Chapter 4

The next morning, Dante went out to inspect the damage. Only three houses had burned, though fortunately the families had escaped in time. He looked around, searching the gathering crowds for any familiar faces, but only saw a few.

In the distance, near the edge of Solace, a lone figure stood watching the nearly flooded stream. Curious, he made his way closer. It turned out to be a young man, very close to Dante's age, with soft auburn hair that brushed his thin shoulders.

The snap of branches caused the young man to turn around, and he spotted Dante approaching him. Dante paused, recognizing the thin, fox-like features of the boy's face, then grinned and strode over to him.

"Well, well, look who it is," he said, "Comin' out to look at the damage, Raistlin?"

After Raistlin said nothing, Dante sighed and, placing his elbow on the other boy's shoulder, said, "Don't tell me you don't remember me."

Raistlin studied his face for a moment before saying, "Dante?"

Dante chuckled and said, "How do you know I'm not Vergil?"

"Vergil wouldn't feel the need to invade my personal space," Raistlin reasoned, ducking from under Dante's arm. "Where is Vergil, speaking of?"

"Back home. Neither of us slept last night, so he's probably resting up now. I'll let him know I saw you though," Dante replied. Raistlin nodded.

"And I'll tell Caramon you and Vergil have returned. I'm sure he'll be thrilled," he said.

Dante shuffled awkwardly, not sure what to say next. Placing his hands beneath his jacket, he absentmindedly fingered the two weapons he had acquired during his travels.

"So, uh… Are you still going to that school?" he asked, breaking the silence. Raistlin nodded silently. Dante rolled his eyes at Raistlin's unwillingness to keep a conversation going.

"What's Caramon been doing?" he asked.

"He's working full time at Farmer Sedge's now. He doesn't get home until evening most of the time," Raistlin responded.

"Huh," Dante muttered thoughtfully. Turning to leave, he said, "Well, guess I'll be going now. Maybe we'll hunt you guys down this evening so we can all catch up." Raistlin nodded and turned to go his own way. Dante trudged back to the house, shaking his head slightly at the silent boy. He returned home to find Vergil already outside, practicing with his sword at the base of the tree.

"Morning, Verg," Dante called out to him. Vergil, without pausing what he was doing, nodded in return.

"Damn, is everyone giving me the silent treatment today?" Dante said, exasperated.

"Perhaps it's because it's still early in the morning, and everyone is trying to get over the shock of the storm," Vergil responded, sliding Yamato back into its sheath. "Damage report?"

"Three houses burned down, no one injured," Dante said. "Lot of branches on the ground, though, and the streams are almost flooded."

"At least no one was hurt," Vergil said.

"Yeah, and I found an old friend of ours," Dante said, switching the subject.

"Oh, really? Who was that?" Vergil asked, not paying much attention.

"Raistlin. He was checking out the damage too," Dante replied, "God, you should see how skinny he is. It's like he never eats."

"I can imagine. He was always sickly as a child," Vergil said.

"You know what I was thinking?" Dante started.

"One could only imagine what you might be thinking of," Vergil commented.

"Shut up. I was thinking we could give Caramon and Raistlin a surprise visit tonight. Catch up with our old friends, you know?" Dante said.

"I suppose we could. We have nothing better to do," Vergil mused.

"We might have luck with finding a job, too. Raistlin told me Caramon's working full time at Farmer Sedge's. Maybe he'll help us out," Dante added.

Vergil paused, then said resentfully, "I suppose it's better than nothing."

That evening, the twins made their way to the Majere house.

"I forgot how far out they live," Dante commented as they approached the tiny house. A lantern was set out near the front door where a small group of people sat, happily talking among themselves. As they approached, they saw with amazement that Rosamun Majere was among the four, and she looked far healthier than she had in years. An older woman sat next to her whom Dante and Vergil didn't recognize. Across from them sat Caramon and his father Gilon, both large and muscular. Raistlin was nowhere in sight.

Caramon stood up and went inside before Dante could get his attention. Dante and Vergil waited a moment to see if he would come back out, then strode up to the adults still sitting outside.

"Can we help you two?" Rosamun asked, smiling uncertainly.

"We're friends of Caramon and Raistlin," Dante said.

"We've been gone a while and thought we'd come and check in with them," Vergil explained.

"Caramon just went inside for a moment," Gilon replied.

"You're welcome to go in and find him," Rosamun said, "Raistlin is inside as well."

The two thanked the Majeres and went into the small house, listening for either of the Majere twins. They didn't have to listen hard, for before long, they could hear the sound of Raistlin chastising his brother for disturbing him. By the sound of it, they were in the kitchen.

As they approached the closed door, they heard Caramon say, "Sorry, Raist, I didn't mean to bother you. I just wanted to see if you wanted to come outside and join us."

"I have no wish to join you outside, because as you can see, my brother, I am very busy with my studies," Raistlin responded testily.

"Oh, alright, Raist. If you change your mind…" Caramon said, sounding dejected.

Dante opened the door to the kitchen as silently as possible. Seeing Caramon's back turned toward him, he took it as a perfect opportunity. Sneaking up behind the burly young man, he wrapped his arm around Caramon's neck in a chokehold and said, "Guess who?"

Caramon gave an unmanly shriek which caused Raistlin to look up from his studies with an exasperated look on his face. Upon seeing Dante, he said in a dangerous tone, "If you two wouldn't mind, I'd like to continue my studies, so please move your idiocy elsewhere."

Dante obliged, dragging the still panicking Caramon into the hall, where he let go of his neck and slapped him on the back. Caramon calmed himself, and realizing who his assailant was, guffawed loudly and clapped Dante on the shoulder.

"Good to see you're staying alert, Caramon," Dante said, laughing.

"Raist said he saw you today, but I didn't think you'd visit," Caramon said after the laughter had died down. "Where's Ver- Oh!" Turning, he spotted Vergil in the shadows, standing against the wall with his arms crossed.

"Good evening, Caramon," Vergil greeted.

Caramon returned the greeting, then said, "Boy, it sure has been awhile. Where have you guys been?"

"Travelling, mostly," Dante said. "We did stay in Palanthas for a month, just before we got here. Vergil insisted we go there because of the library."

"Perhaps if you were a little more appreciative of good literature, you would have enjoyed yourself a bit more," Vergil said. Straightening, he continued, "Speaking of, I need to talk to Raistlin for a moment. I found some books he might be interested in."

"Oh, I wouldn't bother him if I were you. He gets really mad when his studying gets interrupted," Caramon warned him.

"I think he can spare a few seconds of his time," Vergil said. He strode over to the kitchen door and knocked lightly before entering.

"I thought I told you to stop bothering me?" Raistlin said angrily, not looking up.

"Sorry to bother you, but I won't be long," Vergil said. Raistlin's head snapped up as Vergil entered the room.

"I found some literature during my travels that I thought might be of interest to you," Vergil continued, noting the look of annoyance on Raistlin's face. Taking a few books out of his coat, he placed them gently on the table. Turning to leave, he said, "Again, sorry for the interruption. Hopefully the next time we meet we'll be able to sit down and have a conversation." Raistlin nodded silently and returned to his studies.

Vergil shut the door behind him as he left, then realized Caramon and Dante had disappeared. He could hear voices outside and realized they must have gone out to join the others. Heading outside, he stood silently next to his brother, who was retelling one of their adventures, this one involving a group of goblins they had narrowly escaped from.

"- so while I had one distracted, Vergil snuck up behind it and had his sword to its neck. I think the others got the message, so they put the rest of our stuff down and ran off," Dante narrated. Vergil smiled a bit, remembering that night.

"What did you do to the one that was left?" Caramon asked.

"My dear brother thought he'd be merciful and let it go," Vergil answered. "If it had been up to me, it wouldn't have lived to see the light of day."

"That's because you're a sadistic psychopath," Dante said under his breath.

Vergil caught the comment and replied, "I can't help the fact that you're too weak to kill a goblin."

"It's called compassion. I know it's a hard thing for you to understand-" Dante snapped.

Vergil stood up abruptly. "I'm done with this conversation. I'll be going home now, if you don't mind," he said bitterly, walking away from the group. Dante watched his brother leave, then sighed and turned back to the Majeres.

"Sorry about him," he said apologetically. "After all this travelling we've just been getting sick of each other. It definitely doesn't help that he didn't get any sleep that night."

"I'm sure he'll be fine," Rosamun reassured him.

Dante nodded. "I should probably get home and get some rest too." Turning to Caramon, he said, "Before I forget, Raistlin mentioned you were working for Farmer Sedge. Think you could put in a recommendation for me?"

"Oh, sure! I'll let him know tomorrow that you're interested," Caramon replied.

"Thanks," Dante said, turning to leave.

He arrived home to find Vergil in the sitting room, silently cleaning his sword. They barely glanced at each other as Dante passed by, heading towards his room. He stared briefly at the wall, where his own sword was mounted, and contemplated taking it down for a cleaning. His tiredness won over, though, and he lay down on his bed and stared at the ceiling instead. Vergil walked past, but neither said anything. Dante rolled onto his side with a sigh and drifted to sleep.