Because obviously I am a little shit for not updating and worse for doing this chapter to you.

I will still do it obviously

I don't own Pokémon sadly enough

Chapter 24.5: The man and his daughter

Arden smiled to himself, glad with May's snickering about his story. Ever since they had entered the woods, May had been silent and Arden suspected both the oppressing aura of this place and Drew's death laid heavily on her. There was something unnatural about her silence so Arden tried his best to distract her.

He was glad his story had worked. Even so, the story about the swindle was a bit more complicated than he had told May. There was no need for her to know all of it however.

Still, his mind remembered as if it was yesterday and he hadn't been a rebellious youth

Arden felt his knee give out under him and with an unceremonious splash he fell in the muddy puddles, rain falling down on him. He cursed softly under his breath but he couldn't find the strength to actually get up again.

There was something pretty annoying about that.

Still he wasn't surprised. His mother had always told him he was a hothead and it had been stupid drawing those rowdy guys in that bar into a fight. Standing as it was, he had little more experience with fights than the occasional brawl between the village boys and he had no experience whatsoever with a sword.

It had cost him a serious ass-wiping.

He had been pretty annoyed with the group but this truly hadn't been one of his better plans. He scowled: why had he left home again?

But the answer to that almost came directly: because to a guy like him the world should have more than just plowing the fields and herding the animals. To be honest: he hadn't had find much of that 'more' as of yet. "Look how bloody well that packed out for me," he muttered coarsely and scowled when some the dirt he was lying in entered his mouth.

"Sir? Are you a'right?" he heard suddenly through the heavy downpour and hen he glanced up he saw a girl, maybe a year or two younger than he was and a bear of man standing over him.

"That was pretty pathetic, lad," the man grumbled, crossing his arms.

Arden huffed, "Yeah, whatever," he muttered.

The girl looked at him worriedly but the man grabbed his upper arm in a tight grip: "Come on, lad. Let's get you cleaned up!" And despite Arden yelling to let go and putting in effort to get loose, the man dragged him off, the girl; happily following them.

()()()()()()()()()

And that was how Arden found himself sitting at a roughly cleaned kitchen table. He looked around nervously. The small house wasn't actually more than a small hut at the outskirts of town and neither the man or the girl had given him any information on whom they were or anything.

The hut had a ladder up to a small attic which wasn't more than a few planks in the top of the roof and the small room had all necessary things for living.

"So," the man finally spoke, putting a cup of unidentified liquid before them. "You mind telling me why a brat wet behind his ears was trying to beat a group of men twice his size?" The girl had made herself sparse so Arden had no choice but to focus on the man and felt himself really small. Not that he was tall to begin with.

"I don't owe you anything," he muttered.

The man raised a brow: "No? I am still deciding on what to do with you. Your answer will decide on that."

Arden scowled; the man had him there. He stayed silent for a moment longer then: "They annoyed me."

The man roared with laughter in his leather tunic: "They annoyed you? And you decided that the best thing to do was to engage them in combat? What a ridiculous reason."

Arden felt the blush rise on his cheeks but he couldn't argue back: it had been stupid. Instead he looked around the dreary hut. "Who are you guys?" he asked.

The man stopped laughing, his face serious again. "My name is Cadoc and my daughter just now is called Mairwen. You clearly needed treatment so we took you home," he told the youngster.

Arden couldn't help himself: "Home? You mean you live here?!" he asked disbelieving.

"You respectless brat…" Cadoc roared, slamming his hands on the table.

Arden backed away: "Sorry! I didn't mean anything with it!" he sputtered quickly.

The huge man sighed and massaged his temple, "I know it isn't much but times are rather tough for us." There were frowns in his face that expressed nothing but worry and frankly, Arden was too afraid to continue asking. It seemed like a sensitive subject.

"Lad?" Cadoc asked, "What do you say if I taught you to fight?"

Arden looked at him in horror: the exact reason he left home was because he had wanted to be free. No such thing as studying for him. Cadoc rumbled at him from over his cup, having picked it up again. "It's that or getting your ass whooped to eternity because frankly, you suck balls."

Now if that didn't hurt Arden in his pride, there was nothing else that did. "What is in it for you?" he asked rather distrustful. There was no stranger that would offer his services to readily to a stranger like him.

Cadoc scratched his chin, "I wonder indeed," he said passively. "A change of pace, perhaps? A chance to pick up my sword again?" He pointed to a sword in the corner that Arden had missed: he really had to pick up these things earlier. It looked well-cared for if only a bit old.

"So you want to teach me sword-play?" Arden asked. It was a chance, learning could be useful.

Cadoc laughed, "Of course not. Fighting is not just sword-play. You have to be able to fight bare-handed too and at least be able to do some archery."

Arden swallowed: Archery? That sounded like an awful lot. He sighed, it didn't look he was getting out of it that easily. "Where am I going to stay? I can't really repay you either," he said.

Cadoc smiled, "I hadn't really expected a punk like you to be able to. But you are a fool if you think you are staying here for free. I am going to work you to the bone. You can stay at the hay attic."

Well, Arden wasn't unreasonable and it sounded like a decent proposal. He smirked at the bear of a man: "Bring it."

Cadoc laughed again, "Don't regret those words."

()()()()()()()

True to his word, Cadoc did work Arden to the bone. He was apparently some odd job-taker and Arden quickly learned that the people in the village trusted him to get the jobs they couldn't do, done, be it to get the huge branch that had fallen through the roof removed or to get a small child's leg splinted. In all these jobs Arden was supposed to help: climbing on the rood to pull the little branches loose or to keep the kid steady.

In the spare moments they had off, Cadoc had started learning him self-defense. "I can't fight anyone with this," Arden grumbled at one dreary morning ducking away for the rough hand coming his way.

When they had started, he hadn't done so, resulting in painful acquaintance with the ground. Cadoc huffed, "Only a fool learns only to attack. The basis of every fight is learning you to defend yourself." He struck out again and Arden dove away.

"But I can't defeat anyone like that!" he protested. He side-stepped for an incoming fist and then air was forced out of him by a boot to his side. He gasped for breath.

Cadoc snickered, "As it is of now, you have no way of defending yourself against someone bigger than you and as a frail brat like you, that isn't so hard. Let alone defeating them." Arden desperately wanted to protest against that: no matter how much he trained, all the muscles he wanted to gain were lean. Cadoc laughed, noticing this insecurity: "Don't worry, lad, once you stop going upwards you'll gain some bulk."

He chuckled to himself again, "Go on, Mairwen asked for your help."

Arden nodded and headed up to the attic. At first he had thought sleeping there in the hay was Cadoc's way of singling him out but Mairwen, the blonde daughter, slept there too. This had thrown him off at first: boys and girls their age were supposed to sleep separated by all means.

He learned however that there really weren't any rooms in the hut to spare. The second reason was that apparently Cadoc inexplicably trusted him.

"It's in your eyes," Mairwen had told him once he got himself to asking the sweet girl. She had unlimited patience and a kindness that was unbelievingly big and Arden was most of the time unsure on how to act around her. By all means she looked as if grass would hurt her.

But she often asked for his help, if only to give him a break, which she never said with so many words.

"Father is weak against honest eyes. Your eyes, as defiant as they were back then, were nothing but clear." Arden didn't know whether this was good or bad exactly so he was lost on what to say to her. Instead he silently helped her mending clothes, cook, or whatever they did it in those silent hours.

Secretly he believed Cadoc too gave him this time off as a reprieve but the girl was good if silent company and he wasn't getting kicked around so he didn't complain.

It must have been around one mooncycle and at the day Cadoc decided he was ready for learning to fight with a sword: they had covered hand on hand combat, when trouble came for them. And Arden learned for the first time something on why the situation of father and daughter was so poor.

Arden had just managed to shield himself from a heavy strike that would buckle anyone's knees when he heard hooves. Cadoc cursed under his breath and immediately lowered his sword and a sharp look told Arden to do the same.

"Goodman Cadoc," a salved authorial voice said.

"Sir Magistrate, what can I do for you?" Cadoc said but Arden heard the dislike in his voice and he turned towards the newly arrived group:

Five people. The four flanking the man in the middle were not interesting: just men with heavy protecting gear, just short of armor: not soldiers of the crown apparently. The man in the middle was more interesting. He was a middle-aged man who was bordering on the heavy side. He had a heavy purple cape donned but under than Arden could see red clothing stitched with gold thread.

This put Arden on the weary side, the man was dressed like a king but they were nowhere near the capital so there was something fishy about this.

"You ask me what you can do for me?" the man, a magistrate according to how Cadoc had addressed him, said. "How about actually paying all of your taxes for once?"

Cadoc growled softly and rubbed his temple in annoyance. "I am afraid you must be mistaken then. I paid the appropriate amount at the tax-office the other week."

The magistrate smiled oily, "I must point out an error in this. You paid the amount of 5 gold coins. People originated from the capital pay 15!" Now Arden was sure that this man was being unfair. He may be young but there was no such thing as capital-tax! People paid according to their social status.

Cadoc was an underclass craftsman at most. 5 Gold coins should have been enough. He had heard his parents bemoan taxes enough to have an idea on amount.

"Well then, now that you know, please come pay the appropriate amount before the week is over. If not, the consequences will be.." he glanced at the house where Arden knew was the pretty golden-haired daughter of his master and he felt himself tighten up at this. "…severe".

And at this the magistrate turned his horse and left with his lackeys. It was only when they were well out of earshot that Cadoc cursed violently and there his sword on the ground: "That dog!" he muttered eventually. Arden was almost afraid to ask but he needed to know what was going on.

"Does that happen more?" he asked.

Cadoc looked quite frustrated with himself when he answered. "Yes. Because I am not from these areas he is particularly harsh on us."

Arden frowned, "You are from the capital then?" he asked.

Cadoc looked at him hard and long, "Yes," he said simply. Arden didn't think he was going to get more out of the man, especially when he went to pick up his sword.

But Arden wasn't content with how things were: he was definitely going to change than before he left.

()()()()()()()()()

In the end, Cadoc did pay the extra amount and when the week following that they barely ate more than a watery broth knew that the problem with the magistrate was the core of their problems.

For now Arden stayed silent and worked extra hard on Cadoc's lesson. If the man noticed he didn't say anything. They continued working on hand-on-hand combat and sword fighting but Cadoc had also added archery to that. Arden still had no idea on where and how Cadoc had learned all this but he did know that a better education than this he wasn't going to get.

During this all he was thinking of a plan to get back at the magistrate. He wasn't going to get as bulky as Cadoc, even if he was finally putting on some muscle which he was secretly glad about, so storming the office was out of the question.

It was a good thing Arden was not stupid, even if he tended to be a bit hot-headed at times. And when the tax-collector came next month too, Arden hid his face. He was going to need every bit of luck he was going to get, and anonymity worked even better.

The month after that the magistrate came collecting 10 extra gold coins and Arden knew his mentor and Mairwen were going to need the money judging by the cold that was coming. So at one morning he excused himself to Cadoc for not being able to help with the chores that morning.

Arden saw the man raise his because Arden hadn't skipped jobs before but said nothing. Arden wasn't sure on what Cadoc thought the seventeen year old was up to but he did know the man was not going to approve so the silence helped a lot.

He cheerfully greeted the people in the village all while calming his nerves on the way to the tax-office. He knew what he was doing was illegal: he could be thrown into jail for this stunt and not see daylight for the first few years.

But he owed it to Cadoc and Mairwen. The two had taught him how to survive on his own. He could now stand his ground in combat and he knew also how to hone these skills.

The tax-office wasn't particularly hard to find: it was at the village square and the coins on the plaque outside told all one needed to know. Arden took a deep breath, straightened his clothes and stepped inside.

It was quiet, only a clerk was scribbling away at the counter. "Excuse me, I want to see the Magistrate," he asked, hoping his voice didn't shake. He had to let out an air of arrogance, but while Arden knew he was prideful, he was a long shot from arrogant. But he needed the air of a young rich kid so he did his best,

The clerk looked up slowly. "The magistrate has no time for small-town brats like you," he said slowly.

Arden scoffed, "Then you misunderstood me, I demand to see the magistrate." The man stared long and hard at him and Arden was feeling sweat gather at the back of his neck. Eventually the clerk decided it was not worth the effort and he stood up.

"I'll announce you to him," and went to the back. Arden would never know how he was announced but the man did a good job of it apparently for the man signed for him to continue to an office the Magistrate was already waiting in.

He was scribbling while counting small stacks of golden coins, a content grin on his face.

Arden swallowed his nervousness and tried to get words through his throat. "I know what you are doing," he said trying to get his arrogant bravado back.

The magistrate looked up slowly, his grin stretching. "Everyone does, so?" he replied. Arden had hoped the man would at least be a bit nervous but as it would seem, the man had no trouble with people confronting him.

"Don't put me away with the rest of the townsfolk," he answered instead and the man's grin slid off his face.

"Now you hear you little brat. Don't go poking your nose where it shouldn't be." Arden almost laughed: now he was getting somewhere. All he had to do was to let the magistrate believe he wasn't an ordinary country-bumpkin, even if he was one.

"Oh, I don't know. I think my father would find this interesting back in the capital." Well, now he was plainly lying: as far as he knew his father would be raking the fields and getting annoyed at the usual cramp in his back. "He might have sent me here: character shaping he called it, but turning in some official crook will give him some good points higher up."

Ah, now that was something good, Arden thought. Apparently the man was rather scared of people, and especially king's men, finding out about his business. The magistrate was shaking, eyes flitting nervously and he wrung his hands. "I could just kill you right here. No one none the wiser," the magistrate argued.

"You really want to risk that? My dad losing his heir will beg some difficult questions to be answered and the people here aren't very likely to vouch for you."

The man stood up and grabbed a red velvet pouch and shoved it full, his hand hurriedly grabbing gold coins from a chest behind him. Then when it was full he held it out to Arden. "I am sure I can convince you to stay silent.

Arden grinned and grabbed the pouch, making sure the man didn't notice his sweaty palms. It would uncover his lie immediately. He weighed the pouch: this was a whole year's earning of a man who did a lot better than the common farmer. "Glad to do business with you" he said and walked out.

He didn't pay any mind to the clerk and went from the office as soon as possible. Speed was essential and went to Cadoc's hut directly.

The broad-shouldered man was chopping wood and Arden stared a little at his heavy swings: even if he did build a little, he'd never be able to swing the big axe so high and so easily. For a moment he was scared that Cadoc would swing it at him when he found out what he had done but there was nothing to be done about it; he had already put his and their lives at risk.

Mairwen came out of the hut and told her father something because he set his axe down and leaned on it.

Oh god, Arden hoped they would not be angry at him: they had taken him in so graciously. Mairwen had seen him and waved him over: Arden grimaced, time to pay the piper. Cadoc raised a brown at him and glanced at the velvet pouch. It had been so big that Arden hadn't been able to put it away in his pockets.

"Where have you been lad? And what have you been doing?"

Arden winced under his scrutinizing eye: Cadoc was too intuitive to lie against. "Can we talk inside? I am not really comfortable discussing this outside," he said hurriedly and damn if he wasn't more nervous than at the tax office.

Father and daughter exchanged looks. "Very well, lad, lead the way".

()()()())()()()()

"So, if I understand correctly," Cadoc said slowly, staring at the pouch full of coins on the table. "You went to the magistrate office and lied about being a rich man's son back at the capital. He paid you this…." He waved at the glimmering coins. "…to keep you silent."

Arden nodded, not raising his eyes from the table top he had told his story to. He had been too afraid to raise his eyes and see the disappointment in his teacher's own.

"You foolish lad," Cadoc finally said after a beat of silence. "He could have very well done you in: seen through your lie."

Arden looked up shocked and didn't see the expected disappointment. Only a fierce pride. "Wait, so you aren't angry that I've basically doomed you to leaving but you are that I've put my life at risk?"

Cadoc waved a hand around, "To be honest lad, I would've left once we had enough money. This isn't enough to keep us here. But you do realize that one he had thought it through and done some asking, the magistrate will see your lie and chase you?" Cadoc's voice wasn't unkind but there was a serious note in it.

Arden nodded slowly. "Yeah, that's why I'll leave this money…" he looked pointedly at the coins, " ..with you and I'll go join the army's recruits. He won't be able to find me there and I'll be safe enough. "

Cadoc sat back. "Are you sure kid? The army is no breeze and this is a lot of coin."

Arden smirked, "I'd suspect that you trained me enough to be ready for that. And besides," he shrugged, "That money isn't mine to begin with.

Cadoc looked at Mairwen who bit her lip but nodded. Cadoc too nodded, "Well then, let's get our stuff and be quick about it."

In the end, it did not take a lot of time. Arden barely owned more than the clothes on his back when he came to live with them and all Mairwen took was clothes, some food and her late mother's jewelry, which wasn't a lot to begin with.

Cadoc too only wanted to take his sword as it had value and the axe he owned; in a knapsack he took some other working tools and that was it but for some clothing. With all of them ready they left the hut.

Arden was prepared to go but Cadoc turned at the last moment and crouched at the base of the hut. He was just going to ask what the man was doing when a small light sparked and caught on the dry wood.

It took no time before the hut was lit up in flames, the orange tongues embracing the building like a lost lover. "Now tracing will be harder," Cadoc muttered and went on his way. Arden stood for a moment silent beside Mairwen in whom eyes danced the flames fiercely.

"Do you regret leaving it behind?" he asked finally.

Mairwen smiled at him, "I have father," she said before away as well. Arden looked at the fire a little more, very aware that she had not answered his question and then he followed the two.

The sky was getting dark and it wouldn't be long before rain would fall and Arden did dread having to travel in the weather. But he trudged after father and daughter. Until there was a fork in the road they did not speak and Cadoc reached into his tunic where he had put the pouch.

"Here we say goodbye," the man muttered. He looked at the left road, "That's the way to the capital. Travel swift and don't delay." He reached into the pouch and grabbed 5 gold coins. "This should get you through the journey," he said before pressing it into Arden's hand.

Arden did not know how to reply at the sudden goodbye; he didn't know how he could thank the bear of a man for the effort of teaching him. Cadoc shared the feeling apparently. "Be safe lad. The army could use a man like you." Arden felt his throat choke up when Cadoc hugged him fiercely and then abruptly turned away.

Then Mairwen hugged him as well, soft where her father had been strong, her head under his chin. "Don't let father bother you: he is bad with goodbyes."

Arden nodded, pressing his eyes closed and squeezing a little. He couldn't find words to speak. But she understood and squeezed back. "Goodbye Arden. May the road be kind to you." And then she released him and went to her father. She waved a little at him and then turned away from him.

Arden took a deep breath and went down the other road, the one to the capital and the one not taken by Cadoc and Mairwen. And then he realized something.

"Cadoc!" he ran back. "Who are you anyway?!"

But even on the other road the two had already vanished. He sighed and mentally wished them good luck. Then he set way to join the army.

Arden smiled at the memory.

In all those years, must be around ten or something, he had never seen them again: he also hadn't found about who Cadoc was and every now and then he wondered what had become of the father and the daughter.

He glanced at his own sword at his side. Cadoc's lessons had pulled him through the army easily.

Even if he never saw them again, Cadoc and Mairwen would live on in his memory. Then he shook also their story off him: he had a princess to protect.

Because obviously I really am dislikable by writing this at a crucial point in the story. I still like it. And now, exams.

Review? You know, since I am not dead yet?