As he draws near to his family's stables, his steed calls a greeting to the horses inside, and Guillermo decides he loves the sound after having been so long at sea. He enters and is set upon by his brothers.
Nathanael, oldest of them all, claps him on the shoulder and leads the horse away to an empty stall. Meanwhile Guillermo is nearly overwhelmed by the chatter of his four other brothers. Davet and Edmon speak in a flurry of French at the same time Leandro and Hernando tell him in Spanish an embellished tale of their adventures. He absorbs as much of it as he can, but his brain can only handle so much at once. Before long, all of their telling morphs into showing as Hernando illustrates how he defended the honor of one of the local gals. Leandro plays his second, as he apparently did on that day, and Davet and Edmon assume the roles of the obviously less honorable fiends who committed the offense. The tale dissolves into a wrestling match, although Guillermo is assured that this isn't quite how the events unfolded.
After several moments Guillermo's brothers compose themselves enough to actually greet him. There are hugs all around, but suddenly they're interrupted by the unholy terror which is the sound of an unhappy mother.
"Boys!" Her growl carries all the way from the house to the stables, and every one of them freezes, each praying that perhaps he's not included in that general shout. Four of six of their hopes are dashed in an instant. "Where is my pie?"
Hernando, Leandro, Edmon, and Davet are horrified to hear her voice rapidly drawing near to their location, and in the blink of an eye the four vanish.
Nathanael only chuckles and embraces his step-brother now that the others are no longer demanding all of Guillermo's attention.
"Don't you ever leave me with them again." Nathanael's only have serious; Guillermo knows by the sparkle in his eyes.
"Consider it payback for the camping incident."
Nathanael rolls his eyes, and he and Guillermo turn as one to greet their displeased mother.
"Have you seen them?"
"Northern pasture," Nathanael answers.
"Well I suppose we won't be having desert tonight. I haven't the time to back another pie and cook dinner."
"We can make it," Guillermo offers. "Dinner, not the pie.
"Fish, anyone?" Nathanael grins from ear to ear.
"How can I say no to that?"
"You can't." Guillermo kisses his mother's forehead and heads for the creek, his brother not far behind.
As they saunter down the wandering path to their preferred fishing spot, Guillermo decides that Nathanael is his favorite member of his step-family. Guatier, his step-father, is kind and good, but he lacks the adventurous spirit Guillermo remembers his father possessing. Davet and Edmon are content to raise horses just as their father does, and they don't quite understand what propels him toward the sea. Nathanael, though, he knows much of what Guillermo feels. They are the eldest sons; they're both familiar with the responsibility implied by that role. But even greater than that is their thirst for adventure, for voyages that take them beyond the known and well-mapped places of the world. In Nathanael Guillermo finds a fellow restless soul.
"'Llemo, I swear, if your thinking scares the fish away, you'll be the one to explain why we can't make dinner like we promised."
"See to it that I get a proper burial," Guillermo says and flops on the bank for added melodrama.
"Remind me why you're not an actor."
Guillermo stands and flings his boots and shirt on a nearby rock. "It's impractical. I doubt I'd be paid enough to take care of all of you."
"I can't help the vast quantities of food our brothers devour," Nathanael laughs. "Just how much did you make on your latest adventure?"
Guillermo delays answering in favor of lulling a fish into a false sense of security. About the same time Nathanael catches hold of a fish as well. Guillermo allows his right hand to hover over the water and considers his answer.
"Well, Nat, let's just say that we could all sit back and live lavishly for a year or so."
Nathanael lets out a low whistle. "That's impressive."
"It better be. A couple of times I thought I'd never make it back."
"Thus the new scars. And what's this?" Nat queries and tosses his fish onto the back before stepping closer to examine the tattoo on Guillermo's left shoulder blade.
"I thought that was rather obvious," Guillermo manages to say through his laughter.
"I thought that was rather obvious," Nathanael mocks his brother.
"Nat, you're frightening the fish."
Nathanael huffs in amusement, choosing not to point out that Guillermo is just as much to blame if the fish are disappearing. They settle into a comfortable quiet, but only maintain it so long as they intend to catch more fish. The moment the decided they have enough, Guillermo jumps on Nat's back, an act which lands them both in the chilled water of the creek.
Their water games come to an end when they finally take note of the sun's position in the sky, at which point they gather their catch and sprint back to the house, hoping they can still prepare dinner by a respectable hour.
A/N: ofahattersmind did a wonderful sketch for this chapter! You can find it in this chapter on AO3 or over on Tumblr on my page, lizcavil, and on ofahattersmind's.