TRP: Goro, Hansel, Pride, Sam, and Valentin (Crow Dream)

[SETTING: Night 446. Pride's dream.]

Goro wasn't alone when he woke. Rather than coming to laying on one of the assorted lounges in Pride's palace, he woke laying against a warm body -- warm, but not as soft as Hansel, and long hair tickled his face. There was a faint, not-unpleasant scent of sulfur.

LINA

"Sam," Goro said quietly, pleased. He put an arm around him and squeezed.

IZZY

Sam made a sleepy murmuring sound and squeezed him back.

LINA

Goro kept holding onto him but straightened up, looking around for Pride.

IZZY

They were in the boudoir, and Pride was visible on the balcony not far away. Sam yawned, which attracted his attention, and he clicked quietly into the room, giving them a pleased look. Sam blinked drowsily, looking back up at him, but he took the lounge opposite the two of them.

"What can I help you with?" Pride asked pleasantly.

LINA

"Couple things," Goro said. "I gotta add some names to the contract."

IZZY

"Indeed?"

Sam made an intrigued sound. "New friends?"

LINA

"Family," Goro said softly. "I found some. On my dad's side."

IZZY

"Mm." Pride seemed pleased by this, as well. He snapped his fingers, and the contract burned into place on the table between them, as well as the pen and inkwell from before.

Sam gave him a quick, excited hug before letting him go so he could lean forward and reach it. "That's great," he whispered.

LINA

Goro nodded eagerly, leaning forward to take the pen. He chewed his thumbnail for a second, thinking. Then he wrote:

Konstantin Voronin

Vanya Voronin

Nikolai Chernov-Voronin

Katya Chernov

And, after a long pause, afraid he was tempting fate: Valentin Voronin.

He set the pen down and sat back comfortably against Sam again.

IZZY

Sam had peeked over to watch. "Goddamn. That's a lot of new people."

LINA

"Ah, well, uh." Goro waved at the list, sheepish. "Konstantin's my... cousin, few times removed, and Vanya's his daughter, and Nikolai's his partner, and... well, I ain't sure about Katya yet, but she's Nikolai's sister, so she's kind of family." He swallowed and looked up at Pride. "Valentin's my uncle. I'm... actually not sure where he is, or if he's alive. But that's the other thing I wanted help with."

IZZY

Sam looked kind of impressed. He hugged Goro against him.

"You want me to find him, then?" Pride guessed.

LINA

Goro put his arm back around Sam. "And... put me into his dream. 'Cause I tried to scry on him and a spell was blocking me."

IZZY

Pride considered. "If he can't be seen by your methods, his mind may be blocked, as well."

LINA

"Yeah, well. It's my uncle we're talking about, so I wouldn't be surprised. But... could you try?"

IZZY

"Of course." He inclined his head, then leaned forward to study the contract. "Valentin Voronin," he mused. "An uncle, you said?"

LINA

Goro nodded. "My dad's brother."

IZZY

"A close relation, then." He traced one gold-tipped claw along the lines Goro had inked. "A similar mind." He seemed to be thinking aloud, more than anything, then looked up without raising his head and commented, "I won't come with you, but if you become trapped in a nightmare, call for me. I'll be listening."

LINA

Goro frowned slightly, but nodded.

IZZY

He tilted his head, looking off into the distance for a moment, and softly said, "Ah. There." Focusing back on Goro, he asked, "When you wake from his dream, would you like to return here, or to the waking world?"

LINA

Goro straightened up, suddenly nervous. "Um. Uh. Ah. Waking world." Might need some immediate hugs on a level only Hansel could provide.

IZZY

"Very well. Are you ready?"

Sam hugged him again encouragingly, and gave him a quick kiss on the temple.

LINA

Goro gave Sam one last squeeze and nodded. "Thank you."

IZZY

"Of course," Pride said smoothly.

Sam murmured, "Good luck."

Then Goro slipped back into sleep.

- - -

It was dark. Almost overwhelmingly dark, but just a sliver of a moon must have lit the dream, because Goro could make out the tall shapes of trees surrounding him -- nothing more, because the dream darkness didn't bend to his nightvision. He was barefoot, and sat cross-legged on the forest floor, fallen pine needles underneath him. The sound of crickets and tree frogs was all around him, and here and there, fireflies winked in and out, offering tiny yellow pinprick lights that illuminated the mist and dead gray vines that hung between the trees.

Nothing else could be heard over the insects and frogs, although it was cold enough for his breath to fog the air -- in the waking world, it would have been much too late in the year for them.

LINA

After he was finished looking every which way, and listening for a while, he called out. "Hello?" He said it in Elvish, without thinking, then in Common.

IZZY

A raven croaked loudly and abruptly from somewhere above him, as if in response.

LINA

Goro jumped and looked up. "Hello?"

IZZY

In the same croaky tone, it mimicked his voice back at him, still invisible in the trees. "Hello?"

LINA

Goro bit his lip. "Is Val here?"

IZZY

The raven repeated, "Is Val here?"

LINA

Goro frowned. He got up and looked around, tentatively taking a step in a random direction.

IZZY

Dry pine needles crushed underfoot. Above, there was the brief sound of flurrying wings, and a branch creaking.

LINA

Goro took a few more steps, listening for the raven.

IZZY

It called twice. There was another flurry of wings, coming closer from somewhere further away.

LINA

Goro started ringing his hands, turning in a circle as he walked. "Val? Valentin?"

IZZY

A raven croaked, "Val?" and another, on the other side of him, "Valentin?"

LINA

Goro scowled, grinding his teeth. "Well, where do I gotta go? Lead me to him."

IZZY

"Go," one mimicked. "Go."

LINA

Goro groaned, frustrated, and kicked a tree.

IZZY

"Go, go," the same one called, overhead.

Then a swarm of fireflies lit up at once, in the tree he'd kicked, just above his head. They wreathed the other raven briefly, then went out.

From where it had sat, a facsimile of a different voice came through its croaking tones. "Who?"

LINA

Goro's breath caught, and it took him a second to recover. "Goro!" he said, and waited.

IZZY

"Lies," the bird called, and the other echoed it: "Lies, lies."

LINA

Goro chewed his nails savagely for a second, then flung his hand down. "Goro Lukovich Voronin."

IZZY

"Lies," the raven in front of him insisted, and the other flapped and circled him, calling out, "Lies, lies, lies," from all directions.

LINA

Goro let out a low whine and crouched down, covering his head. "Come and see for yourself, why don't you," he muttered, but loud enough for the ravens to hear.

IZZY

Goro had the sense of something pushing him, forcefully -- not physically, but the sensation still made him lose his balance a bit.

"Go!" the circling bird shrieked. "Go! Go!"

LINA

"No!" Goro yelled. "I wanna talk to you! I'm your brother's son!"

IZZY

There was another shove, more forceful, enough to make him stumble back a step.

All the sounds of the forest quieted as something sharp pressed into his back, right against his kidney, and a soft voice -- not a mocking raven, this time -- said, "You shouldn't come into people's dreams just to lie to them."

Thorned plants erupted from the cold, dead forest floor, winding around him up to his waist and rooting him in place.

LINA

"I ain't a fucking liar!" Goro said, wrestling against the plants. He twisted around, trying to see behind him.

IZZY

The pointy object pressed into him more firmly, and the person behind him shifted -- he caught a glimpse of something mossy green, but then it was gone, too close behind him to be spotted.

Calmly, the soft voice said, "You aren't my brother's fucking son. What do you want?"

LINA

"I am so," Goro said, the pout coming through in his voice. "You're Luka's little brother?"

IZZY

"What do you want?"

LINA

Goro kept trying to twist around and see behind him. "I wanna see who I'm talking to."

IZZY

"Well, I want you to leave, but we don't always get what we want."

LINA

Goro glared at nothing. "Why you such a dick?"

IZZY

"Why are you impersonating a dead boy?" he asked, still calm.

LINA

"I'm not dead," Goro said, baffled.

IZZY

"No shit."

LINA

"Would you just -- fuckin' --" Goro kept trying to turn around. "Get over here. Or let me go."

IZZY

He hissed through his teeth. "Would you just fucking leave?"

There was the sense of being shoved, again, but it took this time.

Goro woke up tucked into bed with Hansel, in the little bedroom in one of the pods clinging to the Chernov tree. Hansel's arm was flung over him, face nestled into his neck.

LINA

Goro rolled over halfway so he could smother his face in a pillow. He bit down and screamed. Then he rolled back over, shoved his face into Hansel's chest, and waited to fall back asleep.

IZZY

Hansel half woke up to mumble reassuringly and cuddle him.

When he woke in Pride's palace, leaning against Sam again, Pride was still across from him, looking sympathetic. "Unlucky?" he asked.

LINA

Goro scowled, grinding his teeth. "He's a dick. Send me back."

IZZY

Pride tilted his head. "I could help," he said. "If it's important to you."

LINA

"How?" Goro said, wary.

IZZY

"Make the dream my own. Take control of it. Prevent him from forcing you out."

LINA

Goro considered it, then shook his head.

IZZY

"Are you sure?"

LINA

"For now."

IZZY

"Very well."

Goro sunk into unconsciousness again, and woke in the cold forest. It was quiet, this time.

LINA

Goro slouched, feeling defeated already. "Please," he called to the woods. "Please. Just let me see you. Or just... look at me, at least."

IZZY

Somewhere up in the trees, the soft voice muttered, "I'm looking at you."

LINA

Goro looked up, hopeful.

IZZY

It was too dark for him to see anything; the errant fireflies didn't seem to hover that far up.

LINA

"You think Luka's son died?" he said. Cautiously.

IZZY

"You really think you're Goro Voronin?" the voice returned, sounding disappointed.

LINA

"Yeah. How come you think I ain't?"

IZZY

"Because I looked for Goro Voronin." Branches creaked quietly, and the source of the voice circled around him steadily. "I spent weeks looking. Skyport. Up and down. Sideways. I looked for his mother. I heard she had moved. I found her in Moorland. Her husband had died, she said. Her son had followed. She wanted me to leave her to her new life. I went back to Skyport. I kept looking." By this point he'd made a full circuit, and came to a stop in front of Goro. "I don't know who you are, but you aren't my brother's son. He died."

LINA

Goro blinked several times, then shook his head. "Didn't," he said weakly. "Didn't die. She just didn't want me."

IZZY

"Well, they put someone in the ground, friend," he said softly.

LINA

"Huh?"

IZZY

"I know Jasmilia's a liar. You must've met her. Right?"

LINA

Goro nodded, feeling sick.

IZZY

"That's why I went back. She has a nice house in Moorland. Nice rich husband. My brother could never give her fine things," Val said quietly. "All he could give her was a baby. And I don't think she ever wanted one. So I left Moorland, and when I went back to Skyport, I stopped checking doorways and started checking graveyards. The little ones. The poor ones. And I found him there."

LINA

Goro frowned and started chewing his nails.

IZZY

"He was small," Val said. "They barely had to dig a hole."

LINA

"Did you see bones?" Goro asked around his fingers.

IZZY

"Yes." More branches creaked; his voice got closer. "I don't know what Jasmilia told you. I don't know why. She just ... lies. She likes to fuck people around. I'm sorry. You aren't my nephew."

LINA

"But... look at me. Don't I look like him?" Jasmilia said he had. Didn't mean nothing if she was lying.

IZZY

"Don't you think I see him everywhere?"

LINA

"Look at me," Goro insisted, desperate.

IZZY

"I am."

LINA

Goro slouched again. He hugged his knees to his chest and hid his face against them.

IZZY

"Will you leave, now?"

LINA

"Where are you?" Goro lifted his face. "In the real world."

IZZY

"If I wanted to be found, I'd make it easier."

LINA

"I wanna meet you. You're the closest person I got to my dad."

IZZY

He sighed.

LINA

"Where are you?" Goro tried again. He swallowed a few times, afraid he was gonna cry.

IZZY

Something hit the forest floor a few feet in front of him, crushing pine needles.

LINA

Goro hugged his knees tighter.

IZZY

"I," Valentin said slowly, like that would make it sink in. "Am not. Your uncle."

LINA

"Yes you are." Goro hit his fists on the ground. "How come you believe Jasmilia, and not me?"

IZZY

"I don't believe Jasmilia. I believe the tiny body that I tried to carry home, where he belonged. I believe the fragile bones that crumbled in my hands before I could get there." His voice shook a little. "I don't believe you because I don't believe Jasmilia. Because I believe that my brother married a stone-cold manipulative bitch, and I don't doubt she would manipulate you, too."

LINA

"I don't know whose bones those were, but--" He swiped at one eye with the back of his hand. "I'm Luka's son. I am."

IZZY

"How do you know?"

LINA

"I got a feeling!" He wiped the other eye. "A gut feeling. I always listen to my gut."

IZZY

"You have a feeling," he said, "that you know who your father is. Do you remember him?"

LINA

Goro shook his head. "Don't gotta. He left his mark on me. He loved me. It's better than memory." He didn't really know what he was saying. He wasn't normally about that kinda stuff. It was just coming out of him, from his heart.

IZZY

Val sighed again. "I'm sure someone loved you," he said gently.

LINA

Goro shook his head, wiping his eyes more frantically. "Not someone. Luka. He said I made him feel whole."

IZZY

The pine needles crunched again. "I'm really sorry."

LINA

"Meet me in person," Goro demanded again.

IZZY

"What good do you think that'll do?"

LINA

"I dunno. I just want to. I wanna see what you look like." He sniffed.

IZZY

"You can see what I look like now."

LINA

Goro wiped his eyes again and looked up.

IZZY

He had settled maybe a yard and a half away, legs crossed under him. A green cloak swallowed most of him -- not just mossy green in color, but fuzzy with actual verdant moss. As Goro looked up, he reached up to his face with one hand to unbuckle the mask he wore, which covered most of his face and was stylized to look like a raven's beak. Once he'd pulled it away, Goro could see him properly.

He looked tired. Pale, olive-toned skin with a lighter scar raking across his face, neck, and what Goro could see of his collarbone, dragging into the side still hidden under his cloak. Some of his hair was loose in dark strands around his face, but most of it seemed to be pulled back, and hidden in his hood. Exhausted blue-green eyes with dark shadows under them. A silent raven perched on each shoulder, both watching Goro keenly.

He didn't say anything.

LINA

"Do you look like him?" Goro asked.

IZZY

"We were brothers," he said. "Yeah. We looked alike."

LINA

"Sometimes brothers look different," Goro said lamely.

IZZY

He shook his head a little.

LINA

Goro snorted softly. "You look like me." Gave him goosebumps, a little. Too much like looking in a mirror without it actually being quite right.

IZZY

"People look like other people sometimes," he said, weary.

LINA

Goro shook his head. "How is it I can look like Jasmilia, and my brother and sister she had with her second husband, and look like you, and even a little bit like Konstantin, and you're still thinking it was those bones in the ground?"

God. That was its own slow, creeping horror. Who the hell had that been? Had Jasmilia done that?

IZZY

"Konstantin?" He seemed a little taken aback.

LINA

"Yeah. I went looking for other Voronins, and I found him."

IZZY

Val was quiet for a long moment. His gaze drifted down to the ground, then back up.

"How is he?"

LINA

Goro crossed his arms and frowned. "Maybe you oughta go home and find out."

IZZY

His expression hardened. "I see."

He lifted the mask back to his face, slipping his other arm out from under his cloak to help fasten it -- the arm in question not being made out of flesh, but of twisted-together vines sprouting small leaves.

LINA

"I mean," Goro said. He winced. "He's... good. He's got a partner, and a little girl. Lost the rest of his family in a fire, though."

IZZY

"Oh," he said quietly. He still buckled the mask back on, then shrugged his moss cloak back over his vine arm, and regarded Goro through the black lenses of the mask. "He thinks you're family?"

LINA

"Uh huh."

IZZY

"And do you have your own family, or is that why you went looking for us?"

LINA

"I got my own," Goro said. "My adopted mom, and my husband, and my cousin on Mia's side, and my brother and sister, and my friends."

IZZY

"Mm." He nodded. "Then he's fine without me. Let him ... share in who you think you are. I wouldn't help anything."

LINA

Goro scowled. "He'd like to have you back. You matter."

IZZY

"He has you, now, doesn't he? And your whole family?"

LINA

Goro scowled deeper. "Ain't the same. Ain't like there's a fuckin' quota to meet."

IZZY

He sighed. "And what happens if I go home and say, This isn't Goro. Goro is dead. None of these people are you family, Konstantin?"

LINA

"I'm not dead!" Goro yelled. "What do I gotta do to convince you I'm your nephew?"

IZZY

Another sigh. He tapped his fingers on his knee. "Can you talk to animals?"

LINA

"Uh." Goro winced and shrugged. "Chickens really like me?"

IZZY

"Chickens," he said flatly. "What about crows?"

LINA

"I don't know," Goro admitted. He tugged self-consciously on the sleeve covering his tattoo.

IZZY

"Any good at climbing trees?"

LINA

Goro nodded eagerly.

IZZY

"How's your vision?"

LINA

"Fuckin' pristine."

IZZY

"You said you have a husband, right?"

LINA

He nodded. "Hansel."

IZZY

He considered for another moment. "Tell me about him."

LINA

Goro waved his hands around a little, 'cause thinking about Hansel just made him happy. "He's real tough and strong, but he's sweet and kind. He's real good to me. I love him a lot." Stupid. That last part wasn't a thing about Hansel. "He's loving and funny and he always just says what he means. He's real smart, good at reading people. He's a fighter and a druid."

IZZY

"Hm." Val sounded uncertain. "Good to you how?" he prodded.

LINA

Goro scrunched his face up. He didn't mind explaining, but he wasn't sure why it mattered. "He's real gentle, and... he's careful with me. 'Cause I got a hard time with people, usually. So I never had boyfriends, or girlfriends, or... any kinda close friends, I guess." Fuck, that was embarrassing. "But Hansel doesn't mind that I don't know how any of it works. He just... always knows what I need somehow, and he helps me, and he's patient. And he gives the best hugs."

IZZY

Val's expression was unreadable, under the mask. One of his ravens turned to pick at his hood with its beak, making a little chattering sound and fluffing up its feathers.

"I'll meet with you," he said slowly.

LINA

Goro sat up razor straight. "Really?"

IZZY

He nodded.

LINA

"Where are you?"

IZZY

"Between Alabaster and Gentleglen. Where are you?"

LINA

"Chernov family tree," Goro said, figuring Val would know where that was.

IZZY

He nodded. "I'll send a raven to guide you."

LINA

"Thank you. Ah." Goro let out a breath, relieved. "Do you... do you want me to come alone, or."

IZZY

After considering for a moment, he allowed, "You can bring Konstantin. No one else."

LINA

Goro let out a low groan, wishing Hansel could be there, at least. Goro tried to remind himself there'd been a time in his life -- basically his whole fucking life, actually -- when he did freaky shit without Hansel all the time. "'Kay."

IZZY

"What?"

LINA

"Nothing."

IZZY

He gave a dissatisfied grunt. "Why are you with the Chernovs?"

LINA

"Nikolai and Konstantin are partners. And the Voronin tree burned down."

IZZY

He straightened. "Burned ... oh," he said softly, settling again. "I see."

LINA

Goro nodded, then lowered his head sadly.

IZZY

"What about the garden?"

LINA

"Garden's fine," Goro said. "We went there today. Kinda overgrown, is all. Konstantin can't keep it up all by himself." Yeah, there was a little subtle guilting for Val, right there.

IZZY

"Mmhm," he said, sounding unimpressed.

LINA

"Are you a druid?" Goro asked.

IZZY

"Why do you want to know?"

LINA

"I wanna know about you," Goro said lamely. He gestured at Val's vine arm and mumbled, "Your arm's neat."

IZZY

"It's really not," he said flatly.

LINA

"Sorry."

IZZY

A little grudgingly, he said, "It's fine." He seemed to study Goro for a moment. "So you're not a druid."

LINA

"Nah. I'm a cleric."

IZZY

"Of who?"

LINA

"Mask."

IZZY

"Why?" he asked, suspicious.

LINA

"'Cause he chose me," Goro said, but he knew that probably wasn't what Val was asking. "I grew up on the street. I was a thief."

IZZY

"You still a thief?"

LINA

Goro shrugged. "When I gotta be."

IZZY

"When do you have to be?"

LINA

"If you're worried I'm gonna steal shit from you, I ain't."

IZZY

"I'm not worried about that. I just want to know what kind of person you are."

LINA

"Not a great one," Goro admitted reluctantly. "But I'm trying to get better."

IZZY

"Yeah? Why?"

LINA

"Why am I trying to get better? Uh." He shrugged. "My ma -- um. My adopted mother. She says I'm a better person than I know. And I wanna do good for my family, and shit. Me and Hansel, we're bringing up my little sister. I want her to have it better than I did. Don't want her to think stealing and violence and all that is just the way it's gotta be."

IZZY

"Hm." After a moment, he nodded. "Fair enough."

LINA

Goro chewed the inside of his cheek. "So, uh. You'll send the raven... tomorrow?"

IZZY

"Sure. Don't forget," he warned. "Blood only."

LINA

"Okay," Goro said unhappily. "Blood only."

IZZY

"All right." He paused. "Are you going to leave now?"

LINA

"Um. Yeah. If you want me to."

IZZY

"Yeah."

There was the pushing sensation again, and Goro woke back up in Hansel's arms.

LINA

Goro let out a sigh and shifted around, trying to get more comfortable. He managed to lay quietly for about thirty seconds, then gave up and shook Hansel awake.

IZZY

"Mmf," Hansel offered.

LINA

Goro let out a wordless whine of distress and buried his face against him.

IZZY

Hansel snuggled him and nuzzled into his hair, murmuring, "S'wrong?"

LINA

"M'uncle's a dick. I like him, though."

IZZY

He snorted sleepily. Sounded about right. "Aye?"

LINA

"He doesn't think I'm Luka's son." Goro cuddled tighter against Hansel. "He thinks Goro died when he was a baby."

IZZY

"Mmf." Hansel frowned. "The fuck. How come."

LINA

"Guess fuckin' who told him."

IZZY

He made a puzzled sound.

LINA

"He was looking around for me. Searched all over Skyport, finally tracked down Jasmilia in Moorland. She told him her baby died."

IZZY

"Fuckin' ..." Hansel trailed off into mutters, too grouchy to elaborate. It passed, though, and he asked, "He looked for you?"

LINA

"Yeah," Goro said wistfully. And for the first time, the implications of that really hit him. "God. Jasmilia could've just... given me to him. Or if she'd had the guts she could've at least told him she ditched me in Skyport so he knew to go looking again."

IZZY

He grumbled and squeezed Goro tight, kissing his hair a couple times. Fuckin' Jasmilia. "Well. You wanna ... convince him, s'pose?" Hansel wasn't sure how to go about doing that, but it was Goro's uncle, for fuck's sake. Closest thing to his dad. Had to do something.

LINA

"Yeah," Goro said glumly. "I made him look at me and all, in the dream. 'Cause Luka said I looked like his baby brother, and Jasmilia said I look like Luka. Figured Val'd see the resemblance, and all. I could see the fucking resemblance. Hope you get to meet him, so you can see what I'm talking about. Guy's fuckin' familiar."

He pressed his face against Hansel again and let out a mmph. "He wasn't convinced, but... well, he asked me a few questions, anyway, and then said he'd meet me. In the real world."

IZZY

Hansel frowned. "If you're meetin' him , I'm meetin' him."

LINA

"Eh, well. I hope so, yeah. But for the first time, he said blood only. I only get to bring Konstantin."

IZZY

"That's bullshit," Hansel objected.

LINA

"Ehhh." Goro winced. "I know, but. It was real hard to get him to agree to meet me in the first place."

IZZY

"Fuckin' why?" he grumbled, then realized he probably had the answer. "He's real paranoid, huh."

LINA

Goro snorted softly. "You got something you wanna say about my family, Bell?"

IZZY

"Naw."

LINA

Goro sighed and got quiet for a long time. "What if he's... right?" He squeezed his eyes shut. "What if I ain't really Luka's son?"

IZZY

"Hey," Hansel said firmly. "Hey. No. Don't fuckin' do that, ahuv." He pulled back so he could hold Goro's face, not expecting him to open his eyes and see, but giving him a stern look anyway. "You seen Konstantin and Vanya, an' you said Val looked like you, too. It just ain't fuckin' true, you hear me?"

LINA

Goro squeezed his eyes shut harder and groaned. "Sometimes people just look alike."

IZZY

"Not that fuckin' much," Hansel insisted. "Lissen. What, you think somehow, fuckin' Jasmilia arranged shit so you -- some fuckin' punk off the street she probably didn't even know -- was gonna find his way t'the Voronins, an' just happen to look like'em, and just happen to act like'em, too? Or you think you're her and Luka's fuckin' kid, huh?"

LINA

Goro mmphed again. "Guess."

IZZY

Hansel pulled him back into a hug and jostled him a little. "Aye? Y'wanna say that like you mean it?"

LINA

Goro grumbled and curled tighter against him. "I just ain't sure. You're gonna have to be sure for me for a while."

IZZY

Hansel relented. "M'kay," he said softly, and kissed Goro's hair again. "Well, I am. I got you."

LINA

"Thank you," Goro said quietly. "I love you. Val asked me about you."

IZZY

He frowned again, a bit. "Love you too. Asked about me how?"

LINA

"He just said, tell me about him. And I said some stuff, and I mentioned how you're real good to me, and he said, good to you how, and he seemed real interested in that. Maybe he was vetting you, or something."

IZZY

"Huh." Hansel squeezed him, then shifted to pet his hair. "Fuckin' weird. Dunno why he'd wanna vet me if he think you ain't even his nephew."

LINA

"Somehow it seemed like it was helping him figure out if I was his nephew. I dunno."

IZZY

Hansel mulled that over, still stroking Goro's hair, wondering why it'd interest Val particularly to know how he was good to Goro. "Workin' out whether ... you like things that Luka liked, maybe?" He scowled a bit, thinking how that'd mean he was like Jasmilia, in some way. Supposed Val had never met her, though.

LINA

"Maybe." Goro nuzzled against his chest. "It was after I asked him how he could know whether I was his nephew. He also asked me if I'm good at climbing trees, and if crows like me."

IZZY

He hmm'd. "Do crows like you?" he asked, nonplussed.

LINA

"I don't know. I ain't met enough of 'em."

IZZY

He grunted. Yeah, that made sense. "Wonder if they like Konstantin. Or if Val's fulla shit."

LINA

"I'll ask him in the morning." Goro relaxed a little, closing his eyes again. "Val's gonna send a raven to show us the way. Says he's somewhere between here and Gentleglen."

IZZY

"That's a lot of fuckin' land. Still don't like me not goin' with you," he grumbled. "Maybe I go along for part of the way. Ain't gotta meet him. Just to make sure you're safe, I mean."

LINA

"I'll be fine, Hans." After a second, he added, "I'll miss you, though."

IZZY

"Aye, miss you too," he grumbled. "Sure you an' Konstantin can take care of yourselves? Dunno what kinda survival skills he's got."

LINA

"He's a goddamn wood elf. Surviving in the woods is what they do."

IZZY

"You're a goddamn wood elf," Hansel pointed out.

LINA

"Yeah, but. Not like, in my life."

IZZY

Hansel grumbled some more.

LINA

"Kinda want you there most of the way," Goro admitted. "But I'm afraid if I don't do what he says, he'll back out. Tell us to fuck off."

IZZY

"Fucker," Hansel muttered.

LINA

"Hey," Goro said.

IZZY

"I know what I said."

LINA

Goro scowled but hugged Hansel tight.

IZZY

Hansel snuggled him viciously. "Ain't a fan of anybody who says we gotta be apart, is all," he muttered.

LINA

"Yeah." Goro sighed. "Yeah."

IZZY

"What's this blood only shit, anyway? Why?"

LINA

"I didn't ask. People got their things."

IZZY

Hansel scowled.

LINA

Goro sighed again. "Well. Any case. He's sending the raven tomorrow. I'll keep in touch, yeah? I'll keep my sending spell prepared, and you got your bead if you gotta reach me faster. Or Amari can do it, whichever. And maybe once we get there, Val'll give the okay for you to come along."

IZZY

"Aye," he said reluctantly. "I'll Send every night, if I don't do it earlier."

LINA

Goro kissed his chin.

IZZY

Hansel nuzzled into his hair and breathed him in. He smelled different, out here -- piney and fresh. "Miss you," he mumbled, even though he'd already said it.

LINA

"Miss you too," Goro said. "We got tonight, though. I'm gonna enjoy it." He gave Hansel an extra good squeeze.

IZZY

"Mm." He paused. "How much you wanna enjoy it?"

LINA

Goro snickered. "Ain't any soundproofing in these things."

IZZY

"Pfft, well, maybe you wanna be quiet, then," he teased.

LINA

"Can't," Goro said solemnly. "Just happens. Noises just come outta me."

IZZY

Hansel snickered, then dug his fingers into Goro's sides, trying to make him yip and squeal and flail around.

LINA

Goro held his breath as long as he could, then buried his face against Hansel to muffle the squeal that escaped.

IZZY

He grinned and stopped, just wrapping around Goro to give him a good squeeze. "How am I gonna make it without them noises, huh?"

LINA

"I'll send 'em at you."

IZZY

"Mm. Promise?"

LINA

Goro snickered. "Nah. Gotta save all twenty-five words to tell you how much I love you."

IZZY

Hansel pouted.

LINA

"Maybe some sounds."

IZZY

He gave a pleased mm. "Good."

LINA

Goro wiggled around again, getting more comfortable. He smiled faintly, relaxed. "Just hold me real good tonight. Enough to get me through 'til I get to see you again."

IZZY

Hansel kissed his head and held him tight. "Aye, ishi."

[end]