Frey couldn't believe himself. Why had he chosen the piano room of all places to be upset in? Especially when he was upset with her. The person who taught him how to play it in the first place.

He cursed under his breath, resisting the urge to slam his fist against the keys only because the noise it would cause wasn't worth it, but oh how he wanted to. He wanted to destroy something so badly.

How could she? What had he ever done to her? Why would she lie and make him think there was something wrong with him for all those years? For his entire life, even though she knew what it was like.

Maybe she had resented him from the beginning. She and Claus had not even been adults when they had him, so maybe he'd just been an unfortunate accident. A mistake. Not to Claus, perhaps, but maybe Valdís had felt differently and not dared to speak up.

Tears stung his eyes. He didn't like that idea. They may not have been as close as he and Claus, but they still loved each other and spent time together. He was the only one of her children who shared her love for playing music, and while deep conversations had never been their thing, they had never felt awkward about not talking while in the same room.

Had he been wrong? If she knew what it was like to live the way he'd had to, why would she lie and say there was something wrong with him if not to hurt him? Whether he had to hide it or not, she could have told him he wasn't alone.

A weak groan escaped his lips, and he tried to shake the pain by pressing some keys down, conjuring a D chord.

There was a knock on the door, and Frey's heart hitched.

"It's me."

Marius' voice.

"Right..." Despite some slight relief, Frey still couldn't relax. "... You can come in."

Marius didn't say anything as he stepped inside. It looked like he was trying to read the mood before deciding which approach to take.

"Did you tell her to leave?" Frey therefore asked instead, and Marius sighed.

"No, because I know you better than that."

Frey's eyes narrowed.

"What is that supposed to mean?"

"That you don't want your mother to leave, and you don't want to be on bad terms with her."

"Did she tell you what happened?" Frey unknowingly clenched his fists. "You must have talked to her, right?"

"We had a conversation about it, yes." Marius sounded surprisingly bitter. "Thank you for leaving me to deal with that alone, by the way."

"I wasn't aware you wanted something like—"

"I was being sarcastic."

"Well, if she told you, how could you think I still want her here?"

Marius exhaled through his nose, giving Frey a look meant to be comforting but Frey only sensed an imminent, frustrating speech of attempted conflict solving.

"She should never have treated you like that," he began, causing Frey to blink. "She did mean well, but her methods were horrible."

"She told you about that?" Frey shook his head. "I thought you talked about the two of us."

"We talked about that too." Once again, Marius' bitterness shone through. "It was a heavy conversation that I would not have preferred to face alone."

"Me being upset should be even more understandable, then." Frey stared down at the keys. "I hadn't expected her to tell you about that part, given how shameful and bad she finds it."

Marius made a face.

"I don't know if she intended to, but I'd half figured it out on my own already so... She just didn't deny it."

Frey's eyes widened.

"You... Figured it out?"

"I wasn't sure, but I'd heard the condition might be hereditary, so when all this happened I took a guess."

Frey had to utter a wry laugh.

"So she's hidden it for all these years, and you just made a lucky guess the second time you met?"

"Because I looked into it," Marius insisted. "Because I wanted to help you, not because I was looking to expose anyone. If others in your surroundings had been willing to acknowledge the traits and not treat it as some unspeakable hush-hush thing, they would have seen it as well."

Frey couldn't find a response. He was still too upset to think clearly, so he kept his eyes fixed on the piano keys.

"You really should talk to her," Marius tried. "I may have heard part of her side but it's not my place to tell you, and I'm sure there's more that she hasn't told me."

Frey scrunched up his nose, trying to gather words of denial but coming up short.

So Marius placed a hand against the keys.

"Talk to her," he repeated in a singing voice, pressing down a key for every word, not at all synced with the melody produced.

A twitch in the corner of Frey's mouth betrayed him, but he fought to keep the smile away.

Marius repeated the three sounds, but held up his other hand to pretend it was singing.

"Talk to heeer."

"I don't..." Frey masked a surprised laugh under a sigh and shoved the hand away. "... I don't know what I'd say, alright?"

"'Hey motheer..." Marius continued singing, pressing random keys down and Frey's eye twitched as he did his best not to slap Marius' hands away from the poor instrument. "... You really messed uup, buut I think we should talk about iit."

"That's not how I talk," Frey objected through an accidental smile, and Marius shook his head.

"Oof course noot, because you don't siing when you taalk."

"That's not what I meant."

"Motheer, I put Marius in an awkward situatiooon, I should have stayed to talk to you myseeelf."

"Just put me out of my misery if you're going to keep playing like that." Frey finally allowed a laugh to escape him. "You're destroying my ears."

"So go talk to her insteaad."

"I swear to Ilara, if you don't—"

"Frey."

Marius' playing ended abruptly, and they both stared at Valdís who'd entered the room without them noticing.

"I'm..." she continued, gaze wandering between the two of them and the piano with increasing anguish in her eyes. "... Sorry."

Frey had stood up without thinking. He didn't know what to do, but he had to resist the temptation to run off again. 'Sorry' was far from enough to make him feel better, but he begrudgingly admitted to himself that Marius was right, because he didn't want her to leave either."

"He wouldn't want this." Valdís took slow steps forward to place a hand against the piano. "He wouldn't want us to fight. He wouldn't let you sacrifice your happiness the way I've tried to."

It was the first time Frey had noticed her hands clenching like that, and possibly the first time he'd ever seen tears in her eyes.

"I of all people should know," she croaked. "I lost him. The man I loved was torn away from me, and I was powerless to stop it."

Frey's initial reaction was to stop her. To interrupt where she was going, both because he couldn't bear to see her cry and also because there was a big chance he'd start crying as well if she continued.

But he couldn't say anything.

"I know the pain." Valdís continued when no reply came. "I know the grief of living without him. Without his love, without his support, and without his ability to make me laugh..." She drew a breath. "... And yet, I was ready to let you endure the same thing."

She looked up to face Frey again, only for him to respond by averting his eyes.

"He would have supported you. Even if it affects people negatively. Even if there's no solution to it, because he always put his family first."

She glanced over at Marius.

"And it's true he's not here anymore, but... That's all the more reason for me to be."

Frey finally looked up at that.

"You're...?" he managed, but was once again rendered near speechless as Valdís walked around the piano to pull him into an embrace.

"We'll think of something." She held him tight. It was an awkward hug, but admittedly a good effort for being her. "I don't know how, but I won't let them hurt you anymore, no matter what."

Tears finally won the battle, and Frey's face scrunched up as he hugged her back.

"It's alright," Valdís whispered, running a hand through his hair. "It will be alright, I promise."

She smiled as they finally let go of each other, turning her head in Marius' direction again.

"Marius, if it's all right, I'd like to speak with him alone."

"Oh well if you insist," Marius said from where he'd already backed away to stand next to the door, and wasted no time obeying the request further.

As the door shut and the room went quiet, Frey felt awkward again. Deep conversations with his mother had been rare at best, and this may be the most emotionally heavy one he'd ever have with one of his parents.

"How about we play?" Valdís then suggested, and Frey exhaled in relief. Of course. The most comfortable they had both been around each other were the times by the piano. Perhaps not just because the shared interest, but because they could spend time with each other and talk while having great excuses to avoid eye contact, now more understandable than ever.

Frey didn't need more of a cue than the keys Valdís pressed down first. It was the melody they'd played the most with each other, and would require no real concentration from either of them.

"You're a better actor than me." Valdís began as she let the rhythm fill the room. "It's not an excuse, but it occurs to me, seeing how I hadn't realised just how much you were hurting."

"I did my best," Frey agreed, not without bitterness in his words as he followed her lead. "I didn't want to let you or Father down, and I tried to disregard the pain by telling myself no one understood me."

He narrowed his eyes, accidentally skipping a note.

"It's what I tried to tell myself as well, because it was that or acknowledging that what you said was right. That there was something wrong with me. Not that it didn't eat me up from the inside regardless."

Valdís lost focus for a beat as well, chewing on her lips before deciding to go on.

"It was just me, really." Her voice was strained, overflowing with guilt in a way Frey had never heard before. "Claus may have gone along with it after some deep reluctance, but I'm the one who forced him to treat your condition that way."

"That's..." Frey's fingers fumbled over another chord while he struggled with emotions. "... A relief, I suppose."

"How so?"

"At least he hesitated, and it makes me feel a little better for your sake as well. So his affection for all of you was at least genuine."

"It definitely was," Valdís assured him, lips trembling. "He loved all of us so much, you have no idea."

He couldn't help it. No matter how much he didn't want to address it, he had to know.

"And... What about you?"

Valdís blinked, meeting his eyes briefly as if looking for clues to his emotions.

"What about me?"

"Do you love us?" Frey unknowingly pressed his fingers down a little too slow. "Do you love me?"

"Of— Of course I do." Valdís' forehead wrinkled. "Why would you think otherwise?"

Frey's shoulders remained tense, going back and forth between feeling stupid and finding his worries valid.

"You were seventeen when you had me." His voice was low. "I know I was an accident, and I figured maybe Father wanted me because we were always closer, but... Maybe you didn't, you just had to go along with it. Because you didn't dare to say no, or... Because you saw me as an opportunity to marry into his family."

Valdís sighed, once again seemingly pondering something before continuing.

"You may not have been planned," she admitted. "But that does not mean I didn't want you. We both did, from the beginning. I was nervous, and scared, because I knew there would be trouble by having you, but... We both thought you were worth it."

"And that's the truth?" Frey wanted to be certain, throwing a glance in his mother's direction. "It's hard to tell now that I know you're a practised liar."

"Well, so are you, though I'll take most of the blame for that." Valdís grimaced. "But it's true, of course. I've loved you from the moment I found out you existed, and everything I've done— no matter how cruel it's been— has been because I thought it was for the best."

"It's hard to believe."

"I know." Valdís nodded slowly. "Claus warned me I was becoming like my mother, who'd taught me to hide it from the beginning, but I didn't listen. After enduring all the mockery and humiliation from letting it show, I had to believe she was right."

Before Frey could open his mouth, Valdís answered the question he was about to ask.

"But she didn't force me to hide it out of love. She wanted our family to look good, so... Your worries that my motives were similar are more than understandable. I just... Thought I could do it differently."

"You should have just told me," Frey mumbled, eyes lowering to his hands again. "Make me understand why you wanted me to hide it."

"He told me so as well." Valdís' smile was wry. "But I insisted on burying it deep, even trying to forget about it myself."

"So people wouldn't use it against you." Frey stifled a sigh. Grudge aside, he knew her reasoning was not unprompted.

"I think we both would have thrived in a different environment." Valdís made a face. "But I think we somehow got stuck in the worst kind."

Through the initial anger and sorrow, Frey found his way back to guilt.

"I didn't want to leave everything behind." He frowned as it didn't ring true. "I mean, I wanted to leave... But it was partly because I felt like I had to, and I needed to go somewhere Marius could follow."

"But all the way here?" Valdís did not sound convinced. "You seem to have gotten by before, using his position as a stable boy to move around."

"Well, he... Doesn't have that job anymore. He's not even allowed back at the BBT mansion." Frey felt his mouth going dry as Valdís' scepticism seemed to return. "There was... An incident. We were found out, maybe by the worst person possible."

An unexpected tiredness appeared in Valdís' narrowing eyes, and her lip curled.

"Carrigan?"

Frey flinched, suddenly considering the possibility that she'd already been filled in on the rest of the story, either lying about Damien's silence or perhaps even having spoken to Carrigan herself.

"How...?"

"It's not surprising." Valdís' voice dripped with contempt. "If there's one blood sucker in that town who could hold a candle to you and figure it out that quickly, it would be him."

Frey's heartbeat picked up its pace, dreading follow-up questions, but he had to at least continue his ongoing explanation.

"I know it's difficult, with him being a family friend and all, but... Things happened, and... Marius punched him."

Valdís stopped playing, eyes widening as she turned her head to stare at Frey.

"Marius... Punched Carrigan?"

"Yes."

"In his face?"

"That's how he lost his job."

And so, adding to the day of surprises, Frey witnessed not just his mother crying for the first time, but also laughing out so loudly he almost had to cover his ears.

Which seemed inappropriate as a reaction to Marius losing his job.

"He punched him?" Valdís managed to ask once again while catching her breath. "A stable boy punched Carrigan?"

"Mother, he lost his job."

"A job at the stables." Valdís dismissed the comment with a handwave. "He won't have to worry about that when he's with us. Even if he felt the need to work despite not needing to, there's plenty of work to be done in West Kerilia."

"Well... We still need to figure that whole situation out." Frey grimaced, unsure what to do with himself with all the mood changes going on. "And you're handling your friend being punched alarmingly well."

Valdís paused her amusement for a sharp scoff.

"Claus' friend. If you can even call him that."

Frey's frown deepened.

"I thought when people said 'friend to the family' it meant both of you."

"We couldn't stand the sight of each other." Valdís wrinkled her nose. "There's a reason he and Claus grew apart over the years, and it's largely because of me."

"I... Guess Carrigan did say Father was the only one in this family he respected."

"I'm arguably the worst one according to him. Did you know he offered to pay Claus not to marry me?"

"He...?"

"They made a contract and everything. They wrote a whole bunch of stupid contracts like that just for amusement's sake, immature boys as they were, but that one arguably takes the prize."

Frey stared, a small glimpse of hope growing inside at the mention, but Valdís shook her head with a sigh.

"I know what you're thinking, and I thought the same. That's how I found it in the first place. As soon as I heard about the threat I went digging in documents to see if I could find dirt on him, but... He's always been careful. Always made sure no contract could be signed over to anyone else, not even family members, so if we want to get to him we'll need to look for other ways."

Frey's shoulders dropped, hope dying again.

"That's easier said than done. There's a reason I've been unsuccessful so far."

Valdís huffed.

"I taught you better than that. Everyone has weaknesses, and we've always been successful in finding them in others before, so we'll find Carrigan's as well."

Frey smiled weakly at that, returning to playing where the melody had been interrupted while letting out a low sigh of relief that they'd somewhat sorted things out. Not entirely, but enough for one conversation.

Valdís joined in, seemingly a little less tense as well, and they let music replace talking once again.

He hadn't expected that kind of comfort, even before their fight. At best, Frey had hoped for understanding and some moral support in his battle against South Kerilia, but it had been a foolish assumption. His mother was the one ready to fight back with all she had, only waiting for him to join her, and it was a tremendous weight off his shoulders.

He looked up from the piano as Valdís suddenly chuckled to herself, and he tilted his head.

"What?"

Valdís shook her head, seemingly holding back another laugh.

"He punched him in the face."

The amusement turned contagious, and Frey stifled a snort as well.

"He sure did."