Seeing the look of disbelief spread across his niece's face, Horace started with his explanation again.

"Okay, look, I'm... actually heir to a noble house in Illiserev... Your father and I were the only two children in a long line of magic users long before talentium was even known to exist. You understand the implications, don't you?" Riley, still not quite sure whether if what her uncle was telling her was true or not, spoke up in confusion. "But if he was able to use magi-"
"-that... wasn't always the case, you see," he interrupted. "Neither of us was born with magic, and it was never really revealed as such to our family's 'friends'. Because of this, we were treated harshly when not being paraded about like show dogs, and some days our mother would deprave us of the basic necessities for human life..." Horace swallowed air before continuing again.
"Your father grew up rather meek, and apathetic to everything; me, his little brother, included. I grew up resenting him for letting our parents treat us the way they did, and received the lash more times than I can count because of my abrasive behavior to all of them. My only saving grace was Nana-”

“But you probably don't want to hear about her..." he trailed off. "Well, if she's relevant..." Riley conceded.

He sighed, scratching his chin before resuming. "She was my nursemaid, my only saving; one I now figure my brother didn't have being under the direct care of our mother. She taught me how to use an axe -- her being something of a crusader back in Astopol -- and put me on a better track of life than I was probably already on." Taking a pause, and a seat, he started again. "Anyway, my brother had.. changed from the boy he once was into something... vicious. He was manipulative of everyone around him, abusive of the servants, and where he had once treated me with indifference, he now treated me with disdain, scorn. I could almost hear him say 'I'm better than you, and we both know it.' Perhaps most importantly though was, he could now cast spells that were on par with our mother. He was now hailed as a prodigy and late bloomer by everyone; even if I knew it was some sort of trick, and that he was as magical as a thumbtack. Nana was the only one keeping me from lodging my training weapon right into his blasted skull back in those days.
"Eventually, he left. It was announced as some grand journey to find himself, and to hone his powers. There was a gala, small festivities... it was all overkill, to be honest. The day he walked through those doors was something of a weight off my shoulders, and something I won't forget. As we were seeing him off, he had approached me and said 'Goodbye; I'll truly miss you, brother'. It had been...sincere, not like almost every other interaction we had had since he had come into his magical ability.
“The days after that were, despite what I had presumed, much worse. The bickering, scheming, all the games that my family involved themselves in eventually lead into infighting, and many of their deaths. The day that the estate was raided -- the day when every person who suffered because of our family’s instability became fed up with them -- was the day Nana had me flee for my life instead of fight. She had told me that ‘I was better than this,’ that ‘there was much more to my life than noble squabbles.’ So, I left, with Nana separating herself from me, as I Iater learned, to cover my tracks from any sort of pursuers.
“Living on my own was difficult, at first. I was moving about, working hard labor for farmers who would hire me. It was a foreign experience for me, but rewarding to its own end. Eventually, I ended up in Dansilla, where I met an older man who would only allow me to refer to him as ‘Champ’. Champ was… well, crazy. Had me fishing with my toes, weaving with thistles of grass, drawing strange geometric circles in his fiel-”

“Uncle, how does this relate to my father… At all?” Riley asked puffing her cheeks in annoyance. “I’m getting to that; be patient.” Horace replied while staring daggers at her.

“Champ, as I had said, was older, and after having lived with him for a few months for the easy food and board, he died. Passed away in his sleep while I slept in the room adjacent to him. All he had left was a note saying that I could keep the farm as long as I took care of it like I had him. Picturesque, I know, and it was for awhile as I set the place up as my own, and even after the two of you had shown up. I had had my first harvest, had made a rather large profit on my own, and had begun looking for someone to share my life with; even if that last one wasn’t as big of a success as my other ventures.” He stifled a chuckle into a cough as he noticed the sour look the witch was giving him. “When your father showed up with you in his arms, I was dumbstruck; inclined to slam my door in his face and level a weapon in his head if he refused to leave… But, you were there -- still a toddler -- so in the end I couldn’t.
“I invited him in, and he explained -- rather kindly and unlike the way I had grown accustomed to him speaking -- much of what you already know. He had been kidnapped by that dastard witch, forced to have you under the compulsion of a curse, and has hunted you since then. The only thing that we’ve lied to you about was our own origins; we were never actually from Dansilla, and your father was no sort of scholar that had to hide after an expedition gone wrong. We decided it was best you didn’t know of our murky past, so that’s all we had lied about. You know everything else… What exactly prompted thi-”

“But-but, there has to be more! Mother had said-” Having felt conflicted as Horace had finished his tale, Riley had finally burst to her feet, wanting answers, and feeling that there was more that he should know. Her uncle’s face twisted in some form of anger and disgust. “‘Mother’? Riley, you can’t honestly be talking with that witch, let alone believing her!” He himself sprung to his feet, grasping her shoulders with an iron grip. “Riley, what all have I done for you?”
“Uncle, you’re hurting me.” Her voice had almost caught.
“What all have I sacrificed just so you can have some semblance of a normal life?!” His face was red and so very close to hers.
“Horace, let go!!” A tremor ran through her.
“You don’t care, do you? Do you!? You’re just going to throw it all away to talk to someone who at any moment could harm you -- KILL you -- just because you [i]felt[/i] like it!!?” His grip tightened, and her body began to shake.
“Please, jus-just let me go… I want to leave.” She could taste salt at the corners of her mouth; her face felt hot. She couldn’t tell; was she crying?
“No! No, I won’t! Not after everything I have done for you I won’t! If I do-”
“[i]Void Summon: Ursine[/i]!!” The energy burst into the room, and the being that was always by her side sprung into action, but hesitated when it was a familiar face that he had been snarling at. Riley circled the room toward the door to the outside., tripping over her own feet as she did. “Just leave me alone, Horace. If-if you don’t,” she gulped, wild-eyed, “I’ll kill you.”

And so she fled, tears streaming behind her and flecking her trailing summon as they went. Not aimlessly, but to the outer walls. She knew where she had to go, and despite the terror that was building in her chest, she was going to see her mother.