Hello! Sorry it's been a while since I updated. I had this chapter written a different way, but I changed it around. College is crazy.
Disclaimer:...no...
Day Twenty One
"We need to talk."
I looked up from the article I was reading out of the newspaper that rat bastard gave Liir. The six year old was standing above me with his hands on his hips and a serious expression on his face. His nose was still stuffed, so the foreboding tone he was trying to accomplish fell short because of the nasal quality to his voice. But I humored him and set the paper aside to give him my attention. I waved to the ground in front of me welcomingly, but he chose to stay standing to keep the height advantage over me. This was supposed to be a serious talk, and he obviously wanted to be in control of it. His mother would do the same thing. Catch me while I was sitting in bed or on the couch. As if the extra few inches made all the difference. She joked that she would turn me into a scarecrow again just so she could have some advantage over me...I never found it very funny.
"Am I in trouble?" I asked, only half joking.
"I'll think about it." He said solemnly, finally deciding to sit down. His recuperation didn't allow much time on his feet. "So I've had a lot of time to think about things from the past few days."
"You've been sleeping a lot."
"With good reason."
I nodded.
"I want to know about mama." He said, drawing a line in the dirt. "I mean, everyone is saying all these things about her. The newspaper is saying she's wicked, that Avaric called her the Wicked Witch of the West, and you said the mama I know is who my mama really is. But I've never known mama to be wicked. What makes the paper say she's wicked? Why are we keeping a low cover? What happened? What made you leave Oz?"
"Well," I paused, trying to decide how to go about this. "well..." I trailed off at a murmur from somewhere in the trees.
Liir heard it, too. We huddled close to the trunk of the tree as the sound came again. Something rustled. Something went 'thud'. And something moved the branches to shake the leaves. I muttered for Liir to stay put. Not even a breath later, I could have sworn something like 'put, pat, pot' came from whatever was refusing to show itself. Liir took the locket when I offered it to him. There was more rustling as I stood quietly, waiting to hear which direction the noise was going. It almost seemed to be going around us. In circles. Like a predator stalking it's prey. I shot a glance back at Liir to make sure he was still there. He looked around nervously as whatever was circling us grew louder. Another string of words: 'hush, lush, shush'.
"Hello?" I called uncertainly.
"Hello, fellow, mellow." The same voice that had been saying the strings of words said again.
"A Vinkan?" Another voice asked. Some more rustling before the voices appeared to my right.
The six year old sitting against the tree let out a scream of shock and ran over to me. He wrapped his arms around me, burying his face into my side as our company stared at us from a distance. I could feel my mouth stand agape as I witnessed the sight in front of me. It was like I was looking at a ghost. I couldn't believe that I was seeing! If my wife was here...The more loquacious of the two watched me with the same look I was giving him. Absent-mindedly, I brought a hand to my face. Was I not as different as I thought? If I was so easily recognized by some people then I must have looked more like my old self than I thought. Or maybe it was my eyes. They were specific to my heritage and hadn't been changed in the transformation.
"...kan, tan, man." The Monkey said. Sorry, the winged Monkey.
The Goat next to him sent his companion a look before taking an uneasy step forward. Liir let out a cry, hearing the leaves crunch under his hooves. I squeezed the boy's shoulder reassuringly.
"Dr. Dillamond?" I tried. The Goat stiffened, and I knew it was him. I would have known him anywhere, but I thought...well, I don't know what I thought had happened to him ultimately; but I certainly hadn't thought I would ever run into him again. Dragging Liir with me, I moved forward a few more steps for the Goat to get a better look at me. "Dr. Dillamond?" I repeated. The Goat blinked, and I took it as a sign of acknowledgement. "Fiyero Tiggular." I added in a hushed voice.
"Master Tiggular?" He seemed skeptical.
"My wife is handy with magic." I said.
"Your wife?"
I nodded.
"Master Tiggular." The Goat mused before his eyes flickered down to the cowering Liir. "And young Master Tiggular?"
"Yes." I confirmed, taking a few more steps. The Goat and his companion added a few more steps.
"I thought you were dead." Liir muttered something into my cloak after Doctor Dillamond's words, but not even the most skilled Vinkan listener would have heard him.
"She saved me." I told him. "I thought you were speechless."
"Not for the past six years."
"Years, tears, fears."
"This is Chistery." Doctor Dillamond introduced his companion.
"Chistery?" I heard stories about him. She was quite fond of him. Although, she failed to mention that he had actually accomplished speech. I wished she was here for yet another reason. "How long has he been talking?"
Doctor Dillamond stared at me cautiously for another moment, "Since she died, I'm told." He perked up and looked around, "Is she here?" He asked hopefully.
"No." Liir sniffed loud enough for the Goat to here.
"But she's alive?" He seemed relieved.
"We're looking for her." I told him. "Our son and I." I shook Liir's tight grip off and presented him to Dr. Dillamond. "Liir, Dr. Dillamond is very big influence in your mama's life. He taught history back at school." Liir gaped at the Goat. Oh, yeah. This was his first encounter with an Animal. I mentioned that to Dillamond, who nodded in understanding. "We've never seen an Animal in the Bad Lands. And for whatever reason, she never told him about them."
"What-" Doctor Dillamond started but Chistery cut him off. The Monkey held his hand out to Liir, who stared back at him uncertainly before taking it hesitantly, causing the Monkey to exclaim excitedly. Liir had a look of complete horror mixed with utmost curiosity on his face at the Monkey's action. The Goat simply shot his companion a look but went on, "You don't use her name?"
"Names aren't important at home." Liir answered as he attempted to get his hand back from the old Monkey.
"But you're in Oz, young Master Tiggular." Liir frowned up at the Goat. Honorifics weren't used much in the Bad Lands either. Oz was turning out to be quite the culture shock for Liir.
"And you're a talking goat." Liir retorted. Both Doctor Dillamond and I corrected his mispronunciation. And just like his mother would, neither of them keen on being corrected, he sneered at each of us before rounding on Doctor Dillamond. "How can you talk? Are you magicked? Were you born that way?"
"The age old questions." Doctor Dillamond sighed.
"I beg your pardon, sir, but what are you doing out here?" I asked as Liir managed to retract his hand. Chistery looked defeated. I wondered if the Monkey saw Liir's mother in the boy. Could he pick out the features that belonged to her, and was that the reason why he seemed to take an instant liking to him? I figured it was (because Liir's oh-so-warm personality certainly couldn't be the reason), but didn't want to press my knowledge on a subject where all I could do was assume.
"Lady Glinda." He answered and needn't further explain. "There's an Animal village just up the river." He tossed his head back. "We were just out for a walk. Sometimes Chistery gets overwhelmed with all the words others can say, but he can only ramble off of." The doctor looked dejectedly at his friend. "Our stories are believable, though. What of yours? You two were dead, everyone knew it! I don't understand."
"You said the Animal village is just up the river?"
"Yes..."
"I will give you all the information you want to know in return for a night's food and shelter. The boy is recovering from the flu, and we haven't eaten in three days."
I told Dr. Dillamond everything he needed to know from running away with his star pupil to her being missing for the past few weeks. Liir kept Chistery entertained in the front room of Dr. Dillamond's cottage as the Goat and I conversed in the back. The door was propped open so Liir could keep his eye on me, his fear that I'd go missing too not yet gone. Dr. Dillamond listened with complete fascination to everything. He was thrilled to know we were both okay, baffled to know we were together, and relieved to know that we had been making good for ourselves up until she went missing. I knew I was never his favorite student. I didn't listen in class, I constantly made a mockery of the tests he gave, and I never took him seriously until after he was gone. But to know he was eased by me being alive and well was comforting.
The village he lived in was more secluded than I would have imagined for being full of Animals. It was almost deserted. Dr. Dillamond had explained that most of the Animals were traveling underground to get to safer villages, because Master Morrible and his Horrible Morrible were starting their plans in the north. When I asked what the plans were, Dr. Dillamond just shrugged. He said that there had been no official proclamation, but he'd seen more Gale Forcers out and about throughout the north than he ever saw when he was held captive in the Palace. So most of the Animals left in his village were the ones who were not capable of making such long journeys as from age or some other ailment.
"He has her nose." The Goat pointed out some time later when Liir had fallen asleep under the Monkey's watchful eye. Chistery sat perched on the arm of the couch Liir was asleep on, his gaze never leaving the boy. "And hair." He added as an after thought.
"It's been beneficial in our travels." I muttered. "He has mostly traits found among Vinkans, so it's easy to pass him off as one born in the west."
"Except for his accent."
"We've made it this far." I shrugged.
"Have you run into any trouble?"
I contemplated telling him about the Gale Forcers keeping an eye out for us, about the rat bastard and his skewed loyalties, and about the questionable rebels who think they know a thing or two. But I didn't. Just because my wife would have put her entire life in his hands- hooves, didn't mean I was quite ready to. He already knew about the past, why did he deserve to know the present? So I shook my head. Maybe he was trustworthy. Maybe he would have been able to help if I had let him know what was going on. I just needed him for food and shelter to get us through the night, though. We'd be on our way at dawn tomorrow, hopefully before he and the Monkey arose. If I let him and Liir get to talking, we'd be here for days. I knew it. We had more important matters, though. I'm sure Dr. Dillamond would understand. Oz, he'd probably do the same thing if he was in my position. No harm. No foul.
"Why aren't names important in the Bad Lands?" The Goat asked me, probably recalling Liir's earlier comment. "How much different is it than Oz?"
I laughed softly, thinking of everything that differed. What wasn't different was the better question. "To have a name is to hold power." I told him, trying to remember how things were explained to me. "Doctor, Master, Miss, Madame, Queen, Prince...honorifics and names, they show a system of material and hierarchy. There, you are what you do. The Butcher, the Tax Collector, the Farmer in plot thirteen...everyone contributes to the community equally, so there's no social ladder. The Blacksmith is no better than the old woman who quilts, nor is she better than the family who grows and harvests fruit."
"It sounds lovely." He said seriously.
I nodded. "It was safe."
"I understand why names aren't used in the Bad Lands, but why won't you refer to her now?" I stared at the Goat wearily. "Obviously there's something deeper when all you're capable of is using pronouns to refer to her." He seemed to sense my aversion to the topic, so instead of pressing it, he moved on. "Where will you go if you find her?" He paused. "When you find her." He corrected himself, and I felt a strange relief at that.
"I'm not really sure." I admitted. "I'm more concerned at finding my wife." Doctor Dillamond nodded in understanding. "It seems like it's been an eternity."
I felt my throat starting to constrict as I pictured her. The way her hair flowed down her back. The wave it held when she would shake it out of the braid that bound it all day. How adorably messy it was after she woke up in the morning. All of her looks. The half smile that would creep onto her face when I'd say something she didn't quite find funny but didn't find it dull either. Or the smug smirk she would get when Liir or I would do something she advised us not to, and we'd pay the consequences. The rare giggle. The small smile of uncertainty or self-consciousness. I blinked hard a few times and looked back at my son to clear my head.
"Do you know where you're going?"
"I think she's headed to the Vinkus." I told him, my voice hoarse.
"Once you find her, come back." He said softly. I looked away from Liir. "Here, I mean. Come back, refuel, and we'll come up with a plan. I have a room you three can sleep in. I have plenty of food to give you your strength back. Books. We can figure out your futures."
It was awfully tempting but..."I need to go home." I said. "My mother." I shook my head clear of the emotions bubbling. "I need to go home to my mother. She lost my father. She shouldn't have to be kept under the assumption that I'm gone, too."
"You're just going to show up?
"Yes." I know, it probably wasn't the best plan. But you tell me another way.
"Don't you think the shock of seeing her long-thought-dead son waltz into her castle will kill her?" He hadn't said it in a rough way, but it processed in my mind that way. I wanted my mother to be relieved to see me. Although, now that I was talking it through with someone, it made more sense. "If you stay here a little while longer, I'd be more than happy to work out a plan with you."
I didn't even ponder it. I wasn't staying in any place longer than I needed to. What I needed was to find my wife. To give my son solace that she's alive and well. I didn't need to think of a plan, to nurture my health, or anything like that. I had a boy to worry about. His mental health was at the front of my mind. Wounds can heal, hunger and thirst can be quenched, but the pain from not having his mother will only increase. It'll never fade. And if we don't find her, neither of us will forgive me.
"The last person I trusted sold me out." I told him as an act of refusal.
Liir's sudden appearance caught me off guard. I'll never admit it, but I nearly jumped out of my skin. "I want to stay." He had said to make himself known. I frowned at my son as he stood uncertainly in the doorway. He cleared his throat and then entered the room, a sense of confidence visibly washing over him. The Monkey followed in his wake. "I want to stay and hear what you have to say." Liir climbed into my lap. It was such a contrast to the newfound attitude he had taken. Mature and brave enough to speak his mind, but still that little boy who wants to sit in his father's lap.
"Liir," I tried reasoning. "The longer we stay off the road, the longer we're away from your mother."
But he shook his head. "Master Dillamond," He said, incorrectly using honorifics. "Knows mama. Maybe he can provide some information about her that even you don't know about." I'm not going to lie and say that his comment didn't bruise my ego a little, but I knew he was right. I knew my wife, but the Goat was familiar with another side of her that I had only glimpsed.
"Well..."
My son turned some, so he could see me and Dr. Dillamond at the same time. "The longer we search blindly, the longer we're away from mama. We have no clue what's going on around us, only what we pick up from uneducated travelers. If Master Dillamond knows anymore than Glinda Upland is in the Vinkus, we're in luck."
Dr. Dillamond stared at Liir, if he had doubted Liir's parentage before, the connection from mother to son obvious. "Your mother would be so proud of you." The Goat conceded with a nod of his head.
Liir shook his head, "Mama is going to be proud of me."
I was going to have them up and leave in the middle of the night, but I really want Liir to form a relationship with Doctor Dillamond. And I'm kind of excited to write the transition between cultures he's going to go through in the next couple chapters. That being said, the next two chapters after this one will be in Liir's POV. I'll say it again at the start of the chapters, but just forewarning.
Anyway, what did you think? Review and let me know!:)
