“I’m so sorry… I did not wish to offen…”
“Who goes there?”
“Ah. I’m sorry, sir. I did not wish to…”
“Who’s there? Speak? Who dares open my door unannounced?”
“I… It is me, sir. I apolo…”
“Where are you, you ungrateful louts? Who would bother a good man in his own home when…”
Kallanon stepped back, staring at the man, his returned worry long shifted to confusion and now turning to a much deeper fear. He stepped forward cautiously before waving a hand in front of the man, but the man noticed nothing. Kallanon’s panic increased. No… no… please… not… no!
Kallanon turned and fled the city, but took one moment to detour through the crafter’s street as well as the major temple square. Both were rife with goods on the streets ready for easy perusal by passersby and not within a building. He couldn’t enter a building. Not one I have not made… not… Not one I have not made… I cannot… Fear drove him on and when he made it to the crafter’s street, it only spiked when he found he could not touch any goods on display. Fear turned to despair when the same proved true for the street foods available on the streets in the temple square. Everything was around him, but nothing was available to him. Nothing… I cannot have a home… no food… no safety… The last drove a spike directly through Kallanon’s thoughts and he turned to stare at the large walls around him. I … I cannot…
This time, he fled, escaping the city and into the fields beyond and only there did his panic recede. It was replaced with fear as he struggled to figure out what to do next. He turned in a circle, finding no safety in any direction.
* * *
When Joe had finished his speech and turned away, Gwenvair shivered, struggling to maintain her place in line so as to not throw away any face in front of the commoners. Kilniara, however, proved less concerned, and when he had returned half way across the stage, Kilniara sprinted towards him and leapt into his arms, shivering in joy, relief, and release of pain and hate. She sobbed joyful tears in his arms and Gwenvair found herself unable to remain aloof, and she soon stepped across and wrapped her arms around Kilniara and settled her hands on Joe’s strong wide back. She rubbed her hands up and down his back a few times before looking up at Joe past Kilniara’s shoulder. Joe’s rage quickly soothed.
“Thank you. Truly, thank you. It… this was good.”
Joe looked down at her, seeming a bit concerned so she reassured him once more with a meaningful nod of the head before she looked to Kilniara. Joe quickly understood and returned his gaze to Kilniara.
“It was good? It… helped you?”
Kilniara said nothing, simply sobbing and laughing simultaneously as she nodded. She pulled back to look at Joe, her eyes staring deeply into his before she dropped her forehead to his; only possible as she was held up by Joe in a floating embrace. The two shared a moment and Gwenvair stepped back, nodding in happiness that at least this seemed resolved. The two remained in their own world for a while before the arrival of Zilnek and Garnedell snapped Joe out of the romantic moment.
Joe looked up and set Kilniara down softly. Silence fell, a bit awkward, but none seemed concerned as there was no need to fill it. Kilniara filled it soon enough by stepping forward once more and hugging Joe deeply.
“Thank you, Joe. Thank you.”
Joe grinned, “Sure. I hope my mercy was not… in the way of your needed justice.”
Kilniara looked up at him with some surprise, “That was mercy?”
Joe shrugged, “He gets to live.”
“You think he will live?”
Joe thought a bit before replying, “I really don’t know. He should be fine. It will be miserable and he will be cold and hungry for a long time, but if he works hard and finds a good place, he might be ok?”
Gwenvair shook her head, uncertain of how to understand Joe’s actions. He is so concerned for mercy and caring for others yet feels no concern for essentially sentencing the man to a miserable long death over months or years. Immediate death or months and years of pain. How is that mercy? He…
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Gwenvair cut off when Joe asked a question.
“Want to go look at houses today?”
Kilniara’s eye’s widened before she turned to look at Gwenvair eagerly before suddenly frowning and turning back to Joe, “I’m sorry, Joe. We must return to Gwenvair’s mother.”
Joe didn’t quite frown, but he did seem just slightly irritated, “Oh. Busy all day and tonight?”
Gwenvair Heard carefully then relaxed when Joe proved more regretful than angry. She stifled her giggle of joy at his burning passion and sought to ease his upset.
“We are almost done. Only a bit more. Then all will be normal.”
Joe quickly brushed away her concern, “Oh, now. No need to … listen, I’m incredibly grateful for everything you are doing. It really means a lot. Just… I miss… never mind. It’s enough. I’m just being a bit of a baby. I’ll be good.”
That actually brought out Gwenvair’s giggle and Kilniara joined her, both laughing at Joe’s antics as well as his frank revelation of his love for them. Kilniara stepped forward to hug him, but Gwenvair was still too concerned with public appearance to do so and simply laid a hand on his upper arm instead.
They remained like this for a bit before Kilniara pulled back and grabbed Gwenvair, “We need to go.”
Joe sighed melodramatically, his smile humorous and revealing his acceptance but Gwenvair found herself unwilling to leave. She pushed on, however, and the two of them quickly returned to the clan. Her mother awaited her, as did the future of her clan.
* * *
Joe watched the two girls go, waving to them as they glanced back heading around a corner before finally letting his frown show.
“Well, that’s… annoying,” Joe sighed, turning back to the other two.
The two boys said nothing, and Joe quirked an eyebrow at them, but both proved either too dense or uncaring to agree with him, and he finally settled with a roll of his eyes and another sigh before leading them on.
“Well, let’s go take a bath, then we can practice bowman-ship back at the inn, OK?
Zilnek grinned in agrement while Garnedell gave a fist pump of joy. All three turned towards the bath house and then enjoyed a wonderfully warm bath when they arrived. Joe took a bit longer than usual today since the afternoon was relatively free. They soon returned home to the inn midafternoon and Joe spent the late afternoon showing the boys the proper use of the bow. Since the inn’s yard was rather tiny, there wasn’t much point to practicing shots as once the boys had done it a few times, they were able to hit the target easily as it was only a couple meters away.
So, Joe spent more time on teaching correct stances, how to aim, and the proper care of the bow and arrow. Every once and a while, one of the boys would want to shoot again, and they would do so but grew exhausted rather quickly as their stamina wasn’t up to snuff. Towards the end of their practice, one of the cheap arrows shattered, hitting the wall and almost evaporating with the hit. When that happened, both seemed a bit surprised. Zilnek didn’t say much, only grumbling at the loss of an arrow but Garnedell pondered before looking up at Joe.
“This… seems like an expensive weapon?”
Joe laughed and nodded, “For a novice, yes. Learning how to shoot can be very expensive.”
Zilnek quickly schooled his face at that, growing thoughtful, but Garnedell bowed to Joe.
“Thank you for teaching us.”
Joe’s laughter turned melancholic before he reached out and patted his shoulder, “It’s fine. Besides, these are the crappy arrows. But yes, arrows are usually seen as expendable. If you are careful, then you can get them back after your shot, but you can miss and shoot the arrow into the forest or grass and lose an arrow that way; or even into the water, maybe. You can shoot your target, but if you hit something hard, the arrow can shatter or break. Even if it doesn’t shatter, it can be bent or the feathers destroyed and while you can fix a broken feather, usually the only thing you can do with a bent arrow is throw it away.
“Even if you do hit what you are hunting in a soft spot, if the animal runs, it will probably hit trees and bushes, bending or breaking any of your arrows sticking into it. If you hit a person, you’ll probably still lose the arrow because they will break the arrow near their skin so they can fight you without it getting in the way.”
Zilnek seemed confused, “Why wouldn’t they just pull it out? Do they fear you gaining another arrow and another shot?”
Joe quickly shook his head, “No. Never pull an arrow out because… well… healers are a thing, so… wait. Uh. Then… I guess, never pull an arrow out unless you have a healer who can heal a grievous wound because if you pull an arrow out, you will immediately start losing blood…uh… health points… OK. Hmm… pull out arrows very, very carefully as long as you have health points, or a healer. If you do not, the arrow will have destroyed many of your blood vessels and you will bleed a lot, and badly. You will die quickly if you do so. If you leave the arrow in, it does block the wound and keeps the blood from flowing out of your veins.
“Granted, that’s if you don’t make the wound worse by twisting and turning the wound around the arrow or by twisting the arrow in your wound. I hope you know that’s a bad, bad… very bad idea!”
By the end, both the guys were nodding their heads, with Zilnek replying “A healer or health points. That is wise.”
Garnedell, however, seemed enamored by the idea, asking with a hint of awe, “Arrows cause bleeding?!”
Joe nodded, “Yes, but… I guess if you have health points, you wouldn’t, but yes.”
Garnedell turned his gaze towards his bow and stared at it with pride. Zilnek also looked, his own gaze filled with greed and awe as he stared at his own bow. Joe chuckled at that and slapped a hand down on Zilnek.
“Relax, Zilnek. I’ll teach you but for now, just learn the basics, OK?”
Zilnek grinned with gleeful anticipation, “Thank you, Joe!”
“Well, let’s head in and have some supper, alright?”
The two boys agreed readily enough as it was getting towards dark and both were getting a bit sore since they’d pushed past their stamina a bit to fire the bow just a few more times. They headed in for a bit of an early supper. They all sat at their table, conversing until their meal came, then fell into silence as they all ate heartily.