V2 C163
“Francia? Thats- Nm… Nevermind.”
Peter cut his own words off, clearly not expecting the city to come up. At its mention, he seemed to perk up, as if he’d already had the city on his mind.
Odd.
I shrugged.
“In a week or so, and right after Beryl’s birthday.”
I thought back to Lorn’s orders, the aging elf’s authority growing to be absolute as time passed, almost as if she were a Lord in her own right. Her proclamation of our team’s involvement was never an option. It was just poor timing however, especially with us wanting to celebrate Beryl’s new found adulthood together in the peace of the town with our families.
“Your snake friend? Must be her sixteenth sun, aye? But that means you could leave as soon as-”
I pondered the dates, recollecting them the best I could.
I wasted time screwing around in my stupor…
“Her birthday is in two days. That could have us stepping off within…”
I found myself grinding my teeth heavily, a dull groan from within my head from the sudden bout of tension and frustration.
“Damnit, we could be leaving in as little as the day after.”
I crossed my arms, a new reason to be sour lodging itself firmly in my throat.
That means all I did for Vaughn and Beryl since Krakow has been dragging them along in my highstrung wake. They barely got any time at all to relax.
I forced air through my teeth as I exhaled.
“Three days at best seems bleak, but you could take her to see some sights in Francia, no?”
Peter asked. Shaking my head, all I could do was feel like I’d wronged both of my teammates. Knowing what was coming, regardless if I needed to have the emotional trials, I still felt at fault.
“I don’t know. We’ll have to just see how it passes.”
My thoughts traced back to the dress I had made for Beryl, her gauntlet, and my promise.
“Ah, I’m going to have to deal with that heap of embarrassment, huh?”
I clicked my tongue, fed up with my own actions and understanding that I'd given Vaughn and Beryl both trouble enough.
“I need to check on things. I feel ashamed I came to you to vent rather than pay you for your lessons.”
I produced a few coins, receiving a wave of dismissal.
“We’re all entitled to a complaint here and there, regardless of our place. It’s just what it drives you to that matters. I was glad enough to listen since you’ve put more than one bowl of lentils on our table.”
Peter rubbed at his chin for a moment, muttering something and then sighed.
“Suppose that means you should get on placing things in order, aye?”
I raised a brow, surprised he’d turn the coin down.
“I guess so, till I return from Francia… aye?”
I pocketed the coins, some part of the interaction feeling off, like Peter was barely present in the talk we shared.
“Aye.”
“It’s done? As in done done? ”
“Eyup.”
“Aye, pain in the arse yer pa’s been playing hooky though.”
I held in my hands a wooden box, the opened lid revealed the gauntlet we’d made for Beryl.
The finishing touches were those that Findlay wasn't too happy with, given he was no carpenter. It was ready, and today it would finally make it to Beryl’s grasp.
“Still not ready for the party, ugh.”
“Its alright, what’s one day in a dress gonna do? It’ll be fine.”
Callum placed a hand on my shoulder, smiling as he tried to be a bit more open with the fatherly moments he seemed too comfortable to impart as of late.
That's not the part I’m dreading.
I rolled my shoulder from under his grip.
“It’s less the dress and more dancing that’s the issue.”
“Hm?”
We walked out of the forge, the morning breeze squeezing through the rooftops to remind us of its presence.
“You telling me dancing has you nervous? It’s not like it’s a ball, it’s just her birthday. Just go with the flow on this one.”
Our typical conversation spot, the wooden fence just outside.
“Yeah, I know, its just.”
I sighed, my shoulders slumping.
“Dad, I don't know anymore… So much has-.”
A moment of thought, actually consulting with Callum on my relationship with the two, albeit to their detriment given the hell he’d give them.
“I don’t wanna make it weird. I think- I think things might be weird.
But, typically, I cower out of actually broaching the subject.
Thankfully he was willing to entertain the moment rather than run a tangent.
“Ah, hm. Well… It’s Better than the priest you brought back,”
“Huh?”
“I said ‘better than if you didn't consider it at all.”
Liar.
He sat with me along the wooden posts, groaning as he undoubtedly was struck with a conversation I wouldn't have wanted as a parent.
“Well, It can happen. Your mother and I, I mean.”
He scratched at his beard.
“I mean you see that we were already in the same party. You had to have noticed others than your team alone. Tends to happen when you put your lives in each other's hands.”
He looked over, turning his nose.
“You three have no shortage of that, even before you were a team. Gods’ know where you'd all be without the luck you've had around each other. I’m not keen on it myself.”
He paused reaching to his breast pocket before realising he’d tossed all of his tobacco at my behest. With a sign, he placed a hand on my shoulder, pulling me in and hugging me to his side.
“You’re a grown girl as far as I’m concerned, Kiyomi, you’ve seen so much and you’ve got a good head on your shoulders.”
He nodded to himself.
“What matters is if you are ready for it.”
An awkward grumble.
“Are you?”
He asked, trying to avoid eye contact.
Hmph.
I stifled a chuckle.
“Nah, Dad, not just yet I think.”
An exhale of relief.
“Just be sure of yourself.”
Another pause.
“Want me to teach you some steps?”
I raised my head, looking up to him, reminded of Callum’s propensity for fatherly reliability. I smiled, placing the gift box to the side.
“Sure, Dad.”
“So, we’re agreed?”
Beryl and Vaughn sat idly by, pressing at a loose mixing of beans, bread, and crumbled boiled egg as they spoke in private. Vaughn for once came to Beryl, rather than the norm of the inverse. Beryl considered his words for a moment, thinking through them, reasoning with herself.
We should wait, we shouldn't ask her thoughts so soon, not with the past month nor the one to come.
“We’re agreed.”
Beryl seemed muted on it, some small portion of her wanting to turn against both her own reason and Vaughn’s sake.
Still, she never realized? Not until now?
He fists clenched as she placed them in her lap.
She gave me the lace!
A moment of immaturity followed by sharp breath inwards.
“Fine! Later, at the solstice? Or-”
Vaughn shook his head.
“No, I don't think so.”
Vaughn clenched his jowls, remembering the moment of consolement he’d been given when Kiyomi came to stay the night.
“I want to, but we should wait until she comes to us… I think she knows atleast.”
“About us liking her?”
Beryl asked.
“Maybe, just a hunch. Could just be her strange obliviousness sometimes though rather than on purpose.”
Both of them shared a look of acknowledgement.
“Next summer, fourteen months, my sixteenth sun. Next solstice, we’ll approach her together. Aye?”
“Aye.”
They came to their agreement calmly, sitting there in silence for a minute, then ten, then a half an hour. Both of them broke the silence at the same time.
“I’m fighting you for her by then!”
“I’m fighting you for her by then!”
Damnit
Damnit