Chapter Two:
you won't be alone
Ordon trudges through the forest with Deet and Hup. His two new companions have been mostly quiet, a thick cloud of anxiety hanging over them. This is likely in no small part to the thunderous aura he knows must be emanating from his own form. He has been trying not to take his fear for his son out on the poor girl or the podling, but he doesn't seem to be doing a very good job at it.
While his every nerve had screamed for him to chase after skekMal with all his strength, logic had won out quickly. He could not catch up to the larger, faster skeksis, especially not one so adept at hiding his tracks. Instead, he had asked Deet where she and the podling were going. When she had explained her vision and quest to go to Ha'rar, he had chosen to go with her. His honor would not let him leave a young, untrained gelfling to travel alone through the unfamiliar surface (even if she did have a noble, spoon-wielding podling with her). Besides, he thought, perhaps the All-Maudra could lend him forces to storm the castle and rescue his son—or, a tiny, traitorous voice in the back of his mind supplied, take revenge.
They finally settle for a rest. As they sit on a couple of boulders in a shady spot, Ordon can tell his companions are weary by their heavy sighs and slumped shoulders. He winces inwardly—perhaps in his state he had not thought to slow down for shorter legs.
His attention is caught by Deet's movement as she pulls out a jar of something and unfurls her wings. She carefully pulls the left one in front of her. Picking up a little of whatever is in the jar with her fingers, she begins to rub it along her wing.
When she winces, he asks, "Torn wing?"
Deet jumps a little, startled. "Oh! Yes. It happened when I was bitten by the darkened nurloc."
"So you've been traveling on foot?"
She nods, a small, gentle smile appearing on her face. "It's alright. If I hadn't been, I probably wouldn't have met Hup!"
Hup gives an exaggerated shudder. "Egh."
Deet giggles.
A thought occurs to Ordon. "When you came to my rescue—" he starts to ask, but Deet cuts him off.
"Oh, don't worry about that!"
"But doing that—did it make things worse?"
Deet squirms under his enquiring gaze, and he can already tell that she's going to try and downplay what was probably a serious aggravation to her healing injury. "It's alright. It will heal, and I was still going to be traveling on foot anyway."
"Hm." He decides to let it go. She isn't a childling who needs to be scolded-and she especially doesn't need to be scolded for throwing herself into danger to rescue his sorry life. He tries to put a damper on his fatherly instincts.
As they set out again, it becomes clear that their little conversation has made Deet feel more comfortable approaching him. She tentatively does so, walking more alongside him than behind, reminding him to slow down a little. She and Hup make conversation about the creatures they see and the caves. Ordon listens with interest and even occasionally provides a comment, his heart lightened a little as he focuses on the task at hand and not on the heavy knot of worry in his chest.
He finds himself asking, "What of your family, Deet?"
Deet, who has been explaining to Hup how she feeds the nurlocs, turns to him. "Sorry?"
He winces at having interrupted her but forges ahead anyway. "Do you have family?"
She lights up. "Yes! I have two fathers and a little brother named Bobb'N. We're nurloc farmers, which is why we're in charge of feeding them. Our house is pretty deep underground, since that's where the nurlocs like to live best, but we aren't too far away from the other Grottans—"
She continues on, babbling stories of the caves and her childhood, and he finds himself smiling, just a little.
Thank you for reading! I would love to hear what you thought!