Chapter 17
Central Plaza, Cornell Academy, City: Three Prongs Fork, Republic of Shantu, Continent: Barat, Year 2050, Planet: Grimoire
More silence settled over them. They were finally able to think about different topics in comfort. Not only that, they were able to figure out what they wanted to talk about further. Grifton knew they were curious about his past. He rarely talked about it though occasionally he did let small bits escape when he drank too much. Today, however, he was completely sober. He watched as Harper and Daryl relaxed in their chairs.
At last, Harper sighed. "So, you really are going to leave soon, hmm?" He regarded Grifton with a sober gaze. "Is it going to be a permanent departure?"
Hmm, Grifton hadn't really thought about it all that much. "I don't think so." While he didn't have any family tying him there. He did have influential individuals who'd helped shape his future to thank. "I'll probably make trips back every couple of odd seasons."
Thus, Grifton planned to return in the future once he'd established a few different trade routes. He had to admit, he was curious as to what the different siblings would be doing with their lives.
"What about the rest of you?" From what he discerned, they were well-established hunters and adventurers. Grifton could tell that they only did it for the extra income it brought in as well as the slew of materials they reaped from each hunt they participated in.
"Mmm, we've had a few discussions on what to do with our lives." Harper shrugged. "Now that we've lived here and then went on extended hunts...we're definitely more entrenched in the society of hunters and adventurers than originally planned."
Huh, that sounded more like they didn't want to remain in that lifestyle. So that was why they had those other careers that they were attempting to establish. Grifton wished them the best of luck in that regard.
Daryl propped his elbows on the table and rested his jaw on his fists. "Could you tell us more about your story?" He prompted Grifton. "We might learn something from it so that we can avoid trouble areas within Three Pronged Forks."
Even though it had been ten years since they showed up there? Grifton glanced at them in askance. "Are you two messing with me?" What had they been doing that they were still so unaware of the bad areas? Never mind, he could figure it out.
They shook their heads. "No, we're actually looking for older siblings." That's when Harper pushed a small folder toward him. "I was hoping you might have seen some of them."
Grifton grunted in dismay. Oh, so it had to do with the missing older siblings. Now he remembered their secondary obsession. Honestly, he'd thought they'd given up on looking for them. Now they wanted to drag him into this thorny mess of their blood relatives?
Grifton frowned as he glanced from the folder to them. He sighed. "I'll look but I don't know what difference this'll make." Even as he spoke, Grifton felt anger and rage boiling within him that he had difficulty tamping down.
An aggravated sigh escaped Grifton as he bit his lower lip in frustration. It wasn't their fault that they'd hit a sore spot that he'd never acknowledged. He'd been abandoned on a road in the middle of nowhere. Only through sheer chance had an orphanage director, Doyle Moline, of Flange Orphanage, discovered him while driving home from a conference of some kind. He'd been the one to give him his current name, Grifton Tinroy.
As Grifton looked through the folder, he paused at the sight of a few faces. "These ones I recognize." He pointed to two faces of individuals who were in their late twenties to early thirties by now, maybe even older. "I recall that about four years back, they were swept up in a conscription order and sent off to some war or other overseas."
He shook his head unhappily. "As far as I'm aware, none of them ever came back." If he was correct the war was still ongoing.
"Hmm, okay." Harper sighed. "I was afraid of that but had hoped otherwise."
Well, at least they didn't hold onto unrealistic notions that their siblings would greet them with open arms. That was something that Grifton appreciated about the two brothers. He looked further into the folder and paused in shock. "What the hell?" Why was his face in there and with a name he didn't recognize at all.
"What is it?" Harper stared at him in dismay.
Grifton pushed the folder back to him. "This is unbelievable." He had a family? Siblings that were actually looking for him? What kind of bad joke was this? He frowned. "Didn't you say that your mother and dad were dead?"
"Yes, that's right," Daryl murmured. "That also includes a demonic bitch of a matriarch who was our maternal grandmother." Both of the boys flinched in recollection of some horrible memory.
Oh right, Grifton remembered hearing of what happened to their mother. "I'm sorry, I shouldn't have been so crass about this." He winced because his reaction was undoubtedly rather cruel to them.
Harper shook his head. "I'm sorry this was sprung on you so suddenly." He rubbed his forehead. "To be honest, I never had the opportunity to go through the entire folder." His shoulders hunched.
Daryl shook his head when Grifton glanced at him. "Neither did I. I think only Sherpa and Anara managed to sift through all of them."
Sherpa and Anara, right they were Harper's triplets. However, all of them had distinctive differences that rarely kept anyone from believing they were related. "So, what does this mean, we're siblings through a common sire?"
Harper nodded. "That is what it boils down to." He folded his arms. "The good news? You don't have to acknowledge us if you don't want to. We're not going to force you to do anything you don't want to do."
Well, while that was good news, Grifton wanted to know what the connection was and how he came to be conceived. "Hmm, I guess now is a good time to tell you, my story." Somehow, he wondered if there was a chance to start a new life with these newfound siblings. Most certainly his life had just been flipped upside down and topsy-turvy.