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Hugo stretched like a cat and burrowed deeper into the pillows.
For all he complained about living in the castle, it had its upsides too. Beds were definitely one. Varian could sleep in cold hard ground peacefully like a baby, but Hugo preferred pillows, thank you very much.
He turned around to see his fiance whose eyelashes were fluttering. The alarm hadn't set off yet but it looked like the early May sun had woken up them both.
"Morning, Goggles", Hugo whispered and got a groan for a response. Varian was not a morning person, something Hugo had learned the hard way. Every attempt to cuddle in the morning was met with an elbow shoved to the ribs.
Hugo closed his eyes. Nevermind. He could stay an eternity here, basking in the rays of sun which had managed to escape between the curtains. Maybe they could call in sick and ask for breakfast in bed. Or maybe not. Fitzherbert would probably burst in and demand to see his poor baby brother.
Still, one could try.
"Let's skip work", Hugo whispered to Varian's ear. His sleepy fiance let out a voice between a sigh and yawn.
"Baby, we don't work today", he said. He cracked open one blue eye and gave Hugo a sideway glance. "It's Guardian's day, remember? Nobody works today, not even the royals. I was thinking we could go visit my dad."
Hugo blinked. "Guardian's day?"
"Yeah", Varian said and rolled over so he could lean his head against Hugo's chest. "So sleep. We have time."
He closed his eyes again. Hugo lied still, watching the specks of dust dance in the sunlight.
He tried to be quiet for Varian who was currently using him as a pillow but of course the other alchemist noticed. Damn him and his brilliant observation skills. "Babe? What's wrong?"
Hugo swallowed thickly. "Nothing", he said, trying desperately to sound nonchalant. "I just wonder…"
"Yes?"
"Who my parents really were."
Varian was quiet for a while. Then he rolled over and leaned against Hugo's chest so he could look him in the eye. "Did you ever ask Donella?"
"No", Hugo said carefully. "I was too little to really remember anything that happened before her. She says I tried to rob her.”
Donella had told the story several times: how a little boy, not older than five, had sent his little mechanical mouse to distract her in the bakery stand while he tried to take her wallet. She caught him the second his fingers touched her bag, but was so impressed by the mouse she decided to take him in. Hugo didn’t remember it, but he did remember the streets, the hunger and everlasting cold.
Varian snorted. "Of course you did." He tucked his head under Hugo's chin and burrowed close. Black hair ticked Hugo's jaw. "You should ask her."
Hugo sighed and closed his eyes again. He hadn't planned on falling asleep again but the bed was soft and Varian's quiet breathing against his ear sounded like a lullaby.
"Yeah. Maybe I will."
"You’re showing already.”
“Am I?” Young woman put her hand on her belly and smiled enthusiastically. “I wasn't sure. I’m not even in the fifth month yet.”
“I’m saying it’s showing”, another customer decided and watched the light swell under the woman’s apron. “My sister looked like that a couple of weeks before her baby was born. Are you sure you count right?”
“What do you two know about babies?” another voice asked sharply and stepped to line behind two young alchemists. “Pay for your food and leave Kyla alone.”
“Thanks, Donella”, the woman laughed when the men quickly paid and slipped off. “They don’t mean any harm, though. They just admired my baby.” She put a hand on her belly and cradled it like it was the biggest treasure in the world.
The older woman scoffed. “Giving out their opinions on a subject they know nothing about. How typical of men.” Inevitably her gaze landed on the soft bump as well. “Have you been healthy?”
“I have”, the woman said happily. “Oh, I meant to tell you. Me and Ged picked names last night.” A soft smile lit up her face. “We decided to name them Ella, if they’re a girl.”
Donella scoffed, but there was softness in her voice. “You’re too sentimental, Kyla. What if it’s a boy?”
The woman’s green eyes lit up. “Then he’s Hugo.”
The next Guardian’s Day Hugo happened to be in Ingvarr.
He hadn't really planned it, but didn’t mind either. He liked Quirin and was always welcomed in his house, but could tell that sometimes the man wanted his son all for himself. Besides, he and Varian shared those weird outdoor hobbies like camping and hiking, and Hugo would use any excuse he got to be excused from those.
It felt good to come to the place he had called home for so long. Corona was his home now, but it could never feel as familiar as Ingvarr’s gray streets and an everlasting smell of ash in the air.
During the days Donella took him to work in the lab with her (and mercilessly squeezed his and Varian’s research out of him to use for her advantage) but during the evenings they sat in the familiar apartment he had grown up in, both lost in their research.
During one of those nights Hugo finally remembered the conversation he had had with Varian a year ago. “Hey Don?”
The woman hummed in response, but didn’t raise her eyes from her notes.
“Do you….did you ever find out anything about my parents?” Hugo tried to keep his voice casual, carefree, but knew he was failing the second the words left his mouth. He had never succeeded in fooling Donella.
For a moment, the room was quiet. Then she raised her eyes from the paper and looked at him calculatingly. Hugo felt like a child who was about to hear a family secret.
“Why do you want to know about this now?” Donella asked nonchalantly, starting to put her work away. Hugo frowned. It was late, but far earlier than they usually stopped their work. “You’ve never asked me before.”
Hugo shrugged. “It just popped in my mind. And Varian said I should ask you.”
Donella muttered a few words about “nosy alchemists who poke their noses where they don’t belong” but then took a more comfortable position in her chair. “Very well. I’ll tell you what I know, but it’s not much.” She was quiet for a moment, still looking at Hugo. He got an odd feeling she was trying to find somebody else in his face.
“I knew your mother. She worked in the mess hall here in the castle.”
“Oh.” Hugo didn’t know what else to say. “What was her name?”
Donella’s eyes settled somewhere on Hugo’s nose and a rare smile crept on her face. “Kyla.”
“ So, you are leaving soon?”
Donella nodded, handing Kyla a handful of coins. “The ship to Galcrest leaves tomorrow morning.”
“Well, I don’t envy you”, the younger woman said with a shiver. “It’s already cold enough here.”
“Your baby will already be big when I come back.”
“They will.” The woman smiled like she had a lovely secret only she knew. “Who knows, maybe little Ella will be here to wave to you when you return.”
“Kyla”, Hugo repeated. The word felt weird, unfamiliar, in his mouth. “What was she like?”
“Optmistic”, Donella said, the same way one could say ‘venomous.’ “Quick to smile. Not a pushover, though.” Donella stood up and walked to her rarely used bottle cabinet. “The work in the mess hall was supposed to be only temporary. She was a smart girl, she wanted to be an alchemist one day. But her and your father could only afford one of them studying at a time and when he was almost finished…” She shot Hugo an irritated look. “You happened.”
Hugo felt too dumb to even smile at her irritation. “And my dad? Did you ever meet him?”
“Once or twice, I think”, Donella said with a shrug. “He didn’t belong to my team at the time. He was nothing remarkable.” She gave Hugo a disapproving glance. “I shouldn’t say this, seeing as you’re already proud as a peacock, but I sometimes wondered where you got your talents from. Who knows what kind of alchemist Kyla could have been if she got a chance.”
“But she didn’t, did she?” Hugo asked. Donella sighed and shook her head.
“No.”
Hugo expected her to continue, but she didn’t show any signs to do so. Instead she opened one of the bottles that had been collecting dust in the cabinet and poured them both a finger of whiskey. He accepted the glass with dumb fingers, and wasn’t surprised when Donella refused to let go of it before he wrapped both of his hands around it. He must look as shaky as he felt.
Don sat back down in her chair and took a sip of her drink. It took a while until Hugo realized she was waiting for the inevitable question.
“Why…why are you telling me about this now?”
“Well, you asked”, Donella said, taking another sip. Hugo stifled a groan.
“You know what I mean. Why didn’t you tell me this years ago?”
Donella sighed.
It had been two years since Donella had last been in Ingvarr. When she returned, scars in her face and her friend’s screaming echoing in her ears, thee dreamy green eyes did not greet her in the mess hall anymore, and the castle was one cheerful laugh short.
“It was so sad”, everyone said.
“They just had a baby”, they said.
It was an accident. Stupid, meaningless accident that started a fire in the small house and destroyed everything.
Except the baby. Delirious father had carried him outside, still sleeping, and thrust him into the firefighter’s hands, before running back to the burning house, calling for his wife. He was never seen again.
They had no relatives, no friends who could take the child. The Queen made a generous donation -the boy’s parents worked for her, after all -so in time the boy could have a good education. In the meantime, he was sent to the orphanage.
Donella thought about visiting once or twice, but didn’t know what she should say. She hadn’t known Kyla so well after all. She was just one of the customers who watched her cradle her belly like a dragon hoarding its treasure.
Then, one day, when she was in the market looking for some ingredients for her new research, her eyes landed on a mechanical mouse.
The handiwork was flawless, which made it odd. Why would anyone waste so much time and effort to a child’s toy-
Small, chubby fingers grabbed her bag.
In a flash Donella had caught a little thief, who stared at him with wide green eyes. He started to tremble the second Donella touched him.
Donella looked at the boy up and down. This was odd. The child couldn’t be older than five or six, yet he was ragged and barefooted. Maybe he was an orphan, but in that case he should be in an orphanage. But those eyes-
“Did you build this?” Donella asked and took the mechanical mouse from the stand. The boy nodded carefully.
Two guards were already approaching them, no doubt called by the shopkeeper. She had to act quick.
“What’s your name?”
“Hugo”, the boy whispered. Donella stifled a smile.
“Well, Hugo, you’re coming with me.”
“So you snatched me from the street?”
“I did”, Donella said calmly. “You had potential. I couldn’t let the orphanage ruin it.”
“And you made that decision in five minutes?”
“I could always return you there, if that’s what you want.”
“I doubt they would accept me anymore”, Hugo pointed out, deep in thought. “So my mom’s name was Kyla.”
“Yes.”
“And my dad was Ged.”
“Yes. Stupid name, if you ask me.”
“Then why didn’t they name me after him?”
“Do you remember who Hugo Siventi is?”
“Sure”, Hugo said, wondering when the discussion turned to long dead scientists. “He founded the Siventi method.”
“Yes. Your mother found the name from one of the books I lent her. She liked the name more than Ged. A wise choice, if you ask me.”
Hugo tilted his head and watched his mentor. He was almost completely sure that Donella was leaving some gaps in the story, that she and his mother had actually been more close than she let on, but for now, he was content with the knowledge he had been given. There was still one more thing, though.
“I still don’t understand why you’re only telling me this now.”
Donella looked like she wanted to dodge the question but eventually she just sighed. “You’re happy now, aren’t you? But before Varian you were lost with yourself. I didn’t want you to mope around, thinking what could have been, when you could never have that.”
Hugo thought about it. He didn’t want to admit it, but it made perfect sense. She really knew him well, perhaps better than he knew himself.
“Thanks, Don.”
“Anytime, brat.”
“I thought you weren’t going to get more kids?”
“This kind of just happened”, Varian said sheepishly and cradled the baby in his arms. It’s four-years-old big sister whined and tugged at her father’s pant leg. “Ella love, wait for one minute. Donella, could you take the baby for a second?”
“Sure”, she said automatically and took the baby only a bit awkwardly. She had gotten good practice with Ella, who had seemed to know with babies’ infallible sense that she was not good with children and proceeded to give her lots of practice.
Donella cradled the child and looked straight into its blue eyes. They were exactly the same color as Varian’s. “Does he have a name yet?”
“Yes”, Hugo said. He wiped his hands with a towel and came to grab his daughter, who immediately climbed to his shoulders like a little monkey. “We’re thinking of Ged.”
“Brat”, Donella said warningly. Hugo grinned.
“What? It’s a good name!”
“What did I teach you? The name is a sign!”
Varian stared his husband and mother-in-law with growing confusion. “Did I miss something?”
“Your husband wants to name your son after a mediocre scientist!”
“Okay, fine. We’ll call him Quirin then.”
“Hugo Snicket, don’t you dare-”