Elunara flipped through the papers when she heard the knock. Opening the door, she frowned. "You better have a lovely explanation for why you have your hands on my child."
The woman let go of Darguni's arm. "He punched Bradly!"
Elunara raised an eyebrow and crossed her arms. "Why?"
"Nothin."
"Darguni, you will answer me or you WILL find out why half this town is afraid of me."
"He called you a whore."
The woman turned scarlet. "Is this true?"
"Yeah." Bradly mumbled.
Elunara pointed. "You! Do you know what that word means?"
"I don't think-"
Elunara pointed at her. "You be quiet. You." She pointed to the kid. "Do you know what that word means?"
"No." He admitted.
"YOU, don't use words you don't know the meaning of." She pointed at Darguni. "YOU, don't get upset over things that aren't actual insults. Next time, come to me and ask if it's an actual insult."
"Yes, Momma."
"For that, you can't play outside. You will be helping me in the library." She slammed the door in the face of the lady.
"Aw, Momma."
"Listen, you need to understand something really important. The reason I don't get upset over insults, is that I spent my entire life being called the worst possible names that people could come up with. In the end, I made something of myself, and those same people now respect me, love me. I never stopped being who I am, just because everyone else thought I should." She sat her papers down. "You see all these books? I wrote every single one of them. Every minute of every day, I have put into these books."
"All of them? There's so many."
"While my books aren't exactly... kid friendly, you should understand that each and every one of them contains the meanness that people can have." She pulled down a book and flipped it open. "My own mother banished me, because I was who I was, and not once apologized for it." She sat the book down. "Recently, she not only accepted what I had done, but she now accepts me, welcomed me home." She picked up another book and opened it, laying it beside each other. "This... is me." She put her first on the first book. "This is the worst moment of my life. This is the moment when my own mother called me an irredeemable whore, and a disgrace to Darnassus." She put her hand in the second book. "And this is the moment where it all came together. Where she apologized to me, for never understanding me. Do you know how many years were in between?"
"A lot?"
"Thirty years. Thirty years of my life, and not ONE person could make me feel as bad as I did on that day." She kissed his cheek. "Don't let the words of the uneducated; of the "normal" ever bring you down. Nothing they could say could ever hurt me. Don't defend me, son. That would be the insult. Don't insult yourself or me by giving in to their silly, childish nonsense."
Elunara was on the way home from a portrait delivery when she heard the childish, "My dad can beat up your dad!" She rolled her eyes and peered around the corner.
"My MOM could beat up YOUR dad!" Darguni declared.
"Pfft, my dad could beat up your mom AND your dad." The infamous Bradly declared.
"You know, I have walked in on really dumb conversations before, but this one deserves an award." Elunara snorted as she leaned against the building
All five kids froze in place, obviously caught.
"Are you not aware that his dad is General Grogek? Trainer of all men who come through the portal?" She shook her head. "As for the rest of that statement, I haven't met a man yet I haven't bested in combat. Just because I haven't done a demonstration, doesn't mean I've gone soft."
Darguni crossed his arms proudly.
"Who is your dad, kid?"
"Captain Harvard." He wiped his nose.
She shook her head. "Must be from the newest load. I haven't had him in my studio."
"Mother says he better keep it that way."
"Ah." She tapped a finger to her chin. "Come on, kiddies, I have the urge to beat the crap out of something." She led the way to the training yard. "For the record, the best view is on that hill." Once they scurried up the hill, she made her way to the weapon rack.
She picked up her staff and all training stopped. The men helping to train newer recruits signaled a halt. Like the parting of a sea, they all scattered to the edges of the training yard. Grogek turned around with a grin.
"You know, it HAS been awhile." He called.
"Don't mind me, Sugarbear, I just like proving a point."
He shook his head. "I'll ask you later what that means." He flexed his hand and grabbed his axe out of the air.
"That's my Momma and my Papa." Darguni grinned.
"Did you know... that there are people in this town who STILL think calling me a whore is an insult?"
"Must be new here." He shrugged.
Jordan jogged up to the ring. "Hey! You didn't invite me?"
Elunara grinned. "Oh, are we going for a twofer?"
Jordan unsheathed his sword. "I know how you like it from both sides."
She made a gleeful shriek. "And it's not even my birthday!"
Darguni leaned over to the nearest kid. "That's Uncle Jordan."
She held her stave to the side. "Bring it, lovers." She launched herself at Grogek, neatly ducking out of the way of his blow. She dodged backwards from his next shot, but had to bounce up in order to avoid Jordan's lunge. She flipped over Grogek's shoulder and cracked him in the side, before bounding back and stepping on Jordan's shoulder. She leapt off of him and barely avoided getting smacked by Grogek.
She brought the staff down on to Jordan, but he dodged out of the way before she could connect. She bounced backwards and did a back flip, going over Grogek's shoulder. She ran, jumped and came down in between them. She shot out and hit Jordan in the thigh. Her foot came around Grogek's and she tripped him up, but his hand shot out and grabbed her leg and she went crashing down with him.
She slithered out of the way of Jordan's blow and caught a cut to her hip from Grogek. She spun and Thrust out her staff, cracking Grogek in the chin, but taking a slice from Jordan for her trouble. She swore and dodged both of their next attacks. They began attacking in sync with each other, causing her to go on the defensive. Seeing her chance, she jumped up and landed on the wide side of Grogek's axe, running up it as she dodged Jordan. Jamming her staff down into the pressure point of Grogek's shoulder, she caused him to drop the axe.
As Grogek swore, Jordan continued his attack, and she dodged him effortlessly for a time. Without warning, his foot caught the back of her ankle and she tumbled backwards. He caught her and pulled her in for a kiss. The crowd cheered and she gave him a quick smack in the head.
"Hey!" He grabbed his head.
She giggled. "You left yourself wide open for that one!"
He dropped his sword and grabbed her, dipping her over and kissing her silly.
With a laugh, she pushed him away.
"I wish I'd thought of that." Grogek grumbled.
She laughed and checked his shoulder. "Hold on." She jammed her thumb down into his shoulder. "There we go."
He flexed his hand. "I hate when you do that."
"But it's the most effective way to disarm you. Hey, I could go for the armpit, but then you'd be out longer." She pressed her lips to his.
He grinned and ran a hand over her hip. She hissed in pain. He frowned. "I cut you deeper than I intended."
"Nothing Ina can't fix."
Darguni leapt on to her sore hip. She winced in pain. "That was AWESOME!" He beamed at Grogek. "You too, papa." He looked up and grinned. "And you Uncle Jordan. But Momma was best."
She winced. "Can you hug the other leg?"
Darguni patted her hip. "You're bleeding."
"Occupational hazard." She grinned. "In fact, they both managed to get off a few good shots." She frowned at her torn shirt. "I'll ask Tulani to fix it."
"I TOLD you my Momma could beat up your dad." Darguni stuck his tongue out at the kids that ran over.
"How did you DO that?" Asked one girl.
