Changes: The Band pt: 2
The next day, Soletus looked over his inventory calculations. His band, small at the moment and they weren’t on regular patrol. Eventually, they would do daily short patrols and a three-day-long patrol on their given section of the road. On their three-day-long patrol was a regular route going far to the east and then back west again. They needed supplies for those three days, as well as a few daily ones. He was calculating what they would need for their upcoming patrol.
He was also in the master’s hall, in case someone would come to see him. He Doran to be that person to come talk to him if he changed his mind. Despite what his father suggested, he wasn’t going to chase him down. Soletus wanted him to come to him now. Neutral ground was a better strategy, but that wouldn’t work for Doran when he was clearly hiding. Tyrus likely had whatever that needed working out with his sister should be aided by the women’s society. There was another reason too, why he sat there. His presence needed to be gotten used too.
Soletus sat at his desk, debating if he needed to ask Mien to come with them for their next three-day patrol. Sometimes the young chanter didn’t. He may go on a daily patrol, but not a long patrol unless there was a drass beast in the area. The only way he could determine that was reading the bulletin to see if there were any reports of drass beasts in the area. He sat in concentrated thought when someone plopped down in the chair in front of him. He saw the soles of two boots settle on the edge of the desk.
Soletus contained his sigh and pulled open the top drawer of his desk and removed a cloth from the corner. He tossed it on top of Tyrus’ boot.
“Please wipe the edge of the desk before you leave if you don’t want our first warden to flay you.”
Tyrus remained still and said, “You know what Mara told me today, that I was different.” Soletus lifted his head and regarded him fully. That was a strategy he learned from Brother Hickory. It was to make it clear that he was listening.
“I tried to talk to her like you said, and that is what she told me. She was disgusted with me because I’m not muddy enough anymore.”
“Not muddy enough?”
“I’ve been around you rabbits too long,” he said. “I don’t have any real muddy left in me. Told me I looked too much like a damn elf. I always have. That’s not new.”
Tyrus was a half-elf even though he was technically only a quarter human. His bronze-colored hair, tall pointed ears, and moss-green eyes passed as elf. His sisters, well, they clearly took more after their mother. They shared the same hair color, but they had rounded ears with eyes that gave half-elves the name, “muddy” were brown. That meant they had a harder time in the world.
“In fact, she’s calling me Rabbit now. Titfire, I wish she never came. Kit’s fine. Being here will help her. Maybe she’ll speak again.”
“I’m sorry, I don’t have a solution for you other than to provide you with something more than just a few mats and actual cots. I thought all the co-homes came with beds.”
“Forget about the beds. Can’t I just have a dorm room again? I don’t even want to live with her,” he muttered.
“I guess that’s why you’re here?”
He nodded.
“So, you want something to do?”
“Anything to keep me from going back to that stupid house.”
“Talk to Doran for me. Papa wants him in the band.”
Tyrus’ shoulders sagged. “Aww come on. Why? Aren’t you still enjoying the symbolism of him cleaning up horse turds all day?”
Soletus in fact did, but this was beyond his personal feelings. “Just get him to come in here, to talk to me. That’s all I want. I’ll figure the rest out.”
“Why you don’t ask Fenris. He’s in the band too.”
“Fenris doesn’t know Doran, you do.”
“It’s like you’re trying to make me your assistant,” said Tyrus, lifting his feet off the desk and grabbed the cloth. He wiped the edge free from even a smudge. He looked up in time to see the wide grin on that Soletus plastered on his face.
“Titefire, isn’t Mien your friend?”
“Mien isn’t always going to be with us,” he said, holding his palm out for the cloth. Tyrus tossed it at his face. Soletus caught it in the air before it did. “I trust you. I think you’ve a lot of potential.”
Tyrus scowled. “Don’t you start that nonsense. I’m not here to rank. I just want my coin.”
“Sure, you can do that. But you can do more.”
Soletus didn’t expect Tyrus to become flustered.
“L-l-look, aren’t there a bunch of you generational types your age fighting to be in your position? Shouldn’t you be lookin’ at them?”
“No,” said Soleus. “They weren’t in Kellas’ band. I want someone I can trust to delegate something I need to do, but am ill,-equipped because I’m biased.”
“I’m biased too!”
“But you know just because you’re a half-elf, doesn’t mean you need to be a muddy bastard. Just because he’s a literal bastard doesn’t mean he needs to accept being one and hiding in the stable shoveling horse turds all day.”
Tyrus gave him a wry smile as he stood. “Bein’ a second warden fits you too much.”
“And I hate it,” said Soletus as he watched Tyrus walk away. He needed to leave too and before he stood up, Second Warden Ealdred left the other seconds he was speaking too and strolled towards him.
Soletus braced himself for whatever comment or criticism that could come his way and pushed a light smile on his face. “You need something?”
Ealdred sat on the corner of the desk. “Nothing, I’ve been waiting to check up on you. You often come here, do your work, and leave.”
“I’m here to work,” he said mildly. He was trying to avoid confrontations between him and the senior wardens around him. Many of them didn’t like his promotion.
“Certainly, but it doesn’t hurt to be a little social. You’re getting to be a little too much like your father,” he said.
“I can’t imagine why,” he said, and then thought better of the sardonic tone he used. Part of him didn’t like how surly he was becoming.
Ealdred remained disarming. “I know why you’ve become so guarded. But you don’t have to bristle around me. Would it help if I say from spending time with you, I’m not surprised that you are neth, and that’s acceptable?”
The young monk sunk back in his chair. He was a little surprised.
“We aren’t all made the same. We all have something different to give,” he said.
That eased Soletus a little, but then he wasn’t certain if he was sincere.
“I’ve always believed you had potential. And you could very well be what this order needs. Looking at the way you handled Tyrus, I think you are going to do fine as a second.”
Soletus knew Ealdred wasn’t one of the grumblers. He gave him a chance when others wanted to give up. It was just him, and Tyr treated him like he was an idiot. Though between him and Tyr, Ealdred was the least judgmental. He was always trying to help. He probably was then.
Soletus let down his guard. “Sure, but everyone thinks my promotion isn’t deserved and some days I feel like. I’m just some experiment that everyone is waiting to fail.”
“You know I’m all for experiments,” said Ealdred. “And promotions aren’t always given because you’ve done something grand. This is more about your capabilities and needing to push you. We all have to start somewhere, and this is something you can do.”
“I know it is,” he said. “Keep a log of everything, easy. Deal with people, well that’s easy if other people want to make it easy.”
“If you were less guarded, it would help.”
“I’m working on it. It probably doesn’t show or everyone would stop mentioning it by now.”
“No, it’s understandable, as I said. We, and by that, I mean those who care, don’t want you sinking into it. You have particular traits we want you to show more of.”
“Like, being stubborn?”
Ealdred laughed. “You were a senior among the junior wardens for a reason. You were helpful. Though you might’ve not always known what to do, but you steered them where they needed to go. Kellas did a poor job of honing those skills. Besides, this could also improve your handwriting.”
Soletus looked down. His handwriting wasn’t bad. It was simple and lacked artistry. “It’s legible. That’s all it matters.”
“It could be better. Your father has excellent handwriting.”
Soletus sighed. “That’s because when he was a cur, he would practice lettering to pass the time and taught himself artisan calligraphy. As a boy, he tried to show me how to do it but, I could never do it.”
Ealdred chuckled. “We used to have a warden here who thought Oeric to be uneducated because of his scars and speech. Oeric and him work together, exchanging messages during a mission. Every time he wrote a message, it was in this elegant, but very readable script, Not a misspelled word or missing punctuation. Even corrected errors in the messages he received to make a point. The warden said nothing about his ability to communicate after that.”
Soletus would have to ask his father about that just to hear his side of it. He knew it should be hilarious.
“Anyway, I just want to put it out there that I’m here to help you if you need it. Us second wardens need to stick together.”
He patted Soletus on the shoulder and stood up to leave.
“Actually, Sir-”
“Ealdred. We’re equals.”
That lifted Soletus’s spirits, and he gestured over to the bulletin. “Are the reports up from yesterday? I need to know for the eastern bound road.”
Ealdred walked over. “There is a bulletin. Three sheep were attacked by a drass beast. I suppose your father has something to look into on your long patrol, yes?”
Soletus nodded. “Good. Mien gets to go out with us. If not him, I’ll have to see about Nimbus,” he said, standing to his feet and gathering his papers into a neat pile. He slid them into the drawer at the top of the desk. “Thank you.”
“No problem,” said Ealdred.
Soletus then left to go to the infirmary. His second warden status allowed him to roam the grounds without a lot of questions. He could visit his friends without looking as if he was slacking off with ease as long as they weren’t busy. Before he could get there, he heard terse raised voices between the gap between the main building and the boy’s dorm. It sounded like fighting. He made an u-turn and headed towards the shouting. Behind the bushes, he saw a group of tods kicking at what appeared to be someone on the ground.
“Hey,” he shouted and charged at them.
Like a bunch of mice, they scattered. Soletus could’ve chased after them if not for the groaning form unfurling himself in the dirt. Soletus bent over them.
“Hey, you okay?” he asked. They sprawled out on their stomach and pushed their chest off the ground with only their right arm. Their left was curled around their torso. Soletus took hold of them and pulled them up right.
“Do you need the infirmary?”
They struggled and stumbled to get away from him. They whirled around. It was Espen.
Author’s Commentary: Sorry for the long radio silence. I’ve been editing for two years now and my brain can’t handle it anymore. I took a bit of a break and decided to work on some of the Archive while I’m taking a break from my new novel. Eventually, I’m going to remove the Archive from here. I already have the manuscript uploaded for Hy’Ruh’Ha on Campfire. All the novels are being renamed. Basically, I’m trying to get the series prepared to be like a series that I didn’t plan for it to be.
Hy’Ruh-Ha-Begin the Path (Release on Campfire Soon)
Crossroads Of Crossroads (At some point later this year)
Edict-Chanter’s Edict- TBA
Changes - Hand of Change - TBA
-The Light in the Dark -TBA
Eroden(Who knows when I will actually restart this novel)
These title changes will make sense when Begin the Path is released. As of right now, I’m exclusively releasing on Campfire at the moment. I will likely include Smashwords. If I release on Amazon, it will not be KU. My only issue if I release it on Amazon, the novel will have to have a price on it. I prefer the Archive to stay accessible and free.