Side Story - Amelia 2: The Dragon of Ebenlowe

AN: This is right after the first Amelia Side Story and therefore way in the past, please keep that in mind. Even fake Dragons need to hoard something.

Amelia took a deep breath and gripped her basket of sweets a little tighter before she opened the door and stepped inside. The orphanage was clean as always. Not a speck of dust on the wooden floor, or the carpets that had been laid in front of the custom made fireplace. Even the cozy armchairs with their hand-stitched blankets dotting the foyer were neat and tidy. And filled with sleeping children.

The [Dragon of Ebenlowe] always let the children sleep in the chairs for a little while before ushering them to bed, and today was no different. Minia herself sat on one of the chairs closest to the fireplace, next to her husband, with her eyes closed and a steaming cup of tea in her hand. The actual Dragon of the house, meanwhile, had his tail wrapped around one of Minia's arm's while he slowly leafed through a book, not paying attention to anything else.

Amelia knew that both of them had already noticed her — at their level it would be hard to not notice a fully armed and armoured Human. Especially when all of her equipment was enchanted in multiple ways.

"Hello," Minia said, raising a hand to wave at Amelia. "I got the thing you wanted."

"I know," the maid replied with a smile. "Sayno told me." Amelia took the last couple of steps that separated her from the mistress of the house and placed the basket she had brought by her side. "I brought some sweets for you and the kids. Extra payment, if you will."

"Entry fee, you mean," the low rumble of Uhl'kahil's voice corrected the Human. "Without it, my love would never let you step foot inside."

The mistress of the house flicked her wrist in response, causing a sword made of golden light to manifest itself above her husband's head. The only response from the Dragon was a chuckle. He did not even move, but Amelia could feel the mana rushing through his body to finally wrap around the projection and snuff it out.

"The children are sleeping, Minia," he said. "Please."

"It's time for them to go to bed anyway," the woman replied, finishing her steaming hot cup of tea in one big swig. "And I have to talk to our dear Amelia."

"And eat some sweets," the maid added as the [Dragon of Ebenlowe] took a piece of pastry from the basket. She got up from her chair and, after a brief pause, took the basket with her.

"And that, yes," the [Dragon of Ebenlowe] said. Before eating the offering, Minia clapped her hands lightly, causing the basket Amelia had just given her to disappear. "Bedtime everyone."

Most of the children groaned as they untangled themselves and got up from their chairs. The few that had slept through Minia's announcement were unceremoniously shaken awake by their comrades and dragged away. A few of the children stopped to wave at Amelia; the maid was a rather common visitor after all.

She waved back as the kids scurried past her, ruffling the hair of some that went out of their way to give her a quick hug. "I should come here more often."

"You should," Uhl'kahil said, leaning over the armrest of his chair to look at Amelia. "With everything that is going on, you could use some time to relax. The children would also love it."

"They like me because I bring treats," Amelia countered as she bowed down slightly to gently remove a particularly stubborn child from her leg. "The kids love those."

"The children need their sleep," Minia said, narrowing her eyes as she glared at a few of the orphans that had rounded the corner but were looking back at the adults. "To bed with you."

Once the last of the orphans had been ushered from the room and Uhl'kahil had returned his attention back to his book, Minia took Amelia by the hand and lead her to a neighbouring room filled with various books and scrolls that held all the information needed to run the orphanage and every other enterprise the [Dragon of Ebenlowe] was a part of. One of those enterprises was the reason Amelia had come here today.

Minia also had the rather unique capability to procure almost anything. In this case, Amelia had asked for a very specific kind of magic tool; one that would usually cost an arm and a leg and would never be given to someone of her status.

"Why do you even need this?" the [Dragon of Ebenlowe] asked as she placed a small, featureless box on the only desk in the room. "Did you get new hires you need to vet?"

"No," Amelia replied as she lowered herself to look at the box. "This is for someone Maria has been in contact with."

"Oh… I have some bad news, then." Minia sat herself down behind her desk and produced another box. "This isn't going to work on Aperio."

The maid let out a sigh and opened the first case. "It is not for the All-Mother. If she decided to do something, we could not stop her anyway. No, this is for the Elf that usually accompanies the All-Mother."

"For Caethya?" Minia asked, her eyes wandering from Amelia to the small gem in the other box the woman had just opened. "I wouldn't do that if I were you.

"It might look unassuming," she continued after a moment of silence, "but it is filled with mana. If Caethya herself doesn't notice — which I doubt — the All-Mother would. And if what I heard about her is even remotely true, she will not shy away from killing anyone that might harm her girlfriend."

"But it wouldn't harm her?"

"Compelling someone to speak the truth violates the sanctity of the mind," Minia said. "It takes a bit of your free will away, even if only for a moment, and you can be assured that the All-Mother does not like that."

The maid reached out to touch the subtly glowing crystal that lay within the box but shied away. She tore her eyes away after just a moment longer, the light that seemed to flow underneath the crystal's surface a little too captivating to be natural.

"How do you know all of this?" Amelia asked. "I doubt you have met her, because if you did, you would speak differently." The maid pulled one of the chairs closer, moving the stack of papers that sat on it to the floor before taking a seat. "Being in her very presence is frightening. You just know that she could erase you from existence without effort. And then… and then Maria just happily sits in her lap as if she was her actual mother.

"Aperio is the reason Maria lost Agy," Amelia added after a moment of silence. "If she had not given Maria that stupid 'blessing', the other Gods would have never taken notice and would have not moved so quickly. We could have saved Agy."

Minia remained quiet for a moment, her hand firmly placed on top of the second box she had produced. Finally, she let out a sigh and shook her head. "Her death and the All-Mother are only tangentially related. She died because of her work here in Ebenlowe; the blessing was just a good excuse and the strong reaction of Vigil and Natio's churches a welcome distraction."

The [Dragon of Ebenlowe] shook her head slightly as Amelia opened her mouth to refute her. "Don't," she said. "This is not something I am just saying to make you feel better. Mayeia told me about Aperio and Caethya as well as some of the circumstances surrounding Agy's death." She paused for a moment, a small, bitter smile appearing on her face. "I bothered her for months before she finally told me.

"Agy made many enemies with her constant push to change how Ebenlowe worked," Minia went on, closing her eyes as if to savour the memory of her friend. "Maria's blessing was simply the best way to get more people to pay attention to it."

"Does Geshton know?"

Minia shook her head. "I never told him, but he is more than smart enough to figure this out on his own."

Amelia closed the box containing the glowing crystal with sigh. "So I just have to trust that whoever Aperio brings won't try something?"

"Yes," the [Dragon of Ebenlowe] replied. "But, you also have to consider that the All-Mother takes care of those she blessed, at least when it comes to the blessing Caethya and Maria got."

Amelia leaned back in her chair. Trusting the All-Mother was not easy, to the point where she had difficulty wrapping her mind around the concept. The woman had quite literally made the universe, and if she for some reason decided that something should no longer exist, it wouldn't. That, however, raised another question.

Aperio, as far as Amelia knew, despised any form of slavery, but she did not really do much to stop it. She said she would, but so far, she had not actually done anything. Well, anything she told us about…

"Plus," Minia continued, "I have dealt with the Martinek family in the past. If Caethya is anything like her parents, you have nothing to fear. Quite the contrary, actually; she is likely to have a positive impact on the All-Mother.

"As far as that is even possible," the [Dragon of Ebenlowe] added after a moment. "I don't even know if her way of thinking is close to our own. Just because the All-Mother acts like we do does not mean that she does so for the same reasons we would."

"Do you just appear out of nowhere or flood a room with mana by merely existing?"

"Sometimes," Minia said, a small smile spreading across her face as she let her aura flare up a little, causing the lights to flicker. "Probably not like she does, though."

What the [Dragon of Ebenlowe] had done — while certainly impressive — did not come close to the mere presence of the All-Mother Amelia had witnessed. The woman demanded your respect through the simple fact that she existed, orat least Amelia felt that way, but she was sure there would be some that would be able to somehow ignore that feeling at the core of their being. She was also certain that no mortal could quite match the grace and gentleness the woman displayed; most certainly not something she had expected when she had first laid eyes on Aperio. Having someone taller than most doors and more broadly built than most adventurers and guards be so gentle with Maria was not something she would have been able to picture had she not witnessed it for herself.

But that's wrong, Amelia corrected herself. The first time she had seen Aperio, she was not quite as imposing as she was now. Even then, the All-Mother was not what Amelia would have considered normal — far from it — but now… Well, she certainly looks as strong as she is. Underestimating her was not something anyone should do, but she knew that enough people would do exactly that.

"Not quite," the maid eventually replied, her fingers gliding over the wooden box Minia had given her. She rapped her fingers against its surface, the magic of the crystal within causing a tingle to spread through her hand.

Her plan would not work; she would not be able to bring back the surety that had been her steady companion throughout her entire life. Before the All-Mother had come to them, Amelia had been sure that she could protect Maria. Not because she had vetted everyone that worked with her like she had planned to do with Caethya, but because those she did were strong enough to fend off the ones that could bring harm. Or could bring her back.

"Well," she added as she wrapped her fingers around the box and picked it up, "I am sorry that I wasted your time, Minia." Amelia stood up, letting some of her mana flow into the enchantment engraved into her arm. A sack appeared on the table, the clank of gold inside filling the room. "You will still be paid, of course."

"Of course," Minia replied, the gold vanishing from the table. She hesitated for a moment before she stood up as well. "Do you wish for me to talk to her? I might not be able to force the truth, but I have learned how to read someone in my time."

"No," Amelia replied. After a moment she sighed. "If you meet either of them, feel free to tell me, but don't seek them out. Same is true for Laelia, Aperio's Scion and de-facto leader of her church."

"I know her," Minia replied. "Started serving as Vigil's paladin to save her children from The Rage. Ended up being used, of course, but that was not really her fault. She can be very stubborn, but she will not go against those she serves. I would bet on it that she would be one of the first to rush to Maria's aid should she need it."

"After the other maids and the All-Mother herself, I presume?"

"Yes," Minia replied with a nod. "What Mayeia told me about the All-Mother leads me to believe that she will raise hell if anyone tries to lay a finger on Maria."

"She'd better," Amelia replied, her hand tightening around the wooden box enough to crack it slightly. "She'd better."