Look at me! I'm back!

Serendipity

-Chapter 5 : The Manor-

Yeager found that the trip back to Dahngrest was not quite as long or tedious this time around.

They'd stocked up on extra supplies in Torim, before undertaking the three-day stagecoach journey to the Heliord settlement. The girls were in awe at everything they saw, from the geography they were traveling to the creatures that inhabited it, pointing things out and chattering back and forth. Yeager chuckled as he remembered fondly what it was like to be that young.

After Heliord, the journey was on horseback. That was when Gauche and Droite met Seger and Orman, two of Yeager's most trusted guildsman whom often served as his bodyguards. Both men were taller than the guildsleader; Seger was a wiry redhead, and Orman was a mage whose brunet hair was swept back into a clean business cut.

"Zeger, Orman, zhese are Gauche and Droite - my daughters." The word felt both strange and unexpectedly warm on his tongue. Droite bounded over and introduced herself without reserve, while Gauche hung back for a moment, staying close to Yeager's side until he nudged her.

"Zay hello, Gauche," he smiled gently. "Zhey von't bite - vell, not unless I tell zhem to."

"So, daughters, huh?" Seger was grinning like a cat. "Been having a bit more fun than he led us to believe, ay?" he chuckled, waggling his eyebrows.

"Seger-" Orman began.

"Entirely too much fun," Yeager cheerfully agreed. "Although you may have noticed zhat our appearances are not similar at all. Zhey are mine in ze legal sense of ze word - although I do intend to fill zhat role to the greatest of my ability." Seger pouted, and Yeager grinned. Orman just stared.

"Alright," the guildsleader said then, "from here to Dahngrest is horseback. One of you vill ride wis' me and ze other vill ride vith Orman, ja?"

"What, I'm not good enough?"

"I'd rather my daughters arrive at Dahngrest in one piece," Yeager replied dryly. "You do have a tendency to show-off."

"That's the pot calling the kettle, ain't it?" Seger retorted. But he grinned and climbed on his horse.

"...Yeager?" The guildsleader looked down to see Gauche tugging on his sleeve, hesitant. "...May I please...ride with you?" she asked.

"Still a bit shy, ja?" he chuckled, rubbing her back. "Of course you can - provided Droite does not have any objections." Droite did not, and was soon sitting behind Orman (and chattering the elder man's ear off); Yeager helped Gauche on before climbing up himself, and the five of them set off toward Dahngrest, Gauche snuggling into his back.

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"So the great Yeager of Leviathan's Claw has a soft spot for little girls. That is rich," Seger laughed. "Who'd have guessed?"

"It isn't exactly a zecret zhat I am fond of children, you know," Yeager replied. They had settled down for the night, Orman agreeing to take first watch. But instead of going to sleep, the three of them were up talking in front of the campfire, Gauche and Droite curled into Yeager's sides. Seger was taking great delight in teasing him about it.

"What made you decided to take on such responsibility?" Orman asked him. "It's a big thing to be raising kids, and little girls at that...I am curious as to your reasoning..."

"I've alvays vanted children," Yeager replied, completely unbothered by their questions. "I lost my fiancee in ze War, and zhey lost zheir parents." He shrugged. "Ve fill a hole."

"Somehow I doubt it's that simple," Orman perceived.

"It is only as complicated as you make it," Yeager cheerfully said.

"Keeping a kid isn't like keeping a dog," Seger broke in. "You have to set an example for them, educate them. And you can't put kids out when they're bad!"

"Gentlemen, I appreciate your concern," Yeager interrupted, "but I have made my decision. If your worry is for ze guild, I can assure you, zhat vill not be an issue. Ze girls vill be staying wis' me and learning ze ways of ze guild very directly, wis' much hands-on experience. Everysing has been worked out in zhat area." Of course, that last part was not quite true, but Yeager was not about to open himself up to more questions. To say the adoption didn't concern them would not be fair, because the truth was that, anytime anyone was accepted into the guild - or company or whatever - it directly or indirectly affected everyone in that organization (hopefully for the better, but sometimes for the worse). However...

"Haven't you both agreed zhat Leviasan's Claw has improved since I was instituted as Guild Boss? I vould appreciate it if you zhould respect my judgment," Yeager finished. Orman and Seger looked sheepish.

"...Sorry," Orman finally said.

"Me, too," Seger chipped in. Yeager shook his head, and both henchmen shuddered as a Baitojoh-like grin spread over their boss's countenance.

"Zhat's quite alright," Yeager said amicably, still grinning. "I vill take into account your lack of trust in myzelf vhen you are asking for a pay raise."

(He wasn't kidding.)

The next day the trio of guildmembers were roused from their sleep by shrieks from the little girls, who, upon waking up, discovered that a rather large bug had crawled into the sleeping bag with them during the night. The poor bug, startled as well, managed to sting Droite on her arm before running away.

"Shh shh," Yeager crooned, holding her tight in his lap while Seger looked over the wound. "Seger is a very good healer. He'll have you right az rain in no time at all." Droite was crying painfully and neither man blamed her. Bug stings were like needles driving themselves repeatedly into an arm that was already on fire. Seger whispered a Dispel, and then a First Aid, and the wound closed up.

"Zee?" Yeager perkily said, squeezing her shoulder. "All better." Droite had stopped crying, and was looking at the now-vanished wound in wonderment.

"Feeling better, sweetie?" Seger asked gently, kneeling at her level. He was surprised to when she reached her smaller arms around his neck in a child's embrace.

"Thank you for healing me," she said, sniffling a little. Seger hesitated only a moment, then returned the hug with a smile.

"...Not a problem, sweetheart." Droite let go, smiling back at him, and Seger stood up. Yeager was watching him with a smug grin.

Seger sighed. "What?"

"Nothing," the guildleader replied.

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The home base of Leviathan's Claw was an old noble's mansion in northwestern Tolbyccia. The noble had not been the noblest of men, however, and in time, the house had come to be called "The Manor of the Wicked", a harbor of sin and deceit where morality went to die. As Dahngrest had grown larger, however, the mansion had been abandoned.

Yeager was not particularly fond of the name; the title lacked the professional flavor he preferred to associate with his guild...however, the name had been in place for so long before his tenure as director that was near-pointless to change it.

Droite was thrilled with the Manor and surrounding forest, rushing about in excitement, while Gauche again turned shy and stuck close to Yeager's side.

"This is great, Gauche! There's even stables out back! Are we going to learn how to ride horses?!"

"Indeed," Yeager chuckled, one arm still around Gauche's shoulders. In truth, he didn't really blame her for her shyness. Without the many sentries outside, the home - with its bent iron fences and large, heavy chains zigzagging across the western wall, not to mention the name - was a setting very ripe for rumors of ghosts and hauntings. (Not to mention all of the changes the girls had experienced over the last few days. Even though they had welcomed these changes, it had to be disconcerting.)

Yeager turned to Gauche, who was still glued to his side, and gave her a squeeze. "Shall ve see ze rest of ze house, Gauche?" he asked gently. "I'm zure you vill find it quite acceptable."

And she did. The inside of the home gave off a very different impression than its outer walls. Cozy and elegant, with carpeting on the floors and many, many rooms, the overall decor was just what one would expect of such a manor.

There was a parlor up front, right next to the stairs, and The dining room was upstairs and right next to Yeager's bedroom (one of the larger rooms, the furthermost upstairs one with the big bay window overlooking the yard on the right), with any number of smaller rooms in-between. Most of rooms, Yeager said, were for storage. He showed them the main armory (he wasn't kidding when he said they had tons of weapons, including many hybrids and combinations of three and four!).

"Your house is really cool!"

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The first night at the manner had Yeager reaching some very enlightening conclusions. He had not planned on bringing anyone beside Orman and Seger back with him, and they did not count. The Manor had many rooms, but only a handful of them were used as living quarters as the majority of guildsman were off on sales trips; most of the rooms were used for storage. He wasn't about to just shove the girls in some room. Though his men were all very loyal to the guild itself, he would be an idiot to trust just anyone around his daughters. He himself had worked for and employed some very...interesting characters.

"Ve'll vorry about putting together more zolid sleeping arrangements in the next few days," he
finally said. "Tonight you vill sleep in my room; ve have ze trundles ve can use."

The next few days were devoted to getting settled. The two biggest rooms of the Manor were Yeager's room and the one directly below it, but he didn't want the girls to be a whole floor away - especially when they were so new and so young. At last, it was decided that the girls would occupy a smaller room on the upper floor, just two doors away from their father, and when they were old enough (and skilled in the art of battle), they would redecorate the larger room to suit their tastes.

"Ve'll pick out furnishings and décor ze next time we go into Dahngrest," Yeager told them. "I have to go in next veek for a meeting, and you zhall accompany me."

"Really?" Droite's grin was even wider than usual, but Gauche had a small smile, too.

"Of course," Yeager smiled back, "you didn't zink I vould just leave you here, did you? And you must become acquainted wis guild life - vhat better way zhan to see ze headquarters?"

"Yay! We're going on a field trip!"

Yeager chuckled. "Vell, "business trip" vould be more accurate, but ve can certainly make a 'field trip' out of it, as vell."

"Alright! Next week, here we come!"

Yeager only chuckled again. Certainly, things would be very different from here on out (and potentially dangerous, he reflected, thinking of Alexei), but, looking at the smiles on his new daughters' faces, he knew he could never regret his decision.

He was startled from that train of thought by the feeling of two small sets of arms going around his waist.

"Thank you for adopting us," Gauche was saying, burying her face in his side. She sniffed as she said, "Thank you for bringing us home."

"We know . . . we know we were really pushy, and we're sorry, but . . . thank you." She sniffed too, and Yeager smiled warmly, wrapping an arm around each girl in return.

Nope, not one ounce of regret.

I would like to personally thank my reviewer HikariMinari for giving me the motivation I needed to finally post this chapter, which has sat near-finished on my computer for months.

Apologies for the utter plebian tone to this chapter and the lack of exciting things happening ^^;; The next chapter will be Dahngrest (which will be kind of similar to this one, just filling in holes and stuff ^^;;), and then after that, we'll start getting "snapshots", things like Caress of Death, the blastia heart and the Ruby and Emerald swords.

Again, my utmost apologies for the inhumanly long wait. I went nearly non-stop school/work for all but eleven days since I last posted (yes, I've been in college ALL YEAR long, even summer time). This is the first time I have ever been in school for that long at a time, and I've been really burned out. I'm really going to try harder, but I can't promise that this or any other story I have will be posted with much regularity. I'll try and most at least one every month, depending on the content and difficulty of the chapter (Zaude, for instance, being an extremely emotional scene for these characters, may take longer to write).

For those of you still following this story, thank you for your ever-forgiving nature :)

-MoonlightTyger

NOTES:

- Obviously, I'm writing Yeager as he is in the North American version, as a German. However, as a homage to the original American characterization, I'm including a few "American" traits: he prefers coffee over tea, and he has a few different peoples in his lineage (namely French, Russian, and American, since I am writing him as a German). And he likes cheese :)

- Seger = "sea fighter"; Orman = "sea man; spear man". Yes, there will be a pattern here =3