The silence accompanied the pair for a long while, the vapours filling the air, providing a small screen between the half elf and the Mother. The half elf’s face twitched, his eyes shut tight as he constantly berated himself ntally, for words sworn upon the Divine held greater power here, and could he have accepted such a consequence?
“You must have been frustrated if you behaved this way, not even in front of the Aldish, but the Aswadians?” Mother Crescent stated, noting the shock upon his face from her words, which were far too keen. “Kitool inford to make such a jest.”
“Oh, thank the Divine, because otherwise I would need to look myself in the mirror.” Adam let out a low sigh, rubbing his forehead, still in shock. “If I was that obvious to deal with…”
“Your wife, she is a Ray?” Mother Crescent asked, working upon slowly loosening the half elf up, sipping her tea lightly as she stared at his face.
“Did Kitool tell you about this too?” Adam asked, and upon her nod, he smiled slightly, taking a sip of the tea, which tasted like sharply like silver. “My wife is a Ray. Ray Vonda. She’s…”
The Mother was disard by the half elf’s expression, so warm and tender, and so unlike the half elf he had seen, so full of rage and arrogance.
“She’s too good for , Mother. She settled for , my beautiful, wise, powerful wife. The best wife, the best mother, the best… everything, really. I don’t know lucky I have it.”
“What of your children? They are… truly Iyrn?”
“They are. They, after so trouble and so misunderstandings…” Adam sighed. “My eldest, Konarot, is really mature for her age. She looks after her siblings well. Kirot, she’s like a great second in command for her sister. Karot, he’s a lot eker, and he is really close to his mother. Jirot…”
Mother Crescent saw how the half elf’s brows raised, and though though apprehension fell across his face, so did the unmistakeable satisfaction.
“Jirot gets her intelligence from her mother, that much is for sure, and she knows how to bully properly. Though her words are laced with venom, she also adores like all my other children, well, maybe not all the children. Jarot, he’s nad after his greatfather, the Mad Dog, and Giaroh, who freed the devilkin all those years back. He’s too sweet to be nad after the old man, but it is what it is. Larot, he’s special. Virot, she’s cute, and she’s close with Jirot, and she always tries to monopolise my wife, so I know she’s smart. She bullies as hard as Jirot does, maybe more. Damrot, Jurot might say that the boy is his son, but we can ask Damrot, can’t we? Xarot, he’s young, but he always smiles whenever he sees . Monarot, she’s so precious, I adore her too, and Jurot will say that she’s her daughter too, and thankfully, she’s too young to prove him right!”
The Mother understood why Adam was called the Crazy Father, for she was uncertain if she had t anyone so adoring of his own children, to the point he even imagined holding their heads, tickling their ears, and even rubbing their noses, all without realising it.
“It was your… Jarot and Larot, who were killed?”
“That’s right. Jarot, Larot, they were killed. Larot, he… Jirot took a crossbow through her-,” Adam paused, feeling the woman’s hand pressed against the back of his, causing a jolt to run through him, the surprise quickly burning away his rage, and the half elf’s heart began to calm once more.
“I am sorry for your loss.”
“It’s still sothing we have to deal with, but what’s happened in the past…” Adam frowned. “My daughter, she heard about fighting. I won the tournant, and so she finally thought I was strong. After I killed the Vice Commander, it settled her heart. Then, after she watched behead the Grand Commander, Yamas, you called him? After that, I think her heart is at ease, but… I’m still not sure. I think, what’s happened has happened, and…”
“The Iyr brought them back?” Mother Crescent asked, as the half elf’s eyes began to tear.
“Yeah. They did, but… death changes a man. It changes children even more.” Adam shook his head, as the tears slipped down freely from his cheeks. “I still wonder if I shouldn’t have, I don’t know… I could have grown more powerful, I could have spread my na, I could have done so many things. I thought I did what I could, I thought I had properly-,”
The Mother held the half elf’s hand within her own, holding his palm and the back of his hand, and the half elf squeezed her hand gently. “There are many n who define themselves in so many ways. So by their weapons, so by their acts, and many by their work, but it is rather to see soone define themselves by not their father, or brother, but by their children.”
“You’d do the sa if you had children as wonderful as mine,” Adam said, half chuckling, bring up the back of his free hand to wipe away his tears, before picking up a handkerchief to blow his nose. “That’s why I feel sorry for everyone else, maybe not Jurot or Dunes, but everyone else? Absolutely.”
The Mother continued to prod for more, listening to his tale of how he had defeated the Vice Commander, then the matter with the Grand Commander earlier in the year, and how he went on to face Ashuk the Spear, which surprised her, for he ntioned his struggle against Ashuk, more so than any of the Grand Commanders.
“The sword I used, it belongs to my niece. She's very cute. She has pretty red skin, tiny little horns, and she babbles so much. She's Mo Dunes’ daughter, and he won't surrender her to .” Adam sighed. “That sword of hers, it's one of the greatest weapons the Enchanter has created. It was what allowed to defeat the Grand Commander, and the Full Moon. Without it, I would have struggled, a little.”
“Your previous words implied you could defeat the Full Moon easily,” Mother Crescent ntioned, wanting to guide the conversation away from her true thoughts, as to why the Enchanter created such a fine weapon for a baby.
“With that sword? Yes. With Seventh Sky, my axe? It would take a bit of effort,” the half elf replied, his smile dangerous, informing the mother she was flying too close to the sun.
“So why have you co?” Mother Crescent asked, her voice low, her tone asking the real question. “To Aswadasad, to here?”
“I’ve co to speak with the Priest Commander in order to steal away Dunes,” the half elf replied earnestly.
“Steal him away?”
“I like him and I want him to work in the business, so I need to ask permission, otherwise issues will arise.”
Mother Crescent waited for a mont, wanting him to continue, for surely he did not co to this land, to defeat the Full Moon, coincidentally, all for the sake of asking the Priest Commander for the Brother. There had to be sothing else.
“I know it sounds crazy, but… it’s true.” Adam shrugged his shoulders, while the beautiful Mother tilted her head, her piercing silver eyes trying to peer deeper into his eyes. “I would tell you if there was anything else, at the very least I’d hint at it, but… really.”
“You have co all this way to ask the Priest Commander of Black Mountain to surrender Mo Dunes to the business?” Mother Crescent asked in disbelief, for that itself was impossible, and so was Adam just coincidentally beating a number of great warriors.
“Oh, well, I an…” Adam paused. “Excuse , Mother, but I just recalled. I heard that a few years ago, forty or so, that my grandmother was forced away from here.”
“Your grandmother?”
“Fla Brand.”
“Fla Brand is your grandmother?” Mother Crescent replied, certain the woman had not married the Mad Dog, otherwise Jurot would look very different.
“She calls my children her greatchildren, she calls her grandson, so I call her my grandmother.”
“I see…”
“I’m trying to rember, were yours one of those who forced her away?” Adam asked, doing his best to keep his tone neutral, but she could see the annoyance rise within him.
“At that ti, during the Tariff Skirmishes, it was a turbulent ti, especially for those with red skin and horns.”
“She is an Iyrman.”
“Who looks like a devilkin.”
“So?”
“There were rumours of an uprising, so we had to force her away until the turn of the millennium, when the situation would have resolved itself.”
“I would understand a few years, but that long?”
“What else could we do, for peace?”
Adam didn’t like that response, even if he understood it. He flashed hot with anger once more, but stifled it before it could overwhelm him. “I suppose you could say that… my second goal is for Taygak, my cousin. She’s Fla Brand’s grandniece, her… brother’s granddaughter? Right now we’re travelling together, and I’m in the middle of assisting in her training. She's a rising star. It would do you well to-,”
Mother Crescent was glad the half elf had stopped, the young man rubbing his eyes, and she could see him berating himself once more.
“I hope you rember her, her face, and if she gets into any bother and you and yours are around, I hope you’re willing to assist her. I, Executive Adam, High Alchemist of the United Kindom, and soone who is close to the Enchanter, won’t forget it.”
“I will take your words into consideration,” Mother Crescent promised.
“Thank you.”
Mother Crescent could see the nerves upon the half elf’s face, who did not fear death for himself, but those around him. She also had all but confird it during the conversation.
‘You must be the son of the Enchanter.’
She's close.
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