Everything seemed normal once more, or was he just him!? It felt like he had entered a trance. The little Aretha seemed normal, her appearance was better this time, different from the way he had seen earlier. Everyone seemed busy with their meals as they ate silently.
"You knew about this..!?" Celiona had broken the silence and turned to Armando. He knew what she was talking about and only nodded without taking his attention off his food. "Argh! Celiona, let it go. I had hidden it for my own reasons" Marionetta said with disgust and annoyance. "Never for once did you find it important to tell your kids that their cousins are the Indies, what other secrets do you have?!" Celiona said as though trying to hide her anger as her voice shook. Marionetta seemed to have noticed and decided to answer mildly.
"Nothing more is hidden from you, my other brother died at sea several years back...".
"That's not what I'm talking about. I speak of Aretha, my daughter!" Celiona finally burst. A statement that made the whole rooms fall into a pause, Marionetta had almost choked on her soup. Aretha's gaze had shifted from Marionetta to Celiona, forth and back as though expecting something. "What is it that troubles you??" Marionetta managed to compose herself.
"How on earth did Aretha leave me?! I remember carrying her in my arms, we were on our way coming from Andorra, we had gone to see father.." Celiona spoke, her countenance changed as though she had received a revelation. She immediately turned to Vandorr who sat unbothered, he knew what had happened. Celiona had finally remembered something. "If that's what bothers you, then I'd have you know how we managed to bring Aretha back" Marionetta had signalled the servants to clear the table.
She soon led them away from the dinning into a more magnificent living room.
"Reginald... I'm sure you remember him" She finally spoke as everyone settled. Celiona frowned. "What does anything have to do with him?!".
"He rescued her, he couldn't find you. We searched for you for days, weeks, all to no avail" Marionetta spoke calmly and sympathetically. Celiona had turned her face away immediately. "This Reginald, who might he be?!" Vandorr spoke this time, he had stared at the little Aretha for so long.
"Ha! Of course you couldn't know Guilford Yerx's son. Reginald, a man every parents wish they had" Armando said spitefully.
Marionetta looked at him and smiled. "As he has spoken but if you have come to ask about him, I'm afraid, he's but a dead man now" She looked away from him. Vandorr and Armando's eyes locked in awe.
"Reginald was Aretha's father..." She spoke again as her eyes watered. Marionetta always portrayed herself as a strong woman, an older version of Celiona, the resemblance was uncanny.
Celiona raised her head a little as the tears she had tried holding in had begun to pour carelessly from her dreamy eyes. "Ho-How.....?" She managed to say. Marionetta had waved the remaining kids to go in, only four of them stayed behind. "The main why we are here. He was killed, poisoned in his own house. The world has never been dark than these times. Hermis thinks it's closely related to you, Reginald had been interrogated some days after rescuing Aretha about something called....".
"The Crest of Marmalade.." Vandorr said calmly.
"Yes that!! How would you know that?!" She frowned a little. Vandorr only hesitated. "The Church of Andorra thinks Celiona has something to do with it" He finally spoke. "But they are in possession of it already, shouldn't that be where it ends?!"
Marionetta had immediately turned to look at her daughter. "That's the thing! There's a lot of controversy surrounding this thing. We think just like what happened to Reginald, they wish to do the same with her" Armando spoke before explaining what had happened on their way earlier.
"Incanians!? All the way across the Shuffle Sea!!?" Marionetta's eyes grew. "So it seems, we had come hoping to speak to Aretha....maybe she could--"
"That child is sick, has been since her return besides you really do expect a child not more than two years from then to remember what had happened. I'm afraid your journey to Settlescore has been nothing but waste" Marionetta had cut him short.
"What do you mean by the child is sick?!" Vandorr asked with a sting of curiosity. Marionetta paused her lips and only stared, she seemed to feel she had spoken too much. "We shall discuss this in due time, right now I advise that you lay your heads. I've had the servants prepared beds for you" She stood to her feet and turned to leave.
Perhaps it wasn't time to talk about it, Vandorr had wandered off in his own thoughts again. The experience he had had rung deep in his head as his curiosity lingered. "Goodnight.." He responded.
"My mother hides something..." Celiona said as soon as it was only three on them sitting in the fairly dim room, the candles had begun to burn off. "That is why we will be patient with her until we get what we want" He spoke calmly.
"You want to talk about what happened earlier?!" Armando had spoke this time, he had pulled out a piece of bread and was already rubbing jam on it. Vandorr knew what he was trying to ask, he didn't deem the right time to speak on it. "Let your mind be at rest, it was only a headache" He feigned a smile. "I do hope to rest now, Come, let me lead you to where you will sleep" Celiona had said after watching Armando eat with disgust.
******
"Why have you come here?!" Aretha's voice resounded in his ears. He twitched his face a little as his eyes were still closed in slumber. He opened them slowly as he grew conscious. The little girl had spoken again, the same words reverberating through his mind like sounds traveling through an empty hallway. It wasn't long before he realised where he was, he had been hanging upside down in what looked to him like a basement.
Was this another trance like before?! He struggled with the chains that bound him, a fireplace at the side had been going for quite a while as the heat stroked his skin mildly. The voice had resounded again this time more clearly and wasn't far off only but a few inches from where he hung in agony.
Three figures in black hood, with faces impossible to see than the dark void deep into their shadows. "Who are you?!" He said stiffly, still struggling with the chains around him, he hadn't been wearing anything but his trouser. Aretha, the little girl had walked up to him from their midst, now having the appearance he had seen from earlier. "Why have you come here?! You can't be here" She spoke in the manner as before.
In a flash, like being jerked forward and backward, he found himself sitting on a chair in a different place entirely, the effect of the sudden movement drowned his consciousness a little bit. A dark room, fairly lit with nothing more than a candle sitting on a table in front of him. He looked at himself, he was dressed normally this time and not seeming to be in any form of bondage.
"What manner of sorcery is this?!" He spoke as he looked around confused a little, it wasn't something really strange to him. The three hooded figure had appeared in front of him, sitting at the table as well as the little girl.
"Is this a vision or a trance, what mind tricks are you playing now little girl!!?" He said trying to control himself. "Mind trick?! I'm not controlling you, You've come to me yourself" Aretha spoke normally this time.
Not more than ten years but spoke like an adult. He stared at her curiously, she didn't hesitate to stare back. Her blue eyes reflection brightly in the direction of the candlelight.
"These things, people. What are they??" He nodded at the three figures sitting beside her. Without hesitation, they pulled their hood off, and the once dark void revealed not what he had in mind. Three gorgeously looking women sat in front of him. "Hermia, Grace, Victoria. Daughters of Ice" They spoke together at the same time.
His eyes grew wide. "You're Vikings! Hermit Vikings!!".