I tried to return home with Mother noticing I had ever been gone. But, when I unlocked the front door, Mother was waiting for me.
"Where have you been?" she asked, in an unusual moment of sobriety. "I'm cold."
"Working," I said. "How are you feeling?"
"Cold," she repeated. "I got it all ready for you to light it."
Sure enough, the fireplace was stocked with fresh wood and kindling. Effortlessly, I shot a small flame of fire at it, and the one roomed shack burst to life with an orange, warm glow.
"Ahh... That's the stuff..." Mother smiled. "You take good care of me, you know that?"
I smiled back. I didn't, really. If I did, I would have gotten her off of opium. I would have accepted Mustafa's offer in a heartbeat.
All I had to do was bring a girl to Mustafa and I could take care of Mother.
"What did Garik want, anyways?"
"How did you know that I went to visit him?"
Mother laughed. "I had a hunch."
This rare moment of lucidity was refreshing. I wondered how long it would last.
"Well?" Mother prodded. "What did your father want?"
I hesitated. Should I tell her? I looked at my mother, sitting on the rug, with a dress that was simply rags sewn together, her long, oily blonde hair stiff in a braid that hadn't been taken out in days. Her bare feet poked from underneath her.
She was the reason I was alive.
"Don't trust Garik," Mother said abruptly. "I don't want you to have anything to do with that lying bastard."
I gave her a curious look. When she was high on opium, all she could talk about was how much she loved him, cherished him. She would beg for me to bring her to him. When she was sober, she never mentioned Mustafa, and I wasn't one to bring him up.
"He said he had a mission for me. If I completed it, we would be well taken care of. I would gain my birthright."
Mother rocked back and forth, and stayed silent for a few moments. "It's your choice. You are not a child anymore. You never really were to begin with. What do you have to do?"
"Capture this person with rare magic," I summarized.
"I trust you to make the right decision, Evander," Mother murmured. She looked up at me. She had saved my life when Mustafa threw us out.
Now, it was my turn to save hers. She didn't deserve to live in a one room shack where we couldn't even afford matches.
Fifty grand in advance... And fifty grand upon completion... That would be enough to get Mother some help, so there will be more times like this. Times where she was lucid enough to express her true feelings, times where she was as smart as she once was.
"I'll pay for someone to take care of you while I'm gone. He's offering an advance," I said. "I'll just take the money he's offering for the job."
Mother stood up and embraced me. Her grip was weak, but it was something that I cherished. "Evander... Never become overshadowed by the darkness. Do the right thing."
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