Council of the Heir

Chapter Two - already being suspicious

Voices from outside interrupted Lydia from her work.

She straightened up from the curtain she was mending, looking up, then over to where Elizabeth was stirring a pot. The woman lifted her head, looking out the window,then broke into a smile.

"It's my brother." She explained before abandoning the pot and hurrying out the door. Lydia quickly put her mending aside, adrenaline suddenly shooting through her. Oh, frick. "Steven!" She heard her host call, and she quietly made her way over to the door to see what was going on.

"Afternoon, Lizzy." Steven was tall. Now, Lydia knew this, she wrote him into existence. But she really wasn't prepared for how big this man actually was. It was hard to tell from a distance, but he looked at least 6'5, probably taller, towering over his sister (wait, was she older or younger than him?). Lydia had gotten used to William being a bit taller than her, which was, y'know, standard for a man, but Steven was just... intimidating.

"This is Valor." Steven gestured, and Lydia's gaze snapped to follow, soon alighting on a young man who had stopped on the path. "He's posin' as my apprentice while we work together to find the murderer."

"A pleasure." Elizabeth curtsied, and Valor smiled at her. Lydia studied his features. His face was... almost expressionless, his smile didn't meet his eyes. Was his face naturally blank, or was he... trying to hide his grief? Because if he was here, with Steven, that meant...

"That doesn't look like my niece." Steven's voice caught her attention, and Lydia looked back over to find him and his sister looking at her. Oop.

"Oh, Grace is in the barn, I believe." Elizabeth smiled, patting his arm. "This is Miss Lydia, why don't you and Valor come inside and I'll introduce you?"

"Actually..." Steven lowered his voice, muttering something to her. Elizabeth's smile fell, and Lydia slowly shrank back inside. What was he doing? Follow up question, should she try to find out, or go say hi to Val? Oh no, the shyness was setting in.

"Lydia!" Elizabeth called, and she poked her head back out. "Go find Grace, please. William and I need to speak with my brother." Lydia blinked, but nodded.

"Okay!" She slipped out the door, hurrying towards the barn. She suddenly felt self-conscious - since she obviously didn't bring any changes of clothes with her, she'd been borrowing some of Elizabeth's dresses, but they were a bit too small for her. Surely Valor and Steven didn't care, but...

As she headed for the barn, she saw Steven shoo Valor away, and the young man looked at her before quickly averting his gaze and heading for the stream behind the farm. Lydia slowed as she approached her destination. She knew what would happen here, Grace would run into Valor and they would chat. She didn't, however, know what was going on in the house. If she'd decided that already, she couldn't remember. Slowly, she looped back around, making her way to the back door and slipping into the cabin again.

As soon as she was inside, she could hear low voices coming from the main room. She crept closer - Steven's voice was accented, and that made him very difficult to understand until she got close.

"...entrusted him to Herobrine." Was the first words she heard, in Elizabeth's voice.

"Aye, I did." Was Steven's response. "He's dead. Th' boy was alone." Oh shoot, he was telling them?? "I found him trying to help in Hadleigh, he killed a man he thought was behind the murders. He wasn't."

"Oh..."

"He killed someone??" William cut in. "Should he be around-?"

"Grace is in no danger from him." Steven cut in. "He's a good kid. He was tryin' to do the right thing, just went about it wrong. Driven by grief, it's still fresh." Lydia abruptly wondered where the pickaxe was. She didn't see it on Valor... surely they didn't just leave it back at Steven's house. "Speakin' of Grace, does she know about him?"