40 Fates and a Library (1/2)
Public Release: March 11th, 2019 - 3:30 am EST
Most of those present didn't understand. How 'long-lost' could a friend of a child be? The Dixon Head didn't question it. He knew better than to question the strange duo. He knew about their decision to renounce the Stonelight name and, despite that, he was still willing to give them all of the information and heritages related to the Four Families.
Tikki Stonelight didn't react to the news of his niece renouncing the family name. He also didn't question the new name chosen. He just wanted to know one thing.
”Cara,” said Tikki, his voice soft and low, ”I just want to know, how did George and Selena die?”
”We were robbed by bandits,” said Cara, recounting memories that weren't entirely her own.
”So they were killed?”
”No,” said Cara. ”The bandits just took our money and food. Mom and Dad ate a poisoned mushroom while foraging.”
…
Zara coughed. She hadn't heard the story about her teacher's current parents. She wanted to laugh at such a stupid and pathetic death, but she couldn't find it in her.
Tikki, to his credit, didn't react in a negative way. He wore a firm expression, but his eyes spoke volumes. Of everyone present, he knew his brother George the best…
”That doesn't sound like how he'd go,” said Tikki under his breath.
Tikki misunderstood. He assumed that, because Cara was still alive, that his brother George and his wife tasted wild mushrooms for poison to protect their daughter…
Cara conveniently didn't mention that she, too, ate the poison mushrooms.
And so the name 'George Stonelight' passed on into local legend as a man who sacrificed himself for his family's future, all due to one miscommunication.
A memory fragment of her body's first death existed in Cara's mind. She watched it again, in that moment, just to make sure she didn't mess up any details:
-
'Oh look, a mushroom,' said her father.
'Look, Cara, we don't have to worry about food again!' said her mother as she collected armfuls of poisonous mushrooms.
'Yay!' yelled Cara herself, excited that she'd get to fill her belly.
They tossed several over an open flame and then fought one another over the mushrooms, each of them eating as many as they could...
-
Cara closed her eyes and shook her head. Idiots truly were destined to live shorter lives. She supposed that it made sense, though. George Stonelight was exiled from his opulent life due to poor talents, and he lived a simple life in a tiny village where most of his needs were taken care of by a small pension from the Stonelight family…
His wife, too, wasn't a very bright woman with similar circumstances.
Cara's 'family' in this world were all idiots. The head of her 'clan', her uncle, and her parents never stood a chance at life. They were destined to fall.
-
”Okay,” said the Dixon Head. ”Miss Cara, what do you want to do with these three? Should I schedule an execution?”
”Yes!” said Zara.
”No!” said Cara.
”They tried to marry you off!” said Zara.
”That's not a crime worth the death penalty…” said Cara.
”It is in my eyes,” asserted Zara.
Cara sighed. She looked over her uncle and the other elders. She didn't feel true animosity for them. She didn't like them, either.
If she had to name how she felt, she would call it indifference.
In her eyes, she no longer had any ties to the Stonelight family. In her many years she learned that, often, the best way to deal with people she didn't like was to outright ignore them, to pretend they didn't even exist.
”I suppose,” said Cara, ”that exiling them to the southern villages would suffice.”