Family Comes First- ASOUE

Chapter 85: All The Answers We Need

*Klaus' POV*

In the morning, Kit served us up breakfast. It felt like the first meal I had in years, and it could have been made of cardboard at that point and I would have eaten it. It was very tasty though, so I gladly ate every bite of my eggs and hash browns and drank every drop of my juice. When all of us were done with our breakfast and satisfied, Kit let us gather round in the fortune-telling tent.

"Alright go ahead. What do you want to know?" She asked, sitting down with something in her lap. It was large and rectangular, wrapped up in a scrap of sheet. I chose to believe it was a book despite the only indicator being its shape.

We had looked forward to having every single question we had answered for so long, but once presented with the opportunity, we had no clue what to ask first. Izzie asked the first question, keeping it vague for the first question.

"What is V.- the organization?" She asked, remembering not to say the name.

Kit smiled appreciatively. "It's supposed to help; we're supposed to fight the world's literal and metaphorical fires; but for the longest time anything associated with it has been nothing but trouble no matter how hard we try to fix the injustices. The stupid schism is what's to blame. It's dragged friends and family apart."

"'Schism?'" Duncan repeated. "What's a schism?"

"A schism is a split between strongly opposed parties caused by differences in opinion," I defined for him. "What difference in belief did the two sides have?"

"The ones in the right wanted to fight the fires, and the rest wanted to start them. Hurt people... Incite chaos... I don't think I have to tell you that we live in dangerous times, children..."

"Does the schism have to do with our parents' deaths?" Violet asked.

Kit frowned. "I'm so sorry you've had to go through all this hardship, children. We're still doing research on their deaths- so unfortunate, their passing... They were some of my closest friends. Karen and Quinten were my cousins by marriage too, so..." Her voice trailed off, but she picked the topic up again for the sake of helping us. "I'm sure the answer to your question, Violet, is yes... Despite how sad it seems. Bea and Bertrand were incredible assets to the organization before they left, and same with your parents, Quagmires."

"Our parents left the organization?" Violet asked, intrigued.

"Ours didn't?" Isadora asked. I held her hand, knowing certain topics concerning her parents made her very upset and I wanted to help her remain calm.

"Bea and Bertrand left to raise you, Baudelaires," she explained. "And I think Q and Karrie were planning on leaving really soon, but the fire happened... It's um... I'm sorry. You don't deserve these horrible things..."

"Is this also why Olaf is chasing us?"

Kit frowned more and nodded. "Yeah... It is... Large falling out between him and our three families... Now he has a vendetta against you all, unfortunately, and I can barely stomach to hear his name..."

"Oh... We apologize..." I said softly, barely loud enough for her to hear.

"It's fine. I can suck it up for you. It's been such a long time it feels like... He chose the wrong path, and he lost the people he cared about... It's his fault..."

"Why does he hate us so much?" Violet asked. "We didn't even do anything to him..."

"He's psychotic. He doesn't have a reason and doesn't think he needs one. It's just sad." She said bitterly.

"Um... Onto a lighter topic..." Duncan said hesitantly, "How did our parents know eachother?"

Kit took on a much more happy expression. "They were best friends!! Your mothers and fathers respectively were absolutely inseparable before Bea and Bertrand met and Quinten and Karen met. Absolute dorks, the whole lot of 'em. I love them though and I will forever. They had such high hopes for your futures, children. Appreciate everything they've done for you, okay?"

We all nodded, and Izzie asked a question, bundled up in my arms by now, that seemed to put a quake in her voice.

"What are we gonna do about Olaf?" She asked.

Kit set aside the concealed item in her lap and stood up carefully, disappearing into the makeshift room where she kept the crystal ball. She had shown us how it all worked earlier, the mechanics to create the cold air, darkness, and visions in the ball were very interesting, especially to Violet. The cabinet behind contained costumes, a spare crystal ball, and an archival library consisting of newspaper, tapes of film, books, letters, and other assorted media that seemed helpful, especially to us. I was extremely interested in that, but I figured whatever we needed to know in it could be learned through the library's curator. Kit came back with two half-sheets of paper- telegrams. I recognized the color of the paper.

"I got these this morning before you all woke up. The first one is from an associate saying she spotted Olaf lurking in town. That map thing, Isadora, was very clever."

"I read it in a book," she said sheepishly, smiling from the praise.

"Clever as always," I whispered to her, making her smile more.

"Some of my associates will apprehend him and he'll be properly dealt with," Kit continued. "About time, huh?"

"How long do you think that will take?" Violet asked.

"Anywhere from one to three weeks."

"That's too long," Duncan said. "He could find us by then."

"Not where you'll be," Kit said, flipping to the second telegram and reading it out loud. "'Quigley has made us aware he's visiting you. We'll be at the coast in no time. Warm regards, the Queequeg.'"

"Fiona??" Quigley blurted out excitedly. "I sent her a message before we left saying that I might be uncontactable for a while."

"Well clearly you said a little more than that if she's coming to pick us up and hide us," Violet noted.

"I told her we were here but I said nothing about needing a place to lay low," he defended. "This is purely 'cause she's so amazing. You guys will like it under the sea! Promise!"

"I'm sure they will," Kit grinned. "They don't have much of a choice anyways."

That was true, we didn't have much of a choice, but I still would have agreed if any protest would have made a difference. It sounded like a good experience, and my family would be safe, and Quigley's happiness had grown to mean something to me as well; obviously this was very important to him. So we'll go. Why not? We'll go...