Chapter 140 – Relics of an Old Life

Lilyth

The five of us ended up agreeing that we should let Savri know. Given her background, she wouldn’t blab and, as Ren pointed out, leaving information this vital from someone we relied upon for security would be unwise. Bergia was terribly unhappy about that, but, eventually, conceded the point. It wasn't like she could stop us.

‘Who’s in the know in Dan-Hem?’ Ren asked.

‘Just me,’ Bergia answered. ‘We kept that information limited to those who really needed to know: Matis and his father, me, Wylf and Davina - the previous village herbalist since she acted as the midwife during Aki's birth. Time… reduced that number.’

‘So the secret would have died with you?’ Aki asked with fully justified bitterness in her voice.

Bergia shook her head.

‘Before her death… your mother gave us a letter where she explains everything. I was supposed to give it to you once I felt you were old enough to handle it. In case neither me nor Matis… were there anymore, you would have been given instructions where to find the lockbox where it is stored, along with the deed to your old house and a few other family heirlooms.’

‘My old house?’ Aki asked shocked, tears welling in her eyes. ‘But it didn't belong to us…’

‘Old Wylf owned it and Matis ended up buying it after we adopted you. It was meant to be a marriage gift for you. I guess it will be one after the fashion.’

I have never seen Aki this moved by something and she completely broke down crying. I moved to comfort her, but Caei was there first.

Bergia smiled at that.

‘I see that needing to run away was, in a weird way, the best thing to happen to Aki since her mother’s passing,’ she said in a soft tone. ‘Returning with this many people who love her… it’s something I never imagined possible.’

Bergia then got up and went to retrieve the lockbox.

‘The more I look at you guys… at us… the more trouble I have deciding whether what Lady Madness did was a blessing or a curse,’ Ren murmured.

‘Me too,’ I agreed. ‘Perhaps it was both. Still… I can’t help but think this was the best chance the five of us had at leading normal lives.’

‘Yeah, I think we all owe her our thanks. I still want to punch her in the throat first for taking Leera away from me, though.’

I noticed there was a wicked smile on her face.

The family heirlooms turned out to be Veenaya’s jewellery - some earrings, a pendant, a few rings and a bracelet; two wooden figurines - a man on a darhun and another in a full plate; and a doll - a simple dress-wearing vaguely female figure with her hair made out of some sort of wool and eyes from buttons.

Aki hugged the last tightly as more tears began to flow from her eyes.

‘It’s her old doll,’ Bergia explained. ‘Aki would be inseparable from it for months after Veenaya's passing. After she had to leave Dan-Hem, I stored it with the rest of the things for safekeeping.’

None of us knew how to answer that. So we just looked at Aki in uneasy silence.

‘That’s a shocking amount of gold and silver,’ Ren said quietly after a few moments.

I didn't notice it myself, I never cared for this stuff, but she was right. All of the pieces of jewellery looked to be of high quality too.

I was under the impression that Aki’s family was poor. Why all the bling then?

One thing that caught my eye was a silver signet ring with an obsidian-like face encrusted with some sort of an orange gem shaped into a familiar-looking flowery shape. I reached for it, and, seeing no objection from Aki, picked it up. Upon inspecting it, I noticed it was a close approximation of a fleur-de-lis, though the flower was composed of flames rather than petals.

‘Interesting,’ I muttered and showed it to Ren. ‘Recognize it?’

‘No,’ she shook her head.

I explained the significance of the symbol on Earth. Ren studied the signet intently again.

‘The interface just says it is a signet,’ she sighed and handed me the ring back.

I double-checked what Ren just said as I never developed much of a habit of using the interface to inspect everyday objects, mostly because of how useless it was. Usually, I didn't need to confirm that a bed was, in fact, a bed, and there seemed to be no rhyme or reason as to when the bloody thing would divulge “deep lore”, though I imagine that it followed a less restrictive version of the rules the gods had. Maybe. So chances I would see something useful when looking at the signet were… low.

Item: Signet

Class: Jewellery

Rarity: Artisan - Very Rare

Quality: Masterwork

Durability: 15/20

Yup. Very useful. Still, the Very Rare bit seems to indicate there are more signets like it.

Apparently, whatever was running the interface had a sense of humour, as the description changed:

Item: Ununique Signet

Class: Jewellery

Rarity: Artisan - Very Rare

Quality: Masterwork

Durability: 15/20

Yeah. Fuck you too, buddy.

With a sigh, I replaced the ring next to the other jewellery.

Aki decided to fully rip off the bandaid then and there and read the letter from her mother. You can imagine the effect it had on her. None of us ever learned what was inside of it. Some things were just too private. After she calmed down Aki simply said:

‘You know… When I was growing up I dreamed of finding my father. Maybe he’d see me, realise his mistake and come back to my mom. That we’d be family. Then, after she died, I wanted to find him and scream at him. Blame him for what happened. Over time my rage changed into sorrow and then apathy. Now that I know who he was… I feel hollow. There is no satisfaction in that discovery. Just emptiness. I think I preferred not knowing. At least I could pretend then there was some reason behind him leaving us and not… him never even knowing about me existing and my mom… well… you know.’

Since Bergia knew about us, we’ve decided that Caei would stay with Aki for the night, as she’d be able to assist our Dark Lady in case her pain flared up again. I was pretty happy about that as it would give me the evening to go over our research again. Unfortunately, it would appear that I wouldn't be able to get much rest, as when the three of us were headed back to the inn, Caei, to grab her things, we started hearing tales about entertainers having come to Dan-Hem.

Amazing. Now I won’t get any sleep.

Though annoyance quickly gave way to confusion as one of them was apparently some sort of a lizard and the other a pale girl with hair the colour of blood “just like lady Caeileera's” to quote one of the villagers.

We looked at each with Caei, clearly surprised.

‘You don’t think…’ I began.

‘They said they weren't coming…’ she said.

‘Do you think it is them?’ Ren asked as we picked up the pace.

‘Can’t think of any other option,’ I sighed.

Back at the inn, we saw the two newcomers sitting at one of the tables. An absolutely adorable bipedal axolotl-thing dressed like a sailor and one very familiar female figure with pale skin wearing a red tunic and black pants. She changed her hairstyle since I last saw her, now sporting a high bun instead of a ponytail, but she still had her freckles and dimples. She looked towards us and focused her green eyes on me. There was no warmth in her gaze though. It didn't surprise me though. Killing someone's family would likely take a bit to fully forgive.

‘Hi, Deirdee,’ I waved towards her with as believable a smile as I could muster.