They stayed for several days, at Shenna’s insistence. Mina met her much younger half-siblings, as well as their father and Shenna’s lover, Mindan. The atmosphere was strained, given the profound hurt that yawned between mother and daughter, but each was relieved to see the other thriving and joyous in their own ways.

“It hurts to watch,” Tanner murmured to Grandma one evening as Mina and Shenna chatted.

An outside observer might mistake the two as being calm and relaxed, but Mindan could see the tension in Shenna’s shoulders, and Tanner and Grandma could sense the thrum of unease in Mina’s every movement.

[We won’t stay much longer. There’s too much pain here for both of them.] Grandma’s heart ached. Well, she supposed it would if she still had one. Shenna and Mina were both just trying to do their best. It was Avery who had created such suffering, and thrust it upon them both. Neither had asked for it, and yet they both had to live with the pain he had inflicted on them. [Maybe if we resolve things with that trash duke,] Grandma mused idly, [the two of them would feel more at ease.]

Tanner drew a loop of mana around himself and Grandma. [I’m in,] he told Grandma silently. [Whatever you decide to do, I’m all in.]

[Thank you dear, but I’d rather you didn’t get your hands dirty.] Grandma wrapped a golem arm around the boy and gave him a quick squeeze. [But I feel relieved to have your support anyway.]

True to Grandma’s word, they set out not long after. Shenna’s tribe members helped restock their supplies, despite their protests that they could forage just fine, especially since Yachi had done such a good job of teaching them, but the River folks wouldn’t hear of it. Yachi agreed to guide them to the edge of the River folks’ territory, after which they would once again be on their own.

Fariel made every excuse to spend more time with Yachi right up until the moment they parted ways. He hovered by Yachi’s side, asking questions about plants, food, everything he could think of. Grandma wasn’t sure if it was just his intellectual curiosity, or if something else was stirring in the imperial mage’s heart. Either way, she left them to it.

“I know we’re trying to head to the calamity site, and I know cutting through Westhill is the fastest route, but are you really sure you want to do this?” Tanner asked for the umpteenth time.

“Yes, Tanner, I’m sure,” Mina answered with long-suffering patience.

[It’s all right to change your mind if you decide it’s too much. We support you either way,] Grandma said firmly.

At the border, Yachi bade them farewell and jogged away, disappearing from view with alarming speed. Tanner and Grandma bade their animals to slip past the border under cover of night and find them on the other side, then strode up to the checkpoint in the middle of the road.

“Identify yourselves,” one guard said.

“I am Mina,” said the girl, giving the guard a level stare.

The guard took in her face, her blue hair tumbling in soft waves around her shoulders, and took half a step back. “Alert the Duke,” he hissed to his compatriots. “We found the runaway.”

Soon, they were surrounded by soldiers. “We have orders to escort you to the Duke’s estate as quickly as possible,” one soldier told them, and hustled them into a rough carriage.

They didn’t resist. This was, after all, within their expectations. The rest of the journey to Avery’s estate was uncomfortable, rattled and bumped as they were inside the carriage, like marbles in a tin can; and also quite a bit slower than they would have gone had they traveled on their own.

During the day, they spoke little, relying on loops of mana to converse silently. At night, Tanner and Grandma checked in with their beasts, cautioning them to stay out of sight as they kept pace with the carriage and its entourage of guards.

Grandma felt it the instant Mina laid eyes on Avery’s estate. The girl tried to hide it, tried to hold it in, but the frenetic rage, the panic and reflexive fear spilled out into their link, like poison spreading through a clear stream. Grandma dipped her awareness into that toxic cloud, and caught glimpses of Mina’s memories, flashes of pain, bursts of terror. Grimly, Grandma set about cataloging and memorizing everyone who appeared in those memories.

Outwardly, Mina appeared calm and composed, cold and unmoved by the goings on around her, but inside, her guts churned with remembered fear. Grandma and Tanner both fed warmth into her through their mana links, which helped to keep her grounded, her facade in place, but she couldn’t help remembering the scared little girl she had been, the last time she had walked these cold stone halls.

Servants bowed and curtseyed to them now as they strode along, escorted by a small squad of soldiers, who had fanned out into something resembling an honor guard. What a sick joke that was, Mina thought bitterly, and tried not to grind her teeth too obviously.

Each time Mina laid eyes on someone she recognized, a fresh spike of terror would spill into their link. Grandma coolly and meticulously laid tracking dots of mana on every single person that had made Mina flinch. There wasn’t a single person so far that Mina had felt the tiniest sliver of warmth toward. Had they all participated in abusing a helpless child? How cowardly and depraved. Did the Duke vet for such twisted personalities in his hiring practices? Grandma held her fury tightly. There would be time enough for that later.

The audience hall was large and well furnished. Mina shoved down her surprise at being called into the lavish chamber, but she couldn’t keep her face neutral when her eyes landed on Jiyon. The Crown Prince was seated next to Duke Avery, the two having just wrapped up a discussion with a petitioner ahead of Mina.

Mina’s joints locked. Her stomach dropped out, and ice filled her veins. [I can’t do this. I can’t. Please. Help me.]

Warmth flooded Mina as Grandma took over, gently nudging the girl’s consciousness aside and wrapping her in a soothing embrace. [Close your eyes. Cover your ears. Don’t look until I say so.]

[Thank you, Grandma.] Mina shrank in on herself until she took up hardly any space at all next to Grandma’s awareness.

With cold elegance, Grandma sketched a bow, and said in a voice like ice, “Your Imperial Highness. Your Grace.”

“Come now, is that any way to greet your father?” Duke Avery smirked, the expression greasy and snide.

“How could I dare to greet Your Grace any other way?” Grandma asked tonelessly, keeping her gaze fixed rigidly forward, looking at nothing and no one.

“Mina, my daughter,” Duke Avery laughed. “Come, let us have dinner together. You’ll join us, won’t you, Your Highness?”

Jiyon glanced back and forth between Duke Avery and Mina, astonishment etched all over his features. His gaze briefly flickered over Fariel, Tanner, and Grandma’s golem, taking in their presence and dismissing them just as quickly. None of them seemed stunned by the revelation. With effort, Jiyon schooled his expression to careful neutrality. “It would be my pleasure, Duke,” he said.

Grandma bowed again. “As Your Grace commands.”

Servants came and ushered Fariel, Tanner, and Grandma’s golem away. [Can you be brave for me while I put the golem away?] Grandma asked the tiny, crumpled lump that was Mina’s consciousness.

The girl stirred, putting out a slim tendril of thought. [Yes, but come back quickly please.]

They parted ways reluctantly. The servants led them away to a distant wing of the estate and showed them into a modest suite, then left them alone without another word. Apparently they did not merit being waited upon. Grandma sat the golem in a chair and zipped back to Mina.

They had just taken their seats, Grandma saw. The duke sat at the head of the table, as expected. Jiyon sat to his right, Mina next to Jiyon, and the duke’s two sons sat on the opposite side from them. Servants brought them food, placing dishes in front of them in silence. Grandma supposed it would have been elegant and sumptuous, but all she could see was Mina’s flashbacks, leaking out from the shivering huddle that she had returned to.

Moldy, spoiled slop was what these same servants had thrown at Mina, all the while spitting curses at her and telling her to be grateful for even that much. It wasn’t a single memory, either. A whole torrent of snapshots, each one subtly different, all in the same vein, so many that even Grandma felt overwhelmed by it. She marked these servants as well.

The meal passed in a nauseating blur. Perhaps Avery attempted conversation. Perhaps his sons made overtures to Mina. Perhaps Jiyon leaned in to ask, very quietly, what was wrong. Grandma stonily ignored them all, ate enough to tide Mina over, and asked to be excused.

“I’m afraid I’m quite fatigued from travel, Your Grace, Your Highness,” she said.

“Oh, yes of course, how thoughtless of us,” Jiyon said quickly, before Avery could insist on one thing or another.

“Very well. Rest, then.” The duke dismissed her with a wave of his hand.

A servant showed Mina the way to a well appointed bed chamber. She must have been new, because no hideous flood of pain and rage leaked out at the sight of her. Grandma wondered what kind of person would choose to work here, but refrained from dotting the woman with mana. 

The door closed with a click, followed by another, softer click: the servant had locked Mina in.

Swift as thought, Grandma dropped a bead of mana on the retreating servant. Play horrible games, she thought grimly, win horrible prizes.

[We’re alone now,] Grandma said to Mina as she leaned on the door. [Do you want to go back to the others?]

[Yes. Wake me when we get there?] Mina curled up even tighter on herself.

[Of course, dear heart.]

Grandma sent a tendril of magic into the lock, feeling out its pins and tumblers, then decided that she was far too angry for such delicate work, and simply crushed the entire mechanism. It was simplicity itself to send mana spiraling out around her, allowing her to avoid every other person along the way and traverse the halls unseen.

The suite where the others had been quartered was located on the far side of the estate from where the Duke had put Mina. Clearly he had intended to separate her from her companions, so that he could do as he pleased with the girl. But Grandma didn’t mind. The walk cleared her mind and sharpened her focus. And besides, she had achieved her goal: the Duke had voluntarily claimed Mina as his daughter, in public, in full view of the Crown Prince no less. No doubt that greedy fool had leapt at the chance to try and regain possession of the girl, especially now that he knew how powerful and capable she was. But Grandma had absolutely no intention of letting him have his way ever again.

[Tanner,] Grandma sent when she neared the suite where the others waited. [Can you and Fariel get ready to go?]

The boy sent an affirmative, and Grandma felt him moving around the suite, stuffing decorative fruits and any valuables he could strip from the room into his pockets. Grandma felt a warm glow of pride at the little act of vandalism. The residents wouldn’t need it for much longer.