She took his hand, and he noted the difference in temperature between the girl and him. He’d heard his share of propaganda and vitriol about the Aukari people in his time. That they were a race of spies and slaves, subject to the evil Immortal Faldrun. That their tears were as lava, and their blood even hotter than the surface of the suns. Woe didn’t know how much of that was true, but he saw the girl crying, and her tears while hot didn’t burn like lava when she slipped her hand into his. So he ascribed much of those rumors to racial animus.
“Don’t be.” When she apologized, he shook his head, “It’s important to let your emotions vent from time to time. And it’s not silly.” Woe was silent a few more trills, until they’d found the path again. The boys were mostly quiet behind them, as was Botany, as they walked along. “Controlling your emotions is difficult if you try to take a hard rein to them. It’s easier to see them as a negotiation of sorts, with changes in flow and back and forth. Always a negotiation. Don’t fight your emotions, be clear with yourself about how you feel. Let emotions run through and out of you, and you will still be there when they run their course.”
Woe had a lot of experience in emotional manipulation in his time, as a former Empath. But that wasn’t something the girl needed to know about. She’d either take his advice or leave it. That was her purview.
“I was.” Woe said, when asked if he’d been a slave. He debated with himself a few moments, whether to tell her more. In the end, he decided to give her a little more than that. “My master was unconventional. A cruel man certainly, but strange. He granted my freedom, thinking I’d be more useful with a longer leash, and that he’d beaten obedience into me.”
Woe said no more of it than that.
He did listen to her story, about how she was kidnapped by a group. Then he listened to more about her nature as an aukari, and was surprised that some things he’d heard were true afterall. Yet he squeezed her hand reassuringly as she concluded. Then she asked him if she’d chosen well.
“You chose to step up to a responsibility greater than you were obliged to. Saoire in her wisdom saw that you were yet young and not ready for such a responsibility, but rewarded your earnest desire to help.” Woe sighed, as they arrived at the gates of the Manor. He saw the gates ahead, along with the guards. Then he looked down to Alyssia, and reached into his domain bag. He retrieved an Echo Scroll. “Here, I want you to have this one. I share them with people I wish to keep in contact with. It’s an echo scroll.”
“If you ever have need to let out your emotions and frustrations, and need someone to tell, lest you burst, write to me. I promise to respond promptly if I can.” Woe handed her the scroll in its case. “It will ring lightly when I send you a message, as will my own scroll should you write me.”
“Farewell, Alyssia.” He said, as the guards waited to escort her into the manor. “Remember the scroll!”
So saying, he walked off with his sons, and his dog, back towards Hopetoun.
