Xecran had spent the morning organizing the various metals and checking to make sure the stock matched the ledgers. It was a warm day and rearranging the heavier metals was a small workout. By the time lunch rolled around his body was as sore and sweaty as last night, but thankfully he wasn’t covered in that nasty soot.
He could have taken his time. His uncle told him he had a few days to get it done, there was no need to finish it in one morning. They weren’t going to be working on the next project till well after his sons came back with the specialized, magically infused, alloy powder. He didn’t expect them back for four days and that is if Klavis happened to be on time, which he rarely was. Xecran had shrugged and told him “I don’t mind, I like doing the work. I wouldn’t know what I would do with myself otherwise.” He laughed and patted Xecran on the back. “I completely understand, but you need to learn how to relax too, it’s okay to take time for yourself.” Xecran had smiled and nodded, promising he’d take it easy after he finished.
While he meant what he told Hirthron, he really did like the work, he had an ulterior motive. If he got done with all his chores early his uncle might be more willing to let him take a vacation and go on an outing with Klavis and Kamilis.
Xecran was just finishing up in the stockroom and was getting ready to go into the house for lunch when he saw his cousins trotting up to the stables. He ducked his head into a barrel of cool water to cool himself and to get all the sweat off his face. Cold water dripping from his face he smiled and waved as they approached.
He walked over to the stables and held their reigns, helping steady the horses as they climbed down. “What did you do now Klavis?”
Klavis glared at Xecran as he dismounted “Not you too! I swear, people think I’m worse than a demon. The more I do something right, the more people think I did something wrong.”
Kamilis chuckled as he slid off his own horse. “Can you blame them brother? You’re the biggest troublemaker anyone’s seen since our grandfather was your age.”
Klavis just grumbled something under his breath and grabbed his saddle bag and spoke to Xecran “I’ll go take this to father. Would you see to my horse?”
Xecran grinned “No problem, just be careful, your father is getting older, he didn’t expect you for several days, we don’t want him dying from shock.”
Klavis rolled his eyes and walked towards the house.
Kamilis laughed as he started walking his horse to the stables with Xecran. “Last night there were a few minutes where I thought he’d gotten a girl pregnant.”
Xecran glanced over at Klavis just as he had walked into the house. “He didn’t, right?”
Kamilis shook his head, smiling “No, but he did nearly make Arlana blush herself into a radish. I thought she was going to kill him.”
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Xecran laughed. “It would serve him right. If he wasn’t so damn likable, he wouldn’t get away with half of what he does.” Kamilis just chuckled in response, distracted by his own thoughts. Xecran glanced over, Kamilis looked like he was only half listening.“Seriously though, why are you guys back so early? It’s not just unlike him, but also you. Normally when you’ve been away from the Magi’s Guild you stay in the city for a few weeks catching up on studies.”
It took Kamilis a moment to snap out of his own thoughts. He glanced over at Xecran. “Oh, nothing really, Klavis and I just wanted to hurry back and make our way to the Beacon Trees again. There was a plant I learned about last night that I might be able to find. It usually only grows in the forest but every once in a great while someone will find it growing near the Beacon Trees. It is very rare. But as you know no one goes near the Trees so it might not be as rare as people think…”
Kamilis paused and let out a sigh. He nearly never lied and now he found himself lying to the Magi’s Guild one day and his cousin the next.
“…and Klavis, well, after what he said about Arlana, he decided it would be best to get out of the city earlier rather than later.” At least that was partially true. Klavis had no desire to deal with a town full of rumors about his love life, but they both knew they were returning to ease a restlessness that had settled over them.
Before getting back home Klavis, the more accomplished liar between them, made sure that Kamilis and him were on the same page if anyone asked what they were doing. They were just collecting herbs. Kamilis glanced at Xecran expecting that any moment he might be found out but they both just continued walking.
“Hey, Kam, do you think it’ll be alright to go with you two?”
Kamilis stopped dead in his tracks. It’d been years since Xecran had gone with them. When they were younger, he always joined them on their outings when he visited on holiday, but after he moved here to take up his apprenticeship with their father he’d rarely joined then and the few times he had, had been years ago.
Kamilis didn’t answer right away. They were right outside the stables, and he took the chance to finish the few steps to the building and tethered his horse to one of the posts.
The silence was deafening but Xecran went through the motions of removing the tack and putting the saddle in its proper place while he waited. He didn’t press Kamilis for an answer. While they were cousins, they were also friends, the silence made him realize that he probably shouldn’t have asked. For years it had been just Kamilis and Klavis. Maybe it had been too long, maybe he was no longer welcome to join them on something that grew to be something just for him and his brother.
Kamilis slightly cleared his throat. “Maybe. I’d need to talk to Klavis first.” Xecran turned his attention back to Kamilis, his brow was furled. He had avoided looking at Kamilis so well that he hadn’t noticed that Kamilis had just been standing there, lost in his own thoughts.
Kamilis realized he still needed to put away his tack and stable his horse. He went through the motions while Xecran continued to look on. Kamilis took the chance to talk while not having to look at Xecran. Starting with carefully removing the staff that was tied to the saddle and leaning it against the wall “You haven’t gone with us in years. What’s changed?”
Xecran leaned against a post and sighed, not sure if he could really answer that. “I’m not sure. Uncle Hirthron has sent me to look for you and Klavis more than a few times, but this last time, I don’t know. It made me think of our trips when we were younger.”
Neither of them spoke. Kamilis was finished putting his saddle away. The silence was eating away at Xecran. He knew those words were hollow. He knew the real reason, and while he remembered that time with them fondly, that wasn’t why he wanted to go. He wanted to see the forest again. He wanted to feel the exhilaration of being on the edge of the world. To being near the forest, of actually being in the forest. He loved the Greenwood. Their people were bound to nature and the Greenwood fulfilled that for most of their kind but after seeing the forest with his own eyes, he couldn’t help but be spellbound by the call he felt as he had stood there at the edge of their world.
Kamilis walked his horse over to its stall, closed the gate and put some feed in its trough.
Xecran couldn’t take it anymore. With his head down he said quietly. “It’s the forest. I’ve never been so close…” He raised his head and looked at Kamilis and said more strongly. “I want to stand at the edge again. I could never bring myself to do that alone. I can’t stop thinking about it. I want to stop thinking about it and I know I won’t, not until I do this. I know you’ll be going back. You both keep pushing the boundary. This time, I want it to be the three of us, at least this one time.”
Kamilis walked over to his cousin, smiling softly and put his hand on his shoulder and spoke with a voice that mirrored his smile. “I understand. We feel the same way, we always have. I’ll speak with Klavis, I’m sure you can come.” He let his hand drop back to his side and looked towards the house that Klavis had gone into. “I’m beginning to think the wanderlust that runs in his veins runs in ours as well.”