“Reservation for Susten,” Kada’s father approached the host at one of Mermaid’s Reef’s most popular restaurants.
“Ah yes, a table for seven, right this way,” the man grabbed menus and began guiding the guests.
“Eh, but it should be only four?” Orman Susten questioned but still followed the man.
“I guess they were out of smaller tables,” his ex-wife, Rianne, suggested as she trailed after him, along with their two other guests, Qurt and Pozzy Randex.
The four adults took their seats and grabbed at the menus, wanting to figure out their meals before diving into discussion. But they’d barely made it past the appetizer listings before the remaining chairs scooted back and were subsequently occupied by three young Fiends.
“Orman, you didn’t tell us that Kada would be joining,” Rianne glanced over to the man who simply shrugged.
“Well she didn’t tell me that she was joining,” he looked over to his daughter with almost an annoyed accusation.
“What, you’re putting this on me?!” Kada immediately lost her cool. “When I gave you those tickets, dad, I thought you’d at least have the courtesy of telling me when you were going to visit! And I thought you’d bring your gambling buddies with you, not mom of all people! …and Xard’s parents?! How do you even know them?!”
“Well, I didn’t want you to know I was coming,” her father blatantly admitted. “If you knew, you woulda made sure we got the special treatment, and you know I don’t like having all that attention. Plus, we wouldn’t have gotten to see this place for how it really is. Wanted to make sure it was being run properly and all.”
“And about your mother, well…” he stumbled, looking for the right words.
“I invited myself!” the shameless woman picked up the slack. “When I found out you’d given him a bunch of free vacations but none for me, I wasn’t going to be left out!”
“Well, uhhh…” it was Kada’s turn to glance away. “I was afraid you’d sell the tickets if I gave them to you.”
“Do you really think so little of me?!” her mother scoffed. “I haven’t asked you for a single handout since we’ve reconnected. While I haven’t been the best mother, of course I’d come and support my child and enjoy this lovely place. It really has been lovely, hasn’t it, Orman.”
“Yes it has,” the man had to admit, failing to hide his approval on his face, digging it back into the menu.
“Well none of that explains why the two of you are here,” It was Xard’s turn to demand answers. He’d been silent up until then, merely staring at his parents the entire time, but his eyes had been asking hundreds of questions.
“Orman invited us,” his mother, Pozzy, gave a quick answer. “He said that he had extra tickets and wanted to meet up with us after all this time to finally be able to discuss things in person.”
“How long have you known him?” the redhead only had more queries. “Did you meet at the parents' day or something?”
“Uhh, no,” his father, Qurt took his turn, “I’d say it’s been a bit more than a year now since he first reached out to us. Right, Pozzy?”
“Year and a half or so,” the woman corrected. “He first called us when—”
“I’ll explain it,” Orman slammed his menu back down. “I started this so they should at least hear it from me. Listen, this all began right after that crazy tournament. When you all were thrown into prison, I was beside myself and couldn’t accept it, so I needed to find the truth out for myself. But every avenue I tried to explore, every government official and lawyer I talked to, it was nothing but circles and frustration. No one would give me any clear answers about where my daughter was.”
Kada was genuinely taken aback. “Wow… I… didn’t think you’d care so much…”
“Of course I do!” Orman took offense. “You’re my one and only baby girl after all, and I couldn’t stand the idea of you being locked up forever—that I’d never see you again, and tell you how proud of you I was.”
His daughter blushed at the sudden confession, but she didn’t say anything to stop his heartfelt rant. “I didn’t know what to do with myself, and I was feeling all kinds of things I can’t properly convey, so I went looking for someone to blame. So first I called up your mother, and I yelled at her for hours. I screamed at her for leaving us, saying that if she never had, you wouldn’t have become a Fiend in the first place.”
“And to her credit, she took it—let me bark her ear off until I had no words left. But then she threw it right back, not letting me off for my faults either. And while it helped us work through some longtime issues, I still didn’t feel better.”
“So the next person I yelled at was that Tize fella. He agreed to meet with me, and I really laid into him, even let me slug him a few times—stand-up fella. Still hated his guts at that moment, though. Since after all, if he hadn’t lost, then none of it would have happened.”
“But he was so nice, and after I’d tuckered myself out, he took the time to explain everything they knew about your situation. And while he couldn’t give me too many details, he was confident that you wouldn’t be in there for too long—that I’d see you again.”
“And that made me feel a lot better at the whole thing, to the point that I stopped my rampage of looking for someone to blame. I still tried to harass some Central Peace officials, but it didn’t go anywhere. But besides that, I was still feeling emotions I couldn’t quite explain, and no one really understood either, so it was hard to share. And I was out of words I could yell at your mother.”
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“Then I remembered the redheaded boy. He was imprisoned too, and maybe his parents understood what I was going through, since they at least weren’t dead like the other two’s folks. So I paid a guy for their information. Then I got a little drunk, I’ll admit, and called them up.”
“That, uhhh, first phone call didn’t go real well. Can’t even remember how I introduced myself, but it wasn’t long before things got heated. I wanted to know what kind of people would just let their son run off with a bunch of wanted killers. With Kada, you had already left me, so I had no say. But what I read about his history, they just let him walk out and didn’t even put up a fight.”
“Well, they yelled back at me, and I can’t say it wasn’t deserved. But after that, I guess I got to them, and they started spilling their guts too. Began spouting about all the mistakes they’d made as parents, just nonstop wave after wave of confessions and emotions.”
“And I just sat there listening to them. Thought about hanging up a few times, but I just couldn’t. Because it all sounded so familiar, like I was hearing it from myself. That was when I realized that they really did get it. They were in the same situation as me, and were feeling those same crushing feelings that no one else understood.”
“Then we just talked, and talked. At some point, I called up your mother and added her to the call, then we talked some more. We went all night, like restless kids at a sleepover who were too energetic to even think about sleep. Before I knew it, work was calling me wondering where I was.”
“After that, we all went back to our lives, but it also felt a shame to let such a connection go. So we started one of those, err, group chat things, and we’ve been talking ever since. It started with just the four of us, but at some point we had the idea to add some of the other parents. So we reached out to everyone we could find information for.”
“Never heard back from some of them, others said they weren’t interested. A few joined for a while and then left, or only send a message on occasion. But there’s a good amount of us who are pretty active. Guess you could say it sort of became like a support group for Fiend parents, or that was the idea anyways, so that we could help each other with things no one else gets.”
“Lot of us actually went and became close friends after all that time, and it’s hard to make friends when you’re older like us. So when you gave me those tickets, it felt like a no-brainer to invite them—a good excuse for us all to finally meet up, and we could hash out some thoughts and gripes in person that are hard to convey over the phone.”
“Never really got to that part, though. The six of us were too busy having a great time until the Zalksins had to go home.”
“Wait, Ahvra’s fathers were here too?” Xard inquired, curious about that dynamic.
“Yes, they said they could only stay for a week,” Rianne mentioned. “Don’t know how they could leave, though. It felt like the fun was just getting started then.”
“Wait…” Kada connected the dots. “Just how long have you guys been here?”
“Hmm, I think we just passed two weeks,” Orman thought back. “The tickets you gave me were good for a set number of days total, so we decided to just combine it all. Who knew we could get back together again, so it felt like the right move to use it all up and have a great time.”
“Well the idea was that you could use all those days and come here every year!” his daughter was getting a bit miffed. “If you used them all up at once, even with the four of you, that’d be months! Don’t tell me you’re planning on staying that long. What about your jobs?!”
“I’m on sabbatical right now,” her father quickly explained. “Turns out when your daughter is a famous Fiend, they’ll let you take extended time off without really asking any questions.”
Her mother then answered in turn. “You know mama finally managed to land a cushy soap opera gig, but we’re between seasons right now, so I have nowhere to be for a while. I’ve been turning down all those talk-show requests too. They’re so drab.”
“Right, I’d forgotten you’d actually landed a stable role,” Kada had to admit.
“Well that’s what I promised, didn’t I?” Rianne huffed, clearly self-satisfied.
Though she hadn’t been asking them directly, Xard’s mother answered for both of them. “Well, I’m freelance and Qurt is retired but volunteers, so we’re free to make our own schedules.”
“Damn older generations and all your flexibility,” The Mermaid muttered a barely audible curse. “Well if you’re happy, then it’s fine, I guess.”
Her father then actually grew a smile, one of the very few the girl had seen in her life. “Well, I can’t speak for everybody here. But I am happy. Happiest I’ve been in a long time. I’m no longer upset and angry at the world. No longer blaming my ex for all my problems. Work is fine, and I got to go on this great vacation with the new friends I’ve made. And my daughter is no longer in prison and is a big successful business woman.”
“But let me tell you, I still do have one grudge. That damned pompous knight Fiend, the one who thinks she was better than all the rest of you who put you guys in jail in the first place. If I ever see her, you better believe that I’m going to give her a piece of my mind! Unforgivable what she did!”
All eyes at the table slowly drifted over to the dining party’s seventh wheel. Jaid had been keeping out of the family drama thus far, trying to focus on the menu in front of her. Though they’d just had lunch recently back at home before finding out about the cult madness, she had a few clones running around the rest of the world, so she could certainly eat again. Now that attention was on her, though, she tried and failed to completely hide herself behind the menu.
“Uhh, right,” Xard took the lead, realizing their companion hadn’t been introduced. “This is Jaid Luciri, known commonly as The Paladin. She is the one who released us from our imprisonment and has since joined our group—working to atone for mistakes she made in the past and has been instrumental in assisting us with our current goals.”
“Huh, so it is her,” Orman looked the woman over once more. “Sorry for not recognizing you right away. Your face looks a lot less evil and arrogant than it did the last time I saw you.”
“Erm, thanks, I guess,” Jaid forced a smile, setting down her menu. Now that she’d been called out, it was too rude to continue acting like she didn’t exist.
“And if our kids have forgiven you,” the man continued, though the words were clearly hard for him to say, especially since he’d just blustered so much nonsense. “Then I suppose I forgive you as well. As long as you’re both certain she can be trusted, I’ll keep my nose out of it. And as an apology, whatever you want, the food is on me.”
“Huh, what are you talking about?!” Kada called him out on his nonsense gesture. “Your trip package is all inclusive, so if anything, it’s on me!”
Fortunately for the group, the waiter came by right at that moment, asking if everyone was ready to order. It was much-needed to cut through the awkwardness, but it would still be a long meal.