Chapter Text
Soren loved his sister, he really did. But an order was an order, and one from his father no less.
But this was his sister's life he was talking about, this wasn't a 'share your birthday cake with Claudia' or a 'let your sister play with the guard dog too' type of order.
Soren had already started thinking about it, what he'd do if he was forced to. Would he strangle her? Maybe slit her throat the moment she turned her back?
Only if she turned on him, of course.
Oh, what was he thinking, she wouldn't be turning on him. She'd simply be doing what she was told. He'd be the bad guy, the villain.
He thought over the ethics of the situation.
Whether the choice should be decided by his father or him.
Whether anyone even had the right to that choice.
Whether Claudia would do the same and if she would, could that ever make this the right thing to do.
Soren was weak.
A better royal guard wouldn't be aching from a horse ride. A better royal guard wouldn't be thinking of Callum and Ezran, praying he would never see them again. A better royal guard would have absolutely no quarrel with this.
But a better man wouldn't be giggling to jokes of a sister he knew could easily be dead in what—a few days, hours?
He was weak. He was a weak guard and a weak man.
"I'm sorry for this, Callum," Soren whispered into the campfire.
His voice was shaky. His sister was out searching for fruit to eat or meat to cook.
"I'm so sorry."
Soren had brought overnight equipment for them. Ironically he had brought it mostly for Claudia; he had thought she'd be the one to not get stuck by sleep deprivation.
He found himself yawning far too frequently. He'd bet on the tiredness not being the result of physical exertion, and more the mental strain.
God, he had never had to think this hard on something before. Soren was quite a spontaneous person when it came to—well, anything. If he could see an opportunity to do something big, he'd do it.
But this was the wrong kind of big.
Soren set up the tent. He only had the one and it was rather cramped but it would do. It was only a brother and sister after all.
Soren wondered if his muscles would burst the tent open with a flex. He chuckled at the thought.
Claudia returned an hour, maybe two, later. He could hear her footsteps on the dirt outside and her putting out the campfire. Not the quietest mage, are we? he thought to himself.
He hadn't had much to do for the last while, he had just let the minutes pass slowly for some time, before getting entirely bored and retrieving a book from the bottom of his equipment satchel.
He took it everywhere, that book. It was just a few professional sketches Viren had done of him and Claudia when they were little. "It will keep your bond tight forever," he had told them. "If you ever lose each other, this book will link you."
Claudia should have a copy too, but Soren wasn't quite sure if she kept hers. She had been quite young when she was given it.
He flicked through those few pages for around 30 minutes. He memorised every drop of ink on that page, every line that came together to form Soren and Claudia.
He had just sat them down neatly in that precious spot in his brain when Claudia ripped open the tent's flaps.
"You brought a tent?!" she almost squealed, a grin plastered to her face, one more real and intense than she had had this whole journey. "That's why your horse was so slow!"
"No, no, my horse was slow 'cause my horse was behind your horse, and..." Soren whined, pointing his fingers mockingly. "Your. Horse. Is. Slow."
Claudia sighed, though not in a bad way—she just smiled and sighed. She simply started to unclip the top of her dress. She looked like she could breathe again.
"Still reading that book?" she asked.
Soren had been tracing his fingers around the lines of the page this whole time. Frankly, he wasn't even aware he was doing it. It was just something familiar to him.
"Yeah. I guess I was." Soren glanced down at their smiling faces from years ago. "Do you remember it? Viren getting these drawn of us, I mean."
"Of course! How could I forget that time we had, uhh—when we uhhhhh—yeah, I remember nothing."
Soren stared at her, a little offended if he was honest.
"Oh stop giving me the death stare, you know I don't like it!"
Soren swallowed.
"Come here." He spoke gently, probably more gently than he should have.
Claudia let her dress drop to the floor as she stepped out of it. Soren was honestly trying not to stare, if not because he was her brother then because he was a respectful man.
She tied her hair up with some worn brown string she kept with her.
"Oh quit being shy already. You've seen it all before."
Soren didn't answer her, instead he spoke softly once again. "Sit down next to me. I wanna show you something."
Claudia rolled her eyes but sat down, sliding over closer to Soren. She rested her head on his shoulder and pulled her legs in tight. "What's this secret something you need to show me then?"
"It's not a secret to you. Well, at least it shouldn't be." Soren paused for a second, gathering his thoughts. "You see, Dad—Lord Viren—gave these books to us and, well, he said they were very precious and that we can't lose them!"
Claudia caught herself rolling her eyes again. "Yeah, nice drawings, cute book, fun childhood times shared. Are we done now?"
"No." Soren sighed. "Listen, do you still have yours or not?"
"Probably."
"Yes or no, Claudia?!"
Claudia's head rose quick. "Yes, alright. Yes, I do."
"Okay, thank you."
Her eyes were worried and weighted. She looked like a lost puppy in that moment, like her owner had just gotten cross with her. And at this point Soren was willing to bet the tiredness had probably taken effect as well.
It was a cold night and Soren had a headache.
"Come here," he whispered softly a final time. His hand pushed her head down and his fingers almost retreated when he felt her hair. It was tied too tight again.
"You'll ruin it if you keep tying it that tight."
He untied the string and let her hair drop, let it breathe. And then he tied it. Expertly.