The news were delivered to Harren by a courier, and the Ruthern who was now in his late twenties, himself a father of three, and a husband too, began packing enough belongings for a brief stay at Vidaus to mourn their father.
The carriage left Providence on a quiet morning of the summer month of Vzmey and Hyff, and drove through fertile, lush fields, that were growing all around the Orenian capital, before it carried on into deeper forests, with grand trees standing with their proud green leaves, before it finally came near the colder parts of Almaris, reaching up to the beginning of the Rimeveld as it finally arrived at Vidaus.
As he began up the steps, and finally stepped through the gates of the keep, it felt largely unfamiliar to him. His older brother, Ailred, had done some renovations through the years, and the absence of most of his family, parents, siblings, et cetera., made him feel more unwelcome than he ever had before in the place of his birth.
He began to meander through the halls of Druzstrat. First, he came to a painting of a young blonde woman and a young raven-haired man. They were both dressed in wedding clothes, it was, after all, his parent’s wedding in 352 E.S. Maric looked happier in that painting than Harren had ever seen him, despite all that their family had achieved in the meantime.
Down the corridor hung another painting, painted on the beaches of Sutica. There was Maric, cheerfully holding some sort of ball in his hands, while Ailred, Antonina, Tatiana, Harren, and Mikhail crowded around their mother, who was holding Marjorie as a babe. He didn’t remember the trip himself, but could tell it dated back to 358 E.S., the same year Marjorie was born.
The painting that followed immediately after was more familiar, while the location had been the exact same. They were all older, he must’ve been around seven back then. Him and Ailred were kicking a ball around, Antonina and Tatiana were arguing. Marjorie was watching her older siblings, and Mikhal was nowhere to be found. Mother looked like she was having trouble standing, and Maric generously aided her with a concerned expression. While he only remembered tidbits of the vacation, the tragedy that came not many days after they arrived stuck much more to his conscience, just as it had when he was older.
He couldn’t bear looking at the next painting for very long. It was too grim, much too sad for a man of his usually cheerful demeanour. Children should never have to go to a funeral of one of their parents so young, especially not when their father would be appointed Lord Palatine, effectively leaving the children to their own devices with a group of poor servants and tutors, who could barely keep track of one of them at a time.
Then came a painting to lighten the mood a lot, it was from Spirit’s Eve of 368 E.S. Maric had dressed himself up as an orc, and followed his children around diligently. Ailred had proclaimed the entire festival to be heathenry, and, of course, refused to dress up for it. Antonina and Mikhail had both stayed at home, which had left Harren and Tatiana as the two only properly dressed up for it. Marjorie was crying somewhere, because her older siblings had refused to let her dress with them.
The corridor of paintings wasn’t much longer than that, as being Lord Palatine had gotten harder for his father, he had stopped commissioning paintings of the family. Though, Harren had maintained the tradition for his own family, and now eagerly awaited walking through that corridor in Oren.
As he was about to open the door to his room, Harren recalled an obsession from his youth, and made it out on one of the balconies, where his two old cannons still stood. Whether or not Harren shed any tears that night was unsure, nevertheless, the sound of two cannons firing from Vidaus rang throughout the entire kingdom.