That multipart omake I mentioned earlier is fighting me tooth and nail, so I wrote this omake instead. I was hoping for a quick yet good omake but it
kinda got away from me.
Family Reunion
Mary Smith aka Maria Sanchez POV
Mary was of two minds when it came to planting Razorweed. On the one hand the work was unpleasant, and there was no real way to handle the stuff without getting cut. On the other, said plants had been instrumental in saving many lives, including those of her family.
"It's not like I'm unused to blood and pain", she thought to herself wryly. Indeed, Father's whip had extracted plenty of both from her before she ran away. At least the vines offered something in return for the pain they caused. John would never have survived his fever without that Razorweed infusion. Her bastard of a father just considered it his rightful due, and to hell with anyone who said differently.
"Excuse, me, Mary", her thoughts were interrupted by Adeleke. There was always a certain awkwardness in her interactions with many of the Unchained, more than experienced by other Europeans in Union. She supposed that her features brought back too many unpleasant memories, although things got a bit better once Abeni caught a glimpse of her scars.
"The trade ship has arrived", ah, good, hopefully they have livestock. Wait, why is Adeleke telling her this? She's not on the Council.
"A man claiming to be your brother is onboard asking for you". Maria's heart skipped a beat. How had her family managed to find her in this backwater? She had covered her tracks so well. Maria tried to calm herself, muttering under her breath "Focus, Maria, Focus. If doesn't matter how you were found. What matters is which brother it is". Fernando she could handle, but Adán?
"W-which one?", Maria forced the words from her lips. "He identified himself as Brother Fernando Sanchez of the Society of Jesus". The tension left her body. Adán was Father's creature, cruelty and all, but Fernando was his own man. Their hatred was both deep seated and quite mutual. That's probably one of the reasons why he left to join the Jesuits.
"If you wish, we can send him", Adeleke couldn't even finish his sentence before she shook her head. Fernando was stubborn as a mule, which is likely how he found her. Even if the scouts told him she was dying of an exceedingly lethal and contagious disease, he'd still rush to her side, if only to give her last rites. He'd only stop if he was told she was dead, and Maria couldn't do that to her brother. With her mind made up, she opened her mouth once more "I will go".
Fernando Sanchez POV
What was taking so long? Fernando paced back and forth along the forest's edge. Only painful experience of what hidden dangers lurked within the New World kept him from running off into the forests.
"Hello brother".
Fernando spun around at once. Where had she come from? Could she have …? No, if Maria didn't poison Father despite him giving her plenty of motive and opportunity, she wouldn't sell her soul for a few parlor tricks. He must have been deeper in thought than he thought, that's all.
He studied his sister. At first glance little had changed. A few years older, a few pounds lighter. Her clothes were worn but well maintained, and her face had lines from smiling, something he would have thought impossible in his youth.
Then he looked into her eyes, and realized much had changed in those years. They were like steel. Fernando had only seen eyes like that once before, during his education. A member of the Order of Saint George had retired to the university after age and injury had forced his service in the Balkans to end. He had eyes like that, and none he asked either knew or would speak of how he got them. What had Maria seen, to have eyes like that?
His reverie was interrupted by Maria's hug, "It's good to see you. I hope you won't be in trouble with your superiors for coming to visit me". Fernando shook his head, tears falling down his face, "I would accept such punishment gladly, but fortunately am officially here to evaluate the potential of setting up a mission to convert the heathens here".
"As much as I would like to see you more, I'm afraid your superiors in the Society will be disappointed", Maria said. "There was once a tribe here ripe for conversion, but they were destroyed during our first winter here. What few survivors remain are scattered and extremely mistrustful of outsiders".
She hesitated for a second, then continued to speak "What about Father, is he". Fernando interrupted her, "Father is dead. He got himself and Adán killed during a New World trading expedition". What was he thinking? The Mapuche had a long and proud history of killing Europeans. The Society had managed to make a few inroads, but he'd be lying if he said relations between the two were anything but tense. Expecting them not to kill a greedy and unpleasant Spanish merchant who wandered into their territory was like expecting a dog not to eat meat! Hubris and Gold Fever were a truly lethal combination.
Fernando went on, "Cousis Juan has inherited Father's wealth, and he wants to rebuild ties. Without his resources, I would never have been able to find you". "He knows that you have married to a Dual Monarchies man, and he doesn't care. You're family" he finished his pitch.
Maria shook her head mournfully. "We have a saying here in Union, "Winter kills strangers'". Fernando's confusion was obviously clear on his face as she explained "It has multiple meanings, but the important one here is that this place gets in your blood. At first, this place seems like a cruel land, but it doesn't take long to become home".
"You don't understand!" Fernando exclaimed, "There are dark forces haunting the Spanish colonies, if anything like that is around here". The flinch was well-hidden but Fernando had far too much experience seeing his sister's pain.
It couldn't be true, it just couldn't l, "Maria have you?". "Be careful what you say next dear brother. There are those who would kill for such an insult" the steel in Maria's eyes had now spread to the rest of her body, including her voice. Fernando noticed that his escort suddenly had their weapons much closer to hand.
"I have felt the Temptations of Winter, as have all the citizens of Union" so that was what the demon was called. "Like all of us here in Union, I have dedicated my life to ruining the plans of those dark forces", a hint of pride leaked into her words.
"Then why haven't you tried to get aid from the European authorities?"
"How well did that work out in New Spain?", now it was Fernando's turn to flinch. She had a point. The more people, the more likely one would fall to temptation, and once Pandora's box was opened, it could not be closed again.
"And I'm guessing that Union has had to do some stuff that would have 'civilized' society screaming about devil worshippers", Maria gave a look of shock at Fernando's words. "Don't worry, as bad as you might think yourself, you're nothing compared to the Tlaxcala", he said while chuckling. "I'm willing to hide any
peculiarities, or I can enter into negotiations with your leadership for the Society of Jesus as a whole to do so. Believe it or not, this situation was included in my instructions".
"I think something might be arranged, depending upon what your superiors want in return", said a voice from seemingly nowhere that startled them both.
Warrior's Son POV
The Warrior's Son knew that he shouldn't take so much joy from startling people, but it was simply too much fun.
AN: And the rest is a story for another day. I carefully chose which holy order Fernando belonged to. I figure the Jesuit's focus on education and evangelism would mean that they'd have a more nuanced view of what's going on the New World.
Okay, so I'm gonna try and get an omake out for question duty. There's just one problem: It needs names and I suck at names. I'd prefer a French and an Algonquin one if possible, with some extras as backups preferred. Does anyone have any suggestions?
I don't much care for those for RL cultures. The names all too often don't come out right. My go to option is googling [insert culture here] men's/women's names. Same trick works for surnames as well. It's how I got a lot of the names for this omake.
