"Good morning hoarder," Annabeth greeted Canning when she had stepped into the room.
She had already given him the title and he was used to the nickname whenever she found him in his study.
"Good m-" He looked up to return her greeting but her sleepless expression threw him off.
"Okay… Rough night?" He finally asked after a brief moment of awkward silence.
"I had a dream about raccoons," she replied.
"Was it that b-" Canning tried to ask.
"I don't want to talk about it. Nothing good ever happens when raccoons get together."
Canning couldn't help letting out a chuckle at this point. He was a little amused by how someone who could fight vicious bandits was having nightmares. He knew the raccoon part was a joke but it was somehow funny. And then something he had completely ignored came to his mind and did a full 180 degrees turn on his mood. That was the second time in 3 days that Annabeth had had trouble sleeping. He thought killing had negatively started to affect her and that she was not mentally prepared for it.
"Could it be because of the bandits?" His tone was slightly more serious this time.
"Well… both raccoons and bandits are thieves… but I think the raccoons wanted to eat my feet or something. I'm fine though, thanks for asking," Annabeth replied with a smudge of sarcasm embedded in her words.
"I'm glad you're fine then. Take a seat," he replied, gesturing to the seat on the other side of the table in front of him.
"With me is the report of your fight against the bandits..." Lord Canning said, holding up a partially opened scroll while looking at her dead in the eye.
"Yikes... " Canning started reading off bits and parts from the report while she pretentiously nervously bit her nails. Being weird was her specialty now.
"Didn't use magic even when surrounded..."
He looked at her for a response but she could only shrug her shoulders. She had probably been caught up in the moment that she forgot she could use magic too.
"Talked too much..."
"That I can explain. I was being asked for directions to destination f..."
Annabeth tried to throw in a quick joke. She was making the most of a bad situation like a kid that found a silver lining for failing his exams. Canning, however, simply continued reading his snippets.
"Used too much magical energy during fusion attack..."
"Hey... it was a go big or go home moment," Annabeth kept her reply short this time so as to not be cut off. It ruined the quality of the joke she wanted to tell but at least delivered the point she needed to make. In her book, that was a win.
"And then using a dagger against a metallic swordsman?"
Annabeth shrugged her shoulders, unable to come up with a proper reason or joke for it. She remembered panicking and using a dagger that offered no special abilities or anything against someone whose body was probably stronger than her dagger. Whatever happened to the dagger? Her mind trailed off.
"Decapitated limbs on a bandit and then partially stopped the bleeding to give him a slow agonizing death..." Canning read off the scroll, bring her attention back to the room and matters at hand.
Annabeth sat quietly for a bit, only to smile and say,
"He had it coming." "Although I know that I will probably regret asking but how did he have it coming Annabeth?" Canning replied.
He knew that the smile she had would come with an explanation that would leave him questioning her sanity, but he was still interested in knowing to determine what mental institution she belonged in.
"Glad you asked. You know how sometimes you get deja vu that you have met a person before and they did unforgivably despicable things to you?"
"I can't relate but go on…"
"Yes," Annabeth replied.
"What?!" Lord Canning exclaimed, confused by the conversation he just had.
"Exactly," Annabeth sinisterly smiled and replied.
She was on top of the world at the moment with the look of confusion she had given her uncle. It was becoming euphoric that she had already forgotten about the nightmares she had in the night. Canning stared at her for a while, his expression changing from one of confusion to a blank stare, realizing she was messing with him to avoid his questions.
"You have issues."
"I know. But don't we all? I mean, one minute you're writing love letters to your friends in the capital-" Annabeth started her explanation before getting interrupted.
"They were acceptance letters to a tournament," Canning interrupted.
"That's what I said. And then the next minute you're taking me on a journey to fight bandits... not that I'm complaining."
"I had my reasons," Lord Canning said, his mood deteriorating slightly into one of discomfort due to the sudden change in the topic.
"Said the priest to the angry mob after being found with an altar boy," Annabeth replied, deciding to throw in a few jokes in case the topic was one her uncle didn't want to discuss based on his facial expression.
"Their boss did a lot of atrocious things. And you need help."
"I know right. Sometimes I hate the smell of pineapples for no reason," said the comedic Annabeth.
"Annabeth, take this seriously."
"Sorry. I got carried away."
Lord Canning knew the girl was looking for answers as to why he took down that particular group of bandits and not the other groups in the city. Liberdade had several groups of bandits so to say he picked that group because of their actions would be like picking an ant from a colony because it carried a different leaf. At the end of the day, it was still an ant.
Lord Canning put on his best sad face and began to tell the tale of their family's history with the bandits albeit it wasn't the real reason for the attack.
"Salazar was the name of the bandits' boss," he said after a minute or so of silence and turning around to stare outside his window as though reminiscing.
"He had robbed a lot of people during his years as an active bandit but worst of all he killed them. He was a monster that took pleasure in killing innocent people."
Lord Canning was trying to paint a picture for Annabeth as to the kind of person the bandit boss was. However, the effect on Annabeth was completely unexpected. That last sentence confirmed Annabeth's suspicions that Canning, like everyone else with some morals, judged those that hurt innocent people for pleasure.
She found herself reaffirming her decision to never share the details of the things she went through with anyone, not even the person she had secretly grown to consider her best friend and father.