Wendy: Hi, Ullrich! I am so sorry I'm late.Ullrich: (smile) No problem. I just got down here a little bit ago myself.
Wendy: So is everything okay? Feather's all right...?
Ullrich: Yeah, this isn't anything like that. Um... Tegen and I wanted to... well...
Wendy: (gently) It must be pretty important. You even put on a shirt. (smile)
Ullrich: Yeah... Tegen suggested dressing up a little bit. I said it probably wouldn't matter. Anyway, look...
Ullrich: Tegen and I wanted to ask you about bringing someone else into the house. My sister, Lorelei...
Wendy: Of course, Ullrich!
Ullrich: Well, it's a little complicated. Tegen says Lore is going to need some special help when she gets here and that you should know her history before you agree to anything... (sigh) Okay, so when I was a kid...
Ullrich: ... we lived on a farm. Mom, Dad, me and my little sister. Just the four of us, and a dog, some chickens, that kind of thing. It was nice. My parents weren't wealthy, but we did okay. Or, at least I thought we were doing okay.
Ullrich: When I was 13, the crops failed. We might have been okay, but we discovered dad had not only spent all the savings but that he'd run up some serious gambling debts too, and we ended up falling way behind on the mortgage. It was bad. Bad enough, that in the province where we lived, the landlord was entitled to kill my dad, for the debt.
Ullrich: In an act of "kindness" the landlord said that he would not kill my dad, but instead was willing to take one of us kids in payment. Figuring that a boy child would carry on the family name, my parents gave him my sister, Lorelei, and we moved away shortly after that.
Ullrich: I managed to keep track of where she was for a while, though obviously I couldn't have any communication with her. I lost her for a while, but I recently found out where she is again, and they're willing to sell her.
Ullrich: Well, not to me. Tegen said the kind of house she's in would be less likely to sell her to a family member, so she's done all the negotiating. I guess they think she wants her as some kind of maid servant or something. With all the odd jobs I've been doing for Emi around the house, I've put together enough money to buy her back.
Wendy: Ullrich, you only needed to tell me. I would've bought her back for you.
Ullrich: I know you would have, but I didn't want... I didn't want to just trade owners for her, I wanted her to be FREE.
Wendy: (nodding) I understand.
Ullrich: So Tegen says that Lore is going to need to be kept away from everyone for a while, while she settles in. Whatever that means. I don't think it's going to be a problem, but Tegen wants to keep her in the guest room away from everyone, including you and Trygve. I guess she's never been around humans before...
Wendy: Okay. Whatever you guys need. Just let me know. But she is absolutely 100% welcome here, Ullrich. And we'll do whatever we need to to get her all settled in. I'm really glad you found her again.
Ullrich: Me too. (smile) Thanks. And I'll let you know when she's expected to arrive... uh, I guess so we can make sure you don't answer the door or anything. It's all kind of weird.
Wendy: It's okay. Of course it's weird. It is the Treehouse, afterall. :)