Chapter 35 - Fathers and Friends

Wherein Valentina introduces her friends to the most important man in her life. 

"Rose?" she called into the greenery. "Bosra? Would you come over?" She smiled at her father.

Rose was the first to appear, still looking like her body-double and not at all like the authentic woman she had come to know. Suddenly she felt awkward for pushing this outfit on her friend, though it also looked really good on her. 

"Hello." Rose curtsied to the broad male on the stone bench. His face spoke of battles lost and won. Of wisdom. Of responsibility shouldered. "Rosa Cerdos, how do you do?"

Rhodum chortled amusedly. "You must be the Fairfields girl I’ve heard so much about."

"You may call me Rose," she said with a cheeky smile. 

"Well-met, Rose. Welcome to my home."

"Thank you. It is a delight to be here." Rose settled on the other bench and snatched a piece of pie. "I've seen plenty of greenhouses. Every farm in my village has one, large or small. But this one... It's a marvel."

"My great-grandmother added it to the palace. I first saw it consciously as a little boy, whenever my grandfather would bring home new exotics to attempt here. And I must say... with proper care, it is blossoming." He sniggered a little at his own pun. Rose laughed with him. 

"It’s a beautiful legacy to leave your children, and someday grandchildren."

Rhodum looked around, considering that thought. "Yes. Yes it is."

"I, too, had a legacy to give on," Rose mentioned softly. "It was destroyed, out of spite." 

"What was it?" Rhodum asked, intrigued.

"A violin," Rose answered, feeling the well of pain in her chest open up again. "My grandmother gave it to me, taught me how to play. It had been passed down to her from her grandmother, who in turn had received it as a gift from the master-artisan she worked for."

She looked down at her hands, lying limp in her lap. She could feel the weight of her fiddle as if she was holding it.

"I have inquired about seeing it restored at the University of Unseen Arts."

"It has been really quiet at home, since she is no longer playing," Valentina joined in. 

"I have a music room full of instruments that are rarely – if ever – used. You should take a look and pick something that catches your fancy."

Startled, Rose looked up, her mouth agape. "Sir... milord... I wasn't begging for pittance with my story..."

"No. You were lamenting what could have been. And I know that feeling well. Take your pick. Take two, if it pleases you."

Rose closed her mouth with conscious effort. If only she could pop her eyes back into their sockets. "Thank you," she breathed, unaware of the tears that rolled down her cheeks.

"No. Thank you, for..." he looked at his oldest daughter, his oldest child, with a melancholy expression on his face. "For bringing my Vals joy and peace, and giving her... friendship."

"Then know you have my gratitude in exchange for yours," Rose said, addressing the Arch-Duke as if he were any other adult of her acquaintance. "Your daughter is a wonderful person to have as a friend." 

With neary a ruffle of leaves, Bosra stepped out into the open. To keep hiding in the bushes would be childish.

Three pairs of eyes shifted her way. She lifted a hand in greeting. "Hi."

Now that she saw him up close, she recognised him from the time she was a guest at the Sovereign’s Castle.  

"Bosra of the Golden Bow. As I live and breathe..." Apparently, he recognised her, too. He stood, proffering his hand.

She took it. Shook it. Let go. 

As she stayed standing, so did he.

"Sit, please," he invited, gesturing to the second bench. Bosra chose the rim of the fountain.

"When word reached me that my daughter had taken up with a Highlander, I did not know it was you." There was reverence in his voice she felt she did not deserve. 

"Yeah well… Not many Highlanders in Splendor." She shrugged. Her bow grated past the edge she was sitting on. She looped it from her shoulder, setting it down next to her.

"Your old adventuring party is up in the North-Wold, fighting off an infiltration attempt. Should you not be there with them?" the Arch-Duke asked.

"No."

"Ah. What had you leave the life behind?"

"Not a hero, unless you die. I ain't feeling like dying," she replied. 

"The Crown could use a veteran like yourself." 

Bosra crossed her arms. "Too bad, I’m out of that business."

"Cannot fault you for that. Can you fault a man for asking a former adventurer to keep his daughter safe? Said man would feel loads better knowing she is protected."

Bosra narrowed her gaze at him. She did not like playing games, but this one... was a politician and a professional speaker. "Only because she’s my friend and I was doing so anyway."

He smiled his statesman smile at her. She could tell it was a mask. His eyes betrayed amusement and cleverness. He was up to something, she was sure.

She huffed. She refused to be a pawn. However, scheming wasn’t illegal, and two could play that game. "Will you do something for me?"  

"If it is within my power, I might."

"Tell your peers I'm in the monster training business now, and taking on new clients."

"Talking about monsters, where is yours? I remember you taking that wingless dragon-beast into Adevald’s small council room." Rhodum looked around for the creature that should have been hard to miss.

Bosra intercepted his gaze and let him read the answer to the question on her face and in her dark eyes. 

"I am sorry for your loss." The look of compassion on his face was sincere.

"Yeah… He was a good one." She kicked away a loose stone.

"Are you in the market for a new companion?"

Bosra answered honestly. "If the right one comes along." She wasn’t ready to embrace a baby yet.

"No aberrations," she felt the need to disclaim. Rhodum of Effyne was a man who could make things happen. "Anything hip high will do. Teeth that'll impale you. Spikes. Claws. Hooves. Tentacles."

"Horses?"

Bosra pierced the man with a stare. "No yapping lil’ pups. You get me one of those, I’ll impale it." She had done so once before, entering her ancestral rage when she had been supposed to baby-sit a tiny fleabag for a patron hiring her adventuring crew. 

"Understood," Rhodum grinned.

Rose giggled. Bosra was an acquired taste to most, but she loved her big friend’s straight forward way.  

"Got a card." Bosra handed him a stack. The same stack Tina got her at the start of their friendship.

Rhodum pocketed them and rose. He kissed his daughter’s crown.

"Thank you for your company. Pleasant day. And I will see you tonight, Vals."  

Rose giggled when he was out of sight. Rhodum must have been a knight in his younger years. Handsome and noble. A warrior for his King. She caught herself spinning tales and shut that down. Later, she might write an epic song about him. Once she had an instrument to help her with that.