Ultimately, Matteo decided to go with Tara. He would much rather go alone if not with friends, but being with Tara was better than the suggested ‘Rene comes along but stays at a respectful distance so he can pretend he’s alone.’ He would essentially be in charge of Tara’s safety and comfort, but she probably wouldn’t wander far away from him anyway.
Matteo wanted to aim for the trip to take up about a week in June; it was a fairly uneventful month for them and gave him a good amount of time to get everything in order. Rene’s birthday was towards the end of May and he wanted to be there—then Tara’s birthday was at the start of July and he didn’t want to be responsible for her missing it. Even if neither celebration was much more than wandering—in Rene’s case—or staying inside all day—in Tara’s.
He spent a good majority of his free time either looking into things as much as he could before he left or getting the basic plans done. Ultimately, the latter half of Rene’s birthday was spent with her helping to get some final things thought out before the trip while Adelinde and Tara went to the school building so Tara could graduate early.
He laid the map on the kitchen table for Rene to come back to in between cooking dinner. Matteo tried to help with the food, but she refused. She only agreed to let him set the table when it came time for it.
Rene lit the stove and put something on it, then walked back over to the table.
“Okay, first things first. Have you gotten train tickets yet?”
“I was waiting to make sure you didn’t have any comments on the location,” Matteo admitted. “There’s nothing off about it as far as I’m aware, but you’ve traveled more than I have. Hence the map.”
“Right. Where were you thinking, then?”
Matteo pointed to one town west of San Asari. The general area held a lot of first island immigrant communities—it had a vaguely similar landscape, from what he heard, which appealed to them more than the Sólstaðuric preference of ports and places close to the sea. He actually wanted to go to a specific village, but would he ever actually tell Rene or Adelinde that? No, mostly because it was Aurik’s original notes that made him curious about that place in particular; he didn’t want to bother them with that thought of ‘our son is going to the place where his father speaks really highly of for some reason.’
Rene observed the map for a second, then went back to the stove to stir whatever she put on it.
Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author.
“That way’s mostly fine; just keep the normal traveling tips in mind. I don’t think…” She paused for a moment, then a generally friendly tone shifted to something more cautious—weird. She noticed his frown when she glanced back and tried to clarify. “I’ve actually been in that area once.”
“And ran into trouble?” Matteo asked, mostly guessing based on her look. “I can pick somewhere else if it’s not safe.”
“The location isn’t the problem,” Rene replied, turning back to the food to stir it again. “Just don’t openly go ‘oh hey, me and my sister are omyn, look at us we’re kinda special’ and you’ll be fine.”
A few seconds of silence passed, then Rene faced Matteo again and put on a somewhat teasing look. He couldn’t tell if it was genuine or if she was trying to move past whatever bothered her.
“So the location’s fine—you’ll want to get train tickets before June starts if you want to be in and out before Tara’s birthday. You remember all the tips?”
Matteo obediently rattled them off, if only because he heard them so often during their first few years of traveling.
“Don’t show off, stay on main roads unless it looks unsafe, find a place to stay as soon as possible, don’t let Tara wander off, try to be patient with her, and taking out a knife isn’t illegal if they pull one out first.” The last was encouraged mostly by Rene herself; Adelinde preferred believing that they wouldn’t need knives at all.
Rene almost gave him a proud smile. “Atta boy. You shouldn’t have any trouble out there.”
Matteo murmured some kind of agreement and thanks, then got up to put away the map. When he returned, Rene was almost finished dinner and Adelinde and Tara were coming in. Both took a seat while Matteo quickly set the table. Rene entertained some conversation as she wrapped up dinner.
“You kids think you have everything, then?” Rene asked.
“I know what I’ll need at least,” Matteo replied. He waited until he put all the plates, cups, and silverware down before he glanced at Tara. “I still need to look at tickets, but I can do that tomorrow. I’ll let you know when the date is so you can plan accordingly?”
Tara nodded as her agreement. She had a tendency to be silent whenever she came back from socialization-heavy places—the more people tried to talk to her the less she said. He could never tell if she was genuinely scared of people or just hated a majority of them. Fortunately for her, provided she actually learned in the four-ish years of ‘professional’ homeschooling, she wouldn’t even have to step into the school building.
Matteo sat next to Adelinde as per usual, and Rene brought the food over a minute later. The family—or Matteo and the parents, at least—maintained some conversation over the meal, partly discussing the trinkets they saw while they were out. Some brief discussion concerned what Tara wanted to do for her birthday, but the girl deflected it with relative silence and the topic was decided to be shelved for now.
Once they were done eating, Matteo helped Adelinde clean up while Rene stayed to talk and Tara went to her room.