“All children are the same.”

- A memory of the Old Ones.

***Carinthia***

***Magnus***

I enter the room in which Sely left Hatlix to give him time to wake up. What I find is in equal amounts stunning and outrageous. Hatlix is on the operating table, still restrained, and Annia is trying to clean him. Someone used a permanent marker to scribble a red heart on his cheek and a flower on his forehead. Annia's attempts at undoing the deed aren't exceptionally successful.

Fiacre's gasp alerts her to our presence. She turns around and freezes upon seeing us. Then she glares at Kath. “Kath! I told you to wait!” Her attention returns to us. “I am so sorry! I just went to refresh myself and when I returned, Kath was doodling all over his face. Then I tried to clean him up and he opened his eyes.”

I turn to catch Kath and bring down some righteous punishment on her, but the little minx is gone. She is nowhere to be seen in the otherwise empty room. When I take a look outside, I can’t find her in the corridor either, so I return to the room. “Damn! She is learning fast. Maybe she’ll become a real Old One after all.”

Hatlix tries to get free from his restraints. “Mmmw! Hmmmw! Hyyyyy!”

Annia points at his mouth. “Why does he need the leather gag?”

“Because he was trying to bite us and because it stops him from biting his own tongue.” Sely walks over to Hatlix and opens the knot which is holding the gag in place. She is very careful not to be bitten, should he try it.

Hatlix spits out the gag. “hyyy?”

Oh, great! Now the guessing starts! “I am sorry, Grandpa. I don't understand.”

Fiacre steps to his bed and places her hand reassuringly on his forehead. “Don't worry, Dad. You were in a bad place for a long time. That's all over now. We found you and there is no reason to go back. How did you even get into that cursed chest?”

He shakes his head. “Hey rugme. Ut I ot uwa an id nsi de est o ait il bet. Opid li el ut an ocked! Gnus er lized it as me!”

I raise an eyebrow. “Can anyone translate?”

Fiacre nods. “They drugged him like everyone else at the party, but he could still move and escaped into the dungeon. There, he hid himself inside the chest to wait until the drug wears off. When the lid fell shut, it locked automatically. He recognized Magnus's aura, but Magnus never realized that it was him in the chest.”

I pull a grimace, cursing my own incompetence. If I hadn't been so dense, my grandfather wouldn't have sat for over a hundred years in a stupid chest.

“Thers?” Hatlix asks with hope in his voice.

Fiacre pulls a grimace and gives Hatlix the short version of our family's downfall. Grandpa listens to everything with a sad expression on his face. In the end, Fiacre tries to cheer him up with a few silver linings on the horizon. “But we are recovering! I think you already met Annia and Kath.” She points at Sely. “This is Sely. She bonded with Magnus and we expect yet another child. And there are others who joined the clan. I'll introduce you to them later.”

Hatlix nods and looks at his restraints. “Bin.”

We free him and Sely provides a bottle with acetone to clean Hatlix's face. Oilell shows up with food and water. Hatlix eats with tears in his eyes. Sely said that she deleted most of his memories of being inside the chest, but it looks like he still remembers the hunger.

Oilell pats Hatlix’s shoulder. “You surely want to clean yourself after such an ordeal. I gave you a basic make over after they caught you in the dungeons, but there is nothing better than doing it yourself.” She leaves in a blur of motion.

He nods. “Hayu!” Then he hugs Fiacre and Sely. Having expressed his thanks to them, he hugs me which feels a little awkward. After all, I did my best to keep the chest with him inside closed. “Thanks, Grandpa. I am sorry that I didn't recognize you.”

We part and suddenly Hatlix recognizes Cecilia. “Cecil! Yolif!” He rushes over and crushes her to his chest, whirling her around.

She endures the intimate greeting with stoic ease. “I am also glad that you didn't bite the dust, Old Bone. To be honest, I was a little disappointed when I heard about your demise. Seems like I should never write you off. It's like in that TV show. Never assume that the character is dead, unless you've seen the corpse.”

I sigh in relief when I realize that Hatlix doesn't seem to be permanently damaged by his imprisonment. It could be far worse without Sely. I turn to her and smile. Then I hug her. “Thank you for restoring him. He is almost like his former self. And if it's true that he can even learn proper speech if he is given enough time, then I've to thank you even more.”

She hugs me back. “Thanks, but that was the least I could do.”

Cecilia links arms with Hatlix. “I know what we'll do! We go out and have some fun! The world has changed a lot in the recent years. You have to see it.”

Annia's eyes bulge and she hurries to their side and tries to stop Cecilia. “You can't! Do you remember the disaster when the two of us went out for the first time!? We need to prepare him.”

Cecilia makes a dismissive gesture. “Don't worry. I'll be there to help!” Then she guides Grandpa out of the room.

I purse my lips and point at their backs. “Aren't they a little too familiar with each other?” I also want to have some time in order to catch up with Hatlix. He is the one who taught me enchanting. I admit that he was a horrible teacher. I had to copy his every move and figure out the details by myself, but that’s what made me really good in the end.

Tina shrugs. “A few years ago, they were an item. Must've been one thousand B.C. Their relationship lasted a few hundred years until they parted ways.”

Fiacre also looks shocked. “It didn't look like they parted ways with bad blood between them. What about Mother and Dad? Did she get between them?”

Tina rolls her eyes. “Back then we didn't have the whole,” she gestures with her fingers, “one-partner-thing going on. We simply fucked whoever was attractive and when a woman got pregnant, the father had to provide. When Hatlix hit the jackpot with your mother, Cecilia decided not to butt in and stopped seeing him.”

I turn my attention to Tina. “Really!? Why did we stop? Free partnerships seem a lot more convenient!”

“Watch it!” Sely elbows me in the guts. She doesn't hold back and I swear that she aimed for the broken rib on purpose. I bend over and gasp. “I didn't mean it like that! You'll always be the only one for me.”

Sely huffs. “I won't share! Don't tell me that you would allow me to see another man.”

“No!” I wring my hands around an imaginary neck. “I would squeeze his throat until his eyes pop out!”

Tina sighs. “Marriage is something the elders decided to copy from the humans. The whole freedom thing was a lot of fun while it lasted, but some Old Ones are very possessive about their partners. Nine of ten life-or-death duels were fought to get rid of romance competition. Male and female alike. I admit that we have had a lot less deaths since the elders used all their influence to change the system.”

Oh, I assume the evolutionary stress on our species was a lot higher back in those days. “I see.”

“Let's return to the important things. Do you really intend to steal back the orb? I admit that I would rather alert the elders. Our latest chance to do so, would be during our next gathering. The elders already scheduled one in four days because of Yellowstone. It will be already hard to explain why we waited for four days. If the gathering passes and we still haven't informed them, then we are in deep shit,” Tina voices her opinion.

I grind my teeth and focus on the ceiling. Being reminded of that stupid orb is something I don't like at all. There is so much going on that the orb seems insignificant to me. Haven't they seen my improved version in the basement? “I guess that I'll simply have to go and get it back. It's not like I have a choice if I want to keep my territory.”

Sely nods. “Good! When will we go?”

I turn to her and look at her belly. “I don't think that I want you anywhere near the fae.”

Sely crosses her arms in front of her chest. “I'll not allow you to throw your life away! Either we go down together, or you don't go at all. Two have a better chance than one person alone.”

Actually, I don't think that's true when the whole mission is about going in under stealth and escaping undetected. If we are caught inside Fairy it doesn't matter if there is one or a hundred of us.

Unfortunately, it seems like Sely isn't exactly reasonable in this matter. It's one of those arguments between man and woman where the guy is right, yet he isn't. I look at Tina and seek eye contact with her. After a few seconds, I take a meaningful glance at the operating table, focusing my attention on the restraints.

Tina gets what I intend to do and nods.

I know that there will be hell to pay when I come back. Taking up permanent residence in Fairy might be a good idea.