Chapter 21: We must do something!

 All the fun that Darius had made him remember the beggar he had given the silver coin that other day. He wondered if the man had indeed found a job. If it really were that easy, or would he need more than ten days of having an address?

The demon boy went to his father's office. It was after hours, so, as usual Andiel was preparing the herbs for the next day. 

"Dad, can we talk about something?" Darius was lingering in the doorway. Uncertain if his father would be understanding. Sure, Andiel had given him that sandwich on Christmas day, but he had also not picked him up off the streets. It had taken Darius coming home with Pavel, for the elf to see that Darius was in need of a home. 

"Oh, you have your serious face on. Troubles with Anastasios?" Andy asked, and Darius shook his head. 

"No, not really. He still won't acknowledge we are mates, but that is fine. I will be the one to restart his heart, and then he will see. But that is not what I wanted to talk about," Darius murmured, and then finally walked into the office. 

"Then, what is it?" Andiel asked, placing his pestle down. 

"There was this man, he was homeless and begging by the church," Darius began, and watched as Andiel gave him a guilty look. 

"Had I been richer, I would have helped more people than you. But as things stand," Andiel said, and Darius shook his head. 

"No, you don't understand," the boy said, and then balled his fists at his sides. "He needed an address for the duration of his workforce registration. Beth could have gotten a job. She wasn't lazy, like how some people spoke about her behind her back. She really wanted to work, but she was..." 

Homeless, dirty, saddled with a child she could barely care for...

A stray tear ran down Darius's cheek. What if, Beth had enough money for a room, at some point, but spent them instead on him? For food, for clothes, for medicine? She did chores every day, as he went to the docks and helped lift crates. What if he had been the reason behind her being homeless? Behind her being... dead?

"Don't blame yourself," Andiel said. "It wasn't your fault that Beth never broke out of her sad state of life. Life is unfair, my son. You have to know that. She did a good deed, raising you the best way she could, with the little she had. Don't insult her memory, by making yourself out to be a villain. You were probably the only reason why she got up in the mornings." 

"I was?" Darius was confused. Why should he be the only reason why Beth would wake up? 

"You were. Some people can't be strong for themselves, so, they need to be strong for others," Andiel said, and Darius was even more confused. 

"Beth was strong. She always had a smile on," Darius protested, and Andiel tilted his head to the side. 

"That is how she wanted for you to see her, so that is how you saw her. Tell me, the first time you met, how did she look? Do you remember?" The elf asked, and Darius tried to dredge up the almost forgotten memory back to the forefront of his mind. 

"She was... staring into space. With her begging cup, next to her. She was just staring out, and then she saw me, and she... teared up and beckoned me closer," now that Darius was remembering things, he thought that back then, Beth had not had the will to live. 

"See? If it wasn't for you, her spirit would have died long before her body gave up. Be happy you gave her a couple of happy years. Don't blame yourself because she shared all she had with you, bar her pain," Andiel said, and Darius sniffled. 

"Andy, you won't hide your pain from me, will you?" The demon boy wanted for his father to trust him. To let him take off some of his burdens. 

"That is not the mark of a good parent," Andiel spoke, but Darius began shaking his head. 

"It so is! How am I going to help you, if you don't tell me, what is bothering you? How are we going to be happy, the both of us, if you keep your pain for yourself?" Darius asked, and Andiel smiled brightly then. 

"Well, let us go back to the topic at hand," the demon boy frowned, when he saw, that Andiel was going to avoid his question, but let his father continue. "You wish to help the homeless?"

"They need an address. Getting them the one copper coin is going to be easy. With a single rune, I can register 100 homeless people. But they need an address," Darius insisted, and the elf nodded. 

"Well, nothing much I can do on my own, but I can see if I can't get the lord's attention. To see if something like a homeless shelter, like those in the human world, can't be built in our town," Andiel was certain that the lord was going to ask for a lot, for, surely, he would want his money back, at some point. 

Much as the elf didn't like it, the lord had sat by, and let the homeless beg and grovel in the town. Much like how other lords had allowed for this to happen in theirs. Yet, Darius hoped that they could do something for the homeless.

 As meager as it would be to just put a roof over their heads for a month, and food in their bellies for just as long, they had to do at least as much. 

"You will talk to the lord?" Darius asked, and Andiel nodded. 

"We will talk to the lord. You are the one with the experience of being homeless. Your arguments will be the most valid," with those words, Andiel went back to crushing the herbs in the pestle. Darius lingered in the room for a while, and then murmured a quiet thank-you.