How?
Boom.
Velden winced. 'Does Darra always need to come in like that?'
He composed himself. Darra did wonderful things for the family (the business). She deserved all the support he could give her. The- the- 'devil-child' affair five years ago still had him waking up in a sweat. Darra had put up with her much more than he had, for all he had been her father. The entire... incident... had been very bad for the family. And of course, what was bad for the family was bad for the business. And that cannot be tolerated.
"Velden!"
"Yes, my-" He cowered under her face before steeling himself. He was a man, damnit. "-my dear."
"Did you KNOW?!?" she demanded.
He flinched again, this scene brought up far too bad memories of Darra... err... informing him of their child's... escapades.
He tried to steel himself up for a response, but she was already speaking.
"Having to hear it from Eillei Warder, of all people... The Warder family, out of all the merchants in Capchen! The disgrace, Velden, the disgrace."
"What? Darra, what are you talking about?"
She collapsed in a chair and choked out the words. "Trisana, Velden. Trisana"
"Trisana? She's with the temple, isn't she?"
"OH!" Darra spat. "Didn't you hear, Velden, she's graduated!"
"Graduated? Darra, are you ill? How can someone graduate from a temple?"
"HOW?!? HOW?!? She had MAGIC, Velden, that's HOW!!"
"MAGIC!?!" his voice cracked, and he was forced to take a few deep breaths before he speak coherently again. "But the-the magic-tester said—"
"I KNOW WHAT THE MAGIC-TESTER SAID, VELDEN."
"How could he have missed it?"
"it doesn't matter, Velden. We disowned her, handed a great-mage to the temple and said we never wanted to see her again..."
"m-magic in what?"
"what else? Hail, and lightening, and wind are what else? Weather."
"But- but weather witches call rain at most. They- they don't do- do those."
"She's a great-mage, Velden, a great-mage."
Velden was still in shock.
How?
How?
How...