As the evening came, the group got inside the wagons, and the horses were set on their path again. A lot had happened between the morning and now, and yet only a few things were stuck inside everyone's head. The end of their journey, the awkward moment between Aura and Zephyr in the river, and for Rudy, it was the shocking uptick in the number of blowjobs his mother had given.

Another number was added to her tracker, making it go from twice to thrice, with the gauge above Custer's name having filled slightly more towards what appeared to be a symbol of a heart. Pairing that with what Audrey had told him, he was left aghast with not a word coming out of his mouth. But the wagons weren't quiet, far from it. The hero's in the lead with Aura guiding the horses for Custer's, the succubus was telling everyone a story.

"And then we met this weird witch, she showed us all kinds of weird stuff she had for sale." Grabbing the reins of the bicorn in one hand, she reached inside her cleavage and produced a furry white coin purse. "She gave me this. It gives you a coin if you have no money, but nothing more and nothing less, and the moment you take the silver coin out, the purse loses its power until you're coinless again."

"That's…" Watching her put it away, Glyea, who was sitting beside her, turned her head to the others with a stuck expression. "Great item, I guess."

"Not really," smiling still, Aura glanced across the many faces of the women riding the back of the wagon in front. "But after studying it, I managed to create magic items of my own. As for this one, it's nothing more than a preface–something to use as an example to learn the basics of enchantment."

"What about your master, did he learn it too?" The most curious, given the fact that she wasn't as distracted by the others, Roxanne pushed the conversation further. "I heard he makes the potions."

Nodding her head, Aura confirmed.

"That's right, but he learned it from someone else." Taking a brief pause, Aura pursed her lips for a moment. "Well, it's a long story, actually. Master and I have been traveling for a long time; it'd take days to catch up to what happened. So how about you guys tell me something about yourselves first, and I'll tell you where we're from, amongst other interesting stuff?"

With a quick shrug of her shoulders, Roxanne glanced over at Freya. After the repeated mistake with Custer, the mother was lost in her own thoughts and not exactly listening to what was going on. Seeing as such, Roxanne shifted her attention to the succubus.

"My full name's Roxanne Watcher. Miss Hilton took me in after my family abandoned me a long time ago."

Tilting her head slightly, Aura grew even more curious. And while she could simply peer inside the girl's mind, hearing her perspective on the matter was far more exciting to her.

"Why did they abandon you?" She asked, shedding her expression to reflect a sense of pity towards the girl.

"To avoid partitioning the estate into many parts. My parents had many children, and I assume they had me as a mistake." Neither hurt nor self-pity came over her face. Roxanne was over that abandonment. What troubled her now was that she might run into them during this visit. "At first I tried writing them letters, begging them to take me back…"

As her story continued, Freya finally picked up what was being said. Roxanne was retelling the spiral of her life and, in a way, painted her as the savior who took in an abandoned child. The reality, however, was far distant. Freya had no love for children. She didn't even enjoy raising her kid, be it Rudy or Audrey. The only reason she even took Roxanne in…

"I needed help around the inn, and you were desperate to help." Placing a hand on her shoulder, Freya squeezed it lightly. "I even told you I won't pay you, but you insisted, so I gave you permission to sleep in Audrey's room."

Slowly turning her head, Roxanne faintly remembered what Freya had just said. Looking into the mother's eyes, she felt conflicted. Freya was no second mother to Roxanne, but without her help, who knows what would've happened to her.

"You worked and earned the spot, that's it–"

"Nonsense, I bet you saw her and remembered our own childhood." Interjecting in the middle of Freya's sentence, Charlotte moved closer towards the end of the wagon. Still visibly upset at her sister, she spoke in a whisper yet with a viper's sharp sting. "Abandoned by our parents and left in the cold. Willing to do any work possible, even asking around for a way to earn–this girl reminded me of you, and I know you saw it too. Knowing magic on top of that? Minus the youthful look, you two were damn near twins."

"So she was more of a mother to her than me, huh…"

What would've otherwise been a moment of bonding turned into squints and glares. Audrey's words were razor-sharp, and the apparent hatred in them was audibly ringing in everyone's head. Ever since she was disturbed this morning, her mood had been as her race would suggest–feral and snarling.

"Well, sounds like someone's got a grudge," breaking the silence with a clap, Aura turned her eyes to Freya. "What about you? I've heard that your father owned these lands, so how come you ended up homeless and abandoned?"

Had it been any other time, Freya would've outright refused to answer, but with the awkward tension lingering in the air, she shifted in her spot a little and spoke up.

"That's a long story too–"

"We have time, I'll tell you something about us once you tell me about you."

Keeping her head low, Freya stared at the passing cobblepath. Her mind was quiet for once, but there was one faint voice in her head that whispered.

'Tell her, you've carried the burden long enough.' And thus, even though she'd kept it all a secret even from her son, Freya took a deep breath and shared the story of the Hiltons' downfall.

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