Ghimli

I saw Doc and Amanda leaving the Tavern with a cheerful face, that made me relief that Doc finally was accepting the new reality and I could finally, finally, let myself go. Looking around, I saw Bea partying with some other adventurers, drinking and dancing, being a teenager. Our regular table was free, so I made my way into their benches, grabbing a mug of ale in the way. I saw other people aproaching to sit and made my best “Mean Ogre” face to scare them, the look on their faces were priceless, “this would never get old” I laugh to myself, sitting on the empty, but coveted, table.

The Ale was stale, but this was the standard here, and was warm too, but I needed the alcohol to keep my mood at bay. I looked around again, Bea still having a great night and I let myself sulk.

My hands covered my face, and I could feel the roughness of them, I had a “Baby” hand in my human form, the kind of hand of someone who didn’t know how to hold a shovel and the only kind of manual labor that I knew how to do was build furniture, the pre-build kind, not the saw lumber kind. My father was the opposite, he was a handyman with a engineer degree and I couldn’t keep up with him. If something needed to be done in the house, he did it without anyone even noticing it. But when it comes to PCs, that was my jam, I could build a mean machine with a low budget, config servers to indie games and home labs to college friends like no other. Nothing that would help me in my current situation.

I could feel my hands getting wet with the memory of my father, I didn’t know how long until I could see him again, and my mother… Now I could feel the tears dripping from my face and soaking my hands. I didn’t live with them for years, but we were still close, we seen each other every week.

“Andre?” Bea’s voice came from my side. “Everything is okay?”

“Yeah.” I said, wiping the tears and the snot. Orc snot was nasty. “Everything is A-Okay.” I tried to smile.

“I can see.” She said, pulling a handkerchief from someone else’s pocket and handing to me before sitting down. “What’s going on, Andre?”

“Nothing, really. I just let myself go now that Doc don’t need the comic relief friend.” My smile was genuine this time, a sad smile.

“You know that Doc doesn’t see you this way, right?”

“I Know. But at situations like this one, I feel that we all need one.”

“You’re not wrong” Her smile was also sad. “but sometimes we can’t be what everyone expect us to be. Sometimes we need someone to hear us. And I’m here, Andre.”

“That’s my line.” I said, laughing softly.

“I know.” She smiled back. “I’ve learned from the best.”

“Doc sometimes is far up his own ass to see around him. Don’t get me wrong, the guy has the biggest heart but…” I let out a loud sigh. “I can’t be responsible for him too.”

If you discover this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation.

Bea reached from my hand and hold it tight. “You are responsible only for yourself.”

“And you. Mom and Dad would kill me if something happens to you. Then, they’d hire a necromancer to raise me so they could kill me again.” The table next to us let out a small chuckle. They were hearing our conversation, but I didn’t care.

“Necro what? Never mind, the point is, You need to focus on yourself, be strong for yourself and only like that you can help us. If you feel like a chore, you’ll become a chore.”

“The kid is right.” A booming voice came from the table that were hearing our conversation.

“Do you mind? I’m heaving a heart-to-heart with my sister.” I said, not really angry at the guy.

“I kinda do mind. The name is Gordor, and I believe that I can be of some assistance.” He unbutton the top of his shirt and pulled down, revealing a similar tattoo that I had in my hand.

“Holy shit. A Grindor follower.” I said with exaggerated surprise. “Come on, dude, same here” I showed him my hand. “And I don’t expose myself to teenagers.”

“Teenagers?” The guy blushed, looking around.

“Andre!” Bea reprimanded me. “Hardly a teenager anymore”

“Until September 17th, you’re a teenager. After that, you can do what you want.”

“And when is that?” She asked, raising an eyebrow.

“Don’t know, Don’t care. Tough for you.” I grimaced when she pouted. She did that since she was a child, and I liked to tease her just to see her doing that face. I think she knows that, I caught her angry from time to time without doing that face, and when I entered the room, there it was, the cute face that she did.

“Sorry, I didn’t know we had a Lanister Complex over her.” He said, mocking, and this time, Bea beat me to the punch.

“Listen, asshole, if you have a sister complex it your own fault, go watch some weird shit anime to tingle your pickle and leave the rest of us with a normal relationship alone, or you want to talk with my friend here?” she pulled the dagger from her boots, and drove it into the table. The table next to us started to get up angry, drawing weapons.

“Oh, great.” I said with exaggerated sarcasm “It’s our second night here and we’re already in a tavern brawl” I smiled at Bea, with more teeth that I had in previous life.

“Okay, that’s enough.” The bearded bartender stood between us. “You can talk shit all you want, words never broke a chair of mine, but if weapons are drawn, I must interfere.”

“Yeah, just, please, let us have a chat.” I said to Gordor, who’s face contorted with boiled up angry. He dropped into his chair and gulped the ale in front of him. “Sir, another ale for the table, on me. This is a peace offer. Take it.” I said, the “Mean Orc” face back, they nodded with a tingle of fear. This was fun!

“See?” Bea said, sitting again. “I don’t need your protection, I can take care of myself.”

“Yeah. No. You were reckless and irresponsible. We could have died if they all ganged up on us, I don’t have enough mana to keep us in the fight for too long and…. Ohhhhh, I see why Doc was so mad earlier.” realization coming like a wave.

“Hey, Gordor?” Bea yelled. “It worked, thank you!”

“Anytime!” He said, opening a big smile. “And thanks for the Ale.”

“Oh, Come on!” I said when they all started to laugh. My mood was better, I could see Bea had matured and I didn’t need to worry too much with her.

“Glad you got the point. I’m not a complete newbie in fantasy worlds, Andre, I also read a lot of fantasy books.”

“Oh, really? What kind? Lord of the Rings? Wheel of Time? The Witcher?” I was getting excited to share some common interest with my sister.

“A Court of Thorns and Roses.” She said softly, drinking her beer.

“Never heard of it.” I said, what it is about?

“Nothing much, typical fantasy stuff, you wouldn’t like it.”

“I wish I had my kindle now, I could look it up and we could talk about it…”

“Please don’t.” She sunk on her seat while I babbled about fantasy tropes with Gordor’s desk chiming in once in a while.

It was fun to geek out with keen minds, a bit of normalcy into this world, she hided well, but I could see the soft smile on Bea’s face when I was back to my normal self.