For some reason when Ta-Vet stared at this black door and he felt intense dread.

He started breathing hard, fearful of a simple door. It had a red trim around the pane, and everything about it screamed go away.

“Do not worry,” Aeris said. “I will be there always. I will take care of you.”

She held onto the door knob. A few clicks could be heard, and then she let go. It opened all on its own, and she walked in, unafraid of whatever was on the other side.

They both walked in, and the door slammed hard behind them. The babies started to cry, and they tried to quiet them.

“Let us leave quickly,” she commanded him. “Don’t touch anything.”

Ta-Vet didn’t want to touch anything.

Standing in this room, he felt like many pairs of eyes were on him. It was just him and Aeris, yet for some reason, he felt he was standing in a crowded room, people breathing down his neck, and he had no personal space.

Aeris was long accustomed to the room and its disturbance of the natural order, and promptly walked over to an ornate end table.

Ta-Vet followed her and made the mistake of grazing his hand on the table.

Don't Touch Me, the table shrieked.

Ta-Vet screamed and clutched the baby tighter.

“Stop that,” Aeris barked. “I said not to bother them!”

Bother them? There are creatures inside this room, Ta-Vet thought. What madness is this?

She quickly grabbed a red and black watch out of the drawer and closed it. She realized she couldn’t hold the baby and everything she wanted.

“Invictus,” she boomed. “Take this.”

Ta-Vet stared at the watch as if it were a severed hand.

“I, I don’t think I should,” he said. “I touched the table and it was angry.”

Aeris rolled her eyes. “He’s always angry, ignore him!”

Ta-Vet’s fears were not lessened by the strange comment and he was afraid to touch anything else for fear of being yelled at. He could hear the table complaining in the distance, calling him a born liar, full of sin.

“Can, Can I hold you, uh, Sir, Sir Watch,” Ta-Vet asked.

Aeris let out a soft chuckle and Ta-Vet’s cheeks burned bright.

“It’s rude to touch others without asking,” he insisted.

That’s right, the watch said. You are a good man. Let us get along for a very long time.

Ta-Vet nervously held the watch, and in his head, he heard its voice booming loud. It gave him many great praises, saying that he was polite and well-mannered.

Aeris pulled an old sword out of a display case, along with its worn leather scabbard.

“Let’s leave, make haste,” she huffed.

They quickly returned to her day room, and Ta-Vet sighed in relief as he finally got to put down the fidgety infant.

“You are taking the watch and sword,” she commanded him. “No one will notice you leave with it, nor will they notice you since you are a slave.”

Ta-Vet grimaced at the observation, and she softened.

“Why am I taking them,” Ta-Vet asked.

“They are quite dangerous,” Aeris explained. “I worry that if Leofric learns how to use either we will be damned.”

Ta-Vet did not want this responsibility and did not want to even touch the watch ever again, but he told himself that it was for only a short while. He still doubted his mother, but he didn’t have another option but to listen to her for safe passage out of the castle.

“Do not worry,” she assured him. “I have prepared for your life after here.” She walked over to a closet and shuffled around. She came back out with a folder of papers.

“This is your new life,” she announced.

Ta-Vet opened the folder. It proclaimed all his correct information, except the name was changed. “This is my bro- My father’s name,” he observed. “Tyreceus.”

“Yes,” she whispered. “Easier to forge the identity of a dead man who is similar in appearance to you.”

Ta-Vet nodded, and his heart raced as he realized that this was truly happening, that he would have to leave.

“I don’t want to go,” he mumbled. “I want to stay with-”

He stopped, not wanting to say, mother. Aeris knew what he was about to say and said nothing, not wanting to entertain the idea that someone else was his mother instead of her.

“It is okay,” she told him. “I will meet you at the red tree. I will take both of them with me to the next point, and someone will take care of them for me.”

Ta-Vet glared at her.

“What will happen to them,” he asked.

Aeris was surprised by his sudden indignation. “Do not suggest I am that kind of person,” Aeris shouted. “I could have rid myself of these two long ago!”

“I am just worried,” he replied. “They are the last of their house. Someone should know where they’re going.”

“Sunmira! They’re going to Sunmira! The king of Sunmira has agreed to give them safe passage until we can decide what to do with them.”

Ta-Vet knew she was lying to him, that there was something different about the children, but he couldn’t prove it. He tried to put the idea out of his head, but it would nag him for the rest of the day.

She was lying to him, but Ta-Vet was too trusting, too afraid to die, and simply didn’t know enough about what was truly happening.

“That is good,” he mumbled. “I heard it’s quite nice there.”

“It is, they will be fine,” she told him. “If you want, you could go as well.”

Ta-Vet shook his head no.

“I want to stay, but I cannot. No matter where I go, I will despair.” Ta-Vet bristled at the sudden intimacy Aeris again gave as she looked into his eyes and rubbed his shoulder. He got sweaty and nervous, still unable to see her as his mother.

He had a crush on her for about two years. He tried to put it out of his mind, but her constant affection over the years and favoritism towards him gave him the wrong idea.

Now he knew why, and it was a very strange truth to know that his love could never be reciprocated for reasons outside his control.

“Please do write to me,” she said. “I want to truly be your mother one day.”

Ta-Vet did not want that, and he was disgusted with himself. He wanted badly to please her, just to have her in his life. He had never had any attention from any woman, as he was a scrawny man, barely a man at that.

He wanted a different kind of love, and it made him bitter.

Aeris was too oblivious to notice.

“Your stipend is underneath a loose tile outside the kitchen quarters,” she told him. “The one closest to the entrance. Get it before we leave. Come here later to get the items.”

“I will write to you,” he said. “I promise to take care of him until you return.”

Aeris smiled, relieved, thinking that she had finally done something right. She truly believed that this last and final life would be best for them all.

“Come back to the room once everyone is asleep,” Aeris instructed him. “Don’t let anyone see.”

“I will miss you,” he mumbled. “I wish I knew about you earlier.”

“As will I,” she said.

She squeezed his hand and he grumbled in protest, wishing he never had feelings for her.

He is quite similar to the first one, she thought. They are both grumbling and fidgeting and yet he mocks the small one.

She picked up the green-eyed one, who was now a little more lively, as moving down the hallway was the most exciting thing to ever happen to him. She sat on the daybed and called Ta-Vet over.

“Please tell me more about you before you go,” she pleaded. “We never spent enough time together.” Ta-Vet blushed and obliged, and he sat next to her, nervous and sweaty.

He held out his hand, and his eyes turned black. Little sparks flew out of his hand, and Aeris jumped.

“Careful of the child,” she shouted.

“No! It’s only pictures!”

He extended his hand and the sparks flashed across the room. Aeris was pleasantly surprised and made many requests.

“I would like a beach,” she grinned. Ta-Vet grunted, trying to make it appear. The most he could do was make the floor look like ocean water.

“You’ve been hiding this the entire time,” she asked. “Why?”

“What use is there for a slave that can make pretty lights,” Ta-Vet sighed. “I need to be strong to carry things, and even that I am lacking.”

“You lack nothing because you are mine,” Aeris told him.”That is all you need.”

Ta-Vet’s heart suddenly sped up and he adjusted his collar, wishing that he never knew she was his mother.

As Ta-Vet got up to leave, she hugged him tight and he smelled her perfume, wanting nothing more for her to come with him. He knew it was impossible.

As if she could read his mind, she told him that she would come to visit when he found his new home. After he had left, Aeris was now alone with her unintended consequences.

She didn’t hate them, but she didn’t like them either. She simply pitied them and started to regret why she ever created them inside that small building, her ideas hidden from the world.

“This is for the best,” she told the green-eyed baby.

Aeris left the baby in the crib next to its sibling and sighed, wishing she had been smarter about her plans. She had ten perfectly crafted creatures, and Leofric had killed eight of them.

They were now much weaker without the others.

Aeris tried again to find another solution, but there weren’t many options. Her eyes flickered back and forth as she saw the different endings she would make from her various decisions.

The one where everyone lived was the one in which she set all the bastards free.

The one in which all her children lived was when she finally let her first and last leave.

Aeris wished for once she could see a happy ending, but she never could.