Chereads / The Wrong Vassal / Chapter 10 - Snow Day

Chapter 10 - Snow Day

It's officially winter in Rhyolite. It's snowing, so William decides to take the kids to play outside, but the very moment they get out of the building, the snow around Caleb starts to melt. William grabs Caleb in his arms and they go to a park nearby to play. Caleb is upset because he can't play as well, while Blair is making a snow castle and rolling on the snow. William is looking at Blair, sitting next to Caleb on a bench and talking trying to calm him down.

- Willy? -

Someone calls from behind, It was Dustine. She seen calm and relieved. 

- Dustine? Long time no see. This is my son Caleb. -

William answers. Caleb is still angry because he can't play in the snow. 

- Hi Caleb, it's nice to meet you! Can I sit here too? -

Caleb goes closer to William, still with a frown face and Dustine sits down.

- Are you ok? -

- We are now. -

They stay in silence for some time.

- I'm sorry. -

- Hm? -

- I should have thinked better. I also shouldn't have assumed you wanted any of that to begin with. I don't know what you have passed and I most likely will never understand. I'm sorry. -

- It 's ok. I also think I overreacted with you. I'm sorry. -

- What's with that sentimental garbage? Are you going to kiss or something? -

Caleb says angrily, making Dustine laugh and William whispers to him "that was rude!".

- No! No! He 's not my type! Your son is funny! -

- He's just pissed off because he can't play right now. -

- Why? -

- It melts! -

Caleb answers again.

- Let me guess, fire powers? -

- Yes. -

- People with fire powers usually have a lot of problems with snow. -

- I didn't know. There weren't a lot of people with fire powers in Vanleven, just fire spells sometimes. -

- Do you miss Vanleven? -

William gets slightly upset and they go silent for 5 minutes until he finally answers. 

- Not much. -

- There's a coffee shop nearby, wanna go? -

- Sure. -

William goes to Blair and grabs her hand, then he goes and grabs Caleb in his arms and follows Dustine to the coffee shop. They pick a table and William orders two hot chocolates for the kids.

- So, how have you been? -

- I have been fine. I changed my second job and now I'm a waitress at a new restaurant that opened near my house. And I also changed my bracelet's box. How about you? -

- I resigned from WindBreak, adopted Caleb and moved. I had to buy everything again, that was (ununderstandable gibberish). -

- Oh, I heard about what happened in your neighborhood. I'm truly sorry. -

Dustine makes a "You're not going to like what I'm about to say" face and opens her outside coat to pick something inside her pocket on her second coat. She grabs a folded paper and gives William, Blair grabs it fastly and unfolds it.

- Why someone would take such ugly picture? -

William takes the paper out of Blair's hands. It was a newspaper article that Dustine found on the internet and printed out because William very rarely responds to her messages. The news was about the incident that was called the under-dragon incident, because was found evidence that the intense earthquakes were caused by some kind of dragon that was in the subways. The ugly picture was the view of the destruction Caleb caused, with over 2000 deaths and 3400 hurt. Such a big event would logically become headlines for sometime, but half a year had passed so it was almost forgotten by the people that weren't affected. The thing that called attention was that Wilton decided to not give his name to the reporters despite William taking all the credits from stopping the dragon. Dustine pick another paper and gives it directly to William on a height neither Blair or Caleb would be able to pick.

- I felt kinda guilty when he said that. But then he told me he said that so the reporters stops asking about you. -

The paper was another article, this time with the manager claiming the hero that saved them from further damages wasn't with them anymore. He probably was referring to him quitting, but everybody understood as "they're dead".

- I'm glad you are still here. -

Dustine smiles with tears of relief, but William wasn't even looking at her. He was thinking about something else, about 4 years ago. Until he's interrupted by someone tapping at his arm. It was Caleb.

- Wake up! -

- I'm awake! How did you…? -

- You were the only hunter that was in the location at the moment. The closest working teleporter was 40 minutes away and the incident took only 5 minutes. At least we won't be bothering you about becoming a W.B.F A ranker. I heard everybody that gets promoted gets at least a year of endless attention from the media. -

- How many people know? -

- That you're alive? Truly knowing, probably just me, suspecting, most likely 15 people max. Jonatan is convinced you're alive and wants to beat you in a fight. -

- Who? -

- The guy from our last mission together. -

- The teenager? -

- I still can't believe he is 21. He acts like he's 14. -

The adults continues to talk about stuff that happened in the last 5 months. After paying and getting out of the coffee shop Dustine goes running to the first gift shop she finds and comes back with two plushes, she gives the pirate teddy bear for Caleb and the princess cat for Blair. The kids give thanks and they give their last goodbyes after going back home since it is getting dark.

Going back home, the kids argue with William because they don't want to get showered on such a cold day, but they showered anyway, wear their pajamas, have dinner and go to sleep with their brand new toys from aunty Dustine.