(Chapter 8) The Rebranding

After spending what feels like an unnecessarily long time explaining undeads to Silver we left the dark space to go and see about getting him rebranded. "So that's what happened" Aurora says after my long winded explanation, "...So are you going to rebrand him?" I ask, "Do you think I should?" She fires back, "Well of course I do, Silver's a sweet kid he doesn't deserve what those anti-shadow pricks have done to him, and besides I could use the extra help around the shop so what could it hurt?" I say looking at her with pleading eyes, after a long moment of silence spent glaring between me and Silver she repents, I watch as she heaves a sigh and begins sorting through her desk after a few moments her hand emerges from her desk with a small red and black stamp, "Okay come over here Silver" I look over at Silver only to find he looks completely dumbfounded, I then remember that this is probably his first time seeing a witch of her calibur, I nudge him with my elbow which seems to snap him out of it. Silver walks over to Aurora who had stepped out to stand just next to her desk, "Now, this may hurt a bit" She says as she lifts the stamp to his collarbone, "Okay...?" Silver says looking a bit confused, She then turns to me, "Cover your ears" She says, I do as she says and place my hands over my ears, "Why should she-" Silver doesn't get to finish him question as Aurora presses the brand into his skin directly over the last one, Silver lets out an ears splitting shriek that I could swear shattered some of the more frail glass objects in the emporium, I fall to my knees at the sound, closing my eyes and pressing my hands harder to my ears, I've never seen an actual rebranding before but I've heard it's basically the same as having your soul ripped apart and crudely stitched back together all in the same instant. Once I'm sure the screaming has stopped I lift my head, only to see that the screaming had stopped because Silver had fainted. I watch as Aurora lets go of her staff which immidiately dissapears and picks him up, "I'll take him" I say moving to take him from her arms, "It's fine, I don't have anything better to do right now anyway" Aurora says before turning and beginning to walk toward one of the bookshelves, "Um, Ms.Aurora" I say rushing to catch up with her, "You don't need to call me that anymore" She says without looking at me, "Huh?" I ask, "We've known each other for over ten years now, we shouldn't stand on formality anymore just call me Rora" She says firmly, "O-oh, yeah, I guess you're right" I say surprised at the sudden freedom. We stop in front of a book case on magical housing and alike I watch as Aurora glares between the doors and the child currently unconscious in her arms, "I got it" I say, I then move forward and place my hand on the center of the book shelf and concentrate, I watch as the book shelf caves in on itself and creates a portal into the housing area, "Thank you" Aurora says as we enter, with me stopping to close the portal, "So Ms-" Aurora shoots me a glare, "I mean 'Rora'" I say the name tasting odd in my mouth as we walk down the white wash door lined hallway (each door leading to a different room in the house), "Can I ask you a question?", "Okay but make it quick, with dawn breaking I'll have to open up the emporium to the living soon" She says shortly, "Do you remember why I stopped sleeping" I ask getting strait to the point. Aurora freezes on the spot, all the color draining from her face. It's not exactly comforting.