Chapter 12 – Part 3

Matilda had always loved her adopted sister from the bottom of her heart. In fact, from the very first moment she had lain eyes on the strangely mellow infant with her wispy blonde hair and brilliant blue eyes. The fact that her ears had born a point hadn't mattered at all. When others would have been repulsed by Tiffania, Matilda had been fond of the child and her elven mother, a woman as quiet and gentle as a summer breeze. They had been raised under the same roof, cared for and loved by the same people.
Matilda loved Tiffania as if she were truly her own blood. But even she had to admit that her sister was strange at the best of times, and not all from her unwordly upbringing. There was a touch of the inhuman about her, masked by how humane she always was. Such as times like this when she could appear so calm in the face of calamity. The only way Matilda could think to describe it was 'bravely happy'. Yes. It took a great deal of courage to live as her sister did and to smile every day for the sake of the children.
That didn't mean the young thief had to like it. And she didn't as Tiffania gingerly placed a steaming cup of tea on the table before her. A nice cup, Matilda noted, one of the cups she had bought for her sister after a particularly lucrative heist, all porcelain and delicate enamel with a fine fringe of gold leafing that was utterly out of place in this humble cottage. It must have been deliberate, Matilda thought, because at that very moment the precious and fragile tea cup was the only thing preventing her from upending the table and going for the throat of the girl sitting opposite.
The Cottage was cleared out, only Matilda, Tiffania, and Shiori seated around the kitchen table. The children had reluctantly dispersed back to work at Tiffania's urging. Kept busy, it gave the mage, the Elf, and the Faerie at least something like privacy.
The disinherited Lady of Saxe Gotha had never believed superstition about black cats and ill omens before. Now she was quite open to revising her opinion in the face of short black hair and peaked black cat's ears. Just one look at her set Matilda's teeth grinding. She was small, even childish, looking barely older than the eldest of the children, but Matilda knew that meant nothing when it came to Faeries, she could be fifteen or fifty. This girl, this Faerie, it couldn't be coincidence. And was she dressed in Tiffania's old clothes? Just adding insult to injury.
“Now then, Sister.” Tiffania returned the kettle to its place beside the hearth, hands hovering and then clasping at her waist for want of things to do. “Miss Shiori.”
Matilda very deliberately broke eye contact with the green eyed and cat eared girl. And to hell with whether it was bad manners. Of course there was a problem with the silent treatment. That being that it wasn't what Tiffania would want. And while thievery had taught Matilda patience, the children had done the same for her sister. And between the two of them, Tiffania had decidedly more endurance.
“Please, Sister, do not make our guest feel unwelcome.” Tiffania broke the silence once again. “We have always been kind to those who have found their way to us."
Guest?!
“She has only told me a little, but I must say it sounds like Miss Shiori has had a very difficult time of things.” Tiffania closed her sweet eyes and smiled her sweet smile as she took her own place at the round little kitchen table. The children
She'd had a difficult time?! Matilda felt her temperature beginning to rise. And right there in the middle of it was Tiffania, trying so hard to be of use.
“Perhaps I should start again with introductions?” Her sister thought aloud. “That might clear the air right? Of course, I suppose neither of you have been properly introduced of yet. I am sorry, that was terribly rude of me.” And always apologizing. “Miss Shiori, this is Matilda, my Sister. That is to say she is my adoptive Sister.” Tiffania placed one hand atop the table beside Matilda. "She takes work as a secretary to help support us here. Her work takes her far away most of the year."
“Sister huh?” The small Faerie girl asked. Her voice was soft and measured, but to Matilda it also sounded bitter, spiced with the smallest trace of venom. “I thought humans and Elves didn't get along.” Their eyes met again, green and green, and perfectly understood. Neither trusted the other in the least.
“We're the exception that proves the rule.” Matilda said levelly, using the Faerie turn of phrase to throw the question back at 'Shiori'.
The brief exchange, not entirely civil, but probably the best that could be hoped for, restored the smile to Tiffania's lips. “And Sister, this is Miss Shiori, one of the Faeries of ALfheim, a Cait Syth. But I suppose you already knew that. Sorry.”
“And I thought you Faeries were keeping to Tristain.” Matilda mused aloud. “The new Queen is quite taken with you all, last I heard.”
“More or less.” The Cait Syth girl took her cup in both hands and sipped at the contents. “It really doesn't matter how much the Queen digs us if Albion flattens the Kingdom around her. There's another war coming you know. We plan on winning. So I was sent in as a scout.”
“A scout?” Matilda repeated, closing her eyes. Liar. And not even bothering to tell a convincing lie. Matilda saw it in her eyes. This Shiori was trying to get the measure of her.
“A scout.” Shiori confirmed. “You know, sneak around… Learn what I can… More or less.” The sentence finished with a shortness of breath and a fine sheen of sweat rising on the Faerie girl's brow. She'd looked frail to begin with, now exhaustion sapped what was left of her strength. Matilda didn't think it was a bluff, but it was too soon to say.
“Miss Shiori happened to be in Saxe Gotha when she was inadvertently discovered.” Tiffania finished for her. “By chance Miss Shiori ended up escaping into the river but was gravely wounded in the process. I… I found her and brought her home to heal.” Tiffania's smile grew as she recounted the events and as Matilda listened her resolve to speak out began to waver.
It was clear as day that Tiffania had already made this girl one of her causes. Just as with the children. Matilda couldn't crush her sister's spirit by telling her what the girl she was sheltering truly was. This Faerie. This assassin. She couldn't tell her the sort of danger that she had brought right to their family's breast. Not now. Not yet. But she could tell her of the danger, the very real danger that this Faerie Witch had put upon their heads. And if the Founder hadn't completely forsaken them, then by the time Tiffania knew the whole truth they would be very far from Albion and the Faerie Assassin Shiori.
Matilda sighed heavily as she finally relented and allowed herself to take a sip of her tea. She waited for the nostalgic bitter taste to fade before speaking. “By chance, I already knew about Miss Shiori's run in with the Army.” It had been impossible not to acquire the details during her brief stay in Saxe Gotha.
“Oh?” Tiffania laced her fingers. “I see then. You just seemed so distraught when you arrived.”
Matilda put her cup down and reached up to rub her temples. Distraught was a good word, albeit lacking a certain bite, to describe how she felt. “The truth is that this is exactly the sort of thing I was afraid would happen. The only good fortune is that I'm here now rather than later.” She'd put this all of for too damn long. She'd been too meticulous, too careful when time was of the essence, and now she was paying for it.
“Sister?” It was rare for Matilda to see Tiffania ever look uneasy as she did now. “Your letters home?”
The young thief nodded reluctantly. “Ever since the Faeries have made their presence known, Albion has been growing more dangerous. The Reconquistadors suspect everyone and everything. This Forest has been good to us, Sister, but you can't stay here anymore. It isn't safe. Especially not for you. But I've found a safe place for you and the children.” Safer than here anyways. Most of the past months had been spent making the arrangements and ensuring that everything would move smoothly. All that was left was for it to be done. Matilda had always known that this would be the hardest part.
Tiffania became still and her smile faltered. “Leave… You mean leave for the Continent… ”
“Tiff.” Matilda began as her sister rose and clasped her hands before herself once more. “I know this is difficult, but it's how things have to be.” She'd made this very clear in her letters, but maybe Tiffania didn't want to hear it.
“I-I know.” The halfling girl wrung her slim hands before her while her lips moved silently to a hymn from their childhood. “It's like you say. The Forest has changed…”
“But it's still the Forest you know.” Matilda finished for her gently as she watched her Sister's eyes sweeping walls of her little cottage. This place had been Tiffania's home for much of her life, it had provided for and protected her, and now Matilda was asking her to leave it behind so suddenly. “Maybe one day we'll be able to come back.” She let Tiffania think on those words as she put a hand on her Sister's shoulder.
“Are you sure? Are you sure… That it will be safer for us?” The Elf-girl spoke quietly, her eyes fixed on a shelf of books above the door to her bedroom.
“Yes, I'm sure. The place we'll be going to is very peaceful.” Matilda breathed. And the people there were familiar enough with Faeries that Tiffania would be able to pass herself as a Sylph if she was spied from afar. So long as she kept to herself, there would be no more fearing that even the slightest glimpse inciting an Elf-Hunt. The Fae offered something at least, to make up for the nuisance they made of themselves. Not that she could say so much with one of those self same Faeries present. “It's not something we're going to argue Tiff. I've already made all of the arrangements. There are supplies and a ship waiting for us. But we have to go very soon. By tonight if we can manage it. Can you get the children ready?”
“It will be dangerous to stay, but it will be dangerous to go as well… and what about supplies… the children aren't ready… ” Tiffania was silent for a moment before nodding very slowly. “The young ones will need to be carried. Pippin and Maurice will be exhausted just hiking out of the forest.”
“I've arranged for a wagon.” Matilda said, feeling faintly relieved. “And I have all of the papers to move along the back roads. Everything is planned out.” The biggest hurdle would be ensuring that her sister was never inspected much less seen by the authorities, but there were ways to avoid that as well.
“We'll need the camping gear… James and Jacks can carry the tarps.” Tiffania began to think aloud. Matilda felt relieved as she listened to her Sister slowly filing away her entire life. The things that would need to be taken and what would have to be left behind. “Medicine and supplies. Books? No… Maybe one or two? Maybe we can find room. We… We'll have to travel light I suppose.”
“Tiff.” Matilda said after a while, waiting for her sister to recenter herself. “You go take care of the Children. Get them ready to travel.”
“Tonight?”
“Tonight.” The thief nodded once. The mission laid out before her, Tiffania had set herself to work, humming that odd melody that Matilda could never quite remember the notes to as she turned her attention to her new task with a fixity of purpose that she usually only committed to the children. Later, Matilda was sure that Tiffania would need to sit down and have a good long cry over this, but for now there was work to be done, the tears could come later.
Her sister was growing into a strong young woman. Matilda smiled until Tiff stopped at the door, looking back doubtfully to her and then… to Shiori. “And what about Miss Shiori?”
“Yes.” The Cait Syth said in that sibilant lisp that seemed to come out whenever a Cait was amused. “What about Miss Shiori?”
“Miss Shiori, you are certainly too injured to travel on your own. I cannot imagine part ways with you just yet.” Matilda steeled herself for what she knew was coming as her Sister looked her in the eye. “Please Sister, she must travel with us.”
Absolutely not! Matilda thought darkly. The Fae were nothing but trouble, trouble she wanted to keep Tiffania and the children as far away from as possible. But to say that out loud was too much. She watched Shiori from the corner of her eye, weighing out the risk, what it would cost to bring her along, what it would pay to keep Tiff content.
'She's injured.' Matilda told herself again. 'Founder just look at her.' Shiori appeared to have a talent for deception, but her bravado was wearing thin with alarming speed. In the sheen of her brow and the sway of her shoulders, it was becoming clear just how weak the girl really was. She wouldn't stay that weak for long of course, not with Tiffania's care, but maybe long enough to stay out of trouble. Tiffania would never abandon her while she was too weak to travel alone.
“That is a decision for Miss Shiori to make.” Matilda said, tone flat and expression neutral. Still, it satisfied her sister for now as she departed to gather the children. It wouldn't take long. All of the children had travel clothes and there were supplies kept in case they ever needed to hike to the other hiding places in the forest. Matilda would explain to them all what was happening once Tiffania had prepared them. But for now, she was alone with Shiori, and Tiff was out of earshot. It was quite the liberating feeling to take the mask off as she turned back to the Faerie.
“So.” The thief said, tone becoming brusk and businesslike. Her personal feeling didn't matter right now. This was a job even if it was one she would be doing for herself.
And yet Shiori, so like a Faerie, seemed only intent on sabotage as she echoed infuriatingly. “So.”
“Your decision.” Matilda scowled as she looked the girl over. This was the face of a Faerie assassin? Maybe the Fae were more desperate than she thought.
Shiori answered with an observation, tilting her head. “I sense a bit of hostility. It's not very nice to use that tone of voice with someone when they haven't done anything wrong.”
“I'd say it's rather rude to lie in the face of someone's charity as well.” Matilda said back as she returned to her seat, not out of courtesy, but to keep this professional. “Yet here we are. I'm going to show my hand a bit and tell you that Tiffania is very sharp, my Sister is also very unwordly. She knows to be cautious, but it would never occur to her to think what you really are. I however am different.”
“And what am I?”
“Assassin.” She let the word drop and sit there between them, heavy as a lump of lead. It was the lack of response more than anything that proved Shiori's guilt, not that it had ever been in doubt. “So.”
“So what?” The Cait Syth slumped in her chair. Her strength spent, she appeared now simply tired and hateful. “If you knew what I was sent to kill you'd understand.”
“Try me.”
“Necromancer.” Said so simply that for a moment Matilda did not comprehend even her own alarm. And now it was Shiori waiting for a reply as Matilda grasped at straw.
“Necro…” Her eyes widened as the full horror sunk in.
There had been rumors of course. Public condemnation to that effect and even a Church sanction for Heresy. Maybe Reconquista really did have Necromancers in there service. It wouldn't be the first time, or the last, that something so vile was used while maintaining a facade of righteousness. Still, somehow Matilda had not allowed herself to really believe it, the only claims came from a Kingdom desperate for allies and a Church desperate for recognition. Maybe Reconquista consorted with such powers, but surely not frequently. Maybe there was a Necromancer, but certainly kept on a short leash and far from sight. That wasn't what Shiori told her as she didn't spare the gruesome details.
But no, the truth was that she just hadn't wanted to believe something so vile even of her own disowned homeland. And if Reconquista would use such methods, truly… 'I have to get Tiffania out of here.'
“Right now, what I'd really love is their head on a stick.” Shiori growled, her eyes meeting Matilda's and burning through her like molten jade. “I'd really love that… But you can see how I wound up when I tried. All I can do is go home and report back. Next time we'll do this right."
“You're a risk.” Matilda said. “You're too much of a risk.”
The Faerie laughed lightly, it was still enough to set off a coughing fit. “Pot meet kettle. It's nice to meet you. Or did you think everyone else is like Tiffania? Us worldly people sure notice strange things, don't we? Like how weird it is that someone doing secretarial work could afford to hire a whole ship of smugglers. Or know how to hire a ship of smugglers in the first place. Someone's been naughty behind their sister's back.” Too much of a damn risk. And it only got worse. “By the way. There wouldn't happen to be room for a couple more…”
Perfect. Matilda had thought. Perhaps the next day would bring better tidings. But that evening as the children were bundled up and led from the forest, Matilda in the lead and Tiffania at the rear to keep them together and help the stragglers, eyes on the sky and ears trained on the night noises of the forest, the prospects didn't seem good.

Chapter 12 – Part 4

In the end, it had taken much longer to explain to the children why they were leaving then it had taken them to get ready to leave. Living as they did, Tiffania had known for as long as she could remember that a day might come when they would have to run again and she and Sister had prepared for that day with supplies and plans and hiding places. But in the midst of all her preparations Tiffania had never thought about what that day would be like. She had always assumed that when and if… if… the time came there would be no chance to think, only to run.
And so while all of the children from James and Jacks down to Maurice and Pippin had known exactly what to do, what things to pack and how to pack them, that had been the easy part. The hard part had come as Matilda had spoken to them all gathered around the dining table.
At first, the Children didn't understand, but Matilda had been gentle and patient as she explained. Slowly it had started to dawn, on the oldest first, and then cascading down to the younger children as they sensed the spreading worry. Then the children had been scared. Tiffania had been scared to.
Sister had explained what she had meant in her letters. She had told Tiffania all about the place she had found tucked into a safe back woods in the countryside of Tristain. Matilda had told her how the people there were friendly, how the children would be able to travel to town safely, and how she wouldn't need to fear that just being glimpsed from a distance might ignite an Elf Hunt.
It still felt like abandoning an old friend. Her oldest friend.
The home that had protected and provided for them for so long wasn't safe anymore and was going to have to be left behind. They were going to have to find a new home now. And no matter Matilda's promises that such a place existed for them, the Elf-Girl couldn't push the black unease back down inside. A new home? What would that even be like? It wouldn't be as good as her cottage and the Westerwoods, she was sure.
She couldn't let her own feelings show, for the sake of the children. For them, she had to be brave and smile. So long as she was brave and smiled, for them, then their family would be kept together and things, the most important thing, would work themselves out.
“Travel light?” Pippin repeated what Matilda had just finished telling them about belongings. “D-Does that mean I have to leave Moonbeam behind?” Her face scrunched and her eyes grew wide as she hugged the little cat rag doll close with all her might. The doll's head flopped down, somehow as if unable to bare the thought of being separated.
“Oh Pippin.” Tiffania bent down and patted the young girl on the head. “Moonbeam is coming with us, wherever we go, don't you worry. Sister is just being sure that everyone is careful with what they bring. That goes for all of you. Make sure you only bring what we need and what is most precious.” The children would all understand.
They couldn't afford to be slowed down, but all of the children had something, something small, a prized possession that they treasured. Sometimes it was an heirloom from their real families, sometimes it was as simple as a doll like 'Moonbeam'. Tiffania felt against her chest for the ring tucked safely within her blouse.
James spoke up, the oldest and biggest of the boys, and the most liable to protect the others. “The place where we're going. There are going to be more Faeries.” His eyes flashed to the lone outsider. “Like Miss Shiori?”
The Cait Syth tilted her head and her ears as she gave a small mewl and then snickered. “Nyeh. Most of us settled in our own cities. But you'll probably see a few of us. We tend to get around.” The Faerie wore an odd look as her eyes met with the boy's. “Why? Scared?”
“Not of Faeries like you!” The oldest boy grunted as he crossed his arms. Shiori snickered at his challenge and it wasn't long at all before James' face had turned livid.
“Alright that's enough.” Matilda said brusquely, emphasizing with a sharp, no nonsense, tap of her wand against the tabletop. “We'll set out at dusk. There's a wagon waiting for us and horses being kept nearby to help move the children.”
“What about Tiffania?” Maggie asked urgently.
“Y-Yeah, what about Big Sister?!” Maurice stuck his head up and chimed in. “People really hate Sister because of her ears!” Tiff barely noticed as she gently touched softly pointed tips. Closing her eyes, she sighed wistfully.
The children all nodded at Maurice's sage observation, looking to one another for answers and then back to Matilda. Sister gave Tiff a wane smile. “Nobody needs to worry about that either. I've made some arrangements so that Tiffania won't have any trouble at all.”
“Oh?” It was lovely of Matilda to think so far ahead. “T-Thank you, Sister.”
So why did Matilda look so unhappy at that? “I wouldn't thank me just yet. You'll… well… I'll let you see. You'll have to play dead for a bit ,Tiff.” Play dead? Tiffania blinked. She knew a little bit about that from hunting, so what could be the problem? “In fact, it's Miss Shiori that worries me.”
“Nyeh? Problem?”
Matilda looked the girl over from head to tail, stroking her chin as her lips curved in a frown. Sister hadn't been on the kindest terms with Shiori since they had met, Tiffania wondered why. It had not been Shiori's intention to endanger them all by being discovered in Saxe Gotha. Surely Matilda was being too harsh.
“I planned for Tiffania.” Sister's eyes narrowed. “I never planned for you. But I suppose that isn't really a problem seeing how you got here, now is it?”
How she'd gotten here? “Uhm, Sister?” Tiffania tugged at Matilda's blouse. “What… What are you talking about?”
“I've heard rumors.” Matilda went on, grabbing the attention of all the children. “That Faeries are natural changelings. And that their glamors are undetectable to Pentagon Magic. Is that how you were able to travel through Albion unnoticed, Miss Shiori?”
“Changeling? Like a doppelganger?” Tiffania mused to herself. She'd read about them in her books. It would certainly help if Miss Shiori had a power like that. But weren't doppelgangers rather shy creatures? It was said they couldn't bare to be looked at in their true form and only barely while disguised. Yet Shiori simply tilted her head and twitched her nose, tail lifting the back of her borrowed dress to wave lazily behind her.
"A Changelin?" The children whispered to one another. "Changeling. Changeling!"
"You can change your shape too, Miss Shiori?" Maggie sounded fascinated as she peaked out from behind jacks. "W-Will you show us?"
"Yeah, show us Shiori!" Maurice chimed in.
The Cait Syth was slow to answer. “Yeah, we can do something like that. But it's not that simple. We can shape shift but we don't have a lot of… control… over what our other forms are like.”
“You're saying that your human appearance might draw unwanted eyes?” Sister asked, although she looked plenty suspicious herself at that moment.
Shiori snickered, it was like she was playing some sort of game with Sister, one that she found much funnier than Matilda for sure. “I'm saying you don't have anything in my size.” Her ears rose and then drooped as she crossed her arms. “Once we meet up with the rest of my team it shouldn't be a problem.”
“Convenient that your rendezvous lays along our way.” Sister pressed her lips close together. “Very convenient.”
The Faerie smiled again. “I know, isn't it?”
"There's no guarantee they know you're alive."
"Trust me. They won't leave me behind."
Matilda clicked her tongue. “Hmph. Well, we can make it to Shelton by morning. That will be the first checkpoint. If your companions are waiting for you there as you say then it shouldn't be a problem.”
After saying that, Sister had gone to check over the supplied and to make last minute preparations. Tiffania had tried to apologize for her brusque demeanor, but it was as if Shiori did not much care one way or another. Were strangers always so impolite to one another? She didn't like that very much, but Tiffania suspected there were lots of things she was going to have to get used to not liking.
The day which had started out like any other, had transformed into a scramble to get ready, and then transformed again into a day of rest and quiet repose. The children were laid down for naps so that they would be able to hike that evening and Shiori was tucked back into bed to recover and rest as best she could.
Tiffania had followed along with Matilda as they made final preparations for their departure. Windows were shuttered and locked and roofs were given one last patching that ought to hold through winter. The supply cellar was sealed shut and a large stone placed over its entrance with Sister's Earth Magic. Food for the trip was packed and what would soon spoil was tossed in with refuse pile in the garden. The chickens were let out of their pen. They would have to fend for themselves from now on, but that was alright. Tough little hens, they wouldn't be the first to have wondered off and managed to survive in this Forest.
By the time evening fell, the cottage and its attending huts had been ready to be abandoned, in fact already looking the part as Shiori and the Children has been brought out and dressed in traveling clothes, their packs loaded, or in the case of the Faerie Girl, a walking stick provided. Tiffania had given her home one final look before shutting the door and turning the lock. She held the little brass key for a time as it shined in the fading light before deciding to string it from the same cord as her mother's ring. Maybe, maybe one day they would come back and find this place waiting for them.
And then the sun had been falling, and the moon had been rising, the dark filling the Forest, and it was time to go. Tiffania had shouldered her bow and her pack, adjusted her belt and the small knife and arming sword that hung there, and they had set off.
Fifteen figures moving along animal paths and the banks of Forest streams. They kept in single file, Matilda leading while Tiffania brought up the rear helping Shiori and keeping an eye peeled for anyone wondering astray. They moved neither as swiftly nor as silently as she could have hoped, but the children, even Pippin and Maurice, mostly knew this path and thankfully nobody fell behind as they traveled.
The Forest was quiet but alive tonight, as it was every night, the Forest didn't really sleep, ever. When the animals of the day came to rest their heads, the animals of the night came out to stock and hunt. The small and quiet hunters like the owls that drifted silently through the trees or foxes creeping in search of an easy meal.
No matter how she thought of it, Tiffania could not escape the feeling that she was being watched. And so she had felt the need to talk to one of her watchers, the only one she could see in any case. Green eyes shinning out of the dark at least gave her someplace to look.
“Is what Sister says true, Miss Shiori?”
“About what?” The Cait had asked back. Her voice was soft and steady and more than a little labored by the exertion. Even with a walking stick and Tiffania to lean on, this might still prove too much for her. Maybe they shouldn't talk. But the words kept finding their way out.
“About Tristain. That we will be safe there, all of us.”
The answer was long in coming, and then out of the dark. “I don't know.” The Elf-Girl couldn't tell if she should feel relieved or dissatisfied. “There's a ware coming you know. But probably anyplace is better than here…”
“I see.” Tiffania did not see but she went on. “You said that Faeries get around. So I suppose we will see them even in the country. Are they… all… like you Miss Shiori? You mentioned Sylphs and Puca, and Sister talked about how I resemble them.” There was a whole race of people in Tristain who had ears like her own, Tiffania ran a finger unconsciously along the edge of one lob, and they weren't hated and killed for it.
“Nyeh… We don't all have cat ears… and tails… and you're likelier to meet Pixies living in the country.” Shiori said as she paused to breath. “Like your sister said, you'd be a pretty good stand in for a Sylph. Just as long… as nobody… asks you to fly.”
“That is not what I meant…”
More silence, as if Miss Shiori was somehow drawing all sound into a perfect void. “No. There aren't any others… like me. I think… You'll like them, they're nice people… Mostly.”
“It does not upset you that Sister and I are taking advantage of you?”
“Nyeh?”
“Of the Fae that is. You said so yourself, that I could stand in for a 'Sylph', that is the reason Sister chose Tristain.” Tiffania looked up through the opening canopy at a sky of hard flickering stars. She would be taking advantage of other people and their kindness yet again…
The girl's green eyes almost seemed to glow as they watched. It did not elicit a very pleasant feeling. “You aren't one of us.” Shiori said in an under the breath whisper nearly lost in the night noises of the trees. Tiffania held her breath. “You aren't one of us. And if you get found out, it'll make things hard for all of us, so don't expect us to help you if something happens. But I owe you… for saving me. And its because of us you need to run in the first place. So once we get to Tristain… we'll have never met… More or… less.”
Tiffania offered an arm to the wheezing girl. It wasn't long before Sister sensed the slowing of the column behind her and noting the hold-up conjured forth a small earthen Golem. Shiori was set atop its shoulders and their advance returned to its previous pace. It was just like Shiori said, Tiffania mused, it would be much better if their meeting was forgotten… forgotten… But she didn't like thinking about that. Besides, the forest edge was growing near and soon there would be much else to think about.
“Tiff? Is something wrong?” Sister asked as she looked back over her shoulder. Matilda had stepped out into the moonlight, and with her cloak down her long, straight hair had shown like waterfall.
“It's nothing.” The Elf-Girl said half to convince herself. “It's just… well… I can't remember how long it's been since I've gone past this point.” Ages and ages at least, not since she'd been so little. It must have been the spring after they had come to live in this place. She looked past her Sister to the wide open fields rolling out towards the faint twinkling lights of the city, then she looked back into the trees and the comforting dark. She turned, bowed, and smiled into the inky blackness. “Thank you. For everything.”
When she looked back she saw that the children too had stopped, all of them bowing their heads in thanks. Sister was patient enough to give them their short goodbye, and then they were off once more following a narrow creek that bordered this edge of the forest until they came to a shapeless lump hidden beneath an earth and grass covered tarp.
“Here it is, just as promised.” Matilda muttered as she swiped the cover aside with a flourish of her wand to reveal a modest and unassuming wagon waiting for them. It sat on four iron shod and spoked wheels and in the back rested a… large number of fresh flowers. Tiffania was fairly sure that wasn't normal. Was it? Were they were part of Sister's plan?
“So this is it?” Tiffania asked. The children were all whispering excitedly. Come to think of it, none of them had ever ridden on anything, aside from their own two feet.
“Yeah. Everything's here.” Matilda agreed. Sister had climbed up into the back of the wagon now and appeared to be examining the contents of a large wooden box. “Okay, okay.” She wiped her hands on the front of her robe before reaching inside the box to extract an exceptionally beautiful white gown. “Here comes the tricky part. Tiff, you're going to have to die for a little while.”
Die? For a little while? “P-Pardon?!” Tiffania gave a squeak as she grabbed the dress tossed down to her. “T-This is a burial gown!”
“Burial gown?” Pippin mimicked. “But it's so pretty!” James took her by the hand and pulled the youngest girl back to stand with the other children.
“I know right?” Matilda sounded impossibly calm as she worked through the contents of the box, of the coffin. “There's even a veil, this should make a fine job of hiding your ears." Her smiled briefly turned into a scowl. "Only two doses of the alchemic droughts though, this stuff is being clumped down on too. Well, it's only a last resort.”
“Sister.”
“And look here, I've got all of the documents together.”
“Sister.”
“They even have the alchemist's marks. Now that just leaves the horses, I can go retrieve them while you and the children get ready.”
“Sister!”
Matilda stopped at last and tossed a look down to her. It was in Sister's nature to often look so apologetic. “This is why I didn't quite mention before now. I was afraid… Well I was afraid you wouldn't terribly like it. But I guarantee you Tiff this will keep you safe. Ba- a Friend with connections was able to get me all of the papers we'll need.”
The Earth Mage was silence by the sound of snickering coming from Shiori as the girl was tenderly placed down by Sister's stout little golem. “Wow… Just wow…” Tiffania hugged the dress to her chest rather the way she had seen Pippin doing with her doll.
“I assume then, that you disapprove.” Matilda wrinkled her nose. “But I assure you this will work. Albion being what it is these days, the Isle is overflowing with misfortune. Petty town guards are too comfortable where they are to dare risk insulting a noble family by disrespecting a daughter's corpse.”
“Actually you have that backward.” Shiori's chuckling wound down as her lips split in a mirthful grin and her eyes squeezed shut like a cat gnawing at a mouse. “This is like something I'd dream up.” Suddenly, Sister didn't look so confident. “And look at it this way. If something goes horribly wrong, at least Tiffania will be prepared.”