Elise and Heidi were both sitting at the only table that remained in the dining room. They were staring at each other, no one wanted to be the first one to yield.

Heidi blinked and Elise smiled before proudly exclaiming, "I won!"

Heidi sighed. She still couldn’t comprehend what had happened. A Seer was in town. Heid did not know why. Yet what she knew what that a Herald had accidentally injured Elise. Yet nothing had happened. Elise seemed unhurt. The Seer had used an advanced healing spell, a spell so advanced that Heidi felt… inferior.

The Seer was perhaps younger than thirty but already several magnitudes stronger than her husband and by far stronger than she was and would ever be. Yet Heidi felt no envy, no. She was proud. Today's youth was going to be stronger than in the past, perhaps strong enough to cleanse the lands from the monsters and demonic beasts. Perhaps they could also conquer the fallen lands.

She grinned, an old woman could hope, couldn’t she?

“You did win,” Heidi said, “But we are not here to play. Do you feel unwell?”

The young girl shook her head, “No wounds and my bad cough is also gone. I feel wonderful. I really want to just get up and start running.”

Heidi smiled. Elise’s energetic nature could not be stopped by anything. The young girl often had been a target for diseases. Her body was perhaps too weak, or it was simply due to bad luck. Heidi never had found out why. Fortunately, her illnesses never had stopped her from having fun.

“That is wonderful,” Heidi thus said and then pointed at the pouch, “Please hide it. I don’t think that your mother would accept any money she has not earned through hard and honest work.”

“But isn’t lying bad? And the tall lady wanted to talk with mom,” Elise exclaimed, “I want to show her the pouch of a hero.”

Heidi laughed and ruffled through Elise’s hair, “The woman is a Seer, not a hero. She can see what Fate has planned. And the young boy also was not a hero. He is a Herald, a contracted protector of the Seer and host of an angel that serves one of the many Celestials.”

“Isn’t that what a hero does?” the girl asked, slightly perplexed, “In the book, the hero always got power from a god.”

Heidi couldn’t help but frown. She did not want to destroy Elise’s childish worldview but heroes did not exist. The last seven heroes had vanished three centuries ago. No one knew where they were, some believed that they still lived, others assumed them do be dead. Yet before she could say anything, Heinz and Fiona walked through the door. Both of them were carrying several bags and other items they had bought recently.

“Honey,” her husband said and wanted to give her a kiss, yet there sadly was a table and the items in his hands in the way of doing so. He spotted the pouch on the table and loudly asked, confusion audible in his voice, “Was there a customer?

Heidi sighed and shook her head, “It is a long story. Won't you two put away what you bought, and then we speak?”

Their conversation was long and Heidi really felt her patience run thin. She took a glance at Elise. Elise had found the talk between the adults boring and had fallen asleep. Her head was lying on the cold and old wooden table.

Heinz took his jacket off and folded it. It was not a pillow but better than nothing. The girl probably was tired. No matter how strong a restoration spell was, it always made use of the body’s energy. In that matter, Heidi’s mediocre spells weren’t that much different from those of the Seer.

Heinz furrowed his brows and asked, “So, Elise got hit by a stray spell and the Seer decided to heal the kid? Weren’t all Seers supposed to be part of the Order of Fate? I’ve never heard that one of them was a healer because they think healing people intervenes in Fate’s grand plan.”

“Heinz, firstly, when I was still in training in the church I heard of some Seers that weren’t members of the Order. Secondly, I believe that the Seer saw… something in her. It was long ago when a Seer guided me to my node but I felt similar magic coming from the Seer.”

Heidi frowned, she finally remembered what the Seer had said.

“But Fiona, I need to ask you something,” she took the white vial out and put it on the table.

“This here is holy water, strong enough to even make it impossible for a demon to move and perhaps strong enough to kill demonic beasts. So, why did a Seer give that to me and told me that she wants to speak with you?”

Heidi noticed that Fiona’s shoulders slumped down. The young woman sighed and said, “I... I really did not want to involve you in this…”

“We are family,” Heinz proudly stated, “There isn’t anything you need to hide from Heidi or me. But maybe from Elise. She is too young to experience the worst this world has to offer.”

Fiona sighed before straightening her back, “I really did not want to involve anyone in this. Yet… I cannot bear hiding all of my past. I suppose talking can help me to free my mind. I… was forced to flee from those who killed my family.”

“Stop, stop,” Heinz interrupted, “Let’s start at the beginning and not in the middle of the story.”

Fiona took a deep breath before saying, “You only know my name but nothing else. I am Fiona Anker, daughter of Hendrika and Valentin Anker, fourth-generation merchants and owner of the Anker Company. My family had a small merchant navy and...”

“That name seems awfully familiar,” Heinz mumbled, “But I don’t remember why.”

“You were a mercenary, weren’t you?” Fiona asked, “Then you may have worked for my father or grandfather.”

Heinz shrugged, “I don’t know. My memories of the past aren’t that clear. Could also be a name I heard when I was still serving my beloved Queen. But please continue.”

Heidi clearly took notice of the disdain in his voice. He harboured a deep hatred for the queen of the Greater Anglian Commonwealth.

“My parents were set up by their competition, a member of the Mercantile Alliance …” Fiona said and halted. She looked at Heidi and said, “You seem confused. Why is that?”

“What is this Alliance you speak of?” Heidi asked. She believed herself to be rather knowledgeable, but that was a completely foreign word.

“Before the Crimson Republic existed, the west of Euros was famous for its merchants,” she replied, “And after the Red General founded the Crimson Republic some fled to the neighbouring countries. Baelgia was one of these countries. Most refugees were new and foreigners. They, therefore, had no foothold. To have some semblance of security the merchants and their friends founded the Mercantile Alliance. It grew and today, or at least when I fled, it controlled half of my homeland while the other half is controlled by the old and new nobles.”

“Mhmm, so it is akin to the Mercenary Association but not with mercenaries but merchants? I wonder why the Empire hasn’t something like that. It would make it easier for me to get spices and other ingredients for my dishes,” Heinz said.

He apparently had not listened to half of the words that had come out of Fiona’s mouth. He instead had found it more interesting to look at Elise who was talking gibberish in her sleep. It really sounded like no language they knew. It seemed so... guttural, almost as if it was the language of an animal.

“Please continue, Fiona,” Heidi said and threw an angry glare at Heinz. Why was his attention span just that bad? She quickly added, “Unless you don’t want to.”

“I’ve held my past back for long enough,” Fiona replied and smiled, “It seems better to talk about it, isn't it? Where was I? Ah, my parents. They were found guilty of stealing from the treasury. I know that this is wrong. We had everything we wanted and my parents had no reason to steal .”

She took a deep breath and looked at Elise who was fortunately still asleep, “The Alliance has its own rules, most of which are within the laws of Bealgia. Sadly some of these rules can be interpreted rather broadly and they can decide on how they want to punish their members. They chose the most extreme of punishments. My parents were executed, and these sick perverts found it fascinating to seal my sister's and my node to see what would happen.”

It was starting to get harder and harder to continue, but she did not want to stop. No, it felt refreshing to speak to someone she trusted, “I don’t know why. I was barely an adult. The man responsible for my curse told us that he would lift it if we left the country. There was nothing we could do but follow his words.”

Fiona noticed that her eyes had started to water, “I still don’t know where my sister is now, but she probably has died. The curse he set on us is powerful and consumes our life force. I doubt that he ever planned to lift it.”

Fiona wanted to cry but couldn’t. No tears were coming out of her eyes. Heidi frowned. She never had heard of such a curse, a curse that sealed a node and consumed life. A curse couldn’t be that complex. It simply would make it unstable and result in complications.

Yet Fiona lived and…

No, she shook her head, Elise also seemed fine as long as she ignored her health problems of which there now were none due to the Seer’s magic. Heidi wanted to comfort Fiona and help her to calm down, but that was impossible.

“This is why you use holy water?” Heinz asked, “Isn’t it expensive?”

“Some of Christopher’s friends know of my problem, and one of them is a former healer who worked in the army. I think that he tries to atone for his sins by giving me a vial each month,” she replied, “It doesn’t cost me anything, but I’ve sworn to repay his kindness.”

Fiona felt her heart aching. There was an awkward silence for several seconds. They had silently agreed to never talk about Christopher and his unfortunate death in the presence of Elise. Yet the girl fortunately or unfortunately was asleep.

“Then why did you hide that from us?” Heinz asked, “You are no criminal, no murderer nor a bad person in any other sense. For all I know, you are one of the kindest people I’ve ever met. If you had spoken to us about the curse, my wife probably would have been able to...”

"Heinz," Heidi interrupted, "while I find your confidence in my abilities lovely, I must admit that I could not have broken the curse. It sounds tremendously powerful."

The Inquisition would surely take an interest in her to study her curse. Perhaps even kill her. But that was unlikely. The Inquisition was the militant arm of the church and therefore sometimes quite rough. But they were people of honour. All members followed the scriptures of the God of Honor, Order and Justice.

Her father had been one of his most devout followers, one of the many reasons why she had joined the church. The Inquisition was not the kind of organisation to unjustly punish people, kill innocents or consort with evil.

"Then what are we going to do? We can't let Fiona walk around with a curse. Besides, if her node wasn't sealed, she could have become Elise's teacher. I'm no expert, but shouldn't the family be a child's teacher and not a complete stranger?" he paused and sighed, "People are rotten to the core and Elise is so innocent."

Heidi massaged her forehead with her right hand. Her husband had grown quite protective of Elise. Perhaps the result of their weekly training? She did not know. But it was cute to see her husband so caring. It made her remember the good old times they had shared with their son.

Heidi shook her head and replied, “I think that we can’t do anything. But I believe that the Seer has an idea and this is why she wants to speak to you… so, Fiona, do you want to talk with her? I fear that the curse may result in your death if untreated.”