"Well, it was actually-"
Tulsa began a little uncertainly, looking away instead. She could no longer maintain eye contact with her father, who continued to stare down at her from above with a stern expression.
Tulsa simply felt a thousand needles jabbing into her body from every possible direction. Biting into his flesh. Poison is being injected and burned. As if they were trying to force answers out of her at any cost.
"Enough. We'll talk about it at home."
Asher said and simply turned his back on Tulsa. He had other important things on his mind at the moment. The team he led and was responsible for was now at a standstill because of his little private action. He could have sent someone else to take his place when he found out that his daughter had slipped out after he had left the house early. Because of a problem with the preparations. But he didn't.
Like being a captain, raising a child was his responsibility and his liability. He had every desire to finally be able to trust his daughter and treat her as a mature adult. To be able to let go of her hand in peace.
It seemed that he would have to wait a long time for that. Everything couldn't go according to plan. He knew that. But it frustrated him. He just wanted to keep his foolish daughter alive.
With her mother dead and his beloved wife, he was left with all the parenting duties. But he never dreamed that raising a child alone would be so difficult. If he could even say he did it alone.
For were servants living on the estate who looked after his daughter twenty-four hours a day when he had work to do. And this had been happening more and more lately.
Perhaps that was the reason it had crossed his mind at all. Let alone carry it out without any particular problem or obstacle.
He felt as if he were holding an untamable magical creature in his hands. Which, of course, was always slipping out through the possible gaps between his fingers. Twisting, stretching his knuckles in a slick, sliding motion. Like a poisonous snake, sand or water.
Inwardly, he just shook his head wearily. He knew what he had to do. His parents had taught him the lesson, like every child's own parents. The small, but important things that had haunted him all his life and affected his personality. Unless he was already predisposed to that sort of thing. But he couldn't know that.
Then the bushes beside Asher moved, and an armed soldier stepped forward.
"Captain... You really should see this before we return to the clearing." The elven warrior looked at his superior somewhat sheepishly and swallowed hard after saying those words. He simply did not want to let the lump in his throat, which appeared from one moment to the next every time he spoke to the captain, slide off.
"Lead the way!" Asher said simply, but before he started after the soldier, he glanced at his daughter. "Don't go anywhere from here! And don't do anything stupid!"
"Not that I have any chance of doing anything..." Tulsa muttered under her breath as she tried to get herself somewhat sorted. Defiance gave her the strength to dare to talk back to her father. Though she did so in a voice so mousy that it was hard to make out the meaning of her words.
But Asher heard him clearly and distinctly, yet he made no response, only silently followed his subordinate.
It was not long before Asher finally saw why they had come. A boy was lying unconscious near the moon pear trees. It looked like someone had bandaged his head. Asher simply left his companion and walked straight to the boy. He crouched down beside him and examined his wounds closely. He took the bandage off his head and looked at that, too. Gently, he ran his hand through his hair to see where the wound might be. He soon found it.
'Tulsa ran from this direction... She must have attended to the boy's wounds.'
Asher was lost in thought for a moment. As he thought of his daughter, he saw her as more than just a troublemaker, which was a relief. It was proof that Tulsa was not just out for herself and not completely isolated from the world.
Who knows how long this child has been lying here in this state? A head injury can be a problem for anyone. Your first job will be to find a suitable healer for the boy and to contact the appropriate authorities to find the boy's family. Because finding people was not within his jurisdiction. That task was performed by the city guard.
As he thought about it, his eyes automatically searched for the unmistakable characteristics that distinguished the different magical creatures. But to his surprise, he found none. When he realized this, his heart skipped a few beats. Now he knew why he had been alerted. This was a very serious discovery. A wounded human child in the magical realm, just after the Wall had been renewed. It couldn't have come at a worse omen.
Slowly, he looked up at the soldier beside him, who gave a small nod. As if to say without words that what Asher saw was true. That he had been fully investigated before being called here. There was no mistake. There could be no misunderstandings.
"Keep this a secret! The fewer people who know about it, the better. We'll take it back to the city with us. I'll take care of this myself."
Asher ordered as he stood up from the boy. Then he simply walked back towards his daughter through the trees. Before he did, however, he turned back once more and looked at the blonde, short-haired eleven.
"Take him to my house... Now, if you'll excuse me. I have some unfinished business."
With that, Asher was gone. And the blonde elf, left behind to take care of this small matter, raised his eyes to Sora, uncertain.
He stepped over to him and simply took the child in his lap. He was not much shorter than he was, by the look of him. But he seemed to be growing. It would have been a pity if he had only been given so little time in the world.
The soldier's chest tightened a little as he thought about it, but he quickly shook it out of his head. It was none of his business. He was just following orders. That was all he had to do. Nothing more, nothing less. So with the child on his lap, he moved towards the escorting troop.
Asher, meanwhile, approached Tulsa again with unhurried steps. Underfoot, the dead fallen leaves of the vegetation crunched and crunched. When he returned, he simply stopped beside Tulsa.
"Let's go!"
Came the command, and Tulsa lifted her eyes from her clothes and slowly stood up, leaning against the trunk of the tree. As she rose to her feet, she dusted herself off with a few more vigorous strokes. As if to relieve her tension.
There was only one thing Tulsa feared most at the moment. The torturous and agonizing ride back with her father at her side. The journey was too long. Too long to think about her punishment. Which she knew, of course, she wouldn't get away with whatever she did, but if she had too much time on her father's hands, there was a chance he'd figure out something new for Tulsa. Something she was sure she wouldn't like. She would hate it.
So as they walked past each other in the dark, Tulsa laced her fingers behind her back and began to crush them. She had to think of something fast. Find out in advance what her punishment would be, and then he wouldn't be able to change her punishment.
"Father-"
She began, but as soon as she said it, the word froze in her throat as her father looked back at her, his two-head taller frame and his frosty blue eyes.
Asher waited to see what his daughter would say, but she turned her gaze back to the endless expanse. As if she hadn't said anything at all.
'So she didn't want to say anything more...' Asher thought, and he looked back down the road. It was for the best. The road was bumpy and full of obstacles. He didn't want them to fall. There were already some injuries in Tulsa that would be treated when they got back.
Asher knew they were his fault, but he didn't want his daughter to run away from him like nothing had happened. And he was too edgy. He acted suddenly and didn't think about what he was doing. But by the time he did, it was too late.
---
Tulsa thought right. It was a terrible trip back. It took half an hour for everyone to get on their wagons or a horse, picking up all their belongings. Then it was another half hour as they trudged back to town. All in complete dead silence.
Tulsa sat on her father's lap the whole time riding his horse. While, of course, her father held her from both sides so he could reach the reins normally. This was worse than any punishment she would ever receive. Or maybe that was part of it. Perhaps her father no longer trusted her enough to let her ride in one of the carts with the monks?
Sometimes she glanced sideways. She looked at nature to distract her thoughts a little, but they kept returning to the question of what punishment she would now be meted out. Not that it would do anything to help her personality or habits.
The punishment was the dough strainer, and she was the flour. A little shake, or maybe not so much, and it was out of the holes. Free. Scattered in the wind.
Sometimes she watched her father out of the corner of her eye. But the captain seemed to be very deep in thought. It seemed like bad news.
As they entered the city's cobbled, gleaming main street, she could finally breathe a sigh of relief. They were close to the end of this silent torture. There wasn't much to go back to.
First, they stopped at the monks' quarters. But, fortunately, for barely a moment. Her father didn't even get off his horse. He simply issued simple commands, which were perhaps not necessary, and turned the horse around. At last, truly, they were on their way home.
It was barely five minutes before they arrived home. The gate was already open, and they rode in nicely. It was then that Tulsa noticed someone following them. But she couldn't see who it was because of her father's broad chest.
But when Asher finally stopped the horse and dismounted, and then unhitched Tulsa, she could finally see him. A soldier was following behind them, leading another horse, which at first glance seemed to have no one on it.
There was one person on it, as it turned out later. When they came alongside, Tulsa could finally see it. It was the boy lying prone on the back of the backed animal she had helped in the forest.
So her father finally found him. It was like a wave of relief rushed through her as she realized this. It was then that her mind was assailed once again by a whirlwind of strange questions that had only expanded since then. Especially now that she saw him here.
Tulsa pulled her mouth away slightly and looked past her father to get a better measure of the young man's condition. She knew she hadn't done much for him and that he still needed care.
She knew her father. She knew that he could not fail to examine the boy.
But then why did you bring him to your home? He should have taken him to one of the healers' houses and then to the police station or the city police station, where they would have checked on the boy's family.
"Tulsa... Get inside."
She heard her father's voice from beside her, who had been watching silently from above. As always. His face impassive, stern. Like a judging stone statue.
Tulsa glanced back at him, then took one last look at the boy, finally gave up whatever was going on in her mind, and moved into the house.
Asher watched Tulsa disappear behind the large carved wooden door and then glanced at his subordinate.
"You may go. I'll handle this." The soldier just nodded and saluted, then mounted his horse and rode out of the estate.
Meanwhile, as Tulsa closed the door behind her, leaning back against it, she glanced up at the staircase in front of her, leading upstairs. Only a few candles lit the hallway. But it was late. She had no reason to complain. It was almost dawn, and she had not slept a wink all day.
She sighed heavily and started quietly up the marble stairs, heading straight for her room. She was not interested in anything today.
However, as she thought about it, and about to cross the last step, her thoughts turned to her maid. She must have given her a lot of trouble this time. More than she usually did. So it wouldn't have hurt to apologise to her properly. At least this once, if she'd always been there for her.
Besides, she won't be seeing Rosa for a while while she continues her studies at the academy. She didn't want to part with her with a bad taste in her mouth, even if it was still two weeks before she had to pack anything at all that was important for the academy.
She had never longed for the capital. She was perfectly content with their small country town. She could always do what she liked and not have to behave like a lady. But once she got to school, all that would change.
She hated change from the bottom up. It gave her the creeps every time she thought about it. Even though she was a troublemaker, she didn't like confusion. What she caused was another matter entirely.
With a great creak in the hall, the front door opened, interrupting her musings. Tulsa automatically snapped her head to it. Her father stood in the doorway holding the unconscious boy. At first, he seemed not to notice Tulsa's staggering at the top of the stairs, but soon afterwards, his deep, loud voice rang out. Filling the whole hall.
"Why aren't you in your room yet, Tulsa?" Asher raised his eyebrows curiously, and a whiff behind him closed the front door.
"I'm not here anymore!" Tulsa shouted back hurriedly and was already picking up her feet for her room. Just because she didn't know what her fate would be yet, didn't mean she was safe from it. In this case, ignorance was not at all a blessing on Tulsa's part. It was better to be prepared first.
She always remembered how her mother counted to three before she did anything unpleasant. Thus preparing herself and her eventual victim for the wrong thing.