When Hector had joined the Brotherhood he had made three oaths. He had sworn to protect the moonstone, the Dark Kingdom, and his fellow Brotherhood members, in that order. It had been nothing less than treason when Adira and Quirin had abandoned their sworn duties. Adira claimed that she was working to save the Dark Kingdom, and Quirin, the natural protector, was probably doing something incredibly similar, but it didn't matter. The moonstone was supposed to be their number one priority, that was the oath they had made, and yet they put the kingdom above it, and that was something that Hector couldn't forgive.
Still, Quirin and Adira were his brother and sister, and even if they weren't fulfilling their duty to protect the moonstone they weren't actively threatening it either. So over the years when Hector received a rare letter from Quirin, or when Adira dropped by for a visit he would reign in his animosity at least a little bit.
He never wrote Quirin back, but he didn't rip up the letters the second that Hamuel, who was on his way to give King Edmund something about Prince Horace, dropped them off. When Adira dropped by they always ended up fighting, both with words and with weapons, but they hadn't killed each other yet, so Hector considered it a success.
It had been nearly twenty-five years since Hector had made his home in the Great Tree. Despite what his sister seemed to think, he wasn't lonely. Hector enjoyed isolation from other humans. He much preferred the company of his animals.
Sure, there were some days when he missed bickering with Adira, or teasing Quirin, but just because he missed the brotherhood didn't mean that he was lonely. Hector was far too busy to be lonely. Anytime he started missing Adira and Quirin he would set out to explore the Great Tree and memorize all of its secrets. If that didn't work Hector would go patrol the area around the tree. Chasing off or killing trespassers who were far too bold for their own good was a good way to ease his stress.
Of course, not all trespassers who came to the tree were humans.
"What do we have here?" Hector picked up the squirming little beast that had somehow made its way to the middle of the tree and had been ransacking his food supply. The raccoon was chirping and trying to get away, but Hector had a tight grip on the scruff of its neck. "A sneaky little thief."
The raccoon growled and tried to bite him, but it couldn't reach him. Hector chuckled and sat on the ground. Keeping a one-handed hold on the thief Hector grabbed the fruit that the raccoon had been munching on and set it in front of him. He pulled out a dagger and cut the fruit in half. Hector handed the half that already had scratch and bite marks on it to the raccoon. He saved the other half for himself, because such a small animal didn't need so much food, and Hector wasn't about to let anything go to waste.
The raccoon gave Hector a doubtful glare. It hissed at him before digging into the fruit. Hector raised his half in a toast before eating himself.
"I thought you killed all trespassers that came your way." A voice remarked from above him. Hector was immediately on his guard. He dropped the fruit and pulled out the blade at his wrist. He turned to glare at Adira, who was staring down at him in amusement. She jumped off a branch and walked towards him, not even caring about his blade. Hector snarled at Adira's calm nature. She wasn't even wielding her weapon. She was so confident that he wouldn't harm her.
"I defend the moonstone, no matter the cost." Hector said. "I doubt the raccoon cares about stealing anything besides a meal."
"You've always been much more gentle with animals than with humans." Adira said. She bent down and picked up the fruit that Hector had dropped. She clicked her tongue and held it out to the raccoon. The traitorous beast perked up and scurried to Adira. It tried to climb up her leg, but she gently picked it up and set it back on the ground. She handed it the fruit.
"Still don't like being touched, I see." Hector lowered his blade, though he didn't retract it. "What're you doing here, sister?"
"Is it now against the law for me to drop in for a visit?" Adira asked.
Hector shot her an unimpressed look. "You haven't dropped in for seven years. So, what do you want?"
"I was in the area and hoped that you had relaxed a little." Adira frowned. "I see my hope was unfounded."
Hector growled and lowered the tip of his blade to the ground, so he could hide the way that his hands were shaking. "I swore an oath years ago, and I'm not going to break it just because it's hard. Unlike some people, I'm a man of my word."
Adira's expression turned sad, making Hector seeth. He recognized the look as pity, and he didn't appreciate it. He'd dedicated his life to keeping the oaths he had made. He had made his decision, Adira and Quirin made theirs, and that was fine. He didn't need his sister's pity just because she looked down on him for doing his job.
"It doesn't have to be like this, brother." Adira said desperately. It was the same tone she had used the first few years after she had abandoned him and their work. Hector had thought that she had moved past trying to sway him to his treasonous ways. "The sundrop-"
"Enough with the fairy tales, sister!" Hector raised his sword again, just in case she got any ideas about approaching him. Adira didn't enjoy physical contact, but that didn't stop her from getting in people's personal spaces.
"It's not just a story." Adira said.
"That's what you said eighteen years ago." Hector said. "What happened to that lead?"
"She went missing before I could confirm what she was." Adira said. "But she's back, and I'm sure she's the sundrop."
Hector tilted his head at Adira. "You make it sound like the sundrop is a person."
"I suspect that she is." Adira said. Hector could hear the hope and plea in her voice.
"Suspect?" Hector scowled. "You abandoned the brotherhood based on a suspicion?"
"I didn't abandon anything." Adira said calmly, as though the past twenty five years hadn't served as direct evidence that showed otherwise. "This sundrop could save our home."
"I've heard your stories before." Hector said. Adira had only just arrived and they were already back to the same song and dance
"If you would just listen to me-" Adira was starting to lose her patience, which Hector was actually relieved about. Once Adira lost her temper it would only be a matter of time before she left again and didn't visit for several more years.
"I have nothing to hear from you." Hector said. "I've heard it all before." If Adira opened her mouth one more time he was going to cut her tongue out. It wouldn't be the first time he had used such a method to keep someone quiet.
"Quirin's in danger." Adira said bluntly, and Hector was too off guard to make good on his promise to himself. Not once, during all of Adira's visits, had she even mentioned Quirin. Adira took advantage of his stunned state "The black rocks have been spreading, destroying everything in their path, and they're headed straight for Corona."
Hector wanted to get mad and yell at her, say that he couldn't care less about a random kingdom or town or whatever this Corona was, but then he remembered something from one of Quirin's letters. The man had settled somewhere called Old Corona, and as far as Hector knew that was where he still lived with that son of his.
Hector liked to think that Quirin was smart enough to leave this Corona as soon as he saw the black rocks. He knew better than anybody just how devastating those rocks were. There was no way to stop them. Quirin wasn't one to leave behind people in need. As long as there was a single person in Corona that he thought he could protect, Quirin would stay right where he was.
Hector took a deep breath, and then another one, just like Quirin had taught him. He rarely felt the need to calm himself down, because he had come to learn that if he used his fury instead of hiding from it he could better protect the moonstone. People were more frequently scared off by an angry, wild man than they were of somebody who asked them politely to go away.
However, he wasn't scaring anybody away right now. The moonstone may be his number one priority, but Hector had still made an oath to protect the brotherhood. If there was something that Hector could do that didn't involve abandoning his post, he would do it in a heartbeat, but he couldn't do anything until he got more information from Adira. So, at least for now, he had to play nice.
"What do you expect me to do?" Hector forced out through clenched teeth as soon as he thought he wouldn't start yelling at Adira again.
"If we find the sundrop, we can-" Adira began, but Hector didn't give her the chance to finish.
"Enough with the sundrop already!" Hector shouted. "You say I'm obsessed? You're chasing after a legend when our brother is in danger."
"At least I'm not hiding in the shadows and wasting my life away." Adira said coldly, and there was that anger of hers. It didn't feel nearly as satisfying to bring out as Hector had hoped it would be. "You were once a great warrior, and now look at you. Sulking and growling like a dog that's been abandoned by its master, waiting blindly for something that isn't going to happen."
Hector became so stiff that he felt like he wouldn't be able to move his muscles again. He stared at Adira blankly, not understanding what she had said, or hoping that he had somehow misunderstood it. There was no mistaking it though. Her message rang loud and clear.
"A dog, sister?" Hector asked quietly, barely audibly, though that didn't make his tone any less dangerous. "Is that how you see me? As a wild animal that either needs to be tamed or put down?" Adira's eyes widened and there was that look in pity in her eyes again. Hector hated that look.
"I-no," Adira said sternly. She took a step towards Hector, but he growled and bared his teeth, warning her to keep her distance. If she saw him as a dog, fine, he would show her what a wild animal really was. "Hector, that's not what I meant." She reached a hand out to him, and he swung his blade, narrowly missing her fingers.
"Leave, sister." Hector said. "You're no longer welcome here." He had tolerated her presence, but if she was going to turn on him, turn on Quirin, then she truly was no longer their sister.
"Brother-" Adira tried to plead with him, but Hector wasn't willing to hear another word from here.
"Leave!" Hector screamed. Adira gave him another longing, pitying look. It was not something he needed to take from her. Hector glared at her before turning and walking away. He would normally never turn his back on an enemy, but he knew she wouldn't attack him unprovoked. He was too tired to keep fighting with her. He already felt the need to slink back with his tail between his legs so he could lick his wounds.
Adira didn't like when people abandoned a conversation before she thought it was finished, but his loyal bearcats, who never wandered far from him, prowled in and snarled at her. Adira knew that his animals wouldn't hesitate to attack, so she wisely left, leaving Hector on his own once again.
He waited until he knew Adira was gone before letting out a gut-wrenching scream. He didn't care when he could feel his throat straining. He wasn't afraid of a few days of raw pain. In fact, in a way he welcomed it. Pain was a reminder that he was still alive, which would be a relief from the numb cold that he usually felt after Adira's visits.
Hector shouted out all of his anger and hurt as he started slashing his blade at the vines and plants. He knew that they would quickly grow back, even just within the next few hours, as the tree still had some lingering magic in it. He wasn't truly destroying anything, but he didn't care. He just needed to attack something, and at least if he hurt the tree he wouldn't come to regret it later. As furious and hurt as Hector was, he would never forgive himself if he hurt his rhino or bearcats.
Hector hacked away at the tree until his body couldn't hold him up anymore. He finally collapsed to the ground and gasped for breath. He felt like he was going to be sick. He'd been able to ignore it while he worked himself, but now that he was finally resting he didn't think he'd be able to move at all for several hours.
He didn't regret a second of his workout. He was still furious, but anger took energy, and he was far too tired for it.
Hector closed his eyes and laid on the ground. He was tempted to just fall asleep then and there, but then he heard the anxious chattering of an animal, and he knew for a fact that it wasn't his bearcats. A moment later he felt a light weight settle on his chest. Hector opened an eye and tilted his head to look at the culprit, and he didn't know whether he was surprised or not to see the thieving little raccoon.
"What do you think you're doing?" Hector asked. The raccoon looked at him and chirped. It put its front feet on his face and gently pushed to encourage him to lay back down again. Hector rolled his head and rested his head against the ground. He wasn't in the mood to get his eyes scratched out if he didn't do what the raccoon wanted. The creature purred contently and nuzzled up against his face.
"You're far too affectionate for your own good." Hector said. This wild animal was going to get itself killed if it behaved this way around predators. The raccoon almost looked proud at his words, and Hector found himself wondering how this creature had grown to adulthood. Not only did it cuddle with beings that had already shown that they weren't to be taken lightly, but it didn't seem to understand when a weakness was being pointed out.
"Get off." Hector growled. Most animals, including humans, would be scrambling to get away from him after hearing that tone, but the raccoon just shook its head and nuzzled closer. Hector had been around animals enough to know when they were trying to comfort him. What he didn't know was why the raccoon would be so determined to help somebody that it had been trying to steal from.
"You're well on your way to getting yourself skinned alive." Hector said in annoyance. "I hope you know that." The raccoon chirped and put its hand against his mouth, effectively shushing him. This raccoon was a brat.
Hector couldn't do anything but lie there and let the raccoon try to coddle him. If the animal was a human he would have already torn them limb from limb. He had a soft spot for animals though. They were more genuine than humans more.
Eventually the raccoon pulled back and settled on his lap, allowing Hector to sit up. Itstill demanded to be pet, but at least he wasn no longer being pinned down by something that only weighed eight pounds.
"What are you still doing here?" Hector asked. The raccoon gave him a judgemental look and pushed its head harshly against his head. Hector couldn't exactly speak raccoon, but he got the gist of what it was saying. The raccoon had been trying to make him feel better, though Hector still didn't understand why.
"I'm fine." Hector said. "You can leave now." The raccoon just shook its head and made itself more comfortable on his lap. "You're ridiculous, you know that?" The raccoon nodded and nuzzled closer to Hector. The man frowned and picked the raccoon up. He placed it on the ground and stood up, nudging the raccoon away when it tried to scamper up his leg. "Knock it off."
The raccoon tilted its head and chirped. It ran back towards where Hector had found it in the first place. It stopped and chirped, clearly wanting the man to follow him. Hector narrowed his eyes at the raccoon, but he reluctantly decided to follow it. What harm could come from following an odd raccoon?
The animal looked happy that Hector was following it. It ran in a small circle before bolting towards its destination, occasionally pausing and chirping at Hector again. The raccoon led Hector straight towards the entrance of the tree. His bearcats were hanging around the entrance, on guard duty. They looked more irritated than usual.
"Is she gone?" Hector asked. The last thing he wanted was for Adira to jump down from the trees and mess with him again. His bearcats nodded in confirmation. If they weren't upset because of Adira, something else was going on with them.
Sure enough, one of his bearcats came towards him, holding a small scroll in its mouth. Hector recognized Adira's style. He didn't want to leave her note, but he knew that she didn't write messages like this unless it was something really important. She would somehow know if he didn't read her note, and probably come back to give him her message herself, and Hector didn't want Adira anywhere near him or the tree again.
"Alright, show me what she's got" Hector said. His bearcat dropped the scroll in his hands. Hector opened it and read the message. With every word he read the more irritated and angry he got.
It was ridiculous and more desperate than Hector had ever seen from Adira. The note talked about the sundrop, of course, because Hector was beginning to think that the woman was incapable of speaking of anything else at this point. Not only did Adira insist that the sundrop was real, but her most recent claim was that it resided in a young woman, which just wasn't possible.
Hector didn't think the sundrop was real in the first place, and yet Adira was expecting him to believe that it was a person. That just wasn't possible. Hector didn't care what Adira's scroll said about the sundrop girl's mother somehow absorbing the power of the sundrop and passing it on to her daughter. That just wasn't possible.
If the power of the supposed sundrop could just be transferred like that, then one would think that the same would be true of the moonstone as well. After all, Quirin had been exposed to the power of the moonstone, but his son certainly hadn't been born with the powers of destruction.
Although…
"No." Hector scowled. He clenched the scroll in his fists, crumpling it. "They're fairy tales, nothing more." None of this was possible. The sundrop didn't exist. A girl didn't have magic healing powers. And as much as Quirin complained about his son's experiments always taking a violent turn for the worst, he wasn't the moonstone. The opal was safe in the Dark Kingdom, and Hector was going to make sure that was where it stayed.
But if there was even the smallest chance that something, or someone else out there had the catastrophic powers of the moonstone, wasn't it Hector's responsibility to make sure nothing happened? He had sworn to protect the moonstone because they couldn't afford to let its powers get in the wrong hands.
Hector sighed and tossed the crumbled scroll to his bearcats, who were all too happy to tear it up for him. "Maybe I'm just as crazy as Adira seems to think I am." Hector muttered. He knelt on the ground and held a hand out to the raccoon, which purred and nuzzled against him. "You seem like a friendly little guy. Are you friendly enough to do me a favor?"
The raccoon tilted its head at him curiously. "Look, I'm really busy here, and I can't afford to just leave the tree and abandon my duty." Hector said. "My duty might be pulling me elsewhere, but I can't leave until I know for sure. If you can serve as my eyes though-" Hector trailed off when the raccoon tilted its head the other way. It was still confused. The raccoon was smart, but it was still just an animal. Hector needed to tone things down.
"It's really easy." Hector said. He took out one of his hair ties. He reached into one of his many hidden pockets and pulled out one of Quirin's letters. He had been carrying them around with him for years, because the tree was too wild and dangerous to leave any valuables just lying around, and these letters were some of his only belongings that he cared about. Though Hector hated to do it, he ripped off a bit of the letter, the part that had his name on it.
"My friend here will take you to Old Corona." Hector nodded towards one of his bearcats. It obediently came forward. "I want you to find Quirin and Varian and keep an eye on them." Hector used his hair tie to tie the part of the letter to the raccoon's back foot. I think they live on a farm, so there will be lots of food for you to steal there."
The raccoon chattered excitedly. At least it was willing to cooperate. Hector couldn't let the raccoon leave quite yet though. There was one more very important thing that he needed it to know.
"Have you seen the black rocks that have been showing up everywhere?" Hector asked. The raccoon's ears flattened and it shrunk back. That answered that question. "If Quirin is threatened by the black rocks, or if something weirder than usual happens involving Varian and the black rocks, find your way back here and let me know, okay?"
The raccoon nodded, far too eager to do as he asked. It must be pretty excited about the farm that Hector had promised. "It's a long ways to Corona." Hector said He picked the raccoon up and set it on his bearcat. "You'd better get going."
The bearcat growled and set off so quickly that the raccoon screeched in alarm and clung on for dear life.
Adira's rubbing off on me." Hector scowled. He didn't like wasting his resources for something that he didn't know for sure would pan out. If he hadn't happened to have a clingy raccoon at his disposal, he would have pushed the threat to Quirin and the miniscule possibility that his son had moonstone powers to the back of his mind. He would have forgotten about it completely.
Hector just hoped that he never saw that raccoon again. He may miss having Quirin around, but if their reunion only happened because the boy's power was dangerous then it would be better for all of them if they remained separated.
"Come on," Hector said to his remaining bearcat. "Just because your sister is going on vacation doesn't mean you get the day off. We're going patrolling." It didn't matter how sore his body was. All the aggression he'd gotten out by slashing at the tree was back with a vengeance thanks to Adira's note and the thought that even after all the years he had spent keeping the moonstone safe, the powers might still be out there causing troubles.
After days like this Hector was almost glad that he was alone in this tree. Dealing with people was exhausting, painful, and just not worth the effort.