TBATE - Strings of Fate

4 - Wills and Beasts

--TESSIA--

When I woke up in the morning, I was lying in an empty bed. I remembered that I went to sleep with my parents. They must have gotten up already.

I looked to my right and saw my mother sitting behind a desk full of paperwork. She noticed me moving and walked over to sit down next to me.

"Good morning, Tess. Are you feeling better?"

I stared at her in confusion for a second before I remembered. Sylvia. I looked down at my hands as guilt flowed over me. Sylvia died for me. If I hadn't gotten captured, if I hadn't run away in the first place...

A million what-ifs ran through my mind as I started tearing up.

"I'm sorry. I'm so sorry! I shouldn't have ever run away."

Mother smiled at me warmly even though she was forming tears of her own.

"Tess, you could never have expected this to happen. I know I didn't. You went through something no child, no person, ever should have, and you made it home safe. That's all that your father and I asked for. We prayed to the deities that you would arrive home safe, and here you are."

I sobbed, "But now grandma's dead. She died so that I could come home."

I leaned into my mother's shoulder, drying my wet face on her shirt as she hugged me silently.

After a while, she seemed to have formed her response.

"Sylvia's sacrifice is something that your father and I will always be grateful for. She seems like she was a wonderful person and certainly deserves to be called your grandmother."

I nodded in agreement.

"That being said, it seems she did not have much time left, regardless of if she helped you or not. She said that she noticed her enemy around the area, and a wound like that was likely to kill her soon."

I broke out of the hug and started to argue, "But, she could have lived longer if she hadn't helped me. "

She smiled at me and rubbed my back, eventually coercing me back into a hug.

"From what I can tell based on what she said and how she acted, she was genuinely glad to have been able to spend her last few months with you. She must have been alone for a long time, and the time she spent with you seemed to be more important to her than living a little bit longer."

"I just- I just wish I could thank her."

"You can, don't you remember? Use the gifts she gave you, protect the stone she gave you, and enjoy your life."

The stone! How could I forget? I fished through my clothes and found it exactly where I left it last night. I held it and stared at it, feeling comforted by the fact that I still had a keepsake to remember her by.

"Your father is preparing a funeral for your grandmother, and it will most likely happen tonight. Now, I know it's hard, but your grandfather is waiting for you in the yard to begin your training. It's best that you start before you have another episode."

How could I not have thought of having a funeral for her? I really was useless.

I nodded numbly and she released me. I got dressed and traveled to the yard, and heard my grandfather's voice as soon as I arrived.

"She lives! I thought you'd stay cooped up in there forever, brat."

He ruffled my hair and squatted down to see me better.

"How are you feeling?"

"I'm fine."

He smirked. "Fine, eh? Deepen your voice a little bit and you'd almost be able to convince me you were a teenager already. Your parents have a rough time ahead of them, I'm afraid."