Chapter Text
Derek walked through the village, the marketgoers bustling around him. Nobody paid him much mind, but everybody was quick to get out of his way. It was an exceptionally hot day for the fall, a sort of sweltering heat that made him have to readjust the dingy iron plate against his chest every few steps. All the more reason to hurry.
“You! Sir Knight!” A merchant called out from the crowd, he wasn't sure who they were talking to.. “You in the lovely iron armor!”
..Were they talking about him?
A calloused hand gripped his forearm, pulling Derek from his daze. He turned to the short man, he wore bright blue robes with golden accents. He spoke with an accent Derek couldn't possibly place, “You! Noble knight, you seem like the type of man with an interest in distant lands! Please, please, see the wares and commodities I have collected on my travels!”
“I am no knight.” He stated bluntly. As for the merchant's second remark, he wasn't even going to bother answering. Of course Derek was curious of the outside world, more than the average man. But he knew nothing would come of this interest, he had a job, a home, a brother, it would've been foolish to leave it all behind. He pulled himself away from the merchant. “I'm afraid I am not interested.”
The traveller's face creased into a frown before turning to focus on somebody else within the crowd. Derek took the chance to disappear back into the crowd, the bakehouse was in his sights. He clasped the bag around his body tighter and pushed into the small building.
The heat was excruciating inside, the smell of freshly baked bread hovered in the air. There was a man standing over the row of ovens dabbling his brow with his apron before turning towards him. “Ah, Derek! I was wondering when you would arrive.”
“I apologize, Faust.” Derek set the bag onto the table. “I was stopped on the way over.” One by one he started to empty the bundles of wheat from the satchel, as Faust dug in a nearby chest.
“It's no problem at all, my boy.” Faust was a large man, much older than Derek, his hair had dabbles of gray all throughout, including his beard. He looked over the pile of grain before him, nodding. “I believe this should be enough.” He passed a handful of emeralds over the counter, Derek counted them and slipped them into the bag.
“Thank you.”
“Say, how's Avery doing?” Faust leaned against the counter, “Is he still planning on heading out to that tournament?”
“Unfortunately..” Derek sighed, “No matter how much I've tried to dissuade him, he remains confident.” It all started when a knight rolled through the village, sharing his experiences in these games and tournaments. Avery, as impressionable as the day they'd met, had become convinced to be a part of them as well.
“We've both seen him in combat, I'd say he may even have a chance at winning..” Faust chuckled. “You could always join him for the journey, if it worries you so.”
“I couldn't. Someone has to stay and tend to the land.” He closed the bag and nodded “I'll be back in a couple days with some more wheat, have a good evening, Faust.”
“Travel safe, Derek.”
He sighed in relief at the faint breeze outside, breathing in the fresh air as he readjusted his bag.
He didn't know why he was so worried, Avery has always been capable, if not a little credulous at times. The two of them hadn't been apart, not since they were children. Ina, a woman with a heart of pure gold, had taken them in from the cold and put to work on the small wheat farm at the edge of town. But if that woman didn't treat them like her own.. Even once they'd gotten older, and the passing of poor Ina, they saw no reason to leave. Neither the farm, nor each other.. until now.
Perhaps that's where Derek's anguish came from, the thought of everything he once knew changing. His fears weren't that Avery would be unable to survive and be terrified of the outside world, it was that he would enjoy it so much he'd never look back.
It was a selfish thought. Derek chastised himself over it.
= = = = = = =
The sun was just barely above the trees by the time Derek had arrived home, the small wooden cottage illuminated by candlelight, smoke floating from the stone chimney. Derek, before heading inside, rounded up the few livestock, a pair of hens, a goat, and a tired old sheep, they had back into the pens and locked them up.
The cottage was warm, and inviting. The soft glow of the fireplace, which had a large bubbling pot above it. The mantle held the few books they owned, Derek had poured over each one a thousand times throughout the years, and all had seen better days. Beside the books were the small wooden statues they'd used as toys as children, now weathered.
He set the satchel of emeralds, and other various goods down on the wooden table and sat down, only to hear the rush of footsteps from another room. “You've returned! I was starting to worry that you'd been attacked, and I'd have to go out and save you from some sort of beast!”
“There is nothing that would attack this close to the village, Avery.” He spoke slowly as the slime rounded the table and sat across from him, still dressed in the dark short sleeved tunic he'd worn throughout the day. He held something in his lap, out of Derek's view. A gift, Derek assumed, given by how Avery seemed to buzz with excitement. Derek sighed and stood with a smile on his face, walking towards the hearth and stirred the pot, which he could now see held a sort of stew “Did you collect the eggs like I'd asked?”
“Yes. And I'd put them away into the cellar, like you'd asked.” Avery replied, quickly standing and marching towards Derek, who was about to turn to face him before Avery shouted “Don't look at me! I have something to give you!” Derek swiftly turned back to the stew, watching the stock bubble and roll.
“And what might that be?” Derek felt cloth suddenly drape over him, falling entirely to the left side of his pelvis.
“It's a scarf! I made it.” scarf might have been an understatement..
Derek lifted the cloth up in his hand, it was a deep maroon, it went well with the iron chestplate he wore, and so large it could be used as a small blanket. He wasn't sure whether that was intentional or not on Avery's part, if it was, he admired the slime's ingenuity. Regardless, he didn't bother asking, lest he offend the young man. Instead, he turned and asked, “What made you want to make this?”
“Tomorrow I depart, as you know.. And we only owned the one. It felt wrong to take it from you, for who knows when I'll return! I figured I would make you your own, so we can both stay warm. Consider it a going away present!”
“Would I not be the one who should be getting you the going away present?” Derek clenched onto the scarfs end tighter, and sighed. “I assume this means you're still going?”
“We've discussed this countless times, Derek.” Avery's smile faltered slightly, clearly annoyed by having this conversation yet again, he took a step back as Derek pulled off the maroon cloth and folded it up in his arms.
“But it is such a long way.”
“It's no more than a day's travel,”
“And what of the tournament? There is a vast difference between our sparring, and a true tournament.”
“I've been practicing, I've even sparred with some of the guards in town. And I've prevailed nearly every time.” Derek sighed and looked down to the gift in his arms. “I don't understand why you refuse to trust me..”
“It is not that I don't trust you, Avery. It's that there is so much outside this place, and I worry that..” He hesitated, the fears of abandonment getting caught in his throat. “..I worry about your recklessness. I fear you will do something that will be your undoing,, and I won't be able to help.” He eventually decided on, it was only half of a lie. But it was apparently the incorrect answer, given the flash of a scowl on Avery's face. Derek sighed apologetically, “..Avery.. I'm sorry.. but-”
“..It's alright.. I'm.. going to go check on the mare..” Avery muttered before stepping outside, leaving Derek alone with nothing but the crackling of the fire behind him.
“Shit..” He cursed to himself, walking down the narrow hallway into his room. Once belonging to their caretaker, it was the larger room of the two, though it only held enough space for a bed and a small writing desk. He set the scarf atop his bed and sat down beside it. The frame groaned beneath him as he put his hands to his face, brushing the strands of dark brown hair that fell onto his face.
He should've known it was a foolish thing to say. No matter how he looked at the situation, it would end poorly. He could do as he did tonight, lie and provoke Avery. He could tell him the truth, and risk the slime staying, if only to keep him from worrying. Or, he could support Avery, and risk being left to rot in this shoddy cabin, all because he can't fathom changing along with the world.
Derek wasn't sure how much time had passed, sitting in the darkness of his bedroom while he pondered. But in that time he'd finally reached a conclusion. All throughout his life, Avery had proven two things to him. Firstly, he was capable, no matter what task, whether farmwork or training, he'd managed to exceed Derek's expectations. And secondly, he could trust that Avery wouldn't forget about his brother, even if they were 500 miles apart. Even if he rots away in this town frozen in the times, at least he'd know he wasn't holding Avery back.
He tossed the scarf over his shoulders and lit a candle, making his way out into the dark of the night towards the small stables on the edge of the property. It was where they housed the young mare Avery had acquired in a bet with one of the local townsfolk, something he never fully explained to Derek, and the old mule that'd been living on this farm since before Derek did. so, almost 30 years by now, he wasn't sure how it was still as spry as it was.
The crickets chirped as he passed, the light bouncing off the trees and grass as the wind threatened to blow the candle out. The stable doors were shut when he arrived, no sound coming from inside, except for the wind whistling through the cracks somewhere inside.
“Avery, we need to talk, I-” Derek pushed the door open, greeted by the old mule. Half awake from Derek's sudden intrusion. Avery was nowhere to be found inside the stable, and neither was his mare. Derek turned to the entrance on the other side, the gate slamming open and shut with each gust of autumn wind. He ran to the mare's pen, the supplies set out were gone. As was Avery's bag he'd set aside for his trip. “..No, no.. he wouldn't..” He muttered as he ran outside, noticing the faint indents of horseshoes in the dirt leading deeper into the forest, they were fresh. “..He did..”
He pinched the bridge of his nose, panic starting to set in as he went back inside and grabbed the spare saddle from the wall and put it onto the, now wide awake, mule. Derek pulled himself up onto the animal and wasted no time embarking into the forest, the pale moonlight doing very little to light the way as he traveled.