The Weight of Legacy

In the stories her great-grandma told, Adelheid never understood why characters seemed so afraid of the dark. Maybe that was why they were fictional. Maybe that was a way to tell the real apart from stories. She’d have to test it by hiding the lights in a room sometime. Though it wouldn’t be easy to grab them all at the same time…

Whatever, Adelheid was pretty smart, according to her great-grandma. Other people were mean, though. She never understood why people didn’t like her. Was it because she didn’t read a lot?

She wished she could just read books to get smart like her sister did, but she wasn’t good at it. Her tutors tried to teach her on the few times she didn’t get away from them, and she’d tried on her own. It just didn’t work too well for her.

No, if she needed to learn something, she would just ask her great-grandma. That was how she had learned to hide even better than she did when she was tiny, after all. Now that Adelheid was a growing girl, she had an easier time talking to her great-grandma, too.

The story had ended, and Adelheid frowned. She didn’t like the ending. “That’s stupid.”

Great-grandma didn’t move. She never did. It was probably because she only had one leg, and that made her too sad to do anything. Adelheid had tried to just give her one of those disks that made stuff appear, but her great-grandma hadn’t used it. It was still sitting there, in the water under her.

She didn’t have to worry about anyone else taking it from her great-grandma, though. No one ever came down here. Was it because there were no lights? Maybe Adelheid had been wrong earlier. Maybe real people were scared of the dark too, after all?

The ending was still stupid, though. Because Adelheid didn’t like it.

Great-grandma also didn’t speak. But Adelheid had that thing the system called an Affinity, and she was very good at knowing the things people would have said even when they didn’t. She was also very good at identifying when something was missing and, sometimes, what that missing thing was.

“I know things don’t always have a happy ending,” Adelheid huffed. “But I still think the prince dying is bad. You should have given them a happy ending.”

Great-grandma didn’t think so, from the reaction she didn’t give, so Adelheid just huffed again. The water on the floor started moving again, so Adelheid glared at it, making the shadowy stuff under them tap it. The water returned to its puddles as if it had just been spooked. That was the game they played sometimes, her great-grandma and her.

Adelheid had gotten better at moving the shadows. And at moving in the shadows. And at moving through the shadows. It made hiding so much easier, and her great-grandma was proud.

“My sister wants to know where her mom is. No, I don’t know why her mom isn’t my mom. Yes, my mom,” Adelheid kept talking as the things her great-grandma never said came and went. “Yes, that’s why you can’t have my name, because mom took it from you to give it to me. Sorry not sorry.”

Great-grandma would have looked at her in disappointment if she could have. She was very sensitive about the name thing, but she didn’t let it ruin their friendship, and Adelheid thought her great-grandma was her friend. Just a very quiet friend.

“Really?” Adelheid was sad now. Great-grandma didn’t know anything about her sister’s mom, and Adelheid had given her sister hope. Now Adelheid would have to be rude. “You don’t know anything, anything?”

Great-grandma really didn’t know. Apparently one of her other friends was chasing a guy who was also looking for her sister’s mom.

“Why? No, I don’t mean why was he searching for her, I mean why was your friend chasing him?”

Adelheid was starting to think her great-grandma’s friend was pretty rude, even after listening to the excuse her great-grandma never gave. Giving gifts was nice and all, but sometimes people didn’t want the gifts. Even one of her great-grandma’s tales had been about learning to accept that, so Adelheid was pretty confused. Why didn’t her great-grandma’s friend already know that was mean, if the story should have taught her that?

“No. Sorry, great-grandma,” Adelheid shook her head. It was sad, since her great-grandma was probably lonely without visitors. But she was sure. “I don’t think she would like seeing you.”

Someday, she’d have liked to introduce people to her great-grandma, but she didn’t know how to bring anyone else here. And her great-grandma rarely would have asked about anyone. So to know she would have liked to meet her sister but wouldn’t was sad.

“Do you think I could find her mom myself?” Adelheid asked quietly. She didn’t even know why.

Great-grandma would not have said anything, the air in the room simply growing colder. With no windows or doors down here, it was already pretty cold in the first place.

“No?”

It wasn’t that hard to get her great-grandma to answer things, even when she wouldn’t have. She never said anything, after all. The words simply got to Adelheid. Great-grandma thought she could find her sister’s mom, maybe. But only if she got to the greener green of the stages. That might still not be enough, she would have said.

Apparently, if Adelheid grew up doing things right, she could multiply that Presence thing by a million. That Presence thing came up again. Maybe that was why her sister had been curious. It could be a big number.

Adelheid turned, looking at the nearest shadow. She didn’t need it, but it made things easier. She turned to see where her mom stood, folding some blankets, just as she’d been the last time Adelheid checked on her. Things went so slow when she was with her great-grandma that everywhere else barely moved in the meantime.

“Mom, what's a million?”

Her mom did a little jump, turning to her. It bothered Adelheid. Why did mom always act like Adelheid showing up was bad?

“Do you remember what a hundred was?”

“Yes, ten tens.”

“Well, a thousand is ten times a hundred. And a thousand times a thousand is a million.”

“Okay.”

Adelheid turned back, frowning at her great-grandma. Mom probably had better things to do, after all. Like folding blankets. “That’s a lot, great-grandma.”

Great-grandma agreed. She thought Adelheid would be better off getting Skills and levels to increase things that weren’t Presence. Her Affinity would take care of that, apparently.

Adelheid looked at the things, still frowning. She didn’t like the other things!