I tried to stay as close to the information in game as possible, with the exception that the main character has a family that includes younger siblings. Please enjoy.

…..

It was said that more business was done in The Spiral Gate's Gentleman's Club than there was at the actual seat of government. This February evening it was likely the case as two wizards, normally political rivals, were having one of their rare conversations beside a fireplace in one of the private rooms.

The room was well appointed, in a fashion that Sherlock Homes would have found familiar, save that the lamps on the walls were lit with magical flames. One of the wizards in question was a lean man with salt and pepper hair, clean-shaven, and he sported well-tailored black robes. The most obvious clue to his wealth was a signet ring that bore the image of a scale with stacks of coins on one side, and a large gem on the other. The other wizard was bald, and most politely described as rotund. A well-kept white beard was in place, presumably to obscure his multiple chins.

"To what do I owe the pleasure of your invitation tonight, Lord Grabiner?" the lean man asked after pouring himself a whiskey.

"Nothing terribly political Lord Carleton…not that you generally like my ideas anyway…. This is more of a personal triumph," Grabiner replied, sipping his own whiskey.

"You finally convinced your son to take over and allow you to retire?" Carleton asked. "If that is indeed the case, perhaps I may soon be in a position to find his ideas more palatable than your own."

Grabiner chuckled. "Close, quite close, but no. The next best thing, I'm afraid. A young witch has finally managed to drag that recalcitrant boy to the alter."

Carleton did not blink, or show any sign of surprise. "I take it that the girl's Wildseed upbringing does not bother you now as it did when your son was younger?"

"You have heard already," Grabiner sighed. "One does grow more desperate with age. Truthfully, any healthy young woman with the ability to behave herself in public and keep Hieronymous interested long enough to produce an heir would be superb…." His eyes narrowed. "I do not recall telling anyone that she was a Wildseed."

Carleton now allowed himself a small smile. "Headmistress Potsdam informed my bank of your daughter-in-law's name change for legal reasons."

Grabiner frowned and sat back in his chair. "If she has some account in your bank, she is not a Wildseed," he stated.

"That would be logical," Carleton agreed. "However, due to privacy concerns, you will understand if I leave her history to your imagination."

"Of course," Grabiner agreed.

It was not unusual for parents to choose to continue to live in the Otherworld, even after they had born children. But for the children themselves not to know that their parents were magical…. Vagabonds might abandon a child in the mortal world, but were unlikely to set up an account in the wizard Bank. This left the possibility that the girl's identity possibly either made her dangerous to others or that it was dangerous to her own person…unless she was simply an orphan.

He suppressed a sigh, hoping that it would not be too much of a complication, but he had meant what he had said. The girl could be half-demon and he would not complain as long as she could produce a grandchild for him.

"And," Carleton continued, "you will understand if I wait to congratulate you, as the marriage contract in question is, after all, only for one year."

Grabiner gave a smile through clenched teeth. "Naturally," he replied, hating that the other man apparently knew more about the situation than he, himself, did.

...

Alice wiped the sweat off her brow with her forearm, as the July sun beat down while she weeded the garden. She wore a wide-brimmed hat to protect her fair skin, and her long dark red hair had been pulled back into a low pony-tail. Her gloves and jeans were already caked with dirt, and her 'dirty job' shirt had also seen better days.

She had volunteered for the task, mostly for the solitude it gave. After all, her four younger siblings could make so much noise it was hard to think…especially the twins. Given that it was their birthday today, they would undoubtedly have something noisy planned.

Her next younger sibling, Clark, would be going to Iris with her in the fall. Out of all of her family, she actually got along with Clark the best. They were both studious, somewhat introverted, and had many of the same tastes. She wondered how he would react to being "Professor Grabiner's brother-in-law."

Alice inwardly cringed. She had not told Clark about her marriage yet. She did not like hiding things from her family, Clark least of all. He had caught her reading one of her husband's letters, and she had passed it off as 'a letter from a friend at school,' which was technically true. Then he had pointed out that she was much better at keeping a correspondence with this 'Hieronymous' person than she was her own family during this last school year. Blushing at that exact moment had not helped, but Clark had only grinned and promised not to announce her boyfriend to the family until she was ready to do so. As long as she brought her healer to the MMORPG raid he and his guild had planned that Saturday.

She had decided that the trade had been more than generous.

It still left the question of how…and what…to tell her brother. She knew that she could claim her husband's friendship, but after their discussion on the day of the May dance, there was possibly more she could claim. She could not claim that they were dating, as that would require that they had actually been on a date. Hieronymous buying her a cup of tea and then curtailing her attempt at conversation did not count. He had kissed her, though. It had not been a lover's kiss; it had felt more like a…beginning.

The man was an onion. She had to remove layer by layer carefully to get to know him, but she knew at the core of him was a good man that did his best to protect others. After all, just because fate chooses something for you did not mean that it was bad. She was quite willing to put the extra effort in to see if her accidental husband was indeed the love of her life, even though he was older than her.

In some ways, Alice considered her husband's age an advantage rather than a disadvantage. She would not have to attempt to raise him, as she considered most boys her age terribly immature. As the oldest child in her family, she had often been tasked with tending the younger children. Diapers, feeding, cooking, breaking up fights, cleaning, telling bedtime stories…she had done it all.

Then there was the year their mother had cancer while pregnant with Nancy, her youngest sister. Her father had had to go to work early in the morning at the post office, leaving twelve-year-old Alice to ensure that the twins, Clark, and herself were ready to go to school and then help with the housework in the evenings after her homework had been completed. She had continued this until her mother had sufficiently recovered.

Her mother had elected to wait until Nancy had been born to start her cancer treatments, and fortunately had beaten the odds to survive. Alice bit her lip, wondering how many women had the courage her mother had had to do that. Oddly enough, her doctors had decided that her prognosis was better when pregnant than when compared to what it had been before Nancy had burst into the scene.

She sighed, pulling at a particularly difficult weed, her thoughts returning to the matter at hand. What should she tell her brother?

While still considering this, she was distracted by the sound of a car pulling into the driveway. It was too early for her father to be home. Instead, she saw a little blue car driven by a brightly dressed woman in a large hat.

Abandoning her chore, Alice rushed over as the door opened up and Professor Potsdam stepped out of the vehicle. "Professor," she said. "What are you…did something happen?"

Potsdam grinned. "Hieronymous did not run afoul of one of his own spells again, seedling, if that is what you mean."

Alice relaxed a little. She did have confidence in her husband's abilities, but what had happened before could happen again.

"I'm actually here to see the twins. They both managed to tumble off the roof without hurting themselves while you were away at school," Potsdam continued.

Wait. The twins had magic too?

"Professor," Alice started, "how common is it for a non-magic family to produce two witches?"

"Oh," Potsdam stopped walking to think. "It's very rare, but not unheard of."

"And how many would produce four Wildseeds? We aren't Wildseeds, are we?"

Potsdam smiled. "Well, you were raised that way, but technically, no."

This made the next deduction obvious. "Mom or dad had magic once, but it was taken away or lost for some reason."

The professor nodded. "I'll let your grandfather explain, as it is his prerogative. I do believe Edward is planning on getting together with you and your elder three siblings this summer. I have the directions for your meeting, in fact."

"Edward?" Alice asked. "You mean great-Uncle Edward is really our grandfather?"

Great Uncle Edward was the financier that allowed them to attend private school, and then had also paid her fee at Iris. She knew very little about him, except that she was required to write him twice a year, that he was apparently rich, and that he lived in England. Her letters had thus far gone unanswered, as she had been told they would be. Instead of writing, Nancy simply drew pictures but seemed disappointed her efforts went unanswered until a doll from 'Uncle Ed' had shown up on her birthday. Alice had explained to her that the way Uncle Ed answered their letters was to send them each a present on Christmas and on their Birthday every year. This had satisfied the young child.

Potsdam nodded to her question. "Now, if you could just introduce me to Emma and Ethan?"

"Of course," Alice answered, leading her into the back of the acreage. "They're in the back, probably playing 'Insurgent and Counterinsurgent.'"

"Instead of cops and robbers?" the professor asked. "Unusual."

Alice shrugged. "Dad's a retired Navy Seal, so this family isn't exactly normal. Last week, Dad taught Clark and me how to diffuse a suitcase bomb without it exploding. He says he hopes we'll never need to know, but it's better to be safe than in tiny little pieces scattered all over the place."

The professor was saved from having to respond to this by the sight of the twins bent over what appeared to be a half-finished ghillie suit.