The lost brother

A baby was crying. She awoke a tiny moment before the younger sister knocked at her door. She was not accustomed to being woken in the middle of the night, but this did not sway her. At most it made her uneasy, as she knew there was something very unusual going on.

"Your holiness, I'm sorry to wake you, but we have an important guest. I'm sorry, but I didn't know what to do". She could hear alarm in the girl's voice and told her to leave. She would not be long. Sister Maelin had been mistress of Green leaf orphanage for four years now. She had been a sworn sister of the order for two decades now, but she was a practical woman, rather than a spiritual one. She preferred to use her time helping the children find their way in life. That was her prayer, a prayer in service, she often told herself.

It did not take long for her to robe herself and in moments she was heading down the stairs to the main hall where a young man - a magician apparently - was awaiting with a crying child wrapped up in his lap. "What is the meaning of this?" Maelin asked in a demanding voice, as she descended the stairs.

The mage looked at her, smiling, as she came down. "I wish to place this unfortunate individual, my son apparent, in your custody", he said with a enthuastistic look in his eyes. "Much promise in this one". Sister Maelin looked at the young man sceptically. She told the younger sister, who was on call, to wake a wetnurse. "The child is famished, can you not see?", after a moment of hesitation she asked: "We do not get visitors from a guildhouse often. Again, I ask, what is the meaning of this?"

Before she understood what was happening, the magician took a quick step closer and gave the babe to her arms. At the same time he spoke: "For the following ten years I will bring you fifty gold coins every month to maintain this boy's nourishment and education. I will check up on him every time I deliver you payment. He will be brought up as any other child in your establishment, though later he may require additional attention. Is this clear to you?"

She was not taken aback. She'd dealt with men like him before, or so she thought. There was nothing exceptional in the baby as far as she could tell, a scrawny, feeble thing he was. Maelin turned her look back upon the young man, who was still smiling in a most irritating way. She felt appalled by his presence, though this was a rare show of honesty on behalf of a mage of the house of Cannith. She imagined most such children would not be looked after in such fashion. Fifty gold pieces a month was something that gave her pause, though. The church could rarely give such stable support to her establishment. "A bastard then? May I have the pleasure of telling him his parent's names when he is of age".

"Never you mind about that, sister. Just raise him up good and obedient". With that said, the mage took from uder his robe a small bag, which he tossed at the reception table. A small clink took off the bag and with it the mage turned way and started walking back towards the door.

"What shall we call him, sir?" She asked abruptly.

He looked back at her and she could not be sure what the young magician was thinking, his eyes perplexed and full of pity. He stood there for a moment, then said: "Do you know elvish, sister..? The babe is our kind is he not? Call him Edaen. Let him have a chance to be a human child". And with that the mage strode off without another look back.