Chapters of Varrick's life. Idk if each one is going to be a different year or what not...but he's going to eventually meet Zhu Li and everyone in canon. Sooo...enjoy. This first chapter is gonna be short.

Varrick yearns to understand his father. But he guesses he's too young to get how grownups work.

Varrick hates shoveling hay. It's stinky and gets everywhere, and always ends up in his bed no matter how many times he showers. But he's eight and gets the nitty-gritty work, and his sister Malluk is sick and has to stay in bed. Mother says he has to do his fair share around here to help keep up with the farm, but Varrick thinks that all he does is work: work for the animals, for the respect of his father who thinks he's going nowhere. His father tells him that if he spends as much time doing chores and tending to the animals, as he does sticking his nose into books and maps and little trickets, then maybe he will become a real man.

But he's eight, and the gorilla goat that little Malluk loves (the one he nicknamed 'Ms. Grumpy') is growling at him again, and all he wants to look at are the undersides of the machines that the town center has, instead of the underside of a gorilla goat.

Varrick yearns to understand his father, and he knows the man means well, but Varrick learns at a young age not to shed a tear in front of him.

..

"Boys don't cry," his father drawls, his funeral shirt being the nicest clothing he owns. His father looks out of place in his fancy suit, leaning against the front porch, away from all the family and guests. The smoke from his pipe dangling between his teeth, reminds Varrick of the last whisp of breath that Gran Gran Setti has taken before she passed. "Boy's don't cry, Varrick."

"But Momma says it's okay to cry," He adds in, his feet dangling off the edge of their porch.

"Your momma is a woman." He pushes the smoke out of his mouth with a puff. "And woman don't know shit. You can't change the past, so there ain't no use crying over it."

It's the first time in Varrick's life that he remembers thinking his father is wrong.

Varrick learns early on not to verbally question his father.

..

He's ten, and his mother is tending to his bloody nose, hastily blotting it with a cloth. Meanwhile, his old man is going at it, while Varrick tries not to cringe.

"But, really, you should have known better than to put the pigs with the chicken-hens, Varrick! Everyone knows that, especially this time of year, pigs get more anxious! And you-"

"Oh, honey!" His mother shushes his father, waving her hand in the air, "Don't be so hard on Varry. He was only trying to help!" His mother pats his head and gives him a kiss on the cheek. Varrick whimpers, as he sees his father's face turn red with annoyance.

"Really, Saba! All you're doing is babying the boy! It's a wonder that the pig butted him in the face! When you don't follow simple instructions-"

"I'm sorry!" Is all Varrick can manage, before the tears start falling down. He sees five-year-old Malluk creeping around the bend, sticking her head out from the opening in the door, and he shakes his head. It's a warning to go back inside. Father is mad enough as it is. And when he's mad, he drinks. And that's when things start to get really bad.

Varrick catches the worried look on Malluk's face; even at five, she knows better than to interrupt one of father's lectures. She turns around and Varrick sighs in relief as the end of her blanket that she is dragging, disappears around the bend.

"Sorry?" His father asks, and the mocking tone in his voice is palpable. "You don't make a name for yourself in this world with 'I'm sorrys', son. You don't get anywhere with mistakes."

His mother throws up her hands. "For goodness sake, Netu! It was only one pig!"

But, his father will have none of that. To his father, a lost animal is more tragic than a wayward son. Netu shakes his head, and makes for the door.

Varrick will remember for the rest of his life, the silence after the door slammed shut. How the little house was so still that it ached. He will recall how his father took their wagon and left for a day. Two days; four. He will never forget the sound of his little sister's voice, asking where daddy went, if he was coming back.

He will remember that the next time his father returns in the dead of night, he never looks at Varrick the same way again.

...