Chp.10: Departure

Rhaegal left the next day. Having raised two hundred and fifty soldiers, having taken all the necessary provisions and arms, and having placed the boats of his choice in the river, he could officially begin his departure. Obviously with him went Corgorin, Serengal and the five adventurers, plus also Teramon, Keita and Jatara who would have served to hide the troops (in case of inspections they would have concealed their presence with the rune of invisibility) and who would also have helped guide the ships.

Rhaegal's decision to use his real body hadn't been welcomed. His sisters had rightly called him a fool, and they had pointed out to him how much it was a useless and meaningless risk; they had even gone so far as to accuse Darbi of having set a bad example, even though the poor dragon had done absolutely nothing to convince his brother to leave with his real body instead of his avatar.

"It's incredible!" Darbi whispered in Haku's ears. "Rhaegal chooses to take a risk and our sisters take it out on me!"

"Let them talk. Just shut up and wait that they let out some steam" Haku suggested. If there was one thing she had learned living in that family, it was that when female dragons got angry, the best thing for male dragons was to keep quiet and wait for them to calm down. Also because, after all, otherwise it would have been three against fourteen. "And you're not without fault anyway. You're technically the pioneer of Rhaegal's stupid decision"

"Are you joining them too now?" Darbi grumbled.

"I'm just telling it like it is. I won't lecture you because I think you're mature enough to make your own decisions, but I still consider you responsible" Haku replied.

Darbi remained silent. Indeed, his brother wasn't entirely wrong. While he'd never intended to get his siblings to put themselves in harm's way, it was undeniable that he'd been the first to do so. It was natural that sooner or later someone would follow his example. So he could understand Haku's reaction. In a way, he was grateful that he hadn't freaked out the way their sisters had.

Finally, after nearly half an hour, Rhaegal was able to calm his sisters down and convince them that he knew what he was doing. Although they ended this conversation with a series of varied epithets usually aimed at people of low intelligence, in the end the dragonesses had agreed to him leaving with his real body, provided of course that he was extremely careful and took all necessary precautions. Corgorin, Serengal, Teramon, Keita, and Jatara promised to keep an eye on him, and claimed (somewhat ominously) that they considered themselves entitled to use any means to stop him if he tried to take unnecessary risks. Rhaegal all the time had begged Darbi and Haku with his eyes for help, but the two very slyly had remained to the side and had avoided intervening, knowing that otherwise they would have only gained a headache, and had given him the classic look that said: "Your fault, your problem".

However, one way or another, Rhaegal had finally gotten away. He and his soldiers had hauled the boats back into the water and embarked, then cast off their moorings and officially departed. The current of the river combined with some runes that the dragons had written on the hull allowed the ships to travel quickly, and within minutes they were already disappearing into the distance.

Haku seriously hoped that everything was fine. Even though he had absolute trust in his brother, he knew well how fate could be unpredictable and reserve unpleasant surprises. However, there wasn't much he could do except worry, so he avoided doing that as well. Being anxious did no good.

As he thought about this, Kotaru approached him. "You could have at least tried to stop him"

"Me and him already talked about it last night" Haku confessed to her. "I had no reason to repeat what I had already told him"

"I thought so. It was while Kialandì and Maldor and I were looking at the stars, right?"

"Exactly. By the way, did you discover anything new?"

"No, but Maldor is sure that by continuing to study the sky she will find an answer to the question. However, don't change the topic: why didn't you try to stop him?"

"I already told you I tried..."

"Bullshit. I know how you act when you try to get others to do something. You haven't really tried to stop it"

Haku was silent for a second. Sometimes she marveled at how well her sisters now knew her reactions. "No" he finally admitted.

Kotaru snorted. "Why?"

"You know" Haku answered.

Kotaru sighed. Yeah, she knew. She could see it clearly whenever her two brothers interacted. "You can't go on like this forever" she said. "You will have to overcome this situation sooner or later"

"We're trying. It's not as easy as it seems" Haku said, and then he added gritting his teeth: "You don't see the fear in his eyes every time he looks at you"

Kotaru wished she could help them. Both of them. She knew what they were facing shouldn't be easy, but she still wished that her brothers could go further and go back to behaving like they used to. Instead it seemed as though both of them were suspended on a rope, constantly having to watch where they stepped to avoid falling.

She wished she knew what to do. For a while she had thought that maybe the newcomers could help her. After all, even newcomers had to deal with traumas, and surely many of them had them since how fragile they were. Unfortunately, however, no one had been able to give her a complete answer. Unfortunately the newcomers didn't memorize any information at their disposal like the dragons did, but they distributed their knowledge among various individuals, therefore only some of them could have helped her; they were called 'mind healers' and unfortunately there were none at the camp. Therefore, Kotaru had no idea how to help Haku and Rhaegal overcome their plight.

Noticing her annoyance, Haku put a paw on her shoulder. "Forget it, sister. We'll find a way... sooner or later. We'll get over it"

Kotaru grunted. "I just wish that this family to go back to what it was before" she admitted.

Haku nodded. He wanted it too. "One day... it will be like this. Now let's focus on the present"

Kotaru shook her head, then she said: "I know you have too many things on your mind right now, so I won't bother you, but... can you promise me that when we're safe, you'll seriously try to fix things? I don't expect you to repair what it was broken, just… give it a try, okay?"

Haku looked at her. Kotaru's eyes almost seemed to sparkle. It was rare to see her that way; normally, she tried to stay strong and confident. The moments when she had shown weakness in her life could be counted on the fingers of one hand; after all, she had always been one of the weakest and most fragile of the family, so it was understandable that she tried to seem stronger at least in her soul. Only when she was really upset did the armor she had built break. And Haku hated to see her like this. "You have my word I'll try" he told her.

That was enough for Kotaru. She knew that Haku would never break his word, as no dragon ever would. Instinctively she jumped on her brother, almost knocking him to the ground, and clung to him.

Haku made an angry noise. "I didn't mean I wanted a hug" he told her.

"Tsk! You really are a curmudgeon" Kotaru grumbled letting go, then she smiled. "But we love you for that too". Haku ignored her and walked away.

The day went on almost smoothly. Towards the late afternoon Darbi also decided to leave; he too had already completed all the preparations, so there was no point in waiting any longer. So he had prepared a number of ships, enough to carry all the refugees, and then he embarked the soldiers he had chosen as well as all the necessary equipment and living. He too obviously would have left using his real body, since he had already done it once, but at least unlike Rhaegal he would have run practically no risk given the nature of his mission, so Haku wasn't too worried. "Have a good trip, brother" he greeted him when it was time to leave.

"We'll see each other again in a month or so" Darbi replied with a smile. "Please, take care of yourself"

"Certainly. By the way, why did you leave early? Didn't you decide to leave tomorrow morning?" Haku asked curiously.

Darbi shrugged. "Yes, but you know how it is... Rhaegal made me understand that we can't stay too long, so... I decided to follow his example and leave immediately"

It seemed to Haku that his brother was in a bit of a hurry. Which was kind of weird. "Is there anything I can do to…?"

"No, no, don't worry! I've already loaded everything I need!" Darbi exclaimed, then turned around and climbed onto the ship as well. "Well, I'm leaving. See you, brother!"

Just like Rhaegal's little fleet, the ships quickly vanished on the river. Haku felt that Darbi's behavior was a bit strange, but he attributed this to his anxiety about the new mission, so he didn't pay much attention to it.

Unfortunately he was wrong.

"What the fuck does it mean that Misune left with Darbi!?"

Haku hadn't noticed that detail until late in the evening, when he had decided to go to the village of ex-slaves to check that everything was fine. Too bad that as soon as he arrived he had immediately noticed the absence of Misune's smell. He had looked for her for a while, then he had decided to ask the ex-slaves directly. At that point one of them had come forward and told him what had happened.

"I-I assure you that we all tried to stop her!" the ex-slave exclaimed, clearly intimidated by the furious glare of the dragon, which seemed ready to tear him into small pieces. Hesitantly, she handed him a piece of paper. "She left you a note... here..."

Haku grabbed it roughly and opened it, finding Misune's very messy writing. When they lived in the arena Misune couldn't read or write (like most newcomers he'd come in contact with; it almost seemed like it was a privilege in their society), but after they'd escaped and built this little village Haku had seen fit that someone would provide him with a detailed report of the situation every day. Initially he had been content to let her say it aloud, but then he had decided to at least teach her to write in order to do it faster. Misune was fortunately a quick learner, and while her writing was still very messy and full of grammatical errors, she was still capable of writing a decent report. And apparently, she had also become capable of writing letters.

In the note, the half-elf explained to him that Darbi had come to the village asking for some of the best healers to leave with him, and Misune had decided to take the opportunity to prove herself a bit. To be able to deceive Haku's superb senses, she had hidden herself in a barrel full of oil and had been immersed in it up to her head. If Haku had been near the barrel he would still have noticed its presence, but since the barrel had been one of the first things to be loaded, when he arrived to greet Darbi he had been too far away to notice. For the rest, Misune assured him that she would be careful and begged him not to blame Darbi since he had tried to change her mind and it was she who had insisted.

When he finished reading, Haku was tempted to devour that piece of paper. Seriously, what was on that slave's mind!? That wasn't a game! And his brother!? He couldn't believe that he had accepted ... no, actually thinking about it knowing Darbi it was quite plausible. He decided that when they returned he would 'talk' to his brother at length and punish Misune properly.

It was partly his fault, Haku admitted to himself. He should have expected such behavior. Misune had been through horrible things and suddenly she found herself with a power she never had and with which she was able to kill. While her strength wasn't much, it was still enough to go to her head. She was intoxicated with a power she wasn't used to and now she felt capable of doing anything. Haku should have kept an eye on her more and made her limits clear, instead of giving her so much freedom.

Despite admitting that he was partly to blame, however, he couldn't help but yell: "Am I the only one in this fucking outpost who has any self-preservation instinct!?"