Gabriel glanced at Victoria as the triplets left them to continue their practice spars, Lily on the fringes giving sage wisdom which was likely just recitations of their tutors' advice.
"Do you want to head home now?" He asked, "The kids have their guard to watch over them, and I don't think we'll be needed any more tonight."
Victoria's gaze lingered on the triplets. "I'd like to stay a little longer," She said. "I missed being around laughter and family. It will be nice to see Mama and Papa soon enough."
Gabriel frowned. Did he not make her laugh? Did she no longer consider him family?
"Laughter is nice," He agreed. "There may be little enough of it soon." He dreaded famine, or monsters, or who knew what else that could go wrong and devastate their lives.
"Don't make things sad," Victoria chided him. "I was enjoying the time."
"I'm sorry," He grimaced. "Shall I tell you a joke?"
"Please do," She tilted her head curiously. He now had her full attention, and scrambled about in his head for a good one.
"What do you say to your mother's daughter when she is weeping?" He asked, repeating a lame joke he'd heard Dr. Sherman use to cheer up a patient.
"'Are you having a crisis?'" Victoria recited, drawing out the last word so that it sounded like 'cry, sis?'
"I need more jokes," Gabriel lamented.
"Clearly. Stealing from Papa's store of jokes?" She shook her head. "You can do better."
"I failed you. As penance I will come up with a far more hilarious joke that is guaranteed to make you laugh." He offered her a smile.
"You were never very big on jokes," Victoria commented.
"With my stepbrothers around, who could compete?" Gabriel shrugged noncommittally. "Finn was always so serious, I just took after her."
"I wasn't complaining," She replied. "Only observing."
"You were always very big on observing," He reflected at her.
"Are you complaining?" Her tone was calm, but a line formed between her eyebrows.
"It did make it hard at times to remain unseen," He mused, treading into deeper conversational water than he'd meant to.
"Why would you want that?" She blinked. "Is it not a great joy to be seen and known?"
"Do you feel seen? Do you feel fully known?" He avoided her question and asked one of his own.
"I…" She paused, and looked down. Her face flickered through several emotions as he watched, fascinated.
"This seems to be a very serious conversation," Kyler commented as he shuffled around the corner on his crutches. "Am I interrupting?"
"Not at all!" Victoria declared. "Please, come join us."
She made room for him on the picnic blanket between herself and Gabriel, which inexplicably irritated the younger man. He loved his stepbrother, so why should his presence be bothersome? Kyler set aside his crutches and made a place for himself awkwardly with a grimace. He must be in pain.
"And what were you two so seriously discussing?" Kyler asked with a sly look at Gabriel.
"Being seen," Gabriel replied enigmatically, and The older man's brow furrowed.
"Were the children playing hide and seek?" He asked.
"No, we were talking about when a person sees another," Victoria's gaze avoided Gabriel's as she spoke, "notices them for who they are. Understands them."
"Hm," Kyler looked between the two of them again. "I've come into a far more interesting conversation than I realized. Perhaps I will excuse myself after all."
"No, please do stay!" Victoria pleaded.
"I really should make it back to our parents' house before nightfall," The other man said to Gabriel. "You know how their bedtime seems earlier all the time, I'd hate to be locked out and have to wake them."
"Of course," Gabe nodded. Something about the conversation had made Kyler uncomfortable, which he could fully empathize with. Victoria saw too much of Gabriel sometimes, and it was not an easy feeling to cope with.
There was too much Darkness left in himself. No one else should have to see it, or deal with it. It was something to contain on his own and live with as best he could. Victoria, despite her difficult early life, was sweet and pure, and didn't need to be contaminated by what was wrong in his soul.
"We should be heading out, too," Victoria sighed, standing. She offered a hand to Kyler, who refused the help and struggled to his feet on his own. Gabriel felt a pang of guilt for letting his stepbrother sit on the ground instead of going to get a chair.
He should have known by now how difficult it was for the man to get up and down.
"Do you want us to walk you there?" Gabriel asked. "Or, you can take one of the horses."
He didn't know what would be easiest for Kyler and didn't really know how to make sure that happened without being awkward. He felt awkward now.
Kyler paused, glancing between the other adults with an unreadable expression. Finally, he sighed.
"A horse would be nice, but… I will need my steps from the wagon to help me mount."
The words seemed to deflate the man, and Gabriel felt bad, glancing at Victoria for help.
"I'll get them!" She replied cheerfully. "Gabe, can you grab the horse?"
"Absolutely," He agreed, glad she had taken over to diffuse the situation. He nearly ran to get the requested animal, readying it quickly for Kyler's short ride and bringing it around. Victoria had been faster at retrieving the steps from the wagon, and now chatted merrily with Kyler.
The man's spirits seemed to have brightened somewhat as the pretty young woman said something that made him laugh. Gabe marveled how the few years in the wilderness had changed his stepbrother.
At first Gabe had thought him more independent than ever, but was beginning to truly realize how Shayn filled the gap to make it seem that way. Lacking the medical expertise to do anything at all beyond the attempts made to reconstruct Kyler's legs, there was little Gabriel could contribute to the situation.
He wasn't as kind and cheerful as Victoria, who could cover many faux pas of others. She did it often enough for him when he stuck his foot in his mouth.
"Here we are," He announced, bringing the horse up short next to the steps. He hadn't spent any particular time watching how Kyler mounted, but apparently Victoria had. She took the reins from Gabe and moved the horse slightly closer to the improvised wooden steps Shayn had fashioned for Kyler some years ago.
The older man used his crutches to get to the top of the steps, and then handed them to Victoria. Her hands were ready to take them, and Kyler used his upper body strength to throw himself up onto the saddle, pull himself the rest of the way on, and then adjust his legs.
Gabriel reached out to hold the stirrup for him as he slid his foot inside, and Victoria tied the crutches onto the back of the saddle via little straps on the crutches that seemed to be for that purpose.
"Will you need help getting down when you arrive?" Gabriel blurted, causing both the others to frown at him.
"Someone there will be awake. I will be fine." Kyler's mouth flattened briefly before gliding into a more practiced smile. "Thank you though!"
A commotion down the street drew their attention.
"What is it this time of the evening?" Victoria mused aloud. It seemed someone was shouting down the roads, drawing people out of their homes to see what the noise was about.
"Come, and be free! Be healed! Beast welcomes all, and gives generously!" A man with bright eyes and a wide smile was declaring.
Gabriel frowned, and stepped into the street to stop him. There was a small crowd following him, and a dozen who had emerged to hear the strange message.
"Who are you?" Gabe asked.
"My name is Ophran, of Ceto! I was nearly washed away in the wave, but Beast saved me, and many others! He was wounded mortally, and yet lives! He heals the blind and lame, and cleanses the waters of the sea! He will save us all, if we serve his master! Let us all travel to the South and meet him!"
Victoria turned and ran to usher the children inside. She would doubtlessly retrieve Roland as well. This was a strange occurrence and needed his direct attention. Gabriel turned to Kyler with a firm expression.
"We've got things under control here. You don't need to listen to this crazy man, you can head on back to your parents' house and we'll see you tomorrow, probably. Roland and his guards will take care of all this, but you deserve a good night's sleep."
Kyler looked at him evenly, and then glanced tiredly at Ophran, who had turned to say more to the gathering crowd.
"Thanks Gabe, I think I will head out."