I Know You...

DragonSong · October 04, 2023, 12:58:27 PM

"What?!" Nani shot upright, just barely missing smacking her head against the underside of Brunhilda's belly. Luckily, the cow was a placid creature and only made a mild noise of protest, which was quickly mollified when Nani patted her side in apology.

"I--I'd read that word before, Paladin, but I didn't realize...you're saying you're my...my Charge?" She blinked, trying to process that. She still wasn't sure she entirely understood what Paladin meant, and then to be told that--well, she was responsible for someone else's life!

But it made sense, in a strange, nonsensical way. Her dream had always had an undercurrent of urgency, of protectiveness. She just hadn't quite put it together.

MadEmperor · October 04, 2023, 01:25:01 PM

"How do you think I feel? Apparently I can't protect myself as well as some random islander can. Aren't your people pacifists of some sort? Do you even know how to fight?" Ein was flailing, trying to find a reason to bury his head in the sand. He didn't even realize he had put the smallest crack in his 'simple farmer' identity.

DragonSong · October 04, 2023, 01:40:42 PM

"Of course I don't!" Nani snapped back, growing frustrated herself. In all the time she had been searching, she hadn't ever really let herself feel this part of it. How--how unfair it seemed. She hadn't asked for this! She'd just been picked by some sort of cosmic force, and now apparently so had he.

Or, rather, he had been picked before her? Stars and seas, this was confusing.

She struggled to calm herself, taking a few deep breaths as her mentor had taught her: in for three, hold for five, out for seven...

"I am not a fighter," she said, voice soft and even again. "But...there are other ways to offer protection. Other kinds of strength. Perhaps that is what it means?" She gestured a little helplessly at the book he still held. "Does it say the--the Paladin has to serve as...well, as a glorified bodyguard, I suppose?"

MadEmperor · October 04, 2023, 01:53:31 PM

He looked further. "That's usually the case, but it looks like they've also been advisors to kings and tacticians to generals."

He sighed. "If they've ever been farmhands, it wasn't interesting enough to write down."

DragonSong · October 04, 2023, 02:17:57 PM

Advisors and tacticians.

She was certainly not qualified for any of this.

Nani sank back onto the milking stool with a sigh. Chuckling wryly at his observation about the lack of mention of farmhand Paladins, she agreed, "I suppose that isn't exactly the stuff songs are made of."

She frowned and looked up at him. "Wait—what do the Charges do? I mean—does it saying anything about why someone would need a Paladin?"

MadEmperor · October 04, 2023, 02:43:16 PM

"Nothing specific enough to be helpful. Just vague nonsense about affecting the world in some way. I assume for better but it's not clear on that either. Just that they're supposed to live and do these things. And there are theories that some other force is working against them."

"Because that's just what I need," he said sarcastically, "an evil force that wants me dead."

DragonSong · October 04, 2023, 03:31:19 PM

"Oh dear." She exhaled slowly and rubbed at her temple; she could feel a headache coming on.

Moving one bucket aside, she collected the next and continued milking. It was oddly soothing, to have the repetitive motion while she tried to process all these revelations.

"Do you...have any idea what it is you might be meant to do?"

MadEmperor · October 04, 2023, 04:25:11 PM

"Not a single gods-damned clue," he fumed directionlessly, causing the cows to gently protest.

"I've never made a single person's life any easier. So, what insane god decided I was worth protecting?" His anger had devolved into self-loathing with an efficiency that suggested this was far from the first time he had questioned his worth.

DragonSong · October 04, 2023, 04:49:04 PM

Nani sighed, rubbing at her eyes with the heels of her palms. "I don't know that it is a god," she mumbled. "I—I don't know much of anything..."

She looked up at him again, chest tight and stomach sinking at his clear distress. She didn't think he would welcome her prying, and so all she could think to say was, "I...I'm sorry, Ein."

MadEmperor · October 05, 2023, 07:36:15 AM

He handed her the book, unable to stand looking at it for another moment. "I... need to think about this..." he said, abruptly leaving with chores undone.

He couldn't say how long he had been sitting on his porch, gently stroking his farm dog's back as he watched the wind blow through the wheatfield. If the book were to be believed, his simple life as a farmer was doomed to come to an end sooner rather than later. Some fate that would have killed him would undoubtedly upend everything he had built with his own two hands. In all likelihood, it would be his past coming back to bite him. He wasn't ready to give it up, not without a fight.

DragonSong · October 05, 2023, 08:03:10 AM

Nani didn't know what to do. Her mind was whirling, turning over all the new information, all the possibilities--both good and bad--that suddenly seemed to have opened before her.

Well, before them.

With few other ideas of just what she could do to be most useful, she continued milking. She was slow at the work, rather preoccupied with her own thoughts, but eventually made her way back to the farmhouse with the buckets.

She hesitated a moment when she saw Ein on the porch before approaching slowly. She set the buckets down just beside the stairs, then seated herself on the lowest step.

She smiled slightly that the dog he was petting and carefully stretched out a hand for the animal to sniff.

"...What's his name?"

MadEmperor · October 05, 2023, 08:42:08 AM

"Vander," Ein answered. He sometimes wondered if it was too morose, but he had named the dog after the boy he thoughtlessly sentenced to death as a reminder of what he had done. Not that it wasn't already always on his mind. At least, it let him keep some small part of the boy alive.

"He's a very good dog."

DragonSong · October 05, 2023, 08:50:11 AM

Nani smiled when the animal darted his tongue out to flick across her knuckles. "I'm sure he is." She rubbed the dog's ears, going quiet again for several moments.

Finally, she said softly, "I don't...I won't pretend I understand this. Any of it." She shook her head with a low exhale. "But I came here for a reason. I don't think I can go back, not with this--whatever it is--unfinished."

She looked up at him, expression open and vulnerable. "I don't know what to do. But...but I can milk cows, and feed chickens, and help in the field. And...maybe, for now...that might be enough?"

MadEmperor · October 05, 2023, 09:09:22 AM

He was quiet for a long moment before finally responding. "And what if whatever bad luck or worse is taking Charges out decides to come for me? What then?"

The last thing he wanted was to tell her about his past, but if she was really going to help... he would eventually have to.

DragonSong · October 05, 2023, 09:17:02 AM

"Then..." She exhaled heavily, drawing one knee up toward her chest and wrapping an arm around it. "Then I suppose we deal with that when it comes. And maybe...maybe that will tell us what we are supposed to do next. Why you need a Paladin, what it is you are meant to do."

MadEmperor · October 05, 2023, 09:36:41 AM

"Perhaps. I can only think of reasons I'm not worthy of this."

He sighed, looking down at his feet. "... I'm not a good person, Nani. "

DragonSong · October 05, 2023, 09:48:13 AM

She frowned slightly.

"...Is anyone?"

Glancing up at him, she shrugged slightly and elaborated, "We are all capable of good and evil deeds. I've always been taught that what matters is what we do."

MadEmperor · October 05, 2023, 11:32:34 AM

After a moment, he straightened up with a sigh. He turned his head to let his bright, orange eyes bore into hers. There was resolve in them.

"You're right. And feeling sorry for myself certainly isn't helping anyone."

He looked back at Vander, giving him a good scratch behind the ears. "Maybe I'm doing this all wrong, hiding on this farm while the world goes by. I just didn't know what else to do with my life."

DragonSong · October 05, 2023, 11:36:22 AM

"You weren't...born to this, then?" Nani asked carefully. Her limited experience on the mainland had led her to expect that there were certain occupations--like farming--that were almost inherited rather than chosen.

It didn't sound like that had been the case with Einhardt--but despite the revelations of how they were connected, she didn't want to make him uncomfortable by prying.

MadEmperor · October 05, 2023, 12:09:15 PM

"No, I wasn't. I lived on a farm for a few years as a kid, but I wasn't born to it. I was gone the first chance I got," Ein answered.

"So, it was the only thing I knew I could fall back on after..." He clammed up before saying anything else. Having never had anyone he could confide in, it had almost spilled right out of him.