Reunion

Part V

Two pairs of eyes greeted Calsh when he returned to his siblings' room in the infirmary; his younger brother was now awake, although still sitting in bed and looking rather tired. Heacha herself looked like she could use some rest; Calsh hoped for her sake that she hadn't tried to stay up just to talk with him. For his own sake, though, he was glad she was conscious; he'd walked away from her before, and while it wasn't quite abandonment when he had her permission to do so, he couldn't help but feel he'd wronged her.

Heacha looked like she was about to speak when she saw what he was holding, but Rissh cut her off. "Calsh!"

"Rissh! How are you doing? I'm sorry I've been gone for so long, and that I wasn't here when you woke up."

Rissh smiled back at him and eyed the tray he was now setting on the table; even Heacha's eyes had gotten slightly wider. On the tray was a roast ham more than large enough for three gnomes, and three freshly-baked, still-warm bread rolls. Both the meat and the bread glimmered and shone under the dim light in the room, and the aroma was intoxicating.

"I'm... fine," Rissh stammered, staring at the feast before him. "Just a bit worn out. You bought us that?"

Calsh nodded. "Only the best for my brother and sister, right? I've been gone for a year, I owe you." He wasn't about to admit how much he'd actually paid for it; with the surplus population of refugees in the city, many merchants had raised their prices, and Calsh couldn't honestly blame them. He set the bag he'd been carrying over his shoulder onto the table, and unfolded it to reveal a few simple outfits for both his brother and sister wrapped carefully around three sealed glass bottles of milk and a number of simple plates and silverware, which he promptly used to set the table for a meal for three. The clothes were set aside at the fourth seat. He opened the bottles and set one at each place, feeling like he could stand to drink something a bit stronger than milk right now, but knowing that his siblings never really much cared for alcohol.

"I'm really glad to see you, Rissh. I'm sorry I left before you woke up earlier today."

This time Heacha took the chance to return the favor and interrupt her brother. "I explained the circumstances to him, Calsh, and he understands the necessity of your venture around the city and the extent of the information I provided to you before you vacated our temporary residence."

Rissh rolled his eyes. "Yeah, she told me that she told you about mom and dad," he said, his smile fading temporarily. He paused for a moment. "Calsh, I'm just really glad you're here."

"And I'm glad to be here with you two. I just wish it could be under better circumstances," he choked, trying to keep himself in check so as not to appear weak to his brother who looked up to him so. Not trusting himself to be able to keep his composure much longer without a distraction, he gestured to the feast on the table. "I take it you two are hungry?"

Rissh nodded excitedly, and Heacha raised her eyes to meet his. "I suppose it has been a significant amount of time since I've partaken in a dinner such as this one," she admitted, her eyes betraying her happiness at Calsh's gift to them. "Rissh, are you comfortable with joining us, or would you prefer us to prepare you a tray for you to eat in bed?"

"I'll come over," Rissh said. "I've been in the bed all day anyway, I'm sure I can handle a little walk."

Rissh's body apparently wasn't quite in agreement with his statement, though, as he swaggered immediately upon standing up and had to brace himself on the side of the bed and catch his breath. "You're sure you're okay?" Calsh asked. Rissh nodded, but still gladly accepted Calsh's hand and allowed himself to be led to the table. Once his younger brother was satisfactorily seated next to his sister, Calsh cut a generous serving of ham onto each plate before sitting down himself.

There was so much he wanted to ask his younger siblings after being away from them for so long, and he was sure they'd have questions for him as well. With as hungrily as they were digging into their food, though, Calsh figured that he could stand to wait. He was finally reunited with them, and there'd be plenty of time later for conversation. Besides, he had to admit that he was a bit hungry, and so he joined his siblings in a silent dinner.

It didn't take long for the three gnomes to devour what was in front of them, and soon the each was leaning back in his or her respective chair with an empty plate and a full belly.

Heacha was the first one to break the silence. "That meal was delectable, Calsh, and I'm thankful that you decided to bring it to us."

"Yeah, thanks," his brother chimed in.

"The pleasure's all mine," he admitted. "I'm glad you enjoyed it."

Heacha looked over at her younger brother; his content face melted into a slight frown, and he nodded back at her. The exchange of glances was not lost on Calsh. "Heacha? Is something wrong?"

Heacha stared down at her plate for a moment before looking back up at him. "There was something the two of us wanted to talk about. Calsh, we don't want to stay here in Ironforge."

This was not one of the many possibilities he'd been expecting her to say, and he was temporarily lost for words as he tried to formulate his response.

Heacha took advantage of his confusion to continue speaking. "I know you're probably going to inform us that you do not believe that a journey would be wise when we struggled to make it this far, and I agree that under normal circumstances you would be correct. But I've discussed this with Rissh, and we are both in agreement that we need to place more distance between us and our former home metropolis, even if it's a risky proposition given our physical condition."

Rissh nodded to confirm his sister's assertion.

Calsh frowned. "Well, we are going to have to get a new home somewhere, be it here in Ironforge or somewhere else. But you're right; I am very worried about how well you two will be able to handle another journey."

"Calsh, I know this decision is entirely up to you. You're the one providing for us, and as much as I wish we could help out more, we both know that my brother and I need your support, so if you'd rather us not move, I'll accept that. But I want you to know that both of us are willing to do whatever it takes to get out of here, even if it weakens us further for a long time, and I'd just like you to seriously consider it." She lowered her head, and her hair fell in front of her face again.

Calsh reached forward and pushed aside the hair, tucking it back over her ear so that he could look her in the eye again. Her expression was serious, and he knew she'd given this a lot of thought. Thinking was one thing she was very good at, and he knew that she didn't come to decisions rashly. "I still wouldn't want to go too far," he finally replied, "but if you two certain that you're up for it, I'll agree to help you somewhere else, once we've spent a bit longer here for me to make sure you've properly recovered from the last trip."

Rissh remained silent, apparently perfectly willing to let his sister handle the conversation, but the slight smile on his face indicated that he was happy about Calsh's agreement with their plan.

Even Heacha allowed herself to smile slightly. "Of course we'll wait. Calsh, thank you!"

His sister's unusual display of emotion convinced him that his decision was correct. Most observers probably would have considered her thanks to be calm, but he knew that it took something she deeply cared about to let her feelings show even that little bit. "Did you two have anywhere in mind in particular?" he asked.

"To be honest, anywhere that isn't here would make us happy," replied Heacha. "I mean, I've read about the geography of the area, and told Rissh all about them for as long as he was willing to listen..." She shot a glance over at her younger brother, who blushed slightly. "... but I figured you'd be better suited to pick since you've actually been to all these places that we can only imagine."

Calsh nodded in agreement. "Well, as I said, I wouldn't want to go too far." He idly glanced around the room, noticing once again the fishing paraphernalia. "How would you feel about a port town? There's one a little bit north of here, called Me..."

"...Menethil Harbor," finished Heacha. "That's where you learned to fish, isn't it?"

Calsh once again nodded. "You remembered?"

"I remember all your stories," said Heacha. "You're always much more exciting to hear tales from than any book I've read."

Blushing at the compliment, Calsh looked back at his younger sister, then over at his brother. "Is Menethil harbor okay with you, Rissh?"

"If you say it's a nice place, then it's fine with me. Like Hea said, you're the one who's been to these places!"

"And once we're settled in, you can go off and take some more jobs," replied Heacha. "I'm really sorry that we're keeping you from earning money right now."

Calsh nodded slightly, almost slightly regretful for that little fact in spite of himself. Ironforge now had a refugee population in it, and he had already seen that the market was facing a higher demand for some commodities, providing an excellent chance to make some money bringing more in. But there was no way he was going to leave his siblings right now, not this soon after he'd thought he'd lost them, and certainly not this soon after they'd all lost their parents.

Calsh would work again, but he could afford to wait until after he'd resettled what remained of his family in Menethil harbor. A difficult journey lay ahead for the three of them.

His sister climbed out of her chair, tentatively approached him, and then wrapped her arms around him in one of the most welcome hugs of Calsh's life.

((Posted 17 March 2008))