A Fitting End

“Mammy, I can’t believe you threatened her!” Vereella exclaimed. “She just came back to us, and you’ve driven her away again, probably for good!”
 
“I did not threaten her, Vereella. I was trying to warn her what would happen if she continued down her chosen path. She’s in a dangerous scenario where she is… An affair with Dagult Neverember is basically a target if it gets out, and his son knows and is not approving of it. It is only a matter of time before–”
 
“I perish the thought!” she whispered. “We have to get her back, Mammy. I can’t let her fall in the hands of jail, or an actual physical target–or worse! We’ve got to go, Mammy! Now!” Vereella darted into the back room to get dressed for hastened travel.
 
Mamnen knew what had to happen to prevent Vereella from actually doing this, and again, it was not the content that surprised him. Actually, the trigger didn’t either. Nothing did.
 
“Vereella, I really must protest this. Atka is haughty and strong. Who knows what she might do if we follow her?”
 
Vereella came out in travelers clothes now and glared at him. “And just who is to blame for her hostility, Mammy? She said so herself; if you show restraint, we’ll be fine.”
 
“I don’t think she said that.” Mamnen raised both eyebrows at her, wondering if that’s truly how she took Atka’s counter-threat.
 
“She said if you didn’t, she’d end you, meaning that IF she was to see us again, YOU’d have to show restraint for her to allow it.”
 
“How do you suppose that’s what she meant by it? It sounded to me like she was just trying to say that if I didn’t show restraint, then neither would she–and her comrades. Who’s to say she wouldn’t involve the others?”
 
“Oh, come now, Atka doesn’t associate with anyone who would just kill to kill. She’s smarter than that.” Vereella said, waving his notion away.
 
Mamnen got very serious and attempted one more time to convince not to do this, to rein her back into his fold. “No, people are who they show you to be. One of her associates is Renaer Neverember, who held a rapier to my throat for defending her, and we know another associate of hers to be his father–and we both know what atrocities he’s capable of, with a smile no less. People are what they show you. That ‘smarter than that’ assumption is just your optimism. We have to treat her not on who we think she can be, but instead on who she shows us she chooses to be.”
 
Vereella hesitated and looked down, considering his seemingly wise point. He knew he was right for the most part, but he honestly didn’t know Atka’s associates from a stranger, so he was taking a gamble there. Atka had given him enough fire power with her association with the Neverembers. Thank goodness for that, too, because it looked like Vereella would–
 
“Even so, it’s our responsibility to get her out of this. You said so yourself, it’s an unspoken agreement. She’s in danger, so the family gets her out.”
 
Family is nothing, he wanted to say. “I’m not going, Vereella.”
 
“Fine, I’ll go on my own. Probably for the best anyway, since you two seem to be threatening each other’s lives under the mask of flowery language.” Vereella said, adjusted the pack on her back and started for the door. As she passed by her brother, who grimaced the entirety of her response, she said, “Don’t think I’ll forget this. There’s no buying your way back from sentencing our sister.”
 
Mamnen growled slowly in the back of his throat, a decision being made at that moment. He turned to her as she opened the door. “Vereella, wait!” he said. She stopped and turned to look at him, intrigued to know what he wanted. He sighed and lowered his tone of voice. “I should come with you. You don’t know where she is staying. It’ll be quicker.”
 
Vereella’s relieved smile and nod was all but sickening to him. He led her out the door, locking it behind him. Mamnen felt like he should say something sentimental or something, given the nature of their trip and how it might change the future of the family. “Say, ‘bye, apartment,’” he jokingly sang, nothing better coming to mind. Oh well, he thought. He wasn’t Helja, he didn’t have a patron like Atka, and he certainly was not going to appeal to Ire right now.
 
“Bye, apartment,” she repeated, softly chuckling at the reemergence of her playful brother. He grinned slightly into the nothingness before him, knowing she wasn’t looking to see.
 
“Come, it’s a long walk to the docks,” he said.
 
“She’s staying at the docks.” Vereella stated, wrinkling her nose. “That doesn’t seem right that Dagult Neverember would put her up there.”
 
“Of course, she’s a traveler. How do you suppose she gets down and up the Sword Coast?” he asked and began leading them down a rather deserted thoroughfare. Night was falling, most were in their homes or in taverns carousing.
 
“Oh, so she’s a sailor.”
 
“Mhm. She told me so.” Mamnen lied and cleared his throat. Vereella didn’t say anything further but instead walked nearer to her brother, a bit nervous. “What is it?” he asked.
 
“I’ve…never been to the Dock Ward. Is it as scary as they say?”
 
Mamnen chuckled. “People go every day and are fine. It’s as safe as our Trade Ward.” Vereella wasn’t convinced. “Besides, I’m here to protect you, and once we find Atka and her friends, we’ll be in even greater safety. There’s no need to worry.” For now, he thought and visibly shook his head trying to rid himself from thinking about the future actions, in case anyone dared to read his thoughts or be watching him.
 
He thought for a moment about Castiel’s eyes being on him, which began to make him a bit paranoid. But he hadn’t done anything…except threaten a noble in the middle of the street by the library where the angel tended to matriculate. That was stupid. Mamnen sighed and wondered about any repercussions. He quickly banished the worry when he remembered that Ire said the consequences wouldn’t be his. He didn’t fully understand what that actually meant, but it was reassuring in this moment.
 
“Mammy, this is stupid. Going to the Dock Ward at night and possibly getting in a fight is stupid.”
 
“No, it’s not. You were right. Family helps family. We have to get her back at any cost…” Mamnen struggled to sound convincing. He recognized this voice as his own at fourteen. Such a strange thing to hear it again.
 
“Any cost? What do you think might happen?” Vereella nervously wrapped her arms around his as they walked.
 
“Well, I can’t rightfully say, darling. What I can say is that anything unexpected will be met swiftly and tactically. Remember, I’ve trained for this–it appears Atka has too.”
 
“Yes, I suppose you’re right.” Vereella sighed. They walked in silence past closed shops, the few carriages trotting by, and people eyeing the two tieflings curiously. Mamnen was impervious to their curiosity, but Vereella felt exposed and vulnerable, which he could feel.
 
“Could you do something different to try and relax?”
 
“Like what? We’re going somewhere I’m not familiar with and which is reputed to be dangerous, all to find someone who doesn’t want to see us. It’s anxiety provoking!” she stated. Her volume caused a few stares, which Mamnen caught and he stopped their stroll. Vereella looked up at him. “Sorry,” she whispered. “I shouldn’t be talking so loudly when we’re trying not to startle her.”
 
“Or others.”
 
“Right,” she said. Mamnen pulled her close, stroking her hair from her head to her shoulders. She instantly relaxed in his arms and hugged him around his midsection. “I don’t want to lose her again, Mammy. I’ve missed her so much. I took her for granted. I don’t even think she knows I love her… I don’t know if she loves me…”
 
“Oh, darling,” Mamnen started and held her tightly. “Of course she knows that you do, and of course she loves you. We both do. You’re our little sister.”
 
“Yes, but like you said, I’m not a twin–or I guess a triplet. I’ve always been ‘other’ for you two. It’s always made me sad and jealous. But when she left all that time ago, I told myself to abandon those feelings and make space for her, and I knew just as you did that she’d come back. And when she did, I would make space for her as my sister, without the sadness or jealousy to get in the way.”
 
“Vereella–”
 
“But now she’s left again! And I don’t think I can bear it–”
 
“We’re getting her back.”
 
“Are we? You don’t seem overly worried. You’re not speed walking, or talking about your concern, or anything. You’re consoling me.”
 
“You’re here with me now, you’ve been with me your whole life, and you wonder why my attention prefers you to the twin who deserted me twice?”
 
Vereella released him, face downcast, and nodded. “That is true. I didn’t consider that,” she whispered. “You don’t harbor any self-blame, do you?”
 
“Why would I? Atka and I provoke each other in ways that only twins can.”
 
“I guess, but you have to admit that the fights you had on both occasions were terse.” She emphasized the word ‘terse’ and Mamnen’s eye twitched slightly at it, though he wasn’t sure why. Perhaps he thought of the recent fight and really wanted to see Atka try–just try–to take him down one-on-one. Their first fight didn’t bother him anymore, though he could tell it still held a soft spot for Atka.
 
“Yes, but I was not wrong.”
 
“Does that mean that she was?”
 
“Well–I suppose so.”
 
“Oh.” Vereella shut up at that point and they started for the Dock Ward again. Buildings around them seemed to lose their upkeep as they walked, as though the owners slowly lost money for or interest in them.
 
Mamnen peered down one of the alleys and looked at Vereella. “I think it would be faster if we cut through here.”
 
“Are you kidding me? In the dark? In the Dock Ward?”
 
“Don’t be such a child. Come on,” he said, grabbed her arm, and pulled her with him down the alley. The opposite mouth of the alley showed another road, much more deserted and not as kept up as the ones in the Trade Ward. Vereella’s fear had intensified, he could sense it. He felt her racing pulse in her wrist, but she did not fight him and continued to keep up.
 
Mamnen peered around the corner of the alley and saw the sign he was looking for. To Docks. He grinned a bit. “Alright,” he whispered and turned to look at her, “We have to go to a small house at the end of one of the docks, but we should be quiet so as not to let her know about our advance.”
 
“You really think she’d hurt us, Mammy?”
 
“My worry is that I don’t know, and I won’t take the chance of us getting ambushed and you possibly getting hurt. I swore that I would protect you, remember? I’m not losing another sister.”
 
“You’re putting a lot of pressure on yourself,” she whispered. “Just be careful with that. I don’t want you to bring yourself pain.”
 
Sweet of you, he thought with disdain, but feigned a smile at her. “Let’s just be stealthy, alright?” Vereella gulped and nodded. The two began following the signs toward the docks, Vereella taking in all the lamps and homes along the road. They were butted up against each other like in the Trade Ward, but were mostly dark, and there was hardly any room on the road. Mamnen looked for the torches at the end of the dock he was thinking of. Seeing the small shack down the way, he led them to the edge of the dock, stopped them, and motioned at the dark shack and then shushed his sister by bringing a finger to his lips. She nodded knowingly and they tiptoed down the dark dock, the only sound being the rolling sea.
 
There was no moonlight, due to the clouds. Mamnen shook his head at the dumb luck. With the way they were dressed and their natural coloring, no one would see them. This will be over quickly now, he thought… They reached the end of the dock, crouching below the window of the shack. It was dark in there, and Mamnen sat down on the dock, leaning against the shack and letting the torchlight from the edge of the dock fall onto his face. He shushed Vereella again and motioned for her to peek in the window.
 
Quickly nodding, her eyes left him and began to rise to peek into the open hole in the shack. Mamnen’s face hardened as he watched her face change from concern to confusion, probably because she realized there were no people in there, but instead fishing and boat supplies. She made a movement to question him, but then gripped her throat as if it had closed.
 
Mamnen’s fists were rolled tightly as he ensured no air entered into her body. He stood up without his hands, concentrating solely on the task at hand. She began to claw at her throat, shooting him a look of terror and pleading eyes for help. His face did not change from the stoic, unfeeling one that had looked upon her a final time before her last inhale. Her eyes began to flutter, arms quickly becoming too heavy to control and falling to her side. Mamnen allowed her body to slide down the shack and sit on the dock as her limbs twitched and then went limp. He released his fists at his sides and eyed his handiwork. Upon his release, Vereella’s lifeless body fell to its side on the dock.
 
“I couldn’t have you outing me to Atka, Vereella, you understand,” he said into the dark, and raised his hand to levitate her body to his waist. “Her and my story isn't over yet. I’m sorry that you saw it fitting that ours had to be.” Without moving stance, he guided the corpse gently by moving his hand over the edge of the dock and released her into the water.