Re-entering the village, Cal half-expected the populace to be in arms about his recent behaviour: baying for his head carrying pitchforks (he couldn’t help but be a trendsetter) and torches.

Yet the reality that greeted him was the same village as always, which made sense once he reflected that while Penbrooke had acted odd, the villagers hadn’t experienced the depth of cringe he had to take serious issue with it. Nor had the spirit committed anything beyond the pale; although a ghost, it was the ghost of a noble knight after all.

Relieved – though secretly a bit disappointed about the lack of commotion at his arrival – he set about finding those who he’d overheard comparing him to his dad, striving to keep at this until he knew the man well enough to pretend he’d been a present father figure in Cal’s life.

First on the list was Susie Smalls who ran the General Amenities store. She was a short, curly-haired brunette who’d evidently cracked the code to immortality as she still had the appearance of a girl in her teens.

Despite this mean feat, she had only anger to serve to those who enquired about her secret (evidently very possessive over it, and certainly for no other reason). Indeed, Cal remembered how as a child he’d marvelled at the maturity she showed for her age, though he’d kept to this himself lest he provoke a tantrum from her.

When Penbrooke had passed by, Susie had been sweeping the storefront; even though he’d ignored most of the villagers, he had paused at the sight of Susie and given a nod before moving on, perhaps impressed at the diligence shown by the youth of today’s age. She had scowled in response, shaking her fist and grumbling something about Cal’s dad that he couldn’t quite catch, hence his visitation now.

As he entered the store, it was plain to see no orc attack had taken place in his absence. And what a relief that is. Phew.

Susie, in a white sundress, leaned against the counter, chewing on a wheat stalk. “Oh hey, Cal. Whatcha doing with a fishing rod and pitchfork? And a broken bucket… I thought I’d been dreaming when I saw you wearing it like a hat earlier, but I guess not.” She tittered like a mean schoolgirl, the type to picked on poor innocents like himself.

“Forget about these.” He laid the items to the side and used the brief moment to suppress his shame. It wasn’t me, anyway, so why should I have to feel embarrassed? Even if they think it was me, it wasn’t… Should I mention that? No, she wouldn’t believe me; best to move on like it never happened. “Susie, I could have sworn you said something about my dad back there, no? What was it?”

She scrunched her cheeks with indecisive eyes, then sighed, giving a small shake of the head. “I guess there’s no point in hiding your heritage anymore now that it’s waking up by itself.” She took the wheat stalk out of her mouth and fiddled with it. “Where do I start? Hmm, well this might surprise you but I wasn’t always this chipper in the past. No, I used to be rather glum in the old days, angry at the world for the hand it had given me.”

Cal coughed and looked away, fighting over his urge to correct her.

“Your dad was the one who helped me cheer up by showing me a new perspective on life.” She made no attempt to hide her self-indulgent smile. “Your dad, for all his faults, was a good man who helped people broaden their horizons.”

As these words spilt out, a vision overcame Cal: it showed Susie, identical to the Susie in front of him but wearing different clothes, sweeping the General Amenities storefront with a peaceful look.

Then came along a man, fiery red hair tied in a ponytail, muscled and tall. Although Cal had never seen his dad before (his mum wasn’t the sentimental sort to hold on to photos), he instinctively knew this was the man for they shared the same facial structure: high cheekbones and a defined jaw that led to a cleft chin.

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His dad spotted Susie, tried to contain it for a second, before failing brilliantly as he doubled over in hooting and hysterics. Not one to leave someone out of the joke, he made sure to clear up any possible points of confusion by pointing at her and exaggerating how short she was by miming the size of a doll.

He’s openly teasing her… I mean, it’s a bit funny, but is it really that funny?

Heat rushed to her head as she flushed bright red, within a snap turning to anger. “Oh no you didn’t! How dare you! Don’t think I’ll show you any mercy cos’ your Liliane’s husband.”

She charged at him headlong like a several-days-old calf but was blocked by his outstretched palm and stopped in her tracks; easily stoppable force meets immovable object esque scenario.

“Why you! Wait till I get my hands on you. I’ll show you how we treat ruffians like you ‘round these parts.”

Before she could do so, however, Cal’s dad had scooped her up under her armpits, and with a swift swing of his arms launched her into the air like a child.

…why?

“You put me down, you brute. You pervert,” her breathless screams sounded as he caught her and slingshot her into the air again. “I’ll rip you to shreds. I’ll kill you.”

A minute later her anger had toned down to tearful pleas. “Please stop it. I’ll tell Liliane about this. Don’t think I won’t.”

He continued with a chuckle, unaffected by her appeals.

Their motion sped up unnaturally quick as if time was being fast forwarded, his dad a constant swing-like entity throughout the period, meanwhile Susie’s expression transformed from misery to acceptance of her situation.

As time was slowing back down to normal speed, Cal could see she was even starting to giggle away like a little girl who’d asked her dad to throw her in the air. “Again, again!” She almost looked euphoric at being launched into the sky now, where she was able to overlook her surroundings as though she were a giant.

Don’t tell me she was being literal when she spoke about a new perspective on life… Really…

Without any indication the vision abruptly ended then, and Cal returned to reality; although he didn’t know what had just happened, he didn’t have the will to question it either given the happenings over the past hour; even more so because Susie still wore the same soppy smile she’d had when he’d been whisked away.

This allowed him to deduce that time must have somehow been frozen during the vision; sure, this was incomprehensible, but only as much so as being suddenly possessed by a ghost.

Be it as it may, it wasn’t like Cal had no misgivings about the vision either; for example, where was the proof that what he’d seen was genuine history and not some delirious figment of his imagination? I guess I can check with her, though maybe I'll do it subtly so that she doesn’t get in a huff over it.

To get her attention he coughed into his fist. “Susie, uh, I’d never heard my dad was like that. You know, it makes me curious how exactly he helped you broaden your horizons?”

She had a start at the sound of his voice, and rushed to wipe the soppy smile off her face.

“Was it that he taught you about other cultures? Or maybe he was so good at some skill he showed you how far you still had to go to master it? Was that it?”

She appeared unfazed, even nodding a little, but Cal spotted the fingers on her right hand scratching the skin of her palm – an idiosyncratic habit of hers whenever she was getting nervous. It was time to twist the dagger in for the kill.

Turning his head askance, he gave her the bombastic side-eye. “Or maybe, as absurd as it is – stupid, really – did he just throw you in the air like a father playing with his unhappy little girl until she cheered up?”

A blush infused her cherubic cheeks, a face as guilty as a naughty kid being caught with their hand in the cookie jar. “T-that doesn’t matter. Your dad was a good man, o-okay.” Although she shouted, her voice was shaking and eyes blinking rapidly on the precipice of tearing up. “Y-you go ask your mum if you want to know more. Damned kids these days, always being a bother when grown-ups are busy at work, I swear.”

Shooed off, Cal picked up his items and left. Outside, he dragged his free hand down the length of his face and stretched it out of shape.

Okay, my dad was a jerk, that much is clear to see, but at least this was an incident which resolved with both parties happy. No harm done, right? Who knows, maybe dad had sunk a few pints before the flashback – that would definitely help in explaining his insensitive behaviour.

Convincing himself he was making a fuss over nothing – everything looked worse without context after all – Cal started towards the next person on the list, which just so happened to be the publican himself.