After Infendren caught the children and brought Charlie up to his bedroom to rest after he healed her wounds he found himself sitting across from Alastair at his dining table. The poor boy had just finished explaining how he and his sister had killed their parents and he was wiping tears from his eyes and blowing his nose on his blood-stained tunic. Although Alastair had been completely emotionless when he arrived at the door; They had quickly returned once he knew Charlie was safe. Infendren admired Alastair's devotion to his sibling but it also worried him, it worried him even more than his sister's violent tendencies. Ifendren was smart enough to know that if Charlie kept putting herself in danger Alastair would keep saving her and he feared that if Alastair was forced to shut his emotions off too many times they would never return to him. If that ever happened, these siblings, who had already proven themselves as a substantial potential threat to the city would quickly become some of its most menacing inhabitants. If Infendren were to ask the Baron what to do. He knew what he'd say. 

"Kill the children before then grow too powerful and your kindness becomes our downfall once again." 

Because of this Infendren had no intention of bringing it up the next time he saw the man.

***

Infendren hadn't spoken since Alastair had finished telling him their tale. At first, the stillness of the wizard's house had been comforting but it caused Alasitar's fear for his sister to fade, and when it did his emotions quickly returned to him. He had just killed his father and Charlie had killed their mother what did she think of him? what should he think of her? Charlie was his sister, he'd never desert her but could he ever forgive her for what had happened. Should he? their parents had been horrible people but they were still people and furthermore they had been the only family he and Charlie had had besides each other. He remembered every moment of the day with startling detail. A side effect, he believed, of his heightened emotionless state. Tears began to well in his eyes as Alastair recounted all that had happened to him.

"Infendren?" He asked.

The wizard looked up. "hmm?"

"Do you think I'm a bad person?"

The wizard's face softened and he began to stroke his beard. "well that's the question of the day." Infendren answered. "I think you did a bad thing, but are you a bad person? No, no, I don't think so. It's true that you snapped your father's neck, and under normal circumstances that would be an unredeemable act. But the fact of the matter is that if you hadn't put him to rest as quickly as you did he would have killed Charlie in a far slower manner. So, to put it simply, I think that you did what needed to be done. The very fact that you were willing to do whatever you needed to for your sister's sake makes you what we in the wizarding world call a Dark Angel."

"Pardon?" Alastair asked.

"A Dark Angel is technically an angel who has lost the grace of their deity but in this context, it refers to a person that is willing to do horrible things for the right reason," Infendren explained.

"That makes me feel a little better I guess," Alastair said.

"I only speak my truth." The wizard replied with a smile and held out his hand for Alastair to take. "As long as you know that you did wrong and your willing to promise me that you will never take another life, for any reason again then I'm willing to let the matter end there. Your parents were not good people and I have long feared that something like this would happen."

"Very well I think I can honestly promise at least that," Alastair answered shaking Infendren's hand and feeling the wizard's magic bind him to his word. "But I have another question."

"Which is?"

"If I'm a Dark Angel as you say what does that make Charlie? I don't know what happened between her and our mother but I have a feeling that she struck first." Alastair confessed.

When you finished your tale I used my magic to spy on your sister's memories. I do not relish the intrusion of privacy but I did learn what prompted her to start a fight. In my opinion, it is not my place to recount Charlie's reasons to you but suffice to say that I believe that she was justified and that it was not her but your mother who was responsible for escalating the situation into a fight to the death."

***

When Charlie woke up she was lying in a small bed that she assumed belonged to the wizard Infendren In a small but barren room. The room was cozy despite its lack of furniture. The floor was carpeted and Charlie could tell that the house was magically soundproofed against the noises of the city as she listened to her own breathing. As she rolled out of bed the first thing she had noticed was that her clothes were nowhere to be seen at first she was startled but then she saw a soft fur robe lying on the edge of the bed and wrapped it around herself before going downstairs to meet her brother and the wizard who had been their savior so many times before. As she walked down the small hallway she began to think of all the things that had happened... Well, exactly when she didn't know. How long had she been asleep? Her fight with that woman had probably been more taxing on her than she realized. She scanned her body and found that she was unscathed except for a particularly nasty scar on the right side of her stomach. That meant the fight had been bad. If Infendren had decided to use magic to heal her she was probably close to death. She had definitely felt close to death when she fainted at his doorstep. Should she feel bad about what she had done? Maybe, but that didn't mean that she did. As far as Charlie was concerned that hag had gotten what she deserved.