The following day they had a surprise visitor.

  Willow and her family were enjoying their tasty breakfast, and the young girl was still processing some of the previous night’s revelations. The idea that her Ma was a princess and she had met Da through a fighting tournament felt like it came straight from one of her stories! Though Da did clarify this morning that people just called her a princess due to being the sole daughter of House Petros at the time, she didn’t actually hold the title of princess.

  Then again, when Willow asked if there were any kind of royal family nearby, Da told her that in the territories of the clan alliance the closest thing to royalty were the clans and houses themselves. Which made it seem like a pointless distinction to her. If there’s no official princess then that made Ma a princess by default.

  Suddenly there was a knock on the door that pulled her from her reverie.

  “I’ll get it!” She called as she began moving to the door, bare feet slapping on stone as she went.

  Willow was shocked to find Old Ping on the other side of the door, looking worse than ever. The wrinkled skin of her face hung loose and sallow, with a feverish sweat glinting on her brow. Despite the relatively warm weather she was wrapped head to toe in cloth, with even her hands covered in gloves. She leaned heavily on her walking stick and seemed to be struggling to stand.

  The rot Willow had sensed in the old woman’s core had begun to spread, and she suspected that the patches of skin connected to the corrupted pathways would not have been nice to look at. There was also a prominent odor emanating from her that the young girl felt would be rude to comment or react to.

  “Greetings child, can you get your father for me?” She croaked, her voice clearly weak. “I need to speak with him.”

  Unsure of what else to do she complied, and even brought over a chair for Old Ping to sit in. Which she gratefully sank into as Rowan met them in the entryway.

  “Ping.” He greeted her. “To what do we owe the pleasure?” Willow felt her father’s anger and discomfort at the old woman’s presence, but he hid it from his face well enough that she almost doubted her senses.

  “I’m not long for this world.” She mumbled as she looked up at Rowan with a haggard expression. “We should transfer the Emerald Bloom to your daughter before I pass, or problems will occur.”

  Rowan’s control slipped and some of his anger shown through, though he hid it quickly. “That’ll be difficult, as the older girls and Lin are taking a trip to Darabaile, and I’m not sure when they’ll be back.”

  Her bloodshot eyes widened. “What?! Why was I not informed?”

  He shrugged, trying to seem nonchalant, but Willow sensed his underlying nervousness. “It didn’t seem important at the time. Plus it’s good for the girls to see more of the outside world.”

  Old Ping’s eyes narrowed in suspicion. “You’re not breaking our agreement are you? The Bloom and I have held up our end, we provided a safe haven for you people for almost a decade now. All we asked for in return was a partner for my friend when I inevitably passed away!”

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  She pointed a bony finger at Willow, who was still nearby listening to the two of them talk. “First you let your youngest bind a flame spirit and refused to break its binding. Then you send away the two other girls when you know I’ve fallen ill! You never intended to keep your word did you?!” By the final word she was almost screaming, with spittle flying from her mouth with every uttered syllable. At the end of her tirade she broke down coughing, and it took a while for her to stop.

  Willow got her a cup of water, with the old woman taking the stone vessel of liquid in shaking hands and a mumbled thanks.

  Rowan considered his words before eventually speaking after the old woman’s coughing fit had died down.

  “We would not break the agreement without cause. As you said you’ve kept us safe from the worst of the Vale, and it would be ungrateful of us to not value that and respond in kind. I truly hope they arrive back before your passing.”

  Old Ping was mollified by her father’s word, and was eventually escorted back to her home by him. The two of them likely talking the whole way back.

  Willow watched them go from her family’s doorway and wondered if there couldn’t be more she should be doing to help the old woman.

  ***

  It was evening of the same day and Rowan was once more getting ready to tell his daughter about what happened to her mother. He held the silver mirror in his hands, its presence somehow making the task easier for him.

  Before he could continue his tale, Willow asked a difficult question.

  “Why aren’t we doing more to save Old Ping?” His daughter asked, clearly troubled by the state the old woman was in.

  Rowan sighed. The answer was simple, but he knew that the girl didn’t like it because he had already given it to her multiple times at this point and she always asked why again soon after.

  “None of us have the strength to oppose the Emerald Bloom as we are, sprout.” he explained yet again, voice tired. He debated whether he should say this next part, and decided that maybe it would make his daughter understand.

  “At this point I don’t think she wants to be saved.”

  Her childish face scrunched in confusion. “What do you mean?”

  “You heard her this morning. Despite what the Bloom is doing to her she still views them as a friend. She even wanted your sister or Bai to take her place when she’s gone.” He rubbed his hand across his face, eager for this conversation to end, but understanding its necessity.

  Willow sat in thought for a moment before quietly saying. “A real friend wouldn’t be hurting her like that.”

  He let out another tired sigh while gazing into the warped surface of the silver mirror. “Sometimes people can’t see when a bond they hold dear is causing them harm.”

  Father and daughter sat in silence for a while, though when Rowan actually looked at Willow he noticed her eyes closed and her lips moving on occasion. Which meant she was likely talking to her spirits. He had noticed her doing it more and more, and there was a part of him that worried once she found all of the spirits she needed she would spend more time in her internal spaces talking to her spirits than she would out here.

  He really hoped that his daughter had made better choices in friends than Old Ping had. He had been keeping an eye out for signs that those twin spirits were in some way leading her astray, but thankfully they seemed to actually embody the concepts they claimed they did. Change was impulsive, but tempered by his sister he didn’t advocate for true chaos. While Harmony’s more restrained approach kept both Change and Willow in line, since both seemed to listen to her.

  Though he did have words for both of them on teaching his daughter a technique that made her functionally invisible. She was hard enough to keep track of at the best of times.

  Rowan looked in the mirror and realized he was stalling again. He gently placed his calloused hand on top of Willow’s head to get her attention. When she looked up at him with her grey-green eyes, he gave her a somber look and softly said.

  “It’s time for me to finish telling you about your mother.”

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