Adelric

It warms the half-child’s heart to know that Zunden has promised to look after him as he has promised to look after her. It seemed that their little broken family was finally coming together, going to be joined as one, a force to be reckoned with… except his dear mother, of course. There were too many emotions, too much hatred from Kiara for Krieger, too much hatred from Zunden to Kiara… He was not very much like Krieger at all, he had quickly surmised, but there was one thing that he and his father had in common. They both wanted a whole family, a united family, and knew that they could never really have it.

But then, the fact that the family could not be whole was surely his fault as much as the rest of this was his fault. It was made evident by the way that he had upset Zunden. Don’t you ever say or even think that, she chided him and he laid his ears out sideways, eyes turning towards the ground, afraid of what sort of physicality might come from her angry words. But there is no anger in her posture, no flash of her horns to cut him, there is only her body pressing against his and he responds in kind, pressing back against her. “I love you too,” he says softly, underneath her words, as she proceeds to blame their situation on Kiara.

Oh, Adelric could not agree less with her, for he loves his mother to the ends of the world and back, but he says nothing, daring not incite his sister to further anger. But then his father speaks, breaking up their childish discourse, claiming himself to be the fault of all of this, which was perhaps the truth, but Adelric could not help but feeling like he was at least, in part, to blame. That said, the willingness of his father to take the blame gives him reason to believe that placing his father on a pedestal was the right thing to do.

And then, finally, Zunden speaks of the Basin and from that moment forward, Adelric’s fate is sealed. He nods vigorously, “I’ll come with you. We have to stay together.” He’s still not sure why it seems so important to him, but important it is, and he will not leave her or let her go alone. But he says no more as his father once again takes the floor and offers them gifts. When it is his turn, he silently does as he is asked, reaching up to take a shock of the bright red hair in his mouth. When first he pulls, he pulls too weakly and the hair does not release; so, he tries again, pulling harder, pretending he is Zunden and that he is strong, and finally the shock of hair comes loose, laying lightly in his mouth.

Turning back, he approaches the cerndyr and lays the hair over the deer’s withers for safe keeping. The process takes more than a moment, Adelric standing silently by the deer as he and the cervid communicate, and finally the half-child turns back to his father, a sad smile on his face (a product of trying to come to terms with leaving his mother). “Father, I…” he pauses, coming closer. “I love you.” Then his head, cautious of his horn, presses against his father’s neck one more time.

“I’ll come back soon,” he promises them both, “But I have to go say goodbye to mother first… please don’t be upset Zunden. I will be back, I promise, I no longer consider myself a member of mother’s herd.” Waiting long enough for any responses from them, he nods his head goodbye and then calls the deer silently to him, heading back towards the island, all thoughts of Erebos gone. It matters not, he will be one with his father in short time. Just at the very last moment, he turns back and calls to his sister, “Our story is that our unicorn mother was attacked by a cougar and we ran, we think she died,” he says. The story would be good enough, in case they were accepted into the Basin at different times.


@[Zünden]- Adelric out :D