Ker was welcomed home. It was a very emotional welcome. His mother hugged him dearly and she hurried to bring him in.
"Juno, you wouldn't believe who came home!" Hellena shouted in the house.
"It is so good that you are back. How was it, how was the adventure?"
Only after a non-stop bombardment of questions did she take a closer look at her son.
"What are you wearing? It looks rustic."
Ker, really happy to be home at last, endured the questioning with a smile.
On her last question, he had to take a breath. And as he was about to explain things, his father, Juno, appeared in the hall.
"Son, where's the price of the game. Do tell, what kind of beast did you hunt? I want to see the trophy of my son's victorious hunt."
Then Juno inspected him, specific his clothes.
"Is this a new trend, or did I miss something. Ker, what happened with your clothes and your gear?" Asked Juno quizzical.
Ker knew he had to explain properly what happened and how. He also was aware that lying to his parents would probably work as well as usual, not at all.
"Hell', Juno I think we should sit down. I have a lot to tell you." Ker gave his bag with the pelt-clothes to the butler. He had kept everything but the underpants. Actually, he was kind of proud for slaying that bone squirrel and gaining its pelt.
The atmosphere shifted from welcoming to unpleasant curiosity. Ker did not work out the story he would settle on. He could not tell everything, but he had to give the facts of the events.
At first, he hesitated, but the gazes of his parents changed from curious to worried. Ker gave in to the oppressing feeling and told them how horribly wrong everything went.
At first he just blurted out words. "I was so angry... I saw him... and then I-" then he realized that he had started at the end. He took a moment to calm down to start at the beginning and ordered his story while telling it.
His mother became even more worried. She held now his hands to encourage him to go on. Juno's mood shifted from irritation to outright anger. As Ker told how he was abandoned, his father cracked the mug he was holding.
"Where is that Helm." Juno growled through his clenched teeth. Ker's face became a shed of pale: "Well, that... that is something I will get to." He had to remind himself that his father's anger was directed at the person who abandoned him. Probably abandoned him. In hindsight, he wasn't anymore that certain.
Ker then omitted what actually happened. He had a hard time accepting that he was now a beast. That even the Status showed him as beast. He believed that such a truth should not be shared lightly. His parents would most likely not believe him and struggle with this fundamental shift of their reality.
Ker told them that he managed to flee the strange complex, how he survived and in the end, overcame nature to find his way back to man.
Of course, he gave no mention of the Status notifications. The specifics of titles and stats were normally not shared anyway. It was also taboo to ask after those.
The hardest part of the story was as Ker met his group again. He hesitated and stuttered, blocked by fear of their reaction. But he forced himself to tell about it, single word for single word.
"Then... I saw him, I mean Helm... I felt a rage, I wanted to make him feel pain. But... I couldn't stop, he fought back, I think and then... and then I blanked. I only know that fought with everything I had. I saw his face, when he was on the ground. I think he's dead. I think... I killed someone."
At this point, Ker's hands were trembling. He tried to calm himself down, but he failed due to the stress. His parents' unwavering patience just added to his internal pressure.
After his telling, his parents gave each other a meaningful look. Juno finally spoke up: "Son, you did great surviving this harrowing experience. They should have never left you there. It was their fault for your suffering. You stood up for your honor. And you fought two experienced adventurers alone."
As Juno saw that his words were less encouriging than thought he decided for a different route. "Ker, you are a noble by birth. They threatened your life by inaction and challenged your authority. I - we know that you are still young. We also made certain that your education is wholy rounded. We didn't want you to become like the other noble bra... children. For pride and arrogance can lead to a fast downfall. Nontheless, we are proud that you overcame all your challenges. We are happy - and most important, relieved that you still live."
"It must be hard to see things clearly right now. Therefore son, I will step out for a while and let Hell' take care. No worries son, no one will dare to charge you for what happenend."
Then Juno stood up, took the ritual duel blade from the wall as well as his old adventurer guild batch. With weapon and insignia armed he walked out their house. Ker could hear how the butler futile insisted:"My Lord, you can not go outside like this. Is this not.. a bit excessive. Please, let me at least accompany you."
"No need Nellson. This will be but a quick visit."
Their discussion faded into the background as the door fully closed and Ker focused back on his situation. He was in quite the trouble, even when his father could take care of any potential charges, he still was a murderer. At least he thought so.
"Son, look at me" said his mother with a soft voice, "I know you feel miserable, you feel guilty. I know this because that is how your father felt after his first battle. I remember clearly his words on this fateful day: It was nothing like hunting' beasts. The blood - it smelled like iron. Humans are so similar to animals, their bodies are... but it is wrong. It feels all wrong. It feels like my hands are tainted."
"And with time the wounds of guilt heeled. We don't expect you to be fine with this. But we want you to feel fine again. I think every man that went to battle felt those feelings. Let us rest those things for now, we see tomorrow what is tomorrow."
With this she asked Ker if it is okay to go on. After a moment he nodded. "Good, on then, you need to look like a noble man that you are. Also you should smell like one and finally be treated like one." With this she knocked on the table:"Magda, make certain that our new gentleman here gets a fine bath, appropriate clothes. In the meantime I will call for a doctor to fully tend the wounds."
Magda walked as quickly as her maid-dress aloud to carry out her tasks. First Ker was led to the family bath room. It was plastered with marble and adorned with embellishments and small figures on the wall. The room was painted in soft green and see-blue colors. Ker actually never went to the see, but his parents told him stories about their travels.
Freshly cooked water was let in the bronze bath tub. Of course the bathtub itself was adorned with silver and a touch of gold. Ker was then left alone. To describe the bath as enjoyment would be a shortcoming in naming his feeling. Ker himself was baffled that the second bath could really feel even better.
In the bathtub, this time relaxed and recovered, he had time to think. How did he return? How did all this start to go wrong? Why did it go wrong, why had this all to happen? He could find no answers to those question, but he asked them regardless. Question after question shot in the void of thought. His thought becoming heavy and sad. His chest felt heavy when he asked the important questions: why had Greg and Vrenn to die? What could we have done to change that? His mind drifted to the scene when Greg was wounded and later when... but he tried to force his thoughts away from it. In the end he neither could find answers nor completely ignore the questions. He held his tears in and focused his mind on his now, that he was safe by his parents, home.
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After the bath he clothed himself in the clothes left for him. Those clothes felt lacking, there were just basic wool clothes without any family emblem and no noble icons. In his be-wonderment he was led to another room. He was in this room before, many times actually. It was the dressing room. A lot of different dresses and suits and even some servant suits were stored here. Most of the clothes and fabrics were in the antic wooden wardrobe, but there were still so many clothes outside it seemed to be the opposite.
The maid was taking measurements of him. Several times she asked to reposition him and plucked his clothes to shape. He felt a bit like a puppet. Soon all measurements were taken and the maid laid out some different colored fabrics to chose from. Another situation that left him rather helpless since he never had any kind of interest in that sort of thing. He just choose wool, cotton, silk and fur from different animals. The colors of his choosing were black, gold as an option for decor, yellow for patterns and of course orange as house color.
Satisfied with everything the maid left with everything noted. He was given time to clothe himself in whatever he wanted to wear right now. Since this was already tiresome for him he took the traditional choice. That consisted out of similar clothes his grandparents had worn.
Finally done with this part Ker moved one floor down. There was his mother ever patiently waiting.
"You look great, just like your father, no wait just like your grandparents" she beamed at him with a giant smile.
"You surely will become a great nobleman know from south to west."
"Uh, thanks mom" he coughed "I mean thank you lady"
"Oh no need for this, that is only necessary in front of other people. We as family will always be family"
"Ok" he breathed out relieved, that none of the rules changed for him "But what is with the clothes, aren't they expensive? Do we have that kind of money?"
"Oh son, how nice of you to think of our finances, but don't worry your uncle Timboury was here two weeks ago. He left us quite the sum to deal with. So we thought we just give you the best we can effort. "Hell' was in thought for a moment. "Actually, we might just have to make a far greater investment than just clothes. So we want you to come with us to the main capital. We already paid for the travels in full upfront."
"Ok, that sounds interesting any chance you might initiate me in your secret."
His mother just winked and left him to guess.
Soon the butler returned with the city doctor Valne'. Valne' examined Ker. "No major injuries left. Nearly all scars clothed and healed over. Internal damage very minimal. Overall good healing progress, but the healing done was average at best. I administer this healing flask and can offer to heal the scars now."
They decided to go for the suggested option. In the end the scars were basically completely retreated and his health fully replenished. The doctor excused himself as he had a lot more work to do.
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As the week past by, Ker met his friends and spent time with them. Especially with Helk, they had to catch up and digest the events of their shared hunt. There was also the part of reporting back to the guild. A part Ker gladly put off and for some mysterious reason wasn't hold accountable for. But at some point he had to make his report and deal with all the consequences.
First were naturally his friends. Helk waited at the crumbling inner city gate, a symbol from another time. "Man, good to see you walking freely around. Not that i ever thought they would confine you, well maybe fine you."
"Nah, until now nothing happened. I got nice clothes or rather I will get very fine clothing soon."
Helk squinted:"You are wearing old clothes, are they from your grandparents" Ker could hear light teasing in his friend's voice but decided to ignore it. "Yes exactly, those were the clothes of the ex-rulers of this country-side, crème de la crème, don't you think so."
"Mhm, I don't know, do you think those words say what you're meaning? However, how are you doing? Are you really fine?" The last question was much more careful, hidden inside the choice to answer if at all.
"I’m okay. I think I will come to terms what was and what is. So is life I think. I rather focus on the now, who knows what will be tomorrow. By the way, how are the others doing? What is with Jenna, did she manage to get a class?"
"Not jet, she's pretty disappointed about it. We're establishes adventurers wile she's just a county pumpkin. We might need to help out."
"No worries, I am certain we can help her develop her 'ultimate class'."
They met their friend group several corners down in the poorer parts of Wellsheid. Ker's parents didn't like that he was meeting with them, not because they were poor, because they were all trouble makers. But Ker never cared too much about that, he rather was befriended with them than most stuck-up noble kids. He found their attitude with both feet on the ground just more appealing. And right now he needed exactly that.
"Hey there is our hero of the hunt, heard you returned in one piece, need' to see that for myself" said a girl with open worn black hair and a mischievous glint in her eyes. She did wear leather armor over wool clothes and iron armor rings on both arms. Ker had to investigate those:"Where did you get those shiny beauties?"
"I don't kno'. Maybe found 'em, where lying around, lonely you kno'. Had to keep 'em - fr safeguards"
"Ok, not gonna ask questions I will regret later. But don't get caught, ok."
Another adolescent boy looked up to Ker in outright be-wonderment:"You really returned successful. I mean, never that I doubt'd you, but... you know, it's danger's in the wild woods. D' tell of your hunt, how was it? It must have been aw'some!"
The boy's name was Nemgrad and he was an orphan, earning his money through telling and retelling stories and tales. He sometimes retold stories he already had retold, not to the enjoyment of all his listeners.
Ker hesitated on how much he wanted to disclose. He opted for telling a very, very rundown version of his adventure. Omitting most of it and redefining many of the events. Like that he evolved and now was a beast, apparently. Or that he was likely betrayed by the leader he had put all his trust in. the last part was changed for many reasons. One was that Ker didn't want to put the adventurers he ventured out with in a bad light. After all, most of them were innocent or even his friends. And of course the end was shortened to: he found his way back to a village bordering on the woods and very nice people took care of him.
Nemgrad was very happy, finally being able to tell a true story from his friends giving credit to their deeds and sharing some of that fame in form of coins.
At the appropriate places in the telling, Helk nodded, to give it more credibility.
Ker was happy and felt he finally arrived home. Not just family home, but a real home with friends.