the Divine's calling, the clan reclaiming her, the Law of the Divine and all its mechanisms pulling her away. She'd still chosen not to fight it. Still chosen to leave him with an apology and nothing else.
What was Mother's excuse?
Yun pressed the back of his head against the sofa cushion and stared at the ceiling.
He had really awakened Severin's Curse.
He was going to be forced into the Forsaken Realm for a trial he wasn't prepared for. In all honesty, Yun still doubted that the place was real. The Descendants made it up to justify their separatism… or something.
That was it for his half-baked conspiracy.
And he was the only one, wasn't he? The only Tainted one in the family. The reason they'd been exiled from the Stone District in the first place. Mother chose to be with a human, yes, but the Clan would have accepted her back if she had abandoned Yun, and she did.
What was Yun going to say to her if she walked through that door? Hello, I awakened Severin's Curse after you left, heh heh. Please explain your disappearance and also the last sixteen years of my life.
Or: I just wanted to see your face before the Forsaken Realm kills me.
Or nothing. Maybe just nothing.
"Fuck me."
The door opened.
The door maid entered carrying a tray with a small ceramic pot and a cup. She made it three steps before a woman appeared behind her and lifted the tray cleanly out of her hands mid-stride.
"I'll take that," the woman said pleasantly.
The maid looked briefly uncertain, then bowed and left.
The woman crossed the room toward Yun. The children on the rug looked up at her, read something in the air, and gathered their consoles without being asked. They filed out through a side door. Through the windows, Yun noticed the groundspeople on the eastern path had moved off as well, though he couldn't say when they'd started going.
The woman set the tray on the low table in front of him and poured the tea herself.
She was around his age or close to it — difficult to tell with Descendants. Clean features, with red, cascading hair, forming a crimson veil over her shoulders. She wore simple, well-made clothes and, of course, the default Divine setting: breathtaking beauty.
"Sorry about the wait." She settled into the chair across from him and folded her hands in her lap. "I'm Erin."
Yun picked up the cup, half expecting her to slap his hand away. "Yun."
"I know." She smiled. "Word travels fast in this little home of ours."
He drank. The tea was excellent, some kind of roasted grain, warm and plain. His stomach registered it and immediately began lobbying for more. How did Ma Siya's brew compare to this one? He'd have to check later.
Oh, wait.
"You're not what I expected," Erin said.
"What did you expect?"
She tilted her head slightly. "Someone more... prepared, maybe. You came a long way."
Yun raised his cup for another sip.
"Is it the jacket?"
"Mm." She glanced at the patchwork. "It's brave."
Yun choked on the tea. What's that mean? Like Chet brave? He hadn't seen Chet in a while, but that man's sense of fashion was hard to forget. Not for a lack of trying.
"Coming here alone, I mean. It's brave… especially given everything."
"What everything?"
"Well," she flashed the same grin. "It's just a bit unusual, isn't it? Coming to the Clan. After the exile."
"I came to see my mother," Yun said. "Not the Clan."
"Right, of course. It's still unusual, though. Given that we didn't really exile you. Nobody here really knows about you."
Yun felt a spike in his chest that left him feeling like he was doused with cold water.
"Didn't know about me?"
Erin's expression stayed pleasant, cooperative even. "I don't say that to be rude. There just wasn't any record of Auntie Adelaide having children besides Keeva."
"Didn't the clan exile her? Why else would she… would she choose that kind of life for herself?"
"Oh, the exile, yes." She nodded. "She definitely would have been exiled had the Clan found out. I wouldn't know the details, though"
She paused again, with the same careful timing she'd been using throughout. "I only know that Lady Adelaide left about sixteen years ago. She and Keeva both. Later, Keeva came back alone of her own volition, and no one ever really talked about where Adelaide had gone."
Yun glared at Erin. He really tried not to, but he could feel the intensity of his own gaze; a pressurized heat building up like an explosive behind his eyes.
"No. Mother is here, what else does she have to do?"
Erin's face briefly turned sympathetic. "I believe you. I'm only telling you what I know, which is that she never returned here. Keeva said she'd gone somewhere. She didn't say where.
"We've been looking for her for quite some time. Thank Severin, the biggest clue brought itself to our gates."
Adelaide had never come back to the compound; the clan had no record of her giving birth to Yun. Keeva had returned alone and offered nothing. And now Maeve had gone to send for Lady Adelaide, someone who wasn't there.
Which meant she'd gone to notify someone that Adelaide's son was sitting in the lounge.
Not to find Adelaide.
To notify someone that he was here…
Yun, the Tainted son of a High Clan's missing Lady, had just announced his existence to them.
He stood up.
The movement was casual, but his eyes were already on the window. The grounds outside were empty now. Completely empty.
"Something wrong?" Erin asked.
"I forgot I had somewhere to be," Yun said.
"Oh." She didn't move from her chair, but she didn't look surprised either. "That's a shame."
The shadows at the edge of his vision shifted.
It happened too fast.
The light in the room didn't dim so much as vanish, like something had simply decided it wasn't needed. Yun turned toward the door and his vision went black, an absolute and total black that pressed against his eyes and didn't let up.
He heard his own breathing.
He heard the chair across from him creak as Erin rose.
And then he heard nothing at all.