Maxine had spent the past few days arranging various items. Two of which were a cabinet and a small portrait of Guan. The Kavros clan had a custom of keeping a small shrine of deceased relatives within their homes and having one made was part of the funeral rites, especially when one didn't have a body to bury. And the cabinet had to be made by hand. Thankfully, they didn't have to make it themselves, and was able to commission a carpenter to make it.

During this time, Melvin Temmil hadn't shown his face even once. It struck Maxine as extremely odd. He normally visited her at least once or twice a day. It was becoming concerning that he hadn't bothered even checking in. However, she had reasoned it might be because he's nearing a breakthrough and needed some time to stabilize before he attempted it.

"So, how is it coming?" Emily asked as she came in to see Maxine placing Guan's shrine in the main room and adding items her siblings contributed.

"I'm almost done. I hope mom appreciates the work that we put into this," Maxine said calmly. Lucas and Reena had added a few small things to the shrine as well. Lucas made a crude carving of Guan wielding his war scythe. Reena contributed a simple drawing of the whole family eating at their dining table. To them, these things invoked a good memories of Guan.

"I'm sure she will," Emily said calmly as Maxine placed a mortar and pestle made from marble into Guan's shrine. It was her contribution. Dad gifted me his knowledge of alchemy. It's only fitting that I honor him by placing an object tied to alchemy within his shrine. She looked at the shrine for a moment and dropped to her knees before bowing her head. It felt like the right thing to do in that moment.

"Now, what it is that you two wanted to ...," Hellen began to say as she was led into into the room by Lucas and Reena, but stopped when she saw Guan's shrine. Maxine turned her head and saw tears forming in Hellen's eyes as they were locking onto Guan's shrine. She promptly pulled Lucas, Reena and Maxine into a hug while she softly cried.

"My sweet babies," Hellen finally said inbetween sobs. Maxine simply smiled as Emily joined the group hug.

After several minutes, Hellen released them and wiped away her tears with her hand. "Thank you, Maxine," Hellen said, "I know you only accepted him because of me. I didn't think you would honor him with this shrine."

"I did it for you, mom," Maxine said honestly, "And for them. Even if they're not biologically his, he still accepted them as his own. Also, they need to see how to mourn the dead, especially Reena." She hadn't forgotten Reena's circumstances. The poor girl had lost her entire family. Note to self: I need to make one for Reena's biological parents. She needs something as well. It might not mean much to her after all this time, but it still needs to be done.

"You're right," Hellen said softly, "I was so worried about our survival that it never crossed my mind."

"Don't be too upset. I didn't realize we needed this either until a few days ago," Maxine admitted.

"Better?" Lucas asked while looking at Hellen.

"Yes, I'm feeling much better now, Lucas," Hellen said as she gently ruffled his hair.

"Stories?" Lucas asked again while pointing at Guan's picture.

Hellen seemed confused for only a moment before answering, "Of course, I'll tell you some stories about him." Reena and Lucas both sat down infront of Hellen while eagerly waiting for her to talk about Guan.

"I'll leave you three alone then," Maxine said, "I've got to check on a few people. Darzog noticed a few newcomers are acting a little off and wants me to take a look at them." I already know most of the stories about Daddy. Most of them are kind of brutal. Well, maybe, except for the time that mom and daddy met. But that was more of him being distrustful and mom being persistent.

"Try to be home for dinner," Hellen said before she turned to Lucas and Reena.

"Will do," Maxine said as she left and grabbed her healer's bag before heading to the homes that Darzog pointed out to earlier.

On the way, she noticed a few of the guardsmen were giving her wary looks, but it was nothing new. Her mother had literately showed off her absurd destructive power from their perspective. Add on to the fact that her mother was flying, which local wizards couldn't do, and it was no surprise that everyone was cautious. She had tried to put them out of her mind, but the stares still triggered her paranoia to some degree. She really didn't like being watched.

She was beginning to relax when she got to the first house and gently knocked on the door. A haggard middle-aged woman with red hair answered the door and her expression immediately brightened when she saw Maxine's bag. "Please, come in," she said as she stepped aside and led Maxine to a small bedroom, "My son has had a fever for the past three days and has only been getting worse. Please, help him."

"I'll see what I can do," Maxine said gently as she glanced at the woman's son that was breathing shallowly on a small bed. He was roughly twelve years old with the same red hair as his mother and seemed to be well fed. His cheeks here flushed, and what was most concerning is that he didn't seem to be aware of his surroundings as his head rocked back and forth.

Maxine set down her bag beside the bed and began to examine him. She first opened his eyes and didn't see anything out of the ordinary. However, when she opened his mouth, the boy's tongue was almost black. Black-tongue fever. A nasty fungal infection that blackens the tongue and causes a high fever. It's not particularly dangerous to shifters, but to ordinary folks, it can be lethal.

"Your son has black-tongue fever. He'll be fine even without any medicine, but just to be safe, put a dollop of this medicine in his mouth morning and night until it's gone," Maxine said calmly, "Now, has your son been eating anything strange that you know about? I need to find the source of this ailment before it spreads to the rest of the city."

"Not that I'm aware of," the boy's mother said, "But he has been spending more time with Lydia's daughter recently."

"And that's the very next home that I need to go to," Maxine said while keeping a straight face, "He probably caught it from that young woman."

"How would he have caught-- oh," the boy's mother said in realization, "I need to talk with my husband about this and that girl's mother."

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"See that you do," Maxine said with a smile.

Maxine left and went to Lydia's home and found that the girl in question indeed had black-tongue fever. She had found that the contaminated food came from a street vendor and notified the city guardsmen and Darzog about this threat. Thankfully, those two were the only ones that had caught it. However, she cautioned everyone to keep an eye out for any more cases. It needed to be contained as soon as possible. Thankfully, the street vendor was thrown out of the market and he was lucky that he wasn't thrown in prison for attempting to spread a plague, knowingly or not.

The next few patients were just typical shifter problems that most youth suffer from. None of which required medicine, just reassurances that it was a normal thing. She was about to enter the butchery to let Darzog know that she had seen to everyone when she heard the man in question speaking rather loudly. "I'm getting tired of repeating myself. There are no nobles in the shifter community," Darzog said both loudly and firmly, "And I certainly have never heard the house of Cinderson." It could just be a someone with an identical last name. It happens. No need to panic or get flustered.

Maxine stopped just inside the door to the butchery. A young man wearing rather strange heraldry was talking to Darzog and unfortunately, he had spotted Maxine. Can't pretend I didn't hear anything now.

"What's going on here?" Maxine asked as she approached them.

"He thinks that we are sheltering a noblewoman," Darzog explained.

"I heard that much, but why do they think there is one here?" Maxine asked.

"I've been trying to figure out that myself, but he's being stubborn," Darzog answered. However, during their exchange, the man hadn't taken his eyes off of Maxine.

"You practically match the description of Madam Cinderson," the man said, "The only difference is that you look somewhat younger than she should be. Are you by perchance her daughter?" That set dozens of alarm bells off in her head and she reflexively scanned him with her spiritual sense. He's a fucking elf?! What's he doing here?!

"What do you want?" Maxine said in elven. Darzog looked ready to come to Maxine's defense, but she held up her hand to let him know that it wasn't a problem.

"The elders just want to know if Reena is doing alright," the elf replied calmly in elven, "Your family disappeared so suddenly that we thought you were all killed. If one of our ships was not nearby when your mother acted, we wouldn't have detected you at all."

"Reena is fine and I trust there were no transmissions from your ship," Maxine said calmly.

"Hand delivered messages only. We know what we're doing. It's how we hid the hydrakin for so long and it's good to hear that little Reena is doing well," the elf said happily, "Although, we are not happy that you're hiding on a low tech world."

"I know the rules. No interference unless it's necessary and a plague that could wipe out all the intelligent life on this continent seemed necessary to me," Maxine said calmly, "And the fact that drow were involved only solidified my desire to intervene. Still, I only provided a cure to the ailment in it's earlier stages and it also acted as a preventative. Also my mother did not provide direct assistance until we were asked directly by one of the ruling members of this city."

"Do you mean the drow are on this planet?" the elf asked as he composure broke.

"Yes, I spotted a couple of them a few days ago controlling some poor souls that were infected with the Black Rage. I was distracted at the time and lost track of them. So, I don't know where they're holed up at the moment," Maxine explained.

"We need to find and contain them immediately," the elf said firmly, "I'll notify the council of elders of this development. This being a uninitiated world will complicate matters, so don't expect any assistance right away."

"I didn't expect it to be quick," Maxine answered, "Anyways, my biggest concern was if they weren't locals. If they are not, that would allow me every right to exterminate them so long as I'm discreet. Right?"

"That's ... correct," the elf answered calmly, "But we would prefer it if you didn't."

"I understand, but I can't take the risk of them revealing my presence here," Maxine said, "But I will spare the children. They can still be redeemed."

"Thank you," the elf said with a grateful smile and looked to the side for a moment before his expression returned to being neutral, "It seems the local 'wizards' are looking for your father's enemies."

"What?! Why?" Maxine asked in alarm, "And how do you even know that?"

"Unencrypted magical messaging systems," the elf said calmly, "And I don't know their reasons. That much was left out of the messages. They're just asking about your family's enemies." Those backstabbing bastards!

"I think it's time I had a talk with the arch wizard," Maxine said in a tone that promised violence.

"Could you tell me what you two are talking about?" Darzog asked in a confused tone using the local language.

"He was just delivering a message from one of my father's friends," Maxine lied smoothly to Darzog, "Cinderson was a code word that they decided on to identify themselves in case it was ever necessary."

"Oh, in that case, thank you for your service, sir," Darzog said smoothly to the elf.

"Think nothing of it at all. It's my job," the elf said, "Now, I must go. I have other duties that I must attend to. Good day, miss."

"Good day," Maxine said in return before the elf turned around and left.

"How are our people doing?" Darzog asked as soon as the elf was out of ear shot.

"Two adolescence had black tongue fever," Maxine said and showed a small smirk as she continued, "The girl caught it from a street vendors food and the boy caught it when they practiced kissing. I notified their parents about this small discovery and I told the guardsmen about the contaminated food so that vendor could be put out of business before he caused a serious problem. The rest of the sick were just some common problems that our kind suffer from that'll go away in a day or two."

"Lydia's daughter found herself a potential mate then," Darzog said with a knowing smile, "I never expected that girl would like Thomas and Janice's boy. He's always been so timid. She must've been the aggressive one."

"Maybe, maybe not," Maxine said, "We'll never know unless we ask."

"True enough," Darzog said, "So, why have you rejected Melvin Temil so many times? He would make an excellent husband and I imagine he would provide for your family as well without complaint."

"We might need to leave to protect ourselves," Maxine said truthfully, "I will not upend his life by being selfish."

"You're a better person than most," Darzog said as he patted her on the shoulder, "But you should consider things from his side as well? What if he wouldn't mind upending his life? Did you ever consider that?"

"I have and he would in a heartbeat," Maxine said smoothly, "But that's not why I refuse him. I feel nothing more than friendship for him. Nothing more than that. I have tried multiple times to get it through Melvin's thick skull, but he refuses to accept that."

"Perhaps, your preferences are more towards more heavily built men," Darzog offered.

"There was one man that made my heart flutter and he tried to kill me," Maxine said bluntly to kill this conversation topic. It was making her uncomfortable. Technically, I didn't lie. Patrick did make my heart flutter and he DID try to kill me until he realized that I wasn't the monster that he thought I was.

"Oh, I .. hmm," Darzog was clearly at a loss for words and changed the subject in an awkward tone, "I have a lot of work to do. Why don't you check on your brother's wife? She looks fine now, but she could go into labor at any time now, right?"

"You may be right about that," Maxine agreed, "I'll go check on her. Goodbye." It would be an early birth if it happened today, but those are not uncommon with first time mothers. It makes no difference if they're cultivators or not.

As she walked home, she began to think on how to confront the leadership of the city. Hmm, I still have my constructs in most of their shadows. I could just wait for them to have a meeting and crash it. Or I could ask Darzog to insist on being present for those meetings and accompany him as his second. That would be a more peaceful approach than barging in uninvited. After that, I could just ask they why they're seeking out my family's enemies. Although, I really doubt that they'll ever find them. Still, it's best to err on the side of caution and warn them of the stupidity of that action. Shit. Now I have to go back and talk to Darzog right after leaving. This is going to be awkward.

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