The North (Closed)

[KieranSoares]

"Then we'd be doomed," Soma said with a small smile. "Thankfully she's more scholar than fighter. As long as I share all of this with her, she's happy to move it around." He placed the lid down on a lockbox that he kept more sensitive documents in, and locked it with a key he kept hidden inside his armor at all times.

Placing the lockbox atop a crate that was already packed, Soma turned and looked over what was left with a sigh. "I think that's the last of it, save what little we'll need in the morning before heading out." Looking to Riley, he offered a slightly concerned smile. "You doing okay? Or do you just miss Andre already?"

 

[heartofcourage]

"Andre can hold his own with Rikke and Shani. I'm more worried about Ma." Riley said as she took a seat. "It's strange to see her so...unsure. She's always been the one that knows what she wants and how to get it."

 

[KieranSoares]

"She's been through so much lately, and now a nightmare is coming for everything she cares about," Soma murmured. "Everything she was fighting for is suddenly overshadowed by a way bigger threat. Royer's decided if he can't have Scotland, no one can. Even Barbarossa wasn't that crazy." He sat down beside Riley, laying his head against her shoulder and seeking a little comfort. "It's been making me so angry lately... what they did to her and this monster threatening everything she loves... I never understood how Da could summon up so much strength and will on her behalf when she needed it. Now I do."

 

[heartofcourage]

"I know you're only human, little mite, but leave that anger to me." Riley said softly as she wrapped her arm around Soma's shoulder and held him tightly. "We need you calm and levelheaded. I also don't know what I would do if that dragon used your anger against you...like he's done to Joachim."

 

[KieranSoares]

"Gods, I can't even imagine what he must've felt..." Soma murmured, his brows furrowing deeply. "To have someone else take you over and make you attack the person you love most... and I can't imagine what she must've felt, having to defend her son against her own husband. Fucking monster..." Soma then took a deep breath, recognizing that anger beginning to simmer as he sat forward and lifted his hand to his face. "I'm terrified what could happen if he got hold of any of us. I want to hope he can't take Ma, but I don't know about the rest of us."

 

[heartofcourage]

Riley stared at her brother as he struggled to come to terms with his anger. the slow simmer of rage and resentment so entirely unlike him. They had been at odds as siblings, but she had never seen it spill over like this before.

"We are Blackstones and Ghis." Riley said softly. "We were born to fight with our stubborn natures and tempers. Our fatal flaw is that we cannot let things go. You have been in a rage since you got the full report of what happened to Ma."

Riley stood and walked to her belongings, rummaging around inside until she pulled out some supplies that Dola had given her. She turned back to Soma and showed him the thin and finely made tattooing tools that Dola had slowly been teaching her to use. She wasn't an artist by any means, not compared to her mother-in-law, but with Andre's love of the art, she had wanted to learn.

"She's been teaching me a few things." Riley said softly, always nervous to share new things with her much brighter brother. "I could give you something small...to focus on if you get too angry. Something to ground you."

 

[KieranSoares]

Soma looked down at the tools in silence for a long moment before meeting Riley's eyes. "Never thought you'd be the person to try to help me with a temper."

Giving a slow nod, he began shrugging off his jacket. "I trust your vision. Just don't make me look like a complete fool," he teased weakly. He gave her free reign to choose whatever she liked and where it would be placed.

 

[heartofcourage]

"Who better to help you with a temper than me?" Riley asked as he got out of his jacket and she got the tools set up, pondering just what she was going to do as he teased her about making him look like a fool.

Riley got settled beside him, choosing the tools that she might need and getting her ink prepared. She was soon at work, focusing on her task as Soma gave over his trust completely. She turned their conversation towards other topics besides war and strategy, things that perhaps only siblings might be able to speak about.

"How would you feel about being an uncle?" She asked him softly. "Not any time soon, but...we've been talking."

 

[KieranSoares]

"Sounds like you want to give everyone a whole new round of anxiety," Soma teased with a gentle smile. "I actually think you'd be a good mother. When you decide to really commit to something, you end up being one of the best and you take care of your own come hell or high water. And Andre strikes me as the kind of man who'd be a natural father. You're a great team."

After growing up at odds half the time, it was sometimes awkward for the pair to have truly heartfelt conversations. They always had to be peppered with teasing and their usual rivalry. But as they'd grown and matured the last couple years, they had become good friends as well as comrades. The way Soma spoke of her being a mother told her that he took her seriously and admired the way she looked after family. A year before, he might've thought it was a joke or that she was crazy to think she could handle a baby.

 

[heartofcourage]

"I made Da an offer on our Trondheim home, and we've come up with terms for it. Once you're firmly established in Inverness, Andre and I will start to travel more, but I know he wants his own family above everything else. He never had a family growing up outside of his Ma and his half-brother. It'll be...odd...to be across the continent from the rest of you, but if I start having babies, Da would be there in an instant." Riley said with a small smile on her lips.

"You'll be a good king." Riley murmured, glancing up at her brother to show that she truly did mean those words. "You have all the best pieces of Ma."

 

[KieranSoares]

"You've got a lot from her too," Soma reminded quietly. "I've always thought the reason you and Da get along so well is because you're so much like her when she was younger. That's certainly what Schaller seems to think too."

Pausing her work for a moment, Soma leaned in and hugged her tightly. "You know I'd be there in a second for you too, right? No matter what."

 

[heartofcourage]

Riley was surprised when Soma hugged her tightly, swearing that he would be there for her no matter where she was. She hugged him back, her arms tight around his neck. "If Ma and Da fall in this war, I'll see you to Inverness. I'll even bring Tati home to you. I promise you that, little mite."

 

[KieranSoares]

"We'll see everyone to Inverness," he promised, burying his face against her shoulder as some tension left his own. "No monster, no matter how ancient, is going to stop us."

His confidence in such a statement was born of Fiona's enduring confidence that they'd all see home again, stubborn and committed to his mother's dream.

 

[heartofcourage]

Riley chuckled and held him tightly for a few more moments before she pulled away and get him settled again to finish her task. When it was all done, she left him with a small tattoo on his wrist. The Blackstone Omega symbol was surrounded by Invernessian trees, the marriage of both sides of their family in a more abstract way. As she spread Dola's special cream over the top to help with the healing, she let him get a good look at her work.

 

[KieranSoares]

"I thought you said you were still learning," Soma remarked with surprise as he looked down at the image. Even if Riley didn't fancy herself an artist, she had recreated the familiar designs in a simple but elegant fashion.

Looking up from the design, Soma smiled the same sort of rugged smile Sam often did. "Ma was already kinda mad at me for getting the first one without telling her. She said I should wait til I'm older and not do things like this on a whim. Think she'll be mad at this one?"

 

[heartofcourage]

"I am still learning. Dola likes that my designs are a little rough around the edges. She says they're just like me." Riley said as he seemed pleased with what she'd done. "If Ma gets mad, you just tell her that you're an adult in the eyes of the tribe. It's what I always used to say."

She shrugged her shoulders at her brother and gave him a smile, turning to clean her tools and put them away properly. "If that pompous fucker of a dragon thinks that he can rip apart this family, he's got another thing coming to him. We aren't puppets to be used as he pleases. Hopefully when you look at your wrist now, you can remember that."

 

[KieranSoares]

"It'll certainly help to keep it at the forefront of my mind..." Soma looked down at the fresh design again, adding quietly, "One of us will cut him down for good. Soon he'll just be some scary story told around campfires, nothing more."

Come the next morning, Soma and Riley headed out to join Sam and Fiona for one last family meal before they parted ways. When they arrived, Sam was already cooking a small feast for them, making familiar comfort foods from home with special attention to his wife and children's favorites. He was quiet, his expression grim as he was lost in his own thoughts when they approached. When he noticed them, he hid it all behind a mask and a gentle smile.

"Morning, loves," Sam greeted, rising from his seat by the fire to meet them both with an embrace. "Yer Ma's still gettin' ready an' packin' up some things."

 

[heartofcourage]

“Is she alright?” Riley asked as she took a seat next to the campfire. “Whatever was happening yesterday seemed pretty serious.”

 

[KieranSoares]

"It was," Sam confirmed quietly as he sat back down with them and continued tending the cooking pot and a grate where he had fish roasting. "Your Ma doesn't tap into her more complex gifts very often... It took a lot out of her. Took her a long time to really come back to the present, and she slept longer than I've seen her sleep in years."

Sam knew his children could handle the truth of Fiona's situation, though he wouldn't tell her secrets such as meeting with Ephriam. "But it yielded some good information... We know where to start, an' we know specifically what we're lookin' for now."

 

[heartofcourage]

“And I’m sure they’ll still worry about us.” Fiona said as she emerged from the tent, a small smile on her face at the sight of her children.

Riley was struck by the fact that Fiona had completely hidden her hair, wrapped tightly in a cloth that resembled what some Greek women wore while traveling.

“Ma?” Riley asked softly, a bit confused at this new change.

“If my hair is the most recognizable thing about me, it’s time to hide it away for the time being.” Fiona said softly as she took her seat beside Sam. “For our safety.”

 

[KieranSoares]

"We're both gonna be wearin' plain clothes an' armor while we're gone to Inverness," Sam explained. "Anythin' unique or of value will be sent with the camp, save what we absolutely need." He looked to Fiona then. "I got my smithing tools packed on Dzana's saddle as well. Hopefully when we need them, I can figure out how to forge without a shop."

 

[heartofcourage]

“I have something for you both.” Fiona murmured before their meal began. “Something that I should have given to you a long time ago.”

Fiona reached into their supply crate and retrieved two obsidian stones and passed one each to Soma and Riley.

“It’s our family tradition. Uka wanted me to give them to you.” She said softly as she retrieved her own stone to show them. “Just as we give kipper eggs to the brides on the Ghis, the Blackstones use these to help guide them. Your Da carved mine shortly after Riley was born. We should be proud of who we are, not hiding away as we did. You are free to put whatever design you wish on it.”

 

[KieranSoares]

"If you'd like me t'carve somethin' into them for you when we're home, let me know," Sam told them. It was both his way of supporting his wife and children, and committing to the idea that this wouldn't be their last moment together.

 

[heartofcourage]

“Well, considering I marked Soma last night…” Riley said as she looked over her stone and Fiona’s gaze instantly turned towards her son.

“Soma…” Fiona sighed, knowing that they were grown and could do as they wished, but unable to shake the fact that they were her babies.

 

[KieranSoares]

"It was her idea," Soma insisted with a little grin. Every so often, he reminded his mother that he could be a little wild and spontaneous too, that not all of it was Riley's.

Extending his arm out, Soma let Fiona see the design. He knew she couldn't be too mad considering what it represented. "I like to keep little reminders of certain things," he murmured. "It keeps me honest and centered. Riley knows that, so she helped me out a little."