Having gotten over their differences and decided to work together, Tom and the head priestess of the Tsuya free states, Mari, were hashing out the smaller details as they walked towards the part of the village Tom had claimed for himself.
"... If it is not overstepping, may I inquire as to why you've chosen to stay all the way out here? We would have been able to come to a much faster agreement if you had travelled with Nick all the way to the predesignated meeting spot."
While it hadn't been that much of an issue for her to reach Tom all the way out here, Mari was still confused as to why Tom would choose to settle down here, in the middle of nowhere.
"I've taken a disciple that needs a bit more training before I burn the kingdom down together with her."
As Tom wanted to form a cooperative relationship with Mari he figured there was no harm in being truthful, as Lisa didn't want to return home he had chosen to stay in this border area between the kingdom and Tsuya free state while training her and preparing a strike plan.
"A disciple? How awfully benevolent of you, s-"
"The name is Tom, and it wasn't benevolence. She's an elver and I happened to break her cover while freeing some slaves from Rover… From there things happened and we both agreed that she would stick with me until I free her mother."
Stopping in place as she heard those details, it looked like Mari's face was bound in shock as she placed both her hands on Tom's shoulders.
"T-Tom, what's the name of your disciple?!"
Desperation clearly visible in Mari's green eyes, Tom couldn't help but see the resemblance, both had freckles in the same kind of band over their nose, almost the same shade of iris… The only thing which had made Tom not draw an immediate conclusion was Mari's much darker hair, while it was also red like Lisa's, hers were a far lighter shade.
"Her name is Lis-"
Even before Tom was able to utter the full name of his disciple, Mari turned to run so he was forced to grab her.
"WHA!- LET ME GO!"
"Cool it lady."
Having grabbed her upper arm, Tom dug his fingers into it as he anchored himself to the ground and dug in his heels.
"LET ME GO! I'm Lisa's aunt!"
Struggling to free herself as she explained that she was family, Mari was about to use magic when Tom kicked the back of her knee and forced her down as he drew some kind of weapon.
"I do not care lady, now cool your tits before I ventilate your cranium."
Pressing his MPX-11A2 to Mari's head, Tom disengaged the safety as he made it abundantly clear that Mari would either calm down or have her brain painted all over ground.
"... Fine."
So in the end, Mari calmed down.
"So, I take it you haven't seen Lisa for a while?"
Still holding a gun to her head, Tom's voice softened quite a bit as he started questioning Mari.
"It has been 5 years since she just up and disappeared from my care… I… Thought she was dead."
"I see."
Hearing the pain in Mari's voice as she explained and talked about her cousin it was apparent she cared about Lisa, still, this affection could be detrimental.
"So? If I hadn't stopped you just now you would have rushed Lisa, hugged her tightly before kidnapping her to make sure she would never leave your sight again?"
"That's!..."
Hearing Tom put it bluntly, Mari wanted to deny it at first, but when she realised he had been spot on she lost her spirit and fell limp.
"... I understand and apologise, I was far too rash."
Sincerely apologising as she realised she hadn't once considered how Lisa would see her actions, Mari felt the weapon pressed to the back of her head disappear before Tom loosened his grip on her arm and removed his foot from the back of her knee.
"It's all good as long as you understand… Although I haven't asked precisely why, Lisa greatly dislikes her own kind. Even if you have an idea, keep that to yourself. I don't want to know unless she tells me herself."
"... I… Okay… I'll do that."
With loads of complicated feelings rushing through her head, Mari got back up on her feet and brushed the dirt off of her pants as she turned to Tom, her eyes clearly displaying a mix of desperation and fleeting hope.
"If… If it's not too much, please let me see Lisa… I would like to see that she is safe and apologise to her in person."
-
"Break's over!"
Hearing Tom's almost too happy voice, Lisa suppressed her need to sigh in annoyance as she got up from the ground, then froze in place as she noticed who was standing next to Tom.
"Eh?"
"She's not here to take you away."
Before Lisa bolted, Tom realised he had made a mistake and attempted to correct before it was too late by reassuring Lisa she was safe.
This only worked somewhat.
"I told you I never wanted to see you again."
As her face twisted in disgust, Lisa spoke with venom laced in her voice as she looked at her maternal aunt with scorn that Tom had so far only seen her display towards the knights that had taken her mother away.
"I… I… I just wanted-"
Clearly hurt by Lisa's sharp words, Mari broke out in tears as she struggled to voice her explanation, but before she could finish Lisa cut her off.
"Enough, I'm taking the rest of the day off, don't follow me."
Addressing Tom, Lisa made it clear she was unhappy with him too before she strolled over to a tree where she had placed her M-507, picked it up, then walked off.
"... Well, shit."
Realising he had fucked up big time, Tom heaved a large sigh as he did his best to ignore Mari's crying.
Of course, as most people who had been just standing around as another person continued to cry knew, things quickly became quite awkward… Even for someone like Tom.
"... Soooo, what happened?"
"It's just… Hic!- I'm sorry…"
For a while, Mari continued crying as she started having hiccups too.
(... For fucks sake.)
While Tom very much really wanted to just leave, he felt partly responsible for the current situation so he ended up consoling Mari. Placing a hand on top of Mari's head, Tom did his best to at least distract her, if not calm her down.
"... I'm not a child…"
"Sure you are, compared to me at least."
Seeing Mari had somewhat calmed down, Tom decided to change the topic by teasing her.
"I'm almost a hundred years old!"
While Mari looked to be in her early 30's it was almost impossible to tell how old one of her kind was.
The way Tom understood it, elves like Lisa and Mari aged very slowly after they hit 21 years old, from there they looked like young adults until they reached anywhere from 5 to 600 years old where they started ageing rapidly.
Still, someone nearly a hundred years old was nothing more than a child compared to Tom.
"Yeah, like I said, just a hundred years old… But speaking of; what happened here? We're past the point of me not getting involved."
Although he acted slightly concerned, Tom's tone was completely flat as he clearly didn't care about anything but finding out what exactly had happened between Lisa and Mari.
"... You really are a fucking ass."
"People have told me, so spill already."
Continuing to push with much apparent regard for Mari's insults, Tom eventually got her to spill everything.
Lisa lost her dad at 5 to a sudden disease and while this did understandably devastated her it was nothing compared to her mom. Losing the love of her life, the person she had spent every single day with for over 200 years made Lisa's mother spiral in a bad way, and while she had been a priestess of the hunt her entire life this sudden loss made her devote every fibre of her being to the cruel lady of the hunt, completely forgetting about her daughter in the progress.
"... As grief took a hold of her, she completely forgot everything else and single mindedly served our benevolent lady of the hunt, she would spent weeks praying in front of the altar without eating or sleeping until she was just a husk of skin and bones, then she would go and hunt down the most dangerous monster she could find and offer it as tribute to our great lady before passing out from exhaustion… Then when she woke up she would repeat the same cycle, no matter how much I or Lisa screamed and cried for her to stop."
Suppressing tears that were building up in her eyes again, Mari took a few seconds to steel herself as Tom interjected.
"How didn't she die from all that?"
"She, Clair, has always been an outrageously talented fighter and hunter, plus her mana control is almost as unnatural as Lisa's… But to be honest, I'm pretty sure she survived because of the devotion she offered to our fair lady."
"Ah, that makes sense."
Because Tom was the hunt's instrument, it had outfitted him with a frankly unnatural body that regenerated even serious injury in just a few days and granted him the ability to summon equipment from his old world.
As this was the case, Tom didn't find it unreasonable to assume that the most savage lady of the hunt would bestow her most faithful and dedicated with great gifts of power.
"At some point Clair stopped losing weight from her weeks of fasting in front of the altar, and she started bringing home even more outrageous monsters as tributes… I should have properly convinced her to stop there, but to be honest I was just happy she seemed to be getting better, and all this time I was busy taking care of Lisa as her only remaining parental figure."
Whatever had broken inside Clair's head when her husband passed away had moulded her into the hunt's perfect follower, and in turn the ruthless lady of the hunt had blessed her and bestowed her with gifts.
"By the time I really realised what was going on, it was already too late… Clair had turned into an undying saint of our fair lady, immensely powerful with an almost immortal body; she instantly made the Tsuya free states a threat to the kingdom."
From that point it was pretty easy for Tom to predict what happened, the kingdom had somehow captured Clair and 'neutralised the threat' so they left the elves alone after that. Losing her sister made Mari latch onto her cousin even more than she already had, and in turn her overprotectiveness had made Lisa flee to the kingdom where she knew Mari wouldn't chase after her.
"To be honest, I had already abandoned all hope of ever seeing Lisa alive again, so when I saw her again I just got so happy I couldn't stop crying…. And then I remembered how horrible we had all treated her, how I had failed both her and Clair… And… And then…"
Remembering everything, Mari started sobbing and broke down again as Tom held her shoulder to console her.
(Well this is one fucked up family I've become involved with… But there's still a chance to turn this around.)
Activating his neural uplink, Tom used the Albatross' sensors to confirm his suspicion that Lisa was hiding nearby before thinking what would be best for her.
(... Any brat needs to be loved by the adults around them, especially their family. It's clear that Mari knows she fucked up and loves her very much, perhaps too much… I'm not so sure about Clair though, if she turns out to still be an unfit mother to Lisa when we free her I'll make sure she never sees her child again.)