After a couple weeks of talking to his client, having the item inspected and requests for improvements to be made, not to mention being given a variety of materials he’d deemed necessary to ensure it would succeed, Falk was finally on his way home. He left Craftsman Tower through the gate, coming out at the nearest city to Stonewall, and thought he would spend a little time shopping around before he found a cart he could take back home.
After looking at some shops he stopped in a cafe, got himself a drink and a snack, and made some small talk with the owner.
“So you heading out or coming back?” Inquired a friendly mass of limbs of a species Falk wasn’t able to place a name to.
“Coming back, I have a client I had to see, but gods am I happy to be on my way home. I’ll tell you, some people are impossible to work with, no matter how well they pay.”
“Ah, don’t I know it. We get all sorts of interesting folks coming through. So are you from the city?”
“Nah, I’m out in Stonewall, the hustle and bustle of the city ain’t really for me,” As Falk spoke a few of the shop owner's limbs started twisting and shaking. Falk was no master of body language, especially when it came to other races, but he was fairly sure something was wrong. “Hey you okay? Don’t need me to run and find a healer, do you?” It was better to be safe and ask when you weren’t sure about these things.
“No no, I’m fine. So you only just got back today?”
“That’s right.”
“So you haven’t heard what happened then?”
He felt a lump form in the pit of his stomach. “What are you talking about?”
Seeing that Falk didn’t know anything, the owner explained what he’d heard had happened in the town about a week ago. Supposedly a tamer went insane and attacked the place, bringing dozens of monsters to destroy it in a fit of madness. They hadn’t heard anything about a number of casualties but in events like that there was an expectation that there would be some dead when he got back.
The more he heard the more he panicked. It must have been that bastard Roan, but what happened to Thera, Sonya, the boy? He couldn’t take his sweet time anymore and thanked the owner for letting him know before finding the fastest cart he could and paying a premium to get back to his home.
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Usually it was a five-day trip to the town for a more reasonable fare, but after waving some money around Falk got back in three by the evening. He was let off by a gate far closer to his shop than Sonya's home so he stopped there first, throwing open the door and calling out. It looked like Ben had grabbed some materials at some point but that could have been weeks ago, who knew where he could be now.
Damn it all! I should have at least learned his address in case anything ever came up. Alright, don’t panic. Thera or Sonya should know where he is. He tried his best to suppress the thought that that would only be if they were okay themselves.
He ran to their home and banged on the door, only waiting a few seconds for Sonya to open it.
“Falk, you're finally back! It’s-” Before she could get the words out he had her wrapped in a powerful hug, though being mindful to not injure her with his strength.
“Sonya, I’m so glad you’re alright! Is Thera okay? Is Ben?”
“Huh, what, yes of course. They’re just in the living room,” Falk rushed past her, not noticing the tips of his old friend's ears flushing as he did.
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He burst into the living room and felt his whole body begin to relax upon finding Thera sitting down with a book, and Ben laying face first on the ground, seemingly mumbling to himself.
“No, there's no way to make the enchantment smaller… I already took some of the most appropriate materials in the shop...of course I tried that, who do you think I am...maybe need to wait for a level up…”
As the boy continued to mutter, Thera looked up from her book and realising her uncle had returned got up to see him. “Uncle, welcome back! Your trip was a pretty long one this time,” As she walked by Ben she gave him a small kick to try and get his attention. “Ben, stop talking to your god, your teacher’s back.”
If that's what he’s doing I think it’s okay to put a god above me. He thought, a mild worry of some divine retribution crossing his mind before he pushed it to the side.
“I’m just glad to see you’re all okay. I heard the town was attacked and rushed back as quick as I could.”
“Oh hey Falk,” Ben said as he ended his conversation with his god and lifted his face from the floor. “Good to see you. Sorry to worry you but everything’s fine.”
Sonya came into the room and he turned to her, not wanting to make either of the young folk too uncomfortable with what he was going to ask. “And what about casualties? I haven’t seen it myself yet but I heard the southern wall was destroyed,” He’d verified the safety of the people he was most worried for, but he had other friends and acquaintances around as well. It would be best if Sonya could tell him who had died so he wouldn’t have to go house to house checking in on people. Instead she shocked him.
“Nobody’s dead and the south wall wasn’t destroyed, it just saw a bit of damage when these two took on a herd of monsters.”
“I’m sorry, I think I misheard,” She couldn’t be talking about the boy and his niece, but she just gave him a smile.
“Why don’t we all have a seat and some drinks to catch Falk up on what's happened.”
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As they sat around and caught him up he became more and more shocked as the conversation went on. Roan was caught after almost destroying the town, and after a decision from his apprentice, he wasn’t sure if he should call it bold or insane, the town was saved and nobody died. That wasn’t even considering the fact that his plan had raised Thera’s standing in the town considerably. Sure some people thought worse of her, but pretty much any adventurer who had seen her use earthwave had been talking about her powerful attack, Ben was basically forgotten about when people talked about the events of the day. And now here he was, only half listening to them talk about it as he scribbled and made notes in a notebook.
“Boy, what has you so occupied that you can’t brag a little more about saving the town?”
Thera rolled her eyes. “Don’t mind him uncle. After he woke up he’s been obsessed with some secret project he’s thought of. He keeps pulling me in to help and he won’t even tell me what it is! Plus all of his notes are coded.”
“They aren’t coded, these are just characters from my homeworld is all, keeps nosey people from seeing my work before it’s done,” He gave both women a pointed look and they didn’t meet his eyes. “Anyway I promise I’ll tell you both if it works, but I’m worried more and more it will be impossible.”
“Then why have you been spending almost every waking moment on it?” She asked him.
“He put his notes on hold and looked her dead in the eyes. “Because if it works the results could be life-changing. Anyway Falk are you heading out soon? Mind if I walk with you, toss some ideas around?”
“Sure, you got me curious boy so why not. I only rushed here anyway to make sure you were all safe so I wouldn’t mind turning in soon.”
“Excellent, then let’s head out. Thera, Sonya, I’ll be back in a bit.”
“Alright, be careful out there,” Sonya said as she waved them off, and Thera gave a much briefer goodbye, clearly unhappy that Ben was keeping this a secret from her. Hearing the exchange brought a different question to Falk's mind though. Is the boy just living with them now?
“Aren’t you all better by now? Are you still staying with them?” Falk asked, deciding not to hide his curiosity.
“Oh yeah, Sonya was still worried about Thera so she asked me to stay around and Thera’s still spending a lot of time inside. After all the cloak I made doesn’t let any light through so I need to lead her around if she wants to go out at all. I’m just making sure she has some company.”
Falk smiled at his apprentice. “Good lad. Now why don’t you tell me what you’re working on that's keeping you so busy? The sooner you get it done the sooner Thera will be a bit happier with you I imagine.”
“Right! I think I may have figured out an easier way to restrain Thera’s charm magic,” He said casually, dropping a surprise on par with hearing the town had been attacked.