Sonic Series Fan Fiction ❯ Arrow, Bequeath my Heart ❯ Chapter 8
[ X - Adult: No readers under 18. Contains Graphic Adult Themes/Extreme violence. ]
By: Oreana Date 
Non Anime: Sonic Series Fan Fiction | Genre(s): Action / Adventure / Drama / Hentai / Fantasy | Type: Crossover | Uploaded On: 09.19.2013 | Pages: 3 | Words: 4.8K | Visits: 185 | Status: Completed
Non Anime: Sonic Series Fan Fiction | Genre(s): Action / Adventure / Drama / Hentai / Fantasy | Type: Crossover | Uploaded On: 09.19.2013 | Pages: 3 | Words: 4.8K | Visits: 185 | Status: Completed
“It’s not too cold out here for you, is it?” Thunderhawk asked Sara-Li upon the two with Troy making it out of Winterhold to picnic not far away as planned. He knew that she had lost a good deal of weight, and that on top of her fur not being equip to handle the temperature to begin with worried him a bit.
Sara-Li kept her coat close to her body with a shake of her head at Thunderhawk’s worry. “I am fine. My mamma made this coat, and it keeps me warm.”
Thunderhawk could still see she was shaking, making him remove his cobalt colored cape to drape over her for extra measure. “Just to be safe,” he said with a smile. “I don’t want you going home with a cold.”
Troy had a hard time getting over the sudden appearance change in Thunderhawk that he didn’t take offense to the two acting so close. He was so surprised when he first saw the elder that the words, which escaped from his mouth, were ‘you look old’. “You can still cast magic and everything, right?” Troy couldn’t understand that Thunderhawk was only looking older.
“If you’re asking if I am going to end up on constant bed rest until I roll over like an old dog and die, the answer is, ‘no’,” the jarl chuckled, reaching for the hot herbal tea that Troy had made while Ivan was off for a change. “I’ve only aged in appearance, Troy—I am not mentally any older. At least, I don’t feel it anyways.”
“When do you plan on teaching us magic still?” Troy asked curiously as he was mindful of the hot soup he brought out with them, pouring himself a bowl.
“I can’t do that until Sara-Li gets her energy back.” She had no doubt lost a good deal of her energy in refusing to eat properly in the past year, so Thunderhawk didn’t desire to push the idea. “We will get back into practicing when possible, but until then, I think we all could use a bit of a breather given past events by just talking about magic.”
Catching up with his two students, Thunderhawk kept to himself how much he had missed in the past year. Being that the teens were so young still, he didn’t wish to burden them with his pain. When he felt Sara-Li fall asleep next to him on the handmade blanket, he kept her wrapped up tightly in his cape before picking her up into his arms. “Troy,” he whispered, gesturing to the items on the blanket, “can you pick up the bowls and everything and put it in the basket, so we can get it back to the college’s kitchen? If one of those goes missing, Ivan will have my head.”
“Funny how a man with so much power is afraid of his own head chef,” Troy smirked as he did as he was asked.
Thunderhawk’s brow wrinkled as he gave Troy a questionable look. “Well, do you want to cross him? I could blame the missing utensils on you, if you’re so brave.”
Troy grumbled, shaking his head at him. “No thank you…”
“That’s what I thought,” Thunderhawk grinned as he opened his free arm for the basket as he kept Sara-Li upon his other hip. On their way back, he thought on what to say about his absence from Troy. The boy was desperate to get him to surface from his bedroom, but Thunderhawk never found the energy or the courage to face the young echidna. “I am sorry about avoiding the door for a year, Troy,” he finally apologized. “Like I said before, I was just too embarrassed to show my face. I also didn’t think it was you or Sara-Li’s responsibility to hear my problems.”
Troy still wanted to remain angry with Thunderhawk, but with the elder openly apologizing to him, it was hard to continue doing so. Sighing upwards, he blew his white hair out of his face. “Sara-Li deserves the apology more than me. She was so hurt over you disappearing.”
“You just handled it better, Troy,” said the jarl as he opened the iron gate to the college’s courtyard. “I appreciate that, and I am appreciative that you kept Sara-Li in one piece.” Here, he handed over the basket to the young lightning mage. “Can you do me a favor and take that back to the kitchen while I drop off Sara-Li?”
Accepting the basket, he nodded, “I can.” He would have offered to take Sara-Li in his place, but he wasn’t too familiar with her family, and would find himself a bit uncomfortable in the process.
Thunderhawk fixed the cape a bit on the sleeping Sara-Li before making his way to the living space that her family shared. He was a bit reluctant to knock on the door given how Devon and Jade-Li’s daughter reacted to his sudden disappearance from the public eye. The elder couldn’t help but feel responsible for Sara-Li’s loss in appetite and weight. Gathering up what courage he could, he rapped his knuckles upon the closed door, waiting for someone to answer.
The eighteen-year-old Cyrus made it to the door to see Thunderhawk holding his sister. He was more surprised at seeing the jarl walking around that he didn’t realize he had been staring at him for awhile. “I, umm—your Highness—you are…what is—is Sara-Li okay?” he asked, as he wasn’t aware she was merely sleeping.
Thunderhawk noticed that the beige furred echidna was growing his hair out still, and that once, short periwinkle hair was now upon his mid-back in a ponytail. He smiled at the question, soothing the brother’s worry as he rubbed Sara-Li’s back gently. “She’s fine, son. Sara-Li is merely exhausted from our time out and about Winterhold.”
Hearing that all too familiar voice, Devon was quick to remove himself from the reading chair he was sitting at to make it to the doorway and notice that it was indeed Thunderhawk…only older looking. “Thunderhawk…! I—what happened to you…?”
Handing the exhausted Sara-Li over to Cyrus, his cape still wrapped about her, he smiled wearily to Devon’s question. “That’s a long story best saved for a day I can take you out for ale,” he lightly teased. “Long story short, however, I am fine, and I should be appearing about the college a bit more frequently.” Watching Cyrus put Sara-Li down on the bed to rest, his smile turned into a worried frown at how Devon and Jade-Li probably felt about him being the cause for their daughter’s decrease in health. “I apologize for my disappearance,” he whispered to the beige colored echidna. “I didn’t expect Sara would react in such a way.”
Devon looked back at his daughter, his fingertips tapping upon the woodwork of the entryway he stood in. “Nobody did,” he admitted between them. “It isn’t your fault, sire. I think she’s just grown attached to you.” A small smile made its way across Devon’s muzzle. “Perhaps, one could even say, a ‘crush’ as well.”
Thunderhawk scoffed playfully at the idea. “A ‘crush’, you say? On an old man like me?” he shook his head, waving the idea way. “Besides, I think Troy has other ideas when it comes to the young Sara-Li, anyways.”
“Troy?” Devon wondered. “I’ve heard Sara-Li mention him now and again, but usually it is because she is irritated with him.”
“A young lad thing, I am sure,” Thunderhawk said with a chuckle. “There was always a moment where we teased the woman we loved.”
“Some of us still do,” Devon joked before scratching his black hair in thought. “Well, it is good to know that there is someone who has taken an interest in our young Sara-Li, but that does mean we should have that ‘talk’ with her.”
“I have an eye on the two a majority of the time, and I can assure you that your child is still—,” Thunderhawk paused, as he was unsure of the right word to use at first, “—pure, I guess I should say.”
“That is good to know,” laughed Devon as he pushed himself from the doorway. “I should let you continue your duties then, my Lord. I am relieved you’re okay.” A part of him still had a difficult time accepting the fact that Thunderhawk had actually grayed a bit in his personal solitude up in his room for a year, but Devon could tell that the guardian was still functioning just fine all the same.
Thunderhawk felt the worry lift off of him as he nodded at Devon’s concerns. “I appreciate it, Devon. Tell Sara-Li she can bring my cape back to me in the morning.” After his farewell, the lilac echidna made his way back towards his bedroom to study a bit more before retiring for the day.
---------------
Jade-Li was brought up to speed on what was going on with the jarl of Winterhold when she returned late last night from shopping at the town’s market. Upon hearing of a boy who had a crush on her young daughter, she had a hard time believing it was possibly that time already—to tell her youngest child about relationships and being a woman. “Well,” she began, privately to her husband the next morning, “she has hit her heat cycle about a year ago, so I guess now would be as good a time as any to tell her about boys and men.”
“Now would be better than ever,” Devon insisted with a tender smile to his wife as he held her arms supportively. “It seems that young boy already has his eyes on her, even if she’s not returning the affection.”
Kissing her husband’s cheek, Jade-Li promised she would do so as she pulled from Devon’s embrace to speak with her daughter, who was waiting just outside of the living quarters of Winterhold. Seeing her teenage daughter there, Jade-Li had a hard time believing that Sara-Li was so old already. It seemed as though time was just flying by. Walking further into the overhang around them, Jade-Li smiled when Sara’s eyes met with hers. “Hey, sweetheart,” she greeted kindly before placing her hand upon the young child’s shoulder to rub her there. “How are you doing this morning?”
“I’m okay,” Sara-Li answered, keeping the cape of the elder wrapped tightly about her. She felt a good deal of comfort when wrapped in the fabric that smelt so much like the lilac echidna. “I was just reading this book Lord Thunderhawk gave me.” She showed the thick tome to her mother, a bit prideful that she was finally able to read better than her own mother.
Jade-Li was happy that the leader of Winterhold had taken time out of his day to help her daughter read and write better. She felt bad that she never seemed to even have the time when they lived there in the college, as she was busy with a small store she had opened just outside of the town since nobody would bother with her goods knowing she came from the college grounds. “That’s wonderful, sweetie.” These talks were never easy, so trying to find a means to begin the talk was a challenge. “Sara-Li, can I talk to you about something, honey?”
“Yeah, mom,” said Sara-Li, as she could tell that whatever it was had to be important given her mother’s tone. “What is wrong?”
“Nothing is wrong,” Jade-Li responded, reaching her hand out for Sara to take. “Come with me. I just want to have a mother and daughter talk is all.”
Accepting her mother’s gesture, Sara-Li followed her about the courtyard of the college. She was a bit nervous about what could be on her mother’s mind. Normally they never had these talks unless something big was about to happen.
Jade-Li knew that beating around the bush wouldn’t help anything, so she did her best to get right on the subject matter. “So I heard that there’s a young boy that appears to be interested in you.”
Sara-Li never really acknowledged the advances or obvious hints by Troy. She always just assumed that the young boy was being obnoxious on purpose. “Wh-What are you talking about?” she asked, moving her periwinkle hair out of her face. “I don’t know what boy you mean.”
“Apparently, Lord Thunderhawk says that a young man named ‘Troy’ seems to have taken interest in you,” Jade-Li said with a tender smile at her daughter’s sudden blush at the name.
“T-Troy!” she exclaimed with a shake of her head. “N-No, that can’t be right…he always gripes at me whenever he can.” Sara-Li grumbled to herself. “He’s nothing but a jerk at times, so I don’t know where Thunderhawk got that idea.”
“Boys do have an interesting way of showing their love, my dear.” Jade-Li couldn’t help but smile fondly at the time she met Devon. “Your father wasn’t exactly ‘impressive’ when he was courting me. I thought he was just being a jerk as well when he knocked over the ale on my tray and got me soaked in the liquor back at my serving wench position in Marrowind. In all honesty, he wasn’t sure how to approach me, and he was nervous—causing him to flail about and accidentally knock into me. This Troy might be the same,” Jade-Li explained with a small giggle. “His words must get lost in the process of trying to speak with you, and they might come out wrong.”
Sara-Li blushed, wondering if that was true. She never really thought of Troy as anything other than that annoying brotherly type, as he did dote on her now and again. “Well, I…I never really asked him how he felt, because I didn’t think he liked me like that…”
“Whether it’s true or not, it matters not, Sara-Li. What I wanted to talk to you about is how you’re of age to start a relationship with boys,” explained Jade-Li best she could without it being too awkward. “What matters most about this sort of situation, Sara-Li, is that you only do what makes you feel comfortable. If something doesn’t feel right to you, you say ‘no’ and walk away.”
“I know, mamma,” Sara-Li said with a nod to her mother. In all honesty, she couldn’t wrap her mind around the idea that Troy even loved her.
“Also, you are the only one to decide if you are ready for a child of your own. You are old enough to make one if you give yourself to a young man completely.” Jade-Li knew her daughter was responsible, but it didn’t prevent her from digging into her pocket to pull out her own herbal birth control all the same to show to Sara-Li. “I trust you not to be intimate with a boy so soon into your teen years, but just in case, I want you to take these herbs daily. It will make sure you don’t produce any eggs with any man you sleep with.”
Sara-Li did her best to hide her wild blush at the idea of sleeping with anybody. It was still such a foreign concept, even if her parents themselves weren’t very quiet about their love making in the other room. “You don’t have to worry about that one, mom,” Sara-Li promised bashfully. “I have no interest in such things right now.”
Smiling at her child’s words, Jade-Li kissed her forehead before hugging her close. “I know I can trust you, sweetie. Just be safe, and know that your father, brother, and I are always here for you.”
“Will you hurry the hell up with that?” Ivan growled from the royal kitchen, gesturing the wooden ladle he carried to indicate what he wanted where. “I’m going to be on vacation, and I don’t want a damn thing out of order!”
Troy looked over his shoulder at the angry shouts from the polar bear before gazing back at Krine curiously. “Where is he going?”
The rabbit shrugged his shoulders with an unimpressed look as he continued to move the barrels full of lettuce carefully into place nearest to the other salad items. “He does this every now and again,” Krine grunted, as he moved to his feet after getting the barrel perfectly in place. “He’ll vacation about Skyrim and learn more from the other chefs as well as pick up ingredients along the way to further his skills as he dabbles.”
“He just…goes alone?” Troy asked, as he didn’t like the idea of the old bear venturing about a dragon infested world alone.
Krine scoffed as he worked on situating the onions and carrots next. “Can you imagine a single person in this room who can tolerate the old bear for a year on the road? Of course he goes alone! We don’t have to worry about Ivan yelling at us since he’s gone!”
While Ivan could be unbearable at times, Troy still worried about him. Excusing himself from what he was supposed to be doing, the young echidna hurried behind the polar bear to speak with him. “Ivan? Can I talk to you real quick?”
“It better be worth my time, because every second you waste talking to me, shit in this kitchen isn’t getting done,” Ivan growled, continuing at a hurried pace to make it to his bedchambers to work on packing still as he had already given everyone their orders.
“I wanted to talk to you about this trip you’re taking,” Troy said eagerly, trying to keep up with the chef best he could.
Ivan turned the nearby corridor and made it to his bedroom finally. “What of it?”
Troy wondered how he would ask such a thing. He really wanted to see what Ivan did to further his cooking skills, as he was interested in doing so with himself. “I—take me with you!” he blurted out at the doorway.
“I am not going to babysit you, Troy,” Ivan insisted, moving the items he would need into his bags he had lined about on the floor to take to the carriage just outside of Winterhold. “And if you think I need babysitting, I will show you right here and now that that is far from the truth.”
“It isn’t like that,” Troy grumbled, wishing the bear would stop thinking there was a catch to his offers. “I want to further my cooking with you, and I know the only way to do that, is to go on this trip with you…you know, more one on one time and all?”
Ivan actually paused in the shifting about of his luggage when he heard Troy say such a thing. He raised his thick, gray brow at the young echidna, wondering if the mage was serious. “Hu…never knew a dedicated mage to be so interested in cooking as well. Normally the magic pulls them in and they give up on their talent as a chef.” While he wouldn’t say out in the open to Troy, he had felt that the young boy was different from most other students he took in. Troy was driven and passionate about his ability to cook—even at a young age he was curious, and he made something so simple taste wonderful. Ivan was proud of him, but because of this, he pushed Troy the hardest.
“Alright then,” said Ivan, crossing his arms upon his round belly. “I’ll let you come with me, but you better do everything that I say, or I will leave you stranded with only a map as your means to get back home. Deal?”
Troy nodded eagerly, knowing he could practice his lightning magic along the way. “Deal! I just have to run it by Lord Thunderhawk first is all.”
“Before you do that,” began Ivan as he raised one hand to prevent the child from leaving his bedroom, “take my luggage to the carriage just outside of Winterhold College. Get it done quickly, as I still have a few other things to do, and when I am done, I will be leaving—with or without you.”
Finding time away from his paperwork, Thunderhawk was working on his archery again, as he was out of practice given his time he spent in his bedroom. Taking the perfect archery pose quickly, he eyed the practice dummy there in the courtyard before releasing the arrow without a second thought to watch as it hit the target, but off the mark he had in mind. “Damn,” he swore to himself, but his attention was soon shifted to Troy, as he heard the snow crunching underneath the boy’s feet in a hurried fashion. “What’s got you all in a rush?”
“I was coming to tell you that I was going to go with Ivan on his tour around Skyrim,” Troy said out of breath. “I was hoping this would be…okay with you?”
Thunderhawk would have asked why Troy felt he needed the jarl’s approval, but before he opened his mouth to do so, he realized that it was because Troy lacked any other father figure. Leaning upon his bow, he hummed in thought. “Well, if you’re still interested in learning lightning magic, I can lend you quite a few books to take with you.”
“Do you trust me with these books for a year’s time?” Troy wondered, as he didn’t expect Thunderhawk would give up his tomes for the young mage to read on such a long, and perhaps, dangerous journey.
“Of course I do.” Thunderhawk gestured for Troy to follow him back to the college and to his room. “Besides, if you lose them or get them damaged, I will just make you work hard to pay me back for them. I warn you though, they are quite old, so their value is high,” he lightly teased, grabbing up the ten, thick books he was thinking about.
Troy wobbled slightly in attempts to try and keep at least half of the stack in his arms. “You might want to start with this one,” said Thunderhawk. grabbing up an old emerald green, leather bound tome. “After that, it is up to your discretion.” Taking the other half of the books, the jarl headed back out of his room with Troy close behind him. “I’ll help you with these.”
Her sewing and studying supplies tied to her painted mare, Jade-Li helped her child upon the back of the steed carefully before mounting right behind her. Since Sara-Li was done with her studying and practicing, she had decided to help tend to her mother’s shop out of Winterhold. “I’m getting closer—trying to get that light blast down,” Sara-Li said with a smile to her mother. She had been practicing the technique that Thunderhawk had taught her a year ago, as the young Sara-Li had yet to get it down completely, as she lacked control over the magical attack.
Pulling gently on the reins of the mare, Jade-Li smiled down at her daughter. “I’ve noticed that, sweetie. You really have come a long way since we first arrived here.” Jade was beyond proud of her daughter. Along the way, Sara-Li had even picked up some spells to help soothe her brother’s weak lungs—making it a bit easier for Cyrus to manage in the harsh, thin winter air.
“I think Troy gave up on his defensive skill,” Sara-Li said with disappointment, “but he still at least studies and practices.”
“The boy takes on a lot of things at once, from what I’ve been told by you,” Jade-Li commented with a tender smile as the horse trucked through the snow. “I am sure he just lacks the appropriate time to really dedicate himself to one thing.”
Upon making it back to the bridge of Winterhold, Jade and Sara noticed the horse drawn carriage being loaded up by Ivan and Troy. “Speak of the devil,” Jade-Li said with a curious tilt of her head. “Looks like he appears to be going somewhere?” She wanted to point out that it appeared he was moving, but Jade-Li wasn’t sure how her daughter would take to that since Troy was the only other teen about her age that she could spend time with.
Grabbing onto the fabric of her dress, Sara-Li kept it out of her way as she hurried through the snow covered courtyard to Troy and Ivan. “Troy?” she called curiously, stopping right before the maroon furred echidna. “Where are you going? You’re not leaving…are you?”
“Only for a little while,” said Troy, curious as to why she sounded so upset about the idea. “It might be a year or so, but I am traveling around Skyrim with Ivan for a bit.”
Sara-Li couldn’t help but be a bit worried. Skyrim was full of dragons, bandits, and even worse things out there she had only read about in stories from the college’s library. “Please tell me you’ll be careful…the both of you.” When she saw Troy make that annoyed face, Sara-Li sighed and merely reached for him to hold him tightly with a kiss to his cheek. Upon hugging him, she realized how badly she didn’t want him to leave.
Troy blushed wildly at the random kiss, struggling to even think on returning the hug but eventually brought himself to doing so. “I’ll be back,” he said, a small scoff tingling on his words. “It isn’t like I am going away forever.” When she didn’t remove herself, Troy rubbed her back supportively. “I’ll keep practicing my lightning magic, and I hope to be better when I return.”
Furrowing her brow, Sara gripped tightly onto Troy’s attire for a moment before pulling back reluctantly. Inwardly, she couldn’t help but be worried she’d never see from him again. “I’ll…see you when you get back then…”
Seeing her violate eyes shine with the hint of tears, Troy sighed. “Don’t cry,” he practically pleaded. “I am not going to let anything happen to Ivan or myself. I promise!” Using his thumb, he massaged her cheek before kissing the spot nervously. A part of him had hoped he hadn’t overstepped the line, but inwardly, he had wanted to do that for awhile now without it being awkward for them. His fingers running through his own, wild white hair, he saw that she appeared alright with the kiss. “I’ll-uh-I’ll see you later then?”
Sara-Li tried not to be obvious in her movements, as she briefly brushed the spot he had kissed. Nodding at his reassurance, she walked slowly backwards to make it back towards her mother as Ivan had finally finished packing up the carriage and was about to take off. Hugging her mother tightly, the periwinkle colored echidna expelled a nasally sigh. “He says he’ll be back, mom, and I trust him.”
Jade-Li smiled down at her daughter, hugging her tightly before kissing her head. “I’m so proud of you,” she whispered, thankful that Sara-Li was handling this departure a bit better than the last, unexpected one, with Thunderhawk. “Let’s get back inside to make dinner for your father and brother, alright?” Holding her youngest close, Jade-Li ventured back to their home.
Sara-Li kept her coat close to her body with a shake of her head at Thunderhawk’s worry. “I am fine. My mamma made this coat, and it keeps me warm.”
Thunderhawk could still see she was shaking, making him remove his cobalt colored cape to drape over her for extra measure. “Just to be safe,” he said with a smile. “I don’t want you going home with a cold.”
Troy had a hard time getting over the sudden appearance change in Thunderhawk that he didn’t take offense to the two acting so close. He was so surprised when he first saw the elder that the words, which escaped from his mouth, were ‘you look old’. “You can still cast magic and everything, right?” Troy couldn’t understand that Thunderhawk was only looking older.
“If you’re asking if I am going to end up on constant bed rest until I roll over like an old dog and die, the answer is, ‘no’,” the jarl chuckled, reaching for the hot herbal tea that Troy had made while Ivan was off for a change. “I’ve only aged in appearance, Troy—I am not mentally any older. At least, I don’t feel it anyways.”
“When do you plan on teaching us magic still?” Troy asked curiously as he was mindful of the hot soup he brought out with them, pouring himself a bowl.
“I can’t do that until Sara-Li gets her energy back.” She had no doubt lost a good deal of her energy in refusing to eat properly in the past year, so Thunderhawk didn’t desire to push the idea. “We will get back into practicing when possible, but until then, I think we all could use a bit of a breather given past events by just talking about magic.”
Catching up with his two students, Thunderhawk kept to himself how much he had missed in the past year. Being that the teens were so young still, he didn’t wish to burden them with his pain. When he felt Sara-Li fall asleep next to him on the handmade blanket, he kept her wrapped up tightly in his cape before picking her up into his arms. “Troy,” he whispered, gesturing to the items on the blanket, “can you pick up the bowls and everything and put it in the basket, so we can get it back to the college’s kitchen? If one of those goes missing, Ivan will have my head.”
“Funny how a man with so much power is afraid of his own head chef,” Troy smirked as he did as he was asked.
Thunderhawk’s brow wrinkled as he gave Troy a questionable look. “Well, do you want to cross him? I could blame the missing utensils on you, if you’re so brave.”
Troy grumbled, shaking his head at him. “No thank you…”
“That’s what I thought,” Thunderhawk grinned as he opened his free arm for the basket as he kept Sara-Li upon his other hip. On their way back, he thought on what to say about his absence from Troy. The boy was desperate to get him to surface from his bedroom, but Thunderhawk never found the energy or the courage to face the young echidna. “I am sorry about avoiding the door for a year, Troy,” he finally apologized. “Like I said before, I was just too embarrassed to show my face. I also didn’t think it was you or Sara-Li’s responsibility to hear my problems.”
Troy still wanted to remain angry with Thunderhawk, but with the elder openly apologizing to him, it was hard to continue doing so. Sighing upwards, he blew his white hair out of his face. “Sara-Li deserves the apology more than me. She was so hurt over you disappearing.”
“You just handled it better, Troy,” said the jarl as he opened the iron gate to the college’s courtyard. “I appreciate that, and I am appreciative that you kept Sara-Li in one piece.” Here, he handed over the basket to the young lightning mage. “Can you do me a favor and take that back to the kitchen while I drop off Sara-Li?”
Accepting the basket, he nodded, “I can.” He would have offered to take Sara-Li in his place, but he wasn’t too familiar with her family, and would find himself a bit uncomfortable in the process.
Thunderhawk fixed the cape a bit on the sleeping Sara-Li before making his way to the living space that her family shared. He was a bit reluctant to knock on the door given how Devon and Jade-Li’s daughter reacted to his sudden disappearance from the public eye. The elder couldn’t help but feel responsible for Sara-Li’s loss in appetite and weight. Gathering up what courage he could, he rapped his knuckles upon the closed door, waiting for someone to answer.
The eighteen-year-old Cyrus made it to the door to see Thunderhawk holding his sister. He was more surprised at seeing the jarl walking around that he didn’t realize he had been staring at him for awhile. “I, umm—your Highness—you are…what is—is Sara-Li okay?” he asked, as he wasn’t aware she was merely sleeping.
Thunderhawk noticed that the beige furred echidna was growing his hair out still, and that once, short periwinkle hair was now upon his mid-back in a ponytail. He smiled at the question, soothing the brother’s worry as he rubbed Sara-Li’s back gently. “She’s fine, son. Sara-Li is merely exhausted from our time out and about Winterhold.”
Hearing that all too familiar voice, Devon was quick to remove himself from the reading chair he was sitting at to make it to the doorway and notice that it was indeed Thunderhawk…only older looking. “Thunderhawk…! I—what happened to you…?”
Handing the exhausted Sara-Li over to Cyrus, his cape still wrapped about her, he smiled wearily to Devon’s question. “That’s a long story best saved for a day I can take you out for ale,” he lightly teased. “Long story short, however, I am fine, and I should be appearing about the college a bit more frequently.” Watching Cyrus put Sara-Li down on the bed to rest, his smile turned into a worried frown at how Devon and Jade-Li probably felt about him being the cause for their daughter’s decrease in health. “I apologize for my disappearance,” he whispered to the beige colored echidna. “I didn’t expect Sara would react in such a way.”
Devon looked back at his daughter, his fingertips tapping upon the woodwork of the entryway he stood in. “Nobody did,” he admitted between them. “It isn’t your fault, sire. I think she’s just grown attached to you.” A small smile made its way across Devon’s muzzle. “Perhaps, one could even say, a ‘crush’ as well.”
Thunderhawk scoffed playfully at the idea. “A ‘crush’, you say? On an old man like me?” he shook his head, waving the idea way. “Besides, I think Troy has other ideas when it comes to the young Sara-Li, anyways.”
“Troy?” Devon wondered. “I’ve heard Sara-Li mention him now and again, but usually it is because she is irritated with him.”
“A young lad thing, I am sure,” Thunderhawk said with a chuckle. “There was always a moment where we teased the woman we loved.”
“Some of us still do,” Devon joked before scratching his black hair in thought. “Well, it is good to know that there is someone who has taken an interest in our young Sara-Li, but that does mean we should have that ‘talk’ with her.”
“I have an eye on the two a majority of the time, and I can assure you that your child is still—,” Thunderhawk paused, as he was unsure of the right word to use at first, “—pure, I guess I should say.”
“That is good to know,” laughed Devon as he pushed himself from the doorway. “I should let you continue your duties then, my Lord. I am relieved you’re okay.” A part of him still had a difficult time accepting the fact that Thunderhawk had actually grayed a bit in his personal solitude up in his room for a year, but Devon could tell that the guardian was still functioning just fine all the same.
Thunderhawk felt the worry lift off of him as he nodded at Devon’s concerns. “I appreciate it, Devon. Tell Sara-Li she can bring my cape back to me in the morning.” After his farewell, the lilac echidna made his way back towards his bedroom to study a bit more before retiring for the day.
---------------
Jade-Li was brought up to speed on what was going on with the jarl of Winterhold when she returned late last night from shopping at the town’s market. Upon hearing of a boy who had a crush on her young daughter, she had a hard time believing it was possibly that time already—to tell her youngest child about relationships and being a woman. “Well,” she began, privately to her husband the next morning, “she has hit her heat cycle about a year ago, so I guess now would be as good a time as any to tell her about boys and men.”
“Now would be better than ever,” Devon insisted with a tender smile to his wife as he held her arms supportively. “It seems that young boy already has his eyes on her, even if she’s not returning the affection.”
Kissing her husband’s cheek, Jade-Li promised she would do so as she pulled from Devon’s embrace to speak with her daughter, who was waiting just outside of the living quarters of Winterhold. Seeing her teenage daughter there, Jade-Li had a hard time believing that Sara-Li was so old already. It seemed as though time was just flying by. Walking further into the overhang around them, Jade-Li smiled when Sara’s eyes met with hers. “Hey, sweetheart,” she greeted kindly before placing her hand upon the young child’s shoulder to rub her there. “How are you doing this morning?”
“I’m okay,” Sara-Li answered, keeping the cape of the elder wrapped tightly about her. She felt a good deal of comfort when wrapped in the fabric that smelt so much like the lilac echidna. “I was just reading this book Lord Thunderhawk gave me.” She showed the thick tome to her mother, a bit prideful that she was finally able to read better than her own mother.
Jade-Li was happy that the leader of Winterhold had taken time out of his day to help her daughter read and write better. She felt bad that she never seemed to even have the time when they lived there in the college, as she was busy with a small store she had opened just outside of the town since nobody would bother with her goods knowing she came from the college grounds. “That’s wonderful, sweetie.” These talks were never easy, so trying to find a means to begin the talk was a challenge. “Sara-Li, can I talk to you about something, honey?”
“Yeah, mom,” said Sara-Li, as she could tell that whatever it was had to be important given her mother’s tone. “What is wrong?”
“Nothing is wrong,” Jade-Li responded, reaching her hand out for Sara to take. “Come with me. I just want to have a mother and daughter talk is all.”
Accepting her mother’s gesture, Sara-Li followed her about the courtyard of the college. She was a bit nervous about what could be on her mother’s mind. Normally they never had these talks unless something big was about to happen.
Jade-Li knew that beating around the bush wouldn’t help anything, so she did her best to get right on the subject matter. “So I heard that there’s a young boy that appears to be interested in you.”
Sara-Li never really acknowledged the advances or obvious hints by Troy. She always just assumed that the young boy was being obnoxious on purpose. “Wh-What are you talking about?” she asked, moving her periwinkle hair out of her face. “I don’t know what boy you mean.”
“Apparently, Lord Thunderhawk says that a young man named ‘Troy’ seems to have taken interest in you,” Jade-Li said with a tender smile at her daughter’s sudden blush at the name.
“T-Troy!” she exclaimed with a shake of her head. “N-No, that can’t be right…he always gripes at me whenever he can.” Sara-Li grumbled to herself. “He’s nothing but a jerk at times, so I don’t know where Thunderhawk got that idea.”
“Boys do have an interesting way of showing their love, my dear.” Jade-Li couldn’t help but smile fondly at the time she met Devon. “Your father wasn’t exactly ‘impressive’ when he was courting me. I thought he was just being a jerk as well when he knocked over the ale on my tray and got me soaked in the liquor back at my serving wench position in Marrowind. In all honesty, he wasn’t sure how to approach me, and he was nervous—causing him to flail about and accidentally knock into me. This Troy might be the same,” Jade-Li explained with a small giggle. “His words must get lost in the process of trying to speak with you, and they might come out wrong.”
Sara-Li blushed, wondering if that was true. She never really thought of Troy as anything other than that annoying brotherly type, as he did dote on her now and again. “Well, I…I never really asked him how he felt, because I didn’t think he liked me like that…”
“Whether it’s true or not, it matters not, Sara-Li. What I wanted to talk to you about is how you’re of age to start a relationship with boys,” explained Jade-Li best she could without it being too awkward. “What matters most about this sort of situation, Sara-Li, is that you only do what makes you feel comfortable. If something doesn’t feel right to you, you say ‘no’ and walk away.”
“I know, mamma,” Sara-Li said with a nod to her mother. In all honesty, she couldn’t wrap her mind around the idea that Troy even loved her.
“Also, you are the only one to decide if you are ready for a child of your own. You are old enough to make one if you give yourself to a young man completely.” Jade-Li knew her daughter was responsible, but it didn’t prevent her from digging into her pocket to pull out her own herbal birth control all the same to show to Sara-Li. “I trust you not to be intimate with a boy so soon into your teen years, but just in case, I want you to take these herbs daily. It will make sure you don’t produce any eggs with any man you sleep with.”
Sara-Li did her best to hide her wild blush at the idea of sleeping with anybody. It was still such a foreign concept, even if her parents themselves weren’t very quiet about their love making in the other room. “You don’t have to worry about that one, mom,” Sara-Li promised bashfully. “I have no interest in such things right now.”
Smiling at her child’s words, Jade-Li kissed her forehead before hugging her close. “I know I can trust you, sweetie. Just be safe, and know that your father, brother, and I are always here for you.”
“Will you hurry the hell up with that?” Ivan growled from the royal kitchen, gesturing the wooden ladle he carried to indicate what he wanted where. “I’m going to be on vacation, and I don’t want a damn thing out of order!”
Troy looked over his shoulder at the angry shouts from the polar bear before gazing back at Krine curiously. “Where is he going?”
The rabbit shrugged his shoulders with an unimpressed look as he continued to move the barrels full of lettuce carefully into place nearest to the other salad items. “He does this every now and again,” Krine grunted, as he moved to his feet after getting the barrel perfectly in place. “He’ll vacation about Skyrim and learn more from the other chefs as well as pick up ingredients along the way to further his skills as he dabbles.”
“He just…goes alone?” Troy asked, as he didn’t like the idea of the old bear venturing about a dragon infested world alone.
Krine scoffed as he worked on situating the onions and carrots next. “Can you imagine a single person in this room who can tolerate the old bear for a year on the road? Of course he goes alone! We don’t have to worry about Ivan yelling at us since he’s gone!”
While Ivan could be unbearable at times, Troy still worried about him. Excusing himself from what he was supposed to be doing, the young echidna hurried behind the polar bear to speak with him. “Ivan? Can I talk to you real quick?”
“It better be worth my time, because every second you waste talking to me, shit in this kitchen isn’t getting done,” Ivan growled, continuing at a hurried pace to make it to his bedchambers to work on packing still as he had already given everyone their orders.
“I wanted to talk to you about this trip you’re taking,” Troy said eagerly, trying to keep up with the chef best he could.
Ivan turned the nearby corridor and made it to his bedroom finally. “What of it?”
Troy wondered how he would ask such a thing. He really wanted to see what Ivan did to further his cooking skills, as he was interested in doing so with himself. “I—take me with you!” he blurted out at the doorway.
“I am not going to babysit you, Troy,” Ivan insisted, moving the items he would need into his bags he had lined about on the floor to take to the carriage just outside of Winterhold. “And if you think I need babysitting, I will show you right here and now that that is far from the truth.”
“It isn’t like that,” Troy grumbled, wishing the bear would stop thinking there was a catch to his offers. “I want to further my cooking with you, and I know the only way to do that, is to go on this trip with you…you know, more one on one time and all?”
Ivan actually paused in the shifting about of his luggage when he heard Troy say such a thing. He raised his thick, gray brow at the young echidna, wondering if the mage was serious. “Hu…never knew a dedicated mage to be so interested in cooking as well. Normally the magic pulls them in and they give up on their talent as a chef.” While he wouldn’t say out in the open to Troy, he had felt that the young boy was different from most other students he took in. Troy was driven and passionate about his ability to cook—even at a young age he was curious, and he made something so simple taste wonderful. Ivan was proud of him, but because of this, he pushed Troy the hardest.
“Alright then,” said Ivan, crossing his arms upon his round belly. “I’ll let you come with me, but you better do everything that I say, or I will leave you stranded with only a map as your means to get back home. Deal?”
Troy nodded eagerly, knowing he could practice his lightning magic along the way. “Deal! I just have to run it by Lord Thunderhawk first is all.”
“Before you do that,” began Ivan as he raised one hand to prevent the child from leaving his bedroom, “take my luggage to the carriage just outside of Winterhold College. Get it done quickly, as I still have a few other things to do, and when I am done, I will be leaving—with or without you.”
Finding time away from his paperwork, Thunderhawk was working on his archery again, as he was out of practice given his time he spent in his bedroom. Taking the perfect archery pose quickly, he eyed the practice dummy there in the courtyard before releasing the arrow without a second thought to watch as it hit the target, but off the mark he had in mind. “Damn,” he swore to himself, but his attention was soon shifted to Troy, as he heard the snow crunching underneath the boy’s feet in a hurried fashion. “What’s got you all in a rush?”
“I was coming to tell you that I was going to go with Ivan on his tour around Skyrim,” Troy said out of breath. “I was hoping this would be…okay with you?”
Thunderhawk would have asked why Troy felt he needed the jarl’s approval, but before he opened his mouth to do so, he realized that it was because Troy lacked any other father figure. Leaning upon his bow, he hummed in thought. “Well, if you’re still interested in learning lightning magic, I can lend you quite a few books to take with you.”
“Do you trust me with these books for a year’s time?” Troy wondered, as he didn’t expect Thunderhawk would give up his tomes for the young mage to read on such a long, and perhaps, dangerous journey.
“Of course I do.” Thunderhawk gestured for Troy to follow him back to the college and to his room. “Besides, if you lose them or get them damaged, I will just make you work hard to pay me back for them. I warn you though, they are quite old, so their value is high,” he lightly teased, grabbing up the ten, thick books he was thinking about.
Troy wobbled slightly in attempts to try and keep at least half of the stack in his arms. “You might want to start with this one,” said Thunderhawk. grabbing up an old emerald green, leather bound tome. “After that, it is up to your discretion.” Taking the other half of the books, the jarl headed back out of his room with Troy close behind him. “I’ll help you with these.”
Her sewing and studying supplies tied to her painted mare, Jade-Li helped her child upon the back of the steed carefully before mounting right behind her. Since Sara-Li was done with her studying and practicing, she had decided to help tend to her mother’s shop out of Winterhold. “I’m getting closer—trying to get that light blast down,” Sara-Li said with a smile to her mother. She had been practicing the technique that Thunderhawk had taught her a year ago, as the young Sara-Li had yet to get it down completely, as she lacked control over the magical attack.
Pulling gently on the reins of the mare, Jade-Li smiled down at her daughter. “I’ve noticed that, sweetie. You really have come a long way since we first arrived here.” Jade was beyond proud of her daughter. Along the way, Sara-Li had even picked up some spells to help soothe her brother’s weak lungs—making it a bit easier for Cyrus to manage in the harsh, thin winter air.
“I think Troy gave up on his defensive skill,” Sara-Li said with disappointment, “but he still at least studies and practices.”
“The boy takes on a lot of things at once, from what I’ve been told by you,” Jade-Li commented with a tender smile as the horse trucked through the snow. “I am sure he just lacks the appropriate time to really dedicate himself to one thing.”
Upon making it back to the bridge of Winterhold, Jade and Sara noticed the horse drawn carriage being loaded up by Ivan and Troy. “Speak of the devil,” Jade-Li said with a curious tilt of her head. “Looks like he appears to be going somewhere?” She wanted to point out that it appeared he was moving, but Jade-Li wasn’t sure how her daughter would take to that since Troy was the only other teen about her age that she could spend time with.
Grabbing onto the fabric of her dress, Sara-Li kept it out of her way as she hurried through the snow covered courtyard to Troy and Ivan. “Troy?” she called curiously, stopping right before the maroon furred echidna. “Where are you going? You’re not leaving…are you?”
“Only for a little while,” said Troy, curious as to why she sounded so upset about the idea. “It might be a year or so, but I am traveling around Skyrim with Ivan for a bit.”
Sara-Li couldn’t help but be a bit worried. Skyrim was full of dragons, bandits, and even worse things out there she had only read about in stories from the college’s library. “Please tell me you’ll be careful…the both of you.” When she saw Troy make that annoyed face, Sara-Li sighed and merely reached for him to hold him tightly with a kiss to his cheek. Upon hugging him, she realized how badly she didn’t want him to leave.
Troy blushed wildly at the random kiss, struggling to even think on returning the hug but eventually brought himself to doing so. “I’ll be back,” he said, a small scoff tingling on his words. “It isn’t like I am going away forever.” When she didn’t remove herself, Troy rubbed her back supportively. “I’ll keep practicing my lightning magic, and I hope to be better when I return.”
Furrowing her brow, Sara gripped tightly onto Troy’s attire for a moment before pulling back reluctantly. Inwardly, she couldn’t help but be worried she’d never see from him again. “I’ll…see you when you get back then…”
Seeing her violate eyes shine with the hint of tears, Troy sighed. “Don’t cry,” he practically pleaded. “I am not going to let anything happen to Ivan or myself. I promise!” Using his thumb, he massaged her cheek before kissing the spot nervously. A part of him had hoped he hadn’t overstepped the line, but inwardly, he had wanted to do that for awhile now without it being awkward for them. His fingers running through his own, wild white hair, he saw that she appeared alright with the kiss. “I’ll-uh-I’ll see you later then?”
Sara-Li tried not to be obvious in her movements, as she briefly brushed the spot he had kissed. Nodding at his reassurance, she walked slowly backwards to make it back towards her mother as Ivan had finally finished packing up the carriage and was about to take off. Hugging her mother tightly, the periwinkle colored echidna expelled a nasally sigh. “He says he’ll be back, mom, and I trust him.”
Jade-Li smiled down at her daughter, hugging her tightly before kissing her head. “I’m so proud of you,” she whispered, thankful that Sara-Li was handling this departure a bit better than the last, unexpected one, with Thunderhawk. “Let’s get back inside to make dinner for your father and brother, alright?” Holding her youngest close, Jade-Li ventured back to their home.