'That's rather unfair to say, brother Rin,' said Siel all of a sudden.
Arin paused, turning to raise an incredulous brow at the younger tower magician.
'The residents of Silvershade are dying as we speak, Siel. I cannot even put a number to how many have already been lost beyond the point of saving. And you say it is unfair of me to blame the person responsible for it all?' he demanded.
The old maid spoke up, her words affected by a slight tremor. 'I am not! How could I ever be responsible for something so – so'
'Silence,' said Arin, wincing internally at how cruel his voice sounded, even to him. 'We all know that you were aware of the distortion developing, long before it grew in strength enough to ruin the entire village. What a twisted, cruel heart you must have, to not have reported the matter while there was still time.'
'Tell me, was this some sort of inexplicable, ugly revenge against Silvershade? Could it be that… you want for all those people to suffer and die!? You should be thrown into prison for this. No – you deserve to be executed.' He huffed in derision, before reining his emotions and throwing out a cold, 'You sickening, evil, decrepit hag.'
Ugh. Sorry mom. Sorry sis.
He could only hope they'd never find out about the way he was speaking to this old woman…
'How could you -? I have nothing against those people! I am not a monster!' cried out madam Seren. At the same time, Siel walked up to put himself between Arin and where she sat. 'You've gone too far!' he exclaimed.
The wide-eyed boy turned towards the now-sobbing woman, and sighed softly. Then, he half-knelt down, and took her wrinkled hands into his own. In a low, gentle voice, he said, 'I am sorry, madam Seren. I know – I know that you are not a bad person.'
The old woman was only sobbing now, and shaking her head.
'You're a good person, entirely innocent in these matters,' Siel continued, blinking up at her with those large eyes of his. 'The only thing you are guilty of…'
Madam Seren's breath hitched for a brief, almost imperceptible moment, as her eyes darted up to Siel's face.
'…is loving lady Elara too much. You did already tell us you loved her as a granddaughter.'
Still sobbing, the old lady's eyes rested on the boy's expression for a moment. Seeing his kind eyes and gentle smile, she finally offered him a small nod of confirmation.
'I did. Yes… That child – I was Grif's – her father's nursemaid. You wouldn't understand what it felt like to – to see that sprightly boy grow into a man, and find love, and have a child of his own. The sweetest, most darling little girl! Oh! You'll never understand!'
'I do. I do…' said Siel soothingly. 'And I understand that that is why you could never bring yourself to report the dis- no – the young lady, to the officials.'
Madam Seren wailed. 'When lady Elina died, that child gave up on her own life. I lied! I'll admit it now! I did lie to you! I've dragged my old bones to the estate many, many times since I first found out what had happened. She- she wouldn't move, wouldn't speak. She only ever lay in bed, eyes staring and devoid of any life, as though she was tu-turning into a corpse before our very eyes.'
'And there was nothing you could do for her,' murmured the young boy, eyes filling with unshed tears.
'Nothing!' Madam Seren pulled her hands away from Siel, covering her face as she cried. 'Everyone was distraught! Her father, who had already lost the love of his life, couldn't lose her too! And me, my husband, everyone who ever knew her -!'
'…you see, we didn't even understand what was happening at first. One day, a little over two years ago, that child simply… stopped waking up. I'll tell you, her father searched far and wide for a healer who might know to cure afflictions of the heart and mind, to no avail!'
'She didn't awaken. She neither ate, nor drank. And yet, she continued breathing. We simply couldn't understand! We cannot be blamed for not knowing what was happening to her!'
...Two years ago, huh? So that was the last time Elara had truly been awake and aware of the real world.
If that was the case, it was no wonder her dream had included Lana, who had still been working as her maid at the time.
Speaking of Lana...
'Fine. You cannot be blamed for not knowing at the time. But you most certainly can be blamed for what happened after, yes?' Arin rejoined the conversation, voice still cold and hard. 'You can be blamed for what happened with young miss Lana… a year ago, was it?'
A year ago, when the girl had supposedly left the estate.
Arin had an unpleasant feeling she hadn't made it very far, or very long, after that.
'No!' shrieked madam Seren, head snapping up from her hands. 'We didn't know! We didn't know!'
'What happened, madam Seren?' asked Siel. When the woman looked down at him, he offered her another small, gentle smile. 'It is clear to me that you are not at fault. But would you please tell me more, so I might similarly convince my senior brother?
The old maid bit her trembling lip, eyes locked onto the younger magician's face.
'Please, madam Seren, tell me. And be honest with your words. We already know much of what has happened. How else would we have known of hidden matters, such as miss Lana's final resting place? All I need is for you to help me understand why you did what you did.'
'But, I didn't- '
'No! I do not mean to put any blame on you. As I've already said, I believe your actions were innocent, driven only by love. I merely need to hear what had happened, in your own words…'
There was silence in the room. Arin realized he was holding his breath in anticipation. Then,
'Little Lana…' madam Seren sighed. 'Little Lana had been the young lady's maid, but also… her dearest friend. When Elara stopped awakening, that child ran herself ragged taking care of her. While Grif, and all us other grown-ups, were drawn away by our responsibilities, that girl would abandon both food and sleep to spend time tending to the sleeping young lady. There were hours on end when she would just sit at her bedside and hold one-sided conversations with her.'
'Her devotion remained unceasing and pure, even after several months had passed. Perhaps it was because of how much time she spent in her company, or perhaps it was because of how her health had suffered from her actions… regardless, the child was found slumped by the young lady's bedside, similarly lost in a seemingly unending sleep.'
'That was one of the days I was visiting Silvershade. I remember it so clearly, even though it has been more than a year since. We realized, then, that what was happening to Elara was far more terrible than we could ever have anticipated…'
'And… did you seek a healer for miss Lana? Or seek help from tower magicians?' asked Siel. 'Even if lady Elara couldn't be awakened, perhaps miss Lana might have...?'
'How could we? How could we, when inviting someone strange meant risking having them report the young lady! How could we ever – ever – consign her to the officials? To certain death!? Grif most certainly wouldn't! And my husband and I - ? How could we cruelly drag away the only family he had left?'
'It was painful. You must understand how painful it was for us. But, we gritted our teeth and held our tongues, all for Elara's sake. We tried what we could to save little Lana, and when she- she finally p-passed, we could only spread the news that the girl had left for the cities on a whim, and have her buried in the hills.'
'But, you see. It wasn't merely for the young lady's sake, or even for Grif, or any of us in the know. It was also for little Lana. Don't you think that's what that child would've wanted too?'