A day on the town

[Kender Bard]

Blaine started to think, Nobody's, good, I can-

And then he noticed the ring. Grabbing it, he looked at the crest... and grew pale. Oh, Forces damnit! He would need to go about this in a new way.

"Listen to me," he growled at Bas and the other children. "If you tell anyone about what you saw or about me, I will come into your house and kill everyone." He added, in a lie, "I'm a Mind so I know everything about you now and I'll know if you tell someone. If you promise to not whisper a word of it, I'll let you go and we can pretend this never happened."

[Northen Light36]

Bas squirms, kicking out at Blaise again. "No you won't," she tells Blaise. "My daddy would kill you!"

Pas glances nervously at Bas and shakes his head. "Let Bas go and we'll promise," he tells Blaze, frightened. He wants his brothers and sisters out of here safely.

[Kender Bard]

"This one doesn't sound like she will," Blaine murmured darkly, electricity playing between his knuckles briefly.

"Bas, promise," Aries urges the girl, a tremor of fear in his voice now.

[Northen Light36]

"You have to promise, Bas," Pas urges his twin. Faint flashes of memory, Daniel taking away his family, race through the little boy's mind, adding to his fear. Bas may have blocked all memory of that event from her mind, but Pas hasn't. "Please Bas!"

Looking at her frightened brothers, Bas decides that it's probably okay to lie this time. "I don't like you," she tells Blaine. "But I promise I won't tell. Let me go!"

[Kender Bard]

Blaine gave Pas, seeing his fear, a dark look. "Remember, if she tells, you all die," he whispered and let the child go before turning and storming back into his house.

[Northen Light36]

When Blaine is gone, Pas takes a moment to hug his twin tightly then he takes Robin's hand and helps the little boy up. "Come on, let's go home," he says, then pauses and glances back at the house. What if the scary man changed his mind? "No, we'll go to Lumi's home. It's closer and we can get a grown up to take us home. Aries, you hold Letha's hand, okay?"

[Kender Bard]

Aries nodded, feeling bad for the little ones, and took Letha's hand. He glanced at the house as well and felt fear as an icy coldness in his blood and hated the man even more.

[Northen Light36]

Letha, pale faced and sniffling, latches tightly onto Aries' hand. "Dada," she sniffles and Bas takes her little sister's free hand.

"We're going home," she promises. "Come on." With that, she leads her family away from Blaine's house and to the spot in the Manor wall were the stones are loose. Quickly, she helps the littler children through, then crawls through the hole herself.

Seafoam happened to be wandering down the path as the children sneak in, having been planning to enjoy the nice day and read in the garden. Watching in mild amusement, he waits until they're all in then walks over and in a mock gruff tone, but smiling, he asks, "And what's this? Breaking into the manor are we?" He looks startled as Robin and Letha, hearing his tone, begin to cry again.

[Kender Bard]

Aries gave Seafoam a sharp look and took a few steps forward, chest puffing up as he growled at the apprentice healer. "You leave us alone or I'll make you sorry!" Seafoam was considerably easier to stand up to than Blaine had been.

[Northen Light36]

Seafoam looks at Aries with a slightly raised eyebrow, but he's more interrested in kneeling and trying to comfort the crying toddlers. "Shh, shh," he murmurs. "It's all right, I was only teasing you. You're not in trouble."

"The mean man scared them," Bas says.

Seafoam looks questioningly at the three older children. "Mean man? What happened?"

[Kender Bard]

Aries clammed up at that, still looking upset. Blaine warned them not to say a word - so he didn't. "We want to go home," he replied instead.

[Northen Light36]

"Then why did you come here?" Seafoam asked practically.

Bas bit her lip and asked, "Do Minds know everything? Even when they're not here?" She didn't think so. The Minds in the guild didn't seem to anyway. Seafoam looks like an almost adult, so he should know for certain.

"No, of course not," Seafoam replies simply. "Imagine knowing everything that happened everywhere all the time. You'd get terrible headaches." Guessing the question has something to do with whatever's got these five so upset, Seafoam adds, "And I'm a healer, so I know all about things like that." He pats Bas on the back and says gently, "Do you know what else is special about healers?"

"What?" Pas asks.

"We're really, really good at helping people," Seafoam says. "Do you all need some help? We could go inside and you could tell me all about what's wrong where I promise no one will hear."

[Kender Bard]

Aries shifted from foot to foot. He wasn't entirely sure; he wished he was talking to his father instead. If there was even a chance that Seafoam was wrong, then his family's life would be in the balance. "I don't know," he said softly, looking at Pas.

[Northen Light36]

"Me either," Pas replies.

Seafoam sighes and stands up. "all right," he says. "Is there anyone you will talk to?"

"Daddy," Pas says firmly.

"Very well," Seafoam replies, picking up Robin. "Let's go get my father, since he's the best bodyguard in the whole kingdom, and he and I will walk you home so we know you're safe. How's that sound?"

"All right," Pas and Bas agree and follow Seafoam into the manor.

Once outside his parents' rooms, Seafoam sets Robin down again. "Wait here kids, I'll see if I can find my dad." Walking into the small living/relacing area, Seafoam spots Salacia reading and asks quietly, "Mum? Do you know where Dad is at the moment? I think there's a problem."

[Kender Bard]

Salacia closed the book she was reading and frowned. "I believe he's with Shadow at the moment," she replied. "Why, Seafoam? What's the matter?"