Chương 31: Consequences

The carriage door closed and Evan sat beside his wife for the past millennia. He simultaneously put an arm around Mandy and tickled the cheek of his son, Boyan, sitting on her lap. The boy wasn't old enough to walk yet, let alone go through his Becoming to take on the Toordor features. He was a demon-born human with his mother's auburn hair, and green eyes. Though Mandy's were a tad on the watery side as they left their new daughter behind at her new school. He tactically ignored her dabbing her eyes.

"She'll be fine." He said giving her a gentle squeeze.

"Oh, I'm not worried about her." She said despite them both knowing it was a lie.

"I'm worried about the academy. They think she's a demon." Evan chuckled, and it was contagious as Mandy's voice joined his in laughter.

"I'm sure we'll receive a letter." Evan said imagine the look on several of the professors face he knew. Especially the herbology and potion instructor, who had apprenticed under Altoroth and had decided to make up for Altoroth's lack of ego with her own.

"Can you imagine Erin's face when Lyra starts brewing." Mandy laughed.

"Oh, by the gods. She's likely to make a legendary potion of phoenix summoning from a matchstick or something and acquire even more of the kingdom's wealth. Balance above, she could single handedly destroy the economy." Evan could only nod and chuckle at his wife's antics, regardless of how true they were.

"It's a good thing she doesn't have a mean bone in her body. We can't offer another loan like we did the other night." Mandy flinched.

"Yes, we are going to be pressed until we can make some sales." Her face changed as she thought about it, but decided she didn't like the seriousness of the topic for the moment, and changed topics.

"How long do you think it will take for them to figure out what she is?"

"Do we even know what she is?" Evan gave his wife a look.

"I know she said Aetherborn, but that doesn't really tell us anything."

"I did the math." Mandy admitted, letting Boyan down as the carriage started making real progress. He didn't wait to start crawling around the floor.

"If the pattern for evolution is maintained and my guess at how many pampaw fruit she ate is in the loose ballpark…" Evan waited for her to finish. He didn't particularly care what Lyra was, but the knowledge could be useful. If only for comparison.

"Sixteen." Mandy said leaning back and looking at the carriages ceiling.

"She's at least sixteen evolutions past demon." Evan flinched at that. Demons were thought of as the height of evolution since the curse forced the Becoming on humanity. It looked like that notion was going to change. Evan was sitting in his family's foyer with a glass of brandy when Mandy entered like a breeze carrying a letter she was clearly reading, and not liking what it said. She looked at him and thrust the letter at him.

"Look what your daughter wrote." Evan's eyebrow rose. He couldn't think of a daughter that would write something to elicited that tone from their mother. Most of them were several centuries old enough to handle their own problems and not write home about them. The only one that wasn't…

"Lyra?" Evan asked opening the letter.

"Read it." Evan sighed knowing he wasn't going to get more out of her when she was in this mood. Dear Mom and Dad, This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there. A kings guard approached me earlier today to inform me of the conclusion of their investigation into the theft of my property in Hildor… Evan raised his eyebrow. Neera filed that complaint weeks ago, when they first arrived. But it should have come to either him or Miranda as Lyra's parents.

The thought of Lyra dealing with anything leftover from that town made him want to handle it personally. And he was finding it increasingly difficult to banish those thoughts as he continued reading. … they learned the truth. Bren was charged for the past eight years rent as well as the price they placed on the farm. In addition to the taxes he owed since the last time the tax collector came. He couldn't pay it and was sold into slavery along with his family. I don't care about him or his wife.

But they have a child, and I feel like I would be as bad as them if I didn't try to help him. It's not his fault his parents are… Narith made me not finish that sentence. I don't know if they will sell the child without the mom. But maybe get both and offer to free their child if they take on the child's debt themselves? And decide where to put them based on their answer. Remember the town with the new dungeon? I bet there's going to be a lot of need for laborers.

Especially in the dungeon if it's going to be developed like you said. I like the idea of them having to deal with the lightning bugs Mom talked about. Lyra. Evan let out a long-suffering sigh.

"She shouldn't have anything to do with those people. And she's asking…" Mandy began.

"Lyra's showing mercy when she shouldn't. It's a part of her we both love, even if it causes us anxiety at the same time." Evans voice didn't carry any emotions as he thought about her daughter's request. He didn't use slaves, for anything. Ever. He didn't have anything particularly against slaves themselves, but he thought it was always better to employ someone who choose to do what they were doing, and therefore worked harder at it.

"Still… slaves." Mandy was shaking her head.

"They're technically debt slaves. But also, criminals. I don't want them anywhere near us. I would be to tempted to express my feeling towards what they did to Lyra physically." She sat down beside Evan, taking his glass and drinking.

"I wish Lyra wasn't so nice all the time."

"Oh, is that how you read it?" Evan asked idly going over the letter again.

"How else would I read it?" Mandy asked setting the empty cup down.

"That our daughter just informed us that one of her primary tormentors was just enslaved and is asking us to buy them so she can separate them from their son and send them into a dark hole where they will most likely die to lightning bugs." Mandy's mouth fell open at the absurdity of what Evan said.

"She is not asking that." Mandy said blankly.

"No, but that will be the consequences of it." Evan closed his eyes and sighed.

"She's still our little girl, who survived everything that hideous town threw at her. You've been teaching her how to grow into city life and her new place, but it's still only skin deep." Mandy shook her head and put the empty glass down.

"I couldn't teach her those things on the road. It was better to focus on magic. Besides, that's one of her primary motivating factors at the moment." Evan was waiving his hand before she was done.

"I'm not criticizing. I just wish we could keep her around home for longer before she went out into the world. She really has no idea how much power she has."

"Or how to use it without unintended consequences." Evan sighed as the conversation turned back to the letter.

"Have you decided what to do?"

"I'm going to buy them. Make the offer Lyra suggests, and hope they are too selfish to protect their child so I can send them to work the dungeon like Lyra suggests. It won't be difficult to include them in the diving details."

"And if they aren't that selfish?"

"Then things will become hard." Mandy nodded knowing they didn't have a good solution to what to do with slaves.

"Maybe I can give them to Neera. She could use some assistants." Mandy scoffed.

"She would kill them."

"Better her then me." Evan's voice was dark as he admitted his feelings. But the mood didn't last long before he pulled himself out of it. He had learned long ago that dwelling on these things did no good.

"We should have Narith complement Lyra on her actions, my interpretation of them. It should help her to start thinking about the consequences of her actions."

"Wouldn't that be better coming from us?" Mandy asked, looking at the folder on the table containing whatever work Evan was ignoring. He shook his head.

"She hasn't had a family's love or support for the past eight years. We need to be that. And let someone else draw her attention to reality, while we're there to pick her back up." Evan paused and looked at the ceiling.

"Narith would play that role well. She's young, but has been practically raising her younger siblings for the past few years. If there's anyone that can bring someone down to reality it's a sister." Mandy nodded.

"Okay, I'll have someone go buy them. And will let Lyra know we'll do what she says. I'll let her know we will tell her what orphanage the child ends up in. She might want to donate." Evan shrugged.

"It wouldn't hurt. She should put some of her money to use. But, inform Narith that she's to draw Lyra's purse strings if she does something crazy." Mandy groaned.

"I can only imagine."