34. Time Apart
General Summary
At blade training the next day, Marwa's off her game, distracted. She's getting nowhere with the wish research and the frustration is eating at her like a ticking clock, which is not making her mindfulness training easier, either.
Her conversation with her mother the night before reminded her of a few rooms in her mental Fury that she's not eager to explore. But at the same time she can hear the gravity in her dad's voice when he explained the importance of knowing every partof one's mind if one is to defend it against attack.
The idea of having to defend her mind - against Mika, who is definitely just a friend and nothing more! - isn't easy to coordinate a parry around, either.
She looks up, waiting for a reprimand on her sloppy form, but it doesn't come. Instead, baba just says, "that's enough for today," and starts putting gear away.
He's got some distractions, himself. Her missteps weren't list on him, any more then her telltale blushes in the ballroom were. He's been looking for an opportunity to talk to her about what she's getting into with that kid.
Not to tell her to stop - she'd just double down if he did that - but he's worried she doesn't realize the depths of what she's up against, not just in terms of the actual enemy and her odds of defeating it, but of the fallout should she fail.
They're both quiet as they put away and lock up the gear. They're approaching the house when a voice Marwa does not recognize shouts out "On your six!"
Marwa and her baba both whirl around, and baba is crashtackled by an exuberant halfling in yellow
Which, you know, nobody gets the drop on baba, so he turns to redirect the momentum and ends up like, spinning her.
Then he clocks who it is, and his eyes widen.
The halfling's laughing, her brown curls flying as she spins, her dark cheeks dimpled. He puts her down, shooketh
"Surprised to see me?" She grins up at him, the turns,
"OH MY GODS is this Marwa??" She exclaims, looking up at Marwa with star eyes, reaches for both her hands
"You got so BIG! OH my gods, turn around let me look at you"
Marwa is startled and confused beyond cognition. She does a mechanical turn, without really thinking, and shoots Baba some eye contact like WTF?
Alejandro seems to be wondering the same thing.
"Kit, what are you doing here?"
"Julius wrote me. Said he wanted my notes on Isaac. Oh it is so good to see you again!"
Alejandro's recovered from surprise. He looks serious.
"Marwa, this is Kit Havenwood. She used to travel with me and your dad."
"Oh. Hey!" Marwa gives a friendly smile
"We've met before, but you were only three, I don't blame you not remembering," Kit smiles.
"You couldn't have mailed your notes?" Alejandro blurts
"They're in here!" Kit answers, pointing at her head. "Where is Jules anyway?"
Alejandro looks uneasy, tired. "Reading, probably. Come on inside, Kit."
The three of them make their way inside. Kit is chatting with Marwa, wants to know if its true that she's an adventurer just like her dads, wants to hear all her stories, etc
Marwa will tell her all the tea
and ask for cute baba and dad stories from back in the day
Kit definitely tells the story of how they got together from an outsiders POV which is MUCH less dignified and WAY funnier than the version Julius and Alejandro tell.
"You would have thought he'd turned into a Balor the way Jules panicked - his eyes were saucers I swear"
the story has Marwa LAUGHING
"We literally had to make a rule that they couldn't have concurrent watches because whoever had first would just stay up the rest of the night with whoever had second and be too dog-tired to do anything next day"
"I always knew they were dorks. Thank you for confirming."
"A pleasure!"
So Julius definitely hears them coming
I think when they step into the study he stands from where he was reading at a table, has an immediate "what's she doing here" look for Alejandro
which fazes Kit not at all. Dad gets the same running hug treatment
"Kit's here with her notes, amor."
Looks down at her as she's stepping away from a mostly one-sided hug, probably also wondering why she coudln't just MAIL them because who doens't WRITE DOWN their research???
Kit's looking between them, "I can't tell you how much it means you're ready to talk about him again"
yeah Alejandro's expression is...conflicted.
He looks at Julius like - do you want to take this one, or do you want me to tell her why we asked for her notes?
Marwa is confused
"Who are we talking about?"
I think that question startles Kit
"Isaac? Isaac Harper? Our bard? My... You seriously never even mentioned him?"
"He's not an easy subject, Kit." - Julius, quiet.
yeah I think Alejandro might be afraid to pop off or say something hurtful to Kit, so he's keeping his mouth shut
"You guys have mentioned him a few times, I feel like? The name rings a bell." -Marwa
Relief, but minor, on the halfling's face, but she's still looking a little hurt/confused
"We travelled together for almost a year. He saved both your lives as often as you saved his. I can't..." she sits down. "I'm confused." looking at Julius "You write me saying you're reopening your research and you want to know anything I found out since last we talked. I thought maybe you'd both come around. What gives, then? Why the sudden reinterest?"
"Because we may know someone in a similar situation." -Alejandro
"Just trying to get a handle on things, Kit. You guys want a drink? Food? Anything before we get into this?"
"Sure" a little dazed
I think they can have some munchables brought in pretty simply
They can probably stay in the study so long as anyone who wants to touch a book lets Julius prestidigitate their hands first
Marwa would offer like, "You guys probably want to catch up, huh? I'll leave you to it." just as a courtesy
"Oh no no no, not at all!" Kit protests, "Please, sweetie, I haven't seen you since you were knee high to a pixie, and... Isaac he was, important to me. To all of us." pointed glances at dad and baba, "It... it feels wrong you don't know."
The dads are avoiding her eye, but Kit doesn't give up. "So who's this person in similar circumstances? Anyone I know?"
"Kid named Mika." -Alejandro
that gets Marwa's attention.
"Doesn't sleep. Magic that doesn't touch the weave. Eyes like he's somewhere else when casting." - Julius
"What? Was Isaac a warlock, too?"
Kit flinches. "Technically?"
"He didn't like the term. He was a bard first, and that's how he wanted to go on."
'What happened to Isaac?'
I think there's a moment where those of the old party are looking at each other because they each have a different answer to that question. the last time Kit was over they had an argument on this topic. neither of the dads want to start that up again, but when Kit says "He had to leave, and hasn't been back yet" it's infuriating to both of them in different ways
"He disappeared, Marwa." Alejandro says, his voice hard. "Woke up one morning and he was gone. Your aunt Silva couldn't track him, your Dad tried to scry, Kit consulted her deity and did all sorts of research. We've tried to find him, but it's been more than twenty years..."
Kit's mouth is a tight line. She can't dispute any of that, but she doesn't like the implication.
"You think he might leave? Mika?"
"Keenstrider says he's got a habit of it, doesn't he?"
"We're not saying it's the same, baby," Julius puts in, "but it's hard to ignore the similarities."
"Okay. Was it the same thing, where he couldn't talk about it because it was some...cognitohazard? Or whatever?"
"Cogna-what?" Kit asks, her head on one side, curls swinging.
"Cognitohazard. Informational contagion - a danger that spreads by becoming known," Julius supplies.
"Oh, no." Kit says, "He was pretty transparent about it."
"Then...what happened?" Marwa's face is creased in confusion. "If he could explain to you what was going on, how was there no way - ?" she looks at her parents' faces and is like mmmm maybe I don't want to finish that question.
The three former partymates look at each other for a moment. Then they tell her.