All the young ones wondered why they had been told about such secrets, perhaps it truly was simply because their relatives or family were directly involved. Maybe a wish for the future was cast. None of them could truly know the reasoning behind it. But they were all wondering about the implications of what they had been told, Sonya was the luckiest one that could ask her father directly together with her siblings.
They each had someone to ask about it, but with the late night most of the people had withdrawn to their homes. But Ulma had stayed behind hoping for Samuel to talk to her, but he had quickly followed Faleah to overlook the last guests leaving which left her alone in Silence with only house staff cleaning things up.
With a sigh she stood up and walked towards the exit, she intended to catch up with Triss so she would have an easier time getting back home, but the moment she came close to the doors they had opened again and taking her by surprise was Lady Faleah Gillfall herself, looking at Ulma with intrigue and a small smile.
"I don't think the two of us were properly introduced earlier." Faleah extended her hand forward and Ulma gently took it and the moment she did, Faleah shook it with strength and grabbed her hand with both of hers.
"I already offered all your teammates lodging for the night, but they politely declined. However I wish to extend the same offer to you! You may stay here until the college starts up again." Faleah had an inviting smile on her face.
Ulma took a step back and held both her hands up and shook them slightly. "No no, that won't be necessary my Lady! I thank you for the kind offer, but really! I wouldn't want to barge in!"
Seeing the young womans reaction Faleah couldn't help but grin. "Trust me! If anything it would be nice to have some female company, If anything I would be honored to have you!" Faleah took a step forward with a smile. "It's just for two days! So please allow me to be your host!" She gently added and Ulma inwardly sighed and nodded. "Alright, In that case I will accept your kind offer Lady Gillfall!" She gave her a small curtsy.
Faleah couldn't help but smile and take both of Ulma's hands in her own. "In that case I welcome you to Gillfall Estate. Let me escort you to your room." Lady Faleah hooked one of her arms together with Ul's and started by guiding her outside and walked towards the main building with a delighted face as if she had won some price.
Ulma wondered if Faleah may have had too much to drink. But she was dragged along without protesting, she had already accepted after all and she didn't want to disrespect Faleah by suddenly changing her mind, while inwardly she was hoping to find a good reason to leave without showing any disrespect.
The servants of the house were confused to see their lady personally escorting someone and when they tried to ask to help, Faleah had simply waved them away looking slightly annoyed. Finally after a few stairs and corridors they reached a door that led into some chambers. "There is a side room connected to this room where you can find some more comfortable clothes and change. Everything you might need!" Faleah giggled and opened the door.
It certainly seems like whatever alcohol she had drank was finally settling in with how much she seemed to giggle to herself. Faleah opened the door for Ulma and led her inside the room by sitting her down on the huge king sized bed and pointed towards a door in the corner of the room. "As I said, sideroom there. Bathroom there, and if you need anything else! Don't hesitate to call upon any house staff." Faleah started backing out of the room and gave Ulma a last smile and wished her a good night with a wide grin.
"Whats going on." Ulma said out loud to herself as soon as Faleah left the room, she was very confused as she quickly lay down on the clean bed. After a few minutes she started looking around the room and found an awful lot of suspicious things. There were personal paintings that depicted Faleah and her family, or other family members... 'She couldn't have!' Ulma panicked on the inside and opened a wardrobe to find a lot of clothes in the size of a man.
As if on que, the door opened and Samuel stepped inside with a surprised look on his face to see her.
Samuel had walked with the other people outside to see them off, but gave the distance for the leaders to speak quickly together. So he stood on the steps together with Vazal's children and Erica. "It all sounds crazy, but sometimes crazy is true right?" Erica spoke first making the others look at her. "I agree, also whats crazy is our boy. Samuel, you are like... a super high noble now! Thats amazing!" Sonya exclaimed, she had not fully believed it until she saw it with her own eyes.
Unfortunately their moment was broken by Khazan who scoffed at them. "Oh please, as if this rubbish will ever be anything more than trash. Just a lucky peasant who was adopted." His previous demeanor inside the gala was completely gone, Samuel realized he was showing more of his true nature now.
However, Samuel could also feel that he was exaggerating on purpose. Probably to draw out a reaction from him, but Samuel was too occupied with his own thoughts to care so he stood there in silence and Khazan raised his eyebrows in surprise while ignoring everyone else that stared at him clearly annoyed at his remark.
"That half elf lady of your team is good looking. I hope none of you mind if I take her for myself! She already told me quite a lot about herself, she is truly an amazing person and healer." Khazan chuckled and gave Samuel side glances and when he noticed that Samuel's eye twitched at his remark he grinned widely.
"Trust me pal, if she knew what you were saying now... she would probably smite your ass!" It was Erica's turn to scoff. But it just made Khazan grin grow wider. "I can play it cool when I want!" Khazan smiled at them all before opening his mouth again. "I apologize for any rude comments, but I can't help my nature. Sly as a devil and greedy like a dragon! The best of both worlds." He started laughing loudly and descended the steps seeing that the meeting was concluded and the leaders were walking separate directions.
Samuel was itching to go and finally talk to Ulma, but Faleah got his attention with a snap that meant for him to stay a little bit. "Well! I will see you in two days Sam!" Sonya said and gently punched his shoulder and Erica gave him a shoulder pat as the two left together.
"Sorry to stop you Sam!" Faleah spoke the moment she reached him, "But Alsian wants to speak a little bit with you." She placed a gentle hand on Samuels cheek and rubbed her thumb a bit on his face before walking inside the hall again.
"Come let's take a walk!" Alsian waved him over and Samuel sighed and walked down the steps but took several glances back hoping that Ulma would still be there when he came back. Alsian saw him hesitate and smiled a bit. Young people.. Alsian sighed to himself.
The two walked in silence for a few minutes along a trail around the estate until Alsian finally spoke. "She is right you know! I shouldn't have left you alone, I treated you like baggage that I would be forced to bring along. So I owe both you and my cousin an apology, I just hope she will forgive me wherever she is now."
"I don't blame you for anything, you did save me after all. You gave me a purpose and a path forward." Samuel replied and Alsian took a deep breath, "Ay ay ay how kids can grow up in the span of three single years. Just look at where you are now!" Alsian chuckled.
"There are so few of us left, even among children of mana we are one of the oldest bloodlines, or so I have been told. I just hope to find more among our kin one day, so you can't even begin to imagine how happy I was to find you breathing that day."
"More than anything I just want for you to live from now on." Alsian stopped and held Samuel by the shoulders, the kid now a man that was the same height as himself. "Live, cry, laugh, experience the pain and hold on to all the pain so you can realize that you have finally made it outside the hole where the pain resided. Love others and most importantly learn how to love yourself. When you gain the strength to do that, you will be more powerful than ever before."
"To use that power to fight the dark cults and other monsters, thats what I do. So if you are adamant about walking down this path, then never stop walking forward. But never forget to look back at the journey either. The journey and those along the way are the people that will make you who you are!" Alsian let go of Samuels shoulders and slowly continued walking.
Samuel was someone wise for his years, but Alsian was even more wise than he was, he walked along and pondered the words that Alsian had spoken. Thinking back on the journey so far it gave him a mental strength and he understood Alsian's words.
Together they enjoyed the rest of the trail mostly in silence and both watched the silent clouds and the nightsky one could see in between. "Do you have anyone you love... like really love?" Samuel was the one to break the silence with his question and Alsian looked slightly confused before laughing at Samuel's question.
"Yeah, I do! My very big guild family. I have plenty of people there that I love with all my heart. But I do also have a wife, she is probably out there right now helping the guild with whatever task they are doing right now. I keep two lives at the same time, one with family and the other with friends in the Dawnkeepers."
"Not every person can be dragged into the conflicts of the Dawnkeepers, hence why I chose to keep my guild family out of everything and walked a path of my own. But I suppose I do have some family that now walk a simillar path to my own." Alsian nodded at Samuel and together they smiled.
"You should go get her. Just don't forget to give her a piece of your mind first!" Alsian patted Samuels back really hard as if to push him forward and Samuel realized they were back to where the trail had pretty much started and that Alsian had pushed him in the direction of the houses. "How do you know she is still even here?" Samuel's tone was dejected and confused at the same time, much to his dismay Alsian simply chuckled and shrugged with an amused expression and took his leave.
Samuel quickly walked back up and found the gala hall empty except for servants cleaning, he asked if anyone had seen Faleah or Ulma and the servants replied something about Faleah giving her a room for the night. To which Samuel inwardly thanked Faleah for keeping her here, he would be able to speak to Ulma in the morning thanks to her.
He sighed as he walked back to the main building and bid the servants he passed a goodnight. He noticed that a few of them had a weird expression as if they had seen something funny. Samuel's question was quickly answered when he found Faleah happily walking towards her own room in the back center of the building. She seemed very groggy and maybe even a little drunk.
She smiled at Samuel with a grin and bid him a "good night" which made Samuel really confused... 'No she couldn't have?'
Samuel almost ran towards his room and quickly entered it and closed the door and locked it, much to his dismay, Faleah had indeed left Ulma in there. She looked just as confused and anxious as he was, Faleah was a fox, a sly fox.