Chapter 4: Why can't you find the way home?
WATER CLAN – HOUSE OF THE NEITHS - CHAO 149
"Master… It has been five years… You are twenty years old, now... Why don't you bond with someone? A water clan member without a bond… With the great war, there has been so many deaths, you know that the Church will allow it. It's an official deed, if one's whole family is dead, then it is permitted to bond with an outsider… Or at least can you not marry someone?"
"No! We never found her corpse, I won't rest until I know for sure what happened to her."
"Master… young miss was pretty, they probably…"
"SHUT UP!!"
Orwen Vlad Neith. His family was once a respected noble family of the third circle. After that day… He had sworn that he would build everything again, and that the Neith family name would be even grander than before; he'd reach the second - no, the first circle!
He had been able to mourn his grandparents, his parents, his brothers and sisters, everyone except her. His younger sister Lin… She was the source of his life.
She was the reason he had been able to live through all of his parents' pressure, cursing, beatings; Since the day of her birth, he was able to endure it all without a complaint for her.
A water clan member without his family should commit suicide, given the tradition. After the slaughter, he had been insulted by the neighbors, by the Church, by all the nobility. All that, too, he was able to endure because he was clinging on the idea that she was alive.
He would find her, and she would have a home to return to.
Everyone said she was dead. Legally, she had been marked as such, and she even had a grave with her name. He would often go there to pray, but he did not ask Kmir to take care of her on His side as he asked for the rest of the family. No, he asked Him to show her the way home.
He had killed them all. They had found him on his way back, and he had killed them all. Fortunately, there was no mage in their ranks; magic had always been his weak point.
Except for the Inquisitors, no noble in the water clan learned how to fight, they focused on knowledge and politics. As the heir of a noble water family, he should have been the same. No one could have expected him to know anything about swordsmanship – much less to be a master of the class at age fifteen. They logically had underestimated him, and that was what had saved him.
He had rushed to the Neith domain, but had been too late. Everyone was dead; the family, the servants, the slaves. He had spent days and nights searching for her corpse, but he hadn't found it, nor had he found Georges'.
He had then decided that he would stay alive and rise. If she was alive, he would find her and bring her back. If she was not, he would discover the bastards that paid for the slaughter, and go kill them all, one by one, everyone involved and nine generations of their extended family.
He took out a knife the size of his forearm. The blade was sharp and shining; it was made of the strongest silver essence and reinforced with first rank glowing runes. The handle was made of a black volcano stone, but it was as fresh and soft as water when one touched it.
He had planned to gift it to her for her birthday. It was today… Chao, third day of the moon week.
[You're so smart, Lin, so much more than I am, why can't you find the way home?]
Summer had just ended, it was the first week of Nebule and fog was starting to show itself. Was she hiding in it, that day?
He sighted and put back the knife in his pocket. He retrieved his gaze from the window and went back to his work.
He had received a letter from the water clan's capital.
"Lord Neith,
We received your demand, but we are sorry to announce you that we can't give you back your third circle title. A water clan noble family has to be a family.
However, as a proof of our good faith, a show of support for your grievance and a reckoning of your talent as well as of the old history of your family, we allow you the title of fourth circle noble.
Find a wife in the good name of Kmir, start a family, make alliances, clear your name, and we will reconsider.
May Kmir show you the way and Sofiia advise you,
Matthew Marc Estur, water clan secretary »
He slammed his fist on the table. This again… Very well, he would be patient, as a good man of the water. Just they wait… They wanted to see what he was capable of? They would see for sure!
Clear his name… Clear his name for the horrible crime of being alive with a dead family.
Of course he knew the quickest way was to marry a young noble girl. He had the talent, he had the name – an old name with a proper background, as tarnished as it was. Hell, they at least owed him some respect for he was one of the last wardens! Any recent noble family of the fourth – even the third circle would be more than happy to marry off their youngest daughter to him.
However, he was unwilling. He wouldn't share his home and his glory with anyone except Lin. Or at least, he wouldn't allow himself any happiness before she was found.
He left the study and went to practice. The Inquisition had wanted to recruit him for his talents with the sword, for his piety and wisdom. He indeed had everything it took to be a great inquisitor. He probably offended them when he refused. He knew that they hadn't even considered the possibility. What could possibly hold him back? True, he would have to legally give up his name as well as his clan, but - even setting aside the current situation - what could be more honorable than serving Kmir? No one could fathom why he did this.
If he had been from the earth clan, how much glory would he have accumulated just with his skills? He would have been judged for his merits, not his connections. At least officially. However, the water clan did not value these outside of the Order. He was good at politics too, and had a respectable amount of knowledge, but he did not shine as much in these latter domains, which were the only ones that mattered here.
Three years. In three years at the latest, he would know. The bound was created between two family members when the younger one reached fifteen years old.
Even before the slaughter, he knew it would be her. Kmir bounded the closest brothers and sisters or cousins, and she was by far the closest to him. Now, it was even more clear; she simply was the last one.
The Rune would appear only after the ceremony was performed, but they would feel it when the bound would link them. In three years to the day, he would know if she was alive.
If she was, he would become her dragon, she would become his phoenix. She'd support him in every way, and he would protect her at the cost of his own life. From there, no one would be able to touch a hair on her head ever again. Then, he'd marry whoever they would agree upon.
If he learned she was dead, he would resign himself. Create an artificial bound with the blessing of the Church, thus creating a new family for himself. Marry this very person or another. He would achieve revenge, then join Lin on Kmir's side.
HAKK'S HIGH CITY - INQUISITION COUNCIL - CHAO 149
"The Hansen family adopted a war orphan. Too many families used this excuse to adopt their blasphemous bastard. We can't let them do the same. Brother Sogur, Sister Unfrid, you will go and investigate. Attest of her good birth or bring her back here and burn her."
"Yes sir!"
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