Arvel pushed through the growing crowd of people who were collecting near the center of the camp. Though they were covering their heads to shield themselves from debris whipping about through the air, many of them seemed as though they were trying to get closer to the eye of the storm.

“Move!” Lunette shouted, trying to control the crowd, “Get to shelter!”

“But our lady...!”

Arvel pushed through the front of the crowd, and before him he saw the very eye of the violent storm, so dense with dust that he couldn’t see through it. Nearby, Lady Deleraine was on the ground on all fours, keeping her head down to try to protect herself.

“Rain!” Arvel shouted as he ran toward her, but a gust of wind hit him as hard as if he’d run into a wall. He grunted under the pressure and dug his feet in, his boots drawing deep trenches in the dry dirt, before he began to push forward through the storm slowly.

“A-Arvel!” Rain stammered, trembling as she curled up on the ground, “Help!”

“I’ve got you!” he called back as he pushed through the violent gusts.

By the time Arvel reached Rain’s side, he fell to his knees, throwing his body over top of hers to try to shield her from the wind. She felt small beneath him, fragile and already so badly beaten, covered in dust and scrapes, with twigs in her hair.

“It’s alright,” Arvel said, “I’ve got you.”

“N-No,” Rain said, “Not me... You need to help Fidget.”

Arvel lifted his head to look toward the center of the storm. At the center of a funnel of violent winds was Fidget, her head down and hair tossed skyward as she screamed in pain and frustration, her voice harmonizing with the howl of the winds.

“What the hells is she doing in there?” he asked, eyes wide, before he tucked his head down and squinted to try to protect himself.

“It’s her,” Rain said, “The storm, it formed around her. I think... I think I...”

Rain fell quiet, curling up more tightly beneath Arvel.

“I think I know why,” Rain whispered, voice quivering, “it only started raining when I came back.”

Arvel looked down at Rain, before he slowly wrapped an arm around her waist. Clinging tightly to her, Arvel said, “I’m gonna go and help Fidget. But I need you to trust me, alright?”

“Of course,” Rain replied, “I will always trust you, Arvel...”

“Good,” he whispered. Arvel wrapped both his arms tightly around Rain before he stood, hauling her up off of the ground. His boot heels skidded on the dirt as he spun with the force of the wind, and shouted, “LUNETTE, GRAB HER!”

Arvel let go.

Rain’s eyes widened as she felt herself sailing through the air, watching herself fly away from Arvel as he made no effort to grab hold of her again. No, he let go on purpose. He was grinning at her proudly as she flew into the air, carried on the turbulent winds.

“ARVEL, I HATE YOU!” she screamed out loud, before she hit someone. Rain and Lunette both grunted loudly as the two women toppled to the ground, though Lunette did her best to break Rain’s fall with her own body. The second the two of them stopped rolling on the dirt, the crowd circled around them to shield them and began to hurry them away from the eye of the storm.

Arvel turned his focus back toward the tornado that spun stationary in the middle of the camp. From up close, beneath the shield of his forearm raised to block the wind and sand, he could see Fidget standing in the epicenter.

“Hey Fidge!” Arvel shouted as he began to trudge toward her, “It’s me!”

“Stay back!” Fidget shouted, “Fidget will hurt you too!”

“No, ya won’t!” he answered, “I’m made of tougher stuff than that.”

“Fidget will hurt you!” she cried, “Fidget hurts everyone!”

Arvel slid to his knees as the wind grew too powerful. He reached down to grab onto the dirt, sinking his fingers into the deep cracks.

“No you don’t,” said Arvel, “You never hurt me before.”

“Fidget hurts everybody!” she insisted, stomping her foot as a bolt of lightning streaked across the sky, the immediate and deafening crash sending what remained of the crowd scattering.

Arvel looked up at Fidget, squinting through the sand as debris scratched at his face, and he asked, “Is that why you weren’t with the other goblins?”

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Fidget let out a frustrated scream, tears gathering at the corners of her eyes, as the first raindrops began to fall into the storm.

“You said you weren’t home,” Arvel said quietly, “Would they not let you be home?”

“Fidget was trying!” she sobbed, as a stinging rain began to fall in the windstorm, “Fidget was trying so hard to be welcome back! But they were gone... They all left and now you’re going to kick Fidget out too!”

Arvel crawled toward Fidget slowly, dragging himself along the ground.

“Quit makin’ decisions for me!” Arvel shouted, “I ain’t going nowhere! And I ain’t gonna kick you out either!”

“Peace and quiet!” Fidget shouted, her knees quaking, “Arvel wants peace and quiet and got none since Fidget came! Now it only gets worse... But people won’t leave, so Fidget has to go!”

Arvel clenched his teeth. He tensed his shoulders, grabbing tightly to the cracks of dry soil as he put his feet under him. Using every bit of power in his body, he lunged forward, springing from the ground and into the eye of the storm.

Flying debris and wisps of sand cut into him like knives, slicing his shirt and trousers and cutting roughly into his skin. But Arvel remained focused on his target. He threw his arms around Fidget and clung tightly to her, even when it felt like a bolt of lightning coursed through him, lighting up every nerve in his body with crackling static.

“Fidge!” Arvel shouted, “I’m not going nowhere! And neither are you!”

“Wh-Why?” Fidget stammered, quivering in his arms.

Arvel shut his eyes tight, and yelled over the din of the raging wind, “Because I was fine before! I was fine... I was alright on my own with my peace and my quiet and I wasn’t lonely in the least... But then you showed up, being all loud and messy and chaotic, and then you promised I wouldn’t be lonely anymore and now I don’t know if I could make do without.”

The winds began to calm.

“Nobody’s gonna make you leave,” said Arvel, “And if anybody tries, I’m gonna fight ‘em, tooth and nail.”

Fidget’s knees weakened until they gave out, and she collapsed fully into his arms, bursting into loud sobs. The gusts of wind calmed with an eerie suddenness, but the rain only began to fall harder.

The settlers began to peek out from their cover, from wagons and behind crates. A few of them edged nearer to Arvel and Fidget, but Arvel held up one of his hands, gesturing for them to keep their distance. He then lowered his hand to pet Fidget’s soaked hair.

“You don’t need to be scared of nobody,” Arvel said, “You got me to protect you, alright?”

Fidget clung to Arvel tightly as she wailed, her tears mixing with rain that fell in sheets over them. But soon, the rain too began to calm, as Fidget fell asleep in his arms, purely exhausted.

Instead of walking her all the way back to the house, Arvel imposed on Lunette to put Fidget in one of the wagons, bundled in blankets and cushioned with pillows. The rain had reduced to a faint drizzle by the time Arvel climbed out of the wagon, to see Rain and Lunette waiting with baited breath.

“She’ll be fine,” Arvel said quietly, “She just wore herself out, cryin’.”

“I’ve heard of people born under the Tempest Star,” said Lunette, “But I’ve never actually met one.”

“Is it that rare?” he asked.

Lunette shook her head and said, “Not the rarest, but the least... welcome. Raising a child whose mood swings effect the weather is a task not many are up to. Some towns will decide that it’s better for such a child to ‘get lost in the woods’. They deal with one bad storm and then they’re free of the burden.”

Arvel clenched his fists tightly, setting his jaw.

“I upset her,” Rain said quietly.

Arvel looked at Rain, who had turned her gaze to the ground, toeing at a crack in the ground. The heavy rainfall had made the surface layer clay-like but still dense, shifting and cracking more under the pressure of footfalls.

For a moment, Arvel wanted to reassure her. ‘No, it’s not you,’ he wanted to say, but his words caught in his throat. He reached out, and placed a hand on Rain’s shoulder, giving it a firm squeeze as he said, “It ain’t that easy. But instead of getting mad at yourself, you can do things to make it better.”

“H-How?” Rain stammered, gripping her apron tight as she stared at the ground.

“Well for starters, you lift your head, and you lay down the damn law,” Arvel said, “You’re the leader around here. You tell folk that Fidget’s a member of this community you’re tryin’ to build and you ain’t gonna stand for anyone treatin’ her bad.”

Lunette’s brow furrowed as she said, “These people have all had their lives impacted by goblin raiders. Every one of them has lost crops, livestock, property, even friends and family to goblins.”

“To goblin raiders,” he replied, glaring sharply at Lunette, “Fidget ain’t a raider. She wasn’t even involved in grabbing up Rain. They kicked her out a long time ago. You brought these folk out here because you thought they were committed and smart enough to figure out how to turn this wasteland into a town. Well, if they’re that smart, they can figure out how to not hate one goblin girl.”

Rain lifted her hand to lay over Arvel’s, and she squeezed it as she lifted her head. Though her eyes were red from crying, they now carried a look of determination.

“I’ll make sure of it,” said Rain, “I’ll make sure they know that Fidget is my friend, and that I will tolerate no ill will toward her.”

Arvel gave her shoulder another squeeze before he let go, and grinned at her, saying, “Now you’re soundin’ like a real leader.”

Rain stared at him a moment, before her brow knitted, and she said, “I am a real leader!”

Arvel folded his arms behind his head, calm and relaxed in the face of her rising temper, and said, “I don’t know... It feels like Lunette does a lot of the orderin’ around here.”

“It’s called delegation!” Rain snapped, planting her hands on her hips, “A proper leader knows how to put the right people in charge of the right things!”

“So what work is the leader doin’ during all of that delegatin’?” Arvel asked, “Sounds like you found a way to turn ‘being bossy’ into a noble duty.”

Rain’s face flushed with rage as she stammered, trying to find her words; “Th-That’s— That’s not how— I...!”

Lunette noticed a number of the settlers nearby had paused in their work, staring at their marchioness as she sputtered and fumed. Lunette heaved a heavy sigh and waved dismissively to the settlers, saying firmly, “Carry on.”