Standing Steady in the Storms Ch. 54

A Precious Promise

Notes:

This chapter is here because even though it doesn't exactly advance the plot, we do need to hear from these characters.

The second perspective shown in this chapter is here because one of my AO3 readers actually loves Theeli sooo much^^

*****

It was the hardest part of any day — midday — but it was even worse than it normally was in Castle Rysen. All the men were gone and so was Leeli. That left Arundelle, Nia, Sara, and the three little ones. For the time being, they were all spending time “together” in the parlor: Arundelle was writing a poem (most likely about Artham), Nia was reading one of her favorite books from childhood, Flutterflies in the Heart (she actually read a lot before she had children, but after Kalmar was born she had no time for such pleasures since he was so rambunctious), the twins were sleeping, Asteria was playing with her doll, and Sara was thinking about Janner. 

Technically, Sara was re-reading Janner’s Creaturepedia, tracing every comment he had written lovingly, and thinking about him at the same time. It was one of the ways to make it seem as though he was with her, even though he wasn’t. She reached the “S” section after a little while and smiled when she got to the “Squeeblin” section. There were some older notations in it from when he was younger, but one was fresh and new. In Janner’s curving script were written the words: “Little Elquinn.” 

She glanced down at her son and daughter, who lay in a portable crib that rested on the floor near her feet. Their eyes were closed and their little fists were balled, their tiny fingers as precious as muncherpillars. Sara bent down and ran her finger along Evnia’s cheek. “My little flutterfly,” she whispered. Then she touched Elquinn’s nose lightly for fear of waking him. “And my little squeeblin.”

Sara straightened and looked back at Janner’s Creaturepedia, intending to read more of it. But for some reason her mind would not allow her to. Instead, it wandered and wandered and eventually wound up thinking about how easy it would be for Amrah to destroy all the born-Wingfeathers in one foul swoop.

“I feel as though something dreadful is about to happen and I don’t have any power to stop it,” Sara said aloud, needing to voice some part of her terrifying thoughts.

Nia and Arundelle both stopped what they were doing to look at her, but Asteria kept playing with her doll.

“What do you mean?” Nia asked slowly, setting aside her book. Arundelle’s eyes showed the same question, and her gaze darted between Sara, Asteria, and her journal. Sara could almost feel the hesitation mingled with courtesy that manifested in Nia’s words and tone. It made her more reluctant to talk about her own fears. She didn’t want to add to her Mama’s worries. But both Nia and Arundelle were looking at her expectantly, and even Elquinn, who had been laying next to a sleeping Evnia in their little portable crib, stared at her, his blue eyes wide. 

After much hesitation, she closed Janner’s Creaturepedia lovingly and began. “Well, I mean, think about it. Janner is hiking up a snowy mountain, Artham is probably hovering over him while trying not to violate the rules, Kalmar is being held somewhere inside Castle Throg, and Leeli is circling the mountain while riding Hulwen.  

“Other than Evnia and Elquinn and Asteria, there are no blood-related Wingfeathers in Anniera right now. And all three of them who are here are under the age of four.”

An awkward silence followed, and the three Wingfeather women sat there looking at both each other and the floor. 

Nia was the first to clear her throat and break the quietness. Elquinn was the second. He began crying at the same moment as Nia opened her mouth to speak. Sara shot an apologetic glance at her and picked him up, holding him against her shoulder and chest and patting his back. 

“I’m so sorry,” she said, groaning a little. 

Arundelle and Nia both smiled. “It’s alright, we’ve all had to deal with it,” Arundelle said with a laugh.

Once Sara had retrieved the bottle she had tucked away and given it to Elquinn, he slowly quieted and fell asleep again.

“What I was going to say,” Nia whispered. “Is that I know it looks scary. And the prospects are certainly far from perfect. But we know that the Maker will carry out His will. It is our job to accept His decisions willingly or reject them. It won’t change anything either way.”

Sara nodded. Yet even as she agreed, she found herself disagreeing in her heart. She found herself crying out in fear and worry, saying that nothing would be alright, that Janner would come back and everything would be different like before, or he wouldn't come back at all.

*****

A few days prior, Leeli and Hulwen had flown back to the Killridge Mountains after dropping Sara off in Anniera. Instead of spending the night at home, the two friends agreed that sleeping in the Green Hollows' countryside was an experience neither had tried and both wanted to. So that was what they did. They laid down in a small valley, Leeli curled up comfortably against Hulwen's silky side and Hulwen twisted into a knot of protection around her. 

When Leeli had awoken the next morning, she had been surprised to see two human eyes staring into hers. At first she had yelped in surprise and jumped up, waking Hulwen in the process, but within seconds she had realized the eyes were warm and brown and belonged to none other than Thorn O'Sally. 

"Thorn!" she had exclaimed, just a bit crossly. "What in Aerwiar are you doing here?"

Thorn had looked down at his feet for a few seconds and dug the toe of his boot into the dirt before answering. "Well, you weren't all that hard ta find, Leeli. You're sleepin' next to a dragon, a very nice dragon you are, Miss Hulwen," he nodded at her vigorously. "An' Miss Hulwen does a great job takin' care of you an' keepin' you safe, Leeli, but....well, I kinda know what you're doin', tryin' ta find Kalmar an' all, an' I'd really like ta come an' help protect you, if you don't mind. 'Cause it might get dan-ger-ous an' I wanna be able to make sure you're okay."

He had looked at her pleadingly, and Leeli had felt her heart melting at the sight of his desperate puppy eyes. Why did he have to be so good at making them? She figured the company wouldn't be terrible, and she could do much worse than Thorn so far as company was concerned. "Alright," She decided. "You can come."

The huge grin that had flown onto his face at her words was the loveliest reward imaginable.

“Now, Thorn, this is very serious. It is most certainly not a joking matter. That blizzard didn't stop long ago, and that means Janner is probably somewhere on the mountain. He could be snowed into a cave or he could already be trekking up it. All things aside, I want to be able to spot him to make sure he's alright. Keep a lookout with me, please?” Leeli turned to see Thorn nodding, his face solemn. 

“I got it, Leeli,” he said firmly, his eyes fierce. “But, why exactly were we flyin’ ‘round this mountain before? We weren't able to see much of anythin’ for the past day or so ‘cause of all the blizzardy mess.”

Leeli smiled. “We were just watching to make sure everything is alright. Now we're actually looking for something — rather, someone — in particular. And I thought you enjoyed flying with Hulwen.”

A look of happiness leapt onto Thorn’s face, and Leeli couldn’t help but giggle when she thought about how fast his solemnity had disappeared. “No, no, I love it. I mean, I love you more ‘n I love flyin’ with Miss Hulwen — no ‘fense Miss Hulwen. Still,” he continued "I’d jest like to know what are you considerin’ as bein’ not right?”

Hulwen snuffled kindly in response to his words and a lovely ripple went through her entire body. Leeli was working on getting her cheeks to return to their natural color after Thorn’s comment. She loved his comment, but it was as blatant (yet adorable!) as always. 

“Well, I guess if we see a bunch of Fangs pouring out of a hole in the mountain, we should probably intervene,” Leeli reasoned. Hopefully that wouldn’t happen. Hopefully Janner would somehow manage to rescue Kal without having too many obstacles in the way. But Leeli knew how unlikely that was. The chances of being able to save their brother without conflicting with Amrah and her Fangs was near zero. 

Leeli, my friend, how will worrying help you? Hulwen said softly, noticing Leeli’s thoughts. She almost responded, but Thorn began speaking instead. 

“Leeli, I’m just curious, but how’s Janner plannin’ on gettin’ Kal outta Castle Throg?” He somehow managed to echo her thoughts as she thought them, and it was rather unnerving. Hulwen could do it because she was a dragon and that was how it worked with them. But Thorn was a person. Perhaps it was just that he simply said what others were thinking but were afraid to say. Or maybe he just knew her better than she thought he did. "‘Specially if he’s the only one allowed inside and he meets that hoard of Fangs you was talkin’ ‘bout a few seconds ago.” Leeli had explained the details she knew of the situation to him over the past day or so. 

“Were,” she corrected, stalling in hopes that her fear of that being the exact thing that happened would not be too obvious through her grammar lesson. Leeli leaned down and touched Hulwen’s smooth, scarlet scales, loving the feeling of coolness and peace underneath her palm. “You would say ‘you were.’ If you were talking about yourself, you would say, ‘I was.’”

Thorn tapped his chin and furrowed his brow as if he were locking away the information for safekeeping. “Alright. So what is Janner planning on doing to rescue Kal if the Fangs come like you were talkin’ ‘bout a minute or so ago?”

Leeli sighed. She was no more ready to answer him now than she had been then. After a long pause, she finally said a quiet, “I don’t know,” and left it at that.

She was sitting in front, so she couldn’t see Thorn without turning around. But as she stared at her hands and the scarlet-gold scales they rested on, she could feel his gaze boring into her. Then she felt his hand on her shoulder, and she knew it was a gesture of comfort. 

“Leeli,” Thorn said softly, his tone soothing. “Don’t worry. Janner’s gonna find ‘im. He’s gonna find ‘im and bring ‘im home. An’ then everyone will be together agin.”

“But what if something goes wrong?” Leeli whispered, her voice filled with tears and her eyes with the same.

Thorn was quiet for a few seconds, so quiet that Leeli began to wonder if he had heard her. When he spoke, though, she knew he had. 

“Then I’m here for you,” he told her, acceptance and love in his voice and sweet brown eyes. “An’ you can come cry ‘n my arms.”

*****

Notes:

😭🥰

I will say....there is some foreshadowing in this chapter. It's not foreshadowing of an event, per say, but it is certainly foreshadowing of a mindset.

Two chapters this evening^^

This concludes Part III: Journey. It was four chapters shorter than the last two, because that's just where it decided to end. Part IV was only supposed to be five chapters, but my brain made it twenty....so that'll be fun^^