Rain turned to face Lord Estom with her best curious face. She may be too creepy to become an actress, but she could still practice.

 

“That would be great. What can I do to give us more time as a family?”

 

“Well, you see, our house owes quite a few favors to other houses. I’ve been spending most of my time lately finding ways to pay them back, but it's been draining so much of my time. If we had more money, though, we could easily pay the houses as a way to return the favors, and I would be free.”

 

So that was it. They wanted more money so they could continue neglecting their son and immersing themselves in their personal vices. Funnily enough, Lord Estom had been telling the truth about owing a lot of favors, but the part about him planning to use the money to pay those favors back had been false.

 

In a way, Rain was relieved they wanted money; it had been the most likely thing the Estoms would ask her, but there had been a chance they knew about her library or wanted her to do something crazy, like enter an arranged marriage. 

 

“How much would you need?”

 

“Well, if we wanted to pay off all our debts, it would take close to five thousand old, but even being able to pay off some of the other houses would help.”

 

Rain wanted to laugh at the outrageous sum Lord Estom had just asked for. That would be enough to buy Estom Manor. Not to mention that the original amount Rain had paid them should have been enough to cover all their needs for over two years. 

 

Rain could pay that much if she wanted, but what would be the point? She didn’t want to be around these liars, but when she looked at Lucus and saw the barely disguised hope on his face, she considered it for a moment. 

 

Rain would happily give away her entire hoard for her brother. But would paying the Estoms really give him time with his parents? She doubted it. More likely, it would give the Estoms the freedom to indulge and ignore him even more.

 

“I’m sorry, but I can't give you any more money.”

 

The look of disappointment on Lucus’s face hurt; it hurt even more when she thought about how he knew of her hoard. 

 

“Rain dear; we know you have money if you can rent a box seat in the Crown Theater. Are you truly so selfish that you won't share a bit of it with your family?”

 

It seemed now that Rain had refused Lord Estom; Lady Estom had entered the fight. Unfortunately for her, Rain knew that she wasn’t being selfish. She just wasn’t going to throw money at people who had a history of enslaving their own subjects. 

 

“I can’t give you what you want. I’m sorry.”

 

“What would you need to make it possible?”

 

“Nothing. I can’t give you any more money.”

 

“Raina dear, if we don’t find a way to return the favors we owe, we’ll need to resort to unpleasant things for Lucus and you.”

 

Rain noticed the return of ‘Raina’ in Lady Estom’s threat. She wasn’t that surprised. Lady Estom had always looked pained when calling her Rain. Still, Rain’s heart tightened at the thought that Lucus might be punished for her refusal. He didn’t deserve this. But she wouldn’t budge on it; she was already compromising her convictions by not getting rid of these two.

 

“Then it looks like things will get unpleasant.” Rain said.

 

Rain and Lady Estom locked eyes, glaring at each other. Lady Estom was the first to look away.

 

“I see; it looks like all of us will have to sacrifice for the house then. The two of us will have to spend all our time pulling our house out of trouble. As for you two, unless we can find another way to pay those favors, you will have to do some unpleasant things during the Gathering.”

 

And there it was, the not-so-subtle threat of ‘give us money or we’ll make you and our son miserable.’ Rain found that she wasn’t all that scared. There wasn’t a lot that could be worse than the nightmares she still had a couple of times a week or the night she spent being beaten by Zer. 

 

If the Estoms were planning to lend her out as a social kicking post, then nothing would really change for Rain. She was shunned and insulted on a near-daily basis, to the point that it didn’t bother her - too much. The problem was Lucus; if Rain’s refusal made his life worse, then Rain would feel horrible. She needed to find a way to make it up to him later. 

 

Rain forced herself not to sigh as the lights below dimmed, signaling the start of the second half of the play. This conversation wouldn’t end well, so Rain might as well end it quickly.

 

“Then we’ll all do what we must.” Rain said, resting her elbow on the railing and pointedly looking at the stage below.

 

“Come, Darling, we have work to do since our children refuse to help.” Lady Estom Said to Lord Estom before the two of them stood to leave the play early. 

 

Rain was glad to be rid of them, but before they could leave, Rain motioned to a conflicted Lucus to follow them. He hesitated momentarily before leaving as Rain made shooing gestures at him behind the Estoms’ backs. It would get him more time with his father and hopefully make it look like he wasn’t on Rain’s side. Rain would prefer that he not be punished for her actions.

 

The moment the three were past the door, Rain stood and brushed off her favorite chair, trying to get rid of any trace of Lady Estom on it before plopping down and reclaiming her rightful place to watch the rest of the show.

 

In the second half of the show, things got dramatic as Pardeth went from the one trying to figure out what was going on with his family to his family all trying to understand what was happening while member after member went missing until the final showdown when Agradawn figured out who was doing everything and confronted his older brother.

 

“Why, Deth? Why would you betray your family like this!”

 

“I’m not betraying my family, little brother. I’m saving them from becoming monsters.”

 

Rain was standing by this point as the brothers fought in front of the painted backdrop of a throne room with a prop throne sitting on the stage between them. 

 

“I don’t agree with Father’s plans either, but to destroy the house is going too far. You should have talked with the rest of us so we could all stay united!”

 

“Being united wouldn’t stop our actions from being evil.”

 

Those were the last words spoken between the brothers as they fought using awesome poses until Pardeth cut down his younger brother and collapsed onto the throne. 

 

With an aura of exhaustion and grief, a bloody sword in his hand, Pardeth looked at the body of his dead brother and spoke the final line of the play.

 

“Goodbye, brother. Now I sit all alone with nothing but my conscience and an empty throne.”

 

And like that, curtains were pulled over the stage, covering the drama behind while the crowd stood to hum their appreciation of the actors. This was one of Rain’s favorite parts of a play because as she stood and added her single tone to the interweaving rumble of hundreds of other guests, she felt connected to everyone, like she was a part of the group, even while she did it from her lonely box.

 

***

 

Swift-tail limped back to his temporary burrow. How long had he been on this quest? Surely, the others hadn’t begun their crusade yet. He hoped not because if they had, many of his siblings would now be dead.

 

The lesser humans were desperate for food; he had felt the thoughts of more than one lesser human as it thought of eating him and collecting the bounty on uffters to buy even more food. 

 

He had barely escaped a pack of starving lesser human kits as they chased him with sharpened sticks.

 

Making it to the safety of his burrow in an alley behind the dead body of an emaciated lesser human, Swift-tail collapsed to properly rub ash into his cut back leg. 

 

Please, goddess, let me reach you before it’s too late.