As the sun slowly hid behind the green mountains on the horizon, Huey and Fia walked along the road to their family home. The air was cooling, and the shadows were lengthening.

"How are things going?" Huey asked, breaking the silence.

Fia looked at him with a teasing smile. "Things are going alright. The forge is doing well, thanks to 'me'," she said, chuckling. Then, with a more serious tone, she added, "It would go even better if you were part of it."

Huey instantly shook his head. "No, not interested in the slightest."

Fia nudged him playfully. "Come on, you have the muscle and enough overflowing passion for it. You should at least try, even if it's not full-time. You can still dedicate most of your time to whatever you're up to."

Huey sighed. "I'm really not interested, Fia."

She looked at him more seriously. "You know, it would also help you and Dad patch things up."

Huey frowned. "I'm really not interested in that either. Because it’s a waste of time."

Fia's shoulders slumped, the disappointment clear on her face. "He misses you, you know. He's just not good at showing it. The forge... it could be your way to connect with him."

Huey was not convinced but chose to not voice that out.

"Just... think about it," she continued softly. "Even if it's just a little bit, think about it, perhaps it’ll change your mind."

Seeing how down she looked, Huey relented. "Alright, alright. I'll try."

Fia's face brightened a little. "It's a promise, alright?"

He nodded at his little sister. "Yeah, it's a promise."

The duo’s family home soon came into view. It was nestled at the intersection of two crossing routes, about the size of the shop if not slightly smaller. The house looked cozy and well-kept, with a thatched roof and sturdy wooden walls.

As they reached the door, Fia turned to him. "Be nice and careful about what you say to Mom, okay? She was really worried to death about you."

Huey protested, "I know. I won't mention anything that'll make her even more worried."

They entered the house, and Fia immediately announced, "Mom, I'm back!"

A voice responded from the other side of the room, "Oh, Fia... you're back early to—" The voice trailed off as the owner came into view, noticing Huey behind Fia.

"Huey..." their mother said, her eyes widening in surprise.

"Hi, Mom," Huey replied, feeling a twinge of guilt.

Their mother, dressed plainly in a simple linen dress, came forward and hugged him tightly. Her warm embrace made Huey feel slightly horrible.

When she let go, her expression shifted from relief to a stern, scolding look. "You did it again, didn't you? Missing for weeks."

"Actually, it was only a week. Barely a week, I would even sa—" Huey began, but his mother interrupted him.

"Doesn't matter, it's the same. Do you have any idea how worried I was?" she asked, her voice rising.

Huey wanted to say something but chose not to, feeling that anything he said would only make the matter worse.

"Do you not know how dangerous dungeons are? Of course, you know, yet you keep going there, hiding when you're going. Do you want to break my heart?" She continued, her watery eyes guiltying him shut.

He shook his head.

"Going to a dungeon alone, what an idea. If you ever get hurt there, no one would know about it, no one to help. Do you want to die alone like that?" she asked, her voice trembling.

He shook his head again.

The scolding went on for another five minutes. Finally, getting tired of scolding him, she sighed. "Anyway, the essential thing is that you're alright and in one piece. But don't do it again, okay?"

Huey nodded once again.

"Are you being honest right now?" his mother asked. Huey hesitated, knowing his options were to either lie or admit to lying. His mother noticed and sighed in defeat. "I should hit you right now," she said.

"I've been a bad son. Please, Mom, go ahead," Huey replied.

She raised an eyebrow, shaking her head. "No thanks. I know that regardless of how hard I hit, I'll be the one to feel more of the pain out of the two of us."

"Eeeeeh..."

"Why do you sound disappointed, weirdo?" Fia asked, having changed into other clothes. She had ditched Huey mid-scolding and had time to change herself.

"I was thinking the same," his mother added. "Since you're here, you'll stay for dinner."

Immediately understanding the implication of staying for dinner, Huey declined the offer. "No, I think I should get back to the shop. I need to—"

"That wasn't a question, boy," his mother established.

Despite knowing that going against what she wanted was the worst thing he could do after such a scolding, he nonetheless refused. "Mom, I really—"

"Huey, you will stay for dinner," she insisted firmly.

Fia chimed in, "Come on, it's been a while since we all ate together. Plus, we’re having your favorite tonight—eggplant and pork porridge."

Huey hesitated, the thought of the familiar meal making him waver. "You're not going to change my mind like that."

The author's narrative has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.

"What will you have for dinner? Something cooked by Charlie, or do you still plan on cooking?" Fia asked.

Charlie was an avid soup maker/enjoyer. Whatever the elven fella cooked it always involved a certain ratio. Always 50% water and 50% mysterious leaves he somehow procured without ever leaving the shop. Mentioning that hit a soft spot; Huey neither felt like cooking today nor felt like eating Charlie's concoctions. What Charlie cooked could feed the elf, but it couldn't feed and even less satisfy the Verdenkind that Huey was.

"And you can bring some back to share with Charlie too," Fia added.

On these words, Huey finally gave in. "Fine, I'll stay."

"Great," his mother said, smiling. She turned to Fia. "Help me wrap things up."

As the mother daughter duo headed to the kitchen, Huey seized the living/dining room he was standing at the entrance of, the sight of it brought about nostalgic memories of his childhood. It was there as he reminisced about these times, that the door was heard opening and closing. Huey turned around to see two figures emerging into the room. One was a tall, bald man with a mustache, covered in soot, his outfit stained from work at the forge. The metallic charcoal smell emanated from him. Beside him stood a boy, barely over eleven, with black hair like Huey and Fia.

The man was the first to notice him. "You... So it was true what I heard. You're back."

Huey looked at the boy. "Hi, Oli." Then he looked at the tall bald man. "Hi, Dad."

Immediate tension filled the room as Huey and his father faced each other. "What are you doing here?" his father asked, his tone sharp and unwelcoming.

Huey sighed internally. Here we go again.

"I was invited for dinner," he replied.

"By who?" his father demanded.

Huey's relationship with his father was far from ideal; it was, in fact, one of the most tense father-son relationships imaginable. Just as Huey was about to answer, his mother emerged from the kitchen. "Oh, honey, you're back already! Guess who's back—Huey."

"I can see that," his father said dryly.

"He's going to join us today for dinner," his mother declared, or rather asserted. His father just let out a low snort.

As Fia poked her head from the kitchen, their father noticed and frowned, seemingly putting everything together. "Fia."

"Yeeees, Dad?" she said, not coming out of the kitchen.

"Is this why you left early today? To fetch him from that place?"

"Mmmmh."

Their father moved past Huey to confront her. "How many times did I tell you not to go to that place?"

Here he goes again, Huey thought, rolling his eyes internally.

Their father continued to scold Fia. "Do you want any of those nasty rumors about you and that el—"

Before he could continue on a tangent Huey really couldn't stand hearing, their mother intervened. "Honey! How about you pipe down? I've had a terrible week, it finally got better, and you want to make it worse with your shouting?"

"Whose fault is that in the first place?" he sulked.

"You were saying?" she pressed.

He sighed. "Nothing.... I'm hungry," he declared, heading to the bathroom outside.

"Oliver, come wash yourself," he called to Huey's younger brother.

In that moment, Huey exchanged a short glance with his father—one devoid of any paternal love, filled with pure annoyance. As Oliver passed by him, Huey looked at his mother and said in a low voice, "Perhaps we should do this another time."

"Don't be silly, Huey," his mother insisted. "You've already come all this way."

"Yeah, come on, Huey," Fia added from the kitchen. "You can't just leave now. Besides, you promised to do some effort."

Huey hesitated, feeling the weight of the promise he had made to Fia. Despite his reluctance, he sighed and nodded. "Alright, I'll stay."

His mother smiled, relief evident in her eyes. "Good. Now, let's all sit down and have a nice family dinner for once."

Huey took a seat at the table, trying to push down the apprehension that still gnawed at him. As the food was brought out and everyone settled in, he couldn't shake the feeling that this dinner would be anything but peaceful.

***

The family of five was seated around the dining table, with Huey and his father facing each other across the table. His younger brother, Oliver, and his sister, Fia, sat to their father's left, while their mother was positioned to his right.

As always, the eggplant and pork porridge was tasty, but the tension at the table lessened Huey's enjoyment by at least a whopping 30%. The mood was so tense that even the clatter of the dishes felt overwhelmingly loud.

To break the uncomfortable silence, Huey's mother asked, "How was it today at the forge?"

"Like usual," his father replied dryly before sinking back into silence, rendering her effort useless. Undeterred, she turned to Oliver. "Anything new happen today at the forge, Oliver?"

The younger boy beamed with pride. "I forged my first dagger today."

"Oh, well done!" his mother praised, urging Huey with a glance to get involved.

Huey smiled at his brother. "Good job, Oli," Huey said. "You did well. But remember, to get really good at it, you need to forge hundreds more. Repetition makes the master, not just one lucky hit."

His father interrupted, "What do you know about smithing?"

Huey felt his temper flare. "I know enough to give that advice."

"You don't know shit," his father retorted, his voice rising. "You and that friend of yours, that Charlie, are nothing more than children daydreaming."

"You better stop talking like that about him..."

"Or what? You’re going to beat me for talking about that son of a whore that he is."

Huey felt a surge of anger, prompting him to snap back, "it's funny that you consider being the son of a whore an insult considering what you are. You know what being the son of a whore means very well."

His father's face turned red with fury. "You will not speak of your grandmother like that!"

"Why not? You don't have any qualms insulting Grandpa, do you? Why should I hold back about Grandma?"

His father fumed, "Letting that lunatic back into my life was the biggest mistake I ever made. His ramblings have corrupted you, made you the half-man you are now."

Huey clenched his fists, the accusation against his grandfather striking a nerve. He had unwittingly stumbled upon living proof of the truth in his grandfather's statements, making his father's words all the more infuriating. "Grandpa is twice the man you'll ever be. He was not a lunatic. I know because I've seen the truth in what he said."

His father sneered. "You were a child back then and couldn't see it. Even as an adult, you can't. You never grew up. He was a lunatic, Huey!"

The shout from across the table caused Huey to slam his fists down, the force of it causing the table to simply crack apart. Realizing what he did, he glanced at his frightened mother and brother, and his worried sister.

His father taunted, "Is that how you’ve been taught to act twice the man you’re talking about??"

Huey felt the urge to jump across the table and attack his father, but he knew he might very easily kill the bald man. There was an essential difference between the two of them. Despite being father and son, Huey was effectively a different type of human. His grandfather and he were Verdenkind, humans who could choose a class and use experience to level up, making them much stronger than peons like his father, mother, brother and sister.

Stepping back, he said, "I'll pay for the table."

As he turned to leave, his father spat, "I don't need your money or anything to do with you. Don't ever put a foot in this house again."

"I don't intend to," Huey replied, his voice cold.

Huey's mother tried to salvage some semblance of peace. "Huey wait, how about I pack some porridge for Charlie?"

His father immediately cut in. "You will do no such thing for that Charlie."

"It's alright, Mom," Huey said, his voice tight with anger. "I don't think Charlie will want anything out of the house of this elf-hating piece of shit anyway."

"Get out of my house," his father growled.

"I'm on my way!" Huey shot back, making his way to the door. He turned to his mother. "Goodbye, Mom." He looked at his brother. "I'm sorry, Oli." And finally, he glanced at Fia.

With that, Huey left, slamming the door behind him, slamming it strong but weighing his strength so that it didn’t splinter it into millions pieces.