Chapter 107: Purpose

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1HEuakpSi29XV3GRPrYlk7ABUawitO7-cMgYNkcyPXw0/edit?usp=sharing

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The flame of Cayden’s anger surged up upon hearing Delphia’s words, but he managed to tamp it back down. As much as he wanted to go on a rampage, confronting the princess and then charging toward whatever target she pointed him to, he knew that was foolish.

He had friends. As much as he was reluctant to call Delphia ‘friend’ after what felt like such a short time knowing her, he trusted her…at least a little. Enough.

Delphia knew more about the nobility than Cayden could learn after a decade of study, and he already knew how much smarter Elise was than him. If he couldn’t trust their advice on what his next steps should be, he didn’t know who he could trust.

“...so what do I do?” he asked.

There was a short pause before Elise answered.

“I think the princess is a good next step. But I don’t think you should confront her directly. Even if she wasn’t involved in the attack and is on your side morally, it’s unlikely she’ll turn against whoever in her family is responsible.”

“...it might not be someone in the royal family,” Delphia said. Cayden and Elise looked at her, waiting for her to elaborate, but she remained silent.

“How? The fateweaver compound is set up to serve the crown, according to my sister. Who else could it be but someone in the royal family?” Cayden asked when it became clear Delphia wouldn’t volunteer further information on her own.

“Well…government is big. Politics are big. Saying ‘they’re meant to serve the crown’ implies that the royal family is involved, but ‘the crown’ can mean a lot of things. It could be referring to the kingdom as a whole. It could be referring to a noble family that’s loyal to the crown. And there are several noble branch families that could be considered ‘the crown’, but are only barely related to the mainline family.” Delphia shrugged. “And even if it is at the behest of the royal family, they might not be directly involved. Oftentimes in politics, the right hand doesn’t know what the left hand is doing. A noble could be providing fateweavers to the royal family without the royal family knowing the process behind how they’re created. Or maybe they do, and they’re simply looking the other way – just know that you can’t make assumptions.”

A beat of silence followed Delphia’s lengthy explanation, after which Delphia ducked her head, pulling her hood down lower as Cayden rubbed his face.

“What do I do, then?” His anger wanted a target to charge, to punch and claw and kill – but he was unfortunately realizing it wasn’t that simple.

“You’ll need to be subtle,” Delphia said, and Elise gave Cayden a commiserating glance. “The princess is probably your best bet for finding out more. You’ll need to get close to her. Talk to her. Try to get more involved and learn about the fateweaver compound without letting her know your suspicions. That, at least, shouldn’t be hard, not with your sister there as an excuse for your interest.”

Cayden rubbed his chin, realizing that he probably should explain a few other things to Delphia if she was going to be offering him advice.

“Er, yeah. I guess I already have an ‘in’ with Valeria. I kinda…work for her? In exchange for her attempting to get my sister out of the compound. It’s the reason for that delve you came on – I was scouting out the dungeon for threats for her and her team.”

If Delphia was surprised by this admission, she didn’t show it. “In that case, it’ll be even easier. Try to get tasks that allow you to work more closely with her. Even if she doesn’t say something directly, you might be able to learn something from those around her.” Her hood turned to look at Cayden directly, and Cayden fought the urge to attempt to meet her eyes. “This won’t be quick. It’ll take time for you to learn anything – if you learn anything at all. But it’s better than just charging in and demanding answers. That will get you nowhere.”

Cayden rubbed his head as he listened to Delphia’s words. It seemed to be good advice, but he knew in practice it would be so much more difficult to find out what he needed to know than she was making it seem. Before he could get too overwhelmed, however, Elise jumped in.

“And I can look for more information on the compound in other places,” she added. “I doubt I’ll find anything directly, but the fateweaver race is pretty distinct. Maybe I can find some descriptions of prominent fateweavers in some of the kingdom’s public records that’ll tell us who the compound holds allegiance to.”

Cayden nodded, thankful for his friend’s support. But as he looked at Elise, another thought came to mind. “If I’m gonna be around the princess, I’ll need stronger mental defense skills. If she has more mental manipulation skills than just [Compulsion], [Resistance] and [Mind is a Temple] might not cut it. Ideally, I’d like two new skills that can combine with [Mind is a Temple] into a tier-two skill.”

“I can look into that as well,” Elise responded with a hum. “Off the top of my head, the only general skill that comes to mind is [Determined Mind]. That’ll make you practically invulnerable to any manipulations when it’s active, but it isn’t exactly easy to stay subtle with it active. And you’ll lose pretty much all ability to adapt. There are also a few racial skills that might work that you might be able to get with [Borrowed Power] – we’d just need to find someone of the correct race we can trust with [Conduit]. That won’t work for combining into a tier-two skill, though. Other than that…” she hesitated. “You could also just work to improve your mind stat. It wouldn’t be as effective as a whole new skill dedicated to it, but a higher mind stat will make you less vulnerable to mental manipulations.”

Cayden bobbed his head non-committally. He knew Elise wouldn’t try to manipulate him against his wishes, but he also knew she was a bit biased – she’d take every chance she could get to try and convince him to invest more heavily in the mind stat.

In this situation, though, Cayden could see the merit in her argument.

“What are you going to tell Velic?” Delphia asked, and Cayden winced. Somehow, he’d completely forgotten the fact he’d grabbed Velic by the throat. There’d be consequences for that, he knew – he just hoped they wouldn’t be too heavy.

“I’ll think of something,” he replied with a sigh.

“Think quickly,” Delphia said. “It’s not like you’ll be able to avoid him for long.”

Cayden nodded.

Elise looked between the two of them in confusion. “Why not?”

There was a pause, a moment of stunned silence as both Delphia and Cayden stared at Elise, who shifted uncomfortably.

“...because we’re roommates?” Cayden suggested.

“Wait…really? Roommates? All those times I encountered him in the library…and you’ve been living with him?”

Cayden slapped his face in frustration. Not with Elise – at least not entirely. In all their conversations, had he really never mentioned Velic’s name to Elise? They didn’t typically talk about school, he knew, but still…

And Elise had mentioned someone being mean to her at the library before, way at the start of the semester. If he’d only gone with her to see…

He shook his head. That was the past, and there was nothing they could do about it. “Yeah, he’s our roommate, along with his bodyguard, Marvenal,” Cayden explained, careful to fully enunciate Marvenal’s name. Thankfully, she didn’t have a reaction to that. “I’ll try to talk to him about you too – see if I can get him to lay off. I doubt I can do anything about the book, but you shouldn’t have to be scared when visiting the library.”

Elise gave him a thankful smile before it morphed into something more serious. “Are you okay, Cayden? Like, really okay? I’ve…I’ve never seen you that angry…”

“Yeah, I’m good now, thanks,” Cayden responded, a lump in his throat.

“Are you sure? I’m supposed to meet with Basura in a little bit, but I can skip if you need someone to talk to. Or you don’t have to talk, if you just want to hang out.”

“Yeah. Thanks, I’m…” Cayden began, but the lie died in his throat before it could get past his lips. He swallowed. “I’m not okay, but I will be. I have a plan and a goal. You don’t have to worry about me going on a rampage, or anything like that.”

Elise looked at him for a moment more. If she was bothered by Cayden’s new eyes as he looked back at her, she didn’t show it, and a moment later she gave a decisive nod before standing to her feet. “Well, I guess we have a plan. Not to kick you out or anything…”

“Ah, one more thing,” Cayden jumped in. As much of his focus had been dedicated to how to go about solving his parents’ murders, there was something else eating away at him. In most ways, it wasn’t nearly as serious as his earlier revelation. But in others, Cayden couldn’t help but feel it was even more important. He took a deep breath and then looked at Delphia, being careful to look just to the right of her hood. “Delphia, I want to apologize for what I did, when I pushed you into the wall.”

Delphia’s shoulders hunched. “It’s fine. I know you didn’t mean anything by it.”

But Cayden was already shaking his head. “It’s not fine.” Delphia raised her hand as if to say something, but Cayden spoke over her, afraid he’d lose his courage if he lost momentum. And what he was saying was absolutely necessary. “Even with an apology, it’s not fine. I’ve known too many people who hurt those around them. Hurt those they claimed to care about. Many of them even would apologize after doing so.”

Cayden couldn’t see Delphia’s expression, but her hood was trained on him with laser focus, while Elise only looked confused. She’d known him all his life – but it wasn’t his current life he was remembering.

“I don’t want to be that kind of person. I never thought I would be, but…I was just so angry.” He shook his head. “That’s no excuse. I know it’s no excuse. I…I just want you both to know. How sorry I am. And please, call me out if you ever see me go that direction again – I thought it was something I could do by myself, but after today…” Cayden shook his head, unable to find the words to articulate what he was trying to say. Eventually, he gave up. “...I’m sorry.”

Delphia just looked at him, shrouded in her shadows as always. Cayden waited in silence, unsure if he’d confessed too much or said too little. He wanted to convey the seriousness of the situation, but he wasn’t sure how to do so.

He’d spent years in foster homes. He’d thought himself above those who hurt those they claimed to love. Swore to himself that that would never be him – yet all it had taken was a bit of anger. It was a terrible thought, but he was grateful that it was Delphia who had blocked his way, and not Elise or Tiana. He didn’t think he would have done the same thing – but that was a conviction he didn’t want to test. And if he had injured his sister or his best friend…he didn’t think he would be able to live with himself.

As the silence stretched, Cayden wondered what he was waiting for – anger from Delphia? He doubted that would help, although he knew he deserved it. But in all the examples he’d seen, anger or self-recrimination had never stopped those he’d known from repeating their destructive cycles.

Eventually, Delphia moved, and Cayden refocused, forgetting to avoid looking directly at Delphia. She flinched back, but not nearly as bad as she had before. For just a moment, the shadows in her hood fell away, revealing the pale, scarred face that Cayden had seen for the first time an hour earlier. And in a quiet voice, so quiet Cayden could barely understand the words, Delphia whispered.

“I forgive you.”

The shadows of her hood were back. And then, Delphia’s presence faded into her stealth skill as she fled from the room, the only sign she’d ever been there the echo of the door to Elise’s dorm room slamming behind her.

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