((Bah! I am doing terrible right now! Gah, if you're still alive Lala, hi gurl, sorry for the wait!)) When he walked into the house, this was not what he expected. Andreios stared at the scene in shock. Would his master do this? He kept her this long though! Why kill her now! What was he thinking. The man felt a knot in his gut form and his mind reeled. What was he to do now? Pick Eva up and run? Could they even get away? They would most definitely live the rest of their lives being hunted down! The slave looked upon the mother with narrowed eyes. She charged him with protecting her daughter with no direction at all. There was no time to panic. This settled it. No more playing it safe, because it wouldn't matter if he did. He ran away before. He lived his life running. As did Eva. Andreios took to the girl's side and examined the mother. She was good as gone. "Eva!" Andreios pulled the girl away from her mother and held her close to him. "You have to listen carefully, this was likely your father's doing."

Ava stayed completely still ass Andreios hugged her body against his, stunned & ripped away from grasping her mother. Her father did this? Why would he do such a terrible thing to her mother, to his own wife, even? No one could be that heartless! "Don't say that!" Ava told Andreios angrily, "We need to get Mama help, she's going to die! I can't... I can't let Mama die!"

"Look at me Ava!" He forced the girl's face to face him. He didn't know what else to do at this point. He was a bit annoyed act his own tactic from before, just accept things as if and maybe things would be fine for Ava... Of course that wouldn't be the case. It was clear now. She did run away before... "I can prove to you what your father is, but first..." Ava worked with that healer mage... Kain was it. The two of them ran that little hospice together during the time he had left her... "You need to save your mother. You are her only chance! You're a mage!" He said that word, mage with a slight cringe. Even after all this time, all he had been through, all that Ava was to him, the fact that she was a mage still wounded him now... but she could save her mother, or at least try... then get her away from his master... to safety. He wondered if Raine and Kain would still be at the capital... then he wondered if he would get them involved in all of this mess... Andreios let Ava go and stepped back as if to urge her to try to save her mother.

"Save... Mama?"

Ava looked down at her mother, slowly growing cold & more still, her hands shaking & her eyes watering. Could she really save her mother's life, with the little amount Or maybe... this had something to do with the strange way everyone had been acting around her. Her father was ruthless, Andreios was clearly more important than he let on, & her mother... she looked so much worse off than before. Did she forget something important? Was she forced to forget?

Reaching forward, her muscle memory guiding her, Ava took hold of her mother's arm & placed a finger over the bigger veins on her arm. She then began to pour magic into the woman's body. Soon, Ingrid's body began to get warmer & have more color, her chest heaving to breathe & normalize everything else. As her mother recovered, Ava began to remember things, from her newer memories to older ones, including her father threatening to kill Andreios if she did not return home.

"Ava?"

Hearing her mother call out, Ava looked down at the woman, rubbing her eyes when she realized that she was still crying. Her memories had yet to recover to the point she met Andreios, but she knew enough to remember them being happy before he left, & all of the medical knowledge she'd gained while working with Kain. It was like she was waking from a bad dream, a little bit at a time.

"I remember... so much," Ava mumbled, hugging her arms to herself, "I'm sorry Mama. I left you alone for so long... Papa did this to punish me for running away, didn't he?"

The slave sighed in relief, moving further from the scene. He had no part in this happiness, it was theirs and theirs alone. He would not intrude on it, but he could appreciate it from a distance. It was also good that Ava started to remember, he could likely persuade her to take her leave again. Perhaps with her mother.

Then a dark thought crept into his mind. Her mother could take her, leave him here. If Andreios stayed, perhaps the magistrate would have less reason to hunt them. To him, they were naught but people he could expend quietly, while Andreios was an investment that proved to be quite profitable in the past. However, he doubted Ave would allow him to do such a thing. Aside from that, he hungered for his own freedom. And his conclusion came to be the same as it was always. Kill his former master. This time however, not out of vengeance but to ensure their safety in the future. He didn't want them to be hunted as he had. He didn't want to risk a future where that man reappeared in their lives.

He peered out the window and watched dead leaves blow by. It seemed dreary out there, and yet peaceful as well. All was quiet and calm. Ava would be with him when he went back. He knew, but she was now free from her chains, able to protect herself. She would be there when he kills her father. She would see the joy in his face. After all, Andreios waited years to do this. She may hate him. She may be frighten of him. She may never speak to him or acknowledge his existence, but at least she'd be free. And to him, nothing was more valuable or more important than that.

It was a good hour before Ava finally felt her mother was recovering, & leaving the woman to nap for a while, Ava moved into action, knowing that she & Andreios had to work quickly before her father grew suspicious & sent someone after them. But she could remember him now, she could remember how much she loved him, & how heart-broken she was when she had to live without him. But he stayed with her after her father found them, hadn't he? He returned to this hellhole just for her, & like her, gave in to his wicked demands to keep his loved one safe.

Coming out of Iris' room, Ava allowed Andreios no time to react before launching herself into her arms & burying her face into his chest. The amulet she gave him was cool as it pressed onto her cheek, her fingers clinging onto his cloak, clasping desperately. She wouldn't let him go right now, not even if he hit her for it.

"I'm so sorry," Ava apologized quietly, "You warned me about my father, but I couldn't believe it until I saw it for myself. You were trapped by him because of me. Because I lied about who I was."

Slowly, Ava loosened her grip on Andreios to look up at him. She could barely see his face, her vision blinded by her tears welling up & falling, almost without halting. She anchored herself by gently clasping his cheeks in her shivering, cold fingers & forced herself to calm down; being so emotional wouldn't help them move past this any easier.

"I wanted to tell you about my magic, but by the time I trusted you, you'd become precious to me," Ava added sullenly, "It was entirely selfish, but I was so convinced that I couldn't live without you beside me. I was proved wrong, but every day apart from you was so agonizing, & no matter how many people I healed, no matter how much good I did, I couldn't get over how I'd hurt you. I am so sorry, Andreious; if I could take all the suffering my family has inflicted on you upon myself, I would. You could kill me in the worst way imaginable & I still wouldn't have atoned for our sins."

Andreios sighed deeply, lightly pushing her away from him so he could get a better look. Her eyes were welled with tears of misplaced guilt. He wasn't sure how to comfort her, or calm her down. He pushed her hands down and wiped her tears from her face then taking her by her chin to force her to look up. "You can't still be fretting over that. You can't change the fact that you're a mage. However, you showed me that magic isn't... evil by nature. Hurting me was inevitable. I'm self-destructive. And I've hurt you, unjustly. I didn't expect you to listen to me. What has happened to me is my own doing. However you are correct, you can't atone for those sins. Even if I murdered your entire family along with every mage it wouldn't atone for anything. Nothing would be fix and I would be just the same as I ever was, worse even. The evil done to me is old and I make it linger. That evil isn't on you, you can't hope to atone for it because its not your place, it is mine and mine alone." He paused and looked over the girl carefully. She told him all her secrets and he held on to his. But she didn't need to know. I would likely make her feel worse somehow. "Still, I'm going back. I can't change what I am, but I can certainly stop the man responsible from hurting anyone else. I suggest you take your mother back to the capital." He could only suggest, she would do as she pleased and he wouldn't try to stop her. Not this time.

"I want to come with you," Ava said quietly, probably flooring Andreios. She wouldn't be surprised if he couldn't believe what she was saying, she could barely believe it herself. Going with Andreios meant that she agreed that James Wenham needed to die. She felt a little off balance at that moment, coming to terms with the fact that a man who raised her from birth & pretended to love her was the one who tried to rip everything away.

She couldn't forgive him after what he'd just done to her mother, & what she now knew for certain he'd been doing to Andreios. How many people did he have to torture before she stood up against him & stopped him once & for all? & here was Andreios, suggesting she go hide away while he took care of the dirty work, offering no promises that he would even be able to return to her after this.

"Stop trying to protect me," Ava said quietly, "I am going to go back with you, Andreios. If I come with you, you have a better chance of defeating him. If you died alone without me there, I... a-anyway, if you die, he will come find my mother & I anyway, so it doesn't do us any good to split up at this point."

"Take my mother to the village just outside of the Wenham estate & come back," Ava suggested quietly, "I will break the talismans he put in place to keep her here, burn the house down, & then wait for you at the mansion. I will tell him we found Mama dead & you burned the house to contain her sickness. When you return, we will give him no mercy. I thought on the travel back here that Fa- that James could be reasoned with, but now I know how naive that hope was."