Chapter 27

The weeks spent with Amber passed quickly as Talia and Amber bantered easily. Amber spent her days teaching Talia all the random skills she had at her disposal such as eating etiquette, writing, riding, bookwork, trading, animal care and breeding, and other human activities that were essential to her life. Talia had never known how delicate humans were or all the things they had to do to survive.

Nico was involved as much as he cared to be but he wasn't interested in the animals or the etiquette. Though he was entirely enamored by her massive library. Talia rarely ever saw him leave his nest of books and learning. He had no qualms with living with Amber until her disease took her, whenever that would be. Talia suspected he was just as desperate for a mother figure as she was, and Amber was more than willing to fit the role for whatever reason. Talia wouldn't argue, nor would she look a gift horse in the mouth, literally.

After she had saved the little stud foal Amber had told her the history behind the little creature. She had spent her entire life pursuing the special breeding of the foal. It started when she moved to the country and established herself as a Lady of King Gordon's court, though she didn't elaborate on how she managed that. After she was awarded land and money she built a house, stables, fences, and barns to establish herself a horse breeding operation. With the mares she had brought with her she started to buy the most prestigious studs in the land.

After several years of selective breeding and careful training she had herself three prize mares worthy of foaling the next step in her grand plans, a horse crossed with the demigod stallion Diablo. The only problem was that the stallion was owned and kept by the nomadic tribe of the plains-people, otherwise known as the Diomabe. They were a dark skinned nomadic people who relied on trade, gathering, and moving constantly. They worshipped the horses they bred, raised, and trained as gifts from the gods. Diablo was their prized demigod, an amalgamation between the sinful relationship of N'Kalla and a sturdy mare.

Diablo had a fiery coat of red that couldn't be found anywhere outside the Diomabe's horse herds. He bred into his mares a sturdiness, speed, resilience, and strength that was unparalleled. More than that it was unearthly, the Diomabe believed that Diablo could run as fast as the driving easterly winds at their zenith. More than that they believed he could pull over ten thousand pounds and drive back the armies of mankind in an instant. And Amber had somehow managed to line up a once in a lifetime breeding with her mares, except only one foal survived out of each foaling. Jax, the rusty colored stallion Talia had given a piece of herself to keep him alive. Her entire life's work would have died in front of her if it hadn't been for Talia.

In her eternal gratitude she had offered Talia and Nico a place to stay regardless of their initial mission to assassinate her. The reason there was a hit on her life was still a mystery and Talia wasn't one to kill people if she couldn't detect guilt within their souls. Amber was as innocent as anyone she had ever come across so she gladly accepted. She couldn't return to Nazir empty handed and without having completed the job so it made sense. Not to mention Amber's weakening lifeforce left them only a limited amount of time anyway.

Weeks bled into months as the seasons fell away from summer to fall and fall into winter. Talia spent most of her days gathering supplies for Amber, hay, straw, wood, food, medicine, whatever the woman needed she got it for her. And as the weeks fell away and the time she spent with Amber increased she found herself more and more attached to the enigmatic woman.

Amber knew little about the outside world or the people who inhabited it and that included giants, elves, and the mixture between the two. Not to mention her limited experience with necromancers. Yet somehow she was just as willing to take in two children and learn about them, care for them, and teach them. She made sure Nico always had a book in his hands and an inkpot, quill, and journal to record notes in. She made sure the stove was stocked and warm, the food was good, and the lessons were never ending.

Talia spent the months learning and growing. She became fluent with a quill, recording transactions in books, trading, cooking, riding horses, training horses, foaling horses, making drinks, and many other menial and random skills. Though one late fall morning Amber decided to switch things up and upon returning from town presented Talia with several books about magic.

"I know yer capable of manipulating mana and utilizing spells. You saved Jax after all and that was no small feat. So I decided I'd try to help ye learn how to do it better." She held forth four books wrapped in thick leather covers. They were heavily worn but they were also loved. The leather was supple and regularly oiled, the pages carefully kept in place and the latches still in perfect condition. They may have been old but their previous owner had known a great deal about keeping them maintained. They likely cost a small fortune.

"I... I..." What could she say? Amber never took no for an answer, arguing was futile. So for the first time in her life she relented with tears in her eyes as she held the books to her chest.

"Thank you!" She flung herself into Amber's awaiting hug. It was the first time she had sought out human touch, craved it even. No one had loved her like Amber did. No one had tended to her so carefully, taught her so astutely, or gone through the effort to learn more about who and what she was to better care for her. Amber had dedicated hours to such things until she could cook Talia's favorite meal in a flash and diagnose her rare health problems with a quick flip through a book. And she had done the same for Nico, though he had taken to embracing her regularly long ago.

"When did ye want ta get started then eh? This first one's supposed to be for beginners." She tapped a finger on the thickest book bringing a wide smile to Talia's face. Finally something she could really dig herself into. Magic came naturally and easily to her, though the control of it was what she struggled with. At last she had answers.

Progressing with the magical studies had been difficult, especially at first but Amber was there every step of the way to coach her and offer advice. Though once winter struck she was no longer able to walk as easily as she had. Confined to a wheeling chair she would puff on her pipe of pain relieving herbs and watch Talia practice day after day. She would yell out encouragement when she would succeed and offer advice when she would fail.

Life progressed quickly in that way, Amber took to mentoring and teaching like a duck to water. She seemed to enjoy her newfound role as mother figure. It revitalized her, some days she went on as if she wasn't dying at all. Talia had expected the woman to die in a few weeks but suddenly two years had passed in the blink of an eye. Two wonderful blissful years.

"Do you think he'll send someone after us? We've been gone for so long... And we're not even assassinating a King. He'll know..." She was pacing in the library where Nico was laying in a pile of blankets. He was half asleep, his lids drooping over his dark eyes as he chewed on a piece of jerky. The snow was blowing hard outside, windows rattled occasionally as the storm barreled down on the large home.

"He hasn't yet... I told him complications had arisen and the guard are searching for us. We don't want to lead the foolish humans to our den so it made sense to stay out in the field. For all he knows we're laying low." He yawned as he nipped at the end of the jerky again. At nearly fourteen years of age he was always chewing on something or another.

"For two years? He'll find out eventually. How much longer can we stay away? Do you think... Do you think we could just...?" She couldn't even bring herself to say it. She was torn between the unending hopes that she could just stay and forget everything she had been through so far and the fear that when Nazir came looking he'd be furious. She'd seen the results of children disobeying him and had no desires to land on his bad side.

"He won't allow us to leave. Well, that's not entirely true, he won't let you leave. A half giant is a rare thing indeed and if not for Hephatus and himself you'd likely have gone back into slavery. Not of your own volition of course but... Well, there's a reason no one ever sees a half giant unless they're bowed at the side of a Lord or a King." Talia hated being reminded of such things. Nazir felt he was owed for his perceived kindness, that attitude lead him to think of Talia as nothing more than a sharp tool for his pleasure and use. It left her with very little education or value outside of killing. But now she was more than that, she was more than a dull minded slave to Nazir's will.

"He'll think I'm dangerous now. Educated, he never wanted this. He'll have us killed." She wrung her hands as nerves ate at her stomach. Even with a house full of the smoke of Amber's medicines her body was still able to wring itself into stress fueled anxiety. Nico leaned back with a groan before eating the last bite of his meat,

"He'll have me killed. He can't afford to kill someone like you, you're valuable. Though he might try to cripple you so you're not so... Powerful." She punched him in the calf and he awoke with a yowl.

"You're not helping idiot!" She couldn't live without him by her side. If Nazir killed him for their hiatus she'd regret it for the rest of her life. But she couldn't leave Amber now, not after everything they had been through.

"I wasn't trying to!" He gritted out through his locked jaw. He rolled around in his blanket nest for a while before finally relaxing back and sighing.

"Don't worry about it too much, I'll keep our asses covered until... The time comes to leave." He couldn't say it either. In all their years in killing they had finally come to a point where they feared the 'D' word. Death was inevitable and yet the thought of loosing Amber was enough to bring tears to Talia's eyes.

"What if she lasts ten more years?" The thought was both extremely hopeful and extremely troublesome.

"Then I'll fake our deaths, I don't know... I just... I won't go back as long as she's alive. And I know you feel the same. She's like our mother now and..." He shrugged. There wasn't really words to express how they felt. Nazir wasn't a figure they feared enough to give up their newfound life.

"I never knew what life was like until I met her. This is... More than I ever thought I could understand or know. I can't go back to just wantonly killing people when I know this sort of existence is real." Nico agreed wholeheartedly. Even as a necromancer he had found validation within Amber's home. She had taught him just as much as she had Talia. And Talia was certain she loved them both equally like her own children. She had taken to calling them 'darling' after all. Talia recalled one of their last conversations as well,

"I know yer not the cuddly or lovin' type... I don' know if it's cause a yer heritage or yer upbringin. But I just wanted ye ta know that I... Well I'd be alright if ya'd like ta call me Ma... Or Mom, or Mam, or... Well... you know." She stood awkwardly in the doorframe to Talia's room, her bony fingers wringing behind her back. Amber was a short statured woman with beautiful honey eyes to match her mahogany hair which was pinned back to her head in a mess of delicate curls. Though there was some gray sprinkled in she still looked young and vital on the good days. And that night had been a particularly good night, Amber's eyes had glowed with barely repressed emotion.

"I..." Talia didn't have an answer for her then, how could she? She hadn't even known what a mother was until recently. And with that knowledge came a complicated whorl of emotions bound to the mystery of her true mother. Like why she had been abandoned and where her mother had gone? But she had an opportunity. A chance to give an old woman validation for the years she had spent taking care of and raising them.

"You don't have ta say it now, nor do ye need to feel obligated I was just thinkin ya know and yer like the kids I ain't never ad. Beautiful, wonderful, unique, raisin ya as been nothing short of incredible." Amber walked up to Talia then to tuck a strand of crimson hair behind Talia's pointed ears. Amber had always been fascinated with Talia's ears.

"You're... More than I had ever imagined I could love. I hate humans... So vehemently. I hate their eyes, their skin, their voices, their rules... All of it. But you, you're different. I don't think I understand how I've come to this conclusion but... I love you." Talia reached back and pulled at her snipped ear gently with a nervous laugh. Amber was full of firsts, and she had won the first 'I love you' that Talia had ever uttered. But it was the right thing to do there was no doubt as Amber wrapped her in the tightest hug she had ever received.

"And I you my little giantess! You are the light o' my life! You and that dark little brother a yers." She tried so hard to say it without her heavy accent. Talia laughed at the realization. She returned the hug with a heart as light as a feather. Life had been so good then, but trouble never waited long to come knocking. Talia had a lot of demons in life that haunted her and they were about to return with a heavy vengeance.