PART III - FAMILY
“I need both of you,” Reynard said to Callie and Jesca as the others departed. “Stay close and just stay quiet. Hopefully this won’t become a … what do you call it, Callie? A ‘cluster-fuck’? A strange, but in this case, quite appropriate phrase.”
“Uh, okay,” Jesca said nervously.
“What’s wrong?” Callie asked.
“Don’t worry about it. Just stay with us until I tell you otherwise.”
After another couple minutes, Thorn walked away from chatting with Xera and Pelidri, coming towards Reynard. Natala joined him en route. Despite being all smiles when talking to the Arkan, Thorn now wore a worried expression on his face, while Natala’s was equally concerned.
“Nobody’s seen her yet, right?” Thorn asked.
“Not from here. Are you ready to do this?” Reynard responded.
“No, but it needs to be done.”
“She and I aren’t the best of friends,” Natala interjected, “but she might think twice about something foolish or making a scene if I’m there. I can’t stay long, though. A couple of the Arkan’s people were in those carriages and I have to get them situated.”
“What are these two for?” Thorn said, gesturing to Callie and Jesca.
“Distractions. On the chance something happens, they can pull Nevikk away.”
Thorn sighed, nodding in understanding. “Alright, let’s go meet them. I’d rather be going into battle, honestly.” He looked at Jesca. “Put the drakeling away, if you would.”
Jesca quickly recalled Iris before taking control of Reynard’s chair, pushing and steering it as they followed Thorn. The group of five walked towards the receiving area where the other carriages had stopped. There was an oppressive nervousness in the group, nobody knowing what to expect and worried it wasn’t going to be something good.
Callie looked out over the small groups of people that had newly arrived. Most seemed to be chatting or walking off with various staff members, presumably the spouses or partners visiting for the Midsummer holiday. Two people, dark-skinned and wearing uniformed leather were busy speaking with the soldier that had been directing traffic when everyone arrived. Off to the side, parked a little away from the others, was the rainbow-painted carriage with several people milling around, including three heads of brightly colored hair. Gnomes maybe? It had to be! They were too big to be Pixies and didn’t have wings. All three were chatting in a small group with a muscular, bearded Dwarf.
Callie was a bit disappointed. She was looking around for a Ratkin boy, almost expecting a kid to come bounding out from somewhere to meet his dad. No such luck, though, so far.
“What in the stars did he do to his hair?” Reynard said with a chuckle, also spotting the trio of bright heads and the Dwarf. Thorn made a confused face and changed his direction to walk towards them.
“Father!” came an excited voice, and one of the four ran forward. “Auntie Natala! Uncle Reynard!”
It was another dark-skinned Elf like the Arkan, and Callie could immediately tell it was a child by his height and the somewhat gangly way he moved. He couldn’t be older than nine or ten, and was wearing simple clothing for traveling. This obviously had to be Nevikk, and Callie’s head was sent momentarily swimming at the realization that Thorn’s son wasn’t a Ratkin after all, but an Elf.
“What is this?” Thorn asked with a chuckle, touching the hair on Nevikk’s head as the two hugged. Unlike the white hair the Arkan had, the boy’s head was a bright green.
“Isn’t it great!” came the reply, before the boy broke and rushed to Natala. Despite the bounding leap to give her a hug, the Sergeant-Major didn’t so much as wobble.
Natala returned the hug with a lightly teasing, “Hey there, bokey.” She held him out at arms length, looking him up and down. “You are starting to get a little tall there. Who said you were allowed to do that?”
“I just turned ten! I’m allowed to get taller than you and Uncle Jorin now.”
“I certainly didn’t give you permission! We’re going to have to have a serious discussion about this, you know. I’m not sure I approve.” Grinning, she gestured with her head towards Reynard. “Go say hello to your Uncle.”
Nevikk simply grinned, before turning to rush the seated Foxkin. “Uncle!”
“Careful!” Reynard said, holding up a hand in warning, which slowed the boy some, before Nevikk wrapped his arms around him. “Gentle, please. I’ve been injured.”
“What happened?”
“A big monster ate the end of my leg!”
The kid’s eyes went wide with wonder. “Really? Did you kill it? Tell me all about it!”
“Yes, we got it,” Reynard laughed, returning the hug. “I’ll tell you the story later. It’s good to see you, too. Now, go back to your father.”
Callie grinned, and looked up to see Jesca doing the same thing. It was so strange to see this other side of Thorn, Reynard and Natala. Up until this moment, they had just been … camp people, without really much of a personal life. Sure, she knew a little bit about Reynard’s past, but he was still her trainer, despite all that he’d shared, and there was a professional separation. Now, she was seeing a … family, and it was obvious that Natala was part of it, too. Callie also found she had a bit of a sadness in her grin, though. Seeing this kind of a happy reunion made her immediately miss her mother, and then her father and then home in general.
“My good friends,” the approaching Dwarf called out, throwing his arms wide in greeting.
“Jorin!” Thorn called back, as Nevikk returned to hug him again.
“What the hell are you doing here?” Natala said, her voice having a slightly gruff edge to it as she narrowed her eyes.
“I’ve taken a job out of Highridge Crossing that assembles right after Midsummer, so I thought I’d come see you before that. You look absolutely amazing, Natala. You’ve got to love a Dwarf in uniform!”
“You know,” the Sergeant-Major began, her hands on her hips in irritation, “I was really looking forward to finding someone other than you for the holiday.” She scrunched up her face and narrowed her eyes even further. “Maybe even two someones. Or three.”
“Aww, don’t be like that,” Jorin replied, the biggest, warmest smile on his bearded face as he opened his arms wide again.
“Fine, I guess I’m willing to settle if I have to,” Natala finally said with a sigh. “I should never have married you.” She walked quickly forward, falling into Jorin’s huge embrace. The two of them kissed, before Natala added, “It’s good to see you.”
The genuine version of this novel can be found on another site. Support the author by reading it there.
“Love you. Missed you,” Jorin said quietly, kissing her again, this time on her forehead.
“Love you, too, I’m glad you’re here,” Natala answered.
“You must be Thorn, right?” a voice called out. It was a middle-aged male Gnome sporting green hair, walking towards them. “I’m afraid his hair is my fault. I’ve got a little gray coming in, so I keep it dyed for our shows. Once he saw that, he wanted color too.”
“It comes out, right?” Thorn asked, smiling and not at all angry. He clasped wrists with the Gnome, somehow fending off a hug attack.
“Three or four washings should do it. Maybe five since it’s normally so white. It’s not permanent.”
“Well that’s good.” Thorn looked down at his son. “I’d hate to have to cut all of his hair off to start over.” Nevikk just grinned up at his dad.
“I got to ride with the Bards!” Nevikk said excitedly. “Me and Uncle Jorin sang all sorts of songs on the way here. They have an Illusionist, too! It was a lot of fun.”
A concerning look came over Thorn’s face, and he looked up to scan the receiving area, realizing something was missing. “Where’s your mother?”
“She … she didn’t come,” Nevikk said, his happy tone doing a sudden and complete one-eighty.
“What?”
Jorin spoke up, his tone low. “She didn’t come, Thorn.”
“She just sent him here alone?”
“It was chance I was with the caravan, so I immediately took charge of him,” Jorin added.
“When we heard what happened,” the Gnome said, gesturing back to the other people at the carriage, “we kept him close to keep him entertained and such.”
“Th-th-thank you for that, I suppose,” Thorn said, glancing up, trying to understand what happened. Then he looked back to Nevikk. “Where is your mother, son?”
“She gave me a note,” Nevikk said sadly. “She told me to tell you that it would explain everything, but I’m supposed to stay with you now.”
“What?”
“I’ve got it,” Jorin said, letting go of Natala’s hand and coming forward. He reached into a pouch at his belt, pulling out a folded piece of parchment paper.
“This is private, so I’ll leave you all to it,” the Gnome said, adding a quick wave to Nevikk as he turned to return to the colorful carriage. “We can talk later if you’d like.”
“Thank you again,” Thorn called after, before focusing back on Jorin.
The Dwarf sighed. “I didn’t know what the hell was going on, so I opened it. Apologies for doing that.” He seemed reluctant to hand the note over.
“That’s fine, my friend,” Thorn replied, hesitantly taking it. He unfolded the paper, read it quickly, and then flipped it over, as if looking for more writing. “This is it?”
“That’s all she gave me,” Nevikk said sadly.
“What’s it say?” Reynard asked.
Thorn cleared his throat, looking at both Reynard and Natala, before holding up the letter and reading it aloud. “Tandis, I’ve found someone who is much more fun to be with. Take care of our son. Ravina.”
“That’s it? That’s all she said?” Natala scowled. “That doesn’t explain a damn thing!”
“Uncle Jorin asked me if Mother had any really close friends that visited often,” Nevikk said. “There was someone that came by all the time. His name is Grecan, and he’s a Cillisine Elf, like Mother and me. He stayed the night sometimes, too.”
There was a long, almost oppressive silence as everyone tried to drink in what had happened. Reynard was the first to speak, his voice artificially bright. “Nevikk, come over here. I want to introduce you to two of my students.” He waved the boy to him.
Hesitantly, the little Elf boy let go of his father’s hand, and walked over. “This is Callie, and this tall one is named Jesca. They are both Rangers, like I am.”
“You are?” Nevikk’s eyes brightened as he looked first up at Jesca and then slightly down to Callie’s face. He was actually a little taller than her. “I want to be a Ranger when I grow up, just like Uncle Reynard is. I even got a magic bow from my father for my birthday!”
Callie realized he meant the red bow she had used when she’d first arrived.
“It makes magic arrows!” Nevikk continued. “I made sure to bring it. I can show you!”
“Nevikk, You still like drakelings, right?” Reynard asked, getting the boy’s attention back.
“Uh huh. I still want one as a pet someday.”
“Well, Jesca is also a very special class called a Beastmaster. Go with her and have her introduce you to her friend, Iris.”
“Uh, alright,” the boy said slowly, glancing for a moment back to his father, who was just standing there, obviously still in shock.
“Come on, Nevikk” the Cheetahkin said, putting on a big, warm smile and offering her paw. “You can come meet my friend.”
Nevikk seemed to put a couple things together. “Is your friend a drakeling?”
“She is!” Jesca said with an exaggerated nod. “A special drakeling, at that.”
“Oh! I want to see!”
“Just get him the hell out of here,” Reynard snapped quietly to Callie, grabbing her arm momentarily as Jesca led Nevikk away. The growl in his voice was getting angry at what was developing. “Show him Iris or Artemis or whatever. Just don’t let him get hurt. Someone will find you.”
“Understood,” Callie said with a nod. “Jesca’s got five younger sisters and a younger brother, so she’s great with kids.” She turned and ran to join the other two.
All eyes turned to Thorn, who was still standing still as a statue, the short note fluttering in his clenched hand. Nobody was sure what to say or do, and it was finally Natala that made the first move, stepping up to the Ratkin and putting her hand on her friend’s arm. “Thorn?”
It started as a single chuff, followed after a moment by two more. You could see in real time as Thorn started to make connections in his head as he processed Ravina’s note. He chuffed again, reread the paper, and then actually started to laugh. Looking down to Natala, he laughed even more, before looking at Jorin and then over his shoulder at Reynard. “I’m free,” he said, absolute disbelief in his voice. “We both are!”
“F-F-Free?” Natala questioned.
Thorn spun his body to face Reynard. “She’s gone. She left us. I’m free! We’re both free!”
“My friend?” Reynard asked slowly. He wasn’t sure what reaction he had been expecting from Thorn, probably anger or hurt, but certainly not this. Then he remembered the conversation they had had the previous Homeday. Thorn had said he’d been planning to leave Ravina as soon as his duties allowed, if only to get Nevikk away from her. Had that effectively just happened for him?
Jorin added his own single laugh to Thorn’s, his eyes going wide. “He’s right. If she’s gone …”. He left the statement dangling in the air, incomplete.
Neither Reynard, Jorin nor Natala had ever really cared much for Ravina, and had strongly encouraged Thorn not to marry her all those years ago. When he finally did, formally taking guardianship of Nevikk at the same time, they agreed to stow their animosity and do their best to be friends. It hadn’t ever felt right though. Between Jorin and Reynard’s days as an Adventurer, and Natala’s long tenure with the army, they just never had that much in common with the Elf, except their friendship with Thorn. Still, she was their good friend’s wife, so they welcomed her and Nevikk into their little found family, becoming surrogate uncles and an aunt.
Ravina was difficult though, and it wasn’t just the times her Ohler’s was at its worst. She just never seemed to be invested in the marriage or the family. She’d flit from one hobby or interest to another, often go into the village to get drunk at the taverns while constantly expressing how much she wished to be back in the city, and generally was unhappy with increasing frequency. Thorn did what he could, trying to be a dutiful husband, but there was only so much he could do short of forcing her. He’d even looked into selling the land and moving them all back to Imor, just to keep her happy, still knowing that it likely wouldn’t have been enough. It didn’t help that she had difficulty keeping up with her medications, too, and grew tired of Thorn’s meditation exercises, which led to many serious Fugue-related incidents. Some had been quite violent, although thankfully never directed at Nevikk, and Thorn’s Martialist skills made sure he didn’t get hurt either. If it hadn’t been for the war calling Thorn back to duty, the marriage would have already ended.
Thorn took a stumbling step forwards, still in some kind of a very-understandable daze, chuffs of laughter periodically still coming out of his mouth as he tried to process his disbelief. This had been what he wanted, right? He’d been planning to do this as soon as he was able, after all. He was going to end the marriage, send Ravina back to Imor with enough money to get an apartment and cover her needs for at least a year. He’d saved that much up for just that reason, at least. He’d raise Nevikk as a single father, exactly as he’d promised the Kerr he would do years ago; raise him to be a good person, even if he had Ohler’s. Now? She was gone, by her own choice. Run off with another. Thorn surprised himself as he realized he wasn’t even angry about it. Did that make him a terrible husband? Probably.
Jorin was there, moving with unexpected speed, to catch Thorn as his friend’s legs finally gave out. He carefully helped him to the ground and then looked him in the face. “Thorn, what do you need?”
The Ratkin looked up at his friend, and then to Natala, and then to Reynard. “I … I don’t need anything.” He almost smiled. He almost smiled in a way he hadn’t for a long time, as if an unbearable weight had just been lifted from his shoulders. He looked for more words and couldn’t find any. Then, a single tear came to one of his eyes, and it wasn’t a tear of sadness.