Temper

Trigger warning: abuse and suicide related stuff.
Other warning: I just happened to read something about the difficulty of crossing rivers before I did my last rereading before publishing. Certain people are even luckier than I make them out to be in the text.

The brothel's position in regard to Emil's way back to the Solbergs meant that it was a good idea to take care of his other errands first. The matter with the money sent by his uncle settled, he headed to the general store. Everything seemed normal until, for some reason, he was apparently handed two bills on top of not being short-changed despite being quite sure of being overdue for it. The clerk almost whispered:
-It's not a mistake. Take it.
He did just that and was almost on the brothel's doorstep when he remembered the incident with the note Lalli had gotten from Leif. He decided that to check the nature of both the papers he had been given and realized that only one was meant to prove that he had been charged a certain amount of money. The other was a message:
Please return this to me with an answer if you see Leif anywhere. The boss has spent the morning telling us to not worry all while using his absence as the day's big problem.
Emil recognized that last term. One of the factors that had made him quit working for the store a few years ago was realizing that Göte could let an easily fixable minor problem grow into something much bigger just so he had something to complain about while conversing with the customers and get their sympathy. He also went back to a much more recent memory and Stefan's attempt at arranging something with Leif back when the latter had become old enough to start making plans for such things. An idea formed in his mind and all he needed to do test it was to knock on the brothel's door. The door opened and an arm promptly dragged him inside.

Tyra, the "big sister" among the employees, gave him a stern look:
-Where did you go before coming here?
-Lodge and store. Both places seem to have someone missing.
-So you already know about both of them. Good thing it's you. Helena is extremely reluctant to leave them after watching them all night and her current excuse for staying is that she's not supposed to walk home without one of her family's servants accompanying her. Come with me.
Tyra led Emil to a room. His fist idea was to grab Helena and bring her back to the house without paying attention to anything else. Once she was rested, they could figure out what to do about Milla and the store's clerk. However, as Helena wasn't waiting for him right inside the doorway, it was impossible to not start looking around the room and notice the big bed with two familiar-looking heads, one of which was clearly bandaged, sticking out from under the covers. Helena's tired voice came from right behind the inward-opening door:
-Better be urgent or I'm strangling you.
Emil poked his head around the door and found Helena half-asleep on a chair:
-It is. I need to get you back to the house.
-Hum… Fair enough. Hey, Tyra, you and the others keep an eye on those two, okay?
Tyra answered, sounding exasperated:
-For about the tenth time, you can leave them to us. Emil's here, so no more excuses to not return to your house.
Luckily, whether it was because Tyra's reassurance worked or because she was too tired to find another excuse, Helena got up and followed Emil out.

As soon as they were out of both the brothel's door and Tyra's sight, Helena started hugging Emil's arm and Emil didn't dare make any guesses on how much of it was for physical support and how much was for psychological support. The second became even more likely when she started seemingly voicing out everything she had on her mind as they walked:
-Göte is a horrible man. I've tried telling my parents, but he's always on his best behavior when they are around, keeps dismissing what I tell them as misunderstandings and blaming it on me spending too much time in a place whose employees dislike him for petty reasons.
-I can guess why just about anyone would dislike him for non-petty reasons. Is there anything specific to the brothel?
-He got himself permanently banned from there years ago and is persuaded he never did anything to deserve that. Back when he was a patron, he always asked for the same woman and reacted badly when he happened to show up when she was already occupied with another of her regulars. I think you've seen how he reacts to a firm "no" first hand.
Emil had worked enough jobs to notice that the brothel ultimately didn't differ much from other businesses and workplaces: the quality of both depended largely on what customers understood to be entitled to, the extent to which whoever ran things day-to-day agreed with them and the extent to which the other employees agreed with that. Before Emil had realized this, Helena had told him and her other potential bodyguards to just assume the entire town had gone to the brothel at least once to avoid getting surprised if there was an accidental encounter upon picking her up or mention of a name during the walk back. "Accidental" being the key word.
-Didn't you promise to keep who shows up there a secret to the extent that you were able to make the effort?
-After what happened yesterday, I'm absolutely not in mood to extend that kindness to Göte.
Emil gulped, bracing himself for potentially hearing something he wasn't going to like:
-Can you tell me what happened?
-Well, my mouth is right next to your ear anyway, so I can keep it between us for now. Stefan and Leif just showed up completely drenched last night. Stefan was clearly limping, yet the one of the two the most able to walk on his own. Leif didn't speak a single word before he ended up falling asleep. All I got out of Stefan was that Leif and Göte happened to be crossing a bridge while he was sitting near it and threw a huge fit over Stefan and Leif nodding at each other. In case you didn't already know, their relationship ever since Stefan rescinded his proposal is a subject that Göte gets angry about for whatever reason he can think of on a given day. His apparent interpretation of the situation ranges from Stefan's family still planning to forcefully take over the store and force Leif into sex slavery after having first tried while he was still a minor to the two of them being star-crossed lovers that he's allowing to meet once in while by giving Leif enough money to go see Stefan as a customer. He tends to lean towards the first one when he knows Stefan or a member of his family will hear it. There is still plenty that could have happened for them to end up like that and I was hoping to get more out of Stefan before heading back home. By the way, both will be fine as long as they get enough rest to heal, at least physically. Anything else will depend on what happened.
Emil wasn't sure what to answer to what he had just found out. Asking the question already on his mind felt like the best course of action:
-A clerk at the store whose name I forgot and Milla were worried about Leif and Stefan. Is it okay to tell them where they are? And also Lalli if I manage to meet him today.
-Yes to Milla and Lalli, don't know if the store clerk is a good idea. One the few things Stefan did tell me is that he brought Leif to me rather than the clinic because he wanted a place where Leif would be left alone. My mind's too fuzzy to tell whether telling one of the clerks would actually go against that wish or not.

Nothing else relevant to Stefan and Leif's predicament was exchanged until Emil brought Helena back to their home and he was dragged into the very work for which he was already late while others took care of Helena. After the frantic morning, he decided to sit outside to have his lunch and give his mind a little extra time to process what Helena had told him. As he was eating the last few bites of his meal, all while finding himself wishing that the part of the story Göte had made up in his head about Stefan's family planning to take over the store was true, he noticed Lalli coming to meet him.
-Good thing you are here. I was planning to go see you if I got the time before I need to watch the children again.
-I know something happened to Stefan. I wanted to ask Helena if she knew what happened before going to town.
Emil suggested that Lalli sit on the bench he was using and waited for him to do so before telling him what little Helena had shared with him. Lalli spoke:
-So this is what the cold was. It also felt like several parts of his body were hurting.
Emil raised an eyebrow:
-How do you know that much of what happened to him? Even Milla only knew he was staying at the brothel for the night and apparently had no idea Leif was there also.
-My magic makes me know when people I keep track of are hurt. I'm still keeping track of Stefan because we may get back together, but I can stop if you want me to.
Emil raised his other eyebrow:
-Why would I even want you to do that?
-The man before Stefan didn't like it. Even if it was my family or one of the services that we had been hired for.
-Whatever problem that man had with it, I'm not seeing what it could be right now. Though now I'm curious as to why you didn't rush to help him if you knew he was in trouble.
-I only know things happen right when they do, not how close and in what direction compared to where I am. I also only know first aid, both with and without magic. For everything else, I'd be in the way of the people who can help with the problem. I couldn't choose to only keep track of people of my choice when I was a child, so I had to learn to let people who were closer by help for most things and only help when I actually could. It felt like he was being taken care of and needed rest above all else for most of the morning and lunchtime.
Emil thought a little before answering:
-I guess that make sense. Otherwise, if something happened to two people at the same time and you could only help one, you'd always feel bad about whoever you couldn't help. Wait, does that mean that when your parents… sorry if I already said something that brought back bad memories, then. Oh, while I'm thinking of it, Milla will want to know of anything new I found out, but I had to take Helena back here and work. Do you have time to go into town and tell her in case nobody else has done it yet?
-Yes.
-Good. Anything you want to ask or tell me before I go back to work?
-Is there anything I'm expected to do about Leif?
-A clerk at the store asked after him, but Helena wasn't sure whether it's good idea to tell him or not. It seems like she doesn't want Göte to find out where he is and harass the brothel's employees while he's resting off whatever happened yesterday. You should be okay keeping your mouth shut about it for now.
Lalli nodded and started leaving. A few steps in, he turned around, told him "goodbye" and resumed his jogging in the town's direction.

It was impossible to go into town from the area with wealthy homes without setting eyes on the brothel. Soon enough, Lalli noticed that there was a small number of people standing right outside of it and got closer to the group to see if Milla was among them. She was indeed present and in the middle of a heated argument with a man close to her own age who looked enough like Leif to be a sibling or cousin. Another man close to Milla's age, whom Lalli remembered seeing around town and the Lodge a few times, seemed to be watching the argument take place. The closer Lalli came, the more he could hear what was being told. Partway there, he found himself unable to walk any further and with nothing better to do than waiting for the argument to stop or go on long enough that his mind started tune it out, whatever happened first. From that vantage point, he noticed that the man he assumed to be related to Leif was saying quite a few baffling things about men who were attracted to other men. It was probably his first real encounter with the sort of person several people had warned him about. The sort because of whom proper marriage between same-sex people wasn't possible, because too many were involved in making the country's laws. The sort Onni and Tuuri were worried about him ever interacting with. The sort Roni often accused other people of being when they refused demands that Lalli knew to be impossible to fulfill regardless of who was asking. This made it even more likely for him to one of the relatives of Leif had run away from, come to think of it. A tap on his shoulder startled him and reflexively grabbed the hand, prompting its owner to speak:
-Sorry, I didn't realize you were that on edge. Are you Lalli, by any chance?
The man was the one Lalli had spotted watching the argument earlier. Lalli managed a nod, then to speak:
-Emil wanted to make sure Milla knew why Stefan spent the night here, but he had to take Helena back to her house and had more work once he was there. I went to see him while he was having lunch and Helena told him things Milla might want to know.
-I'll pass whatever message you have, even if it's all things we already know. My parents had quite big fights when I was a child and I know the face of someone who can't stand witnessing people yelling at each other, regardless of the conversation's actual content. I'm mostly staying for the other guy's sake in case things get physical. You shouldn't need to do the same if you're just playing messenger.
Lalli told the man what he knew and remembered to thank him a few moments later. He was about to take his leave when he wondered about something he could make sure of on the spot:
-Are you Milla's sweetheart?
The man gave him a smile that gave him a good idea of the reason for which Milla had fallen for him:
-Correct. Name's Isak. I moved out of here when I was still a kid, but thinking of moving back and spending the year watching a local business I'm considering either buying or competing with. Finding a potential future wife was an unexpected side effect. Go ahead with the rest of your day, I'm sure you have plenty to do.

Lalli prioritized getting away from the argument, then realized he could use his proximity to the town and the lack of anything else to do to try retracing Stefan and Leif's steps from the day before. When he felt something happening to someone without actually seeing it, there was a part of his mind that refused to rest until he saw the site of the incident. The location alone was a big help, even when devoid of items, people or other living beings that had been necessary to the event. He made it to Stefan's favorite spot for sitting by the river and found the ground around it somewhat disturbed. From what he could tell, someone had run into the river while still wearing shoes, left it, then headed into town. Had Leif fallen into the water from the bridge? He looked at the rocks and realized that the fall in itself was quite dangerous in that area. If he had seen someone falling off that bridge from such a close spot, he would have given at least softening the landing a try. If that was what had happened, both young men were really lucky that they hadn't gotten more severely hurt. That left how Leif would have ended up falling from the bridge in the first place. Had Göte pushed Leif off? Or… he remembered the solution he had once very briefly considered to escape one of Roni's rages. Thinking about the next day and realizing just how high from the ground that window had been. Stefan being the only person to whom he had felt like he could mention it without being assumed to have ever thought of it outside of that single moment.