Work Text:
Drabble:
Soren had tried to forget that today was his birthday. It was just a day like any other one. There wasn’t anyone left to celebrate with anyway. True, Callum and Ezran were sometimes there, but it was different now. Claudia wasn’t here to make his cake.
He trudged his way up the stairs to the top of the tower where Janai’s training ring was. Apparently Amaya had something to discuss with him. Probably his future duties to Ezran. As much as that felt right, heaviness made his shoulders slump and the stairs feel longer than usual. Images of the last time he had seen Claudia and his dad flickered in his mind, and he swallowed.
He reached the top of the stairs and steeled himself for whatever the conversation was, but when he turned toward the ring, he noticed that the curtains in the arches around it were closed. Strange.
With a frown, he wandered closer, unsure what he was supposed to do. Should he …knock? On something? But Amaya wouldn’t hear that. Well, Gren was probably there. But it still seemed weird. Before he could figure out what he was supposed to do, Amaya’s head popped out from between the curtains, and she grinned at him.
Soren blinked at her. The twinkle in her eyes was …slightly terrifying.
Suddenly, she threw the curtains wide and a loud chorus of “SURPRISE!” met him.
He stared, trying to understand what was going on. Callum and the Moonshadow girl and Ezran all grinned at him along with Gren and Kazi and Janai and an elf he didn’t recognize all around a table with wrapped gifts and two cakes!
Soren looked at Amaya who was looking at him with a wide grin. “Did you …do this?” He hadn’t even thought she remembered when his birthday was. True, she’d been at some of the parties when he was little, but …
Amaya nodded, and he found himself suddenly dragged into one of her hugs. All that heaviness lifted from him as she wrapped him up tight enough that he winced, and he flung his arms around her. His breath shook a little, and he knew he held on to Amaya longer than he probably should have, but she rubbed his back, letting him lean on her as long as he needed.
When he finally straightened, she met his eyes for a moment and gave him the slightest nod with a smile that made him squeeze her hand.
“Thanks,” he signed awkwardly, very careful not to use the slightly different sign.
Amaya patted his cheek and tugged him over toward the table.
Somehow when Kazi bumped against his shoulder, and Callum showed him a series of funny sketches of him with Bait, and Rayla gave him an elven whetstone he felt a little less alone.
He even got introduced to the freckled elf with the orange hair standing next to Janai whose name was Ori.
“That rhymes with Soren!” He laughed, and the elf laughed too.
The elf’s bright eyes danced. “It does! Ori and Soren!”
Something about the way the elf said his name actually made him blush a little and he ducked. So maybe it wasn’t the worst birthday ever. Just a tough one.
Prompt:
Janai found Soren sitting off to the side with a thoughtful expression as he watched Amaya with her nephews and Rayla. The young crownguard startled when she sat down next to him, but she caught his shoulder when he started to rise for a bow.
She patted his shoulder. “None of that. We just had birthday cake.”
The boy gave an uncertain laugh and relaxed a little on the bench next to her. “I forgot Amaya even knew when my birthday was.”
Something in his tone made Janai look at him, and she twisted so she was facing him more fully, one hand resting gently on his arm. “How long have you known her?”
For a long moment, Soren’s grey eyes followed Amaya, then he shook his head. “As long as I can remember, really. I probably met her when I was six or seven, maybe earlier. Her sister lead the army, you know?”
Janai nodded, tilting her head to encourage him to continue. “So I have heard.”
“Well, they usually came as a set. Kind of like-” His jaw flexed, and he shook his head. “Anyway, they were around the castle a lot, even before Queen Sarai was Queen Sarai. Amaya used to train the crownguard.”
“Did she train you?”
The haunted look was back on his face, and Soren shook his head quickly. “I didn’t start training until after-” He rubbed his hand over his face. “ Fuck ” The boy let out a small growl. “Sorry.”
Janai edged closer and squeezed his arm. “I am military, Soren, I have heard far worse.” She offered him a small smile. “I have said far worse.”
He snorted. “That’s hard to imagine.”
Janai lifted an eyebrow and leaned over to whisper in his ear. By the time she had finished, his eyes were round, and he actually laughed. “That’s worse! That’s so much worse!”
“I told you!”
Soren shot her a shy grin and let his shoulders ease somewhat before his attention drifted back to Amaya. In a hushed voice, he asked, “Do you know what happened to her sister?”
“Gren told me she died, and that-” Janai caught herself before she repeated Gren’s remarks about Viren, but the pained look in Soren’s grey eyes told her he had guessed what she was going to say.
“Yeah. I’m not sure what happened.” He swallowed. “But my dad hated Amaya after that. He said that she couldn’t understand that sometimes sacrifices were necessary.” Pain flashed over the boy’s face. “And he said she was unstable, unsafe for us ...for me to be around.”
Janai sucked in a sharp breath. “Unsafe?”
Soren looked at the ground and shifted his feet. “I thought he meant she might hurt us, but now...” He shook his head. “She’d never hurt a kid, not even his kid. She trusted me even after everything .” The boy’s voice dropped, as if even here his father might hear him. “I think he was afraid I would be like her. And that was the dangerous thing.”
Who else would a Dark Mage like Viren fear? Someone with a heart like Amaya’s would be the most frightening thing to him. “I think you are right,” Janai agreed with a whisper, her eyes wandering to Ezran showing Amaya how Zym gave zappy kisses.
“I missed her too. She used to let me sit on her shoulders while she trained the crownguard, then afterward she’d show me simple drills. And if Queen Sarai was there, they would both talk with me about why I wanted to fight.” His shoulders hunched. “They were kind. And Amaya was always so proud of me when I got what she was teaching me. And then I just...because he told me to, I stayed away from her. No more watching her train or learning from her. It wasn’t long after that she went to the Breach.”
It was becoming clearer just how much Viren had worked to isolate Amaya after her sister’s death. Janai wondered if he meant to break her or if that would have just been a useful side effect.
“He’s saying the same things to Claudia now about me,” the boy’s shaking voice broke through her thoughts, and Janai swung her head around to look at him. Tears shone in his eyes. “He said things like that to her in front of me. And now I hate that I believed them about Amaya. She deserved better.” His voice hitched. “She actually gave a damn about me.”
With a soft sound, Janai pulled Soren into a hug and was surprised when he let himself fall into her. Janai rubbed his back, feeling how much the boy had tapped into her well of protectiveness. And how much she wanted to personally tear his father limb from limb for him in addition to her desire to do so for Amaya and for Khessa and for her people and for everyone else.
“You deserved better too,” Janai whispered into his hair. “You deserved so much better.”
Janai was so focused on Soren that she failed to notice Amaya and Gren making their way over, and she blinked when they came into view. They both gave her a concerned look as Amaya sunk down on the other side of Soren and pressed a firm hand against his back.
Soren sniffed and lifted his head. His eyes were damp as he turned to look at Amaya. “I’m so sorry,” he whispered hoarsely, his lips trembling hard enough that Gren had to interpret. Gren also quickly pulled a handkerchief from his pocket and offered it to Soren, and Janai could not help giving Gren an approving smile.
Worry and confusion crossed Amaya’s face as she studied Soren’s face. “For what?”
The boy dabbed at his eyes with the handkerchief as he sniffed again. “For the way I treated you after ...Queen Sarai-” Soren’s jaw tensed, but he pushed on. “I didn’t realize how bad it must have been for you. How much it hurt. ”
Understanding that Janai recognized all too well rose in Amaya’s eyes, and Janai rested her hand on Soren’s back, trying not to think too hard about the fact that all three of them had lost a sister in different ways to the dark mage. Amaya had just been the first.
Amaya touched Soren’s cheek, but he kept going. “He told me that you weren’t safe for me to be around, and I believed him. And I was mean. And I am so so so sorry.” The last word was barely a word because Amaya pulled him into so tight a hug that he grunted, but then he threw his arms around her in the same way. And Janai wondered how she had not noticed they had some similar mannerisms before.
A little sniff next to Janai drew her attention, and she looked up at Gren who tried to wipe his damp eyes without being noticed. He gave her a sheepish smile, but she patted his arm.
When Amaya and Soren finally let go of each other, she peered intently into the boy’s face. “I was never angry at you. I knew it all came from your dad.”
“But that doesn’t mean it hurt less.” Soren protested.
“No. It hurt more. I wanted to help you, but ...I couldn’t even get near you. I felt like I was failing you too.” Amaya lifted one shoulder with an apologetic twist of her lips.
Janai frowned. Of course Amaya felt like that. Soren quickly shook his head at her words. “I think he makes everyone feel like that. Even though he set it up.”
Amaya’s eyebrow shot up. “Yeah, you’re right. And it’s not about failing him. He makes you think you’re failing everyone around you.”
Soren nodded. “That you don’t love humanity the way he does.”
Janai snorted, and Amaya rolled her eyes. “I don’t think anyone can take much more of that kind of love.”
“Yeah. That’s why I left.”
Amaya nodded, and she patted his hand. “Callum told me what you said about him.”
Soren blinked at her and flushed slightly. “Oh.”
“I’m proud of you for getting that. A lot of people never do. Even King Harrow didn’t until the end.”
The color on the boy’s cheeks deepened, and Janai smiled softly at Amaya over his head.
“Thanks. I ...I missed you,” he whispered, offering Amaya an uncertain smile.
“I missed you too.” The warmth in Amaya’s eyes was a sight Janai never tired of. “But I think you’re a little too big to carry on my shoulders now.”
That startled a laugh out of Soren.
“Hmm, maybe on my back though.”