Death, Devotion, Dissonance

Left alone, Evin and his mother regarded each other for a few seconds. Evin wondered if he should speak up, but thankfully, Lora seemed to remember her position as an adult in the room and spoke, though she still acted meekly.

"You've… You've grown a lot."

Evin heard her words and looked back at his mother. 'How old is she again? I remember something about her marrying young, but…'

Not sure what to say exactly, Evin replied. "You've changed a lot too… Uh, how old are you again?"

"I'm turning 29 this year… Or is it 30? Something along those lines."

"What? But you look…"

"Almost 40?" Lora smiled gently. "It's nothing weird. A marriage and a child would do that to a woman."

"A child?" Evin asked, his brain halting.

"Yes, he-he. You would've learned about it soon enough, anyway," Lora beamed. It was her first time to smile genuinely during the conversation. "You have a little sister now, Evin. Her name's Sasha. She's turning six this year."

"I see…" Evin said, falling into thought.

'A little sister… No, I'm not part of her family, so I shouldn't feel so giddy about this.'

"By the way, why are you a 3rd grade now?" Evin asked. "Since you divorced my father, shouldn't you technically be a 2nd grade?"

"Ah… I was originally a 3rd grade, so when I divorced, my grade reverted. And since I married into with 3rd grade afterwards…" Lora said, her confidence dropping as she spoke.

Evin felt something wrong about this. It seemed to him that her mood dropped slightly every time she spoke of her husband. 'No, it can't be that. She doesn't deserve another asshole ruining her life like that…' Evin thought with anger. 'No, I shouldn't make assumptions. She doesn't look like… that, she just looks tired.'

"Is your new husband… alright?" Evin prodded, trying to keep his voice normal.

Lora seemed to sense the urgency in his voice as she frantically waved her hands.

"No, no. Theor's fine. I swear on the Empress' grace, he never laid a hand on me these nine years. He's caring and loving…" Lora said, sighing. "He's just a bit prideful."

"Prideful?"

"Yes. But it's nothing you should worry about," Lora said, changing her tone of voice.

'There's definitely something wrong with him,' Evin was suddenly convinced.

But since he couldn't question his mother about her life, he decided to meet this new husband of hers and see what the problem was about. That meant going to her house, but Lora seemed welcoming to the idea, so Evin wasn't that worried.

"Also…" Lora spoke with hesitation. "How's your father?"

"He's dead."

The words seemed to shock Lora a great deal. Evin didn't know why. "I see… I'm sorry."

"Don't be," Evin said coldly. "I was the one who killed him."

He was melancholic when he first did the deed, but the more he thought about his father, the colder his feelings towards him became.

"I…" Lora looked at him with shock. "I'm sorry for leaving you with him…" she was tearing up again. "To make you go through that alone, I'm sorry for running away without you."

Evin could realize that she was imagining something tragic and dramatic. He wasn't going to let her. He wiped away her tears and held her by her cheeks.

"Whatever you're imagining about me, it's most likely wrong. So don't feel sorry for leaving me behind. Even if you stayed, he would've beat the both of us and we'd just be doubly miserable."

"But even then, I wouldn't want for anyone to go through that same experience, least of all my own blood. And in the end it forced you to commit such… an atrocity."

"I told you, nothing so dramatic and tragic happened. I killed my father through an accident, one that he himself was responsible for, mostly. Sure, it was wrong to do so, but back then, I wasn't in the right mind to… not do anything else. It was just an unfortunate accident, one born out of his stupidity," Evin replied with confidence.

It wasn't that he was pretending to be okay, he really was okay.

"It still sounds terrible, but I'm just glad you're fine," Lora replied, looking considerably calmer.

Evin nodded and offered her the ale. Lora took a sip from it, and smiled, probably finding some kind of irony in the situation.

"But… can I ask you questions?" she continued.

"What kind?"

"Just general ones. About your life, and you know? Stuff."

Evin nodded and Lora began learning about Evin's life after she left. Evin was not stingy with his answers and replied to the best of his abilities. He spoke of his days working as his father's apprentice, dreaming of becoming a mage. He then spoke of how he turned out to be a mage, his days in the Academy, the difficulties he faced in it, his friendships, and finally his relationship with Bella.

Of course, Evin left out the more violent details, but also the existence of Endra. Lora also didn't ask for the Voice at all, which Evin was thankful for.

Regardless, Lora seemed fascinated by the story and before they knew it, they'd spent three hours catching up with each other. At the end of it, finally, Evin felt like the weird tension between them had disappeared, and Evin finally felt like they were mother and son once more.

It was a weird feeling. To realize that someone who he only knew for three hours would understand and love him so unconditionally. And to realize that he also held the same feelings for this person. He even felt like he was willing to do so much for his mother.

Finally, their talk ended. Evin promised to visit his mother's house the next day, and after saying their goodbyes, Evin went to Bella's house.

Bella and Arza had already gone to their respective homes after finishing their meal, deciding that Evin and his mother's talk was going to take long.