Chapter 1
A/N: Originally Posted on Ao3.
Father Kai settled in his seat and tried not to make eye contact with the monk in front of him. The monk was a boy by the standards of the Order, only twenty-four when the Ruination took everything from them. Ruination had changed him little. He was still the same willowy wretch Kai had last seen leading armed invaders to the sacred spring. Just a half-foot shorter than his shorter guard and slender, almost gaunt. His green eyes were almond-shaped and wide set, accentuated by the wide bridge on his nose.
This boy, his golden-brown dreads pulled back from his face and his brown skin marked with pale freckles, was Kai's son, Auta - but most outsiders knew him by another name.
Thresh.
He didn't look up at Kai, and Kai didn't expect him to. His gaze was averted out of anger, not shame. He hadn't looked at Kai properly since he was eighteen.
That was also the last time they'd spoken on any sort of familiar terms. Kai had hoped, when the Black Mist receded and the Isles turned a more verdant green, that his first words to his son would be happy or reassuring.
Instead, he was supposed to condemn him.
"Brother Auta," Kai began, trying to keep himself from choking on his words. He stopped, cleared his throat, and continued. "You stand before the council, accused of crimes against the Order, and against your own people. The council saw fit to examine the evidence, and there can be no mistake. We find you guilty on all counts."
Auta's eyes drifted to the window, watching movement outside. He'd seen that response before. He was listening, but he didn't much like what he was hearing. Kai took a deep breath and continued.
"The council left your sentence to me, though most recommended death."
Auta's eyes flickered, but he didn't make a show of responding directly. If he wanted to die, he didn't really indicate it.
"But," Kai went on, "I believe death would do nothing. It would not change what has been done, and nothing would come of it. You would be one more body to add to the pile and..." Kai looked at the council, who seemed shocked to hear Kai's dismissal of their recommendations. He'd always followed their advice before.
"After all the lives the Ruination took, and the hundreds who must be buried..." Kai took a deep breath. "I do not want to bury my own son."
The council room sat in silent disbelief, Auta's face turned to Kai in surprise. Kai looked at his son's face for the first time in years and almost couldn't continue, but he had to, for Auta's sake.
"I have decided, against the advice of the council, to hand down a different sentence. Five hundred people died before the Black Mist took the Isles, five hundred people that suffered Wolf's teeth and were denied an eternal rest. You, Brother Auta, will perform their last rites and put them to rest. Am I clear?"
Auta nodded slowly, still looking a little stunned, but also a little angry.
"Am I clear, Brother Auta? With words."
"Yes, Father," Auta answered, letting venom drip through his voice freely.
"Brother Yorick will see you to the charnel house. You will work alone. If I find out you're getting help, I may reconsider the mercy I've shown you here."
Brother Yorick limped forwards, and Auta turned to follow him. When the council chamber fell silent once more, voices rose from the ring.
"Father, with all due respect, this is a mistake."
"He broke our laws and shattered his oath. Even before the crimes he committed in the Mist."
"We're just supposed to let this monster live?"
"That monster," Kai gave the final protestor a stern look, "is my son."
"He caused the deaths of hundreds," a council member protested. "That's why most of us recommended death. I understand you believe it would do nothing. But the people who died… don't their families deserve closure?"
"Knowing their loved ones rest peacefully will have to be closure enough," Kai answered.
"Father…"
"Have you ever lost a child, Father Iori?" Kai asked.
Father Iori floundered for a moment, lost for words, before answering. "No, I have not lost my children, Father."
"Auta's older brother, Tane, died of wasting sickness when Auta was just twelve. Burying your child is an ache with no cure. I understand the pain the dead's families feel, and yet I am still unwilling to take another life as retribution. That makes us no better than the invaders."
"No better my ass," another in the council shouted. "You can't seriously sit here unaffected by what that- that thing did. What about your other children? Your wife?"
"I am angry," Kai snapped back. "I am furious that my own child acted in this way. I am crushed by the weight of those deaths. But this is not the time for anger. If we let anger rule us now, we lose everything we just reclaimed."
The council fell silent, their anger a tangible weight on Kai's shoulders.
"What of the Kindred Man?" Iori asked. "We can't imprison him forever."
"We can't," Kai agreed, "and we can't kill him either. His words made it clear to me: he does not grasp the gravity of his actions."
The Kindred Man, the Noxii boy barely twenty-five years old, thin as a rail and the size of a child of thirteen. He'd been crazed when recovered, and preached death and undeath to any poor soul who would listen. Kai had seen zealots; this was different.
"Those acquainted with death often don't see the good in life," a council member offered. "The shades of the cycle all have a purpose."
"Then we teach him?" Iori scoffed. "The Noxii don't listen."
"This one might." Kai stood. "Those in favor of teaching the Kindred Man?" Most of the council raised a hand. Iori glared daggers into Kai. "Then it's settled," Kai nodded. "We will speak with him tomorrow morning. Until then, we are adjourned."
The council members filtered out, and Kai picked his way down to the charnel house, passing Brother Yorick along his way.
Yorick unnerved the other monks, but he had always been kind to all of them, and had looked after Auta well enough. After Tane's death, Yorick had been a true comfort.
"Father," Yorick spoke up, "forgive me for asking, but why did you really spare him?" Kai raised his eyebrows at Yorick's forwardness, but the monk continued. "Unwillingness to kill your son is no reason, and I can feel it on you." Yorick braced a firm hand on Kai's shoulder. "This was not your fault. Auta made his own choices."
"I haven't spoken to Auta since his Mistcalling," Kai answered. "And as much as I appreciate your insistence that I am in no way at fault, we both know that's wrong."
"You didn't tell him to hurt anyone," Yorick reminded Kai.
"I didn't tell him to do anything," Kai answered sharply.
He parted with Yorick and continued to the charnel house.
There was little to do with the place. A shovel rested by the old oak door, open a crack. A soft hummed melody drifted from inside, repeating an old Buhru lullaby. Kai never liked Buhru songs; they were too macabre for his tastes.
He'd never figured Auta for the type.
Kai opened the door and stepped in. Auta barely looked at him, too busy filling the tables with the heavier corpses, two invaders and a burly gravedigger.
"Settled in?" Kai guessed. No response. Kai leaned on one table. Auta started on the farthest one. "Brother, I'd prefer words to silence."
"Forgive me, Father," Auta replied, forcing formality through a coat of venom. "I do not want to talk."
"Auta." Kai dropped the formality.
"I'd like to see to my work, Father, alone."
"Mahuri."
Auta's head snapped up now, fury in his eyes. "Don't. Call. Me. That."
"Then talk to me," Kai replied.
"Get out." Auta spat. "I don't want to talk."
"You're angry," Kai guessed.
"Take a hint," Auta muttered.
"Auta," Kai began again.
"What?" Auta was shouting now. "What do you want? What great wisdom do you want to share that will magically make things right? You were better off listening to the council."
"You don't really think that," Kai sighed.
"And you don't really think there's hope for me," Auta retorted. "You just can't stand the idea that you fucked up."
"I beg your pardon?" Kai started around the table.
"Then beg." Auta turned his attention back to his work. Kai grabbed his ear and spun him around. Auta screamed and clawed at Kai's hand, but Kai held fast.
"I may not have been the best father, but I did not teach you to speak to anyone like that," Kai yanked Auta's ear, hard. Auta shrieked and tried in vain to pull free. "Do you understand what you've done?" Kai raised his voice. "Do you actually get it or do I need to spell it out for you?" Kai switched his hand to the back of Auta's neck and dragged him to the gravedigger, shoving his son's face inches from the corpse's and holding it there. "That man had children and a wife. Look at him. He helped raise you; he cared about you."
"Get off!" Auta screamed. He sounded like he was in pain.
"Look." Kai repeated. "That's a human life. Do you think he'd forgive you for what you've done?"
"Please," Auta begged, "let go."
Kai released Auta, and he scrambled away. Kai took a deep breath to calm himself and turned to Auta. There was still anger in his throat, but Auta's terrified face chased away any thought of voicing it.
"I have done my best to raise you, and your siblings," Kai continued. "There is nothing that excuses what you did, nothing, and I just put the council's trust in me on the line to save your life. Think on that, then consider whether or not your attitude towards me is warranted."
Kai walked out, leaving Auta alone with his thoughts.
A/N: I'll try to make it clear Auta is Thresh and Thresh's POV will still refer to him as Thresh. If too many readers get confused, I'll change it.