Arron watched silently at Chrysanta’s new reaction to seeing a ghost, especially the ghost of her uncle whom she had hated. He didn’t like how she now would hysterically laugh when she would see one, and there wasn’t a day that went by when there wasn’t at least one ghost walking around.
Something had been left out, when Chrysanta had told him about the training trip she had taken. That she was changing was undeniable, anytime he tried to ask her about her work with the militia she became silent, the only time she would talk about her job was when she got a promotion or was close to getting another promotion. Some nights he had to sleep on the floor with Cadeyrn because if he bumped her in her sleep she would start screaming and hitting in her sleep. To say that Arron was worried for and about his wife Chrysanta would have been an understatement.
Chrysanta spent her days off trying to understand a tools manual that her commander had loaned her. The pages were torn, tattered, smudged and nearly impossible to read. Chrysanta would frequently end her study session rubbing her forehead and eyes complaining of headache. If it wasn’t for the need of the information she would have tossed the book ages ago.
One night Cadeyrn brought home a bunch of people for what he called a “political gathering” he and the others discussed changes that they wanted to see happen with the town council and around the valley. In turn Cadeyrn explained that for him to continue on with the council and replace some of the older members that they needed to find a way of breaking the business conglomerates hold on the council. “There has to be a way” he exclaimed, “we the people need to be in control of our town not the businesses“. That everyone agreed was clear but they were having trouble agreeing on the way forward.
In the end the gathering had achieved some forward momentum and they all agreed that having discussions like this were beneficial and that they would get together again in the future, when they could.
Arron wasn’t sure why Chrysanta kept pushing herself to read the tools manual, as much as she complained about it, that she had gone from doting on their daughter all the time to almost ignoring her was just one of Arron’s many concerns, he even tried to talk with Cadeyrn about the problems he was noticing, but all Cadeyrn seemed to want to talk about was the council and the valley politics. That Cadeyrn had managed to become a local representative was good he hoped, especially if it allowed Cadeyrn to implement some of the changes he kept talking about wanting to make. Cadeyrn said that one change he wanted was larger homes, but he needed to have another gathering to discuss policy changes.
Arron watched Diantha as she ate her soup, he couldn’t put his finger on it but she had changed somehow, it wasn’t just that she was old enough to start school it was something else. The subtle change bothered him and added to his worries.
As Arron played chess with Diantha one of her comments crystallized the change in her personality for him. He didn’t know if it was because Chrysanta had started ignoring Diantha or if it was an inherited trait but Diantha had developed an evil side, this coupled with her ability to learn fast could spell trouble in the future. Arron hoped that with good parenting that Diantha could learn to put her dark side to use for the good of people and not to torture them needlessly as he had been told Biff had done.
With Arron and Chrysanta’s blessing Cadeyrn started taking Diantha with him to some of his political functions. It had been decided that it would be good for her to get out of the house once in a while, since they didn’t know yet how often the school bus would come for her.
On one particular snow day Diantha started shouting at the chess pieces at first Arron was worried, and then she started talking about a need for electricity and that the science center was the place to tinker with stuff and he relaxed. Diantha may have inherited her uncle Biff’s evil trait but it sounded as though she had also inherited her Uncle Badr’s passion for science, and she had already made up her mind that the science center was the only possible career path in the world for her.
The snow days and public office closures had gotten to a point of regularity that Chrysanta and Cadeyrn decided at the same time that everyone should go to the big park, as the town square was now called, and then maybe down to the bay. During the drive Chrysanta commented that it would be nice if the bay or park had toilets or something to do besides just stand around and talk. Cadeyrn admitted that he was trying to get public toilets past certain members of the council but it wasn’t easy. He also told her that if select members had their way some of the new rules would be rolled back and people wouldn’t be allowed to travel around town anymore.
When a fight broke out between Noemi LeBlanc and Royce Bower over politics Arron suggested that they should head to the bay. Chrysanta mumbled without looking up from her book, Cadeyrn wanted to talk longer with Annie Hull but agreed that perhaps the bay would be better.
When they reached the bay Diantha noticed the fish jumping out of the water and said she wanted to try catching some. Chrysanta and Arron exchanged looks, and agreed Diantha could try so long as she stayed out of the water. After a short search Diantha found what appeared to be an abandoned pole and started trying to catch fish. Chrysanta watched for a minute before shoving her nose back in the repair manual that she always carried around with her. Arron watched a few minutes longer before turning to listen to Cadeyrn talk about politics having nothing else to do.
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