Left behind and flabbergasted, Titania couldn't help herself but think something was going wrong when she reached her mother’s office. Papers were stacked in mountains to the left and right of her, with two large holo screens in front. 

“Mother, I am back.” Titania said. Her mother looked upwards, green eyes piercing Titania, her mouth drawn downwards. 

“Hello little one, remind me to kill someone.” She said and stood up giving Titania a quick hug, “Did everything go well?” 

“More or less, well rather less. He knows I am a spy, and we exchanged questions, I didn't really get answers out of though.” She answered and her mother shrugged her shoulders. 

“That is fine, this is a learning experience for you. Take your time, no need to hurry with him, you will be seeing each other more or less daily anyway in school.That will be an opportunity enough to get something out of him.” She concluded, “I wanted to speak with you about some other things though, namely business.”

“Yes.” Titania jumped, surprised. Her contracts had always been a part of their family’s legal businesses, but she never got involved beyond that. Written contracts were the basics of oath magic, so she simply cast a spell on them and that was it. Only once in a blue moon did she actually take proper interest in a simple paper deal. 

“We have been trying to expand the legal side of our business, but cannot cover all of our expenses. I wish to begin utilizing your magic with the other side of our income stream.” She paused, waiting for the implications to sink in, “I have always avoided asking this because I know you dislike the idea, and I will try to find another way if you still wish to stay out of it. But with how difficult things are becoming, I must at least ask.”

“How ba….?” Titania’s voice trailed off when she saw her mother’s frown.. 

“The zones we control are financially weak, it is a fact, and we need to sell the majority of our materials within other zones of the city…. We always had to sell a bit under the proper market price, but it was not hurting us as much as hindering us. Now, they will not even give us those prices. We will not get even a quarter of them, and I will not risk anyone in my family for more. Chry’s work and your contracts can keep us fed, but otherwise we are in trouble.” Titania shuddered, “These morons are trying to take us down, and unlike before they no longer care about public image….”

“But why? Everyone knows we do not wish to expand anymore, we have all we want.” Titania said and her mother shook her head. 

“That might be true, but who will believe that? I admit my greed, I want more, I want to rule them all, but I will not do so at the price of my children. I am a mother after all.” 

I don’t like it……

“Mother, …can I think about that….?” Titania asked, “If money is what is needed, my magic can be useful; tell me what I have to spell, I will do it… But doing illegal stuff, I really feel uncomfortable with that.” 

Her mother nodded and then looked out of the window. 

“I understand… That is fine, continue concentrating on your studies, will you?” 

“Of course, no problem….oh, erm….Dex does not know how to write.” Titania muttered to her mother who had lost all emotionality and had returned to her stone cold self. 

“What is that damn thing good for…? Alright, then have it make an audio record. you have to train him, and train him hard. Do not be a soft daughter; softness will kill your little toy and you both. Summon your sister here once you leave, she is in her room enjoying herself I believe. But I need to speak with her.” 

“Yes, mother.” Titania bowed to her mother, who started to simply work again. Working on her holo screen she seemed a bit lonely all of a sudden. The door behind her opened and Annie walked in. 

Is that her combat Maid Uniform?

Titania recognized the Maid Uniform with an ankle length skirt. It did not look much different from the normal one but for the gleam at the edges of the shoes and the small embroidery. Combined with the fact that she wore a cravat with a pulsing yellow energy stone instead of the usual amber, told Titania enough. 

But why is she walking around in that, inside the house? That outfit is for missions. 

It was pure curiosity that coursed through her body and she stopped in her tracks, the door behind her falling closed. Titania turned around and stared at the door. 

I shouldn’t…..

Curiosity simply taking over, she ran off and dashed to the statue next to the entrance and then into the small opening near the back. A narrow pathway opened up before her. Running, she made her turn at a corner. Titania did not stop until she was at the wall to her mothers office. It had been a while, but her games with Cedric were finally paying off. Literally squeezing herself into a crevice on the wall she remained there while keeping her breathing flat. Her brother was responsible for this passage and, with a bit of luck…

There. 

***

“Did she agree?” Titania heard Annie’s voice and stilled. 

“She is thinking about it.” This time her mother, “It was to be expected, but still is better than an outright no.”

“Well little Titania loves you.” Annie noted. 

“A futile emotion from my daughter… Even if I am inclined to say I care for her, as I do for all my children.” 

“It would be strange if you did not, after all you carried them inside you for nine long months. You do know how to love Marcia.” Annie calling her mother by her given name meant things were bad, catastrophically so. 

“I doubt that, I found too much pleasure in getting rid of their fathers… Although it was necessary. For the sake of Power and for the sake of those little devils.” Her mother’s voice sounded strained. 

“See? You love them, more than you ever did ever loved any man.”

“Tell me something I do not know.” There was a pause before her mother continued, “Greed has taken me this far mainly, not love. Ambition, and the desire to be more, to have more. More than I started with.” 

“We all desire to be more, few make it… Tell me, Marica, how bad is it?” Annie asked with worry laced in her voice.

“The others demand for us to give up a majority of our businesses. They are regularly poisoning Chrysamthes Potions to deathliness, though we have managed so far to keep casualties to a minimum, and to cover the deaths that have happened so far. But that is not the worst of it….” Her mothers voice quieted and almost vanished at those words. 

“That is plenty bad. The oldest Miss’s potions are our main income as far as legal businesses are concerned, and she made a large quantity of what we ourselves consume. She is still doing so.” 

“Like I said; losing that business is not even the worst of it.” Marcia answered her deadpan. 

“What could possibly be worse?” Annie asked with a sigh. 

“Monsters. You must have noticed that our borders are getting attacked dangerously often?” 

“We have always had a higher percentage of monster attacks, it is hardly a secret…” Annie said with confusion, as if not realizing the problem. 

“Read this.” A bang on the table was followed by a few seconds of silence, then the rustling of paper; real, actual paper.  

“They cannot possibly….this is madness….even if they destroy us with that, if it goes wrong it will end in tens of thousands of casualties, heavens we could lose entire quarters of the city.” Annie hissed. 

“I know…these old fogeys in the Government and those leading the Zhang must have lost their minds. Luckily, the Lumiere and I agreed on something for once; that this is complete bullshit. There are a thousand safer ways to go about it.”

She sounded… desperate. Her mother actually sounded desperate and, internally, a small world broke apart for Titania. Her mother was control incarnate, unfazed, a bit wonkeys in her head, but never desperate…

“Even I can think of a few… but this? They must have finally lost their laurels. What do they demand to stop this madness? They always demand something.” Annie hastily added after that, unbelieving. 

“And we have always politely declined with their messenger's head on a silver platter, served with the greatest care. Raon has the greatest of fun making it most unpleasant for them. Why, I sometimes believe he likes it more than killing, hard as it is to imagine.” 

“What do they demand?” Annie asked once again. 

“Titania.” Her mother said, “They want Titania.” 

“What!?” 

“They demand that I give them my youngest daughter, the only one of my children that has any chance of ever getting a shot at living a life outside of the illegal, who is in fact,relatively, sane. That aside, she is the biggest asset to the family… if she can develop that ability she used with the boy and it is not a temporary fluke… Can you imagine her value? For them? For us?” 

“I can. There is no way we can give them the Young Miss; they would have her become their broodmare, to simply make more mages of her kind.” Annie thundered angrily, her voice even shaking the wall Titania was hiding behind. 

“I know. They will have to walk over my dead body and the ruins of this family before they get any of my children! They are mine, and no one will force my hand in their matters… NO ONE!” The absoluteness of those words was without question. 

What is so worrisome…?Wait, something we always had more than others; that is, monster attacks on our borders. We have a much longer border line and therefore more attacks, nothing wrong about that…..

Wait a second, No that is so off that can’t be… That would endanger the entire city! No one would be mad enough…

Titania gulped. Zhang would be so mad. So crazy.

Shit, are they really increasing the monster attacks! Intentionally driving them out of their own territory? That is madness.