Her callused hands clasped onto one of the open doors of the barn like forge. She came forward before jerking back with the sudden loss of momentum. Margherita panted and huffed in an attempt to restore the air to her lungs, all the while using the door for support. A chorus of barks mashed against the sounds of the busy blacksmith either in greeting or to alert their master of her arrival. Ludwig lifted his head up, frowning as he surveyed her current state. Exhaustion, frustration – she wore them both plain as day on her face, yet he could scarcely think as to why at least until she began to question him.

"Luddy," she started, voice quivering with emotion more so than lack of oxygen. "Did you see where-a my mama went?"

He should have known she would come searching when she found out. However, he lacked the answer she sought. Viatrix spoke of finding her daughter, yet she failed to state if she would enter the castle. Ludwig shook his head.

"Anything?" Margherita pleaded. Her mother may not have given him a location, but any detail would have been enough for her, even a vague direction. Viatrix could not have gotten far.

Despite knowing a few miniscule details, Ludwig revealed nothing. He sighed before tidying his station up, placing his tools as they should be and storing away his materials. "What are you doing?" the maid asked, his silence having confused her.

"Coming with you," Ludwig answered. He owed it to her after all she had done for him and his brother.

A small smile crept onto her face. "Grazie, Luddy. Two heads are-a better than one, right?"

"Ja," he agreed. At least that was how the saying went at any rate.

"You stay the fuck out of this," Lovino growled as he stormed into the workshop. Isabel jogged behind him before stopping in the doorway. She frowned, sending her sympathy to Ludwig as best she could while the Italian raged.

"Lovi, he just wants to help," she tried.

Lovino took an aggressive step forward, advancing on Ludwig. "Yeah, that's all he and his bastard of a brother want to do. Last time it almost got my little sister killed. Did either of you think about that? No. Besides, she can do that on her own. This is between us and that bitch. Keep your big ass nose out of it and your goddamn help to yourself. In fact, if you want to help, you can go jump of the nearest cliff and take Viatrix with you," he ranted.

"Lovi, please," Margherita pleaded.

"No! You need to stay the fuck away from her and while you're at it, stay away from this potato bastard too. They can both go to hell for all I care," he growled. He had no sympathy either, even though one lacked reasoning, unless he really did think Ludwig was that terrible of an influence on his scatterbrained sister.

While Ludwig remained calm, inhaling and opening his mouth only so that he could calmly reply, Margherita stepped between them, actually taking the moment to shove her brother backward. He stumbled nearly falling to his rear. She was the stronger out of the two of them, not that he would ever admit it.

"Don't say that!" she shouted at him. Her voice quivered again and she seemed prepared to cry, yet her clenched fists said that if Lovino pursued this conversation, she would not withhold from lashing out at him. "You can't really mean any of it," Margherita continued, hoping in her heart that it was true. He at least couldn't hate their mother, she was family after all.

"I do! She left us here to die, Margherita, left her own children so that she could run off after stealing from the castle. The only reason we even live here is to pay off her debt."

The brunette shook her head, refusing to believe any of it. No one would leave their own flesh and blood behind to pay their debts. Viatrix had to have more reason than that, there had to be something more to the story.

Seeing how stubborn his sister was being, Lovino continued to batter her with words in attempt to make her see reason. She argued with him in their native tongue, forcing Isabel and Ludwig to guess what they were saying. Each time Lovino shouted back, more tears threatened to fall until finally, they did. Margherita sniffled rubbing her eyes with sleeves that threatened to swallow her hands. A sob escaped her before she ran off again, not saying a word.

Lovino grunted. "Serves her right," he grumbled as he crossed his arms.

An icy glare forced a shiver to travel up his spine. He sent one of his own, but only to the blacksmith's back as he passed. His strides were wide, enough so that if he kept going at his current pace, he would eventually catch up with Margherita.

"Lovino," Isabel chided him. She wrapped her arms around him from behind, placing her hands over his as she set her chin to his shoulder. "You should have let her find out on her own, then again, you probably just gave her more of a reason to find your mother, but still, you shouldn't have made your hermana cry. It's mean."

"So?" Lovino slanted his lips, turning his head deliberately away from the side she was resting on.

"So, you should go apologize," she continued, now speaking in his ear. "And then let her do what she wants, she's a big girl, mi tomate."

"I'll do it later…." It may not have been the best answer, but it did earn Isabel's approval. She grinned before pressing a kiss to his cheek, releasing him then. His face lit up to a bright crimson before he muttered, "Chigi."

The glass rested against her lip as she tilted her head back, eyes falling shut as she chugged the sweet mind numbing liquid. She cracked a grin then as she set the glass back down on the table with a clatter. Viatrix pulled the corners of her lips upward, appearing like a charming vixen as she hummed lightly. Her eyes scanned the tavern, pausing to give her a minute or two to process everything. "Another glass, please~" she told the bartender as her eyes rested on him again.

He gave her a small nod before he refilled the glass with the red liquid that had composed her last drink. Leaving him little time to blink, she finished it off easily. One of the patrons rose though before sitting beside her. She sent him a charming smile and a sweet wave. "Hey there," she greeted him, that same song like quality in her tone.

Their conversation was casual, but incredibly laced with alcohol. Little help was added as they both finished off more than their fair share of drinks within that short period of time. However, Viatrix had better things to do than spend a night in the company of the fine gentleman who had struck her up for a conversation. He had other plans though.

A hand slithered toward her rear and before he had any hope of groping him, he had been knocked flat off his seat by the same woman he had sought. He set a hand to his jaw before spitting, a colorful splatter hitting the dirt floor. "Bitch," he hissed at her.

Viatrix squeaked then, bolting off her own seat as he rose to his. The stool she had been perched on stumbled back and hit the ground a second after the gentleman. He rose to his feet, using his stool to prop himself up before he extended his palm, preparing to return the blow. She caught his hand in time though.

Ludwig watched from the doorway, rather astounded that she possessed that amount of strength and reflex while under the influence. It explained who her daughter had inherited her strength from at any rate. He saw it as his moment to step forward though. A strong bone breaking grip came to wrap around the gentleman's shoulder. He hissed before glancing at Ludwig. "Mach nicht," he warned.

With a wince, the man jerked himself out of the blonde's grip with another hiss of German before he retreated, knowing better than to tango with a man twice his size in height and muscle mass. Viatrix stared up at Ludwig with a small smile. "Do you do this for all of us Italian woman or just me~?" she teased. Ludwig flushed before shaking his head. "No, I guess not. What can I do you for?"

"Margherita is looking for you… she wants to know vhy she hasn't seen you after all zis time," Ludwig explained.

The Italian woman sighed before flopping down, forgetting about her absence of a stool. She whined upon hitting the ground. "Ow," she pouted. Ludwig offered her a hand. "Grazie… So where is-a my little girl?" she asked. "And what-a has her brother told her?"

He stayed silent for a moment to examine Viatrix once again. He wanted to believe that she had every intention in searching for her daughter, but the location that he found her at suggested otherwise. It suggested the idea of running away from a problem, something he knew all too well.

"You should ask her yourself," he told her. "She's back at ze castle."

Viatrix nodded languidly, suggesting that she was not so much agreeing to go, more that she was close to passing out then and there. Ludwig sighed before letting her wrap an arm around his shoulders so that he could lead her out of the tavern. He supposed he could offer her board for the evening, after all, it would make it easier for Margherita to find her the next day and he had the room since his brother often stayed with him when he wished to escape the duties given to him when he had been a squire.

Although, he wanted to be there when mother and daughter finally spoke. Ludwig had developed an interest in the woman's past as well.

Translation Notes:

hermana - sister

mi tomate - my tomato

Mach nicht - Don't

Grazie - Thank you

Author's Notes:

I am so sorry it took me this long to update. I guess I had hit one of those periods where I couldn't write anything. I would like to say that I'm back for good now, but I'm not exactly sure. Anyway, I do hope that this chapter was worth the weight.

I would like to say that my favorite scene is probably the argument between Lovino and Margherita. Compared to her male counterpart, Margherita is much braver and not a cry baby, or at least not without a good reason. She's also supposed to be incredibly strong when angered so it isn't too surprising that she's probably stronger than Lovino, but most definitely below Ludwig at any rate.

I was glad to be able to write for Viatrix again too. I really love Rome and that doesn't change even when he's female. His name was even picked for his personality as Viatrix means wanderer. I hope to reveal more about the circumstances around her and her children in the next chapter though so stay tuned.