Chapter 18
After moving from the office to the kitchen and lighting a cooking-fire to boil some water in preparation for the next round of visitors, Katherine then bids her cousin and his… guest to sit in the living-area as she started to gather ingredients for a large meal. She still couldn’t wrap her head around what she’d both been told and what she had seen. Finny losing all of his memories, yet he was still completely-versed in the applications of herbology… and the beautiful woman being able to conjure flames out of thin air, yet not having a single burn-mark on her flawless skin. Maybe her parents or her older sister could make a little more sense out of it all…
“Are you sure you don’t need any help, uh… Ka… Katherine?” Samuel raises a brow and tucks the right-side of his bangs back behind his ear as he watches his… apprentice flourish a large knife to menace a mass of potatoes.
“Hmph. You’re a worse cook than I am.” The green-eyed youth narrows her gaze towards her cousin on one of the sofas before sliding it over to the blonde woman on another. She probably didn’t make anything for him. Not in that dress. Goddess… city folk and their… fashions. What was wrong with simplicity? Why all the frills and… lace trimmings? Did she want to look like a doll? Hell, she couldn’t do any proper work all decked-out like that. And why a veil? Was she in mourning? Tch.
Glancing over his shoulder at a hearty knock against the front door of the cottage, the long-haired doctor lets out a soft sigh of thanks for having at least something to-
“DON’T!” Slamming the knife against the countertop, the auburn-haired youth scrambles out of the kitchen and levels a finger of warning towards her teacher to keep him in place. “I’ll get it.” Moving quickly down the hall and opening the front door to find her parents and sister, she then ducks quickly out of the home, and gently shuts the portal behind her. “W-we’ve got some problems…”
The child’s short mother, Lenora O’Malley pulls her brows together in worry as she stares into the similar colour of green eyes. “W-what’s wrong, sweetie?”
Katherine displays a frown to her five-foot-four, rail-thin matron before glancing to the stupidly-tall other two. At five-foot-eleven each, both her kinda-fatter father and… tch, perfect sister certainly towered above most of the other people in Serenity. Except for Finnigan, of course. But it was obvious that her twenty-three year-old sis took after their dad’s side of the family. Jet-black hair, deep-set brown eyes, high cheek-bones… Sarah was lucky. Except for the fact that she had Adelay as a rival. “F-Finny… uhm… k-kind of… shot himself… in the head…”
Lucas O’Malley snorts out a noise of derision as narrows his stern gaze down to his air-headed daughter. “What nonsense are you spouting now? Everyone in town saw him plain as day.”
The flame-haired youth places her hands on her hips as she throws her own practiced glare upwards. “He didn’t die! But he… he says that… that he lost all of his memories…”
Dipping his head down with a low growl, the hulking father then makes a move to step around his delusional baby-girl. “Impossible.” Damnit… she was probably feasting on those mushrooms that Finn grew in ‘secret’… again…
“I’m SERIOUS!” Placing both of her palms against her dad’s chest, and digging the tips of her toes in against the flag-stone stoop, the green-eyed teenager only barely manages to hold him in place. “H-he… knows all about the plants and stuff… but he doesn’t know who I AM! LISTEN to me!”
“I’m tired of this, Kate. Just let me go see the boy.”
“P-papa… wait…” Sarah brings a hand up to rest on her father’s shoulder as she treats her younger sister to an expression of deep concern. “A-are you sure, Katie? He… Finn doesn’t remember any of us? Not… not even Addie?”
“NO! That’s what I’m trying to tell you!” Katherine forces a deadly glare on each of them to further drive her point home. “He doesn’t know. He doesn’t even act the same anymore. I even saw him smile, damnit!”
“Watch your language.” Lucas displays another frown as he reaches up to scratch the side of his thinning head. “How can he not remember Adelay… by the Goddess, that’s the only one he’s thought about for two years…”
“I know… but… you’ll see it for yourself…” the auburn-haired youth drops her hands from her dad’s chest as she lets out a heavy sigh. “An’ just so you know… the… woman that’s with him inside is some sort of… Imperial mage or something…” she glances up to her sister, and pushes out her lower lip in kinda-maybe-sorta-sympathy. “Not some replacement or anything… she was just helping Finny to come home.”
As a round of complete silence breaks out among their family, Lenora shifts the small food-basket in her hands, then clears her throat to break the group out of their respective thoughts. “C-can we… go and see him now?”
The green-eyed daughter dips her head in a nod, then turns to lead the way into the cottage. It was better to have warned them before… because the shock of seeing Finny smile again had almost broken her heart. Shuffling to a stop at the edge of the living-space, she then threats her handsome cousin and the magic-woman to a pained smile as they rise up to their feet. “F-Finn… this is my mom Lenora… an’ my dad Lucas, and… my, uh… our slow friend, Myrtle.”
Smacking the back of her idiot-sister’s skull as she moves past, the older sibling slides around the couch, and wraps her arms tightly around her former love’s sides. “Sarah. Your cousin…”
Samuel glances over to his Master as he stands otherwise completely still while wrapped in the solid embrace, then peeks around the sweet-smelling woman to take in the forms of the older two. The male was perhaps bordering on fifty, with black hair that was grey at the temples and thinning on the top, perhaps two-hundred and thirty pounds… but he had the same dark-brown eyes as himself. Nearly black in the gloom of the cottage. The short woman was perhaps a little younger, but otherwise the exact same as the daughter at her side. Dark-red hair, gaunt build with barely any chest to speak of… but a very kind face. He could feel a sense of reassurance at seeing her warm smile, so he returns the expression and dips his head in a greeting. “H-Hello… I, uh-“
“Kate told us outside…” Lucas narrows his gaze towards the upward-tilt of the boy’s lips, then glances down to his wife’s slightly-wider than normal eyes. So… she felt as shocked as himself, then…
“F-Finny… no matter what, honey… you can rely on us. We raised you, after all… so if you need anything…” Lenora drops her view for a moment to collect herself, then brings her eyes back up and offers a wide smile to the veiled guest before stepping forward to offer her hand. “I-it’s a pleasure to meet you. I’m Lenora O’Malley… Finnigan’s aunt.”
The golden-haired girl’s jaw drops a little as she stares at the outstretched digits. W-what the Hell?! P-perhaps they didn’t yet fully realize she was an arcanist. “A-Angeline Deglace… of the Imperial Investigations Service.” Peeking from the un-wavering hand up to the smaller woman’s smile, she then grips the older femme’s fingers lightly before giving then a few shakes. “T-the pleasure is mine, surely.”
“Investigations? Is that… Finn in some sort of trouble?” The elder male glances to the young lad’s uneasy features as the boy tries to gently pry his taller daughter from his torso. Heh. Good luck there, son…
“No… not… I didn’t… uhm… uh, Sarah? That, uh…” the long-haired doctor’s breath is squeezed from his lungs as the slightly-younger woman latches on even more tightly. “I… didn’t… do anything…”
Grinning at her companion’s discomfort, the blue-eyed caster then offers a slight shake of her head as she reaches to pin the small veil to the brim of her chapeau. “I… was the one that found him in the capital city and healed his injuries. Unfortunately, Finnigan seems to suffer from a loss of all his previous memories. For the past few weeks he’s been travelling with me as I attended to my duties.”
“Kate said you shot yourself…” Lucan looks to the patch of white hair at the boy’s crown, then purses his lips together as he brings his attention back to the striking young blonde. “You can heal a musket ball to the head? You some type of doctor like Finn?”
“No, no…” Angeline offers a hint of a smile as she raises a palm up to her shoulder-height. “I’m actually a-“
“DON’T!” Katherine levels a cold glare and her finger in warning. “No more playing with fire, missy!”
The golden-haired femme purses her lips for a moment, then offers a wicked grin. Focusing only a tiny amount of her will, she bids the air in her palm to become absolutely still, and pushes her thoughts into being.
Gasping in a quick breath at the chunk of ice suddenly appearing in the beautiful blonde’s palm, the auburn-headed youth tries to blink her vision clear, since something had to be playing tricks on her eyes…
“You just couldn’t resist, huh?” Samuel treats his Master to a knowing grin, then shakes his head before peeking above the top of the woman clinging to his front. “Mistress Deglace is a caster of magicks. She’s actually quite powerful… and easily tempted to display her prowess.”
The blue-eyed arcanist levels a momentary glare towards her companion before becoming shocked at the sight of the thin mother moving forward to tap a digit against the small oblong block of frozen water-vapours.
“That’s astonishing…” Lenora smiles at the coldness of the ice as she trails a fingertip along the side. “And useful, too! Why, I bet if you went down into the root-cellar and placed a bunch of these around, the vegetables would keep for much longer!”
At the mention of foodstuffs, Angeline’s gaze slides down to the small basket clutched in the mother’s opposite hand, and the smell of freshly-baked bread causes her to swallow a sudden excess of saliva. “I-I, uh… don’t suppose…”
“Oh!” Raising her brows at the grumble coming from the beautiful young lady’s stomach, the red-haired matron then laughs and tilts her head towards the kitchen. “Are you hungry, dear? We’ve brought a fair stock along since it’s been so long since Finny left for… uhm… business.”
Sarah finally pulls herself a little ways back from her cousin’s chest and knits her slim brows together with concern. “Have you… do you not… remember anything about Addie?”
The wiry doctor offers an almost imperceptible shake of his head as he watches the deep-brown eyes ahead of him trail over his features. “No… although Mistress Deglace helped me to, uh… recover a few images… I only got a small glimpse of her at the age of about fourteen or fifteen, then again just… just after she had died…”
Frowning at the mention of their friend’s death, the black-haired woman then issues an absent nod for a short time before sucking in a sudden breath of air. “T-then you don’t… you don’t remember… a-any of the times we made love? In the fields?”
Feeling a cold chill move slowly up his spine, Samuel slides his gaze over to his Master’s quickly-reddening cheeks, then back to the blushing beautiful cousin in front. “Y-you’re… joking…” Goddess… please let her say that she was playing a prank… j-just like her sister. I-it wasn’t true, right? Right? Oooooh, Hell…
Dipping her head down to watch her hands smooth out the wrinkles of her former lover’s high-quality shirt, Sarah purses her lips together as she struggles against her rising anger. How could he forget?! The best times of her life… and he’d just… DAMNIT! Snapping her attention up to the similar eyes in front of her own, she allows her deadly silence to be felt for a time, then brushes past her cousin on the way to the kitchen. FINE. She’d just have to show him all the things that he’d forgotten. All of the lovely meals. The beautiful scenery. And then they could have raunchy, dirty intercourse under the setting sun!
“Ohhh, you’re in trouble now, son.” Lucas treats his nephew to a wicked grin as he moves over to clap the silly boy on the shoulder. “You were always running about with Addie and Sarah… Goddess… I don’t know how many times one o’ th’ townsfolk caught you messin’ about with them…”
The long-haired confidant deflates under the hard grip of his… uncle? “A-are you serious? I was really like that?”
“Hell’s bells, son… nothin’ to get all sad about. Here… take a seat. Mother? Bring us over a bottle, would you?” The stocky father offers a nod of thanks to his wife before sitting the boy down at the edge of one sofa, then steps over to sink onto the corner of another. “Goddess… so you really can’t remember nothin’, huh? Geeze… that’s… quite a shame, that is… suppose I should start off by sayin’ that yer parents are long since passed. Goin’ on about fifteen years, now. Oh, you’ll be turnin’ twenty-seven after the harvest, if ya didn’t already know…”
The wiry driver winces at the mention of his long-since deceased parents. What would they think now, with a son that couldn’t even remember their names or their faces? Fifteen years without them…
“Thank you, Katie.” Nodding at being handed a large glass of home-made wine, the balding uncle watches his youngest daughter pass a similar one to her cousin, then sink down at his side before wrapping her tiny arms around his torso. Possessiveness was a signature of the O’Malley women, after all. “Well, uh… guess I should say you that you saved little Kitten’s life when she was two. Been houndin’ ya ever since. Y’been an apothecary goin’ on six years now… got married to Addie the same time y’ got yer certificate… and, uh… yer pretty much the only druggist that people ‘round these parts actually trust. Which is why I’m lettin’ Kate learn what you’ve got t’ teach her… though I still don’t know who’d trust a woman-doctor…”
“Hmph.” The red-headed teenager tightens her grip on her fiancée’s torso as she narrows her gaze towards her father. “You just remember that the next time your shoulders start ailing you, and Finny isn’t around to treat you.”
Clearing his throat as a nip of wine tries to go down his windpipe, the balding older male looks towards the inert fireplace and bites back on any more misogynistic retorts. Considering that he lived in a household with three females, his struggles to hold any semblance of power over them was a constant, and losing battle. “Y-yes, well… anyway, Katie comes over pretty much every day an’ reads through all them books and whatnot that you got in yer office… keeps to herself most often, but don’t be ‘fraid to give ‘er a lil slap if she gets uppity.”
Peeking to the look-of-death staring up at him from his side, Samuel wisely decides that he’ll forego listening to that bit of advice. “I’ll, uh… what, uh…” he turns his attention back to the wine-gulping uncle and raises a brow at the rate the alcohol vanishes from his glass. “What… can you tell me about Adelay? About her death?”
Pausing in lowering his glass from his lips, Lucas glances back to the lack of depression on the boy's features, then shakes his head as he hauls himself up from the couch to start a fire. “You should let that rest, son… almost destroyed you the first go-‘round… probably better that you try an’ remember the best of times instead.”
“Addie… was a really nice person, Finny…” Katherine nuzzles against her cousin’s side as she watches her father toss a bunch of kindling into the hearth. “She was beautiful, smart, and everyone cared for her. The two of you were really in love… like… sickeningly so. Always strolling around holding hands and such… there probably wasn’t a single harsh word said between you… and it almost shattered the community when she was suddenly called up to Paradise to serve the Goddesses. That’s… really all just the basic stuff…”
Sarah sets her knife down onto the kitchen countertop as she trails her gaze over her former lover’s expressionless features. Maybe… maybe this was for the best. Finn forgetting all of his pain. His overwhelming agony. His misplaced guilt. His terrifying anger… but… there would be at least one person in the town that would be absolutely devastated to learn that Finny had forgotten about Adelay. “Pst… mum…” leaning down to whisper into her mother’s ear, she doesn’t take stock of the blonde passing behind them. “What’re we gonna tell August Shuemaeker? About Finn forgettin’ everything? They used to get together twice a week to drink an’ talk ‘bout Addie…”
“I know… I know…” Lenora lets out a long sigh as she watches her nephew grinning at something her youngest daughter had said to him. “Let’s just… pray that no-one tells him that poor Addie was killed by the Duke’s son… lest he just goes right back after the boy… unless… should we perhaps wake up early an’ visit everyone in the morn? Maybe… tell them all that-“
“Excuse me.” Angeline suppresses a smile at making the pair of women jump, but she keeps her voice low to ensure that their conversation was kept between them. “You said… the Duke’s son was responsible for Adelay’s death?”
The gaunt mother casts a quick glance over her shoulder to the living-area before answering the query. “Y-yes… Ferdinan… he was… he stole his father’s carriage one night… th’ boy was only eleven at the time… and he… Finn and Addie were on their typical evening stroll when… well… they were just about to cross over the crest of a hill, when the horses and carriage suddenly appeared above them… and that’s when… Ferdinan lost control…”
“Hmph.” The black-haired daughter snorts out a noise of the purest derision and folds her arms across her medium-sized chest as she leans backwards against the counter’s edge. “My arse he lost control. That’s just what the Duke said when he pardoned his son. Called Addie a victim of circumstance, an’ left it at that.”
Issuing another heavy breath and nodding at her tall daughter’s words, the flame-haired mother confirms the claim, then continues on in her explanation of events. “Finny… he was devastated that Ferdinan wasn’t even given so much as a slap on the wrists. After that he just… stayed in the house most days, dreaming up different little concoctions. Still went ‘round to the other communities near here to look after people and such… but his spark was gone. Y’ could see it, too… in his eyes, an-“ jerking at the sound of a youthful male’s loud laugh, she slowly turns to cast a shocked look at Finnigan, then lets out a pent-up breath as he trades a jovial barb with her husband. “My goodness…”
“We haven’t seen him smile in years…” Sarah throws a pained expression of longing towards her childhood friend on the couch as her sister makes him guffaw again. “Goddess… look at him…”
Lenora reaches a small hand over to lightly grip the beautiful blonde’s shoulder. “Please… Mistress Deglace… we’ll go around tomorrow morn and inform the town that Finny suffered an injury… and that he’s forgotten the faces of everyone that he’s ever known… but… he can’t know the truth about Addie’s death. He deserves to be happy again. He needs this… please…”
The golden-haired mage places a palm on the hand at her shoulder as she offers a slow, precise nod of acceptance. “I agree with you, Missus O’Malley… he does deserve that… to be surrounded by friends and loved-ones… the chance to live a peaceful life…” she slides her gaze over to her confidant, and feels a stab of pain run through her chest as he glances in her direction. “H-he… he’s home, now…”