As I left my office, a big yawn escaped me, and I couldn't help but stretch my stiff body around here and there as I walked out. The process of reviewing Rhythm and Beat's reports wasn't that time-consuming, but choosing for a battalion from Division Samiel was. Although the battalion I sent over was a bit…green, their leader was quite seasoned and experienced. Hopefully enough to work well with Rhythm and Beat. Besides that, I've also had to include additional instructions to the battalion leader, to be relayed to Rhythm. Namely, not to engage Ezra without informing me first, and waiting a few more days before actually confronting him. After some thinking, I had realised that with the aftermath of the current Crisis, it would be best to avoid any and all engagements with Ezra for now. As long as the man didn't start up a ruckus, we would stick to silently monitoring him for now.
"Well that was tiring…" I grumbled under my breath for no one to hear in particular. Was it normal to keep talking to yourself like this? Nah, it's pretty normal I bet. At least normal for a person who's had to keep pulling all-nighters like me. It's one way to keep yourself entertained as you drudge yourself through mountains upon mountains of paperwork through the night.
Besides, whilst I've been described as a workaholic, it's not like I actually like working. I tweak the bodies I use to be biologically superior to your average human body, which means I'm more sleep-resistant, can perceive (and read through) things a lot faster, and have a lot more physical stamina. Still, that doesn't help with the mental fatigue you get from this. Basically, no one likes doing this kind of work. Not even me.
As I was musing to myself, I made a quick turn to the right as the corridors split. If my memory serves me correctly, this path should be the way to the dining room. Yet as I continued on with my steps, I was stopped in my tracks as I was met with a rather confusing sight.
"Wait, Miss! Please slow down!" A maid -most likely a junior apprentice, judging by her young appearance- was chasing down a small figure running down the hallways. As the figure turned its head back to the maid, I could hear them speak in a girlish voice, "No way! Why don't you catch me for yourself? I'm not that fast, aren't I?"
The small figure, which I identified as that child, ran straight down the hallway, with her head still turned towards the maid. And not towards me, who was standing right in her path. "Wait–please stop! Miss!!" I could hear the maid chasing her give an alarmed shout that was more of a shriek, as she saw the girl she was chasing right on a collision course with me. Well, I could have moved out of the way, but I didn't really feel the urge to be so accommodating in my own house.
"What's wrong, Saire? Gotten tired ye– Yeoww!!" As she collided with my still figure, the girl exclaimed, half in surprise and half in pain. Of course, I didn't get away unscathed either, and we both ended up toppling like a stack of dominos on the ground.
"Ouch… what was–" The little girl froze upon realising she had knocked over someone. Hiding the hint of irritation in my voice, I calmly responded, "Hello, Abigail. Glad to see you're lively within a day already. Maybe a bit too lively, if you ask me." I hadn't seen her since our first meeting, back when she woke up. "Wait, Miss Iv?" She finally seemed to recognise me from my voice. First Azul, now her? Did my suit and shades really make that much of a first impression on people? To the extent they couldn't recognise me in anything else? Still, considering how it's only been a day since she woke up from a two-day long coma, a part of me was shocked to find her up and so zesty. Not to mention the fact she's still without any memories, and in an unfamiliar environment. In all honesty, I had half-expected her to have a mental breakdown by now. That being said…
"Mind getting off me now?" The girl, Abigail, seemed to finally realise she was still straddled on top of me. Snapping out of her stupor, Abigail rapidly responded, "Oh–yes, certainly!" And why did her speech turn so formal all of a sudden? But compared to her quick words, her movements were rather slow and dull, especially compared to her previous chase scene with the maid. Her face was visibly strained and tense, and I could see small droplets of sweat running down her cheeks, though I couldn't tell if they were from all the running she did, or from the anxiety she was feeling in the moment. She had the face of a child who knew they were in a lot of trouble. And boy, were you.
As the two of us got up from the ground, the maid that had been chasing down Abigail quickly caught up, before turning to me. "I am sorry about that. She's been nothing but a troublemaker." As I was about to dismiss her worries, her next words struck me down.
"Young guest, were you perhaps invited over by the master of this house? Where are your parents?"
I was unable to hide the confusion in my reaction, and Abigail too apparently, since I saw the girl also give a double take. After all, she was aware I was the boss around here, and yet…
Yet you're telling me my employee here isn't?
I could feel an inexorable feeling of shame welling up within me. Clenching a fist behind my back, I tried to recompose myself in front of the two girls. I was the master of this house, and whilst Abigail was a young child, she was still sort of a guest, and mature enough to comprehend the situation. Having one of my own servants unable to recognise me in front of her, was utterly humiliating.
The maid seemed unable to comprehend our two startled reactions, and gave us a curious stare. I paid her no heed as I ran through my own thoughts.
It was true that I'd been absent for more than four years now, so it wouldn't have been improbable for any servants just recently been brought in to not know who I was. Yet, from a professional standpoint, it was rather unacceptable. Not her, but Sherman. He was supposed to be in charge of the employees of the house whilst I was absent. Besides him, there were also other senior servants who knew who I was. The fact none of them informed the junior maid here of my identity, was rather strange.
"...Sherman's probably up to something…" I mumbled under my breath. I could see confusion on the maid's face as she registered my words, but I paid her no heed. Telling Abigail to tone down her behaviour whilst I was gone, I turned on my heels and spun right back towards the path that I had come from, leaving the duo standing there confused. My initial plan of the day had been to simply have breakfast in the dining room. My second plan had been to give Abigail a thorough lecture to behave herself whilst she was temporarily staying here. Now, my third plan was apparently to give another lecture to Sherman. Why couldn't I just have a decent morning? Cut me some slack, I just pulled off an all-nighter.
As I walked down the corridors again, my mind wandered back to the girl, Abigail. Looking back on it now, there were a lot of things about her that were strange. Although I was still more-or-less positively sure she wasn't some spy or anything, there were a lot of things about her that didn't click. From how she ended up in a coma, to why the monster from back then hadn't attacked her before I arrived. Was it really just a coincidence that I arrived in the nick of time? Or was the monster potentially distracted by something else before my arrival?
…It's no use, theorising without information will get me nowhere. Besides, the possibility of the monster being distracted by something else was improbable. Both me and Michael's Vice-captain would have picked up on any third-parties in the area, and I didn't spot any corpses or bodies besides Abigail's unconscious form. Perhaps that isn't it, then? Maybe there's something else I'm missing, but for now, there aren't much leads. The investigation into the girl's identity had to be postponed due to over diplomatic concerns in the aftermath of the Crisis. It wouldn't do the Cordiale much good to be caught snooping around when both Canadian and US governments were pretty wary towards us already. 'Identifying a lost child' isn't exactly a good excuse to be rummaging through government archives either.
…I guess she'll be staying here for more than a couple of days. On the bright side however, the fact that we got the girl's name from the person herself would make any subsequent investigation a lot quicker, so that was a plus.
As I finished my thoughts, the door to Sherman's office came into vision. It was separated from the rest of the servant's quarters, and was just about as large as your average guest room in this house, which was saying a lot. Though, it wasn't as large as my own room or office, of course. Grabbing the doorknob with one hand, I half-heartedly twisted the handle, only to find that the door was unlocked. Left unlocked. Did he seriously anticipate I would be coming?
Stepping into the room, the figure of an old man greeted me, seated not behind his main desk, but on one of the chairs to the side of the office. He was casually sipping tea from a teacup, like your average high-class snob. Taking in his appearance that hadn't changed over the past four years, I curtly spoke, "Hello, Sherman."
The man put down his teacup on top of a small table, before returning my greeting. "It has been far too long since I have last seen you, Master Iv."
Abigail Everest
Although she had been acting boisterous ever since she woke up, in truth, Abigail was still deathly scared and worried for herself. Even after a whole day, she still couldn't remember anything about herself. She couldn't remember friends or family. Miss Iv said she had parents that were worrying for her, but was that really true? What if they had abandoned her, and Miss Iv was just trying to be kind? She had been told by Miss Iv that she would only be here for a few days, but what if Miss Iv just threw her away? What if this incident had displeased her? Though the person herself seemed to drop the matter before storming off somewhere, Abigail couldn't help but have felt back then, a sense of fear and uncertainty creeping into her heart as she saw Miss Iv's figure disappear down the corner.
Besides her own situation, she was still unsure about just who Miss Iv herself really was. Honestly, she had been calling her 'Miss' so far because of her adult-like clothing and air of authority, but as far as she could tell, Miss Iv looked to be just as young as her. A little child with flowing black hair. At first, Abigail had thought of her as some sort of eternally young witch, living away in her secluded manor in some magical world, surrounded with servants like some sort of fairy tale character. Yet the person herself had denied even that. Was Miss Iv lying? Or was she really just as young as her? Abigail didn't know. She was just a child. Of course she didn't know anything.
But putting her personal doubts aside, Abigail forced her mind to return to the current situation. Who knows? Maybe Miss Iv was some evil spirit that had kidnapped her, and was planning to eat her or something. But thinking of such a possibility didn't mean she should panic. She had to stay calm, and focus on the current situation. Right…the current situation.
"She's what?!"
A loud voice boomed through the hallways, startling several servants and cleaners who happened to be walking by. "Shh! Not so loud!" Placing a finger to her lips, Abigail tried to signal to the maid accompanying her to quietten her voice. Why on earth did she feel like she was the adult here?
"I…I can't believe it. You're not joking right?" The maid, who had previously introduced herself as Saire, shakily asked her in a disbelieving tone. Sighing inwardly, Abigail nodded, before reiterating herself, "Yes, it's just like I told you, Saire. She's the one who introduced herself as Iv, the boss of this house. Didn't you hear me say her name before we got up?" Saire shook her head, stammering, "No-no? I was still running towards you, I didn't hear anythi–oh god. I'm not getting fired for this, am I?" There was a hint of despair in her words as she spoke.
Just as Abigail was about to respond, an unknown voice interrupted her. "No worries, little one. You're not about to get fired for Sherman's antics." Abigail almost jumped at the sudden intrusion. Spinning around so quickly she almost fell, she encountered another, much older servant in a maid uniform.
She could hear Saire stutter as she spoke, "Miss Carla? What? I don't–I don't understand." The older maid, Carla, simply waved her hand dismissively, as if Saire's worries were all for naught. "Relax, relax. Didn't you find it weird how nobody mentioned who we were working for during your past year of working as a servant here?" A hint of realisation flashed across Saire's face. She hesitantly spoke out, "I tried asking the seniors, but they never gave me a straightforward answer…"
Carla chuckled. "Yeah, you could call it a bit of revenge on Sherman's part. As you know, Miss Iv's been away for several years until now, so he took the liberty to purposely keep the young-uns like yourself out of the know. I suppose he wanted Miss Iv to taste a bit of shame." Pausing thoughtfully, Carla continued, "Well, if you two are talking about it here, I can tell he's been successful. Still, he's not the kind of guy to make you take the blame for his own prank, neither is Miss Iv the type of person to fire you for such an incident, regardless of how she felt." Carla didn't say anything else after that. She merely waved them a goodbye, before leaving them alone in the hallway.
Abigail had largely stayed put, simply listening to Saire and the senior maid, Carla, exchange words. Whilst their conversation piqued her curiosity as to what kind of people Miss Iv and this Mr Sherman really were, her thoughts quickly drifted back towards the scene of her collision with Miss Iv. Whilst a part of her was still worried Miss Iv was going to hold it against her, she couldn't help but think back to the sight she had seen.
Those eyes. Previously, she had only seen Miss Iv wearing a white suit and those dark glasses. But when she had met her this time around, she was dressed rather plainly, and more importantly, without her dark glasses that obscured her eyes. What she had seen as she got back up had struck her into a stupor.
The close-up sight of Miss Iv's glistening, azure blue eyes. Even after she had recognised the girl as Miss Iv, she couldn't help but be allured by those enchanting blue eyes that resembled a deep, sparkling ocean. Her eyes seemed to almost shine an ethereal hue, reflecting all the light falling on it thousand fold into a mirage of glistening sparkles and colours. It was so strange… almost fantastical. Although Miss Iv's eyes had lost much of their magnificence from further away, the sight of those dazzling eyes up close had virtually engraved itself onto Abigail's mind.
Maybe…she really is a witch. Abigail had found herself entranced. She still didn't know what Miss Iv herself was planning, neither was she brave enough to ask. The only thing she could do was stay bright and pretend nothing was wrong. Still, if she got the chance, she would have liked to get to know more about the strange girl, Miss Iv. Perhaps one day, she would even get to know the truth.
.
Abigail wouldn't yet know that these feelings were merely a prelude to the tragedy that would soon come. How she would come to learn about Iv, was in a way she would never have expected.
As I left my office, a big yawn escaped me, and I couldn't help but stretch my stiff body around here and there as I walked out. The process of reviewing Rhythm and Beat's reports wasn't that time-consuming, but choosing for a battalion from Division Samiel was. Although the battalion I sent over was a bit…green, their leader was quite seasoned and experienced. Hopefully enough to work well with Rhythm and Beat. Besides that, I've also had to include additional instructions to the battalion leader, to be relayed to Rhythm. Namely, not to engage Ezra without informing me first, and waiting a few more days before actually confronting him. After some thinking, I had realised that with the aftermath of the current Crisis, it would be best to avoid any and all engagements with Ezra for now. As long as the man didn't start up a ruckus, we would stick to silently monitoring him for now.
"Well that was tiring…" I grumbled under my breath for no one to hear in particular. Was it normal to keep talking to yourself like this? Nah, it's pretty normal I bet. At least normal for a person who's had to keep pulling all-nighters like me. It's one way to keep yourself entertained as you drudge yourself through mountains upon mountains of paperwork through the night.
Besides, whilst I've been described as a workaholic, it's not like I actually like working. I tweak the bodies I use to be biologically superior to your average human body, which means I'm more sleep-resistant, can perceive (and read through) things a lot faster, and have a lot more physical stamina. Still, that doesn't help with the mental fatigue you get from this. Basically, no one likes doing this kind of work. Not even me.
As I was musing to myself, I made a quick turn to the right as the corridors split. If my memory serves me correctly, this path should be the way to the dining room. Yet as I continued on with my steps, I was stopped in my tracks as I was met with a rather confusing sight.
"Wait, Miss! Please slow down!" A maid -most likely a junior apprentice, judging by her young appearance- was chasing down a small figure running down the hallways. As the figure turned its head back to the maid, I could hear them speak in a girlish voice, "No way! Why don't you catch me for yourself? I'm not that fast, aren't I?"
The small figure, which I identified as that child, ran straight down the hallway, with her head still turned towards the maid. And not towards me, who was standing right in her path. "Wait–please stop! Miss!!" I could hear the maid chasing her give an alarmed shout that was more of a shriek, as she saw the girl she was chasing right on a collision course with me. Well, I could have moved out of the way, but I didn't really feel the urge to be so accommodating in my own house.
"What's wrong, Saire? Gotten tired ye– Yeoww!!" As she collided with my still figure, the girl exclaimed, half in surprise and half in pain. Of course, I didn't get away unscathed either, and we both ended up toppling like a stack of dominos on the ground.
"Ouch… what was–" The little girl froze upon realising she had knocked over someone. Hiding the hint of irritation in my voice, I calmly responded, "Hello, Abigail. Glad to see you're lively within a day already. Maybe a bit too lively, if you ask me." I hadn't seen her since our first meeting, back when she woke up. "Wait, Miss Iv?" She finally seemed to recognise me from my voice. First Azul, now her? Did my suit and shades really make that much of a first impression on people? To the extent they couldn't recognise me in anything else? Still, considering how it's only been a day since she woke up from a two-day long coma, a part of me was shocked to find her up and so zesty. Not to mention the fact she's still without any memories, and in an unfamiliar environment. In all honesty, I had half-expected her to have a mental breakdown by now. That being said…
"Mind getting off me now?" The girl, Abigail, seemed to finally realise she was still straddled on top of me. Snapping out of her stupor, Abigail rapidly responded, "Oh–yes, certainly!" And why did her speech turn so formal all of a sudden? But compared to her quick words, her movements were rather slow and dull, especially compared to her previous chase scene with the maid. Her face was visibly strained and tense, and I could see small droplets of sweat running down her cheeks, though I couldn't tell if they were from all the running she did, or from the anxiety she was feeling in the moment. She had the face of a child who knew they were in a lot of trouble. And boy, were you.
As the two of us got up from the ground, the maid that had been chasing down Abigail quickly caught up, before turning to me. "I am sorry about that. She's been nothing but a troublemaker." As I was about to dismiss her worries, her next words struck me down.
"Young guest, were you perhaps invited over by the master of this house? Where are your parents?"
I was unable to hide the confusion in my reaction, and Abigail too apparently, since I saw the girl also give a double take. After all, she was aware I was the boss around here, and yet…
Yet you're telling me my employee here isn't?
I could feel an inexorable feeling of shame welling up within me. Clenching a fist behind my back, I tried to recompose myself in front of the two girls. I was the master of this house, and whilst Abigail was a young child, she was still sort of a guest, and mature enough to comprehend the situation. Having one of my own servants unable to recognise me in front of her, was utterly humiliating.
The maid seemed unable to comprehend our two startled reactions, and gave us a curious stare. I paid her no heed as I ran through my own thoughts.
It was true that I'd been absent for more than four years now, so it wouldn't have been improbable for any servants just recently been brought in to not know who I was. Yet, from a professional standpoint, it was rather unacceptable. Not her, but Sherman. He was supposed to be in charge of the employees of the house whilst I was absent. Besides him, there were also other senior servants who knew who I was. The fact none of them informed the junior maid here of my identity, was rather strange.
"...Sherman's probably up to something…" I mumbled under my breath. I could see confusion on the maid's face as she registered my words, but I paid her no heed. Telling Abigail to tone down her behaviour whilst I was gone, I turned on my heels and spun right back towards the path that I had come from, leaving the duo standing there confused. My initial plan of the day had been to simply have breakfast in the dining room. My second plan had been to give Abigail a thorough lecture to behave herself whilst she was temporarily staying here. Now, my third plan was apparently to give another lecture to Sherman. Why couldn't I just have a decent morning? Cut me some slack, I just pulled off an all-nighter.
As I walked down the corridors again, my mind wandered back to the girl, Abigail. Looking back on it now, there were a lot of things about her that were strange. Although I was still more-or-less positively sure she wasn't some spy or anything, there were a lot of things about her that didn't click. From how she ended up in a coma, to why the monster from back then hadn't attacked her before I arrived. Was it really just a coincidence that I arrived in the nick of time? Or was the monster potentially distracted by something else before my arrival?
…It's no use, theorising without information will get me nowhere. Besides, the possibility of the monster being distracted by something else was improbable. Both me and Michael's Vice-captain would have picked up on any third-parties in the area, and I didn't spot any corpses or bodies besides Abigail's unconscious form. Perhaps that isn't it, then? Maybe there's something else I'm missing, but for now, there aren't much leads. The investigation into the girl's identity had to be postponed due to over diplomatic concerns in the aftermath of the Crisis. It wouldn't do the Cordiale much good to be caught snooping around when both Canadian and US governments were pretty wary towards us already. 'Identifying a lost child' isn't exactly a good excuse to be rummaging through government archives either.
…I guess she'll be staying here for more than a couple of days. On the bright side however, the fact that we got the girl's name from the person herself would make any subsequent investigation a lot quicker, so that was a plus.
As I finished my thoughts, the door to Sherman's office came into vision. It was separated from the rest of the servant's quarters, and was just about as large as your average guest room in this house, which was saying a lot. Though, it wasn't as large as my own room or office, of course. Grabbing the doorknob with one hand, I half-heartedly twisted the handle, only to find that the door was unlocked. Left unlocked. Did he seriously anticipate I would be coming?
Stepping into the room, the figure of an old man greeted me, seated not behind his main desk, but on one of the chairs to the side of the office. He was casually sipping tea from a teacup, like your average high-class snob. Taking in his appearance that hadn't changed over the past four years, I curtly spoke, "Hello, Sherman."
The man put down his teacup on top of a small table, before returning my greeting. "It has been far too long since I have last seen you, Master Iv."
Abigail Everest
Although she had been acting boisterous ever since she woke up, in truth, Abigail was still deathly scared and worried for herself. Even after a whole day, she still couldn't remember anything about herself. She couldn't remember friends or family. Miss Iv said she had parents that were worrying for her, but was that really true? What if they had abandoned her, and Miss Iv was just trying to be kind? She had been told by Miss Iv that she would only be here for a few days, but what if Miss Iv just threw her away? What if this incident had displeased her? Though the person herself seemed to drop the matter before storming off somewhere, Abigail couldn't help but have felt back then, a sense of fear and uncertainty creeping into her heart as she saw Miss Iv's figure disappear down the corner.
Besides her own situation, she was still unsure about just who Miss Iv herself really was. Honestly, she had been calling her 'Miss' so far because of her adult-like clothing and air of authority, but as far as she could tell, Miss Iv looked to be just as young as her. A little child with flowing black hair. At first, Abigail had thought of her as some sort of eternally young witch, living away in her secluded manor in some magical world, surrounded with servants like some sort of fairy tale character. Yet the person herself had denied even that. Was Miss Iv lying? Or was she really just as young as her? Abigail didn't know. She was just a child. Of course she didn't know anything.
But putting her personal doubts aside, Abigail forced her mind to return to the current situation. Who knows? Maybe Miss Iv was some evil spirit that had kidnapped her, and was planning to eat her or something. But thinking of such a possibility didn't mean she should panic. She had to stay calm, and focus on the current situation. Right…the current situation.
"She's what?!"
A loud voice boomed through the hallways, startling several servants and cleaners who happened to be walking by. "Shh! Not so loud!" Placing a finger to her lips, Abigail tried to signal to the maid accompanying her to quietten her voice. Why on earth did she feel like she was the adult here?
"I…I can't believe it. You're not joking right?" The maid, who had previously introduced herself as Saire, shakily asked her in a disbelieving tone. Sighing inwardly, Abigail nodded, before reiterating herself, "Yes, it's just like I told you, Saire. She's the one who introduced herself as Iv, the boss of this house. Didn't you hear me say her name before we got up?" Saire shook her head, stammering, "No-no? I was still running towards you, I didn't hear anythi–oh god. I'm not getting fired for this, am I?" There was a hint of despair in her words as she spoke.
Just as Abigail was about to respond, an unknown voice interrupted her. "No worries, little one. You're not about to get fired for Sherman's antics." Abigail almost jumped at the sudden intrusion. Spinning around so quickly she almost fell, she encountered another, much older servant in a maid uniform.
She could hear Saire stutter as she spoke, "Miss Carla? What? I don't–I don't understand." The older maid, Carla, simply waved her hand dismissively, as if Saire's worries were all for naught. "Relax, relax. Didn't you find it weird how nobody mentioned who we were working for during your past year of working as a servant here?" A hint of realisation flashed across Saire's face. She hesitantly spoke out, "I tried asking the seniors, but they never gave me a straightforward answer…"
Carla chuckled. "Yeah, you could call it a bit of revenge on Sherman's part. As you know, Miss Iv's been away for several years until now, so he took the liberty to purposely keep the young-uns like yourself out of the know. I suppose he wanted Miss Iv to taste a bit of shame." Pausing thoughtfully, Carla continued, "Well, if you two are talking about it here, I can tell he's been successful. Still, he's not the kind of guy to make you take the blame for his own prank, neither is Miss Iv the type of person to fire you for such an incident, regardless of how she felt." Carla didn't say anything else after that. She merely waved them a goodbye, before leaving them alone in the hallway.
Abigail had largely stayed put, simply listening to Saire and the senior maid, Carla, exchange words. Whilst their conversation piqued her curiosity as to what kind of people Miss Iv and this Mr Sherman really were, her thoughts quickly drifted back towards the scene of her collision with Miss Iv. Whilst a part of her was still worried Miss Iv was going to hold it against her, she couldn't help but think back to the sight she had seen.
Those eyes. Previously, she had only seen Miss Iv wearing a white suit and those dark glasses. But when she had met her this time around, she was dressed rather plainly, and more importantly, without her dark glasses that obscured her eyes. What she had seen as she got back up had struck her into a stupor.
The close-up sight of Miss Iv's glistening, azure blue eyes. Even after she had recognised the girl as Miss Iv, she couldn't help but be allured by those enchanting blue eyes that resembled a deep, sparkling ocean. Her eyes seemed to almost shine an ethereal hue, reflecting all the light falling on it thousand fold into a mirage of glistening sparkles and colours. It was so strange… almost fantastical. Although Miss Iv's eyes had lost much of their magnificence from further away, the sight of those dazzling eyes up close had virtually engraved itself onto Abigail's mind.
Maybe…she really is a witch. Abigail had found herself entranced. She still didn't know what Miss Iv herself was planning, neither was she brave enough to ask. The only thing she could do was stay bright and pretend nothing was wrong. Still, if she got the chance, she would have liked to get to know more about the strange girl, Miss Iv. Perhaps one day, she would even get to know the truth.
.
Abigail wouldn't yet know that these feelings were merely a prelude to the tragedy that would soon come. How she would come to learn about Iv, was in a way she would never have expected.
