The first semester passed by uneventfully and the summer break came. As she couldn't stay at the Academy and she couldn't wander around again to pursue her projects, Maria requested permission from the Ministry for an escort to return to her home town. The Ministry had amiably agreed and then given her a rather sizable amount of money for her participation in the blood-typing research. She'd been surprised, as she had been unware that was a paid position. She hadn't even signed a contract. She tried to refuse the money, but Lady Dahl had loudly declared she was off to lunch and no longer working, and Maria had bemusedly had to accept the fact that she had been paid for doing basically nothing. If this was the sort of inefficient wastage the Ministry engaged in, she hoped their acceptance procedures were as rigorous as rumored, lest some unscrupulous person use the Ministry as their own private blood vat.
She also made sure to inform Rafael of how to address letters to be sent to her, so they could correspond.
The trip home was uneventful, save that once more Maria had to stash an amount of her unaltered practical exam uniforms in the Student Council storage closet. She'd been slowly altering what she could and using those too small for her as raw material, but even recovery was time-consuming as she needed to undo every stitch by hand. She'd brought a few more to work one while she was at her house, something to while away time when she was recovering from the homework that had been assigned.
The Ministry official who was accompanying her was one she had met before, and they chatted amiably on the way there. One nice thing about having a ministry escort, they got to requisition one of the Ministry's carriages, which was a lot nicer than the long walk she had to go on last time. With all the walking she'd done, Maria could consider herself a connoisseur of the kingdom's roads, which were excellent. Not a gravestone to either side to be seen!
They arrived well before noon, at which point her escort had to leave to run a ministry errand in the area, and told her that she was to come to town to report to him at the local public office by noon tomorrow, and every day after that. For all she was on probation, they were generous with her freedom, almost lax. Really, had she been some sort of unscrupulous individual, she could have easily taken advantage of them and done all manner of things starting with putting two of the princes of the realm under her control.
Shaking her head as she watched the carriage roll away, genuinely worried for the future of this kingdom, Maria picked up her suitcase and walked the short distance to her house's front door. Ah, the little garden plot was doing well! Lady Claes would be glad, she seemed so enthusiastic to work on it last time she was here.
A small smile lingering on her face a the thought, Maria opened the door to her house…
She had to open her suitcase at her front door and fish around frantically as she realized her mother wasn't home and her key was somewhere buried deep within her stuff.
Maria was cooking a simple lunch (after making sure there was no smell of phantasm slime anywhere in the house, meaning no one had… anyway!) using some of the vegetables Lady Claes had insisted everyone in the Student Council take, harvested from her little garden (it was a vegetable patch!) when she heard the door of the house open. A small, buried, almost forgotten childish part of her from before she had recovered her memories stirred, hoping it was father come home at last, but Maria, with practice, ruthless quashed it. she had no time for some childish things. "I'm home!" she called to whoever had arrived.
She heard the footsteps that were coming in pause, then begin again. There was a sound as something was placed on their dining table. The footsteps continued, and Maria finally turned as they reached the kitchen door.
Her mother was there, still a beautiful as ever. She looked like she hadn't aged a day since Maria was born. Maria had heard talk, once upon a time, that her mother was the most beautiful in town. It was no wonder whichever passing noble had sired Maria had been driven by lust to take her.
Maria hunted those beastly thoughts out of her head. She must had been spending too much time with Lady Claes' retinue, to be so influenced by their insatiable lust. That was no way for someone to think about their mother, even if said mother looked more like an older sister than anything else!
Briefly, Maria reconsidered her old theory of being related to Lady Claes. While she had put it out of her mind once she realized the truth of Katarina Claes being an innocent woman she was unjustly defaming, if only in her own mind, in light of what had happened she had to wonder if Lord Claes' perverse attraction to his own kin was in the blood, and whether she had awakened it in herself.
Shuddering, Maria turned away from her mother to banish that line of thought. "Lunch should be ready soon," she said. "A friend gifted me some fresh vegetables from her garden. I hope you're hungry."
"I… see," she heard her mother say, sounding as distant as ever. Something inside her, childish and quashed but as undying as those ancient Pthumerian corpses wandering their ancient crypts, cringed and would have cried had Maria not ruthlessly pushed it down deep into the labyrinth of her mind. What did that part expect from mother having to speak to the lasting reminder of what had no doubt been an unpleasant experience, a symbol of her disgrace? "I… welcome home, then."
It was spoken hesitantly, distant and wretched, but the child jumped at it before Maria could push it down, clinging to it as it rushed back down into the deepest caverns of mind and heart, lest Maria take the words away from her.
"I'm glad to be home," Maria found herself saying, keeping her focus on the cooking. Argh, stupid hot stove, making tears come to her eyes…
Lunch was the usual awkward, stilted, quiet affair, filled with meaningless small talk like 'How was school?', 'The garden seems to be doing well', 'Nice weather we're having', 'The vegetables are delicious'…
It was all rote, mindless and impersonal, as it had been for years. The only excitement had been when her mother had accidentally swallowed something wrong, and had to cough it up, which passed quickly. It was only when her mother continued eating did Maria subtly relax. Distant as they were, she was blood, and Maria had almost leapt over the table to use Light Magic to let her breathe, as unwelcome as the reminder of her bastardry would have been.
They cleared the table and do the dishes, all in near silence, then Maria retreated to her room to unpack. Even that couldn't be prolonged much, however, and she went downstairs and started to clean the house.
All in all, it wasn't so bad. If she lost herself in the needful work, she could pretend she was just back in the academy or the Hunter Workshop, surrounded by her acquaintances and fellow hunters, filling out paperwork or killing beasts wandering the streets in secret away from the prying eyes of ignorant folk. She found herself humming a lullaby she'd overheard a mother humming to her child once as she'd lurked on a roof, and more than once she found herself smiling without knowing it.
Her mother made dinner this time as she set the table, and dinner was quiet as usual, the conversation as stilted. Maria had quickly retired to do her homework, and she heard her mother locking up, blowing out the lights, banking the coals and going to her room soon after.
Alone in her familiar room, so quiet, so empty, so small, Maria idly wondered if she should have procured some purple flame candles. She shook her head, and began to do her homework, feeling the familiar oppression and loneliness. Once, she had accepted in as a peaceful solitude. Now it seemed smothering. She missed the Academy already.
The usual tears that had fallen for years while she studied dripped down her face as she began to write, and she once more had to take care they didn't fall on the sheet in front of her and ruin her efforts, forcing her to start all over again. She grimaced as she saw black smoke rising from her hands and arms. Damn it, she hoped it didn't linger on her, lest she be suspected of using Dark Magic again. While she knew the official wasn't a Light Mage, it was not unlikely he carried some sort of discreet magic tool on his person to detect such emissions.
With a frustrated sigh, she decided to put off studying and just get used to being back home. She undressed and went to bed after cracking the windows open slighting but making sure they wouldn't go beyond a crack using a rope and nail she'd put in long ago. Mercifully, there was a breeze that carried in the smell of the flowers growing on the thorny brambles beneath her window (planted exactly for nights like this), and Maria enjoyed the feeling of coolness over her naked form as she lay atop the sheets and hugged her pillow.
The room smelled stale and musty, and she reminded herself she'd have to air it tomorrow.
In the dark, lying on her familiar bed, Maria reminded herself she was a grown woman, a hunter who had seen and done unspeakable, horrible things. She would not let being an innocent woman's cause of ruin break her. She'd managed to be strong for years, not breaking at the guilt of how much her existence pained her mother. She only had to last a couple of weeks, then she could let the academy distract her from it for another half a year…
And what happens after that…?
Maria buried her face in her pillow.
"Rafael…" she was surprised to hear herself murmur plaintively.
Damn it, she was a grown woman! Stop it!
It didn't work. It seldom did.
Briefly, she considered exploring her labyrinth, just to find herself some eldritch truth. Remembrances of the Friedonian texts flitted through her mind. Rafael as she pushed him against the wall, swiftly filling with Blood Dregs he wanted to offer her…
Groaning, Maria stuck her hands behind her head and willed herself to sleep, wishing she had some sedative.
It was tough, but she managed to fall asleep without sending an expedition of explorers…
Several days passed. Maria got around to airing her room.
After finally getting her homework done, she'd spoken to the local blacksmith after she'd reported to the Ministry official, and with money she was finally able to commission a prototype to her specifications. It should be finished halfway through the summer break. The stock would have to be commissioned separately, but getting the stock altered to fit the eventual prototype should be simple.
She really hoped this wouldn't explode in her hand. It would be no Evelyn, but hopefully it would be sufficient for demonstration and semi-practical use.
There were the usual mutterings about 'bastard child' and 'special child' as she did the groceries afterwards, but she'd long gotten used to ignoring them. At least the blacksmith and the carpenter hadn't said it to her face when she'd been there. She hoped her drafts were legible and that they'd be able to follow them. It had been something she'd had to teach herself when she'd put herself in the path of recreating this weapon, and she was still unsure how readable it was. Hopefully the result wouldn't be too much of a waste of money…
She slowed as she saw a familiar carriage parked in front of her house.
Damn it Lord Claes! Was he so frustrated he'd come by to have Maria's mother again?
Maria actually quickened to the door, each step covering great distances, and she wrenched the door open. She stopped dead in her tracks.
"Maria!" Lady Claes greeted, smiling as she entered. "You're back! Hey, it's your Definitely-Not-A-Noble friend Katarina, who you always call by her first name because you're both commoners! My friends and I were passing by and we thought we'd visit you."
Maria barely noticed Lady Claes' truly atrocious attempt at disguise and excuse for not complying with proper protocol, barely noticed Lord Claes sighing in exasperation at his sister, or her mother's confused look.
All she had eyes for was the young man who had been talking to her mother as she'd entered the room, now turning towards her with a smile on his face.
"Rafael," she said, and she felt her face start to hurt, just a little. But it was a good pain.
Distantly, she heard Lady Claes squeal.
