"I can only make an educated guess about someone's peculiarity," Mrs. Finch said. "Usually it's correct, though."
She turned to River thoughtfully. "I believe I've met someone similar to you, over half a century ago. She was able to control anything liquid-based, like poisons, water, oil. Blood."
"Did she look like me?" River asked hopefully, wondering if maybe this person was his grandmother, or even great-grandmother.
"Not in the slightest," Mrs. Finch said gently. "People who aren't related can still have smiliar if not the same peculiarities. And I think you, River, have the ability of liquid manipulation, or fluid kinesis, if you prefer the fancier term for it."
Aspen laughed at this.
"Then how did he snap that guy's neck?" She asked curiously through giggles.
"He snapped the wights neck, how can he do that if his peculiarities liquid manipulation?"
"There's blood in the veins in someone's neck," Mrs. Finch explained patiently, noticing River's discomfort. "Someone with fluid kinesis can get very creative with their ability, even going as far as controlling a person's body. River simply forced the veins in the wights neck to move in an unfamiliar direction too quickly, snapping his neck."
Aspen gave a startled choking sound at this and looked down.
"Is it okay if you just show us where are sleeping?" She asked quietly "I need some time to process."
She blinked slowly and rubbed her eyes with her fist in a dazed look.
"you are okay with staying here, right?" She said, turning to River and talking softly "at least for tonight?"
"I'm fine with staying here forever," River declared, his mind racing with all of the cool stuff he could try to do now that he knew what his ability was.
Aspen smiled and looked back at Mrs. Finch, waiting for the golden woman to guide them through the house to their rooms.
"Thank you for letting us stay." She told Mrs. Finch thankfully.
"Of course!" Mrs. Finch said with a smile, opening the door of the room they were in. River blinked in surprise when he saw all of the children from the dining hall staring at him and Aspen eagerly, all of them making no effort to conceal the fact that they'd eavesdropped on the conversation that had happened between the two of them and Mrs. Finch.
Aspen saw this and giggled, placing an arm through River's protectively.
"Excuse us." She told the children politely as Mrs. Finch led the two of them past all of them.
"Where would either of you like to sleep?" Mrs. Finch asked once they got through the crowd of children. "We have rooms in the east wing, near the kitchens, and in the dungeons. Feel free to choose whichever place you'd like."
Aspen turned to River, a singular eyebrow raised.
The Kitchens? she mouthed, so we can sneak snacks, or somewhere else?
She looked around and then smiled at River
this place is awesome. She mouthed.
It is River mouthed back in agreement. "We'd like to be by the kitchens, please."
"Of course," Mrs. Finch smiled. "I hope you're alright with Maya as a roommate, though. She loves to eat food and stay up with the others for the entire night without sleeping."
Aspen paused.
"Do we have to share rooms? Or do we get our own?" She asked curiously, she knew in foster homes you had to share rooms if you had to, as well as orphanages.
"You'll be having a roommate, preferably of the same gender," Mrs. Finch replied. "Even though The Chateau is large and safe, I want everyone to have a roommate in the rare case something does happen so no one will be left alone. Although with the rooms being the size that they are, I'm sure sharing one won't be a problem."
Aspen pressed her plump lips into a thin line.
"Okay…" she said cautiously, she shot a look at River to show she disapproved of this.
She didn't really like people, it took long for her to open up.
The only reason she had been so easy to trust River was because her loneliness had made her become attached to him so quickly.
Now that he was feeling better, River was actually eager to meet the other kids. He gave Aspen a small smile of support, trying to tell her that it'll be okay.
"I know for a fact that pretty much every person here would love to be roommates with either one of you," Mrs. Finch smiled. "You can meet the others who reside near the kitchens too while we have dinner."
Aspen nodded grimly and continued following her.
"Okay." She said, looking at River and then looking away. "Can I still visit River in his room?"
"Of course!" Mrs. Finch said. "I'm not going to force you two to never see each other again."
This place is a million times better than the orphange, River thought, already knowing that he never wants to leave.
Aspen gave a happy squeak and continued, stopping in front of a room with one bed personalized and one half of the room decorated, the other plain and with white sheets and a light blue blanket.
"Can I stay in here?" She asked, she only asked because it was the only relatively looking female room, and it was closest to the kitchen.
"Yes," Mrs. Finch said, nodding her approval. "That's perfectly fine."
Aspen smiled and walked on, noting the surroundings of the room, so she would know how to find it later. The Chateau was pretty big, considering she knew it had at least a dungeon and the mian floor and another floor above it, considering she had seen two sets of staircases, one on each side of the house, that presumably led to the same level above them.
Aspen flashed River a smile and thumbs up.
This is going to be great. She mouthed to him. I'll bring you tons of snacks from the kitchen at night, when everyone's asleep.
Sounds great River mouthed back with a smile.
"There's more bedrooms this way," Mrs. Finch said while walking out of the current room. River followed her, excited to explore more of the castle.
Aspen was excited as well, the Chateau was larger than even the homes in her dreams.
"This place is so big." She said in awe, trying to keep track of how many rooms they had passed or passed through so far, right now she counted seven in total.
"This castle used to belong to a royal family whose name has long since been forgotten to the centuries of time," Mrs. Finch said, opening one of the other doors and stepping into the bedroom inside.
River's eyes widened when he saw the room. All four corners of the vast space contained large boookshelves that were overflowing with books, the spines of them covered in text that River didn't understand. In the middle of the room was a simple looking bed with a large oak desk right next to it covered in papers that had small intricate handwriting scribbled over it, an old fashioned feather pen and inkwell placed neatly on the edge of the desk. River glanced up and blinked at the large world map covering the entirety of the ceiling all of the continents highlighted in vibrant golden ink.
"I'm afraid Darius was getting too used to the idea of not having a roommate," Mrs. Finch sighed. "But he's the only guy without one who decided to live near the kitchens."
"This place is amazing," River breathed, eyeing the books with a grin growing on his face. At the orphange, they greatly discouraged reading so this was a dream come true.
"I'll make sure Darius makes space for you to sleep here," Mrs. Finch smiled.
Aspen agreed and instantly drew towards a bookshelf.
She opened it and began reading, even though she could only read a few words.
"What language is this?" She asked "my dad had some books with this language in it at our house."
Mrs. Finch peered over Aspen's shoulder, scanning the text with dark golden eyes.
"Greek, I believe," she replied. "Darius has books in every language that has existed, even those that are now considered extinct. If you ever need help with anything history or language related, this is the room you can come to."
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