It was a bit of a struggle to free the children, considering Noth had never really done much with ropes before in his life, but eventually he managed to untie all three of them. At one point he’d considered giving up and wishing the ropes off, but with all that he’d just done with his demands, his bracelet was looking thoroughly cracked and beaten up. He decided to err on the side of caution, just to be safe. Noth quietly swore to himself to try his best to get more practice in with his demands in the future; Just 3 of them in one day had been enough to reduce his bracelet to such a sorry state.

The children had decided to huddle up together in a corner of the alley as they looked at him. The three of them seemed pretty close, what with how they’d all waited for each other to get untied and then immediately started hugging. It was actually a rather touching scene to Noth. He felt extremely proud of what he’d done today. However, his pride quickly started to melt down when the children’s relieved faces suddenly took a turn for the suspicious. He could hear them whispering to each other in their little huddle, and eventually the tallest one of the bunch seemed to get pushed forwards by the other two.

This particular child was actually rather gorgeous. She was dressed in dirty and ratty clothes, but her lavender hair was positively luscious and flowing. Her skin looked pristine and perfect, even with the random splotches of dirt she’d accrued on it. Her face was so shapely and lovable, that it almost looked like she must be wearing makeup to achieve such perfection. Noth wasn’t quite sure he’d ever met someone as beautiful as her; She even gave the angel, who the God-dess had directly created itself, a run for her money.

As the little girl started to talk, even her voice was sonorous and charming.

“Mister, thank you for saving us, but um… Who are you?”

Her words were so compelling and lovely to listen to that Noth would have immediately given her the world, had she asked for it. He didn’t even hesitate to tell her what she wanted to know.

“My name’s Noth Kieran, and you’re welcome, children.”

The beauty opened her mouth to ask the next question, but the boy of the group suddenly jumped out from behind her and started yelling in disbelief.

“What?! He’s lying! I’ve heard of the name Kieran before; That’s the Earl who owns this town’s name! There’s no way a noble would have come down just to save us!”

Noth shouldn’t have been surprised that the people living here knew the name of the lord who governed over them, but it was quite surprising that a child as young as this one knew about it. As Noth turned his attention to this particular child, he took in a few details. The scrawny boy was an interesting colour that Noth had almost never seen before, since he’d been locked away in the manor for most of his life. Although the boy must have been mixed, considering how light of a colouration he had, the purple, amethyst-like gleam to his skin and hair meant that he must have been part Kysthid, a race that lived predominantly in the North.

The only times Noth had ever caught a glimpse of the Krysthid race was the few occasions he’d passed by crowds of people in his mother’s carriage. Since he was still very small, and the sudden purple colour particularly popped and stood out from the mix of peaches, yellows, tans and browns that he usually saw, he’d very rudely asked his mother about it on one of their trips. She’d told him how they were a mystical race, said to have descended from crystals themselves, which was why they had mostly come from the cold and crystal laden mountains to the north. Rumour had it that they were the race most likely to be given rare, never before heard of [Gifts], but that they always came with a price. Remembering back on this, Noth had a lot of questions to ask the small boy. However, he’d thoroughly learned after his fiasco with Elillith that now was neither the time nor place. Instead of being entranced by the fact that he’d met someone from such a mystical heritage, he should instead address these children’s concerns.

“I promise you, I am Noth Kieran. But I’m not the Earl, I’m just his son, and even if my father may be a noble, I’m not one.”

The children all gasped and huddled, discussing this newfound information together and deciding what to do with it, before once again pushing the taller, beautiful girl forward to speak.

“If you’re not a noble, then you won’t have an impressive [Gift]! Tell us what your [Gift] is to prove it!”

The young girl’s voice once again compelled Noth. It wasn’t like he was being forced, but almost like he just really wanted to tell her for some reason. It’s not like it would hurt for him to tell such small kids what his [Gift] was, although if Elillith were here she would have been appalled to hear this conversation. Funny that these kids who were presumably getting kidnapped for their [Gifts] like her had such a different philosophy on the topic. Although on second thought, maybe that’s why they had been targeted in the first place. Perhaps it wasn’t such a good idea to trust these kids, then. Could he just lie and tell them some other [Gift]? No, what if one of the three had an ability that could sense lies? That would certainly be a good enough ability to try and capture someone over. It wouldn’t do to try it, then. Noth really wanted to wish and learn about these kids, but he just didn’t have the time right now, nor did he have the ability to quietly wish yet. The children already didn’t trust him, it would be bad to suddenly mumble to himself and go quiet for swaths of time while an invisible angel talked to them.

Alright, so he’d tell them the truth.

But which truth should he tell?

Does he tell them about the first [Gift], or whatever his current one was?

Well he didn’t really know the exact name for whatever he was considered to be now, but if he told them his previous [Gift] then there’s the small chance that they might react poorly to him from ingrained ignorance.

That meant there was only one answer to give them.

Would it be possible to tell them only half of it though, and have it not be considered a lie?

“Okay, I’ll tell you about it. My [Gift] lets me talk to my own personal angel.”

The kids seemed awed by Noth’s words, although after a few seconds the boy seemed skeptical about it.

“Wait a minute, that doesn’t sound like what you did j-”

“What’s their name?!”

The third child who had been silent all this time suddenly spoke up. Compared to the other two, she’d been dressed in nice looking clothes with no visible holes. Her ashen hair was up in a cute tiny ponytail, giving her a little sister-esque look. Her olive skin was plump and still had its babyfat, like she’d eaten properly her whole life. It was interesting to Noth that this more well off looking girl seemed so close to the two others, who were clearly from the slums. Her eyes had grown the sparkliest of the three when he’d mentioned the angel, and he couldn’t help but smile as the overly eager girl toddled closer to him.

There was just one problem though.

“Um…She, well…”

Noth sighed and looked awkwardly away from the kids intense gazes. This was going to be a really hard one to admit.

“It’s 'Angel'? She doesn’t, um, really have a name.”

It was amazing how quickly the children’s faces all dropped at his answer. The way they huddled together again, whispered to each other, and gave him derisive looks... It was obvious that they didn’t believe him. And only a moment later, just as abruptly as the whispering stopped, the kids all mad dashed away from him, down the alley and towards the street he’d come from, escaping from the suspicious teen.

~~~

Noth had been in a funk for the rest of the day. Even after he’d met back up with Elillith, talked to the pet shop owner who told them how to handle the pregnant cat, bought the dish that he’d wanted to get, and gone back home, the boy still couldn’t get what had happened earlier out of his head.

How utterly embarrassing!

The children he’d personally saved just turned around and looked at him like he was a freak!

And why shouldn’t they have? He told them that the name of his angel was ‘Angel’!

That sounds horribly made up!

On top of that, he’d told them his [Gift] was to talk to his angel, when they’d seen him use his powers first hand!

Of course they’d see through him!

How stupid of him!

As Noth laid in anguish on his bed, bemoaning all the ways he’d messed up with the children, his angel sat down at his side and calmingly rubbed his back.

She leaned down and whispered into his ear, as if she was sharing a secret.

Learning something new about the mother he so missed was indeed a good enough distraction to break him out of his cycle of self hatred. So that meant he could have had little brothers and sisters running around right now if his mother hadn’t decided to wait? It wasn’t the older siblings that he’d previously wanted, but after seeing how cute those children were earlier, he wasn’t too put off by the idea anymore.

Oh, but now he’d managed to bring his thoughts back full circle to the kids from earlier again.

A low groan escaped Noth’s mouth at the returning reminder of his failure, but then he turned over with a serious face. He grabbed the hand of his angel that had previously been stroking his back, and looked her straight in the eyes.

“...I’m sorry it took me all this time to realize I never gave you a name. Do you still want one?”

The happy beaming smile and emphatic head shake she gave him in reply said it all. Noth did his best to give her a sweet smile back, even as she began to visibly tear up.

“Alright then, I’ll get to work picking out a perfect name for you. I won’t make you wait for long, I promise.”

The teen gently brought the hand he was holding to his lips, sealing his promise with a kiss.