Arundal Ruinion

From Redwall MUCK Wiki


Reunion. Rorgan and Derrin Finely catch up to their parents...

How does one describe Silver Valley? Rundown, junk, dirty? How about a shanty miner town with out law or order. The beasts here are mostly vermin or those woodlanders poor enough not to live in Arundal less than a mile to the south. The buildings are made from simple mortor, wood, and thatch roofs. Veriken leads the otters through the streets of this rundown mining town, casually stepping over a drunken cat laying face first in a puddle out side the tavern. By then the sun is begining to set.

As Derrin and Rorgan walk, they can't help but stare at the poor beasts they see all over the place. The poverty astounded them, seeing as how they hadn't ever been exposed to poverty to this degree before. Despite all of this, neither otter deems it a neccesity to say anything, lest they trigger an outburst from their vulpine guide.

Veriken leads them through a twisted maze of dirt roads and houses. It seems the beasts built their homes where they pitched their tents. Finely he pauses and points to a small wooden shack with a thatch roof. "There. Fiagai and Galah have been living there for the last few months under a different name. Galah has been practicing medicine here and your father has, well....been healing. He fought off the beasts that attacked him but, was injured in the process." Nice little bomb shell to drop on them before turning the opposit direction. "This is as far as I take you." Variken doens't say why but hovers for a long moment until he begins to say something then thinks better of it.

"Uh..." Derrin looks back at Variken, slightly lost. "An' how long has he been injured, may I ask?" He asks. Rorgan simply looks back at the cabin, almost unable to believe that they were this close to their parents now, with only a few steps keeping him from meeting the beasts who had raised him and his brother as dibbuns, and who probably thought those same dibbuns dead along with most everybeast they had spoken with so far.

The fox doesn't reply. He just seems to vanish around a corner leaving them alone on the street, litterally steps away from their parrents. The smell of cooking wavers through the air, some kind of stew. There is the sound of laughter as well.

Both otters turn at the sound of laughing, and they walk up to the cabin with Rorgan raising his paw to knock on the door, but he hesitates. Derrin looks over at his brother, slightly concerned. "Are you alright, Rorgan? Aren't you excited?" Rorgan sighs and nods in response. "Aye, I am...but...wot if they're not wot we imagined they'd be? Wot if..." He cuts himself off, staring at the door. Derrin smiles and puts a paw on his brother's shoulder. "Rorgan, they'll be everything we imagined an' more, I promise." Rorgan smiles at this, nodding before he raises his paw again and raps on the door several times.

The laughter stops for a moment. The door unlocks and opens wide. A middle aged otter stands in the door way. He is tall as he is burly. He has a healthy bit of weight about his paunch but not what one would call fat...overweight maybe. His light brown fur has mucle under it as well. He wears a simple green tunic and trousures, the otter stars at them with blue eyes over a graying muzzle. "Can I help you?" Fiagai replies

Rorgan's breath catches in his throat, and for several moments, it feels as though he cannot speak. Derrin, not being as tongue tied as his brother, gives Fiagai a warm smile. "Hullo sir, we're travelers an' uh..." He looks over at Rorgan for a moment before looking at Fiagai again. "My mate here has somethin' wrong with his hip, an' we heard that we could come here fer help. D'ye think you can do anythin' about it?" Sure, lying to someone he doesn't even know that well is a great idea, but then again, he's done it hundreds of times before.

The otter smirks, "And something wrong with his mouth too. Speak up lad, and come on in." The otter moves off to the side, "Hey...Jessey, we got another patient for you." The room beyond is small with a dirt floor. A bed takes up one side of the room, a kitchen the other, there is how ever another room seperated by an open door. "Well bring him in here! I'm kind of busy here." an female voice calls out. "And bring more stew, this one has quite the appitite." Rolling his eyes 'Jack' Fiagai moves off to the kitchen. "Make yourselves at home mates, wifes the healer, right through theere."

The room is small, home to some healing herbs on a shelf and a single cot. A holmly looking otter turns her head towards the otters as they enter. 'Jessey' Galah is a black furred otter, she is leaner than her husband but not by much. She wears a green tunic under a brown cloth vest and her hips are adorned by a dark green dress. She waers a silver pendant around her neck and looks up at them both with warmth and friendliness...the other two occupants quite simply don't. Elessi is here, sitting on the ground next to the bed, she looks up and her eyes widen with shock and perhaps a bit of horror. A skinny grey fox sits on the cot wearing a cloth tribal like sash across his waist. His belly is heavily bandaged...from an arrow wound. He looks up at them both while finishing a bowl of stew. "Oh...blast..."

Both otters simply stare down at the two familiar beasts, as though they aren't quite sure that they can believe what they're seeing. "Elissi?" Rorgan asks. "Wot the stars are you doin' here?!" Derrin quite simply has the same exact question, but he keeps his muzzle shut, seeing as how Rorgan asked that question first for once.

Elesi gulps, nervously replying, "I, could ask the same of you Rorgan why are you..."

"Rorgan?" Galah says oddly, she peers at the otters for a long moment then her eyes widen. She leans against the caught and yells out, "Fiagai!" In an instant the large otter rushes in, "What? What's wrong?" The otters mother flails her paw at her sons. "It...its Rorgan! And Derrin! They are alive!" Fiagai only stares at the scene before him for a long moment. He begins to lean backward and finely falls on his tail in faint.

Derrin sighs, putting his head in his paws yet again. "Great.." comes his muffled voice. "We just met our da an' the first thing we do is make him pass out. Just lovely..." Rorgan simply looks down at his fainted father rather oddly. "Well...I'd say fainting would be an over reaction, but aye..."

If that is an over reaction then the shrill scream of their mother backing into a corner with her paws over her mouth, wide eyed, will be one as well. Vannon looks between them all and shrugs, "Sounds like a lot of my family reunions." Elesis holds up her paws, "Wait wait...THESE are your parrents?"

All Derrin can do is slowly shake his head, and now it's Rorgan's turn to facepaw as well. "Yes...these are our parents Elessi...I would've expected you t' know, but I guess that doesn't matter at this point." Rorgan slowly begins to walk towards his mother. "Er...ma...tis alright. Just give Derrin an' I a chance t' explain, an' perhaps get father off the floor."

The otter maiden begins to cry. She bolts from the floor and wraps her arms around her son. Nearly crushing him in her grip, "My babies are alive!" Elesi just stands there stunned. "They told us their names were..." She begins to laugh. "Vannon, maybe we should give them a moment." The fox sighs and grunts as he gets off the cot He limps into the next room following the younger otter out.

Rorgan grunts, feeling the breath crushed from his lungs. "Ack! A-Aye...alive an' about t' be crushed t' death by an overenthusiastic mother." By this point, Derrin has sneaked a peak, and his wrapped paws lower as he watches their mother hug Rorgan. "Nah, you should hug him a bit harder ma!" He says jokingly.

Elesi and Vannon step out of the room into the living room/ bedroom/ kitchen. The fox limbs and makes a pained expression as he does. He says to Elesi as she keeps walking for the door. "Where are you going?" The otter pauses only to say, "I'm stepping out for a bit...you know to give them space." The fox takes a pained step forward, "Well, maybe I can come with you. I don't want to be stuck here while they go through all the lovey dovey sappy reunion stuff." The otter smiles faintly, holding up her paw. "No, you should...just stay here. And heal. I won't be gone long." She steps out side saying mostly to herself, "I have an errand to run..."