Forever Green

~ 24 ~ Leaving to Return

Theiden slowly lifted the teacup from the silverware drawer. If he hadn't seen what it was capable of, he would never have imagined that it was anything other than an ordinary red teacup. But the memory of the snarling face in the water rose up in his memory, undeniably clear. Lenesa had said it would be a way for him to see his family—why hadn't she told him it had arrived from Kivirra's cottage?

He spun to the sink, lifting the pump handle and pushing down. Water gushed out and splashed over the brim, filling the cup to a precarious level.

Theiden set the teacup not-so-gently on the counter, and some of the water sloshed over the sides. A warning growl sounded from the depths of the vessel, and a familiar horned face appeared, looking very not-pleased with being so manhandled.

"Show me my family," Theiden demanded. "Let me see them. Please."

The goblin gave a slow blink, then the water swirled to a vortex, finally stilling to reveal another image. Theiden's mother was standing outside a door—the back of the Tawny Inn, judging by the grimy whitewashed walls of the building. She wasn't alone. Several other ragged figures stood with her in the gathering darkness, jockeying for positions as the door opened and a golden light spilled from within.

Theiden watched, feeling sick to his stomach, as one of the inn's cooks emerged with a basket of kitchen scraps. The crowd surged forward, and, for fear of being trampled, the cook quickly tossed the scraps into the mob and shut the door. The starving mass dove to the ground, eagerly scraping at the bits of food. For a moment, Theiden lost sight of his mother, until finally her gray-streaked bun popped out of the wrestling bodies and she stood, hurrying off with a cut bleeding from above her eyebrow and what looked like a lump of crumbling bread under her arm, barely large enough to feed one person.

"Em," Theiden whispered, his voice coming out like the grating of a carving knife on wood. "Show me my daughter."

The water rippled and smoothed to a dark room, with a shivering figure huddling under the blankets in her bed. Alone and scared, she had backed herself into the farthest corner of the bed, against the wall.

Theiden had seen enough.

He tossed the water into the sink and stormed outside. The sun was little more than a bloody line on the horizon at this point, but it was still light enough to see the witch's shock as she registered the teacup goblin in his hand.

"Theiden, I—"

"You lied to me," he interrupted, not wanting to hear her excuses. "How long has this been here?"

"It just arrived this morning," she answered. Her eyes were the same shade as the wine left in their glasses, glimmering up at him with regret. "I didn't want you to worry."

Thieden shoved the teacup in a pocket and crossed his arms. "I had promised you that I would stay," he said. "In return for me helping you fight back the Turned creatures, you'd show me my family. You broke your promise."

"It was going to be broken anyway," she said, rising to her feet. Kettle stayed where she was on the dessert tray, watching the two of them in silence.

Theiden scowled. "What do you mean?"

"As soon as I saw your family, I knew you had to return," she said. "It's wrong of me to keep you here any longer, no matter what we agreed on in the past. Your life is in the city."

Anger flowered within him, blooming hot and bright at the simplicity in her tone. She might as well have been reading the ingredients of one of her recipes, for all the emotion that was in her statement.