Prudence was not having a good month. She had thought that they could resolve Cater's strange behavior in short order...instead she was starting to realize that something was terribly wrong.
Out of fifty relatives she had contacted, only one had even been aware there was a third child. And her uncle had been under the impression Cater had died as a baby!
Her mother believed they were planning a family reunion, which is why they were contacting so many aunts, uncles, and cousins. The one time Cadence had even hinted at inviting Cater, their mother had shut it down to the point she even refused to acknowledge the idea as open to discussion.
If she was concerned, it was nothing compared to how their father had reacted.
Upon hearing Cater hadn't been receiving his monthly allowance for over a year, he had looked into the matter personally.
Only to find Cater's account had been closed since the first week of his entrance into Night Raven, the trust fund being tied up in so many long term investments there was no way to obtain anything from it until Cater was old enough to access the full amount, and several odd transactions made before Cater had removed all the money from it.
Needless to say he was rather angry over the matter, mostly at the obvious embezzlement from his son's account.
What Prudence had thought would be a simple task was turning into an eye opening experience. And not in a good way either.
Cater eyed the suitcase full of money with some distaste. Jamil stared him down, clearly expecting him to take it.
Instead Cater did the most obvious thing he could do, in his situation.
He took the suitcase, opened it up...and dumped all of the bills inside straight into the nearest trash can.
Jamil's expression was downright priceless, and Cater almost wished he could take a picture of it.
"You know, for a dorm that prides itself on mindfulness you failed to do your due diligence," said Cater dryly.
Jamil did his best to school his expression. He was rather good at it.
"What does that mean?" he asked.
Cater had a flat look on his face.
"You're smarter than you let on, even if you do hide your grades to make him look better. Think about it...I've been taking pictures all year and have several candid shots of Vil, and yet he made me his vice housewarden. Did you ever think to question why?"
Jamil paused at that, mostly at the fact Cater knew he was hiding his true potential to make Kalim look better. He had mostly secured the money to make Cater leave Kalim alone because the last thing the Al Asim heir needed was a parasite trying to leech off his family's money and influence.
It was a well known fact Cater was a bit of a shutterbug, always taking pictures...and yet someone as private as Schoeinhiet had made him his vice housewarden, despite the clear risk of having unauthorized pictures sold to the tabloids for quick cash.
Jamil stared at him. Cater merely smiled back.
"Now you're starting to get it. Next time I'll set the cash on fire," said Cater flatly.
He left Jamil recalculating Cater's worth as a potential friend to Kalim. Cater Diamond was a hard man to read, and Jamil had been groomed to keep potential threats away from his master.
Cater stared down his sisters. Cadence had a hurt, confused look on her face. Meanwhile Prudence had a tired, defeated one on her own. Nearby Professor Trein sat primly with his cat Lucius in his lap.
Cater had become somewhat close to his uncle, who still felt deeply ashamed that he had missed so much about his nephew's life.
As a mostly neutral third party, Trein had politely suggested he act as a mediator. It wasn't a request.
Cater sipped his tea calmly.
"I am so sorry Cater. I honestly had no idea it was this bad," said Prudence, breaking the silence.
Cater said nothing, as he had found out the hard way that no one in his family outside his sisters and parents knew he existed. People would look at him with suspicion and outright hostility when he asked for help, and it had taken some questioning to find out his mother had denied he was her son and that they took her word over his.
It had hurt like hell, on so many levels.
"How many people did you reach out to?" asked Cater, honestly curious.
"Pretty much the entire extended family," said Cadence. "Everyone seems to be under the impression we're organizing a family reunion."
"That wouldn't be a bad idea," said Trein. "At the very least it would get this mess cleared up, though she will still have to answer several hard questions."
"That reminds me. Daddy was wondering why you kept ignoring his calls," said Cadence.
Cater had a flat look on his face.
"If he wants to talk to me, he can do it face to face," said Cater bluntly. "I have no way of knowing if it's really him on the other end of the phone line and not someone doing a credible impersonation of his voice. Besides, I've almost completely forgotten what he even looks like at this point."
Which was true. He had never really spoken to his father, even before this mess started. Every time he tried to have father and son time with his parent, his mother or sisters would interfere and take the attention away. After a while he just stopped trying.
Prudence winced, and honestly she could hardly blame him for that.
The rest of the meeting was mostly small talk, but it was all painfully strained.
Trein walked his nephew back to the school. Silently musing on the fact that his sister's actions had almost severed any connection his nephew had towards the family.
The presence of his father was nonexistent, and the woman who acted as his egg donor was just downright toxic towards him at this point. As for the teacher beside him... well, while he respected Professor Trein, any possible connection between them was still too new for him to really have a say in how Cater lived his life.
It was blatantly obvious Cater would likely go full no contact with his family the second he became an adult. The fact he had given his sisters that little...assignment...had said volumes.
As if that wasn't enough, Cater reacted rather badly to any attempts to 'buy' his affections or some forgiveness.
The one time Trein offered to fund Cater, the boy had rejected it completely even if it would make his life easier. It was as if he expected his uncle to use that money against him in some way, and he didn't want to deal with the hurt that came of it.
Which...would explain a considerable amount towards his attitude and why he went to extreme lengths with his trust fund and account. It was as if someone had used money as a way to abuse Cater before to the point he went to great lengths to be independent.
"Are you going to introduce your familiar to them?"
"Not yet," said Cater. "I'm still putting him through classes that will let him go into most stores and restaurants."
Cater was putting effort into turning Umbra into a legitimate support animal, training and all. Vil had made it clear he had no problem with the wolf being in the dorm so long as he was trained properly.
To that end, Cater had been using online training classes and his clones to train Umbra while class was in session, so he could have fun with Umbra after.
He still found it hilarious every time he caught Leona and Umbra just chilling and napping together. He had quite a few photos of that.
Trey was beginning to get worried. He hadn't seen Riddle for hours, and he had been pretty pissed at another freshman for skipping out on his duties earlier. He had gone to track the poor bastard down and collar him for it.
Trey had found the freshman, who had paled since by this point Riddle's temper was very well known as was his signature spell. He was already doing punishment duty as a result, since he had skipped out on cleaning out the hedgehog's living quarters.
Asking around, he finally located a lead as to where the housewarden had disappeared to...and inwardly had to hold back a laugh when he heard how Riddle had basically been kidnapped by a massive wolf.
There was only one wolf permitted on campus (that wasn't a beast kin), and it belonged to the vice housewarden of Pomefiore.
Heading to the Pomefiore dorm, Trey found a rather odd sight.
Riddle looked perfectly calm drinking tea with Rook and Vil, with Cater serving them all drinks. Umbra was calmly sleeping next to the table.
"What's going on here?" asked Trey, baffled. Usually it took him an hour to calm Riddle down from a beheading. It had been less than thirty minutes.
Vil shot Cater an amused look.
"Apparently, my vice housewarden has a unique skill set that makes him rather adept at serving nobility," said Vil.
Vil had been annoyed when Cater brought Riddle to their dorm...right up until he realized Cater had already set up a proper tea party, which was perfectly in line with the Fairest Queen and the Queen of Hearts image of royalty. There were proper snacks, a tea all could enjoy and the setting was absolutely perfect.
Far be it for him to disparage Cater's effort to improve inter-dorm relations.
Cater easily pulled out an extra chair for Trey, and he sat down. It was rather surreal being served, and he found himself relaxing without realizing it.
"Maybe we should make this a proper thing. I mean it's one thing to say you honor the Seven, but how often do we get a chance to do something like this and display the same proper behavior they would expect in their own time?" said Cater.
Mostly it was because he did somewhat miss the chaos of Heartsabyl, but at the same time he was glad he wasn't stuck cleaning up after Riddle's tantrums.
Vil considered this.
"Do you think you'd be willing to teach some of the other students the proper way to serve tea to the higher ranks?" he asked.
Cater looked surprised.
"Me?"
"You're surprisingly adept at this sort of thing, and teaching them proper etiquette would only benefit them later on," said Vil. "Especially considering we have actual nobility in the school at the moment."
Cater considered it.
"I know a bit about etiquette, but the real trick will be getting Draconia here when they're ready for their final tests...especially considering his habit of being notoriously late."
"Draconia? You mean the Diasomnia housewarden? That Draconia?" said Trey, almost spitting out his tea in shock.
"He's an actual royal and as far as I'm aware he would be aware of proper royal etiquette. Add in the fact he's a bit intimidating and he'd make the perfect test for anyone learning how to handle themselves under pressure," said Cater.
"Agreed. Though personally I'd like it if someone could get him to attend housewarden meetings properly as well. He's missed three already, and the initiation ceremony," said Vil.
"I'll ask Lilia during our next club meeting. Maybe he'd have some ideas and I know he'd be thrilled that his charge would be invited to something like that. Hell, we might as well invite Professor Trein and Professor Crewel as a test as well."
"I could understand Professor Trein, as he holds himself properly, but what about Professor Crewel?" asked Riddle, honestly curious.
"Trein can help me find flaws in their manners, and Professor Crewel has eyes as sharp as Vil when it comes to how one presents themselves."
"Speaking of Professor Trein, why have you been spending so much time around him lately?" asked Trey. Because the rumors were getting rather ridiculous.
Seeing the interest of everyone at the table, Cater sighed.
"He's my maternal Uncle, and we were both unaware of this fact until my sisters started setting up a long overdue family reunion," said Cater.
Rook's eyes widened, as he knew the real reason behind the sudden discovery and not the official story the siblings (and likely Trein) had created to save face.
Either way, Cater found himself with an open invitation to the Unbirthday Parties since they were a perfect chance for him to test his 'students' in proper etiquette. It felt strange wearing the uniform of his former dorm, but it also felt like coming home in a strange way.
