The Long Road Home (closed)

[KieranSoares]

Bernard had sent along a royal crest, the same crest she'd seen around Monaghan keep and pinned to the coats of Bernard's soldiers that had come to help Sarah. Sarah and Jessie both had one. Stephen's was hanging with his county's banner on the keep's main hall's back wall, marking that he was Bernard's vassal and his county was supported by the crown. But Stephen's was a particular version carried by allies and vassals, whereas Emily, Sarah, and Jessie had family crests marking them as directly related to the King and Queen.

 

[heartofcourage]

"My own crest?" Emily asked, looking up at the two men. "Thank you."

She was sincere in her thanks. Her mother had been buried with her crest and Emily remembered her wearing it proudly even though she never went to court while Emily was alive. It meant the world to her that she had been given something so precious by the king.

 

[KieranSoares]

"I will be returning to Dublin next week if you'd like to send a letter back," Caleno told her quietly. "Kell will see it reaches me." He nodded to her and then to Kell before slipping out the door.

 

[heartofcourage]

"I don't think I should wear it." Emily said, looking up at Kell. "Mummy always said I would wear it all the time when I was older. Maybe I should wait."

She turned the seal over in her hands and then offered it to Kell. "Would you keep it safe for me, uvore?"

 

[KieranSoares]

Kell nodded, knowing Emily had her reasons. "Safe as can be," he told her softly, taking the seal and tucking it into a pocket. "Now... we've got a while until we head out. I'll make breakfast, and you ought to make sure you have everything you want to take with you."

 

[heartofcourage]

"I'll go write a thank you note too." Emily said, ever the responsible child. "And pack a few of our new books."

She gave Kell a smile as she hurried back to her bedroom and sat down to write a note to the high king of Ireland. She thanked him for her seal and his warm welcome to the family. She looked forward to meeting him and his wife in the future and getting to know other members of her family. She also told him how happy she was with Kell and how excited she was that she was going to be staying with him for the foreseeable future.

 

[KieranSoares]

Kell would see Emily's letter to Caleno when she was done, and by the time she came back out, Kell was quietly laying down their plates with eggs and ham and rolls. He settled into what had become his usual chair, and he felt rather at peace. It all felt so... normal. Or at least what he had always seen common people's normal to be. His only constant most of his life had been the fact that anything could change at a moment's notice and he'd have to adapt or possibly die. Taking care of Emily was becoming a mostly-unchanging routine, and though a part of the old assassin was waiting for it all to drastically change at any second, he enjoyed knowing what to expect save on rare occasions.

 

[heartofcourage]

When Emily was finished with the letter, she brought it back out and took her seat at the table, giving Kell a smile. They always spent their mornings talking, just as they always spent their evenings before bed talking. The mornings were for their hopes and wishes and the evenings were for their challenges of the day. Emily felt comfortable being open with Kell and she found herself talking about things that she had never talked with anyone about before.

"Where is a place you want to go? I get to go to the seashore, but is there somewhere you want to go?" Emily asked, cutting up her meat as she glanced over at the dark wolf.

 

[KieranSoares]

"I've been just about everywhere, really," Kell murmured. "China, India, Africa, Spain... all over the place." But he gave it a moment of thought before answering, "If I could choose a place to visit just one more time... it would probably be a little village called Langskaill." That was a place most had never heard of.

 

[heartofcourage]

"Where is that?" Emily asked, eating her eggs as Kell told her of all the places that he had been and the one place that he wanted to go back to. "We can go there. Just the two of us."

 

[KieranSoares]

"It's a village in the Isle of Westray, off the northernmost point of Scotland," Kell told her. "But I'll probably wait until you're older if I would take you there at all, little one. It isn't a place I want to visit so much for happy reasons."

 

[heartofcourage]

"Is it where you were born?" Emily asked, knowing that Kell didn't like to talk much about his life before he came to Ireland.

 

[KieranSoares]

"Yes, but that's not exactly why it has a fairly dark place in my memories." Kell decided to be honest with her, sighing and muttering, "I met my mate there after having escaped from my handlers. I ran away from their base of operations outside Wick and like a fool, I ran home, the first place they would think to look for me. When they didn't show up for a year, I calmed down and made a little life for myself... They finally reappeared the day after my son was born, and they took him and told me they'd expect me back to work once my mate had recovered. They let her live... for a while. But once they saw we'd refused to have any more cubs for them to take away... they decided she wasn't useful anymore. My son and I never had a relationship beyond discussing work, and sometimes we'd be contracted to go after each other, but we'd never finish the job. He... probably hated me when he died, because I had tried to get him to take his family and run. Unlike me, he loved our work. He prided himself on being vicious and striking fear into people by doing just awful things to innocent folks. He died in Inverness, and he was buried in Langskaill beside his mother. Even if we never got along... he was still my only son, and I loved him as much as I loved his mother. And now that I work for Sarah and most of my former employers are gone, I can safely travel without worrying I'll be roped into their service again, so I can go back..."

 

[heartofcourage]

"Maybe in the summer." Emily suggested softly as Kell finally told her more about his life. "Everything will be green, so we can take our horses on a longer trip. I can work on riding longer distances. We can turn a sad trip into something good."

 

[KieranSoares]

Kell reached across and brushed her hair back fondly. He still didn't know much about what he was doing as a caretaker and father figure, but he tried to let Emily know how he adored her. "You're too sweet, little one," he murmured.

 

[heartofcourage]

"You might not be my daddy, but you're a good father." Emily said softly as Kell brushed back her dark hair behind her ear. "Thank you for taking me in."

 

[KieranSoares]

"I hardly had to think about it, my dear," Kell told her honestly, giving her one of his rare, warm little smiles. "But it was really more like you took me in."

 

[heartofcourage]

"You deserve someone to love." Emily said simply with a shrug of her shoulders. "And I needed someone to lean on."

 

[KieranSoares]

"You make it all sound so simple." Kell couldn't help rising from his seat to come and scoop her up into a tight embrace for a long moment.

 

[heartofcourage]

"Compared to the rest of the world, it is simple." Emily murmured as Kell came to her side and swept her up in a tight hug. "You're my Da. That's all that I really need."

 

[KieranSoares]

Back in the keep, Sarah's morning began with breakfast with her family before a bunch of centaurs appeared around the keep and patiently waited for her to be free to approach her. Since Saker Kaljiin had been placed at the head of Cavan County, he'd put a fine mix of werefolk and humans into his staff and these centaurs were marked with the new Cavan crest, so they had been sent directly from Saker. He was still learning, but other lords had kindly offered to teach him as well and the Lord of Meath was being especially helpful.

 

[heartofcourage]

Sarah first notice the centaurs and finished her meal quickly, excusing herself from Ian and her parents as she bade them all to follow her to the library. Her office was far too small to entertain a large group of centaurs. The library had more space and was comfortable enough to host a meeting.

"What might I do for you?" She asked as she took a seat beside the fire, addressing them as a maid began to bring in refreshments for them.

 

[KieranSoares]

The one female centaur and four male centaurs stood together before Sarah, each thanking the maid when she brought them drinks. One male with a band on his arm marking him as an officer stepped forward, his hooves clacking on the stone floor. "Lady Monaghan. I am Captain Balter and I lead Sir Kaljiin's centaurs." Of course Saker was not yet considered a Lord. That would be bestowed by Bernard once they were sure he fit the position in Cavan. Until then, Cavan was still technically under Sarah's jurisdiction.

"I've come of my own accord to tell you that Sir Kaljiin is having some trouble. Though a minority, a rather large minority of people in Cavan have been taking issue with the influx of werefolk. People that believe Cavan and Monaghan should still be fighting... While it's not a large problem yet, I believe it may become one and Sir Kaljiin is already wrestling with all his other responsibilities."

 

[heartofcourage]

"I would normally send Khelt Aleister to monitor situations such as this, but he is leaving tomorrow with his daughter for a small trip. It is not one that I would even think about asking him to cancel." Sarah said as they told her that there were people in Cavan that wished to start something because of all the new werefolk coming in.

"What would you wish for me to do, Captain? You seem to have a better grasp on the situation than I do." Sarah asked, looking up at the centaur as she pulled her mug of tea closer.

 

[KieranSoares]

"At present moment, it's not a problem we can't handle. But seeing as Sir Kaljiin's council and staff is now half werefolk... many humans refuse to view him as a figure of authority. Laws that they respected under Lord Cavan are now going ignored. It is not a matter of power. Sir Kaljiin doesn't want the people to fear or kneel to him. But he's struggling with his justice system being ignored simply for his race. We could use some figures of authority to help drive home Sir Kaljiin's legitimacy as Cavan's heir. Sadly... preferably human authority figures."

It was always the same issue with werefolk leaders in the human world- humans would not respect them even if they upheld the same laws and rules as a human leader with all the same respect and consideration. Authority had to be won through fear or respect, and the former was not the werefolk's way, and the latter... well, there would always be humans who broke laws just for the sake of disrespecting a were leader.