The Weight of Legacy

In a sense, the decision to take a nap—by which Malwine meant, sleeping through the entirety of their equivalent of a night and then some more, because nobody woke her up—was the best thing she could have done. Leaving something and only revisiting it while well-rested was excellent for seeing it with fresh eyes.

And, wow, that had certainly been a choice. She wanted to blame her somewhat sleep-deprived brain for her not questioning Theo’s message more, but truth be told, she probably wouldn’t have bat an eye either way. It all just sort of fit, and random people having Affinities and the abilities that came with that was something that didn’t exactly surprise her anymore. The only negative there was how she couldn’t really push herself into the mental gymnastics necessary for somehow grabbing Affinities from him, seeing as ‘and they were roommates’ did not, in fact, count as a valid connection to herself according to [Mana Reclaimer].

How unfair.

Writing that off as a failure, Malwine finished her breakfast oatmeal alone. How the cooks kept finding new fruits to include was beyond her, but, by now, she wouldn’t have been surprised if all the variety came from things just spawning in, be it through harvestables or something else. Yet another thing for the ‘not questioning this right now’ pile. She’d taken her time with it—if she was already late, she might as well avoid going to their meeting hungry.

What was Theo going to do, complain that the eight-year-old wasn’t at their secret meeting on time? Granted, she’d meant to be early to avoid Alaric noticing anything was going on, but…

…nothing reliable little Adelheid couldn’t fix.

“Pssssssst,” Malwine whispered as she walked down the hall. “Sister, I need help with something secret.”

Presumably summoned by the utterance of her name, curious wide eyes soon met hers, having appeared out of nowhere. “Ooh? With what?”

“I’m going to talk to Theo, but, you know. Alaric is always there. And he doesn’t know, well, about me.” She shrugged. “Mind distracting him for a bit? Keep him busy with the books or something?”

Adelheid looked surprisingly thoughtful, tipping her head to the side. A second later, she brightened. “Okay!”

With that, she promptly disappeared, and Malwine found herself feeling the urge to maybe walk a bit faster on her way to the library. With their meeting skipped—delayed!—she could only guess Theo had just gone there as usual, if only because staying behind would likely have been a pain to explain.

Sliding into the library with the subtlety of an indoor storm, she glared at the creaking door that got Fastēn, Alaric, and the secret message man himself looking at her.

“Brother Alaric!” Adelheid called out, seemingly from under an entire pile of books. “Can you help me with this?”

Malwine tried her best not to let a smile slip through as her befuddled uncle knelt before the books, as if trying to pinpoint both what Adelheid meant and where Adelheid even was without voicing his concerns. “Adelheid? What do you need?”

“I need a better spot to sit on. Because you all keep making me see books. And I’m not comfy.”

Oh, my. Malwine couldn’t help but wonder if she’d just handed her little sister the perfect opportunity to do something she might actually have wanted to do anyway.

With what had to be one of her most practiced grumpy expressions, Adelheid materialized right next to the pile. “I lost my seat.”

She could almost see the gears turning on Alaric’s head, wondering if he had imagined the girl sitting on the floor before, all the while probably not considering why a child would lie about something like that. He looked increasingly concerned, almost flinching back when Adelheid reached out. “So, can you help me bring that comfy chair from your room?”

Adelheid did not actually wait for an answer, just getting even closer to grab his hand and start pulling. For a second, Malwine expected her to just teleport him who knew where—maybe actually to his room—but she did no such thing.

Hm. She wondered if Alaric being much larger than them played a factor there. Adelheid certainly hadn’t ever had a problem moving her around. Then again, she’d become devious enough to just actually walk places when it was convenient to her, even if ignoring distances was her preferred way to move. Something to ask about later.

As the door slammed shut, Fastēn was at least staring in the direction of those who departed instead of Malwine’s. She could work with that. Grabbing the first unsorted book she could find, she took it and sat next to Theo, not bothering to meet his gaze. “So.”

“So,” the teenager’s eyes narrowed. “I was under the impression we had an arrangement.”

“Hildegard didn’t wake me up.”

Was throwing the old butler under the bus fair? …Eh, probably. It wasn’t as if they had alarms or anything. What if she’d had an actual important event scheduled or something?

Theo didn’t argue with that. “It’s much, much less convenient to discuss things here.”

“Mhm,” Malwine agreed—not that she had any solutions for that. “I don’t suppose you have anything in mind? We could always pick this back up tomorrow, under our original terms?”

“…We’re talking about the… image,” Theo said, then shook his head. “Not some universal secret. I can live with the risk of someone noticing we talked about something. Not that I’ll let it be a great risk.”

He fiddled with the cuff of his jacket, and something shifted. Everything felt quieter. “And now, it shall indeed not be one.”

“Well, that’s Devilsdamned convenient.”

Really, she had half a mind to just change the subject and start asking just how he had even done that.

Theo looked the part of a man unsure as to whether he was even in a position to chastise the child in front of him for the language, before shrugging. He’d clearly thought better of it, and Malwine was more than a bit proud of how much more consistently her social Skills were working nowadays. Heh.

“You’re right, though—it’s not that big of a deal,” Malwine offered. “People do look alike sometimes. And sometimes people who look alike, look alike for a reason. That’s all I’m saying.”

“It amuses you, does it not?” Theo sighed, shaking his head once again. “You found something that is now irking me, but you no doubt just found it funny.”

“Look, I don’t even know you that well. You’re my uncle’s friend, but that’s ultimately it. I won’t exactly deny I found it… a little bit funny, alright. Make no mistake—what I am is curious.”

“I supposed you would be.” He must have had lungs of iron with how long his next sigh was. “And I did prepare myself for that, so I shall just say it—yes, I am related to Bartholomäus. Distantly. Happy?”

“Very,” Malwine nodded. She had no idea what to do with this information, as someone who didn’t actually give much value to the concept of someone belonging to a noble family that was, as far as she could tell, massive in the first place. “Those people are pretty close to the… Devils, no? So. What’s it like?”

A wave of regret crossed her mind, in how she hadn’t put more effort into researching the intricacies of Grēdôcavan history. In her defense, even thinking of the topic had her getting flashbacks to Johann Fastēn making suspect comments, so she still felt somewhat validated in not going out of her way to.

“I’ve… met an Executor,” Theo said in a tone she didn’t need any social Skills to parse as a likely understatement. That air of poise he tried to put on didn’t do him as many favors as he probably thought it did, not when his demeanor straightened almost immediately before he said that. “There’s no such thing as being close to the Devils, though. It’s just proximity by tradition.”

“Because they aren’t people, right?”

“…Right.” He tipped his head, seemingly taking a moment to think. “It runs deeper than that, though—think of it this way. You could describe beasts of burden as ‘not people’ and be correct. Devils are both more than a base yet sentient animal, yet lesser to the ground beneath our feet. They are inanimate and mindless but they Exist. Has your schooling covered the topic of Existence yet?”

“I don’t think so?” Malwine shrugged. Neither Hildegard nor Anna Franziska had seen fit to drop that particular nugget of existential crisis fuel into their plates yet. Veit had brought it up, but she would shamelessly accept any alternate perspectives on it.

To her surprise, that answer seemed to almost offend Theo. “Strange, given how the two of you are already at the Mortal Esse—I find I truly expected more of your butler.”

“…Adelheid has reached the Mortal Esse, sure.”

“As have you?”

She raised an eyebrow. “According to who?”

Just because there was no point in denying it, didn’t mean she couldn’t be obtuse about it.

“Secrets upon secrets, eh? Some families do prefer it that way, and as I have told your uncle, I did not expect a mortal family somewhere like Kreiȥ Beuzaheim to be like this.”

Her brain practically tripped over how he labeled the location they lived in and immediately rebelled. “Theo, if this place ever gets named that, you will have much to answer for.”

Having the audacity to bark out a laugh, he promptly ignored her. “Let me guess—you would rather not become as notorious as your little aunt around these parts, so you hope to hide behind that Trait you got from your mother?”

It took her a moment to recall what he meant—right. People generally assumed her level was hidden because of something Beryl had done. “Little sister, thank you very much,” Malwine answered after a moment. “You would not be wrong, though. Adelheid gets enough attention for the both of us.”

“Well, you are reaching the age where you will either be assumed to have ranked up, or be fretted over for not doing so. But for what value you may see in my words, it’s not exactly impossible to tell. You have too much Presence to be in the Early Esse.”

“Alright, hold it—is that something you can sense?” Other concerns and even the actual topic they’d been leading towards fell out the window for her. If people who weren’t ancient half-demons could notice her rank despite [Reveal Nothing] being a thing, then this might actually be a weakness she needed to work on. Her rank getting out wouldn’t be the end of the world, but it could matter down the line.

“Attributes exist even when they are not in use, though not all of them may be obvious in their effects. Presence is an obvious one, and while you do not have a powerful one, my senses are good enough for me to know yours is very much not as low as it could be for a child your age.”

By reflex, Malwine brought up her attributes panel.