Elemental Thief Part I : Child of Calamity

Risks

Drakos knew what his daughter was up to. He had known for a while, ever since he had gone in to Verana's offices to do something similar, and found Verana's crystals smelling like their youngest.

If he knew, he was sure Verana did, though she said nothing about it, nor about the fact that he used them as well.

Granted, they were his children just as surely as they were hers, so he had some claim to the ability to use the crystals she kept on everyone. She also had one for him, though he never could find that one and assumed she kept it on her. He couldn't explain why, today of all days, he was deciding to deal with it. Perhaps it was the realisation that the human girl was there with his daughter or, perhaps, he had grown into the ability of sensing trouble from his wife and all her children.

Whatever it was, he paused long enough at the door to hear a conversation between his two children in Clairval and an unknown human male, pausing only long enough to understand what was going on across the sea before knocking on the door. He heard the scramble and gasps of surprise, and was nearly pushing the door open before Draisia called out.

He walked into the room, unsure what his plan of attack was even as he was moving into the room and staring down the three young women who stood there, watching him with their best approximations of innocence.

He saw genuine fear on Treasa's features, and recognised how very close to bolting she was, and merely held out his hand. "Give it here."

"It was my idea." Treasa blurted out as Draisia put the scrying crystal into his hand. "I took it."

Drakos quirked a brow at that, giving the girl a hard look. "Don't lie to me."

Treasa could hide her lies better than most children could, but he saw the looks of surprise on the other two, not to mention the fact that he had not smelled her in Verana's rooms.

She looked honestly surprised that he hadn't jumped at the chance to blame her, blinking at him a few times. "But.."

"No. I told you before that I will only accept the truth from you." He knew his tone was harsh, and it was almost cruel to expect her to turn in her friends.

If he were being honest, Drakos was more impressed than upset when she just closed her mouth and watched him stubbornly. She was willing to go down that route, for a principle, it seemed, even if she claimed she was out for number one and looked as if she expected him to hurt her in response.

"It was me, father." Draisia said softly, glancing down at her feet. "It's so much more exciting than here, and I enjoy being able to see them."

"Yeah, we practically forced Treasa to come along with us." Kaiyal mumbled, offering a shrug. "She told us it was a bad idea."

Drakos looked at his two daughters, then looked back at the human girl, who was blushing fiercely and staring at the ground between his feet. "The desire to protect your friends is admirable, but your first reflex shouldn't be to lie."

Treasa just shook her head, refusing to look at him, staring pointedly at her feet, looking as if he were sentencing her to death.

Draisia frowned and looked from her friend to her father, before meeting his eyes. "Someone told her that if she gets in trouble, that she'd be sent away from here."

He caught his anger before he could demand a name, frowning and forcing himself to think through what he knew about the girl, and what her expectations were. It was most likely an expectation she had based on her experiences, and even if his fury was directed at some imaginary wrongdoer, Drakos didn't think it would help reassure her.