It was another hour and a half—several courses—before she was finally allowed to leave. Kalys had to stay to speak with them; it was her grandfather who escorted her out, inviting her to tea in his suite. She breathed a sigh of relief as she walked out with him, though she did cast an almost pitying look in her brother''s direction for having to stay and deal with them.
Maybe she was being harsh, judging them for the actions of a few, but it wasn''t as if any of them had made any attempt to make her feel welcome or defend her against the more opposed members of their family. She had her brother''s support at least, and given how much power and influence he seemed to wield, he was probably the best person to have in her corner. Though she hadn''t entirely forgotten he was the reason she was in this position in the first place. At least he hadn''t just thrown her to the wolves.
On their way to Jinn''s room, when they encountered a maid, he sent for tea with the request it be brought to his suite. Their grandfather''s room was in the same wing as their own, just a few doors down from hers. It was also much larger and clearly decorated to his tastes. He had an abundance of books here too, almost every inch of wall space taken up by shelves of books.
He led her out to the balcony that overlooked the same garden as hers. He pulled out her chair for her, and she sat before he settled into his own. Grandfather and grandson were very well-mannered.
The tea arrived quickly along with a plate of cakes. Maybe he was well known to have a sweet tooth too.
"How is your arm?" He asked kindly as he poured them tea.
"It''s fine. Doesn''t hurt anymore."
"Is it the first time you''ve broken a bone?"
"I had my fingers broken when I was a kid," she replied, eyeing the cakes.
"Interesting way to phrase it. ''Had them broken?''"
"Well yeah, I didn''t break them; some guy did."
"Why would someone break your fingers?"
"To teach me a lesson," she shrugged, reaching for the chocolate-looking cake. She was a bit iffy about it; she had been deceived before. "This is chocolate, right?"
"It is. What lesson were you supposed to be learning?"
"There aren''t a lot of ways to make coin as a kid in the slums, so we used to run street cons. I got caught scamming this guy, and he didn''t like that."
She vividly remembered how he''d grabbed her hand and just started snapping her fingers. Nick and Zen had tried to stop him, but the guy was massive and all muscle. When Nick had bitten his ear off, he''d let her go, and they had sprinted off.
"Good lord..." he uttered, his eyes shadowed with concern.
"See, we used sleight of hand tricks. I was too clumsy; it''s how I was caught. But once my fingers healed, I practiced harder; I got so much better at it."
She grinned as she picked up one of the teaspoons and made it disappear, a wide grin on her face.
"Impressive," he said, returning her smile. "Back to the man. Who was he?"
She shrugged. "I don''t know. First time I ever saw him. Whenever I saw him again, I disappeared right quick."
With another gesture, she brought the spoon back.
"Would you recognise him if you saw him again?"
This snapped her attention. "You want to track him down? This was years ago; I was seven, eight maybe. Hardly worth dredging up now."
"Not so. He broke the fingers of a child. He broke your fingers. He deserves to pay for that."
"I did try to scam him," she pointed out. "I wasn''t exactly an innocent victim."
"The punishment far exceeded the crime, especially given you were a child."
"It''s fine. It was a long time ago. Please don''t tell Kalys. I don''t want my childhood stories to be the reason he executes half the slums."
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"You have a lot of stories like that?"
"...No."
He clearly didn''t believe her. But then she hadn''t put much effort into the denial. The past was the past. There was no point in dredging it up. She''d survived; she''d healed.
"Kalys... cares about you, Sun. And I believe he feels guilty about the injustice done to you. He wants to make it right."
"What injustice?"
"Your childhood."
She was a little offended by that. Maybe a lot offended. Her childhood was hard, yes, and some parts of it she absolutely hated, but she didn''t like the way he and Kalys seemed to judge it.
"My childhood wasn''t an injustice committed against me. Or the Illusens."
"Apologies, Sun. Perhaps that was ill-phrased."
She felt he might have been humouring her there.
"It is merely, if Nero were alive, he would not have allowed you to grow up like that."
"But he isn''t alive," she tried to say it as gently as possible. "And I did grow up like that. It is what it is. I don''t need it avenged. It was tough, but I had... a great family. Couldn''t have asked for better."
"Tell me about them," he gave her a warm smile then, which was a far cry from Kalys''s reaction when she spoke about her first family.
But she did tell Jinn all about them. He''d yet to meet Nick and Zen, but it was only a matter of time. She told him all about how they believed Nick to be some kind of prodigy and how smart he was and how he usually came up with their scams, being the smartest of them.
She told him how Zen was so strong and looked out for all of them, protected them. How he would make sure they were warm and fed even if it meant he had to go cold and hungry. That he was always quick to protect them from—or back them up in—a fight.
It was a little harder speaking about the others; the grief was still there, while a lot of the memories had faded.
But she remembered Ezra''s smart-ass mouth and stubborn attitude. And, Gods that kid could run. Couldn''t discreetly steal for shit, got snapped every time, but he could outrun anyone who tried to give chase. Until the one time he couldn''t.
Kawana had been the youngest of them; he seemed to struggle the most with their lifestyle. But being sick so often no doubt contributed. He always felt so bad he couldn''t pull his own weight. They tried to make him understand that it was all right; they had him. He tried to do things anyway—keep their little hovel as clean as was possible, cook for them, taught himself to sew so he could mend their clothes. They started stealing needle and thread for him to use after that.
Ren had been roughly the same age as Zen, and he''d taken a protective role as well, though he was a bit smarter about it. When he got involved, it didn''t always result in a brawl; he was actually capable of deescalating a situation.
And then there was Ami, the mother of their group. The kindest and most caring girl Sun had ever met. She held them all together, taught them to look out for each other, taught them what it was to be part of a family. They probably never would have met each other, probably wouldn''t have survived their younger years without her. It still amazed Sun how she had retained that kindness and caring in their situation. It would have been so much easier for her to just look out for herself, but she took them in, raised them, protected them until they were old enough to fend for themselves and look after each other.
When the tea was gone, and she felt she''d made sure her grandfather knew how great her family had been, she lapsed into silence, more and more of her memories coming to the fore. It felt almost cathartic to speak of them with someone other than Nick and Zen. But at the same time, it was like a box had been opened and more memories spilled out. More good than bad, but the bad still fucking hurt.
"I''m glad they were there for you when we couldn''t be," Jinn told her, resting a hand on her shoulder.
"I wish they could still be here."
He no doubt wished the same thing about his son.
"I like to think our loved ones live on through us, our memories, and our actions, in how we honour them."
It was hard for her to believe something like that when she''d seen where people go when they died. Granted, there was another part of it she had never seen before. Maybe it was nicer there; maybe a connection could be maintained. But mostly, what she knew of the other side was cold and dark, with wandering, restless souls.
"It''s growing late, Sun. Time to retire for the evening, I think."
She nodded, rising from her seat. It had grown dark outside, and it was getting chilly. Spring was upon them, but it was far from warm.
"Shall I see you to your room?" He asked.
"No, that''s all right. It''s not far; I don''t think I''ll get lost," she grinned up at him as he walked her to the door.
"Goodnight then," he bid.
"Goodnight."
She headed back to her room, finding Mika waiting there in the armchair reading a book.
"There you are," she greeted, setting her book aside and getting up.
"What are you doing here?"
"Aside from wondering how dinner went, I just wanted to make sure you don''t need me for anything. Draw you a bath perhaps? Help you with your hair?"
It was a far more elaborate style than she was accustomed to, with a fair few accessories both hidden and visible.
"Bath? No, but I will take you up on the offer for my hair if that''s all right."
"Absolutely," she agreed, gesturing for Sun to sit. "Now, how was dinner?"
"I''m not sure if it was better or worse than my last family dinner."
"Well, the other maids were abuzz. Someone was threatened with exile, I heard."
"Gossip really does travel fast..."
"Do tell," she said, unravelling hair and deftly pulling out pins.
Sun explained what had happened, what was said, and how quickly Kalys resorted to threats. Mika had snorted at that. While she did seem to respect Kalys, she definitely didn''t have the same deference as the other Illusen staff, and Sun liked that about her.
"How was your evening?" Sun asked the other woman.
"Uneventful. Not sure I like the new surroundings. We have a way of doing things back at the manor that the staff here don''t much care for."
"At least we''re only here temporarily."
"Thank the Gods for small mercies."
Once her hair was done, she bid Mika goodnight and waited for the woman to leave. Once she was out, Sun changed into her old clothes from before the Illusens provided her with a whole new wardrobe.
She had a visit to make.