Fifteen year old Aphid trudged along the very off beaten path of this forest with his little brother in tow.
Well, his little brother's hand firmly leashed within his that is….
That eleven year old was partly to blame for their off beaten route.
It wasn't intentional on his part. It really wasn't.
The poor kid just wanted to get them something to eat and it went terribly array.
But everything has been going array for them this week.
Everything had been quickly going downhill since Aphid got booted from a job a couple weeks ago…and Kor, unfortunately, was fully to blame for that.
Having decided to cuss for the first time in his life, the Nord boy really rectified the late start with a doozy.
Hissed directly to the employer...
"Fuck off, bandit bitch."
Aphid never in a lifetime would have thought his sweet-natured little brother would utter such a phrase…
He understood why, really.
The lady was teeth grindingly annoying during sober work hours, but especially so when folks were just trying to unwind at the local tavern after hours.
And when she decided to drunkenly insert herself over the bard's stories, to sloppily brag about her former glory days….as a bandit….well, she had her elbow leaned atop the exact wrong kid for that.
She sacked Aphid on the spot, and Aphid regrettably punished his little brother for both the hefty language and costing them the income.
He profusely apologized once the shock and irritation subsided, but the apology couldn't take back the punishment.
And poor sweet little Kor unintentionally made Aphid feel even worse with continually apologizing and holding no hard feelings about the thoughtless punishment, but Aphid would not forgive himself. Not ever.
And it was that guilt that thankfully stayed his hand in Kor's, instead of giving the boy a good smack for this predicament.
Normally Aphid didn't have such physical impulses; he was NOT his grandmother, but Aphid was so very tired, so very hungry, and so very beyond stressed.
He was determined to never use such reasons as an excuse to vent upon his little brother.
But Aphid was only a young lad himself, and despite being leaps and bounds ahead in maturity than even some of the eldest folk, he was still ever learning to reign his emotions and was navigating this world blindly.
Sometimes, it was just hard.
But somehow he was holding his cool, at least for now. He hadn't even scolded Kor for breaking off the path after being told not to….Nor for provoking that bear attack….but he knew that his silence and the grip he had was as good as a yelling to the little brother.
And Aphid knew the boy didn't disobey him with insolence, and he knew the boy CERTAINLY didn't mean to provoke a bear attack.
Kor had spotted what he was sure was a patch of berry bushes a bit off the road, barely highlighted by the sun peeking through the tree canopy.
Aphid had told him beforehand not to go running off the path, as it wasn't adequately marked to begin with and he didn't want to risk losing their track, but Kor had bolted before Aphid could finish reminding him.
To Kor's credit, it was berry bushes, but as soon as the boy surmised that, a furry little face popped out the bush.
Then another.
Two little bear cubs, happily curious to see the blonde Nord cub.
Kor was just worldly enough to know that a Mama bear was sure to be right behind another bush, and she'd not be happily curious to see him.
Aphid had tried to calmly, though nerve wrackingly, tell Kor to ease back. Just ease back.
When Mama bear did poke her head out, she was surprisingly only curious to see the blonde cub as well.
But Kor had sensed Aphid's heart pounding unease and let the anxious air overwhelm him.
He punched the mother bear right on her nose, along with kicking off one of the cubs, and made a scramble to his older brother, invoking the wrath of that Mama right behind him.
Through the sheer grace of the Gods, Aphid and Kor somehow managed to elude every pounce, bite, and swipe, but not without extraordinary amount of effort and energy.
…..And throwing her own cubs at her…. disrupting her nose yet again with a spore pod….and getting her temporarily stuck under a tree root.
By the time she got herself unstuck, the brothers had hastened far enough away.
Her nose was too polluted with fungus spores to sniff them out, and her cubs were of no help. The fluffy tikes were content roughing up each other, seeming to think it was all a bout of fun, so Aphid and Kor successfully evaded a grisly end—or grizzly, in this case.
But all that running and evading pushed them quite far into the thick of the woods.
Thus, their off beat trekking now.
The forest scenery was unfairly pretty; Aphid would have loved to admire the array of different woodland bug life flicking and fluttering and flying about, but every flap, thump, and chirp only seemed to worsen his headache.
His sour mood must have been flowing freely through his arm and saturating Kor, because suddenly the boy halted his heels and tried to sling his hand from the older brother's.
"Kor!" Aphid somewhat snipped.
He wasn't trying to sound scolding, but his mood was reigning his tone.
"What are you doing?" he asked insistently instead of questioningly.
Kor only pulled again and tried to push Aphid's grip off with his free hand.
"Kor Bjergsen," Aphid refused to release the kid and this time did intend his tone to be insistent.
But then he caught the glisten upon the boy's face, before the kid turned it away and continued in vain to pry his hand loose.
Whatever irritation Aphid had bubbling over simply evaporated as he knelt down and calmly addressed the little brother.
"Kor…," he said much more gently, "Baby brother. Hey….why are you crying?"
Aphid let go of Kor's hand, hoping upon all hope that it wasn't because he squeezed the poor boy to tears, but Kor tried to take that opportunity to scurry away.
"Whoa, whoa, no! Hey!" the older brother quickly seized him by the arm. His voiced had spat out that stern tone again, but he quickly simmered it and spoke gently once more.
"Heeey. Let's not run atop anymore cuddly bears. Talk to me, Kor. What's the matter?"
Kor wouldn't face him, but his tearfully shaky voice did respond.
"I-I ruin ev-everything," he said.
"What?" Aphid replied softly, but confused, "What on Nirn are you talking about?"
"it's…it's all my fault," the boy cried, "Y-your j-job, n-no money, your bow, I l-let those skeevers s-snatch our food pack, I sm-smudged your map, an-gered that b-bear, and y-you h-hate meee--"
"Wha—no! Kor!" Aphid spun his brother around fast, "Listen here, Kor Bjergsen, you know better than that! I DO NOT hate you. Never! I'm not even mad at you--"
"Y-yes you are--"
"No, baby brother," Aphid continued, "I'm just frustrated at our string of bad luck; not at you."
"But I caused--"
"Baby brother. I told you before," the older brother cut in, "I'm glad you got me sacked. I don't think I could have drudged through one more day with that woman's prattling without losing the job myself. And I know I..…I am so, so SO sorry I reacted the way I did at the time. I was…shocked…at your choice of words. I….I'm so sorry, but believe me…I am glad to be rid of that job."
Kor still brought his free arm up to bridge his face like a dam against those flowing tears.
"I s-still caused e-everything else!" he cried.
"Goodness, Kor, what is this?" Aphid said to this pitiful sight, "Come here, baby brother. Mara's mercy."
He pulled the boy into a hug and consoled the weepy kid.
"You're exhausted, alright?" the older brother patted, "You're very tired and very hungry and that could make anyone just want to cry. It's okay. It will be alright. We'll get to Falkreath, and the job, the skeevers, the bear...whatever else….We'll be laughing about it over a cozy dinner."
He stood Kor back to help the boy dry his tears and to look him in the eyes as he assured him once more.
"And you listen to me, baby brother," he said as he wiped away the boy's remaining tears and rested his thumb on those two little cheekbone dots, "We've had this discussion plenty before. Even when I am upset with you, it does not mean I love you any less. Do you love me less when you're upset with me?"
Kor immediately jolted to answer that.
"No! I --"
Aphid, however, smiled and gently clamped his hand over the kid's mouth.
"It was rhetorical, Kor," he said, "And the point I'm making. You're my brother. From the moment we met, you were my little brother. My baby brother."
Kor began a little smile as Aphid returned it with a bigger grin…..a grin that turned mischievous with that narrowing of his eyes.
He suddenly pulled Kor back into tight hug, an obviously impish constriction, as the older brother snuggled their faces side-by-side and spoke with sickening sweetness.
"My wittle crybaby brother who I'll love forever and ever and ever," the teen teased, "from his snot to his polka dots."
Kor began fighting the constriction, though he was chuckling.
"Aphid, grooooss. And I'm not a crybaby! Let gooo," he laughed.
"Oh?" the older brother still teased the little one, "Did it just rain only on your face or something?"
He planted a soppy kiss on Kor's cheek and then made a feigned disgusted spit.
"Ergh! Taste like crybaby tears to me!" Aphid joked.
"Stooop it," Kor playfully fought to escape this brotherly prison.
Suddenly, Aphid did stop, but not because of Kor's feeble prying.
The older brother heard a noise above their banter and caught a glimpse of something….somethings….skulking through the trees.
Kor heard it as well, then saw it too.
Wolves.
A pack of wolves fastly slinking towards them.
Kor quickly scurried behind his brother as Aphid instinctively ushered him there.
The big brother quickly scanned all about, checking to see if they were being circled, but determined the canines, four of them, were encroaching only from the front.
"Stay behind me," Aphid commanded the little brother clinging to the back of his waist.