Naomi watched as Caspian paced across Roland's living room. He was not doing well.
"There must be more I can do," He glared with his eye at the door. "Being stuck here, kept and taken care of like a lame animal."
Naomi sighed. Her husband had been sensitive about his usefulness ever since his war injury. This latest tragedy had caused those tendencies to re-emerge in full force.
"Roland said they're making more weapons as quickly as they can," She assured him, "but food and clothing comes first. Our people will be equipped for war by the time it comes."
"How can we know that? It could come tomorrow! Another rock could fall from the sky and bring the mountain down on our heads in a few minutes!" Caspian sat next to her and raked his hands through his hair. "Perhaps I should go help with the farming."
"You've never been good at that," Naomi grinned. "I'm helping care for the gardens. You've done a wonderful job coordinating the aid for the Cetoans. Everyone is settled in a permanent structure now. No more tents!"
"So now what?" He asked, turning to her. His eye was the color of a stormy sea, and she put one hand to his face.
"Now that you have completed one task, and admirably so, we will find you another one," She assured him. "The council meeting for today is over, but perhaps you could ask Roland to go with him tomorrow and be assigned whatever is most pressing that they need a trusted person to handle."
"Or perhaps I should be a man and take care of my people myself," He grumbled. Asking for help had never been easy, and asking for an assignment felt the same in the frame of mind he was in right now.
"You are, and have been, doing your best. No one can take care of a nation of people with no resources. We are a united people now, and everyone is taking care of one another. It does not all fall upon you." Naomi took his hand and squeezed it.
"Why are you so sweet to me?" He asked her.
"I'm not, I just love you," She smiled, giving him a kiss. "I need to get dinner started. If you're still feeling the urge to be useful, you could chop some vegetables for me."
"At least that would involve weaponry," He nodded as they stood and headed towards the kitchen.
After ten years of marriage, she still didn't always catch his sarcasm, but his slight grin gave it away this time.
"A vegetable knife would make a poor battle implement, I imagine," She knitted her brow in thought as if she were taking him seriously. "The reach, I think, would be too short."
"Perhaps a ladle, then." He nodded, and she giggled.
"I can't spare one, unfortunately. Could you wage war using a dishtowel?" She asked.
"If I have to," He snatched one off the table and whirled it in his hands, snapping it in the air.
She laid out what she wanted him to chop for her and set about cooking the meal. It was the least she could do when Roland and Finn allowed them to live there. Cora was resting, worn out from a morning of visiting all the Cetoans she knew of in the area to make sure they were coping well with the extreme change in circumstances.
It was difficult for all of them.
The youngest were perhaps the quickest to adjust to their new circumstances. The Cetoan children were readily welcomed into the Klain schools, and more or less picked up where their education in Ceto had left off.
It also allowed them to meet other children their own age to form bonds of friendship. The Klain parents had firmly impressed upon their children how important it was not to make the Cetoans feel like outsiders, so there was shockingly little strife, particularly in the youngest ages.
"I've been thinking," Naomi began, but the front door opened and closed before she could complete the thought.
The triplets' feet pounded as they ran upstairs, and Finn's voice called out from the door, "Walk, please!"
The steps slowed only slightly, and Naomi smiled. What a blessing children were, with their endless energy and rambunctious ways.
"Hello Caspian, Naomi," Their hostess said brightly as she entered the kitchen. "How kind of you both to start dinner! Is Roland home yet?"
As she was speaking, the front door opened and closed, rendering her question moot. Roland looked weary, and unduly sweaty from his day so far.
"I didn't realize Council meetings could be quite that combative," Caspian observed with a smirk. "You look like you spent the morning sparring."
Roland gave his wife a chagrined smile. "Sparring was after the meeting." He admitted, raising everyone's eyebrows.
"And who had the honor of getting your fine clothes all mussed?" Finn brushed some dirt off of Roland's sleeve and inspecting the tear.
"Who else? Riley. He skipped the Council meeting so obviously I had to get him back in line." Her husband chuckled.
"You're not saying… you won?" Caspian exclaimed, and Naomi frowned at him. They both had an understanding that Riley was the greatest fighter in the three united kingdoms, but it was still rude to take such a surprised tone with the Commodore.
Roland favored his cousin with a tolerant smile. "It was a draw. I was interrupted by a message."
"From?" Finn prodded when he didn't immediately continue.
The Commodore sighed, and Naomi opened her mouth to excuse herself so they could talk in private. Roland waved her off.
"Gabriel found the others. They're safe, and headed home. With halflings, interestingly enough." He said, but there was a heaviness to his voice that told them all that the message did not only contain happy news.
"That's wonderful!" Finn cried. "I'm so glad. It will be nice to have everyone we love safe together again."
"That wasn't the only message I received." Roland said, turning to Caspian. "On my way home, another messenger found me. It seems there is another problem at the sea."
"Another problem? There's no one there, and the water is poison. How could there be more problems?" Caspian's eye narrowed.
"Our last water-testing and rescue teams, further West, along the coast, sent a missive. There is something from the water, an enormous beast, it seems, has come upon the land It is enormous and terrifying. Klain's army must go and fight it. I will put out the announcement in the morning, once I consult with Riley." He sat at the table, and Naomi began setting it.
"Will the General lead them? Will all the troops go, or only some?" Caspian sat down to discuss strategy with Roland.
"We cannot afford to send all, as Gabriel's message indicated some threat looming in the North. A new, large portal will open soon. We must act swiftly to avoid the city being surrounded. It may be so anyway." Roland scratched his beard idly.
"What manner of creature is it, from the sea?" Finn moved the food to the table as the children came rushing in to the smell of food.
"We can talk more later," Roland decided, and Naomi smiled. She was glad the children could remain as carefree as possible a little longer.
"About us training with the new recruits?" Ivan asked hopefully in response to this father's statement.
"What's this?" Roland glanced at Finn and she shrugged.
"The children, apparently, want to train for combat. I told Ivan I would discuss it with you." She explained.
"Train… for combat?" The father's eyes skimmed his sons and paused on Lily. "You too, Sweetheart?"
"Yes, Papa," She ducked her head. "Don't you think it would be wise for me to know how to defend myself properly?"
Naomi saw pain flicker through Roland's eyes, but he hid it quickly.
"That seems wise. You'll be fending off young men vying for your hand in a few short years, and I want you prepared to drive them all away!" He declared.
Lily laughed, and the children sat down to eat with the adults as Cora joined them for the meal. Conversation was a bit strained at first, but then fell easily into talk of lessons and history. The matriarch seemed eager to pass on tales of Cetoans past, and Naomi could see why.
With much of the evidence of her culture struck from the face of the world, the minds of children were the most fertile place for the history of Ceto to be remembered. The triplets eagerly soaked in her stories and fairytales, even those they had heard before.
She had one or two moments of pausing to collect herself during a story about Caspian's childhood that included his elder brother, Edmar. As she spoke the name, the adults in the room tried to keep their reactions to a minimum, but Naomi was sure the children noticed.
Naomi's eyes wandered. If Edmar was still alive, where was he?