Enchantyon: Welcome Home
Chapter Twenty-Two: Outside The Comfort Zone

Lalauri Imafenduwell

The Old Aureate Wing

Imafenduwell Hall

“I’m sorry,” Lalauri started. She was becoming more and more cross as the conversation went on. “I just fail to see why the Head of House Gausswinder’s private security has anything to do with what should be a peacemaker matter.”

About thirty minutes had passed since the peacemakers had arrived, and Lalauri felt increasingly uncomfortable as they swarmed the front area of the wing and all around the outside property. As unsatisfied with this situation as she was, though, she knew it was coming. After all, it was Grannie who had called them when the fight with the lone imp had started. The part that she was very unhappy with, however, was how the former councillor, Evangeline Gausswinder’s lackey and head of security, had accompanied the peacemakers into her home. And ever since he arrived, he had been striding around the crime scene like he owned the place.

“Do you have a problem with me being here, Miss Imafenduwell?” Grimshaw asked. “I’m merely here to help keep the peace, that’s all.”

“…Well, in that case, perhaps you’d like to know then that the man who stole my property made an interesting comment about his employer—whoever they are—that might catch your interest.” Lalauri mused aloud. “It certainly caught mine.”

“Oh?”

“Yes, it did. He mentioned he didn’t know why his employer needed all the different tomes and schematics that he was stealing for them…and when he did refer to him…he called his employer—and I quote: a ‘stupid wolf’.”

Grimshaw turned around and stared at her—or at least she assumed that’s what he was doing. It was impossible to say for sure how he took that thinly veiled accusation whilst he wore that wolf mask of his. The two had a silent stare-off as the peacemakers and medics finished up what they were doing around them.

“Miss Imafenduwell,” said Grimshaw, after a lengthy stare-off between the two. “If you have something to say…say it.”

Then Lalauri walked right up to the masked imagebearer and stopped when she was right in his face. “I cannot prove that either you or that woman you work for had anything to do with this,” she growled at him. “But mark my words, wolf, if I ever catch you or your little imp thugs sneaking into and/or running amok in my house again, I’ll—”

“Constable Mayweather,” Grimshaw barked loudly, cutting her off. “My pistol…”

At his command, one peacemaker pulled away from his colleagues, who were apparently dusting for fingerprints. The constable quickly approached him, pulled out his own firearm, placed it in Grimshaw’s open hand to the shock of Lalauri, and simply walked back to return to dusting for fingerprints.

Then Grimshaw continued to list other names. “Constable Flint…Constable Shrodes…Corporal Saki…Sergeant Odes…”

And one by one, they all came at his beck and call. One by one, they followed his commands; one peacemaker used his magic to magically clean up any and all footprints left behind by the imp in the battle-suit. A pair of them used their magic to mend and reconstruct the parts of the building that had been destroyed—they even cleaned those areas of all dirt and rubble, too. Some other peacemakers were commanded to step outside, while others were made to burn up whatever witness statements they had already taken from Lalauri and the nulliwumps. Then Grimshaw lifted his mask just enough for Lalauri to see his mouth. Finally, one peacemaker came to place a cigar in his mouth, and the final peacemaker just came by to light it for him.

Grimshaw closed the distance between himself and Lalauri until their faces were inches apart. He spoke in a hushed tone and said, “You are not in control here.”

Enraged, Lalauri pulled herself away from him and said, “If you think I’m that easily intimidated, then—”

“Detective Staff Sergeant Grimshaw.” Lincoln Grimshaw said loudly, cutting her off once again.

At his call, a human woman with long, wavy brown hair, dressed in regular Aureatan clothing—aside from her peacemaker badge—strutted up to them.

“Wait,” said Lalauri, staring at the woman. “…Detective Grimshaw?”

“Yes?” said the detective.

“Have you and your team concluded this investigation?” Grimshaw asked.

“…Yes, I believe we have.” Said the detective, now shifting her gaze towards Lalauri.

And in that strange moment, Lalauri felt her rage boiling up inside of her again.

“And have you come to any conclusions about who the identities of the trespassers would have been?” Grimshaw asked.

The detective smirked. “Best I can tell…there were no trespassers at all.”

“What?!” Lalauri blurted out. “What do you mean there were no—?!”

“Best any of us can reckon,” continued the detective. “All of this is simply accidental damage. Perhaps one of the kiddos living here got a little carried away with a magic spell or something.”

“Magic spells? You’re actually going to stand there and try to say a kid did all of this?” Lalauri rounded on Grimshaw, the scheme unfolding around her now clear as day. “If you think you can cover up what happened here tonight, or you and your former councillor’s involvement in it all—”

“You know what I think?” started Grimshaw. “I think that most people have the wrong idea of Councillor Gausswinder. They all think she’s just another noble-type from another affluent House who only got to where she is today because of said House…but that mistake—that assumption they all make—that’s what’s going to cost them in the end. Gausswinder will return to the High Council, Miss Imafenduwell. And when she does, it would be best if she started out with as few enemies as possible. That way she stays focused on her actual job, and doesn’t get distracted with any side projects—like figuring out exactly how legal your adoption of that little girl of yours was by the standards of our fair city’s laws…it’d be a shame if you two had to be separated simply because of non-existent paperwork. And especially after you two have gotten so close to each other.”

Then Grimshaw walked away, leaving Lalauri standing there, gritting her teeth. She whirled around to keep her eyes on him with half a mind to cut him down with Anthem right there and then after being threatened in her own home. But she thought better of it. As the masked man left, the detective as well as all the other peacemakers left along with him.

“Oh, and mark my words, Miss Imafenduwell,” Grimshaw continued. “Regarding her rightful place on the High Council, the Councillor will return.”

Once the peacemakers had left and the night had settled, Lalauri went to Keridwen’s room to make sure she was alright. She knocked on the door, heard the little girl’s voice telling her to come in, and did so.

“Hello.” Said Lalauri upon seeing Keridwen already tucked into bed.

“Hi.” Keridwen replied.

“How are you?” said Lalauri, as she sat down next to the girl on her bed. “Today’s been a very…eventful one, to say the least. For both of us…not having any nightmares, are you?”

“No. How’s Grannie and the nulliwumps?”

“They’re gonna be alright. They took Grannie to the hospital and the medics already said it was nothing too serious that her body couldn’t handle healing itself. We can go visit her tomorrow, though. And the nulliwumps who were injured—including Cecil—are there with her too. We’ll get to see all of them when we go.”

“Ok…good…Lalauri?”

“Yes, Little One?”

“Do you think Razzalar and the other Hounds will come back?”

Personally—secretly—Lalauri had hoped that the answer to that would be no. She was never a big fan of the celestials and was now even less of a fan after having to fight them off—even if that wasn’t really their fault. However, she somehow knew that what happened tonight wouldn’t be the end of them.

“I’m sure they’ll come back when they’re ready, Keri.” Lalauri said. “They probably just need time to recover, too. Here, though. There’s something I want to give you before I forget.”

Out from her pocket, Lalauri took out and handed to Keridwen the sign-up sheet she had gotten from the mail-woman for the pen-pal program. Upon seeing it, Keridwen’s jaw dropped, and she sat bolt upright.

“If you want,” Lalauri smiled softly. “You can sign up for it. My only conditions are that you must keep me in The Maze about who it is you’re writing to, and that I will be letting them know not to send your letters to the Kingdom of Mogore, just because I don’t want you being exposed to that lot. Now, how does that sound—Oh!”

Keridwen had leapt from under her covers and wrapped her arms around Lalauri in a giant hug. “Thank you, Lalauri! Oh! Can I have a cat-worm?”

“A what?” Lalauri struggled to say as she pried the girl’s arms off of her. “A cat-worm?”

“Yea, like the mail-woman was riding! They’re look so adorably cute! I need one!”

“Little lady, let’s not forget that you’re still grounded. As such, you’re not in any position to be asking for anything of the sort. Plus, you already have several massive dogs following you around at all times pretty well.”

“But they’re not pets, though!”

Lalauri sighed, getting up from the bed and making her way to leave. “I shall think about it—no, I said I’ll think about it! Absolutely no promises are being made here, so don’t get too excited. If anything, you wouldn’t be getting something like a pet until after your grounding ends, and after you show me that you’re responsible enough to take care of it, and even then it wouldn’t happen until your birthday or something—”

That’s when Lalauri realized something that she had always wondered about in the back of her mind, but had never remembered to bring up with the child until just then. Just as she was halfway out of the child’s room, she turned back around and asked, “Keridwen…before I go…do you know when you were born? What day I mean?”

“My birthday?” said Keridwen. “It’s the start of the year, Twilight’s Day.” Then Keridwen wrapped herself back underneath her covers so that she was perfectly snug and then sleepily yawned, “Night, Lalauri.”

Then, after a moment, Lalauri finally replied, “…Goodnight, Keri.” And closed the door behind her.

As she leaned up against the bedroom door, Lalauri’s mind started to turn over and analyze what she had just discovered; Lalauri herself was born on Twilight’s Eve—the very last day of the year, and if Keridwen was born on Twilight’s Day—the very start of the year…that meant that for the first time in what felt like forever, Lalauri had finally met another Child of Twilight. Another Daughter of Twilight. Then the guilt entered her mind once more.

Amongst the few that knew of their existence, the Children of Twilight had a terrible reputation, and Lalauri was to blame for it. A Son or Daughter of Twilight—as rare as they were—were almost always terraformer mages, which meant that Keridwen’s fate as a terraformer might as well have been set in stone…

No! Lalauri refused to just resign to that line of thinking. Keridwen might have been born a terraformer mage, but if Lalauri did her part right, she wouldn’t have to grow up believing that she must indulge herself in those abilities—in that blinding power.

It was a strange feeling for Lalauri, though. The knowledge that she wasn’t the only terraformer out there made her feel a strange sort of relief that was mixed with pity. Lalauri was determined not to let the reputation she had unwittingly cast upon Keridwen back when she herself was very young have any say at all over her future.

The worry of having others get close to her for fear that they might get hurt due to simply being near her had diminished in Lalauri’s mind. It wasn’t entirely gone, but it had certainly lessened after she was able to protect her household that night. If she was going to be a proper protector for her family and household—if she was going to be a half-decent mother—she would need to keep those in her household close to her.

She couldn’t do it all alone, though. Gausswinder had allies of her own—like Grimshaw—that would come to her aid whenever needed. And while she definitely had examples of that in her own life, Lalauri knew she would need as many allies as she could get if that’s what she was up against. Perhaps even beyond that, though…it would be nice if she could have a friend to confide in, given the struggles ahead.

Soon enough, a couple of weeks passed by, and Lalauri found herself pacing back and forth in front of the newly fixed front doors of the Hall. In an attempt to create a deeper connection with Thraillden and his wife—and perhaps turn them into genuine friends—she had extended an invitation for dinner in the time that had passed.

“Ok…” Lalauri said to herself. “It’s fine. People are going to be coming to your house, and you are going to play host to someone other than family—which is fine. You’ll be fine. You’ll do well. No reason to fuss about it. Just breathe and…and focus on having a good time.”

When the knock came to the door, Lalauri jumped a little and went to open it. She stopped just before doing so, though, and instead sent up a quick prayer. “Father, thank you for giving me the will to step out of my comfort zone today and play host for…for a friend. For someone who I hope to make a true friend, at least. Two of them, two if I could. Please be with us and help me with this. Please bless this evening, bless the food, and…and help me not to stress so much tonight. Amen.”

And with that, she opened the door, and greeted her smiling guests with a glow of her own as she welcomed the two of them in from the chilly evening air.