Old man Tarlech had little to say to Garek when he picked him up. And less on the trip back to the fishing village of Northmar.
That was new. Usually he grumbled at least a little. He learned why when he hopped out at the village docks, Tarlech behind him.
"Won't be taking you back, lad."
"Oh?"
"Nie. Others have been pushing me. Saying I'm invitin' back luck on the village. Not sure as I disagree." He peered back toward where the island was, past the waves, then back at Garek. "You don't look worse for wear, but there's aught odd about you, lad. Sure, you haven't been bewitched?"
Garek laughed. "Eh. Not really. But I understand."
"Doubt you'll find others willing."
"Doubt I'll try." He clapped the old man on the shoulder, and passed him another 200 lien. "For putting up with a Huntsman ferry this past year. And if you ever have need, send word via the Mistral Huntsmen. I'll come."
Tarlech shook his head, muttering, but he also took the money.
It was several days ride to he nearest sizeable town with a CCT relay signal. He spent the daytime keeping an eye out for bandits and Grimm. Night times he set triplines to awaken him, and camped.
Over the years, he'd learned to sleep light and listen for the sound of his horse Twoflower nickering if it sensed something.
It had saved his life more than once.
Would be nice to have a Blackfeather, though, even if the bastard did look like it wanted to eat him half the time.
Frankly he was starting to regret the solo career, now that he had a partner. A real partner even if they weren't a Huntsman. And he was internalizing how stupid it was having no one to watch your back now that he had someone who would be devastated if he died. Maybe I just didn't care that much, he mused. Maybe losing Toller still hurt, after all these years, more than I thought it did.
The third day out, he heard a soft ping from his pouch, and he pause to pull out his Scroll. A handful of messages. One from his parents checking in on him. He sighed. He'd not visited them in many months with the distractions. And now he had work to do, and then back to the coast by the end of the month. He didn't really have time to make it all the way to Mistral and back.
Of course, he could call at least. I'll wait until I'm at the next town. Better signal.
Twoflower stabled, room rented and belly full of food he hadn't needed to cook himself, Garek sighed and flipped on his Scroll, punched the contact before he could procrastinate further.
An attractive faunus in her forties, telltale ears twitching, answered on the fourth ring.
"Garek Grae!" she scowled. "About time you remembered your parents are still alive!"
Sigh. "Hi ma. How's dad?"
"Don't you hi ma me, young man. And your father is a big fat baby." Garek heard a cry of 'am not', apparently from another room. She leaned in, "pulled his back dragging home a deer last week. Told him to take a horse with him." She raised her voice again, a twinkle in her eye. "Your old man is an old man, Garek." 'Dammit Grace!' the voice yelled from off camera.
Garek laughed. "Good to year you ma. And I hope he's actually resting."
"He will, if I have to…" her voice rose "tie his gods be damned legs to the bed!"
He took a minute to just look at his mom. She had a bit of gray in her sandy hair, not that he was stupid enough to say so. And a few laugh lines. And of course the scar across the left cheek. A Grimm Kiss, she called it. It was one of the things that convinced her to retire. Well semi-retire. A retired Huntsman was still available for their home village in times of need.
The only true retirement for Huntsmen was disability or death.
The thought gave him a shiver.
"Son," she continued more quietly, "everything okay? Where you calling from?"
"Ah ma, everything's…" well what? He searched for the words. "Complicated but good I guess. I'm in a small town in northern Vale."
"Coming home any time soon?"
"Not quite yet. But I hope to, say in a couple months?" She gave him a look. "Seriously, I will. I promise."
"It's been over a year, Garek."
"I know. I just. Complicated."
"I worry about you. Your dad too, but me especially. I don't like the direction you've been going, son." There. She'd said it. "Don't tell me it's nothing. I've been… I've been dreading getting a call that you disappeared, out there, working alone. It's not safe, son."
And this is why he'd been avoiding it. But also why he felt like he could now. He chewed on his lip. "Yeah. You're right." That got a surprised response. "I've been in a bad place. But things are better, in a way. I've found a… partner I can travel with."
Grace tilted her head. "Partner… Huntsman?"
"Not exactly? She's unlocked her aura, and she's not defenseless, but she's not exactly trained either." He shrugged. "We're working on it."
"She…"
"Ma…"
"Don't you start with me. I want grandchildren some day." The look on his face must have been eloquent. Not because he was opposed to the idea, but of how complicated that concept was under current circumstance. "Fine." She huffed. "I won't pry. But seriously, is this… a relationship? Or just a partnership?"
"The first one. I'm… I'm hoping to bring her by to see you."
"Oh. My. Gods."
"Ma…" he said as she muted the call for a few seconds. But he could see her yelling to his dad in the other room before she turned back, eyes full of joy. "Gods." He started to say it wasn't that serious yet. But realized that was a lie. It was that serious. It was also. What was that word again? Complicated as all hell. "Yes. Yes ma, it's like that. Her name is Selene. And we'll hopefully, if the stars align, be travelling from Vale to Mistral in the next couple of months." Assuming Selene isn't locked in a tower… in which case all bets are off.
"I am so happy!" She sobered slightly. "You'll be careful, son? With her not being fully trained…"
"I promise. And she's surprisingly capable of handling herself." Amazingly so. "I don't think Grimm will be a problem at least." Hah!
"Okay… okay…EEEEeeeeeEEE!" He held the Scroll at arms-length to try and save his eardrums.
The rest of the call lasted a half hour, catching up on a few other family and village news items.
After he hung up, he felt… better. Better than he had in years after talking to his parents. I really have been spiraling, haven't I?
Alright, now that I've got a CCT connection, time to do some research.
He pulled up a net search page. "Let's start with an easy one." He entered the search terms. Tyrian Faunus Scorpion.
Whoah.
Pages of news reports. Law enforcement announcements across Atlas, Mistral, and Menagerie. "Oh dear, you have been a bad boy." He continued reading and his gut twisted. Theft. Assault. Kidnapping. Murder. Torture. This man was a terror group all by himself. Captured by a joint mission of all three, and then broken out during transport to Atlas for trial. Deemed highly skilled, deadly, and nearly insane.
And now he's working for my lover's mother… He shook his head. No we aren't going to think like that. He's working for Queen Salem as her agent. And apparently thinks she's his goddess. Great.
He sighed. I'm not even going to try Hazel. Common name. Human. No significant features other than big fucking guy.
Alright what was the other one? He tried Doctor Watts. Several dozen entries came up. All of them medical. That's not right. He tried Doctor Watts Technology. Nothing better, and the few who seemed likely didn't match the description at all.
Fine. Let's just add these to my notes and see if I missed something that would help. He opened his Scroll.
Annndd the notes file he'd already started was corrupted. Just great. Well not too bad, he didn't have much and he could remember it, and he'd be meeting Selene in a few weeks anyway.
Fine. I'll just retype it, and add in what I just learned.
He spent a little more time afterward looking for local work, just to keep his head in the game. Nothing too dangerous. And he didn't want to go too much further south. That would just mean a longer trip back in a few weeks.
He passed out with his Scroll on his chest.
Around midnight, a small error message sounded, but it wasn't enough to wake him.
The next morning, Garek had a nice breakfast and asked if there was any local work not listed on the nets. A few patrols and escorts were available. One was a two-day round trip back to the same town, which was convenient. Easy work. Grimm sightings in the area were few, and bandit activity was low. It paid enough to cover his room and board, which was all he really needed at the moment.
He let his mind wander on what he did know. He'd gained a wealth of information on Tyrian, and mulled it over as his eyes and ears scanned the landscape during the trip there and back. It wasn't until he returned the second day that he thought to add some more details.
File Corrupted.
Garek scowled at his Scroll. He'd had it for a couple years. Things happened. Files got corrupted once in a while. Or didn't sync. He was used to that.
But recent events had made him a bit paranoid. But surely, not that paranoid, right?
Looking at his Scroll like you would a suddenly suspicious stew, he considered, and then typed three notes in succession.
The first was more or less a stripped down version of the original, as best he could recreate it. Information on a Doctor Watts and Tyrian Callows and a Hazel.
The second included just information about a Doctor Watts possible Technologist.
The third just regarding Tyrian Callows.
And he glared at it, daring it to do something.
An hour later, he felt like an idiot, and went to get a drink at the local tavern, bringing it with him.
Two hours later, he was feeling a little better. He had some extra lien in his pocket, despite buying a round for a couple other Huntsmen who were passing through, and was idly listening to the locals spin tales about old times, complain about the weather, and generally enjoying minimal civilization more than he had in years.
He picked up his drink, glanced at his Scroll, and froze.
Sync error. File corrupted.
One file out of the three.
The one that mentioned Callows and Watts together.
Good feelings gone.
Garek Grae mashed the power button on his Scroll so hard he worried he might crack it, and ordered three more beers.
The next morning, he didn't turn on his Scroll. Instead he went to the local shops, and purchased a notebook and an assortment of pens and pencils.
Just because you are paranoid…
Except this was, what had Salem called it? A war he was trying to dip his toes into?
Easy Garek. Deep breaths. Think. What have I seen? The file with Watts name isn't gone. The one with Callows isn't gone. Same content. Put them together, though, and gone like clock-
Like clockwork. What time had it been at the bar?
First time, he hadn't noticed, but he'd made the notes when he was offline, and then it synced when he connected. Scrolls did that, so if you lost yours, and bought a new one, the old data was still there. Automatic backups.
The second time… he'd fallen asleep. He looked at the error message. Midnight.
And last night.
Midnight again.
He rubbed his jaw, ears flicking anxiously. "So… maybe it's some sort of automated thing. I mean, surely there's not some team of bad guys out there, monitoring every scroll in existence in real time and zapping files to dust if they mention certain things together."
At least, not the first couple of times. Right?
But what if I kept doing it. What if… that did get someone's attention?
Garek wasn't a Scroll expert. He didn't understand how the CCT worked, just that it worked. It had main towers, and repeaters in many larger towns and all the major cities. You could even spend a ton of lien and get a portable repeater, but the were too heavy and expensive for a Huntsman to use. But he didn't know how the… what did you call it? Files? Or whatever ran them, worked. That was technology beyond his…
Technology.
Technologist.
Doctor Watts
Fuck.
The Scroll stayed off.
Garek spent the next day at a public terminal, looking like a hunted man. He kept glancing around. He'd left his Scroll in his room, too. He started noticing when there were security cameras. He was being stupid. He knew it.
Except… what if…
He didn't search for Doctor Watts, or Tyrian Callows. He was reading up on the CCT. And Scrolls. And, he now understood. Programming. Data Synchronization. He was learning a lot of new words. Or new applications for old words.
For example… script.
And virus.
The last one actually made him feel a little better, believe it or not. It was his fourth day at the terminal and some of the locals were starting to worry about him, when he started giggling. "I need a drink," he muttered as he staggered to the local tavern, stopping by only to grab his Scroll. He downed two over the next thirty minutes before angrily castigating himself. "It's a virus, dumbass. Or a script. Something like that. It's not personal. He's not watching you." He. Watts. He was sure of it. "But that doesn't mean he won't be." He stabbed the power button angrily and glared at it as it booted up.
No new error messages. He began to breathe again.
Fifteen new messages. That's… not normal. He tensed. From… mom?
Fifteen including text, voice recordings, and video recordings.
The text ones gradually escalated, he could see, starting with.
Garek something very strange just happened and I need you to call us immediately. Everything is okay… well everyone is okay, but call us okay?
A later one said:
Son, I'm really getting worried that you aren't answering, and if I don't hear back from you in an hour, I'm going to open this myself!"
And finally:
Garek Grae, your GIRLFRIEND dropped a rock through our roof with a note attached and if you DO NOT call us, I swear to all the gods I am going to hire a Huntsman to track you down!
"Dammit Selene", Garek sighed, then panicked as he realized it could be bad news. Or any news. ANY NEWS THAT HIS MOTHER HAD OPENED AND READ!
He bolted for his room, dialing on the way.
"OH THANK GODS YOU ARE OKAY!"
"I'm okay ma! I'm okay! I just… I had to turn my Scroll off for… reasons for a few days. Please tell me Selene is okay?!"
His mother went from relieved to glaring. "Oh. It's like that is it?"
"Ma, this is serious!"
"And when I left you message after message-"
He facepalmed. "I'm sorry. I should have told you I would be offline. I didn't expect-"
"A rock to come flying out of the sky, tearing a hole in our roof and living room ceiling, with an envelope in an envelope addressed to…" she waved it in front of the camera "The Parents of Garek Grae?" Why on earth wouldn't you have expected that, dear?"
He groaned. "Is… everyone okay?"
She clicked her tongue. "Surprisingly. It broke your father's footrest and I had to help him to the bathroom after to clean up. We've got the neighbors finishing up the roof repair now. They owed us favor or three. And your… fiancé," he winced, "says she is more than fine." Would you like me to scan the letter and send it to you or-"
"NO!"
Her face paled. "Gods son. That… that wasn't necessary. I just thought…" Her eyes narrowed. "What's going on, Garek? Some of the things your… Selene… said didn't make any sense to me, but really it wasn't anything that struck me as all that dramatic."
Garek closed his eyes. His hands were shaking and probably the camera too. Relax. Relax. She's a smart girl. She wouldn't risk something accidentally falling into the wrong hands. It's probably fine. Just take some breaths. His ears were ringing but he vaguely heard his mom trying to get his attention.
"Garek?"
"Sorry ma. I overreacted. Theres some… things going on with her family and I'm a little paranoid because of it." He could tell from her reaction she wasn't totally buying it. But technically it was true. "Can you humor me?"
"Fine. So do you want to know what it was, then? You want me to send you a picture?"
Was that safe? What about voice recognition? Am I losing my mind? He sighed again. "You read the letter already?"
She looked apologetic. "I did. After the third day. I was worried that we hadn't heard from you and started thinking it might tell us something. I promise it doesn't sound bad." She smiled. "Quite nice in fact. She seems a sweet girl."
"How about you read it to me?" Please don't mention any names. Please don't mention Grimm. Please don't mention evil inhuman immortal Queen.
"Fine." She reached over, donning a pair of glasses, and picked up the outer envelope. "This one says: 'To the parents of Garek Grae, my apologies for the unusual method of communication. I had need of expedited airborne delivery.' His mom snorted. Really. 'If you have means to communicate with Garek, I would be in your debt if you were able to notify him of the enclosed envelope, so that he may obtain it for himself. If he, or you, would like to communicate in turn, there is a clearing with a similar stone with a blue cloth wrapped across it. If you leave it under this stone, and replace the blue with another color, a messenger will collect it on my behalf. Yours, Selene.'"
He sighed. My gods, Selene. Well she's nothing of not resourceful.
"You can see why I found it… unusual."
"She's an unusual woman, ma. Uncanny even."
"And intending to snatch you up, I see."
"Yeahhhhh… And the other letter inside?"
Grace cleared her throat and picked up another sheet. Her face flushed slightly, and he groaned internally when he saw his father hobble into the frame with a quirky grin on his face. "'My dearest love'," his father rumbled over her shoulder.
Gods. Kill me now.
Grace rolled her eyes. "Ignore him." She coughed again. "'My dearest love, I wanted to inform you without delay, so that your mind was put at ease, that I have had an extensive conversation with my mother regarding her poor reaction to our betrothal." Grace seemed to choke a bit on the word, and his dad just looked like he had something to say, but grunted as an elbow poked him. "I approached her as we agreed, and she apologized profusely, and explained in full detail, her reasons. I am satisfied such will not recur."
"You plan to tell us what that was about?"
"When we come visit?"
"Hmph. Anyway. 'I likewise spoke with her employer, and they have agreed to give me freedom to travel, as well as a significant amount of information to assist us in our planned business ventures. Given the risks of certain competitors intercepting same, I felt it safer to wait until these could be hand-delivered to you.' Business venture?
"That's part of what we were going to talk to you about." He lied smoothly, but secretly impressed with Selene's cover story.
"Mhm… 'In addition, I felt at least one detail could not wait as they directly relate to this concern. The first is the gentleman we discussed before. I have learned that his first name is Arthur, and he gained his education in Atlas. He will represent a significant challenge, it seems, and it would be best that he not learn of our plans. I have read that he is masterful at corporate espionage, and has been known to steal competitors communications.'"
Garek rubbed his face. Well, the timing could have been better, but it's good to have confirmation, dearest Selene.
His mother continued:
Finally, I wanted you to know that I should be ready to travel by the end of the month, and mother has been teaching me additional techniques to better ensure my safety while doing so.
With love, and until we are reunited,
Your Fiancé,
Selene
PS: You may be relieved, or disappointed, to learn that I have had a visit from my enemy. Which simplifies things in ways I had not previously considered. If you could assist me with additional measures to ensure this becomes a nonissue, I'm sure we will both appreciate the effort.'
"And then there's a winking face after the last line."
Garek's face was very, very red. He felt like there was suddenly not nearly enough oxygen in this room.
His father hovered over his mother's shoulder on the screen, with a knowing look.
His mother looked like she had eaten an entire cage full of canaries.
"I… Uh…"
"You're a grown man, Garek." His mother's grin widened.
"Yeah…"
"I'm not one to judge, son." His father added helpfully. Garek groaned and covered his face. Still.
"But if you get her pregnant, before I get the chance to meet my future daughter in law, I'm going to be very, very disappointed." His mom said with a pouting tone.
"Gods, ma," his face still in his hands.
"I can recommend a few options."
"Ma!" Garek's eyes shot open, and he stared in terror at the screen.
"Even better, I'll make her a care package!"
"MA! NOOO!"
The last thing he remembered was his dad laughing and crying about his pulled back at the same time, and his mom's look of pure, unadulterated bliss. Revenge for years of missed calls and infrequent messages from her only son."
A/N End:
And thus, we are introduced to Garek's parents. Where one longsuffering mother obtained solace from a daughter in the previous chapter, another longsuffering mother has her revenge on a son. Will Garek get twenty questions regarding the unorthodox delivery message? Yes, and assume it takes place off camera. But now he has some plausible explanation, as Selene has cleverly implied that electronic communications might be intercepted. Oh she's a clever girl she is, and as we proved in earlier chapters, a fast learner once the barrier of ignorance has been breached by the stampede of knowledge. Terrible terrible knowledge. Are they being cautious? Or overly paranoid? This *IS* Doctor Arthur Watts we are talking about, the smartest fucking man in the room. Just ask him.
Oh, and also, Selene's not preggers, which would have thrown a real wrench in the works.
Not through lack of trying though.