Penelope and Cynthia were taken to one of the backrooms, a small kitchen with a table with just enough room for two. A third chair was pulled from somewhere and dusted off, so Penelope could have a seat as well. They were served tea and after Cynthia gave it a sniff and a thumbs up to Penelope, they enjoyed their warm drinks as Ulfric explained himself.

“My wife and I came from across the sea, from the country of Narhand,” Ulfric explained. “Me, her and our daughter.”

“That’s a long way to come from,” Cynthia stated, sounding surprised.

Penelope looked up at her guardian at that. “Is it really that far away?”

“Yeah, Narhand is across the ocean. It takes months to cross it to get to Birain.”

“It did. My family barely had enough to survive on while on that ship, and barely enough to get ourselves a home when he landed in Ceralde. But we got by and eventually opened our store.”

“But why not open the store back in your home country, Mr Ulfric?” Penelope asked.

Ulfric smiled sadly. “My home country of Narhand has gone through many bad things,” he explained simply. “War, famine, diseases…it was all I could do, in order to give my family a better life and there is no better place than Birain.”

“Is that so?” 

How awful. Seemed like even this new world was not exempt from the same terrible things that plagued her former world. Though Kasumi rarely exposed herself to international news (or even local news), due to not wanting to cause herself depression over the state of the world, even she was not ignorant to the concepts. Probably because her own father had kept yelling about how the new generation was ruining the world, complaining about how the world was going to Hell in a hand basket and how some people deserved what they got. Kasumi used to argue with him, when she was younger and had the energy for it, but those topics just became taboo to discuss with the man, whether he supplied the information himself or not. Kasumi had bene privileged enough to have to never know what war was (though it did feel as if a famine had passed through at times, since she barely got enough to eat).

“So, you said that your wife is sick? What does that have to do with Penelope’s workbook?” Cynthia asked.

Ulfric sighed. “This illness…it plays with my wife’s mind. Most times she is peaceful, but there are times when she is more fiery than a vengeful spirit, shouting and screaming. If I don’t watch her closely then she would hurt herself. This all began when we lost our daughter a few months ago.”

The story was quite sad. Ulfric’s wife, Matilda, had been outside shopping with their daughter, Velma, who was around the same age as Penelope. It was a normal trip to the market, where Matilda bought items for their dinner that night, while Velma helped by carrying a basket with some of their groceries. Matilda had only turned away for a second when her daughter was snatched up. The woman gave chase until she stumbled and fell, losing sight of her daughter and her kidnapper. Both of them did everything they could to try and find her, including making a request at the Adventurer's Guild.

“Oh, I remember seeing that notice a few months ago. So it was for your daughter,” Cynthia whispered solemnly. “I never even applied, because it seemed out of my scope of abilities. It was the beginning of the rainy season, so my tracking skills would have been useless. And I know most others would not have tried, either…missing persons are some of the most time consuming requests, especially if there is a chance a child was taken far away to be sold off.”

Considering the time that passed, it would only get more and more difficult, too. According to Cynthia, people who worked at the guild did work that assured them money and or were fast to complete. Missing persons required money and time in order to track that person down, and even if someone did have the money to start off with, finding someone was not guaranteed, thus turning the quest into a money pit. The local guardsmen did do their part as well, but if the person wound up outside the town, then there was truly nothing they could do.

“Yes, that wound up being the case. Since we are still new in town, we did not have enough money to care for my wife and pay any expenses incurred for the request. I do not stop hoping to see my sweet Velma, but I know I had to make a choice…I do not wish to lose my wife as well.”

Penelope felt so bad. That truly was a terrible choice to make. Either he put forth everything they had to try and locate their child, and possibly lose his wife by the time she is located, or look after his wife’s health so she may live, but have the very real chance he would never see his child again. No one could easily make such a difficult choice, he must have thought a long time about it. Probably even placated his wife by even putting up the search request in the first place.

Cynthia, though, had her own opinions.

The Cyno female slammed a fist on the table.

“That’s terrible! What about your daughter?! I’m sure she’s also going through a lot!” Cynthia shouted, clearly impassioned by the situation. While she was not kid crazy as Minerva, it was clear she also cared about children. “If it were me, even if I was penniless, I would have made it work! A child is a sacred gift! She must miss you, she could be hurt, or scared, or –”

“Hey, Cynthia…I’m sure it wasn’t that simple,” Penelope said, trying to calm Cynthia, who was angrily baring her teeth. “Mr Ulfric probably really thought long and hard about it.”

Ulfric, looking deflated after being shouted at, bowed his head. “I know it is selfish, but what would you do if you were in danger of losing anything? I have no other choice.”

Cynthia looked ready to bite his head off, but Penelope put a hand on her companion’s shoulder, shaking her head. The Cyno female stopped, but her face was taut. Clearly, this whole thing bothered her.

“So…what kind of help did you need from me?” the little girl asked quietly, getting back to the reason he requested them to talk.

Ulfric nodded. “My wife…her mind has deteriorated since we lost our girl. I have had doctors take a look at her, but they could not find anything wrong with her. I…I just think she has a broken heart and spirit, from the shock of the loss. When I saw the details of your drawings, I thought maybe I could help her heal a little…”

“How so?” Penelope coaxed.

“I would like for you to draw a picture of my daughter,” Ulfric said, “artists are far and few in Ceralde. Most you find here are passing warriors, travellers and folk who had never picked up a pencil in their lives. The only ones who may have the capability are the upper class who could afford art lessons and supplies for their children. Please Miss Penelope, grant me this request. If my wife could see my daughter’s face again, there might be a chance of granting her some peace…”

Ulfric fell into tears, clearly stressed about the whole affair. He had a store to run, a sick wife to look after and a missing daughter to worry about – it all weighed down on him. She could see the signs of a man who spent sleepless nights searching, days working and carrying on lest something else broke. However, the pace he was going, he would break down and be of even less help to his wife. When was the last time he even had a chance to talk to someone, to let out all of his sadness? He had reached out for help, but no one was looking his way and he was in an impossible situation.

Penelope remembered days like that as Kasumi. Needing to balance everything so everyone around her could be happy, so she could live some semblance of normalcy at home. As long as she kept going, everything would be all right, she had told herself, until it really wasn’t. Penelope did not want someone becoming so hopeless that they crashed and burned.

Knowing all this, she knew what to do.

She went over to Ulfric and reached up to pat the older man’s cheek.

“There, there,” she said. “I understand. It must have been very hard for you.”

The older man looked at her, shocked at her kind words. The tears still flowed, but he managed to push through a smile and nodding. His hand placed itself atop hers, closing his eyes to squeeze the tears out once more before letting out a shaky laugh.

“It must be something, to see an old man cry.”

“Not at all,” Penelope said. “Everyone cries. Everyone is sad. It’s normal.”

Ulfric chuckled at her words. “Yes, everyone does.” Taking a breath, he moved away from Penelope.

“I may not have much, but I will do my best to repay you,” he told her. Penelope waved it off politely.

“Well, let’s talk about payment later? You won’t know if my work will be worth much in the end,” she stated. Ulfric shook her head.

“I may not look it, but I am a proud businessman. Remember this Miss Penelope: always make sure you clearly state a price before offering services or people may take advantage of you.”

“He’s right,” Cynthia interjected. “We can probably talk more about this tomorrow. As one of her guardians, I need to speak with her other guardian. Shall we make arrangements to meet again later?”

“Oh, yes, of course!”

Cynthia and Ulfric arranged a time during the next day to meet again, hurrying along when they heard Penelope’s stomach rumble. Good timing for it; Penelope was hungry and the others would probably be worrying about where they went. By the time they stepped out, darkness had settled in. To save time, the Cyno female picked up Penelope and dashed for the restaurant at breakneck speed. The girl yelped at the first lurch, but soon got used to the windy speeds.

“You sure about this Nellie? You didn’t have to help.”

“I know, but…it seemed really sad. If I can help his wife feel a bit better, why shouldn’t I?”

“I still think it’s wrong for a man to abandon his child like that.”

“I don’t think so…I don’t think he abandoned her. He hasn’t given up. Being given up on by a father…I know what that’s like. He wouldn’t be still trying, if he has really given up on his daughter.”

“I suppose. The request is still available at the guild…I’ll apologize for snapping later. Thanks for stopping me, Nellie.”

“Mmm-hmm.”

Penelope was curious as to why Cynthia was so bothered by Ulfric’s actions, but felt like now was not the time to be asking about something that may be too sensitive. Now that she thought about it, the Cyno female also got upset whenever the subject of Minerva’s father was brought up, too. There must be quite the story there.

Hanging onto Cynthia, they eventually arrived at the restaurant to meet with Minerva and Yule.