Thwack!…Thwack!…Thwack!

He couldn't remember the last time they had gone to the rink, now that Duke thought about it. Watching Baron smack puck after puck into a net on the ice made him realize this. But the way that the older drake was hitting the equipment made Duke wonder what exactly had gone down in the past that Baron wasn't telling him. Obviously it was big, but it didn't seem like the other wanted to talk.

So Duke sat on the bench on the outer edge of the outdoor rink, just watching as Baron continued on as he had for the last hour and a half. As he sat there, he tried to remember anything about this 'Uncle Gerard' from the restaurant, but it was all fuzzy. And if it was really as long ago as everyone was making it, it had been about…eighteen, nineteen years? That was the guess he had anyway. But what was with the comment about Baron's mother? What did she have to do with anything? It wasn't like Duke knew her since he had just found out about her, but was there something-

"I worked myself up a bit too much out there." Duke looked up and saw Baron fixing his skates on the bench next to him. "Doesn't help when you're hungry as hell."

"…Baron, what was tha' about?" Duke finally asked. "I was quiet the whole way ov'ah, and now I gotta know."

The older drake sighed. "First, food. I saw a cart not too far from here. Then I'll explain everything. But I wouldn't blame you if you went elsewhere for answers too."

"You're sure you wanna hear this?"

"Pops, this whole festival is about learnin' about family an' his'tray. I wanna know," Duke said, before taking another bite out of his sandwich.

Baron sighed. "…some of this story really should be told by your grandmother," he started. "But I'll tell what I can."

They sat in silence for a few moments as they finished up their food. When Baron started balling up his wrapper, he began.

"Remember Gerard saying that my mom wasn't a saint? Well, he's right. That's about the only thing he's right about. When I was younger, she was a dancer, and I ain't talking about ballet."

"…it's kinda weir'hd hearin' that, but ok," Duke answered. Despite never meeting the female, he wasn't sure he could picture a grandmother being a dancer, even in younger days.

"Anyway, she had me young, so it made me into who I am today. I was alone a lot as a kid, but I understood why and I knew what the money went towards. Always had a great relationship with mom, so why question it? She danced for a long time at various places, from seedy to classy until I got older. I was…sixteen? Maybe seventeen, it was just before I got into the Brotherhood full time. She still worked two other jobs since she was only working part time at that time, but still. It made her happy to get out."

"When were ya recruited again? Same age as me, right?"

Baron nodded. "At that time though, there were different bases and one was here in the capital, which you would remember where if you paid attention during the history lessons. Anyway, she got into a different career in the offices and has been happy ever since.

"Sometime during the beginning of your mother and mine's marriage, her parents decided they wanted to do a background check on me and my mother. At that point, I didn't have anything on my record, and even if I did, the Brotherhood would've gotten rid of it. They saw my mom's work history though…and that's when they started with the snide remarks about her. Believe it or not, both her parents and my mom had a great relationship until about six months after we got married. It was after they saw whatever was on the report at the time that they decided that they were better than her."

Duke thought about that for a moment, tossing his trash at a nearby can. "So…what's that got to do with that guy at the restaurant?" He really didn't want to refer to him as an 'uncle', nor was he going to use the name after the language the other drake had used.

"Your uncle is about six-seven years younger than your mom and I so I think he'd be around…thirty-three right now and about thirteen when we got married. He never liked me to begin with, but after finding out about my mom, which her parents made no effort to hide from him even at his age, he began acting the same way they did but it was also aimed at your mom."

"Ok," Duke finally said. "Tha's tha' basics. What's this 'bout a drake though?"

Baron shook his head. "That story is for your grandmother to tell. And you'll be going to see her tomorrow."

"Why tha' hell not from ya?" Duke asked.

"Because, ironically enough, there are some things your grandmother didn't want to tell me…or anyone else, since I could never find anything."

That must have been bad if Baron couldn't find anything. Duke knew that Baron had the skills to find out about anything that happened, it was why the Brotherhood acknowledged him as a very competent spy. If there wasn't anything he could find…

"…she never gave da cops info," Duke concluded.

Baron sighed. "It's the only assumption I would have."

For awhile, the two sat in silence.

"Pops?"

"…yeah?"

"Where does she live?"

The morning of day three in the capital led to Duke to the doorstep of an older, but well-kept one story house. He had gotten the address from Baron and decided to take on the task of facing his paternal grandmother alone. The only things he knew going in (other than past history that Baron had spoke of) were the address and the female's name.

Duke took a breath, exhaled, and knocked on the door.

He waited a few moments, just listening. He heard some scuffling around from the inside before a "just a minute!" came through. After a moment, the door opened, revealing an older female, Duke guessed in her late fifties, early sixties at most, with tan feathers and black-turning-gray hair. She was fairly petite, about a head shorter than Duke, and dressed in a simple, well-worn but well kept blue dress.

"How can I help you?" she asked, seemingly analyzing the other.

"…Olivia Lockrider?" When she nodded, Duke smiled a little. "Baron sent me…I'm his son."

Her expression went from dumbstruck to ecstatic. "Great DuCaine, Duke! I've heard so much about you!" She hugged him fiercely, then pulled back to get a good look at him. "I don't think I've seen you since you were just a itty-bitty hatchling! You're twenty one now?"

Duke laughed a little. "Yeah, couple'a months ago. It's good to meet ya Olivia-"

"Oh please, don't call me that," she protested. "You were just starting to call me 'Nana' when you were little, I would prefer that."

"All right, I can do that," Duke said. "I hope I didn' catch ya at a bad time-"

"No, not at all! C'mon in and take a seat, I've been trying my hand with some new kitchen equipment. I've been baking enough to feed a small army with dessert! Would you like to try some of the 'experiments'?"

Duke laughed again. "Sure, I don't get sweets tha' often." He followed her inside and headed for the living room. Just by looking around the house as Olivia went to the kitchen showed that she took pride in her household; the house was clean but not too where one would think she was obsessive, there were old family pictures as well as newer pictures of herself and who Duke could only guess were friends or other family members that he didn't care to know. While the entrance was hardwood floor, the other rooms had nice, thick carpets in warm colors, the furniture was older but well kept. Random knick-knacks were also in places and they looked nice and/or expensive, but Duke could guess that if her work life was as Baron had described it, she had every right to have what she did have.

"Take a seat, hurts my feet just to see you up," Olivia said jokingly, walking into the living room with a plate of various cookies, some brownies, and a few lemon bars. "I didn't know what you would like, so you can try them all or none at all."

"I honestl'ay can't rememb'ah when tha' last time I had a lemon ba'h or brownies," Duke admitted as he picked up one of each. "I think tha' last time I had anaythin' sweet was when Rose made me a small cake a few ye'ahs ago."

"Your father mentioned that Rose was working with you two up north. She still dying her hair?"

"Yeah, the last dye job was….silv'ah? I think, she does it at least twice a ye'ah. More if the dye job is a bad one," Duke took a bite of a brownie. "When was tha' last time ya heard from Dad?"

Olivia thought for a moment. "It's been a few years. I want to say you had either just turned or were about to turn eighteen. I know it's dangerous for him to send many letters out, so he deposits money into my account once a year to let me know he's still alive."

So Baron cared for her more than he let on if he sent her money. Money was something that Baron was took meticulous care of, not because he didn't make or steal much money, but because it could become dangerous in the Brotherhood if one had too many expensive possessions. In a den of thieves, though honorable, there would still be someone who wanted those items that would approach you in some dark corner of the place with a shiv.

Duke finished off his first sweet. "I didn't know tha', but then again, I'm still learnin' 'bout family this week."

"Well, Baron has always been a bit on the secretive side, even as a child, but there's been plenty reason for it," Olivia said. "I learned not to question it after awhile."

"Since I don't know much 'bout ya, could ya tell me anythin'? Like what ya do, or anythin' from when I was a kid?"

"Oh plenty!" Olivia assured as Duke started on his second snack. "There's so much to tell, especially since there's at least 20 years to talk about-"

Olivia was cut off when there was a knock at the door. "So many visitors today!" she said, getting up. "I bet that's my neighbor, she was coming over to get some cookies for her family."

Duke continued eating as she went to the door. Damn, can she make dessert, he thought, savoring the last of the second item. He was kinda wishing that she would send him back to the hotel with some stuff he could give Baron or at least wondering if he and Baron could stop by before heading back to the Brotherhood since he figured that he and Olivia missed each other terribly-

That's when he noticed it. Hushed whispers from the front door and what sounded like Olivia warning someone off. Curious, Duke got up from his spot and went towards the front door.

His grandmother had the door mostly shut, looking upset with the duck on the other side of the door. "No, you can't see him! He isn't here for that-"

"I'll make that decision," a female voice said from the other side, a hand on the door frame, starting to come in. When the other one finally barged their way in, Duke nearly lost it.

"Ma?!"