The Hero’s Return

“Daddy!”

The word never failed to melt my heart when coming from Zac’s lips.

At the very moment I set foot in the Chalice Inn again, Zac charged me from the other end of the room, weaving his way between the patrons and serving staff, and threw himself into an embrace with me. I held my boy tight to my chest, overjoyed to see him again.

Until he slipped out of my arms and shoved me away. “Ugh! You smell like ass!”

With hands on my hips I gave him a stern look. “Who taught you to say that?”

“Who taught me?” he asked, looking both confused and nervous.

“Yes. Who said it in front of you?”

“Umm… you did…” he replied.

I didn’t recall having said that in front of him, but I couldn’t be sure he was wrong, so I wasn’t about to call that a lie. “Well, I’m sorry I said that. It’s not a nice thing to say. Tell you what, I promise I’ll try not to say it ever again if you try to do the same.”

He shrugged. “Alright.”

I spotted Benji watching me from behind the counter and called out, “Hey! I’m going to wash up outside, then we’ll talk.”

Benji waved to me. “Sounds good.”

I walked back out the front door of the inn and made my way around to the back, with Zac following close behind. “How’s your cheek?” I asked.

“Miss Jeseka gave me a bandage,” he said, pointing to the piece of cloth stuck to his face.

I set a bucket under the water pump out back and started priming the lever. “Does it still hurt?”

“A little,” he said. “But I’m fine. What did the bad men do to you?” He tilted his head to one side curiously.

Water started to sputter out of the spigot and into the bucket. I pumped the lever faster in hopes of getting more. “They threw mud at me, but they didn’t hurt me,” I said. “And their leader, Mr. Maganti, he apologized for what that bad man did to you and said he’s in a lot of trouble.”

Zac’s face turned dark and he said, “Yeah, I don’t think he’ll ever hurt anyone again.” His voice was monotone and flat. My skin went cold. Part of me wanted to ask him what he meant by that, but I feared what the answer might be.

Instead, a different question came to mind. “Mr. Maganti told me that some people said you were trying to steal Avery’s… the bad man’s sword. Is that true?”

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“No!” Zac protested. “I just wanted to look at it.”

“Did you ask for permission before you put your hands on it?” I asked.

“Umm… no…”

I shook my head. “Well, don’t you think it might be a good idea to ask people before you touch their stuff? You don’t like it when other people touch your stuff without asking.”

“I… I suppose…”

“Well, regardless, what he did was far worse.” I returned the lever to its downward position just as the bucket filled. A few more drips and it was done. I removed my shirt, picked up the bucket, and poured the water over my head. The freezing water loosened up the clumps of mud and I was able to pick most of them out, but I’d need to stop by the bathhouse soon to get a deeper clean.

“Hey, Ahv?”

I immediately recognized the voice as Jeseka’s, though she sounded nowhere near as upset with me as she’d been the last time we spoke. In fact, her voice sounded somewhat hopeful, even cheerful, and when I turned to face her I saw an expression which matched her tone. A soft smile with gentle eyes.

Eyes which I could swear had just given me the once-over.

“Jeseka,” I said with a nod, wiping more mud from my face with my hand. “How can I help you?”

She leaned one of her muscular arms against the inn’s wall. “I just wanted to apologize for my overreaction earlier. When you suggested befriending the Tagrosi soldiers I thought you were saying we should just… bow to our captors, and that’s something I will never do.”

“I’d never suggest we become slaves,” I said with a shake of my head.

“As I saw,” she said. “When you fought that soldier who hurt Zac I realized that I’d misjudged you.” Typical. The orc woman was impressed by warrior spirit. “So, I just wanted to apologize about that and say… well… that I respect you.” She leaned her back against the inn’s corner and folded her arms. The backs of her hands pushed her biceps forward, reminding me just how strong this orc woman really was.

“Thank you,” I said. “I respect you too.”

“What does ‘respect’ mean?” Zac asked.

Both of us turned to him. “You don’t know what respect is?” I asked. “You sure have a lot of it for not knowing what it is.”

He shrugged.

“How to define it…” I mused for a moment, scratching my chin. “You know how Mr. Benji is always saying ‘be a gentleman’ and ‘treat all women like they are ladies?’”

“Yeah…”

“Well, that’s respect. Sort of.” I rubbed the back of my head. “But in this case it’s more like… Jeseka just told me that she thinks I’m a gentleman, and I just told her I see her as a lady.”

In the corner of my eye, I saw pink rise to Jeseka’s cheeks. I imagined it was uncommon for an orc woman to be told she was a lady.

Zac stared blankly, clearly not fully understanding. Even so, he said, “Oh…” then turned to start digging his fingers in the muddy ground I’d made when I poured the bucket of water over myself. He dug up and earthworm and squeezed it between his index finger and thumb.

Jeseka continued, “So… Now that I understand it better, I actually like your plan. I want to invite a few of the soldiers to the inn this evening for drinks at a discount. Benji’s already approved it, but I wanted to check with you first, since you’re the only one of us who’s actually fought a Tagrosi soldier, and his comrades were the ones who threw mud at your face.”

“I’m not afraid of them,” I lied. “Go ahead and invite some of them, but if the ones who helped Avery hurt Zac show up I’m throwing them out.”

Jeseka nodded. “And I’ll be there to help you. As will Benji, I’m sure. Thanks, Ahv!”