Author's Note: Whoops, got a little off schedule this week. Should be back to...uh, roughly your regularly scheduled programming next week. Hopefully.

As always, many thanks to my sister's help with editing, and credit for the chapter title is due to Phil Collins and his song "Father to Son." Enjoy! Boy, I love and miss Stonegrot.


Chapter Eight:
if your heart is beating fast, then you know she's right

Ordon, Rian, and Deet leave the Circle of the Suns that evening, bidding Hup an emotional goodbye and giving the Wanderer and the Heretic their thanks. They travel for a while in the dim tunnel that skekGra and urGoh had told them about, Deet leading the way and keeping a lookout with her superior eyesight for the fork in the path where they will part ways—Ordon to Stone-in-the-Wood, Deet and Rian onward through the Breath of Thra to Grot.

Ordon hears a scuffle and a grunt from his son ahead of him. "I can barely see where I'm going," Rian complains. "Ow! I think that rock just tried to take a bite out of me."

"Your eyes will adjust eventually," Deet reassures him with humor in her voice. "Daylighter."

"Daylighter?" Rian asks, incredulous.

"Oh, yes. We Grottans have all sorts of names for you topside Gelfling. Sun Brain. Moon Child."

"Very funny."

"Tunnel Screamer!"

"You're hilarious."

Ordon chuckles and listens to their continued play-bickering with a small smile. He can't help but be glad they are keeping their spirits up despite all of their worry for their Vapran friend.

Finally, Deet stops. She sounds almost disappointed when she says, "Oh, here's the fork."

They come to a stop. "Well, it seems this is where I take my leave," Ordon says, adjusting the bag on his back. Deet and Rian have a much shorter trip, and Deet would not be able to fly with both Rian and the baggage (even though her wing is healed—Ordon had asked), so they carry little but the clothes on their backs.

"Stone-in-the-Wood to the left and Grot to the right, yeah?" Rian asks.

"That is what they said." There's a moment of silence, and he continues, "Well—"

"Oh!" Suddenly Deethra throws her arms around him in a tight hug. "We'll miss you. Be safe."

He feels himself soften and returns the embrace. "You as well." He holds her at arm's length for a moment. "I'm going to miss your company on my travels—and Hup's, too."

Deet smiles, a little sadly at the thought of their injured friend, but pleased nonetheless.

Ordon turns to Rian, and the two embrace tightly. "Be careful," Ordon says quietly. "I love you, Rian."

Rian takes a shuddering breath. "I love you too."

They let go with no small amount of reluctance, and the turn to face their paths.

"See you at Stone-in-the-Wood," Ordon says.

"With the Glaive," Rian responds.

"Goodbye!" calls Deet.

They set off, and after Ordon watches their backs for a moment, so does he.

His heart is heavy with the silence and the thought of his injured and captured companions, but somehow, he is still buoyed by hope.


Ordon makes it to Stone-in-the-Wood in good time. He is allowed in to see Maudra Fara right away, and he tells the tale of what has happened to him since he was last in his clan's land.

The fierce Maudra is contrite in a way he has never seen. "Ordon. I am so sorry. I was a fool, and I turned away your son—one of my clan—in favor of those wretched monsters." She pinches her brow, frowning in in regret.

Ordon places a hand on his friend's shoulder with a bitter smile. "As did I. No need for you to apologize, Fara. You were doing what you thought was best."

"Thank you, old friend."

"Now. The Glaive."

"Where did you hide it?"

"In the—" Ordon is interrupted by a Stonewood guard bursting through the doors.

"Maudra Fara! The Skeksis are coming!" he cries.

The Stonewood warriors assemble with practiced efficiency. Other citizens are shepherded into shelter, into the multitude of hiding places in the Dark Wood.

Finally, Ordon stands in the main thoroughfare with Fara and other warriors. He recognizes a few, but not all—younger gelfling whose training was completed while he was at the Castle. These are too young to have participated in the Arathim War, possibly even too young to have been alive during the war, like his own son. They are fidgety, nervous. The few closer to Ordon's age are grim and resolute, muscle memory settling in.

The wood holds its breath.

They are blinded by a light.