The trio were well on their way to Carborough. They anticipated arriving there within the day. The clouds in the sky had looked ominous all morning but the heavens opened dramatically upon them as they were on the road. A little drizzle would have been tolerable, but the torrential downpour forced them to seek shelter as the solid earth turned to muddy slush. It wasn't worth the risk to the horses to keep going.
Tamlen spotted a rocky outcrop which would comfortably fit all of them and the horses. They took shelter underneath, all three trying to shake the water from their capes in the dry space.
"How long do you think it will last?" Enquired Olya.
Havi shrugged. "Could be minutes, could be hours, unless our resident scholar has a means to make it stop?" He jokingly asked Tamlen.
Tamlen snorted with light-hearted derision.
"If I could command that kind of power, I would have already done so."
Olya half smiled. "Guess we got some time to kill."
"Any ideas on how? Not a lot of room for activity under here." Tamlen observed.
"I might have a few ideas." Havi suggested with a wink.
It earned a smirk from the other two. But Olya proposed an alternative.
"How about a story?"
Havi raised an eyebrow.
"Anything in particular?"
"Before I left the Abbey, the Abbess...Lorana told me to ask how the two of you met...seems like we have time for that now." She suggested.
Havi seemed amused.
"We met at a sort of job interview."
"A job interview?" She queried.
He continued.
"A bit of an unusual job interview, I will concede. About thirty-five-ish years ago I travelled to the Eastern Mountains to participate in a tournament that had been advertised far and wide. There was an enormous amount of gold on offer as the prize. A tournament held by House Ouranios."
"That's my mother's family?" She interrupted.
"Yup, they wanted the best warriors around to come and compete for the crowds. I saw it as a good way to make enough gold that would last me years. When I got there, it was cutthroats, pompous knights and a lone young battle mage."
"Lorana." She interrupted again.
He grinned.
"She was treated with so much disrespect by the other contenders until the first heat, when she completely trounced all her competitors with nary a sweat..."
Olya smiled at the thought.
"...same as me."
He boasted with a smile.
"By the time we'd reached the grand melee, which is a fancy term for a free for all. The other competitors had formed alliances to take the both of us out and were willing to be sneaky to do it. Instead of me and Lorana having to constantly be on guard against the literal knives they were trying to stab into our backs...we agreed to watch each others'. We fought until we were the last two standing. Instead of us fighting each other we agreed to split the prize money out of mutual respect. When we went to collect our prize, it was revealed the whole thing had been a means to find a new bodyguard for the youngest member of the Ouranios family. They offered us both the job and we said yes. The salary was beyond exorbitant..."
"Who were you asked to protect?" She asked.
He answered. "Your mother. At age 5. When I first met her all I could think was... 'What an obnoxious brat'."
Olya gave him a withering look.
"You can't have kept that opinion..."
He chuckled.
"No, eventually she grew on me...like a tumour."
Olya's look escalated to a full glare.
Havi laughed.
"In all seriousness, I grew to love her like a daughter. Wouldn't have agreed to let them magically brand me if I wasn't committed to keeping her safe."
Tamlen perked up. "You have a magical brand? I don't remember seeing one?"
Olya chimed in. "Where is it?"
Havi chuckled. "It's on my back near my shoulder. A location that neither of you paid much attention to when I didn't have any clothes on."
Both Tamlen and Olya smirked, looking a bit sheepish.
"Lorana has one too and your mother had the dominant mark. So me and Lorana can communicate with each other and your mother can open contact if she wishes. They were given as a way to assist protecting your mother. Back when they cared about keeping her safe."
"What does that mean?" Asked Olya.
Havi clarified. "As soon as they handed your mother over to your father, they ceased to give a single shit. They got what they wanted from the bargain, then forgot about her. They spent years conning her into believing he would be a good husband and a good man. Ensured every book or opinion about him was glowing. Completely hid the truth, so she would happily march into the jaws of the beast. Even my best efforts to explain to her that he wasn't what she thought, fell on deaf ears. When they sent her to the Northern forest they fired me and Lorana. We went on our way after fifteen years of service."
Havi seemed so deflated, sad.
"It broke my heart when within a year she contacted us, begging for our help. She had tried asking her family for aid, or to annul the marriage, but they had refused. Then ignored her. She had already tried to run away one night impulsively, he dragged her back and applied his magical brand. So he could always find her again, then she'd become pregnant...The despair in her voice that day.... Lorana and I moved metaphorical mountains, called in every favour, spent every gold piece we had...we got her out before she was too far along. She had to give birth on the move, then run as far as she could from you. She wept as she left you with Lorana. We travelled as far as we could until she decided she would rather be by herself. Before we parted she made me promise to help you if you needed it. And here we are."
Olya sat there for a minute, taking this in.
She asked acerbically, with a smile.
"So my whole family is filled with arseholes, huh?"
Havi chuckled. "Barring your mother, yeah."
"What's she like?" She cocked her head, incredibly curious.
Havi chewed over his words, forming a beaming smile before he answered.
"A sarcastic bitch, in the best possible way. There was no one she wouldn't cut down with her sharp tongue."
Olya looked down. "I wish I could meet her."
