Sionnach (closed)

[heartofcourage]

"You know, I never had this kind of relationship with my parents. I didn't have family dinners or the opportunity to tease my mother and father. Just a lot of turmoil." Fiona said softly. "You'll never know how good you all have it here."

 

[KieranSoares]

Sam took Fiona's hand as she spoke, her voice quiet enough for only him and Riley to hear. He offered Riley a small smile. "Yer Gran an' Grandpa had t'teach her how t'be part of th'family. She didn't know what to do with all of us. Still insists she doesn' like dancin' either."

 

[heartofcourage]

"I still don't, but I do it anyway because it makes your father happy." Fiona said as she kissed his cheek and gave him a smile. "All the things I have to do to make him happy."

 

[KieranSoares]

"You love it, you know yer one o' the best dancers we have." Sam chuckled and laid his head against hers for a moment before returning to his meal.

 

[heartofcourage]

"Alright, you two." Riley grumbled as she looked over at her parents. "Spare us all for a few moments, alright?"

 

[KieranSoares]

"You're one to talk," Sam muttered, giving Riley a little smirk. "Let us old folks enjoy our time together. It's what gets us through th' day sometimes."

After the meal, Sam returned to his forge while Andre asked Jani about learning shieldwork. Andre was a fine archer and swordsman, but he'd never really learned to use a shield. Jani was known well for her Icelandic roundshield with the metal rim and boss and brightly-painted front. She'd changed the design over time to depict a knotwork white dragon curled around the metal boss over different shades of blue waves with a ring of green grass and Icelandic native flowers around the edges. It was a design in honor of her homeland, and the inside facing her was full of paint-handprints from people Jani loved and protected, including Fiona's family and most recently, Dola and Andre.

While Sam was working away, Jani brought out some dulled blades and practice shields, finding a few different weights and designs in Sam's armory. Andre grew comfortable with a teardrop style quickly, but seemed to favor a smaller version of the round shield. The two set to practice and sparring with matching shields, and Jani even ran him through how to join a phalanx and how to curl up behind the shield to block arrows or even fire.

Sam had welcomed Riley to join him in his workshop if she liked, wanting to both spend time on his craft and relax, and spend a little time with her like they had when she was younger and helped him around the forge.

"So, then," Sam spoke as he began loading scrap into molds to make ingots and bars. "Talk to me, love. What are yer thoughts on next month when we head west?"

 

[heartofcourage]

"Honestly, I'm scared. I don't really want to be in the middle of a war where people I know are going to die." Riley said as she worked on a loose piece of her armor. "I had hoped to run away with Andre for a while, but he got scared to go to Scotland on our own."

 

[KieranSoares]

"Can't blame him with Oliveras out there..." Sam murmured with a nod. "But you know you two don' have to go. Yer independent Riders. Per yer Ma's rules set down before you were born, all Riders can come an' go as they please. I wouldn't blame you." He sighed, shaking his head. "I don' want to go either, love... I want t'go home, but I don' want t'fight. Haven't wanted to since we came here. But it needs t'be done. Inverness is my responsibility, an' there's somethin' very wrong goin' on with th'people in charge over there now. Somethin' tha' might be as bad as when Imperials took it over."

He shook one of the stone ingot molds, encouraging the scrap metal to settle and melt and for air bubbles to escape. "But yer not my heir, y'never wanted to be. Inverness an' Scotland aren't yer problem. No one could blame you if you stayed out o' this one. You kids wanted so badly t'help us last time an' now you know what it's really like."

 

[heartofcourage]

"Of course we have to fight." Riley said as Sam tried to explain to her that this wasn't her war. "It doesn't matter if I've never been to Scotland. It meant something to you, so it means something to me."

She turned and looked at him as he mentioned that she wasn't his heir. "Da, I know that I might seem as if I run from responsibility, but you need me now and I'm not about to go running off to the East or the South just for pleasure."

 

[KieranSoares]

"You don't run from responsibility. Never have," Sam murmured. "You might complain about it, but you've never shirked important things." He turned to meet her gaze. "I won't tell you not t'fight anymore. But you don't have to."

 

[heartofcourage]

"Why are you so scared?" Riley asked him, putting aside her work to give him her full attention. "Is it because of Ma?"

 

[KieranSoares]

"'Course it is. Her an' plenty of others... But her most of all." Sam held her gaze, his own calm but worried and even a little sad. "She doesn't need anymore o' this either. But as long as she wants t'fight, I'll fight too, and try t'keep her alive long enough t'see home."

 

[heartofcourage]

“I’m not cut out to be a leader nor would the riders respect me like they respect her, but I would trade places with her in a moment.” Riley said as she crossed her arms in front of her.

 

[KieranSoares]

"She'd never allow it an' we all know it. She's a Blackstone, no one can tell 'er anythin'. Too stubborn." Sam smiled to himself. "But hopefully this'll be th'last fight we have t'lead... Yer Ma's lookin' fer greenhorns an' young Riders t'start apprenticing with 'er officers, an' I'm trainin' Soma. But honestly, tha' boy migh' be foolish enough t'try t'take both our jobs. He wants you an' Tati t'be free t'do as you like, an' he wants t'free yer Ma an' I from our responsibilities before we're too old. He's far too much like me."

Sam pulled the stone molds from the furnace and set it aside in a box of loose gravel to cool a while, and began loading scrap metal into another few molds. Glancing to Riley, he smiled again. "What about you, love? What d'you want to do? Any particular places t'adventure, any great challenges t'tackle?"

 

[heartofcourage]

"The rest of the world might view Tati was strange and slow, but she's anything but. She'll be there for Soma when he needs her." Riley said as Sam spoke about what might happen in the future. "She'll never let him go at it alone."

"Well, I'm going to marry Andre, no matter what. Even if I have to ask him to get married myself." Riley said as he started to work again.

 

[KieranSoares]

"He's waiting on you, love." Sam laughed quietly. "He's already made it pretty clear he wants t'marry you. But he's no' the sort to impose. He's happy t'wait an' follow you around like a puppy."

 

[heartofcourage]

“Well, he’s part wolf. I suppose he’ll follow me around like a puppy for the rest of my life.” Riley muttered, looking at her Da with a slight smirk. “I’m sure he’ll spoil any kits we do end up having like no father has before.”

 

[KieranSoares]

"I'm sure 'e will." Sam came to join her side, kissing her forehead before going to a cabinet that stood beside his workbench. Inside was an old, rusted set of armor he'd worn during the fall of Inverness, still full of bolt holes and dents, some boltheads still lodged in the back. He glanced at it briefly before pulling out a set of leather working tools. He'd talked all Riley's life about melting the old suit down to make something useful, but it was purposely stored in his tool cabinet and never touched save when Sam occasionally pulled it out to destroy it, only to put it back again.

Soma was certain Sam had kept it all this time because he both wanted to learn from it's flaws and remember his own victories and failures, while Jani often insisted it was because the suit had saved his life and, be extension, Fiona's and Riley's when Sam had taken a volley of bolts protecting them. Jani reasoned that Sam felt some loyalty to the armor, like many folks felt to their own swords or shields. But Sam never confirmed nor denied anyone's theories or questions.

As Sam returned to Riley's side, he kept glancing back at the cabinet and then at her. When he couldn't focus, he sighed heavily and went back, pulling out the hole-filled back plate and leg guards.

"Yer Wolf needs a proper shield o' his own, I suppose," Sam muttered, taking the pieces to his bench where he had a powerful cutting tool that sheared through the metal. He cut it all into small pieces and dumped them into a stone mold to melt down, and pushed the mold into the furnace.

After adding another load of coal, Sam disappeared into the back room of his shop and soon returned with a whole tanned hide, and a few planks of wood. "Go get his measurements for me, love," Sam requested quietly, tossing her a tailor's tape measure. "Need 'is height, an' the distance from shoulder t'thigh."

 

[heartofcourage]

Riley tried not to gawk as her father pulled out the armor that he had been saving since before she could remember. She wasn't even sure that Ma knew that he had the rusted set that had been abused during the fall of Inverness hidden away in the shop. She and Soma did, though. He had talked about it many times in front of them, talking about what he might do with it.

"Da, you don't have to do that." She said as he methodically tore apart the metal and started to melt it down, throwing her a tape. "You should use the metal for something that you need. You've kept it all this time."

 

[KieranSoares]

"I've already made all I need," Sam muttered. "I work on yer Ma's and my armor constantly, anytime I get a spare moment in camp. Andre needs a shield fitted properly to him, not some spare run-down sparring shield."

Sam's focus when he chose a project was unbreakable. He'd done very much the same when he'd remade Riley's bracelet, and when he'd forged pieces of Fiona's armor. He always made sure everything was durable while light, and finished correctly to ward off rust and deal with wear and tear.

Looking up from the molds, Sam met Riley's gaze. "Go on, love. I don't have time t'make him a full set of proper Northern armor, but I can at least make this."

 

[heartofcourage]

Riley watched her father closely as he told her to hurry. He had made up his mind and wasn’t about to change it. That was how a stubborn Ghis man worked. Giving him a nod, she left the shop and walked back towards the manor house. It was quiet outside, Jani and Andre having given up far earlier than she and her Da did.

Stepping into the front foyer, Siobhan was finishing up her cleaning before going home for the evening. Fiona and Soma had both fallen asleep in the living area, Fiona heavily resting against her son’s good shoulder while a book lay open in his lap. The fire was burning low in the room, signaling that it was growing late.

Just as she thought, Andre was cleaning himself up for the evening as well, the sounds of water splashing reaching her ears before she actually found him. She paused as she opened the door to their bath, taking in the sight of his naked to the waist.

“You are making it incredibly difficult to finish this job for my Da.” She muttered.

 

[KieranSoares]

"How am I stopping you from doing anything?" Andre chuckled, taking a towel to dry his face. He'd trimmed his beard close, and his hair was getting long enough now that he could pull it back. Leaning back on the basin stand, he gave Riley a familiar grin, always a touch crooked as his smile pulled up a little higher on one side. "What are you two up to anyway?"

 

[heartofcourage]

“Because he sent me here to take your measurements for a proper shield and I find you half naked and now I’m thinking about other things.” Riley groused, her ears ripping back slightly as she showed him the tailor’s tape that she’d been sent with.

 

[KieranSoares]

"Will he come out of his usual focus long enough to notice you're gone a few extra minutes?" Andre asked with a smirk, stepping forward to lay his hands on her waist.

 

[heartofcourage]

"You're not that quick, stealth, or sly." Riley murmured as he rested his hand on her waist, pulling her in intimately close. "Good think you're handsome."