Nearly Home Part Two

Characters: Will, Aikuen, Fira, Skuld

Location: Black Gull Tavern, Dirt Road

Black Gull Tavern

Its about mid morning, in the Black Gull Tavern. The place is almost completely empty, expect for a few patrons who have passed out on the tables, a few shady characters in the corners, and the otter with an anger problem. Aikuen is slumped over the bar again, with a flask in one paw, and the knife placed in paw range. The barkeep has stayed away from him most the time, only to deliver him the drinks he asks for. The otter growls to himself as he drinks.

Will wanders in and takes a seat at the bar near the otter but he doesn't say anything this time.

Fira comes down the stairs not long after Will, looks a little dozy but she's not long woken up from a nap, catching up on sleep. She easily spots the pair and wanders over to sit on the other side of Aikuen to Will "Hey."

Aikuen looks to Fira, and smiles somewhat, " Mornin'...Fira..." He doesn't smell, look, or act drunk. In fact on closer inspection of his flask, it looks like tea. He slowly places his paw on top his knife and slips it off the table, and trying to quietly sheath it. He smiles and looks to Will, "Mornin'..." before looking to Fira again

Fira tilts her head faintly at Aikuen, sure he's not drunk but he does seem to be acting a little odd. She nods to Will though "Been a long time since I've visited."

The kitten is in a corner, with one of those shady characters. Seems she got something out of it again, after using her silver for that sheath. With a smile to the stoat there after she's recieved two coins, she wanders back towards the others.

Aikuen says, "Yep...Can't wait to get back... And get some some help..." He pops his back and pushes his empty flask away. He sighs, "Going to be interesting..."

Will nods a little trying not to think about what the fox is likely doing to Kentar. "Yeah that's for sure .... are we leaving yet?" he asks.

Aikuen nods a little bit, "Aye... Come on..." He stands up, stretches and walks upstairs to get his pack. There is a new bandage over his knee, and there is a fresh blood splotch, though he is not limping anymore. He come back, with his pack, and stands next to them, "...Okay..."

Will heads for the door quickly pausing once he's there, to wait for the others to catch up.

Skuld stands silent and waiting. Her coins are tucked away, and she checks that her bag and sheath are secure, before moving to follow out.

Fira looks a little worried as she keeps an eye on Aikuen, still, she gets up motions them to wait for a second while she grabs her bag and spear back again, doesn't take long, she's soon back and ready to go.

Dirt Road

The hot afternoon sun towers over the group. Ever since they left the north, the heat as become almost heavy them. Garnet is in front of the otters. she is in the 'quiet stage' again, and tends to drift from the road periodically, where they put her straight again. Aikuen seems to a lot more chipper then what he was at the tavern. He has an arm around Fira as he pads south. Using his free paw he wipes sweat from his brow, "Wheh... Got hot all of a sudden..." He chuckles.

Will is in the lead again, he walks at a quick pace despite the heat.

Fira is happy for the sudden improvement in mood though still slightly concerned. Happy to walk along with Aik anyway, looking around a little "Guess summer is really here. Enjoy the nice weather while it lasts."

Will looks back at Fira, "It's not nice. It's hot!" he grumbles unused to the southern climate.

Aikuen chuckles at Will, "Its still spring...the Summer is going to be a scorcher! Wheh..." He wipes sweat off again, and swipes it on his pants. He was born in a very hot climate, its nice out to him, "Could always be hotter!... There is always the pond to look forward too!" He laughs a bit.

Fira smirks faintly "I don't know, could do with a bit of a breeze I suppose but better than being cold and wet"

Skuld trudges along behind. She makes no comment on the heat, and seems to be in a thoughtful mood. Her ears twitch though, as she listens to the conversation, while her eyes watch the ground as she walks.

Aikuen chuckles, "Yah, i guess that's true...Here breazy, breazy, breazy! We require your assistance!" He laughs aloud, and almost skips a bit, "Just think, Back at the abbey in a night... Heh..."

Will is very glad he lives near a river now that he hears that it will get even hotter later on. "Yeah we should make it to th Abbey sometime tomorrow morning," he says mostly to fill the silence.

Fira chuckles quietly at Aik's skip "Well good, maybe once we get there things will start to get better again"

Skuld mutters something, and keeps watching the ground. She doesn't seem incredibly enthusiastic at the idea of being back at the abbey.

Aikuen loses he smiles that he was sporting, "Yah... Hopefully" He remains quiet.

Will shrugs, "It'll be nice t see everyone again and th food's good. Skuld can get her eye looked at by th healers an all that ... won't be stayin' long ... well I won't be anyway."

"They're not touching me..." The kitten mutters, grouchily, tail flicking as the rat mentions healers.

Fira grimaces slightly as Aik stops smiling and she goes to give him a little squeeze "Just good to rest up for a couple of days before next thing comes along."

Aikuen nods slowly and tries to smile again, "Yep, though i don't know what the next thing for us is going to be... besides..." He trails off and then says, "Just too stubborn to die..." He chuckles

Will's ears swivel toward the kitten's voice, "Fine. You don't have to go in if you don't want to."

Skuld looks about to reply, but chooses to fall silent again, deciding to glare at her own shadow. Her tail continues to flick behind her

Fira smiles faintly at the other otter "Well I wouldn't call that a bad thing...maybe something good will happen next time" after they sort out the current mess of course

Aikuen smiles back, "Aye, i hope so... I'm getting tired of all this..." He chuckles and kicks a rock in his path. He sighs, trying to push it out of his mind, "Well at least I know one thing good coming..." He shuts his mouth suddenly, and lightly hums

The rat's ears twitch a bit but he just keeps walking and doesn't comment.

Fira tilts her head faintly "Oh yes? What's that then? Could do with something good" if he doesn't want her to ask he shouldn't mention stuff.

"We'll see our friends and be back home," Will answers for the otter knowing he probably meant something else.

Aikuen mentally pouches himself several times, "Er...yah... What he said..." The box in his pocket, seems to be poking him a little harder then normal.

Fira glances back to Will and kinda nods "True I suppose. Well there'll be good food too so I'm sure I'll be happy too" nicely distracted.

Aikuen nods, and mentally sighs, "Yah the food is great..." He chuckles, and squeezes Fira tightly, "And you will be there that makes it even the all better!" He laughs.

The five of them continue to walk southward toward Redwall Abbey, passing the flowerlined path to the market along the way.

Night falls on Mossflower woods, as the party reaches within just miles of Redwall. If it wasn't so dark, the top of the abbey could be seen as just a tiny blip on the horizon. Skuld has been quiet since the healers were mentioned, and Garnet has sobbed a little bit, but seems more determined in her path, and doesn't need to be guided anymore. Aikuen and Fira have gone quiet, though she smirks often when Aik isn't looking. He sighs, and goes over to the side of the road, "Okay... Im calling it... we'll camp here, and make the abbey before lunch..."

The others agree and set to their usual tasks, Will building the fire pit, Fira helping put up the tent and fixing something for everyone to eat, Skuld and Garnet just do whatever they're told to do as far as helping goes.

Aikuen nods, and goes into the wooded area, to collect some Logs for the fire. He comes back and throws it into the fresh pit, and ignites it. He sits back down and groans, and clasps his knee. He glances to Fira, who hasn't looking at the time, and is glad that she didn't.

Will pokes at the fire with a stick while waiting for their dinner to cook, "It'll be good t get t th Abbey. No more camping."

Aikuen nods some as he begins to replace his bandage, when she isn't looking, "Yah... I probably got bugs in my room... I think i left the windows open..." He grunts a bit, "Though i like camping, I've had enough sleeping on the ground to last me awhile... Ung...

Will grins, "If you did I could fix it real quick. Don't see why you still got a room there when we don't live there anymore." The rat shrugs and continues to poke at the fire.

Aikuen shrugs, "I had the room before i meet you, or moving to Moledeep. I just haven't given it back to them yet. I like it, and i sleep there when were at the abbey." He wraps the fresh bandage around his knee and gives it a test bend. Fira has finished setting up the tent and bedrolls, and goes to sit next to Aik, placing an arm around him, and closes her eyes. Aik smiles a bit.

The rat shrugs, "Bunk room's good enough for me, try not t stay there over night too often anymore."

Aikuen nods, "Yeah I guess your right" He pokes the leaf and then grabbing it and splitting it into 6 pieces. He sighs and takes the last piece and throws it into the fire. He then goes around handing out the share, "This is the last of our supplies... Since well be at the abbey tomorrow...

Will watches the sixth portion fall into the fire. They eat in relative silence as the journey comes closer to it's end. "We should try to get there early if we can," Will says at last, "Jullian's usually on th wall in the morning and we ... you wanted to talk to him. Better t catch him when he's out doing something then have t go looking for him." the rat sorta shrugs returning to his food.

Aikuen munches on his piece and nods slowly. Fira is leaning against Aiks side, ignoring her food a little bit. The older otter says, "Yah... I wonder if he'll do it... We need as many beasts as we can, to ki... to recover..." He sighs and shoves down the last bit. He takes a deep breath, "Are you going to lead the charge..." His mind seems to have change over the past few days.

Will lays his ears back, "That too, but I meant you were going to tell him about what happened to Rose." To the otter's broken babbling, as he heard it, he says, "I told you how to get there. /I'm/ not going back there, I barely got out th first time and more by luck than anything. I know what sort of things he's doing to Kentar ... what he'd do to whoever he can catch next .... I'm not going back there," his voice is low and cold as he speaks.

"You said you didn't want me to go before anyway. /Wonder/ why you changed your mind," he adds with a growl.

Aikuen scratches his head, and shuffles his footpaws in the dirt, "Oh yah... Rose..." He breathes deeply again, "Thanks... for not going... I just... The past few days... I can see... That fox... taking Ekho, and Kentar... over and over...and over..." He rubs his eyes, "I want the fox dead... His limbs cut from him... I want to rip out his heart and make him watch it beat for the last time..." He closes his eyes, and leans into Fira, "Please... Tell me i cant go...Tell me..." He seems to be losing it.

Will looks at Aikuen warily. He's never been comfortable around crazy beasts or seemingly crazy beasts. He figures he's safe enough with the group around and if need be he could out run the otter if he had to. ".... y-you can't go ..." he says weakly hoping to humor the otter, though he likely wouldn't have let the otter leave him anyway.

Aikuen places his head on top of Firas, and smiles weakly, "...Thank you..." He seems to be calmer now. His breathing slows a little a bit, then he says, "I don't want to go... I would have too much to worry about, if i died... Thank you..." He wipes a paw across his eyes. He is not crazy, least not really

Will doesn't care if the otter is really crazy or not and slowly edges as far from the otter as he can get around the fire. He nods slowly a little hearing the otter's next words hoping what is wrong with his father will sort itself out before morning .... and that he won't kill them all in their sleep.

Aikuen opens his reddened eyes and sees Will scooting away, he chuckles, "Sorry if i seem a little weird... I begin torn apart... Mentally..." He sighs, and smiles to Will, "Im okay... you helped me decide... Im not going... I know i cant leave Kentar, but i shouldn't die to save him... I have other things to worry about...

Will just nods from the other side of the fire. He'd left his food when he moved but he wasn't that hungry to start with and isn't hungry now either, a rarity for him. "Good that you're ok .... uh you're welcome?" the rat says quietly, still staying away from the otter.

Aikuen smiles, and closes his eyes again. He is very quiet for a long time, and seems to be sleeping. He eventually sighs and says, "I don't say this a lot... but... Your one of the greatest sons I ever, or never had... you put up with me...not a lot of beasts would do that." He either is totally out of it, or being sincere.

Will nods and forces a smile on his face for Aikuen. Once he appears to fall asleep the rat mouths to Fira, 'Soon as we get to the Abbey he goes to see the healers.'

Aikuen begins to snore a bit, as he leans against Fira. Fira, on the other hand is quite confused when Will mouths the words to her. She wasn't paying attention much, but she did get the sum of it. She just thought it was his personality, but she still nods a bit

Will walks off to dig himself a bed for the night, "Maybe he just needs sleep but the healers will want t look at his leg." "We'll make sure Henry isn't there first though," he adds quickly, not wanting to think what the crazy mouse would do to him since he's leaning toward taking Mayeul's advice.

Fira rubs a paw on the bandage on Aiks knee. She nods a bit, and leans against him, trying to get some sleep also. She knows she cant lift him, so she will just sleep here tonight. If he wakes, and she is asleep, he can pick her up and take her to the roll. And that's fine for her

Skuld and Garnet have both finished eating and each claimed one of the four bedrolls. Will on the other is about half way done with his burrow and doesn't appear to be paying the other much attention, though the movement of his ears show otherwise

Its about middle of the night, and Aik wakes up suddenly. He sees that he fell asleep against Fira, and blinks a few times to try to figure out what happened. He looks around and sees that everybeast is asleep. He rubs his eyes with his free paw as he tries to remember what happened in the last few hours. All he remembers is that he was talking about Kentar... then suddenly waking up next to Fira. He shakes his head to help him remember, but it doesn't help. He sighs and picks up Fira and takes her to her bed, then going to sit next to her on his, still trying to remember

Will is awoken not by the going ons outside his burrow which he couldn't have heard anyhow but by his stomach too late protesting his not finishing his dinner. He pokes his head out of his burrow to see how late it is.

Aikuen looks to Will, smiles and whispers, "Evening Will! What are you doing up?"

The rat is a little surprised to see Aikuen up and from his perspective sane, "Nothing. Just had a little trouble getting back t sleep," he says, watching the otter should he revert back to 'madness'.

Aikuen blinks a few times and tilts his head, "Oh... Okay..." He looks around, "What happened a few hours ago... I don't remember much..." He scratches his head

Will chew his lip a little, "Uh ... what's the last thing you remember?"

Aikuen says, "We were talking about Jullian, and if he'll go help Kentar... Then my mind goes blank... until i woke up next to Fira... Its weird..." He hmms.

The rat nods a bit, "Ah. I don't remember it quite that way. You were talking, well more like babling like a crazy beast about talkin' t Jullian and about Kentar and stupid things you wouldn't have said otherwise and I reminded you that you were gonna tell Jullian about Rose when we get back and you said more stuff about Kentar and that fox an all and what you'd like t do t him and stuff and you wanted us t tell ya you couldn't go after him and ....... You /were/ acting awful strange and crazy like you understand, so I told ya you couldn't go like you wanted an you said thank you an after a while started bablin' on again an sayin thank you and .... some other stuff that you wouldn't a said as freely t my face if ya been in your right mind .... woulda said it about me t Kentar like before but probably not t me ... not as easily as you did anyway .... Woulda been lot nicer t hear if you'd been yourself at th time, which you weren't.

You said you were ok and you were sittin right next t Fira and leaned back a bit and fell asleep there and she didn't bother to do anything about it and after a bit she leaned back herself and when t sleep too."

Aikuen blinks a few times, and scratches his head, trying to organize all this information. He sighs and tilts his head, "Okay... So i was saying stuff about the fox... and i wasn't acting like myself at all... Er... what did i say?"

Will says, "Some stupid stuff and like I said you said some stuff you wouldn't normally say t me, t my face. It's ok. You didn't mean it sooo," he shrugs, "It's, it's ok."

Aikuen rubs his eyes, "I said some stupid stuff? ...Im sorry if i said something offensive... I don't know why that happened" He hmms a bit, and looks around again, "I hope it was okay....Did i say something to Fira!?!" His eyes widened and looks to her.

Will is quiet thinking a /little/ before speaking again, "No. You didn't say anything bad t /her/. I was t only one that talked t ya while you were like that ..... didn't want to but sorta had to ...." The otter can ask what he wants but the rat doesn't have to like answering.

Aikuen sighs with relief, "Oh good..." He smiles and pats her sleeping paw. He breathes lightly and looks to Will, "What did i say too you... If you don't mind...Was it... Really...bad?" He looks like he is wincing.

Will looks at the ground, "I thought it was. You said before ... days ago, that you wouldn't /let/ me go after th fox back when I wanted to or was thinking to anyway. Then ealier you were askin if I was gonna lead everyone /there/! I've seen what that fox does, I know what sorta things he'll do t Kentar or has done .... I've been there and barely got out just on luck, a lot of luck ..." He looks up at Aikuen angrily but that soon fades, "I'm /not/ going back! And you aren't going there either! I'm sure Fira'd still marry ya if you ever got away from there alive but I think she'd prefer you with /both/ eyes and not nearly /dead/."

Aikuen is really surprised, "I wanted you to go?! No... That doesn't sound like me... I would never let you do that... or even encourage it... No...No..." He shakes his head repeatedly, "You are not going back!... And im not going to find him!... I need to be with you and Fira... I wouldn't... I couldn't... No... that's not right..." He voice seems to growl as he reaches the end, "I cant...no..." He seems to go down, and places his head in his paw, "Even for Kentar... I cant..."

"Pa! You ... you weren't you when you said that and I told you off for it already and ... I shouldn't a done it again ... Don't do this again, please," Will blinks back tears ... then remembers something, "Hey! I want my father back! You hear me?! I want him back!"

Aikuen looks up and blinks a few times, his eyes are clear, but tearful. He gets up and walks over to Will, getting down and giving him a hug, "I'm here...I'm here." He tighten his squeeze as he says, "I'm sorry... I don't know what happened... I'm sorry..." He sniffs a bit as he rocks slowly.

Will hugs the otter tightly, surprised though very glad his idea worked. "You ... you didn't just say bad stuff ... you said some good stuff too," he says pressing against the otter's chest like he did when he was younger, "You ... you said I was th greatest son you ever had and I was .... that I was one of th only beasts that'd put up with you or something and you said 'thank you' a lot. .... W-when we get t th Abbey we're gonna see th healers an see if they can help you not do that again and some other stuff maybe." The ratling snuggles up against his father's chest like he did a long time ago when they first became a family, a strange family no doubt but still a family. The dibbun is soon asleep.

Aikuen tries to hold back the tears, but can't, as he continues to rock his son, he whispers "Aye, I will see something about it..." He chuckles and more tears roll down. He is glad that Will is not scared anymore, but he still wishes he knows what happened to him. The rocking slows, as he soon falls asleep sitting, with Will still in his arms.