Just a Little While

The trunk didn’t close. Again. Three times now Euriel tried moving around his things to make it all fit, and it just wasn’t working. Keira stood next to him, scratching her head. The two of them stood in their room, a few other trunks stacked against the wall. Any spare medical tools he thought he’d need took up most of the space. His everyday necessities took up another trunk. Now all that remained was his clothes.
“Well, this is a problem…” Keira sighed.
“Not exactly,” Euriel responded. “If we just took out some of these clothes, it would fit just fine.”
“Nonsense! I won’t be having you wear the same clothes every other day!” She lightly slapped his arm.
“It’ll be fine! I’ll just have to do laundry more often.”
“As if you do the laundry here."
Euriel glanced over at his wife to find her glaring at him, then immediately looked towards a random corner. She grabbed his cheeks and turned his head towards her. She was pouting.
“I want to make sure you’re well taken care of. And since you’ll be on your own, that’s easier said than done.”
“Yes, I know…” His voice was muffled a bit from her pressing his cheeks together.
“So, you need to make sure you have plenty of clothes to keep you going. And we will get it all to fit in this trunk!”
“Still trying to force the clothes?” Sasha leaned against the doorframe, carrying Ayla in her arms while Devon sat on her shoulders, gripping her hair in order to stay on. “Must be a huge pain.”
“Your mother is convinced that I need to have all of these clothes.” He gestured towards her, arms crossed, face still locked in a pout. “I disagree.”
“Well, your father seems to have more faith in his domestic abilities than I do. Thinking he’ll be able to keep up with doing laundry all the time, honestly!”
“I’m sure you two will figure something out. Besides, you can’t argue about this forever.” She left the two with a devious little smile on her face, almost toppling over as her younger brother pulled at her hair.
The two turned back to the mountain of clothes that was sitting in the trunk. They sighed together and started trying to figure out what to do about the clothes once again.
Keira helped to fix up Euriel’s coat the morning he was supposed to depart. It was a nice day, all things considered. Chilly, but the weather could’ve been much worse. That was a small blessing the Zanders were thankful for.
Ayla was chasing after Devon the best she could a distance away from the rest of the family, their grandfather keeping an eye on them. Sasha sat on one of her father’s trunks, a leg drawn up to her chest. Corin was right at his mother’s side.
“You got this dad!” Corin cheered. “Go show those people in Mythrite what you’re made of! You’ll be the best doctor in that town in half a year, guaranteed!”
“Stop putting so much pressure on him. You’ll scare him.” Sasha said.
“I’ll certainly try, Corrin.” Euriel ruffled his son’s hair. “And you make sure to take care of the family for me, okay?”
“You betcha! No one’s going to mess with our family while I’m around!”
“Be careful, Euriel. There’s a lot of potential in Mythrite, but it’s a rough place.” Keira stroked his arm.
“I’m used to living rough, you know that.” He took her hand in his. “I think I’ll be fine if anyone messes with me. I hope it won’t come to that, though.” With a sigh he added, “It’s a bit of a shame I’m running off to the same town the man who’s ruined our city skirted off to.”
“I know you’ve never liked him, but I doubt he’ll pay you any mind. You can just focus on yourself and your work.”
“I will, and I’ll be sure to write often.”
“I’m looking forward to it.”
Keira gave Euriel a quick kiss and headed off to tend to their two youngest children as his father approached him.
“Finally leaving the nest,” Tyrell said. “It’s been a long time coming. Guess I’m glad you’ve stayed around as long as you did, though.”
“Glad that I’ve been able to be around, father.”
“You’ll be on your own, which is new for you.” Tyrell wrapped his arm around his son’s shoulder. “I doubt it’ll be easy, but knowing you, you’ll be able to make it. Make a few friends up there, and they’ll help you stay sane between all of the sick and death you’ll be seeing. And like Keira said, don’t mind that Rhome too much. He left Baldur’s Gate, but it wasn’t any sort of personal attack against you. He won’t know you, so no need to act like you know him. Just work and have fun.”
“Well, I’ll definitely work. That’s why I’m even going there. I won’t make any promises about the fun part.”
“Come on, now. Do it for your old man, why don’t you? Give yourself a break every once in a while. Live a little!”
“If I have the time.”
When the time came to join up with the rest of the caravan heading towards Mythrite, his father helped him carry his things. As he bid his family farewell, his wife kissed him once more, his younger children hugged him and didn’t want to let go, while his older children sent him off with smiles full of pride and excitement stuck on their faces.
The caravan set out of Baldur’s Gate, heading into the mountains, towards Mythrite. It was a mild day that day, but the further they went, the further he got away from his family, the colder it would get. He looked back at his waving family, trying to imprint their smiling faces on his memory to make the long, hard trip more bearable.