Chapter Text
Luc sits up, panting softly as the last images from the nightmare fade. Shadowy soldiers in spiky armor and the pointy-eared lady staring directly at him where he was supposed to be hidden. He looks around the room, “ Still dark,” he thinks . “Dad won’t be awake yet.” He squints and tries to make out the shape of the room. Pushing the blankets off, he scoots to the end of the bed and pulls out the wire he hid there and uses the hooked end to swing open the window to let the moonlight in. He catches the buttons that fall onto his pillow from the string and bucket contraption he built to alert him to the window being opened. He looks over towards the door. The button stacks he put in front of his door are still standing so no one came in that way either.
“Good. ”
Satisfied his room was still secure, he leaves the window open and rolls to the other side of his bed and hanging off the side, he pulls up the loose board he’d found on their first night here. Inside were all his best possessions. Smooth rocks-good for the slingshot and skipping on water! The best buttons, saved for when Mom returned so he can help her string them on a necklace. His second button necklace, the one saved for emergencies. He puts that one on. Two bottle rockets he’d stolen from the funny one last time mom had visited. A handful of lollipops that the blue one had slipped him (he sticks a few in a pocket), a knife he’d slipped from the kitchens at the Chateau, and his most special possessions: the handful of his mom’s actual, real, super sharp crossbow bolts he’d nabbed when his parents were sleeping. Everything is as it should be.
He grabs one of the bolts and inspects it. Pulling out his crossbow from in between the head of his bed and the wall, he carefully unloads the toy bolt and loads the real bolt in. The real bolt is a little heavier. Probably the metal. Next time Dad goes to the store, I’ll try it out, see if the aim is any different. His little mind whirls with possibilities to keep Dad safe if the mean people ever return.
A creaking of a floorboard somewhere in their house sends his head up, eyes pinned to the door, crossbow not far behind. It's followed by the sound of pots and pans clattering in the kitchen and he relaxes slightly. Carefully, he unloads the real bolt and places it in the secret pocket he’d messily sewed inside one of his overalls during a sewing lesson with Miss Marion and Miss Nadene and reloads a toy bolt into the crossbow and slings it on his back, shoving more toy bolts into various pockets, slingshot and rocks in their proper pockets, double checks the two button necklaces, and places the board back over the hole in the floor. He undoes the window contraption and coils the string inside the bucket and places it in the windowsill, scoops up the stacks of buttons on the floor, and puts them in the bucket as well. Satisfied the room looks as unsuspicious as it can get, he skips into the kitchen to help with breakfast.
Yeza had awoken early as well. Dreams weren’t always pleasant in the Brenatto household. Shaking off the memory of a tearfilled visit from the Nein minus Veth, he stirs the pancake batter with a little more ferocity than normal.
“ Normal,” he scoffs at his own thoughts . “What even is normal anymore? Veth was dead, was a goblin, isn’t a goblin, shoots a crossbow now? Chases down monsters? We have more money than we could have ever dreamed, she has friends, heck I have friends now. Our son has friends. Our son has a crossbow.” He sighs and gently sets the bowl back down on the counter, leaning his head on both hands. “ Our nearly 6-year-old son has eyes too old for him. Our baby booby-traps his own bedroom at night. ”
“Dad?”
Yeza jumps and squawks, wiping at his eyes before turning around, “Hey, good morning buddy.” He catches Luc’s fly-by hug to the knees as Luc zooms towards the table. “Hey hey hey, what did we say about crossbows at the table?”
Luc sighs but hangs the crossbow off the back of the third chair at the table before dragging his chair loudly across the wooden floor. When he reaches the stove, he stops and clambers up top of the chair. Yeza reaches out a hand to steady him and hooks an apron over his neck that is way too big for the child, loops the bottom him up and ties it with the waist straps so Luc won’t trip and fall into the stove. Hopefully.
“Okay bud, finish stirring this for me and we’ll get breakfast going.” He hands Luc the already stirred pancake batter and smiles as the kid goes nuts, stirring the batter into a whirlpool. “Woah now, a little lighter there Luc, it’s all gonna escape out the top.” The stirring slows slightly.
The sun has fully risen by the time breakfast is over and cleaned up. Luc finishes his very careful scrubbing of the table for every single crumb before slinging his crossbow back over his shoulders and looking at Yeza. “Can I please go outside now and practice?”
Yeza ruffles his hair, “Yeah buddy go ahead. Just be watchful of other kids, pets, elderly folks-”
“You got it Dad!”
“-I’ll be in my office, remember special knock if the door-”
“Door is shut! Got it bye!”
Yeza watches from a window as Luc tears around outside like a normal kid and thanks whatever gods were watching out for them both that Luc was alright.
“ Hmmm, having a maudlin day today, are we? Well, might as well do maudlin tasks.”
He spends the morning looking over their finances, figuring out the budget for the next couple of weeks. It’s hard to know when Veth is coming back with more money so he’s recently started supplying local shops with various potions for extra coin and trying to live mostly off of that income and save the money Veth brought for, for,
“For what?” his brain unhelpfully supplies. “A house? A new store? Returning to Felderwin? Going somewhere else? Where can you go that isn’t marked by grief or your son’s trauma? Maybe you’re saving it for a funeral, mmm? Waiting for the day that Caleb or Jester show up at your door with your wife’s broken body in their hands and tears in their eyes? Or maybe there isn’t a body at all, just her broken crossbow.”
Yeza rips his glasses off, and buries his head in his hands. “ Stop it. This is just because of that dream. Veth is going to come home. She’ll be safe and in one piece, she is perfectly capable of taking care of herself and the others around her and they’ll keep her safe too. She’s fine.” He sniffs and looks at the ceiling whispering a prayer to Melora for her safety. He pats his pockets, looking for a handkerchief, before remembering they’re all in the wash. Thunder rolls outside indicating an afternoon storm. The wash!
Using his sleeve, he dries his eyes and sprints outside to get the laundry in before the rain hits. The afternoon is spent teaching Luc his lessons and letters to the sounds of heavy rainfall hitting the windows. Veth was right, the kid is smart. Already reading full sentences. That’ll be fun for him to show off next time she’s back. After dinner, while cleaning up, Yeza has him repeat the list of things he needs to know if they ever get separated.
Luc rolls his eyes and recites in a monotone, “My dad is Yeza Brenatto and my mom is Veth. I live in Nicodranus in the Sunrise Homes, Building 3.”
“And if you can’t find me?”
“Check with Miss Edith, 2 doors down.”
“And if you can’t find her or are in danger?”
“I run to Miss Marion’s and hide behind Blud.”
Yeza sighs but gives Luc a hug. “Sorry we gotta do this bud, but I gotta make sure you’re safe. It’s easy to forget things when it all gets crazy.”
Luc yawns and climbs up into the chair with him and snuggles in. “S’alright Dad. Jace’s mom makes him do the same thing, cause he accidentally ran away while they were out shopping in the market and he was so scared he forgot where he lived and what his mom’s name was, so now she makes him say it every time he leaves.”
Yeza hugs him tight for a moment. “I bet that was scary for both him and his mom. She probably forgot a few things too. I know I would have. Your mom is much more level headed than I am in an emergency.” He laughs. “Did I ever tell you about the time we almost burned down the old house?”
The evening turns into night as Yeza tells story after story until Luc’s soft breathing slows into sleep. He scoops him up and carries him to bed. Carefully, he tucks his son's crossbow into its hiding spot between the bed and the wall, stares at the window trap for a moment before figuring out how it works and rigging it up and firmly shutting and locking the window. He stacks the buttons in their spot by the door and slips out, closing it gently. Crouching down, he pulls a wire out of his pocket to carefully slide under the door and scoot the button stack into its proper place as a trap against the door. Standing with a soft grunt, he puts the wire back in his pocket and goes to bed. Hopefully the dreams are nicer tonight.
Every day is one day closer to Veth coming home.
A smattering of buttons hits Luc in the face, waking him. He shoots upright, looking around confused. Some instinct sends him to the floor on the other side of his bed taking the crossbow with him. He looks at the window, now cracked slightly. That’s not right. Quietly, he removes the floorboard and loads up his pockets with the real crossbow bolts. He must have fallen asleep with the slingshot and rocks in his pocket cause they’re still there. So is the emergency button necklace. The window creeps open and a shadowed figure drops into the room. Luc ducks behind the bed, heart racing. A second figure follows and they head for the door.
“Not Mom. She’d come alone and through the front door.” The door opens and sends his button stacks scattering. Luc grins that it worked and prays that his dad heard the clattering. The two figures slip into the hallway and Luc softly follows to the doorway and peeks around the doorframe. A flash of light comes from under the door to his parents’ room and Luc pulls back and sighs in relief. Dad heard. He takes a second to load the crossbow and peeks around again. The two figures have frozen in the hallway. Luc pulls back into the room and breathes.
“They don’t scare you anymore!” he thinks fiercely before turning around, getting low and aiming at one of the intruders. Remembering his mom’s lessons, he fires and yells, “DAD LOOK OUT!”
The bolt lands in the person’s shoulder and they stumble forward, shocked. Luc slams the door to his room shut and pulls the chair next to it in front to block it. He climbs on top of the chair and peeks through the decorative hole at the top of the door at the scene in the hallway, while he reloads. One of the people, they’re wearing a mask, is banging on his door and the other is wrestling with his dad’s door.
“ If only I had some of Dad’s fire stuff,” he thinks while trying to figure out how to aim through the hole at the person trying to get his dad. He goes to fire but is knocked off balance by the person slamming against his door. He reloads and jumps down, and runs outside through the window.
“What would Mom do, what would Mom do, what would-” He knows he should be running away but he can’t leave Dad. He runs to the front door and pulls out the key that stays on his button necklace. He hears a thump behind him and looks. The other person was following him. He jerks open the door and slams it shut, throwing the lock and stumbling back into the living room. Whirling around, he raises his crossbow and steps towards the person trying to get into Dad’s room.
“Stop it!” he yells. The person stops and looks at him, confused, before continuing to push into the room.
Yeza yells from the other side of the door, “Luc! Run, now! Like we said!”
“NO!” Luc releases another bolt; it lands on the floor. He reloads and steps forward as the door to his room slams open and the person who’d been chasing him outside steps into the hallway. Luc aims and fires at the one trying to get his dad, this time hitting them in the side. They stumble back in shock and glare at him over the mask.
“Take care of him!” They grunt at their companion.
“Luc! RUN!” Yeza screams as the intruder finally bursts through his door. Luc’s eyes fill with tears as he sees his dad pulled out and wrestled roughly to the ground. “GO!”
The other person charges at him. Luc ducks under his hands and legs, tripping him and jabs a bolt into the man tying down his dad with his hands as he sprints into his room. He pushes the chair in front of the door again, this time also wedging a triangle block of his in the bottom and scrambles out the window, running into the night air screaming.
Marion had bid her evening guest adieu and was having tea on the back balcony under the moon and the watchful gaze of the Wildmother’s lighthouse. She was able to look over the Brenatto residence from here. It gave her a sense of peace, this late-night ritual of checking in on a family that had grown dear to her in their time in her home. It was good to be able to respond to Jester’s sporadic messages that Veth’s family was perfectly safe. Closing her eyes and breathing in the sea breeze, she prays that her little girl is safe and will return to her soon. She turns to move back inside when shadows move down the street. Freezing she stares hard into the night as one then two shadowy figures slip into the Brenatto residence, followed by yelling from inside. She rushes back into her rooms and into the hallway.
“Blud! The Brenatto’s are under attack!”
Blud’s eyes widen for a moment before he takes off running, skipping stairs. Marion rushes after him and they burst into the street just as Luc appears from his window running straight for them, screaming. Marion’s heart is racing but she ignores it in favor of running towards the child. Lights are being lit in houses up and down the street at the commotion. Blud rushes to the house, beating at the locked front door. Marion scoops up the little boy holding him to herself as Blud finally makes it into the house.
Marion turns to rush Luc back to the safety of her home but her heart sinks at the sight of more shadows.
“Is that the Lavorre woman?” a gruff voice comes from one of them.
“Yes, take her too.” A cold voice says as an elven woman steps into the moonlight.
Marion barely has time to scream before she is knocked out and collapses to the ground. The rest of the shadows gather around as the elven woman concentrates for a moment and they all disappear in a rush of arcane power.
Blud runs outside, “There’s no one inside -”. He looks around, confused, and runs back to the Chateau, now fully relit on the inside. “Did she come back here?”
Carlos looks at him confused. “Did who come back here? What’s the fuss about?
Blud’s heart sinks and turns and looks at the now-empty street, filling with concerned neighbors and shopkeeps. He rests a hand on Carlos’ shoulder.
“The Ruby has been taken. Along with the Brenattos.” Carlos gasps and steadies himself on the doorframe. “Wake the staff, we’re gonna find out if anyone saw anything.”
Carlos nods and runs off. Nadene walks up, tears in her eyes, and puts a hand on his arm. “We’ll find them. We will.”
Blud nods gravely. “Do you have any way to get in touch with the Sapphire?”