Written for Tales of Symphonia Week 2017 on tumblr.
Oct. 8th - A Place to Call Home
"Stay wary of bears," his mother once said to him, tucking him among the leaves, for blankets were only a luxury. But his parents' arms were warm enough, and he enjoyed feeling the sun on his face at dawn, slipping through the boughs that shielded his family from above. "They are always looking for food, and noisy children catch their attention. So you must always be quiet when we travel, Lloyd." And such warnings were lightened with hugs and kisses to his forehead, so that he didn't go to sleep with fear.
Yet the man who carried him reminded him of such a bear. His arms were as thick as tree trunks, and his steps made deep prints into the wet soil as the rain continued to pour that night. With his little body tired, and his head swimming with foreign sounds, Lloyd let himself be carried by this bear that had been drawn to his cries.
"Oh? I'm a bear, am I?" spoke the man once Lloyd was fully awake. The place he was in now was like a cave – a bear's cave where the walls were of earth instead of wood, and where the ceiling was low for creatures that rarely needed to stand. The man smiled, showing flat teeth instead of fangs, although he had dark fur that covered the lower part of his face. "Well, I'm a nice bear!"
This bear was not in want of food. He even fed Lloyd, giving him a filling meal of oatmeal and berries out of clay bowls. Occasionally scratching at his bandages while he ate, Lloyd stared at this creature. He had on thick gloves that covered his hands, and wondered if claws were hiding away in there. Yet the bear-man had ruffled his hair before, and he had felt nothing sharp brush against his scalp then.
He was tying up bundles of cut wood together, just a few feet away from the door. Lloyd wiped his mouth, wide-eyed at the amount, at the way the bear-man heaved such heavy wood outside and into the cart that was near. From not too far off, he could hear Noishe whine, still laying near the home that seemed to be carved straight into a mountain. The dog would not leave his position, healing away wounds that young Lloyd could not place how they came to be.
"What are you doing?" he asked the bear-man. He kept his distance still, mindful of this person's strength.
"I'm building a home for us." He tugged at knot, tightening it further so that it stayed rooted to the top of the cart. There was no mule or horse to help lug it along – not like those farmers Lloyd would see when his family would pass through a village. "Humans like you are not meant for a dwarf's abode."
Human? So that means he really was a bear if he called him that! Lloyd watched as the bear-man went to the front of the cart, grabbed both outward spokes in his hands and started dragging the cart behind him. The wheels made deep tracks in the road, but the bear-man showed little strain as he pulled.
Lloyd followed along. His shirt was still torn across the torso from before (What was before? All he remembered was darkness and rain) and the scrapes on his knees continued to sting, even with the care the bear-man showed him. The cart lumbered over every stray stone or dip in the road, but it continued forward, its speed staying consistent.
It wasn't a long traveling. The forest path they took soon opened into a wide glade, one that looked to have been recently cleared. There was the peppering of tree stumps around, with brush and leaves having been swept to the outer ridges. A stream was running nearby, cutting into the earth in a long, sinuous shape. Lloyd rushed to that stream, hands on the soft bank as he leaned forward. The waters reflected his face; one such bandage pressed against the side of his head, with smudges of dirt still plastered around his cheeks. The bear-man had done his best trying to clean him, but Lloyd's tears had been unending, and it was all his caretaker could do to calm him down to sleep while also still dressing his wounds.
There was the plunk of hammer and nail, catching Lloyd's attention. Some of the wood from the cart was lessened. The sun was bright, beating down on the bear-man's back. Lloyd did his best to blink away the brightness, trying to understand the sky better without the comforting shield of tree branches (or when it was dark, held together by pinpricks of white as he rode another's shoulders).
"Am I living with you?" he asked suddenly, careful enough to not be near the other working. There were tools on the ground; of saws and pliers, of nails, dividers, and hammers so heavy and large, they needed to be wielded two-handed by any regular man. All of them were well-used and had seen their share of construction. The bear-man handled them as easily as his father did with his sword.
"Why, I cannot leave a young lad like you to fend for yerself, can I?" The bear-man shook his head with a deep, but heartful laugh. If this was how bears sounded, they didn't seem as scary as Lloyd once thought.
And what about mommy and daddy? But Lloyd didn't ask, was afraid to ask. He sat on the ground, clenching the grass between his tiny fists. He watched without understanding how the bear-man built, but he did. He watched the other coax the wood to stay in place, for the ground to stay steady, for the tools to work to his whim. The rhythm of clanging metal and foot stomps, and the texture of that wood being carved stayed with Lloyd long after that day, long replacing the darkness and rain.
"But ya don't have to stay forever," the bear-man told him, snapping him away from the calm he felt. The sounds of construction were already drowning out the memories of soft crickets he would listen once to, late at night, when his mother's lullabies weren't enough. "I know how humans are. Always wandering from place to place, needing to live out everything they can. Not like us dwarves. We're as content as the stones in the earth to be where we are for years to come."
Lloyd looked back into the forest, imagining if that's where his parents had gone. Wandering the world, without him. But why without him?
"Still, until then, I hope to give you a place to call home, for at least a little while." A swift clapping of hands against the knees, brushing up a cloud of dust from his work – from the dirt, from the freshly-cut lumber, from the sweat that must have been soaking his clothes from working all day in the sun with little shade.
Lloyd, wrenching his eyes away from the trees, watched the other turn to him with that wide smile. A flash of white broke through the fur – the beard – on the man's face, large hands placed on his hips. "I'm sure no other bear can offer ya the same! Ha ha ha!"
The voice was deep and thrumming, and it made Lloyd's ears sing from the sheer resonance. But after hours of weeping and confusion, his felt his own face stretch, making his head feel light. Besides the laughter, there was only the water's eternal flowing behind him, and the soft rush of the trees from the breeze to offset the sun's heat.
At some point, wanderlust will come to you. I don't blame you for wanting that. It's just like you humans, after all.
Lloyd took his time to pack. Not that he had many things to bring along, besides his whittling tools and camping supplies, yet as the time neared to leave, his hands slowed. He didn't hesitate as much when he had chased after Colette and the others, but now, with the world larger than ever, there was something comfortable about this one place in his known universe, where the walls had been polished with care, and where preserved fruit in their jars were always sitting in the cabinets for a hungry boy.
"Lloyd! Not like you to be hanging about when an adventure's waiting fer ya! Unless school's involved!"
Lloyd raised his head, finding Dirk coming back through the front door after another morning of weeding the garden. "I'm just making sure I got everything!"
"Ay, is that all?" Dirk grinned at his son. "Not already feeling homesick?"
"How can I be if I'm still here at home?"
The dwarf only shook his head at such an answer. "Well, ya got nothing to worry about. As long as ya have your friend, and my sword."
That was something that Lloyd knew intimately, though he still had trouble tightening the knot on his knapsack. His eyes kept roving across the hardwood floors. He had tripped over by those small steps constantly when he was ten years of age, rushing to get his breakfast. He had sat by that corner there, watching the dwarf work on his commissions, until he would see finished swords, armor, trinkets and figurines lay neatly on a mat on the floor, ready to be handled with care towards their destination.
He swung the knapsack over his shoulder, testing the secureness of his swords. "I'll just say goodbye to mom first, then…" He paused.
Dirk patted the boy's back, making Lloyd cough from the strength of it. "Remember, lad? We're like rocks beneath the earth. We won't move from our place. Unless there's a world-altering event." He laughed then, as if at a great joke. "And even then! Here your home still stands."
This house might as well have been made from stone for how long it stood, how no part of it went to wear and tear. The door's hinges were still strong and well-oiled as he walked out, looking past the running stream that would lull him to sleep when he left the balcony door open. His eyes then strayed to the trees, where the sky was hidden, where it was easy for one to get lost in.
I'll still be here for ya, Lloyd, even when you're an old man and gray hairs are sprouting from your head. You will always have a place here.
He turned around to engulf the dwarf in a tight hug, one that caught the other off-guard. "Now, what's this all about?" Yet swarthy arms met across his back, his pats a bit less rough this time. "I'm not the one flying away!"
On those days when Dirk would teach the young boy his Dwarven Vows, those sayings of a people hidden away but whose traditions had surfaced through his foster father's dedication, he would remind him often. This was his home. This was where he can always rest his head. Lloyd, having only known the world as far as Iselia, could not at first imagine why he would leave in the first place.
"Ya remember what I taught ya though?"
"Yeah." Lloyd quickly wiped his eyes; not that Dirk would ever reprimand him for showing his heart, but so he could look upon the dwarf more clearly. "Let's all work together for a peaceful world, right?"
"Of course, but also…" Dirk handed over a folded map to Lloyd, which had been forgotten back at the dinner table. "Never forget the basics!"
Lloyd was too happy to even feel a little chagrined by his mistake. "Thanks, dad." He stepped back then, his grin matching his father's. Even at his taller height, Dirk would always be that bear to hear his cries, to carry him away from danger and build a roof over his head. What other bear in the world could ever say the same?
"…You forgot one other vow though."
"Ay? Well, that be a first!"
Lloyd took a moment, looking over the house one more time – the balcony above, the stable to the side, the flower pots hanging from the awning. "There's no place like home!"
Dirk paused, then laughed – that same laughter from years ago, and still sent Lloyd's ears singing. "Of course! I'll make sure to keep the fireplace stoked for when ya come home, lad."