Amory couldn’t help the small tears when Adam showed him the cottage. It was made of stone, with one large front room, and two smaller rooms towards the back.
Adam told him one was a kitchen, while the other was meant to be a bedroom or study. Upstairs, there were four rooms that were bedrooms. Lyanna crawled up the stairs and laughed, pointing at the door at the top of the stairs, “Mine!”
“Okay Lyanna,” Destiny responded, placing James down so he could crawl, “We’ll get it figured out.”
Amory watched his niece and nephew crawl around the home, not even objecting when Destiny took Henry from him. Adam wrapped an arm around his shoulders, “How are you feeling?”
“I don’t-I don’t know.”
“Perhaps you’ll feel better after you get settled in. Once everything calms down it’ll likely feel better,” Adam’s kind dark eyes stared into Amory’s silver ones, “Destiny said she’ll stay with you if it makes you feel better.”
“If she truly doesn’t mind. It’ll be helpful to have someone watch the little ones while I get everything sorted.”
Adam nodded and walked back to the door to speak with Seera, leaving Amory to walk upstairs. There was a landing at the top of the stairs that overlooked downstairs, with three doors along the edge of the landing. The fourth was further back and Amory walked to that one.
It was small with a square window overlooking the tribe. He stood at it, watching everyone walk around and work in the fields.
“How are you, Amory?”
“I’m okay I think,” Amory turned to Destiny, sighing, “I can’t figure out if I’m sad or not. I just feel-”
“Numb,” Destiny finished for him, “I know. It’ll hit you eventually, and we’ll be there when it does. You’ll heal and learn to live.”
“You make it sound so simple.”
Destiny shrugged, looking around the room herself. She smiled as a thought hit her, “You want this to be your room don’t you?”
“Well, Lyanna already choose hers. I plan to have her and James stay in the same room, then Anya and Michealson in another. Eventually, Henry will join the youngest two. This makes sense.”
“Of course you choose the smallest room. Even unintentionally you take care of others before yourself.”
Amory laughed, shrugging, “It’s simple. I like it.”
Destiny nodded, lifting her skirts a bit and dropping into a deep curtsy, “I leave your highness to settle in. I will look after Lady Lyanna, Lord James, and Lord Henry.”
“Thank you very much, Lady Destiny,” Amory bowed to her, laughing under his breath a bit as she smirked and walked away. His head spun for a second before he took a deep breath and went back downstairs, eyes traveling from their cargo to where Destiny had taken the children outside.
Seera noticed his look, “They are alright. My husband is out there as well.”
“Thank you, ma’am,” Amory moved to the trunks, picking up Lyannas before pausing, “Is there anything you need me to do? I should have almost everything in order by tomorrow, so I can help if needed.”
“I know Dawn wouldn’t mind having you help her in the orchards and berry fields, and it would amuse the children. But do not rush yourself and stop calling me ma’am. This isn’t Atlantis where everything must be perfect and polite. You are allowed to call me by my name.”
“I apologize, it’s what my brother taught me,” Amory nodded his head to her, then carried Lyanna’s trunk upstairs. Then he brought Jame’s trunk up, placing it on the other side of the door.
Then he brought Henry’s and his trunk to the room he planned to sleep in. The other trunks were full of books and supplies and he stashed them in the downstairs room for a moment.
It was evening when he was done, and Destiny was in the kitchen taking food out of the basket her sister had dropped off. Lyanna and James sat by the fireplace, looking through a picture book for the tenth time.
—-----
He sat on the step of the porch, staring up at the stars. Lyanna, James, and Henry slept soundly inside. Destiny was sitting on the porch bench behind him, quietly knitting some thread together.
Suddenly he found the courage to speak to her, “What are you knitting?”
“Some lace. Figured it would be nice to have some when Anya and Lyanna grow up,” he heard her come closer and felt her sit down on the step next to him, “Perhaps even Nina would like some. If not, then I can make a long dress for my mother.”
“You plan on introducing Atlantis fashion to your people. Doubt they would like it.”
Destiny laughed, no doubt comparing the stiff dresses of Atlantis to the simple dresses of her tribe, “Well they’re probably going to like a long dress. It’s simple, but can look quite lovely and fits all seasons.”
“Didn’t know you were into fashion.”
“I’m the daughter of a prominent sailor. I had to know about fashion in order to get along with the girls in my classes.”
Amory hummed, still staring up at the sky. Occasionally shooting stars appeared and Amory watched as the moon slowly rose.
Destiny stood, opened the door, and grabbed Amory’s hand, “Come on. It’s time for bed.”
“I wanna watch the stars.”
“You still need to sleep, Amory,” she helped him stand up and led him inside. The fire had died down a bit and the children were still asleep in front of it. Destiny added another log in the fire before turning to Amory, “Lie down. We need energy for tomorrow.”
He did, watching as she lay down next to him, as she faced him with her kind violet eyes. Amory grabbed her hand, thumb running over the back of it as if he couldn’t believe she was truly there.
Destiny just smiled and squeezed his hand, closing her eyes to drift off to sleep. Amory did the same, doubting it would be peaceful.
—----
Sometimes Amory hated being right. It used to be a source of pleasure for him, always happy to look up at Adrian and speak with him.
But now he hated it. As predicted he barely slept the night before and now walked slowly behind Lyanna and James, Destiny next to him as she carried Henry.
A woman with long light brown hair stood there with baskets in her hands, her smile wide, “Hello little sister. How are you?”
“I’m well Dawn. Meet my friends, Prince Amory, Lady Lyanna, and the Lords James and Henry.”
“Well hello,” Dawn curtsied shallowly, eyes the same shade as her sisters, “You here to help pick berries?”
Lyanna gasped, turning to her uncle, “Berry? Amor, berry!”
“Yes, we’re here to pick berries and help you,” Amory took his youngest nephew from Destiny’s arms, “Although Lyanna may eat more than she picks.”
“That’s alright. We have plenty,” Dawn handed Lyanna and James small baskets and pointed towards the orchards, “The bushes are in there, little ones. Go on and pick some berries.”
Amory watched them run off and accepted the basket given to him, nodding to Destiny as she went to join her mother. Dawn led him into the orchard, walking to a cherry tree.
“I thought your people never had interactions with others except for sailors. How did you get cherries?”
“The sailors that married us would bring seeds back. It’s how we got most of our berries, fruit trees, and garden vegetables. Before that we apparently just ate fish and nuts.”
“Sounds nice,” Amory reached up to pick from an apple tree, placing it in the basket, “Well, now you can make jams and preserves. It’ll taste good on bread during winter.”
“Jams?”
“Yea, boiling the fruit down, adding something to sweeten it, and sealing it. Should last all winter if you never open it,” he placed another apple in his basket and turned to Dawn, “Have you never eaten jam before?”
“Not that I know of. We dry it, store it in closing baskets, then add water to make a paste to eat. Some don’t taste good unless you bake them though.”
“Jam is similar, you just don’t need to add water to use it,” at this point his basket was full and he looked around, “What do I do with this?”
Dawn looked at him, picking her last cherry, “Oh, we put them in these larger baskets. And once we’re done we take it to the stone kitchen to dry.”
Amory nodded, emptying his basket, stroking Henry’s hair, and picking more apples. They went on like this all day, Lyanna and James running back every once in a while to empty their own baskets.
By the time they were done for the day Lyanna’s face was covered in berry juice. James had some on his face as well, but not as bad as his sister.
Amory sighed, “Lya, you’re supposed to pick the berries. Not eat them.”
Lyanna giggled and Dawn leaned down, using her apron to wipe Lyanna’s mouth, “There. Now let’s get to the kitchen.”
Dawn waved over some other people, and they took some of the baskets while Amory and Dawn each took one. Lyanna and her brother skipped ahead, both giggling as they were led into the stone hut at the edge of the village.
It smelled of earth and fruit. There was a large fireplace at the end with various pots over it. All were filled with something boiling and steaming.
Next to it was a stone cylinder. When someone opened it he could see hot coals on the bottom, middle, and top. In between sat stone plates filled with what looked like fruit and berries.
Dawn spoke to some of the people there while Lyanna tagged behind one woman, James behind her. Amory sighed, suddenly unable to stay in the room.
He hurried outside, hand pressed against his mouth as he leaned against the wall. In his arms Henry fussed at the sudden jolt, not understanding that his uncle could barely comprehend what was going on around him.
It felt like the world was spinning. He could barely feel anything, not even the wall he was leaning on. The only weight he could feel was Henry, the only sound he could hear was his nephew crying.
And soon that was gone. Something took Henry from his arms and no matter how hard he tried he just wasn’t strong enough to keep whatever it was from taking his nephew from him.
Distantly, he knew someone was speaking. Some part of him knew he was in the tribe and not falling. A larger part said otherwise.
Everything spun faster, then faded to black.
Comments (0)
See all