Archimedes and I had just returned to my original reality, but to the year 860, when I was four. My eyes were poofy and reddened. I turned my head up to look at Archimedes.
"Oh, I'm little." I commented.
"Yes. Very. That's what happens when you go so far back." Archimedes said.
"That's ok. I need to figure out how to get Snow Den out of the time loop." I said.
"Who and what now?" He asked.
"Um, Assereen caught Snow Den in a time loop to come out in July in twelve years. In the old Mayor Marshall's mansion." I told him.
"You know for the simple fact that you suddenly popping here would cause significant stress.. I will attempt to help with that situation." Archimedes said.
"Oh. Thank you." I said politely. "I forgot what a crybaby I used to be. My eyes feel heaby." I made a face at the mispronounced word. "Mispronouncing words is gonna be annoying."
"Yes, children get tongue tied easily. It'll fade with time. Which is something you have a lot of now." Archimedes noted.
"If you let me out, I'll go home." I replied.
"I feel I should take you home. You may know how to fight but your body doesn't." Archimedes said.
"But I'm really good at hiding." I smiled.
"And I'm really good at teleportation." Archimedes told me.
"Yeah, I guess so." I said.
He took me out of the back of the shop and noticed something I couldn't see. "Oh. Here. This is technically yours." He said, handing me the Vacation Orb.
"Thanks." I replied, taking it awkwardly in my hands. It really emphasized what a skinny and small kid I was.
He locked up his shop and then teleported to the Hearthry Estate. Knocking on the door while carrying me. The doorman answered the door.
"Ah, Mr. Archimedes welcome, how is.." His eyes went to me."What is the young sir doing with you?"
"I got lost, look what he gabe me." I pretended.
"Yes, very nice. The Master is adamant about us finding you, so let's get you to him." The doorman said.
"Ok, Wiwiums." I replied.
"Quick mind on you. Alright." He took me from Archimedes, allowing the old man to escape, and took me to the office. Where James paced. "Sir, the young master has returned."
"I got a ball." I announced, as the doorman seemed down in the room and left.
He turned. Hesitated, then said, "Indeed, you do have a ball. Where have you been and how did you get there?"
"Um.. That's difficult." I said. "Where's Dirfin?"
"Haah, at this time, probably in his office. Not that that currently matters." James replied.
"But I wanna bully him." I frowned.
"Child you just.. disappeared. I know it is hard to understand, but it is something I need to look into." James said.
"No. It's fine. It won't happen again. It was accidentally apurpose." I said. "But something good will happen because of it."
"Your speech is rather odd." James said. "I've known you but for a day, but this is quite the sudden turn."
"Yep." I said. "It's hard to oganize thoughts.."
"Then maybe try writing what your wanting to say." James replied after a long pause.
"You think I can read and write?" I asked.
"I think you disappeared and returned a completely different person." James said firmly.
"No, I'm the same, I just have more memories." I said. "You bought me, so it's not like you'll throw me away just because I went back in time."
"Back in time." He repeated.
"Uh huh." I said. "Because of the other continent."
"No one has gone to the other continent. Not that's been reported." He said.
"Well, I memorized the continent's map and the nabal charts." I said. "And see, I wanted to be a family with you and Dirthin so I decided to go all the way back."
"How far back is all the way back?" James asked.
I blinked. "I don't understand."
"You just stated all the way back and you mention time travel. How far did you go?" He asked.
"Um, it's confusing." I sat in the floor laying my head on the orb. "I lived to nearly seventeen. But the Mad King's mage banished the Quori making me go to Dal Quor. Then I escaped and ended up in another reality. And I spent a while there learning and Archimedes brought me back here to now cause I asked. I drew five cards from the Deck of Many things in epange. Eckenge. Trade."
My face became grumpy at the frustration of not pronouncing the word right. James was having a really hard time processing all this information. "The Dal Quor is the nightmare realm that the quori is from. You don't gotta spend all that money and time learning about it to help me now, cause you already taught it to me." I told him.
"I don't know what is more complicated in this situation. The fact that you speak the truth, or that I have no choice but to accept it." James said.
"Sorry." I said, guiltily. "Can I share a memory with you?"
"This is something you can do? How?" James asked.
"Through the Quori. The multi-eyed monster." I sighed a little, growing more tired. "You taught me how to use it and share memories."
"Alright." He said wearily. "What do you wish to share?"
I Mind Linked to him and began sharing the memory of me entering his office, I addressed him as my Father for the first time. Surprise had crossed his face, then he smirked in a satisfied manner and said, 'Father, eh?' I answered, 'Yes. You were always more of a father to me than that idiot.' I ended the memory there.
"I know we aren't close right now, but I'll work hard so that I can earn that." I said, rubbing my eyes.
"While I process this, why did you want to see Dirthin?" James asked.
"To bully him." I answered, grinning devilishly. "Cause he doesn't like sand."
"Indeed he does not like sand." He said. "If you wish you may go to his office."
"Yay, ok!" I said, pushing myself up off the floor and picking up the orb. I started to walk that way, but tripped. Unused to my much smaller gate. "Oof!" I grunted as I hit the floor with the orb.
"Are you alright?" James asked.
I sat up and twisted a little to look at him. "Yup. Bumped my nose on the floor. I gotta be careful." I stood up and picked the orb back up, holding it out from myself and watching my feet as I walked to the door.
To open the door, I had to set the orb down. Once I opened it, I went out. Making sure to go to the Lucky stone so that the doorman there can close the door and open Dirthin's door for me. I picked the orb back up and pointed to Dirthin's office saying, "Open that, please."
It wasn't his job to prevent me, so he let me in. Dirthin was beating up a training dummy when I went inside. The door was shut after I entered. "Dirfin!"
"Haeh? Oh, kid. What are you doing in here?" Dirthin responded.
I walked over to him, watching my feet. "Dirfin, touch dis." I grinned mischievously.
"What is it?" He asked.
"An orb!" I answered.
"Fair enough." He said, putting his hand on it.
I spoke the pass phrase and took us inside the orb. As soon as he adjusted to the light difference he said, "Aw, dammit. Why'd it have to be sand? I hate sand."
I laughed and giggled and said, "I came to your office to bully you!"
"Well, kid I'm glad you seem more up beat than just a few minutes ago, but where are we?" He asked.
"A vacation home. I got it from Archimedes. Do you like it?" I asked.
"It's a nice spot, but it could use some path work. Never been a fan of sand in my fur." Dirthin said.
I picked up a handful of sand and looked up at him. Taking a step towards him, I said, "That's a good idea."
"Think carefully child. I'm sure if I fling you the ocean will have you." Dithin said.
"I did think." I replied. "You'll play with me?"
"I would kid, but I got work to get to." Dirthin replied.
"I can help." I said. "I can be sneaky, and I'm not afraid of you no matter how many body parts you rip off people."
"Couple of questions; Why do you think I rip peoples arms off? And two, how did you know I rip people's arms off?" Dirthin asked.
"Do you want me to tell the truth?" I asked, dropping the sand.
"Ominous. Sure." He said.
"Because I seen it happen a few times." I said. "And besides, you're trapped in here until I release us."
"I tend to try not to do large bouts of violence in front of small children. When did this happen?" He asked.
"In two years." I answered. "Because I wanted to be useful so I wouldn't be abandoned again, I followed you to try to help."
"Wait, wait, wait. In two years? Kid I don't think you understand what that means." Dirthin said, rubbing his forehead.
"No, I know. It means year 862. This is year 860. And I died year 872." I said. "Oh, I didn't tell James that I died.. I only told him about the time traveling."
"That's quite a bit for me to believe." Dirthin said.
"Well, how about I tell you a lie so you can know it's the truth?" I asked.
"I'm not sure I follow the logic there, but alright." He said.
"Ok." I thought hard on something that could be believed. "Ah, I don't like vegetables."
"Kid I barely know you and oh my God, never lie again. Everything about you seemed to recoil at that." Dirthin said.
"It happens every time I lie. I can tell half truths and put on acts, but I can't out right lie. Even when I can hide reactions to things, people still can tell it's a lie. Almost like a fey, I just can't lie." I complained. "Even as an assassin."
"Well that does sound.. You're not an assassin." Dirthin said.
"I was. I went back because I wanted to be a yours and James' family." I told him. "I figured if I wasn't such a standoffish brat we could be my real family."
"This all sounds really weird, you know that right?" Dirthin asked.
"Yep. It is." I agreed. "Would you rather I be crying and clingy?"
"Well, that would make sense at least. But nah. This is fine." Dirthin said.
"I know things about you and James that you both don't know yet." I told him.
"Well, that doesn't seem fair." Dirthin commented.
"Yeah. I don't think James can handle it right now. And I wasn't supposed to tell you because in twelve years he said not to." I said.
"Again, that doesn't seem fair. He doesn't decide what I get to know." Dirthin said.
I yawned. "You want to know then?"
"Lay it on me, little dude." He said.
"The leader of a clan called Pride Stride if your father. His name is Dougal. Your mother's name is Zarina. Your elder sister is Xerxes. When you were both born, you were mistaken as an albino, like Snow Den. Dougal ordered you all abandoned. Snow Den was taken to a poor village that left her to die in the woods. She didn't die. You two were left in the Capital." I explained slowly, making sure to pronounce everything right.
"Well, I suppose I understand why he didn't want you to tell me." Dirthin said.
"You had stuff to do. His girlf-" I stopped talking, covering my mouth.
"The fact that you stopped means even you think I shouldn't know that, so I'll leave it alone. But curiousity is real big right now." Dirthin said, with a shrug.
"Well, how much of the future should I tell?" I asked. "It's not gonna be the same, but I asked Archimedes to help with a matter."
"Ah, I'm good. I don't need to know the future." Dirthin decided.
I yawned again. "I'm really sleepy. It's fustating."
"Well, you're four. How about a nap?" He said.
"Hmm. Thank you, I've had a lovely time and would like to go home now." I said. We were now back in Dirthin's office. "I guess I got to."
"Has he even shown you a room to sleep in yet? I don't know I just brought you here." Dirthin asked.
"A room in his office." I said, my body flopped into a seated position in front of the orb. I laid my head on it. "I wanna protect everyone." I mumbled as I fell asleep.
When I woke up I was in the bed James had always let me sleep in. I got up, feeling more awake. I sat up and reached through the Quori to my mom. The intense feeling I got from that was her being very ill. So I retreated quickly. I got out of the bed and went to the door. They'd left it cracked open for me. Or for themselves? I came out of the room and saw the orb on James' desk. I didn't really care. Their conversation halted immediately.
"How are you feeling now?" James asked.
"Mm. More awake. The Quori doesn't scare me anymore." I answered.
"Well, this is good." James said.
"Yup. No more screaming night terrors." I smiled.
"That did sound particularly terrible." James replied.
"Yup. I liked learning maps and geography with you." I told James.
"I'm assuming that's something you no longer need." James said.
I nodded. "Yeah, I memorized it. But I'm more willing to learn other things now."
"What have I.. Already taught you?" James asked.
I shuffled my feet, mulling that over. "Reading, writing, arifmatic, light logishics, umm.. manners- not that I use them much. Hmm." I tapped my chin contemplating what else there was. "Failure, though with great difficulty on your part. I think that's it. Oh, that's right! Draconic!"
"Hm. So I did manage to cover quite a few things." James said.
"Yeah. I know Abyssal, Celestial, Draconic, Dwarvish, Elbish, Giant, Goblin, Infernal, Leonin, Primordial, Sylvan, Quori, and Undercommon." I listed. "And I know poisons, herbalism, and alchemy. I know how to invent and how to build things. I'm really good at being sneaky and drawing. And one day, I'll make a new city. Then maybe I'll rebuild the fallen kingdom on the other continent out of spite for the Mad King."
"Wow." Dirthin said. "Little man got big dreams."
"I want to help a few of my friends." I said. "Not that they know me yet."
"That's a good way to make friends, I guess." Dirthin said.
"I don't know how to rely on others." I said. "Nor do I know when to give up on others. But there are people who I will destroy."
"It's really concerning when a four year old says they'll destroy someone.." Dirthin said.
"The Reinier family, Lana and Ash." I said. "That's all."
"The Reinier family? And who else precisely? I don't recognize the names of the other two." James asked.
"Ash is Asmodeus' daughter. Lana is a nobody from the Emerald mining island. Oh, and Miran, but not yet." I said. "They wronged me, and ruflessness is another thing I learned from you both."
"Might I recommend waiting until you're a little older." James said.
"Well, I don't plan to do it right away. I'm really weak right now." I replied.
Dirthin laughed and said, "I can fix that. Might take a little bit, but I can fix it."
"If anyone could fix it, it would be him." James agreed. "If you wish for more of the roguery aspects, I can arrange for that as well."
"I already know roguery. I just have to get my body where I can move it right. Just before long I'd like to talk to Bibs and Phintias." I said.
"Phintias I can reach." James said.
"You can?" I asked surprised, though I probably shouldn't have been.
"Yes. The Sultan's aide is someone even I know." James said.
"He's kinda scary. Way scarier than Dirthin." I commented.
"Kid, I take offense to this." Dirthin said.
I grinned and said, "That's ok."
"I don't know how to react to you right now." He said.
I walked over to him and reached up, patting his hand consolingly. "Did you want to check out the orb, James?"
"It's full of sand." Dirthin said strongly. "Full of sand."
"It's a beach vacation house. You go in and no matter how much time you spend in it you only take a second here." I said. "I had to draw two cards from the Deck of Many Things to get it from Archimedes."
"That makes it sound like he made a four year old draw from the Deck of Many Things. And that makes me want to hurt him." James said.
"Oh. No, I was sixteen. I got it for you as a congratulabory gift." I said, looking towards it.
"A gift for what?" He asked.
I immediately began squirming. I looked at Dirthin, then back at James. "Um. Do you really want to know the future? Cause I've already started changing it.."
"Is it something I can help with to bring about a positive change?" He asked.
"I don't know how to answer that." I said. "You're the only one who can decide if it's positive or not."
"Look, do you want help or not?" Dirthin asked.
I squirmed again, then told James, "Snow Den is an Albino Leonin. She's pretty, nice and full of curiousity, apparently. I got the orb for you because you and she were expecting a baby. I wanted to give you time for both of them without sacrificing either thing you cared about."
"Well, that sounds like a lovely gift." James said, "It sounds like I should meet this Snow Den and get to know her."
"Archimedes is working on getting her out of the time loop thingy, since my disappearance would have caused distress." I replied.
"It did. If Archimedes is working on this, then I will let him have at it. I will work on cleaning up some of these issues around the Capital." He said.
"The Reinier's are child molesters." I said.
"I can only imagine you know this from life experience. When did this occur?" He asked.
"Almost three years from now." I said. Not confirming.
"Well, we can't have such degenerates running things. I will start their downfall." James said firmly.
I climbed on Dirthin and looked up at him. James didn't need me to say anything else. I had to decide what I wanted to do with my early life again.
"What can I do for you, Kiddo?" Dirthin asked.
"I don't know what I should be doing." I admitted.
"Well, normally I would say you should be studying or something. So you wanna.. I dunno. James? What should he be doing?" Dirthin asked his brother.
"Might I suggest you write down information you think would be pertinent to use at this moment?" James suggested.
"I can write down things I learned when you started sending me on jobs. But that's almost two years from now." I replied. "I didn't learn much of what was going on outside of your office for this year."
"I mean things to help prepare for the future." James said.
"Ohh. I can do that." I replied. I gave Dirthin's arm an affectionate squeeze before climbing back down. "That Kenku wasn't very useful on the other continent." I went over to the desk to get paper, ink and a quill from James, things that are always abundant in James' desk. He supplied them readily.
"Which Kenku? I employ several of all species." He said.
"I'm afraid I am very bad with names. I don't even know that idiots name from yesterday." I said. "I should've learned it since he was working with Ash and I." I frowned while setting up the papers on the coffee table near the couch.
"Well, if it comes to you, just let me know. And I'll see if I can't get some retraining taken care of." James said.
"He was a warlock." I commented absently. Then I frowned and fiercely said, "That genie isn't funny at all, James!"
"Odd sudden change of topic, but he is certainly an acquired taste." James said.
I nodded and turned to the paper, starting to write down noteworthy events that occurred starting from when I started working for Miran and James. I wrote several things down before my hand began to ache. So I switched to the other hand and continued writing. Once I grew bored of this, I switched to writing down the policies for Hearthstone Town. Once my other hand began to ache I stopped writing, shaking my hands to try to ease the pain.
"You can stop writing fora little while if it's starting to hurt." James said, sounding a little amused.
"I got to. My hands aren't used to the grip." I said. "I may have been hasty to start from now. But it's a done thing."
"It'll be alright. Just take your time." James replied.
Giving up for now, I closed up the ink and cleaned up the quill, leaving the papers to dry. I then climbed up on James' lap while he was at his desk. He didn't stop me, so I tucked myself out of his way while he continued working. He absentmindedly patted my head.
Even after a couple of hours had passed, my hands still hurt. I was flexing them a little to check, when James checked the time and noted that it was time for dinner.
"Heat will help ease your hands." James suggested.
"I can write with both, but my left is better at writing." I said. "I try to rely on the right, though."
"That's known as being ambidextrous. A very handy trait to have." James noted.
I laughed and said, "Yes, but did you want to hear me butcher that word?"
"Maybe I did." James said.
"Ambideshutush. Ambi.. dess.. trus. Ambi.. decks.. tuss." I tried it a few times slowly. "Am..bi..dex.. tr..ous."
"There you are. Persistence." James commented. Taking me to the Estate for dinner.
I remembered about Haril's son. "Haril has a son, right?"
"Yes. Simon, why?" He asked.
"He's gonna disappear and no one will remember him at all. I sort of remembered him, but like an afterthought, like knowing how and when to hold your breath iin water. And Haril sort of was the same." I told him.
"Well that's concerning for him." James noted, bringing me to the dining room.
"No, it's concerning for me because Haril I gonna guard my city." I said.
"So you're wanting me to do what precisely? To find a way to prevent this?" James asked.
"No, you asked why I asked, and I told you why. I guess I'll try to befriend him so it won't be weird if I keep an eye on him." I replied as we sat at the table. "But I also intend to befriend Nafan."
"The Denoir boy? Why would you want to do that?" James asked.
"Because he's a good guy. His family hates him. He needs a friend like me." I said.
"Oh, from the sounds of it, we'll all need a friend like you." James said, as Dirthin joined us and we were all served our meals.
"Of course. I'm very capable." I said factually. "My success rate is nine in ten missions. And higher as an adventurer."
"It's gonna be a little while before you'll be an adventurer again." James said.
"Yup. It's irrelevant, though." I said. "It was a stupid idea, how do you protect me by sending me off?"
"Unfortunately, I couldn't say. It's something that hasn't happened yet." James said.
"Oh, do you know anything about Glassteel?" I asked.
"Very little. It's an extremely rare material." James replied.
"There's a lady that makes it. So you know what? I made a wish to know every glyph for places I wanted to go." I told him. "So I know how to access that place."
"Is it a safe place?" He asked.
"Yes. No. Hmm. It will be under attack from chromatic dragons." I said.
"Then that makes it very unsafe. Why did you even say yes?" James asked.
"Because after the war I could kill chromatic dragons by myself." I said. "The dracolich was annoying though. Allegedly I killed an ancient gold dragon, but aside from the accusation of it, I have no memory of the event, so I doubt it."
"Well then." Dirthin said. "Sounds like training paid off."
"I guess. But you didn't train me previously on purpose." I said. "And that was just stealth. I've been told I stand no chance of sneaking around Snow Den, so I look forward to trying. Most of my training came from working with Dean in the thieves guild. He should be seven right now."
"Ah, that's right, you did say you were more of the stealth type and that's not what I do." Dirthin said.
I nodded and said, "I don't mind learning from you."
"Well, good, because that was my next question." Dirthin replied.
"Be easier than following you. Especially if Snow is gonna be likely to prevent that." I said.
"Well then, we better get training. Make you the toughest four year old there is." Dirthin said.
"Ok." I answered. "How long a day? How many days a week?"
"I'm not sure, I've never trained a four year old. We'll have to see what happens." Dirthin said.
"My body isn't healthy right now, so try not to be too disappointed." I said.
"Well, we can't push you till your healthy, so we'll keep it light for now." Dirthin said.
I nodded. I figured if I ate and slept better that I'd be healthier this time. "My mom isn't part of your deal."
"No, she was never intended to be part of the deal. Are you wanting us to retrieve her?" James asked.
"She's dying from an illness right now. Ymir's Town has a cure. In a few months she'll be recovering and told I died. She'll become an undefeated champion of the Arena while trying to die via combat." I told them. "But once she's healthy she could be trained and become a fine agent. It's ok if she isn't allowed to keep me, but she atleast shouldn't be hurting herself."
"That certainly complicates things." James said. "I cannot imagine she'll want to allow you to say here, not that she has a choice in the matter."
"She doesn't." I agreed firmly. "I'm staying with my family no matter what. She can be offered to be kept nearby, or to not be involved. She won't like it, no mother would, but it's not like she'll listen to me if I say I'm staying. Of course, I could act cute and tell her stories bout how I'm treated."
"I don't see how that'd hurt." James said.
"That idiot will have another son in four years. Unlike me, he'll be a genius. Specializing in business." I said. "He'll take over Cross Emporium at age three if left there.."
"So we have to wait for him to be born and take him. I'd hate for a talent to be wasted." James said.
"He's a shrewd boy." I said. "I'd hate to not get to meet him. When Mom is healthy, I'll start getting letters from him as long as Miran doesn't steal them. He'll tell me about him. And don't worry, the letter about regretting my being born will never affect me."
"It is hard to worry about something I don't know of." James said.
"I am so.. conflicted." Dirthin said.
"Sorry. I don't have a very good filter on my mouth. I know how you feel towards this situation." I responded to Dirthin.
"Indeed I don't. I like to solve issues. And I'm just not allowed to sometimes." Dirthin huffed.
We'd finished our meals by this point. "I've gotta strengthen my penmanship." I said, getting sleepy again because of my full stomach.
"Your penmanship is fine. What you need to work on is the muscle to hold it. At this point I could probably write for a month." James said.
"Probably. I'm just not used to the limitations." I yawned.
"Precisely. Give it time, you'll be fine." James said.
I nodded. Rubbing my eyes.
Seeing this, James asked, "Would you like a room here at the estate?"
I thought on that a moment, then said, "Ok." I would probably be more successful with using glyphs to go places that way.
"Alright. Marie," He called. A lady approached, "Prepare a room in the estate for the boy."
"Yes, sir, right away." She said politely bowing and heading to do so.
In the meanwhile, Dirthin said, "Did you learn any games from the future?"
"Yes. In the alternate reality I joined our family in a few different word games." I replied.
"Word games, eh? What do you have?" Dirthin asked.
We got up and headed to a different room, what they called the family room. I explained how one person says a word and the next person has to relate the word to the previous one and like stabbing to gouge to excavate to deep-set to troughlike to earnest. After the example, we began the game until Marie reported the room completed.