A Most Crucial Departure

[ExtraTea 2]

"It is time you held the flame in which your children may one day follow, my dear son.

 

A Most Crucial Departure

(a collection of thoughts, happening, writings and poems from Johun’s story to give you an idea of his past)

 

Spoiler

 

Journal Entry, Malin’s Welcome, the day of Gavon’s departure.

 

 

My father had left. After nineteen years to this day he has led me everywhere I have known and seen. My father had been raised with bones and blood, and arrows and sticks, yet he had not shown remorse or regret for those years past. He grasped embers and brands like they hadn't seen the light yet, cold to the touch it seemed. His hands are thick, like the bark of a tall, old tree. His faithful reliance on the warmth of the flame, I seldom slept without it's glow. I seldom slept without its guidance. Since his most crucial departure, I have found more than blessings and insights. The gods, they speak to me in the twilight, in the depths of my dreams. They speak to me at rest, and the air warms with each word. Stoking the flame each day and each night, grasping to its repentance for forgiving my mothers holy undoing. May the Long Dark find her when the time is right.

 

Journal Entry, Malin’s Welcome, on year after Gavon’s departure.

 

My father had left. One year ago today. My father had been raised from discipline, he was a man of honour and respect, not bestowed from other people, but honoured in the eyes of Mother Nature. He taught me how to hunt and how to truly take a life, granting the departed a peaceful end. I last saw him kill when he sent an oak and flint arrow through the chest of a doe, an arrow I'd whittled myself on that day. As swift as the arrow flew he ran for the marked animal, slit its throat, and hunched over it, peacefully praying. We skinned and gutted the doe and cooked it's meat over a flame my father had carefully kindled. It's hide hung over a makeshift rack, assembled from the branches of a Mountain Ash. A peaceful breeze scattered the smoke and sparkling embers among the trees, with a charred and inviting smell coming from the cooking Venison, I remember this night clearly. It was a calm and mild Amber Cold evening, there was scheduled to be a boat leaving Varhelm on Snow's Maiden, with traders and buyers who might appreciate a few pelts, so we hunted for the whole of The Deep Cold, and hiked4 back to Varhelm that evening, stopping at an Inn until dawn broke. Gavon met with his brother who I'd only met a few times since my Mother left. They sipped on mugs at the Inn until midday on the Snow's Maiden and I sat and whittled arrow shafts from a bundle of branches I picked up on the walk back. They spoke in a strange language I don't think I'd heard before, both leaning in and keeping their voices hush, close to the bar. I didn't know this would be nearing the end of my fathers presence in my life.  

Thenet and Gavon talk, Malin’s Welcome.

 

OOC: (this section is meta, only Thenet and Gavon know the contents of this conversation, but it will give you an idea of this character's backstory, Johun doesn't know any of this yet.)

 

*Spoke in Lakian*

"These pelts are as dry as the bones it once wrapped Gavon, how will you sell them to the men on those boats?" Thenet frowns with a slight snort of a laugh,

"This bag," he pats the leather satchel and looks at Johun briefly,

"They'll never know that the pelts are useless, and they'll sell for a good few Mina if I can fool them.."

Thenet nods and scrunches his face as he thinks of a response. Good game is lacking, as other more ferocious and less respectful hunters plague the surrounding forests. These pelts were from an older deer, less valuable.

"A risk is not worth its weight in blood if you cannot give me a good reason for this decision, you know these traders don't play with steel for fun, I don't have the patience to-"

Gavon cut him short

"Listen, I mean to sell these last pelts and leave.. Johun can hold his own now" Gavon looks at his hands, then rubs his chin nervously. Thenet knew his brother as a lacking father at times, but he never thought Gavon would leave his son, or risk death to do so. Thenet stares at Gavon, as he sits back in his chair, tapping the bar with his fingers.

"Gavon, what of the boy?!" He leans in closer now, and in a whispered urgency, "give me strength to understand your conclusion... Does the Father not heed your sin?" Thenet grabs Gavon's hands as if he were praying and shakes him, an attempt to rattle the man out of his delusion. 

"The Father has abandoned me Thenet, god knows the boy will find a way, I need to leave this place, I cannot support him.. and..." Gavon struggles for excuses.

"Is it Seigrit? Has she been sending you letters again? Do not fall for her bewitched nonsense Gavon."

Gavon shakes his head, his lies were crystal clear, he was talking to his brother after all.

"She left with that lump of a man Gane, do you forget?" Thenet's tone turning deep and demanding, his eyes narrowing as he analyses Gavon's expression..

"It is not Seigrit, I have other matters to attend to also" Gavon says, puffing out his chest slightly, defensively.

"Seigrit has repented" he adds.

"Do as you wish then Gavon, I am but your brother, in blood. If my words cannot sway your stupidity then I fear nothing will cure you" Thenet stands and throws a few Minas on the bar, nodding to the keep.

"That boy is fragile yet, and your leaving will only push him further, in which direction, only The Father knows." He looks at his brother for a few seconds, and shakes his head leaving without a goodbye, Gavon sits and twiddles his fingers, left speechless and pondering.

 

 

Edited December 9, 2021 by ExtraTea