After Maria was certain Jerrick was in a sound sleep, and there wasn't any negative after effects to the deep sleep healing spores she casted on him , she gently kissed his head and left his small room. Maria felt like breaking down and raging at the same time. She knew Tyre cared for the boy, Tyre had distanced himself from Jerrick after he noticed Diandre's change of personality. Diandre was just as strong if not stronger than Tyre now and if he wanted Jerrick dead and was now acting on those feelings then none of them could keep him safe, Jerrick survived with serious injuries and even managed to hurt Diandre this time because he was surprised, but in the long run she didn't believe even with his mysterious powers that he could defend himself against Diandre if her son was intent on killing him. All in all he was a four year old child.
Maria went towards the family's greenhouse and entered through a side door that lead into a area sectioned off for experimenting on crossbreeding different herbs. It was a rectangle shaped room and it didn't have the domed clear glass ceiling the rest of the greenhouse had, instead the glass was tinted and glass balls infused with the Light aspect lit the space, this way they could adjust the lighting for each herb. In Maria's area there was a long desk with research papers meticulously organized on them, while Tyre was a experienced farmer, Maria was the brains behind cultivating and crossbreeding the rarest herbs they were able to successfully grow, so this area was off limits to the entire family.
Maria sat down in the comfortable cushioned chair and reached under the desk and pressed a small indent on the wood under the desk. It then released a locked catch on a small compartment in the wooden floor under the desk. No one in the family knew about this compartment or what it contained. While Maria loved Tyre deeply and appreciated him taking her out of the Empire, she never stopped being angry about the treatment she received while being enslaved. Elven women being extremely exotic and beautiful to the Jynn were constantly abused while they were enslaved. If you owned a slave and you wanted to take her into your bed, then it wasn't considered rape, if they needed extra coin a young elven woman could find herself rented to a local brothel to be taken by any who had coin. While Maria was lucky to be sold to a Noble house, and given to Tyre, it didn't mean she wasn't blind to what happened to other elven female slaves. After Tyre and Maria escaped into the neighboring county and established their small herb farm, Maria soon joined a secret organization that helped slaves escape from the Western Empire. This was strictly against Tyre's wishes, Tyre wanted to leave the past behind and even could be said that he made many sacrifices to save Maria, and to him nothing was worth the risk of losing her. Maria remained active helping hide runaways on their farm and used her nature aspect to make hideaways on a freedom path from the Empires border to sanctuary cities in the Kingdom. She eventually retired after having her last child and stepped down from an active role but still knew many influential elves and many owed her favors she was always to kind to collect.
Maria lifted the small hidden door on the floor that was hidden by the large desk, inside it contained coin pouches, deeds to certain properties in the Empire and in the kingdom, and three green stones with glowing tunes carved into them, to ab inexperienced person they would look like basic Nature aspect stones that could be used to increase growth of plants, but Maria was a clever agent and hid their purpose very well, while the Kingdom loathed the Western Empire, diplomatically they had made laws against helping runaway slaves to appease the powerful Jynn nobles that bordered their lands. While villages were still raided from time to time it wasn't as frequent, so the Kingdom made concessions. These stones hid communication crystals, hidden by the Earth aspect, covering the crystals with rock and using the Nature aspect to fill runes on the rock with power very cleverly hid their purpose and they could still be used with the correct passphrase. Maria was going to contact a elf named Byior, who was a prominent trader in the Kingdom. She had long ago help rescue his wife from being sold to a brothel in the empire. Her trade caravan was raided and she had found herself in a border city on the slave circuit in the Western Empire. Maria owning property in the city under a alias was able to use contacts to buy her and get her moved to the property then smuggled out of the city after she pretended to be a slave for a few months, the property was run by a Jynn family who were originally from the east, and had fallen under hard times and needed money. The money helped cover the risk they took, and being from the east meant that they were loyal to the Emperor and believed slavery should be outlawed. This property was still owned by Maria under a alias but was no longer used.
Byior being a very wealthy merchant, had opened a orphanage that was partially financed by the merchants guild and the Royal family. It was the only orphanage that would allow none elves in the area Maria was able to move Jerrick to in a timely manner. This orphanage was used by the royal family to find young children with potential that had no loyalties. They were harshly trained during the school hours, the teaching methods were considered brutal by some, and were meant to force those with potential to a early maturity. Those that were found magically lacking or with no ability to cultivate were then rated on the grades they had accumulated in the other disciplines the school taught, for example black smithing, carpentry, soldiering and other mundane skills, those that passed where placed in a apprenticeship with the appropriate guild or sent to a far off fort to be trained in the life of a soldier. Those that showed no aptitude or skills were sent to the mines after they reached adulthood for at least 10 years to cover the cost of the education. The labor camps where cruel and hard but Maria knew that there was no chance of Jerrick not making it through the school with his gifts.
Maria brought the stone to her lips and whispered the passphrase that would send Bryior a mental alert that his connected communication crystal was being contacted. Maria knew that Bryior may not be near his stone, settled down at her desk and began writing some letters to others in Elberst City that she knew. Elberst was a large Elven city that was a days ride from her farm, and was the location of the orphanage. Being close to Maria's home she knew several prominent citizens that could keep a eye on the young human child that she grew to love over the last four years. After not even a bell past the stones runes began to light in a pattern, Maria waited until the correct pattern lit and she knew it was safe to communicate, the organization while having many members in noble houses and other prominent family's, had to be careful because if they were caught the royal family would severely punish any involved in freeing slaves. "Maria!", exclaimed a jubilant voice that was sent directly to her mind, and while it was not out loud she could still recognize it has Byior's voice.
"You weren't exaggerating when you told me there would be no further contact between us after Geneue's rescue." While Byior was a decent elf he had inflated since of pride because of his success and wealth and expected Maria to use the favor he offered years ago and when he found out she retired from active service he was even more conflicted that she had no need of him. During the operation to save his beloved wife they had spent a lot of time together in the guise of buying rare herbs from her farm, and had developed a one sided infatuation with her, having multiple wives or husbands wasn't uncommon and he tried to make there relationship more personal during the time they had spent together. Maria was loyal to a fault to her husband so he soon gave up. Once his wife was returned to him Maria had cut off all ties to him and would only use intermediaries to sell the herbs, because it had actually been profitable for both sides, Byior had managed to get her to take the communication crystal only after considerable convincing, and reminded her she may need a favor from a connected man like him one day.
Maria had no plans to ever contact Byior again, she was well aware of his attraction to her and his dislike of Tyre not because he was a Jynn but his family, it was known that Tyre was from a large noble family that dealt with slaves extensively and while he knew Tyre was disowned, he still had a major grudge against them. Maria unfortunately needed him, and had to call in the favor for Jerrick.
"Yes Byior it was for the best, it was known your wife was captured and her escaped would be investigated, the protection of the organization is paramount to save more elven lives, I however have a problem that needs your connections".
Maria then began to explain the situation, and the back story, she left out Jerrick's unusual abilities. While it was known that Tyre and Maria took in another child, they were able to hide the fact he was human, and Byior was shocked to hear that Maria had been raising a human child and that it survived past infancy. Humans were rare on this world because they were unable to handle Heaven's Energy without certain medicines, and would only survive without them if they had a potential for cultivation. However most of the powerful human bloodlines were wiped out long ago in the Empire.
Byior immediately could see the child's worth, human or not, the orphanage was a school that was designed to educate youths to be loyal to the Royal family and the Kingdom, and he knew if he was able to find a powerful pawn for the Royal Family he would be richly rewarded, not with money but the connections they would and could provide him were vast, also it meant his debt to Maria was settled at the same time, the decision wasn't hard for Byior to make. Originally Maria was going to use her secret funds to pay for a portal to the nearest town, but Byior refused and told her he would send his servants with a carriage by the early morning tomorrow. Maria was concerned about Byiors immediate agreement, but knew that time was short and she didn't have many options. While she was concerned about her son, she also worried about who her son would tell, and due to Humans rarity if some powerful Noble could make a claim on him and pressure the Kingdom to turn him over. A year ago she believed her son would never do something like this, but now she was convinced that he had accepted service in a powerful family while in school, and this family was not from the Eastern Empire.