TRP: Ba'ob and Timur (Safe Harbor)

**ABBY**

[Setting: Ship with the sick and infirm from the Sanctuary,
day 261.]

The last day had been a whirlwind. At first it seemed pretty
normal-- Ba'ob woke up at home. Tried to help with breakfast, broke stuff cause
he was one arm down and still wasn't always remembering that.

And then Jasper showed up and Ba'ob hadn't caught what all
was going on, but next he knew they were getting hustled off and teleported to
the Sanctuary. Everybody was running around, doing things-- cause the orcs were
coming. Scared him. Wanted to go home, with Azriel, curl up in a corner and
Jasper where they were safe. But they didn't want to do that. Azriel put Ba'ob
on a boat. He was gonna fight.

Ba'ob had wanted to stay but what if the lost. What if the
orcs got him again. Azriel'd hugged him and counted him while he he tried to
remember how to breathe. So he went.

Still wasn't happy about it. Supposed to be safer-- but
nobody he cared about was here. Nobody who was in charge of him was here. So
okay, Ba'ob started to sneak out, sneak around. Maybe find the kitchens. Least
he deserved after getting stuck on the ship.

**COYOTE**

 There was a weird elf kid on the ship. Timur felt sorry for
him, honestly— seemed like he wasn’t that bright, or there was something off
about him, like maybe his mother dropped him on his head when he was young.
Timur reckoned elves weren’t very nurturing; he’d always heard they were very
cold.

Timur caught rifling through the kitchen on the packed ship.
“Um,” he said uncertainly. “You ain’t suppose to be doing that.”

**ABBY**

Ba'ob heard footsteps approaching. Thought about stopping,
decided against it. Wolf didn't growl, must mean it was okay. Did look up when
he heard the voice. Orc. He narrowed his eyes. "You sure you supposed to
be on ship?"

**COYOTE**

 “Oh. Yeah, my name’s Timur. What’s yours?”

The boy didn’t look that old, but Timur heard funny things
about elves taking a long time to mature, so that wasn’t helpful. Timur heard
elves could be a hundred and eighteen and still be dumb children. It was
probably true.

**ABBY**

Ba'ob studied him a moment more. "Ba'ob." He
rested his hand on the wolf's head. "She my friend. We fight." Or
used to. Didn't need to tell him that though.

**COYOTE**

 “Right. Okay.” God, elves were so weird. “Are you hungry?
See, civilized folk usually eat three square meals a day, at certain times...”

**ABBY**

Ba'ob stared blankly. "I'm not civilized."

**COYOTE**

 “I know. It’s okay. I can teach you.”

**ABBY**

Ba'ob sized the orc, Timur, up for a second more. Did sound
about right though. Ba'ob needed a lot of help with that... "Okay,"
he agreed. Glanced at the bread and fruit he'd managed to find and up again.
"I have to put this back?"

**COYOTE**

 “Yes,” Timur said firmly. “You need to put that back.” Then
Timur pulled a bag out of his backpack. “My mama packed me a lunch, though.
Umm... wanna share it?” Then he hastily added, “Not with the wolf, though.”

**ABBY**

Ba'ob always shared with wolf. That's what they did.
"Okay," he agreed sullenly. Wolf didn't understand what was going on.
Wouldn't understand when Ba'ob said no. Ba'ob never said no. But then again
maybe if he wasn't paying enough attention, she could get her share without
Ba'ob giving it to her...

**COYOTE**

 “Um.” He hesitated. “How did you— get a wolf?”

**ABBY**

"She chose me," Ba'ob said. And he'd always be
grateful for it.

**COYOTE**

 “Right.” Wolves weren’t, like, people, though. Looking at
his new friend Ba’ob, Timur wondered if Ba’ob knew this. He decided not to ask.
It would be rude.

**ABBY**

Ba'ob stared back. Was this some kind of test or something?
Well-- they were not supposed to be in the kitchen. Slowly, Ba'ob put the food
back and started edging for the door. He'd have to get closer to Timur. Didn't
like that. But he could hear people coming so-- better they went back to where
they was supposed to wait till it was all over.

**ABBY**

Ba'ob spent the rest of the trip crammed in a corner, the
wolf between him and everything else. The orc stayed nearby, made a few more
attempts to talk, but Ba'ob didn't feel like it and it dropped off. At one
point there were noises. Like a fight. Ba'ob buried his face in the wolf's fur
and tried to pretend he couldn't hear it.

After that though. After that they got to go back. And
Azriel was at the docks. Ba'ob gripped the railing (with his one hand) and
waited. Waited till they signaled it was safe to go down. Waited till he was
signaled to go.

He even behaved on the way down. Didn't jostle, didn't push.
Head up just enough to not run into anybody or anything. Duck out of the throng
of people. And there was Azriel.

Ba'ob flung his arms around Azriel. His face was wet, salty.
Wasn't entirely the sea. That was okay though. It was Azriel. And he was safe.
Good enough for now.

**IZZY**

For a battle, it had been remarkably short-lived. Perhaps
Azriel only thought that because he'd been perched on the ramparts with some
other spellcasters -- that strange fox woman Ba'ob was so fond of, and Mikhail
fucking Haeth, apparently, and some quiet half-elf who seemed to be friends
with the fox woman -- so he was out of the thick of it. Uninjured, still poised
and having not so much as broken a sweat. He was calm and collected. He even
ended up in the same place as Jasper, so he was able to keep an eye on her.

Abel and Larkin were on the other side of the town, which he
did not appreciate.

Ba'ob, though had been shipped away with the infirm, as he
wasn't able to fight, and Azriel had been torn because it seemed safer,
objectively, but he disliked having Ba'ob so far out of his sight. That one
half-orc had rallied up some sailors who were sent to protect the ships, and
Ba'ob still had a bit of magic and the wolf, but still.

He didn't quite settle until he'd laid his own eyes on his
wolf boy and verified that he was all right. Azriel stumbled a bit at the
typically emphatic Ba'ob style hug, but hugged him back just as firmly.
"There," he said, pretending to be self-assured. "Not a problem."
He reached down to scratch the wolf's ears. "Didn't I tell you everything
would be fine?"

He couldn't remember if he'd said that, actually, and it had
plagued him after they'd sailed off.

**COYOTE**

 Timur stepped off hesitantly. He scanned the crowd, looking
for his mom, or anyone familiar.

Was she okay? Had she survived the battle?

**ABBY**

Gavi shoved aside yet another person in her way. Fucking
civilians, crowding the place all up. Made it hard to spot where Timur had got
off to. But there he was.

"Timur!" she cried, bolting over. He was okay.
Course he was, no reason to think otherwise. But it was good to see. She jerked
him into a tight hug, feeling the knot in her chest loosen. Just a little.
"Told ya it'd be okay," she said. "Told ya I'd be back to you."

Ba'ob nodded silently. Azriel had. And Azriel always kept
his promises. (Still worried. But it was okay now.) "What about
others?" he asked quietly. Jasper, Ombre, Abel, Larkin, that funny
turtle-- even that stupid orc and the elf he threw his skull at popped into
mind for a second.

**IZZY**

"Everyone's fine." He said it as though there'd
never been any doubt. Everyone that he knew was fine, at any rate -- he had no
idea if there had been losses at the southern gate. Abel and Larkin were safe.
That was the main thing.

And Ba'ob was safe.

[END]

**ABBY**

Title: Safe Harbor

Summary: Timur meets Ba'ob aboard the ship. Ba'ob is
obviously an inferior, uncivilized elf who needs help and guidance. Afterwards,
Ba'ob and Timur reunite with their guardians.