Connor, town of Umbridge, Northeast of Eversong

It was already evening by the time Connor and Lydia decided to rest in the next town. They came upon the town of Umbridge, a rather large town which had many houses and buildings and places of work. The townspeople seemed to still be busy despite it getting later in the day. Connor and Lydia rode to the town's stable and then made their way to the inn.

"May we enter, sir?" Lydia asked the innkeeper who was sweeping outside. He smiled politely and nodded in reply.
"Connor, we will stay here tonight, then perhaps move north tomorrow." Lydia said flatly as she lead Connor inside and had a small conversation with the innkeeper. Connor nodded, still thinking about what had just happened to his home. Lydia came back and lifted his chin up and hugged him tightly before they went up the stairs to their temporary room. The room was on the top floor and was neatly put together and had glass doors on the far wall that lead to a balcony. It had two beds and a table near the middle. Connor wondered how Lydia was able to afford the room, but was too busy with his more pressing thoughts to ask.
"It'll be ok... We know what we have to do, right?" She asked him as she put down their few things on the dresser. Connor nodded in agreement but he wasn't completely sure. He always heard stories of how evil and merciless the King was, but he had never seen it up close. Now Connor knew what the King was capable of, that the King and Queen weren't above murdering innocents, of murdering his mother. He felt a mixture of heartbreaking sadness and blinding rage but snapped back to reality when he saw Lydia staring into his eyes.
"Perhaps...with what has happened and how you're clearly feeling, you should practice some of your magic now." She said slowly, as if she was still thinking about it.

Connor exhaled slowly and sat on one of the beds. "I'm not sure, but I think that could help," Connor said halfheartedly.

Lydia nodded slightly and went out to the balcony to inspect the town then came back in and closed the doors.
"The night air feels wonderful" she commented and moved things around to have space for Connor to practice. Connor saw what she was doing and immediately ran to help her, although surprisingly she seemed to do well enough on her own.

"Thank you, love" she said as they moved the table to the far side of the room.
"Now, where's that falcon statue?" She asked and looked up at Connor. He looked back slightly stunned and shook his head.

"You want to start with that? I thought we were going to do a card trick or something similar." He said with a smile. Lydia rolled her eyes and smirked slightly.

"You need to tame that bird, don't you? It has to know you're the one in charge, since you are a nature warlock." She said, looking through Connor's bag and pulling out the black cloth pouch with the bird statue inside. Connor referred to it as a statue, but in reality he had no idea what to call it. He had never dealt with anything like this in his life, all of this was still so new to him.

"Alright, if you insist." He replied and sat down with the bag. Lydia walked over and took the statue out carefully and placed it on top of the cloth, so it would not touch Connor's hand yet.

"Now from what I have read and remember from your mother trying this, you should have some sort of mental communication with the animals you awaken." Lydia said, sitting next to Connor. Connor could not picture Lydia being friends with his mother over a decade ago, she looked like she would have been younger than Connor was now.

"I didn't feel a connection with the falcon last time, but I will try. Lydia, may I ask you a personal question first?" He asked, hoping not to sound rude.

"Yes, love. Of course." She replied looking at him.

"If you don't mind my asking, how old are you? I just can't picture you knowing my mother so long ago," he chuckled lightly,
"In fact, I had recently began to think that if we were maybe similar in age, maybe..." He trailed off, not meaning to say anything of the sort but the stress from the day had made him not think as clearly.

Lydia stared at him with a mixture of emotions that was unreadable to Connor.
"Connor, I do love you, as I love Avalonna as well. I have watched you both grow up to become wonderful adults and care for you deeply, but not in the way I believe that you would like," she said pausing slightly,
"You are my best friend's child, but even besides that, I am older than you, Connor, much older, so I do not believe anything can become of us even if I were to share your feelings." She said, looking down at the falcon statue.

Connor sighed and nodded slowly in reply. He had always known this would be the case, but facing her rejection now on top of the day's events hit him harder than expected.

"I am sorry, darling," Lydia said, holding his hand to comfort him, "some love just is not meant to be. I am sure you will find someone your own age and forget about me anyway." She said with a hint of smile.

"How could I ever forget about you, Lydia?" He replied with a smirk and a kiss to her forehead. He was taken back at how cold her skin felt.
"Lydia, are you feeling alright?" He asked.

"Yes, it's just the night air from when I was outside." She said smiling politely.
"Come, let us try and wake up that falcon of yours."

Connor nodded, "May we get some supper first? I am sure they provide some food here don't they? I feel weak as it is without magic," he stated, chuckling slightly and laying on his bed with the falcon statue next to him.

"Of course, darling, I shall go downstairs and ask the innkeeper." She smiled and left the room.

Connor sighed and rolled off his bed and went through his small basket of possessions. He had accidentally opened the wrong basket, and found a few of Lydia's personal belongings instead. He went to close the basket quickly but hesitated for a moment. There was a red book among the items that had the same star emblem etched into the cover as the black book Lydia had given Avalonna. It seemed to call to Connor and he took it out quickly and quietly and sat back down to read it. The book was not about witches and warlocks, however it was about magical creatures, all the other magical creatures that existed. Connor flipped through the pages, each had information and descriptions of a different kind of species he had never heard of. There were dragons, of course, but the later pages held even more secrets. Every couple of pages or so had boldly written titles on top with names of magical creatures.
'Fairies, Werewolfs, shapeshifters, and merfolk' were a few of the chapters that caught his eye. He skimmed the passages about these and then he stopped on one random chapter of a different monster and began to read it. This monster sounded horrid, an undead creature that sucked the blood of mortals. As Connor read the descriptions and passages, he started to feel nervous and his heart began to beat slightly faster at the information he had just learned.
'...sunlight is deadly to this creature...' '...cold, undead...'
'...must be invited in...'
Connor read these lines carefully but just then the stairs creaked. He closed the book and put it down as Lydia came back in and put a tray of breads and cheeses on the table.

"'Tis not a feast, but it shall do I believe," she said with a smile then turned and to look at Connor.

"Lydia..." He said shakily, taking out the book from behind his back."

"Connor, where did you get that? You know better than to go through my things without permission." She replied with her hands on her hips but a slight smile to show she was not truly angry.

"It just... called out to me," he started to reply,
"Lydia, may I ask another question?"

"Of course, but be quick, I may eat all the food before you." She laughed and took a bite of bread.

"I read a few passages and some were creatures I didn't know about. One in particular was very intriguing and I feel I have to ask," he breathed, hesitating,
"Are you a vampire?"