TRP: Gavi and Hansel (Bad Blood)

**ABBY**

[Setting: Gavi's cave day 253.]

Does Gruumsh want to kill your son? As much as Gavi tried to
forget it, that question kept cropping up in her mind. Timur was alive, he was
with Gavi, he was safe. Gavi did her duty, Gavi was a good Gruuman. There was
no need for any wrath of Gruumsh for Timur to get in the crossfire of. That's
what she tried to tell herself.

Does Gruumsh want to kill your son?

Now normally Gavi wasn't the most perceptive person, they
had guards for that, but she was keyed up still, constantly scanning the
shadows, looking for signs of danger. So when she spotted movement, she grabbed
her axe, stepping out and gesturing for Timur to be quiet. "Hey!" she
yelled. "Who's out there?"

**IZZY**

Hansel had asked Griffin where the hell his aunt was staying
at, anyway, because it didn't seem like it was in actual Glimmerton. Reassured
him that he wasn't going to pick a fight -- gestured to the fact that he was
bringing Luci with him, said, Just wanna check on the kid, mostly.

That was vaguely true. He was real fuckin' concerned about
that kid. But he also wondered how Gavi was handling the shit that'd happened
the day before. They'd agreed to not talk about Gruumsh, and all, but given how
shaken up she'd got about Luci getting hurt, he figured seeing her own kid
actually die had to be fucking rough.

She heard them coming -- wasn't like he was trying to sneak,
but she still sounded vicious and protective. He didn't waste time calling
back, "Hansel. Brought Luci," as they moved out of the trees.

**ABBY**

Friends then. Gavi let out a shaky sigh and slid her axe
back in its holster. "Yeah, come on down," she said, gesturing them
over. "Hey kid," she said to Luci. "Good work yesterday. Really
appreciate you..." bringing my son back to life "...helping with
Timur."

**IZZY**

Luci raised a hand in greeting, and brushed it off in a
quiet, certain voice. "It's a cleric's duty."

Hansel gave her a proud look that she didn't see, then
nodded to Gavi. "He doing all right, with the moving and everything?"
Going from a house to a cave, from one parent to the other. Dying, and all.

**ABBY**

Gavi glanced up at Hansel. "Probably would be better if
I gave him some space," she said wryly.

Then back to Luci. "Yeah well. I know there's some
clerics that wouldn't agree with you. So still. Thanks, for being one of the
good ones," she said.

**IZZY**

Luci nodded, accepting the compliment, though she looked a
little puzzled by it. Hansel wondered himself if Gavi was trying to talk shit
about Goro, or thinking about Gruuman war clerics, or elven clerics she just
assumed would let an innocent orc kid die. He thought about Serena's magic
pulling him back from the brink, Goro's keeping him safe and guiding his
trident. Didn't let the comment get under his skin and fester -- shook it off.

He glanced towards the cave, and suggested, "Kids'd be
all right by themselves, if you wanna do a perimeter sweep."

Luci looked up at him, then to Gavi, and backed him up.
"I don't mind."

**ABBY**

Gavi hesitated. She had just admitted that she could stand
to give Timur some space but... a mother worried. Worried a lot. Kept trying to
scrub the dirt off Timur's neck, only it was a scar, but she couldn't quit
scrubbing and scrubbing until it'd hurt. Then she'd hugged him, and apologized,
pet his hair, and held back from breaking down in tears in front of her son.

Timur had a scarf now.

"Yeah. Yeah, that sounds good. Hey, Timur!" she
called, turning around to face him. "Me and Hansel here's gonna do a
sweep. You'n Luci can hang out for a minute all right? Holler if you need
us." After Timur called back, Gavi turned and started for the woods,
pausing to rest her hand on Luci's shoulder for a second.

"Thanks. Again. I mean that about holler if we're
needed. Probably not but... still fresh, y'know?"

**IZZY**

Luci nodded. "No problem." Kid wasn't the sort to
take offense at an implication she couldn't take care of herself, even if
Hansel was always baffled by how capable she'd gotten to be, himself. And she
was sharp. She'd get that Gavi was just spooked about losing her kid.

Hansel reflexively kissed the top of Luci's head before he
turned away, remembering belatedly, Ah, right, shit -- but it didn't seem to
bother her the way it used to.

He pulled his hands out of his coat pockets and slipped his
silver trident off his back. He kept the blackberry vine wrapped around the
center tine of Taavit's trident, still green and flowering, and Luci still had
his old battered shield on her back and Goro's armor. Kept everyone safe even
when they were all apart. He wondered about Timur's dad, back in Little Creek.

"So, uh," he said after walking in silence for a
little while. "How's ... shit?" Eloquent, commander. Nice one.

**ABBY**

"It's shit," Gavi said, running her hand through
her hair. "Keep trying to keep it together in front of Timur, y'know? And
sometimes it's okay. Sometimes I remember him lying there and..." her
other hand tightened around her axe and her jaw clenched. She'd watched her son
die.

"He's alive though," she said roughly.
"That's the most important thing. S'good your girl was there."

**IZZY**

"Mm," he agreed. Sure was. Good goddamn thing
Gruumsh hadn't fucking killed Luci either of the times he'd tried, he thought,
but it didn't seem like a good time to say it. "Woulda been all right if
she wasn't. Goro would've got your boy, too."

**ABBY**

Gavi stopped and glared at Hansel. "Don't say
that," she said lowly. "Cause otherwise I'm gonna start thinkin'
about how I don't really believe that, and I'm just gonna get pissed off at
him, and I've got enough problems as it is without adding that in the
mix."

**IZZY**

He gave her a look. "All right. Just stating fuckin'
facts. I know Goro better than you do, and he would've saved your kid." He
shrugged and kept walking. "Saved your ass from me, didn't he? Point's
done been made, anyway."

**ABBY**

Gavi ground her teeth together. She didn't want to fucking
argue about this. Far as she was concerned she didn't see a reason for Goro to
have done it. Luci neither, but she'd saved that Tarrington fella, so Gavi
could at least figure her as one of those bleeding-heart types. Goro'd made it
pretty clear though, Gavi weren't one of his people. No reason to expect any
grace towards her son.

Luci was there at least, Gavi reminded herself. Timur was
alive. She got her son back. "Doesn't matter," she said. "Luci
was there. There's no problem. I got my son and that's all that matters."
Now if only she could believe that.

**IZZY**

He shrugged again and dropped it. "Sure is. Most
important goddamn thing there is."

God, he wanted to fucking argue. Your god tried to take my
kid away. Would take Jonn and Roddy, too, if he'd been able to reach them.
Maybe you don't have anyone like Mishka and Goro, but you got Timur. You gotta
fucking get that.

But he bit his tongue against it. "Listen, I don't know
how set exactly you two are for food and shelter and shit, but if the hunting
gets sparse or the weather gets bad, you can spend a couple night in the
castle. Have dinner or some shit. Me and Raef always make too much goddamn food
anyway."

**ABBY**

Hansel's easy agreement... helped. Even with all that
happened, even with Gavi telling Bloodgrut about the castle, he was still being
friendly, reaching out. The tension in Gavi's shoulders slackened. "We're
pretty set, but I'll keep that in mind," she said. "Might come by for
a social call too. Been a long time since Timur and Griffin got to see each
other." She didn't think Timur would remember Griffin. Been so long. She
was excited to get her two boys in the same room, she loved them both so muh.

**IZZY**

He nodded. Gavi seemed to mean a lot to Griffin -- he'd
heard him calling her ima. Mom. Supposed that made him and Timur brothers, in a
way, but Hansel didn't know how the fuck orc tribes worked -- if they'd ever
really spent any time together. "Yeah, no problem." He glanced at
her, studied her a moment, carefully. "How you holding up, anyway? Not the
kid. You."

**ABBY**

How was she holding up? "I don't fucking know,"
she said. "I got my kid back. Sometimes I look at him and I'm just so
happy he's here. Sometimes I wanna go back to that town and punch Josiah in the
face for luring him off into danger like that. Sometimes I remember him lying
in the dirt and... I just want to cry." Gavi stopped and put her back to a
tree, burying her face in her hands and letting out a bitter laugh.

"Y'know I think I'm not holding up well at all."

**IZZY**

Hansel opened his mouth and closed it. He slowed his walk a
little, to fall back and match her, and thought a second more.

"Hey. If, uh. Josiah, yeah? If he hadn't've gotten
Timur away from your old tribe, or whatever, kid would've become a soldier, right?
Woulda been in a lot of fucking danger, then. Seems to me like he was trying to
keep Timur safer."

**ABBY**

"Safer among a buncha hippies that don't know which end
of the sword to stick their enemies with?" Gavi said mockingly.
"Soldiering's rough but at least you got people who know what's up
watching your back. You saw what that town was like. If we hadn't been there
they woulda been slaughtered."

**IZZY**

"Yeah, by a fuckin' Gruuman druid," Hansel
muttered.

**ABBY**

Gavi shoved off the tree and jabbed her finger in Hansel's
chest. "Yeah by a fucking Gruuman druid. Cause Gruumsh knows that we gotta
protect ourselves," Gavi hissed. "That's what he teaches us-- that's
why he gave me these fucking spells. Cause if we don't protect ourselves who
fucking will?"

**IZZY**

"Well, not fuckin' him," Hansel said flatly. He
didn't react to the finger jab. "What kinda goddamn protector attacks his
people and risks fuckin' killin'em to teach the ones that maybe survive that
they oughta learn how to fight? Fuck, that ain't how I taught Jonn and Luci to
take care of themselves. You don't fucking teach people shit if you
hurt'em."

He thought fleetingly about Elijah.

"You just fuckin' hurt'em."

**ABBY**

"They weren't his people." Gavi broke off,
starting to pace back and forth. "Gruumans know how to fight. That lot?
Yeah right. That's why Bloodgrut asked me to get 'em over under his leadership.
Cause then they would be Gruumans, and they might still have to fight but they
wouldn't have fucking Gruuman druids out to get 'em!" Gavi flung her hand
out, wide and angry.

**IZZY**

Hansel gave her an unimpressed look. "Right. Fuckin'
walk me through this, yeah? You gotta fuckin' follow Gruumsh, 'cause then he'll
protect you from the fuckers trying to kill you, which fuckin' includes
Gruumsh. And you better do it when you're a fuckin' ten-year-old,
sixteen-year-old, however old kid, 'cause fuckin' otherwise --." He
flicked a finger into his neck, where the arrow had hit Timur.

**ABBY**

Gavi froze. Memories replaying in her mind. Timur, crumpling
to the ground. Running over, trying to pour healing into him, knowing it was
too late. Luci joining her-- and it wasn't too late for Luci.

"Fuck you," she snarled at Hansel.

**IZZY**

He gave her another shrug. "Y'know, back in Skyport,
there was this fuckin' guy that ran the city's underbelly. The Basha. Used to
tell businesses they had to pay him protection fees. Protection from what, they'd
wanna know, right? We're safe. So he'd fuckin' have their windows smashed in,
and their stock trashed. It was just protection from him. Wasn't any other
fucking threat.

"You can tell me to fuck off if you want, and I'll go
get my daughter and leave you alone, and listen -- you can still bring Timur
around to hang out with his cousin and get a nice hot meal, 'cause the kid deserves
it," he said. "But I think your little fuckin' god's just an
overblown gang boss."

**ABBY**

"Fucking shut up!" Gavi roared and blindly smashed
her fist into Hansel's face. "You don't know! You don't know what it's
like out there! I lost my daughter--" her voice cracked in pain and
desperation-- "and do you know what's keeping me from loosing my sons too?
Nothing! Nothing by my power and their own skill. So don't you fucking talk
that way about the god that gives me that power. Don't you fucking dare."

**IZZY**

Hansel snapped back a step, digging the end of his trident
into the ground to stabilize himself. He blinked and worked his jaw a bit.

Hm.

He drew himself back up to his full height to look down at
her. "What it's like out there," he said quietly, "is me getting
fuckin' terrorized for sixteen years by people who hated orcs, and instead of
helping me, Gruumsh just fuckin' traumatized me worse. What it's fuckin' like
out there is Gruumsh not lifting a fuckin' finger to help your daughter. What
it's fucking like out there --" he stepped closer, raising his voice --
"is Gruumsh trying to kill my fucking daughter, and both your fucking
sons. I'll fucking dare all I fucking want so long as that's what it's fucking
like out there, Gavi."

**ABBY**

Gavi wavered. There were things she could argue-- Hansel
wasn't Gruumsh's, not by choice anyway, he wasn't under that protection--
neither was Luci-- but Gavi's daughter should have been. Griffin... wasn't.
Timur hadn't been. Timur had died for it.

Timur wasn't Gruuman enough to be protected. Gavi hoped--
prayed-- that her faith was enough to cover the both of them. "Well what
the fuck else am I supposed to do about it then?" she snapped.
"Sometimes I think I might drop dead without Gruumsh holding me together.
At at least I know Gruumsh is looking out for Bloodgrut, for my other
family." But fucking Griffin and Timur. Gavi didn't know what'd happen to
them. They weren't protected. And that, that send bone-deep chills down her
spine.

**IZZY**

"Gavi." He wanted to fucking shake her.
"You're gonna fuckin' drop dead, anyway, 'cause Gruumsh ain't fuckin'
holdin' you together. You fucking have bone rot!" He took half a step
back, throwing a hand up in disbelief. "God, who the fuck is more devout
than you, huh? Gruumsh can't keep a little bone rot at bay for his best fucking
soldier, so she can watch her kid grow up? So she can keep'em safe? 'Cause he's
sure the fuck not gonna do it, eh?" he drawled.

**ABBY**

"He's not a fuckin' healer he's a warrior!" Gavi
shouted back. "Can't expect that from him!"

**IZZY**

"He fuckin' gave you healing powers!"

**ABBY**

"They don't work on the rot!" Gavi yelled back.
"And he's got a reason for it too! Maybe this is just a test, maybe when
it's all said and done, he will cure me, my sons'll come with me back to my
tribe, and we'll all live happily ev-fucking-er after. Or maybe I did something
wrong, maybe this is a punishment. I don't fucking know! But I trust Gruumsh to
know for me!"

**IZZY**

Hansel stared at her for a moment, dumbfounded, then dragged
his hand down his face. "Fuck me. Fuck," he muttered. He pinched the
bridge of his nose, for a second, eyes closed, and took a breath. "A'right.
A'right. So what you're tellin' me, is that maybe you fucked up so fuckin' hard
that even though you're a fucking paladin, and he fuckin' -- blessed you with
powers and shit, or whatever, at the same fuckin' time he went, ah, yeah,
fuckin' Gavi Sacharet, fuck that bitch, she gets the rot."

He held up a hand and raised his voice to keep going,
"Either that's it, or else, he looked at you, the woman whose fucking
daughter died and whose nephew who might as well be her son ran off away from
home, he looked at you and thought y'know what she needs? More fuckin' hardship
in her life. The fuck is he trying to prove? The fuck else d'you think you need
to prove, to him or fuckin' anyone else? Fucksake."

**ABBY**

Gavi set her jaw. "I don't know, and I don't ask. Unlike
you, I've got faith," she sneered.

**IZZY**

"All right, well, I got faith in Luci and Goro and the
rest of my family bein' around to clean up the messes your fuckin' god makes,
'cause they got a track record of fuckin' doing that." He started back
towards the cave. "You got dead kids and bone rot. Don't know what to tell
you."

**ABBY**

Gavi flinched. "Dead kid," she muttered to
herself. Just one. For now. She didn't want to look at fucking Hansel's fucking
face right now, so she trailed behind slightly.

Timur was out front, playing cards with Luci. Just the sight
of him helped settle her. Her son was alive, he was okay. Gavi smiled and
shouldered past Hansel to sit down next to him. His hand was shit. Gavi snorted
and kissed his forehead before looking back up at Hansel.

"I appreciate you coming by, but I think it's best you
leave now," she said coolly.

**IZZY**

He grunted, and went over to offer Luci a hand up.

She frowned at him a bit, but took it, standing and brushing
off her robes. Then she smiled at Timur. "Keep the cards. Practice and we
can play some other time."

"C'mon, Luce." He touched her shoulder lightly,
and she nodded and followed, casting Gavi a curious, guarded look. The same one
Jonn had, with the little head tilt.

After they'd walked for a bit, she asked, "What
happened to your face?"

"Nothin'. Don't worry about it."

[END]

Title: Protection. Summary: Hansel checks in with Gavi after
Bad Blood. They talk about Gruumsh and kids, get into a mild fight, and go
their separate ways. Luci and Timur bond, probably.