Owned by: Catherine Fisher
Warning: Brochael-centric
Dauntless Pluck
3: Changes
Summary: Brochael contemplates the changes that have been brought upon the inhabitants of Thrasirshall and the memories he had almost forgotten.
The burly man known as Brochael was extremely puzzled, as he usually was by Kari Ragnarsson, the snow-walker who he'd been given the task of watching over for fourteen years. The boy was now sixteen, and Brochael had found that, after their adventures to the land of the rune-speakers, he seemed livelier, even if it was only slightly. Immediately after their return, he'd taken to roaming the grounds instead of watching them from his room. He felt free now that he was not under the watch of his all-seeing mother, and caution was something he barely used nowadays.
Brochael had changed as well, but he had come to the conclusion that it was only in minor ways. He felt as if a great burden had been lifted from his shoulders, although he didn't know why. He still watched over Kari, they still resided in the snowy fortress, and they were both unscarred. Or so he believed.
It only struck him a week after their return that Kari seemed less pale than when they had set out on their adventures, and, although he spoke very little, he had acquired a cheeriness about him that the giant couldn't describe. He often exchanged letters with Skapti, Jessa, and Hakon, and had even received a few from Thorkil. He had made friends, and they had helped him conquer a demon of his past so large it practically controlled his life, but now with it gone, they could speak to each other easily.
When Kari did take to his quarters, instead of sitting in an illimitable silence, he now drew pictures or wrote in a journal Jessa had given him as a parting gift … but what he wrote was a mystery to Brochael.
This lasted until he happened upon Kari's journal, the boy nowhere to be found. It was open to the front page, and, curiosity finally nagging Brochael into action, he picked it up and began to read.
When he had at last finished the several pages that had been written, he realized they told a story -their story- and all at once he was bombarded with memories of their travels, memories that he hadn't thought of until reading about the events in the journal. He tried to fool himself into thinking nothing had happened and things were as they always had been, just Kari and Brochael apart from the rest of the world, but the impressions his friends left upon him was too great, and with a partially defeated ,partially joyful sigh, he closed the journal and set about the task of finding the snow-walker.
"Changes can bring out the worst in us in some cases, but I believe in this instance they have brought out the best."