No one got the french I put in the last chapter, and since I only got one try, I'll give you the answer since no one is interested: *instant de souriage momentaire* means *instant of momentary smiling* :D

CHAPTER 26

"Wait! Let me get this straight… You let Valek—the Valek—into the homestead?" one of them shrieked at Nutty.

"You know, the Valek is standing right here, and he isn't deaf," I cut in. The room grew silent. This was getting awkward. "Um… I'm not here to kill you…?" I tried. They remained silent, just staring at me. "You know what, I give up. Nutty, just take care of her for me, we have to be on our way anyway." I turned to leave, but a voice made rooted me to the spot.

"Take care of whom? Do you have news of Yelena? She's missing, you know?" I turned, knowing very well that it was Yelena's mother, Perl.

"Take care of Brielle. No I don't. I do," I gave a short answer to each of her questions before elaborating. "I'm on my way to see if I can find Yelena, I don't have any more information than you do. I know she's missing, Opal sent me a message. Brielle is the girl Nutty is holding. She is my daughter." I waited for Perl to grasp the link between 'my daughter' and Yelena.

"No," she gasped. "When? How?" her breaths were quick and short with fury. "You're dead. I am going to murder you. I can't believe this. You got her pregnant?" she screeched at me, ready to claw my eyes out. She made a lot of noise for someone so small.

"Um… Possibly." I refrained from taking a step away from her wrath. If there was one thing the Valek couldn't take, it was the wrath of an angry woman. She blocked my way out and glared at me. Shit. She was right—I was dead. There was no way I was getting out of this one alive.

"You have a lot of explaining to do, you know that?" she said. "And you're not leaving until I have every detail laid out in front of me."

"Um… do I have to tell you every detail?" I asked quietly. She burst out laughing, obviously knowing what I meant.

"No, but most of it. And you'd better tell the truth, because if you don't…" she trailed off, letting me figure out the rest.

The rest of my group and Brielle were in the main room, the center of attention. Meanwhile, I was sitting in Perl's living room while she questioned me on every single aspect of life. I was forced to tell her everything—I swear I would hire her into my corps if I could.

"How is this possible? Why didn't you tell me? How did this happen? When did this happen? Are you sure you're telling the truth? How old is she?" And it droned on and on and on. Nobody was here to save me from the questioning. Perl shot questions at me, not even giving me the time to answer.

"Why aren't you answering to anything I say?" she demanded.

"I–" She cut me off as soon as I uttered one syllable and was off again. Crap, when was this going to end? She was worse than Vincenza—Opal's mother. Except then it had been questions about a wedding and not an entire catalog on my life.

"Look, just explain something to me, why didn't she tell me and did anyone else know?" Then she finally shut up and let me speak.

"I don't know how it happened… well I know how. But I don't know how it's possible. She probably didn't tell you because she was scared of your reaction. Leif knows and I don't recall him telling anyone. I think she didn't what everyone to know that we had a daughter. Neither of us wants to put her in any danger."

Perl looked at me for a little bit and then asked in a quiet voice, "Can I see her?"

"Of course, she's your granddaughter." Slowly, I got up. I walked towards the door, waiting to see if she would stop me or if she was truly done with the questions for the moment. When she didn't protest, I picked up the pace and hurried through the maze of hallways to Brielle.

My daughter walked in front of me slowly. I didn't know why, but it seemed as though she was afraid of Yelena's clan. I stopped her right before we reached Perl's quarters. Squatting down next to her, I whispered softly, "Are you all right, Brielle? There's nothing to be afraid of, this is your family, and they won't hurt you. You're going to stay with them for a little while."

"Why? I wanna go back to auntie Mara. Playing with Angiie was fun. Why do I have to stay here now? Can't I stay with you, papa?" she said.

I sighed, how was I supposed to answer that? I couldn't just tell her that Leif didn't want her anymore, and I could never tell my own daughter that her own father had no place for a child in his life at the moment. Instead, I just pushed her lightly towards the door.

Brielle harrumphed at my lack of response, but marched forward all the same. When she stepped through the door, once again hidden behind the dark curls—a habit I would have to get rid of—Perl gave a little gasp.

Then she spoke the same words as Nutty had, "She looks nothing like her." She looked up at me. "What's her name?"

"Brielle."

"Is that short for something? Does it mean anything?" she asked as she observed my daughter.

"No, that's her full name. It means Exalted Goddess, in the old Ixian tongue." I clarified. The question in her eyes was obvious, 'You're the one who picked it out?' "Yes, Yelena let me name her," I answered her silent question.

"Will she come closer; I'll understand if she's shy?" Brielle's grandmother asked quietly.

"Of course she will." I pushed my daughter towards Perl. "That's your grandmother, Brielle. You have to be nice to her. Go on, say hello," I whispered into her ear, just for her to hear.

Still hiding behind the veil of her hair, Brielle stepped up to the couch. "Hello," she said quietly. Perl jumped a little. Brielle had a thick Ixian accent. I don't know where that came from, because she had grown up with Leif, and not in Ixia.

"Hi," Perl responded quietly. "I'm your grandmother Perl. Why are you hiding your eyes behind your hair? I'm sure you have lovely eyes, darling. Here, let's move get those pretty curls away from them." She reached out and pushed Brielle's hair back. Her gasp was more pronounced this time. Brielle had my eyes—cold, blue, typical Ixian eyes. And intensively so. There was absolutely no way to disguise it. "Oh my, those are… some eyes, aren't they?" she muttered to herself.

"You don't like them?" Brielle asked, surprising both Perl and I. "I like them. They're like papa's. Aunt Mara says she thinks they're pretty—she always dresses me in blue to 'show them off'. Or something like that."

"Of course I like them, honey. They're just different, that's all." Perl was stuttering, trying to keep up with Brielle's train of thought.

I knew I'd be leaving her in good hands, so I decided that we should leave tonight. Who knows what Yelena could be going through at this moment, and my heart felt like it had been skewered by a blunt blade at the thought of Yelena hurt.

Okay, I'm going to try something new. I saw this in a story I was reading and I liked it. The author asked questions at the end of some chapters for the reviewers to answer, so I'm going to try it out (:

1. Why do you think Perl and Nutty have the same reaction as to Brielle's appearance?
2. Where do you think Brielle's Ixian accent comes from, if she grew up with Leif and Mara?
3. Anything to improve? Something you would like to happen in the story?

Karl