Chapter 20: Chapter Eighteen: Question Marks

“Wait. What? WHATTTT!?” I shouted.

Ignoring my outburst, Mom turned to Kna’Ve.

“Kna’Ve explain if you would?” she asked.

“Of course, Mrs. Dashuri. What Rua has in her hands is the results of the test we ran on Maua.”

“Right I got that.” Mom replied with a nod. “What I’m not understanding is what’s the commotion for.”

“Also, enough of the ‘Mrs. Dashuri’ junk,” Mom continued. “ You are to call me either Mom or Mother-in-law. Heck, I’ll even allow Unnie, like my granddaughters call me…for now. But I won’t abide by you being so formal when no one is around. Am I understood? “

“M-mother-in-law?!” Kna’Ve sputtered. “But we’re not even engaged yet!”

“‘Yet’ she says. Then it’s only a matter of time is it not?” Mom said, wiggling her eyebrows. “Murua isn’t one to get cold feet, she must be waiting for the golden opportunity.”

‘Great, a gold pun. What a mom joke.’ 

“Am I understood, Kna’Ve?” Mom repeated.

“Y-yes, Mom,” Kna’Ve blushed on both heads. I could feel my cheeks warming up.

“Okay, now that’s out of the way, what the deal with that little doll?” Mom asked. “Most of the testing is filled out on a form. What’s so exciting?”

“To put it simply, it's her answers,” Kna’Ve responded.

“Really?” I asked. “I know I reacted strangely but that girl has been putting me on edge. Thinking about it clearly, the information doesn't seem accurate. Didn’t she just put down whatever?”

Kna’Ve shook her head in response.

“No, not at all. Firstly, she can’t read and write at all.”

“Someone that well-spoken is illiterate?” Mom asked, shocked. 

“Well from where she’s from, it would be more of a surprise if she could.” 

“Ah, that’s right, she did say she’s from down there,” I frowned. “In that case how did she fill it out?”

“I read it to her and recorded her responses. But honestly, that didn’t help much. She didn’t know anything about her species, her age, or even what affinities and concepts even were.” 

“So then how did you…” I trailed off.

“How did you finish it?” Mom asked, taking the paper from my hand.

“With the T.A.T.E.R. T.O.T. of course!” Kna’Ve gushed.

“Kna’Ve. What the shell is a T.A.T.E.R. T.O.T.?” Mom asked gently.

“The True Analyzer of Talent Energy Recording Tablet of the Origin Tree.” Kna’Ve said, attempting to clarify.

Mom looked at her with a face full of deadpan.

“It's the stone tablet thingie with the orbs,” I added.

“Oh that,” Mom’s smile reappeared.”So, what?”

“Well if you remember, that table has a splinter of the Primordial Tree within it, meaning that it can read a person from just a little bit of their soulia and supplements what it can’t with known knowledge from around the world,” Kna’Ve explained, the glint in her eyes resurfacing.

“Oh, so that's what it does.” Mom said. “I honestly forgot about that thing.”

“Wha! How could you?” Kn’Ave yelped.

Mom shrugged. “Well, honestly there’s not really been a need for it. Most people know all their information before they come to sign up.”

She glanced down at the paper again.

“That being said, if it's supposed to know about the person, why does Maua’s paper have so many question marks on it?”

“That’s the thing, I really don’t know,” Kna’Ve explained. “I rushed here as soon as I read it. I remember that Rua had a couple of question marks on her reading too.”

“Okay, interesting. I do remember that.” I said. “Let’s break it down piece by piece then. Mom if you would, from the top.”

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“Alright…the first question marks appear…right next to her name. Specifically, after it.” Mom replied.

“So that could mean that she has a family name?” I interjected. “But she doesn’t know it?”

“Sounds like the most plausible explanation,” Kna’Ve affirmed. 

“Moving on,” Mom continued. “This isn’t a question mark, but it might as well be one. Her species says Edenite. What the shell is that? I’ve been guild master for a long time, but I’ve never heard anyone from a species called that before.”

“Have you ever seen anyone who looks like her?” I asked, genuinely interested. 

“Hmm. Good point. No, most certainly not. The closest match would probably be a spritioid or a forest-kin. But there’s no way a forest-kin could make it down there without some assistance and the spiritoids avoid that place like the plague.”

“Edenite…surely it doesn’t mean that garden does it?” I theorized. 

“Your gut feeling about her having to do with the resonances seems a lot more likely now,” Kna’Ve said.

I let out a sigh.

“Well since it’s there, I assume there some information about the Edenite race somewhere out there. I guess we’ll have to do some digging.”

“So, her age is also full of questions…no way to really tell with that one.” Mother stated. 

“Right, appearances can be deceiving.” 

“She’s only 4’7? I thought she was a bit taller than that,” Mom murmured with a snicker.

“I thought she was smaller, to be honest,” I replied.

“Well, maybe being over six feet has skewered our perceptions.”

“How much does she weigh then?” 

“Forty-five pounds. That would make her a little over three stones.” the purple-haired lady said, tracing the numbers in the air with her finger. “We’ll get her some food after we finish this discussion.”

“What’s left?” I questioned.

“Arguably the most important part. Concepts, natural, and affinities.” Kna’Ve answered.

‘Right, that’s what got me riled up in the first place. Even though I only took a glance at it.’

Looking down at the section, Mom cleared her throat.

“Let’s start with affinities then. She has a strong affinity for Light, Darkness, Water, and Fire.”

‘Wow. Four affinities and they’re two sets of opposing elements. It’s pretty uncommon to have more than two affinities. And it’s even rarer for them to be opposing.’

The room fell silent as the three of us digested that.

‘I only have three affinities myself. And opposition affinities can generally be super powerful if utilized correctly. Case and point the Antithe royal family. If her concept is even decent, she can end up being one of the most powerful beings on the planet.’

“Moving on to natural abilities…she’s got one right now. Spirit form. But she’s going to have at least one more because there are question marks behind it. “

‘Well, I’m not even surprised at this point.’

“And what of about her concept, Mom?” I asked.

“Well here’s the thing,” She took a deep breath. “She has at least two. One of them is mold. And next to that is a bunch of question marks.”

“Are you sure you aren’t looking at the sub concept section?”

“No, this is definitely the concept part,” she replied.

‘Well, that will do it. Concepts are how one generally applies magic through their affinities. It’s possible to do affinity-based magic too, but it's usually basic and weak. Having more than one concept is legitimately unheard of.’

Mom stood up from her seat.

“Okay, I'm pretty sure it’s obvious that Maua has the potential to be extremely dangerous, and we need to be extremely cautious around her. So this is what we’re going to do…”