Lucky Rabbit

“General Avington was Queen Nora’s oldest and most trusted retainer,” Nox began, in the same tone someone might use while speaking to a toddler. “He passed away before she did, and on his deathbed, he swore that the Avington family would continue to protect her house and the country they built together, just as he always had. Nyssa and I were left behind; Nyssa to care for his family, and me to protect them.”

He paused, watching Pandy, presumably to make sure her attention hadn’t drifted. She did her best to look fascinated, which wasn’t hard, because she was, and he continued.

“The General’s son was a good leader, trained by the general himself, but his grandson, Giles,” the elemental shook his head, “he was spoiled by his mother, who was one of a new generation of nobles who had never seen war. Giles, in turn, allowed his own children to grow up without the sense of duty instilled in him by his father and grandfather. On his deathbed, Giles knew neither of his sons was fit to be the next Lord Avington, so he gave me an order: test each heir until I found one that would restore the honor of the Avington name. In the meantime, his eldest son was given some control over the house, but only what he needed to maintain it.”

Ah, so that was probably the ‘access level’ Pandy currently had. She wasn’t yet trusted with restoring the family’s honor – which was fair, honestly – but she could at least make sure the house didn’t keep falling down around their ears. How long had that continued, and what happened to make Nox take away even that amount of control? She assumed it had been Nox, at least, though she supposed it was possible that some later Avington had ordered the downgrade to whatever M. Piers had had.

Looking around, Nox was silent for a moment that stretched out into discomfort. Just as Pandy was about to say something, he went on. “That went on for generations. I… am uncertain how long. At some point, no more Dark mages were born to the family. Instead, they were all Water and Air, and while they could use the books, could speak to us with words, there was no connection. No bond between us. I grew,” he paused again, shadowy jaw flexing before he forced out the next word, “weak, and lapsed into a kind of torpor, fulfilling General Avington’s final command without care or thought.”

This time when he sighed, the sound was clear, and the old Apparition truly looked like a tired human for the first time, with slumped shoulders and deep lines on his face. “It was this that brought it all to an end,” he said, looking around again. “I don’t remember many of those who passed through these halls, but I do remember Lord Philip. He was here for so short a time, but he fed us, as no one had in a very long time. He found this place, and called me, commanding me to lock the office so none could enter until he returned. He never did.”

“We think he was murdered,” Pandy tentatively offered. “Professor- A friend of mine found his obituary, and I read the note Philip left in the logbook. He went to tell the king at the time about all of this, but as far as we know, he never made it. Do you know who might have…?” She trailed off, because the Apparition was literally swelling with fury.

“If I knew, they would have died at the time,” he said, his head brushing the high ceiling as his voice sank into a deep register that made Pandy’s bones vibrate. The shape of a helmet and armor wavered around him. “Philip Avington was the last person I believed might save this house. After that, it was all-”

He waved an appendage that didn’t quite look like there was a sword protruding from it, but also didn’t not look like it was holding a sword. “All wastrels, profligates, and sluggards,” he said, slowly beginning to shrink back to human size. “I couldn’t keep them from the house, because they were Avingtons, but I could keep them from the office.”

“But you let me in,” Pandy said, surprised.

His shoulders shifted in something that might have been a shrug, but just as easily could have been a laugh. “You were a Dark mage and a warrior, though I did not recognize your style of combat. You fought against those who had sullied our family name, and you are an Avington. You deserved… a chance. Moreover, we need you.”

His voice was definitely reluctant as he admitted this, but Pandy thought about how insubstantial the two elementals had been in the beginning. Nyssa especially was little more than a wisp, ready to fade into wherever elementals went when they died. It sounded like Nox had been using whatever he had to work with to keep out Avingtons like M. Piers, and when Pandy showed up, she was at least a hop in the right direction. Not exactly a ringing endorsement, but she would take it.

None of this told Pandy what, if anything, the Avingtons had learned from their probably-not-all-that-scientific experiments, nor did it help her raise Nox’s loyalty. Unfortunately, repairing him was so expensive that without the Loyalty Discount, it would take years or even decades to bring him back up to full health. That is, if she even wanted to do so. He was already smart and strong. What would happen if she powered him up without also maxing out his loyalty? What if he decided Pandy, too, was a threat to the good name of the Avingtons?

But Pandy wasn’t good at playing games. She only pondered for a moment before just asking. “Nox, how can I trust you? I have children in this house, and eventually there might be even more. I’m already working with the queen, and she trusts me enough that she left her daughter here.” For some reason. “What more can I do to show you that I’m worthy?” Mentally, she put air quotes around the last word, but she somehow managed to keep them out of her voice.

Now the Apparition actually looked conflicted. “I will not harm the children,” he said finally. “Isidor is now an Avington, and Eleanor is a descendant of Queen Nora. They are safe beneath my protection.”

That didn’t really answer her question, but Pandy’s attention was caught by something. “Wait. Can you tell Nora was actually Eleanor’s ancestor? Biologically?”

Nox’s shadowy lips curved. “Of course. I am an Apparition. I know blood, and blood knows me.”

Well, that was creepy, but it fit with what Pandy knew about Apparitions. They could track people through those poppets, or maybe just using blood or hair samples, so it made sense that they might also be able to… what? Smell DNA?

More importantly, however, if Eleanor really was King Fergus’s daughter, what was Queen Louisa hiding? Why did the princess have magic that she wasn’t supposed to have? Why was this whole world filled with mysteries whose answers only led to more questions? “What about Kaden?” Pandy asked, and to her relief – and confusion – Nox inclined his head. So both of Louisa and Fergus’s kids were, presumably, biologically theirs.

Shaking her head, Pandy set that aside. It was interesting, for sure, but not what she needed right now. Gesturing to the casket that still held the body of General Preston Avington, she said, “I want to be the real heir,” she said, somewhat surprised to find that it was true. This wasn’t about having a place to live or getting some loot anymore, no matter how much five hundred gold would help with fixing up the house and paying for Isidor’s tuition and supplies. “But you have to help me. Can’t you give me a hint?”

Nox stared at her, his features no more than dark pits in his face, but Pandy refused to look away. At last, he said, “You remind me of the general’s granddaughter. Her name was also Pandora.” He began to float, clearly on his way out and ignoring Pandy’s question.

“What happened to her?” Pandy asked, desperate for something, anything, that might keep him talking until he finally said something that would help her.

When the Apparition replied, his voice was soft and echoed, as if he was speaking from a great distance away, rather than just a few feet above her. “She married. Left. Left us,” and he was gone, the sorrow and abandonment in those last words sending a shudder down Pandy’s spine. Clearly, the original Pandora was a bit of a sore spot for the old elemental.

Left alone, Pandy slowly made her way back up the stairs. It would have made sense to drop Shifting Faces, save the last forty minutes or so of her time with thumbs and a voice, but somehow trudging back up those steps made her feel better, even with the narrow walls squeezing her as she wound her way upward.

In the office, she looked around, wishing the pictures she’d seen in here on Guising Eve still hung on the walls. As much as she adored the pastoral paintings and gorgeous stained glass windows, she’d like to look at General Avington and his family again. She remembered the painting behind his desk; the general, along with a solemn, green-eyed woman, the young man she assumed to be their son, and the two children, who must be Giles and Pandora. The little girl’s face was only a pale blur in her memory, though she was certain the child had had her grandmother’s eyes.

Sitting down at the desk, she stared at the books that appeared on the desk in front of her. Presumably, the first page would contain the general’s name, along with that of his wife and son. It should be pretty simple to figure out who the long-ago Pandora had married, but what did it even matter?

Still, Pandy moved the other two books to the side and flipped open the Family History. Last time she’d checked it, she’d started in the back, since she’d assumed Philip had been a fairly recent relative. Now, she opened the cover and turned the flyleaf, revealing the first page. To her surprise, however, it didn’t start with Lord General Preston Avington. Instead, the first name was Lord Michel Avington.

It was much easier to interpret the chart here, and Pandy followed the little lines indicating that Michel had married someone named Giulia. They had children named Merrill and Adelia. Merrill got married and had a son of his own, who he named Preston. Preston married Felicity, and their line disappeared into a series of dots, which Pandy interpreted as ‘turn the page for more’. She was about to do so when another familiar name leaped at her from the page.

Adelia’s son was named Lawrence. Not that that was an uncommon name, at least as far as Pandy knew, but Lawrence’s father’s name was Walter. What were the odds that there was another Walter with a son named Lawrence at the same time King Walter left the throne of Altheric to his son, also named Lawrence? Well, Pandy actually had no idea, but she remembered that some of old Altheric’s nobles had defected to Nora’s side after the Demons showed up, and was it really so impossible that one of them might have been King Lawrence’s first cousin, Preston Avington?

Wow. So General Avington was actually part of the nobility of the original Altheric, but he’d still been fanatically loyal to Nora, who was supposedly just a commoner from the other side of the country? He probably could have made some claim on the throne of East Altheric, at least once that became a thing again, but instead he moved here, and his last words had been a promise that his family would continue to be as loyal as he had been. Not that that had worked out all that well, but still…

Shaking her head, Pandy turned the page, finding Preston Avington and his wife’s names repeated at the top of the following sheet. They had a single child, named Pierce, who married and had two children of his own, named Giles and Pandora.

Pandy sat back, staring at the name. She’d still been half-convinced Keros’s magic had somehow made up this past Pandora, but now it felt real. Pandora Avington had been a real, living and breathing, member of the Avington family. It took a moment for the strange feeling of dissociation brought about by seeing her own name on the page to pass, but Pandy finally brought her eyes over to the name of the other Pandora’s husband.

Gregory Conroy.

Conroy, and why was Pandy suddenly so very certain that if she found Thaniel and Lian’s family tree, she would find previous-Pandora’s name there, too? Everything was connected. Avingtons and Conroys and kings and queens and wars and Demons and missing gods and goddesses, all of it, if Pandy could only figure out how.