The Grandfather Club

The nightmare that hasn’t darkened my dreams in many weeks is back. But instead of me being the one who is always a second too late…it’s me watching Laina experience the same thing, an endless ribbon of repeating moments. The look on her face is unforgettable, searing itself into the fabric of time in my body’s weave as a memory I’ll always wish to forget. But we do not have the luxury of hiding from hard things.
 
I can never dive into a recounting of the recent events without first this outpouring of my innermost thoughts, cryptic as they may be. But, as always, I recognize my duty to provide a truthful recounting and so I begin again.
 
I didn’t expect to sleep as well as I did after the tumultuous experience in the tower with Jordan, not to mention the sting of (deserved) rejection when we got back to the hot springs with Kravana. My body slowly cooled as I wrote that journal; perhaps enough of my thoughts were written that I could really finally close my fevered eyes in peace. Regardless, I woke up refreshed the next morning. Even Madlyn “slept in” until 5:02, can you believe it?? It was truly a hallmark experience for us all, and I’m glad Madlyn took that extra time to heal her body properly.
 
Our chatter over breakfast as we hastily tried to look half-presentable for the council we were actually invited to today was SO excited. Though it came at great personal cost to each of us (especially Kaylan), it was lovely to look forward to the fruit of our labor–Laina’s grandfather had been alerted to the Hammer’s recovery and it was time to announce that the Hammer and the Arm could be reunited. Our proposal of having an emissary to chauffeur the Hammer and to wield the arm among all the clans was met with thoughtful approval, and we had only to look forward to hearing what the council might have to say about all of it.
 
Little side note–it’s our new tradition in this beautiful home with the soft, downy beds to roll reluctantly out of them and get downstairs as quickly as possible for a deliciously Dwarven breakfast. Kaylan has the most wildly spectacular hair in the morning and I couldn’t be more fond of her for it; I have half mashed and half-still-deciding-what-it-wants-to-be hair. Madlyn, of course, has nary a hair out of place; Laina is brusque and businesslike with that gorgeous crown up-do. Bo typically has anything-can-happen hair that she stores things in on occasion, just for convenience; this morning, she was not feeling well again and was up in the bathroom. Can we, for just a moment, talk about how ZY HAS MODEL HAIR ALL THE TIME?? I thought maybe she was sneaking off to do her hair in the mornings at camp, but I’ve literally watched her roll out of bed here with her hair looking like dreams were chasing it. The MINUTE she is upright, it’s perfect!! How is this possible?? I’d say it was a Heckle thing, but Bo…
 
ANYway. Some girls have all the luck.
 
We bolted down breakfast. Norduc, Laina, and Kravana were going to go to the bottom part of the council amphitheater while the rest of us were relegated to the peon seats up high in the 2nd level amphitheater balcony, but we didn’t care; in was in. I couldn’t help but feel electric–how often does a plan of ours ACTUALLY work out? If you ask Madlyn, she will say always, but then she will go a shade of green if I sneeze-say “Port ‘o Call.” Dwarves filed in and took their places in the seats next to us and I beamed at each face, knowing the good news that lay ahead for all of them. I thought happily of the ways we were being better than he was, for the good of everyone. My fingers tingled and I had to take some deep breaths because waves of time were beginning to shimmer oddly around them in a parody of my excitement.
 
A sudden preternatural hush settled over the crowd and I realized that it was actually time!! Proudly, I watched the king shuffle out of the door in the chamber below our balcony with the council, Laina, Norduc, and Kravana in tow. Laina looked so regal, like she had been sure of this position her entire life. What a beautiful thing she had in the reunion with her grandfather and her cousin, family! She glowed in the light of their joyous relationships. Norduc looked slightly nervous but excited. Kravana was stunning, her movements sleek as she floated in behind Norduc, scanning the crowd for any potential threats to his life.
 
The king settled in to his place without hurrying, like he’d been doing this his whole life and knew that rushing was useless when the party simply started when he started it. They got through some trivialities (which seemed to take FOREVER but my respect for time got me through it) and FINally, he cleared his throat and dropped his voice to a deep, rolling thunder. I can’t remember everything he said exactly (though in retrospect, I really wish I could). I do remember something like the following: “Friends, guests, family *here with a quick wink at Laina and Norduc, who grinned wide in response*. We are gathered here today to celebrate a huge milestone for our people, and as such, we must dispatch with some of our more lengthy procedures. My granddaughter, Laina, and her friends have done all of dwarvenkind an irreplaceable service and we must decide what it means for us all.” Uneasily, I noticed the advisor Laina didn’t seem to love sit up a little straighter in his chair. Laina’s grandfather rumbled on: “I want to preface their discovery by reinforcing how important it is to always live as a united and humble front. We have been banished for a long time, but the time for holding grudges is long behind us and we must face into the future with our palms up in supplication to our former friends and allies. Only united can we stand against the terrible threat that will be on our doorstep before we know it.” With the flourish of a young man who had not aged rapidly in office, the King produced the Hammer and the Arm and slammed them down on the table in front of him. Amid gasps of delight and wild cheers, he raised his arms and roared victory.
 
What a tableau. I remember this moment in time like a snapshot. Laina and Norduc before their grandfather, fiercely triumphant. The council and the people, delighted. The King, restored in some ways like he had not been in years, arms upraised like a savior of the people.
 
A glow of green.
 
A confused silence spread rapidly outward from council members seated near the King’s advisor, rippling over the whole council before screams of horror seared their throats–for in a whiplash moment of turned tides, the advisor to the king’s clawed hand glowed an ever brighter poisonous green. His steps took on a heavy momentum, he lunged forward, and he plunged that green monstrosity of an arm through the king’s chest and ripped out his heart.
 
It’s the freezing of time that gets me the most, I guess. The frozen look of victory that died on his face when his soul parted from his body. The shocked silence pierced after an eon by the first scream. The look of surrealism on Laina’s crumpled face. These things were frozen, but those rules didn’t apply to that wicked advisor whose form rapidly shifted into a fully-grown green dragon. He grabbed the Arm and the Hammer and with a shriek, launched himself into the air and blasted through the amphitheater’s rocky roof. With a final turn toward the chaos below him, he hissed through a toothy grinning death mask: “The Klar line ENDS TODAY.”
 
Reality came crashing back hard as 3 wizards popped into existence around us and the floor became scalding lava. The council members scrambled over one another to escape the table at the front and make for an exit as fast as they could, except for one notable exception. This one council member’s physique became blurred at the edges as he grew, and grew, and…polymorphed into a t-rex! I had only read about this spell before, and here was the giant horror right in front of us! I felt overwhelmed and helpless watching everything go down around me. A different kind of blankness overtook me when I heard a little-used voice echo over the heads of the crowd–Kravana!! I watched in complete awe as she bellowed mightily and sprung into action. She sprinted to Norduc, lifting him bodily into the air, and tore the floor up to bury him temporarily out of harm’s way. “FOR THE BOOTY TREE!” She yelled ferociously, and her axe burst into flame–which she then handed off to Laina so Laina would have a weapon (I’m not crying, you’re crying). Drawing out a club, she then loped without any discernible fear in her eyes toward the t-rex, growing taller herself the entire way there. A line of Herculean prose popped into my head–”So hot, steam looked cool.” Gulp. Belly flop. Light-headed.
 
ANYway.
 
Aside from Jordan, who was a little bitch that didn’t even give me a chance to fight back, we had never been able to fight against other wizards. If I’m totally honest, a twinge of regret thrummed in my soul at the spilling of magical blood before I hardened my resolve in the knowledge that these monsters worked for that green dragon who had forever changed Laina’s ability to hold joy. Finally, as my mind caught up to the events around me, I was ready to wreak havoc.
 
My first order of business was to bring Laina up to us; Kravana would have felt disrespected if I tried to take her out of harm’s way, so I left her nervously to the dinosaur fight. Walls of fire had sprung up at the exits, so we had to figure out a way to get around that for the civilians wailing in panic all around us. Kaylan took Mishikal’s cool power and was able to put out the flames by the door in the upper amphitheater, and Laina and I got as many civilians out as we could before jumping back into the fray. Each of the wizards there seemed to be concentrating on something, but we had to focus on staying out of the lava, saving as many citizens as possible, watching the hottest fight I’d ever seen between a giantess and a t-rex, and defeating the wizards so I can’t say what they were each doing now. I guess my attention was too splintered.
 
Some of the highlights of the battle were the sight of Laina soaring through the air with her pantaloons, dress tucked in to be out of her way, absolutely sailing over the lava to strike at one of the wizards with that great axe. Madlyn knocking people around with lethal discipline and strategically organizing our troops. Kaylan hitting them all where it hurt, dropping their walls and healing people and making a weapon out of shimmering blue magic. Zy shimmying down a banner to the main level after shooting a rope down so the council could climb it (which was a great idea in theory, but the t-rex snapped it like a twig). Kravana swinging with deadly aim at the t-rex. Actually, the t-rex really did some damage to Kravana and after being fireballed myself, I popped up with only one thought in my mind–to hurt the thing trying to hurt her as much as I could. The magic glimmered at my fingertips, the words were in my throat to complete the recipe–but before I could utter a phrase, Zy caused the dino to become human again and Kravana turned him into a flat discus in one fell swoop. Cough. Okay. Nothing to see here, I guess.
 
For my part, I was proud of my battle performance for once. I think my time magic is finally beginning to become more second-nature; it was always a part of me, but getting that part of me to the outside world without my usual clumsy blunders is another story altogether. And after the lessons learned in the fight against Jordan, I was not about to be unprepared. I was able to counterspell two fireballs. They lowered their arms toward me and my friends and a stream of expanding fire streaked from their hands, but I used a simple time reversal strategy to freeze and double the stream back upon itself to die harmlessly. I launched my studded bananas through different shelves of a time continuum that pushed them from my spot to the future spot all over the body of my enemy in catastrophic explosions. I shoved a pulsing green sludge ball across a slipstream of time to drip onto the head of a wizard trying to fireball Madlyn, though that did accidentally set off his fireball necklace. Thankfully, after learning that they had those, Laina was able to shove one of them off a balcony and kill it from there, where the fireball necklace exploded harmlessly. The lava went away at some point, just a construct meant to distract us. The council members and several audience members were not able to be saved, despite our best efforts. My favorite new thing was watching Kaylan and Madlyn and Laina strategize how to get to the main level once our wizards up top were dispatched to join Zy and Kravana; I yelled out to Kaylan “JUMP! Trust me!” And bless her heart, she really did. I couldn’t help smiling at the look of pure bliss on her face as she floated gently through the air like a feather falling on the wind, landing gracefully down below with arms still outstretched.
 
Not even two minutes after it had begun, it was over.
 
Battle’s bloodlust quickly drained away in light of the wreckage before us. Dwarven bodies intermingled with the bodies of the slain wizards, and most horrific of all was Laina’s lifeless grandfather. Tears blurred my vision and I heard Laina choke back a sob of despair as Kravana dug up Norduc. Angrily dashing my tears away, I strode up to the King and gently covered him with a cloth from the table, closing his eyes so that he might be sleeping. Maybe she hadn’t been spared the brutality of his death, but speaking from experience–no granddaughter should have to spend precious seconds staring at the death blows taken by her beloved grandfather. I staggered back in a nightmare of deep feeling for Laina and flashbacks to how it felt to hold Grandpa Mary’s hand as I knelt in a puddle of his blood, too late for him to know he did not die unloved and alone.
 
As neatly as I could, I finished feeling my feels and tucked them away for a later time. I took Laina by the arm to stand by him and just be. She did not need my clumsiness or my words; she just needed me beside her as a solid, living presence in the face of howling death. I could feel her shaking with silent tears. Norduc joined us; Madlyn kept us safe with a close vigil; Kaylan added poignancy by casting a gentle repose with Mishikal’s gifts.
 
Eventually, Kravana’s grunting brought us back to ourselves and we began to help her clean up the wreckage. Needing something I could not explain, I positioned myself very close to her and didn’t even try to be embarrassed at the number of times my hand brushed hers as we lifted rocks “together” (despite her obvious anger and hurt at me for my careless way of speaking, she seemed to sense I needed to believe I was assisting her while she was clearly doing all of the work).
 
The procedure of the funeral and honoring of the dead was two-fold. First, a celebration of life; then, interment and a passing of the torch. With a start, I realized that Laina was officially the head of an entire clan of people! That had to be dizzying. I heard her teasingly talking about it with Norduc, and I knew she would make the right decision for everyone whether that was choosing to retain the throne or choosing to pass it on to her cousin. Selfishly, of course, I hoped strongly for the latter.
 
We returned to the house sore and bedraggled after the crazy day, but as we discussed next moves, I think Kaylan and I shocked everyone by announcing that we wished to learn to drink like the dwarves do! Anything was better than the hollow-eyed horror of the day, and what better way to wash away the troubles of the day than by immersing fully into a dwarven custom?
 
We gathered into a circle with our strong dwarven ales in hand and commenced a famous drinking game among the Klar clan. It was a day for shocks; both Madlyn, who I would have thought would not touch ale, and Kravana, who has not done social things with us yet, joined in with glee! At least I was partially right; Madlyn did not, in fact, drink ale. She put spicy hot peppers in her water and let that be her challenge; I don’t suppose she had the giddy feeling I eventually got to, but if Madlyn had fun I will argue absolutely nothing about it! She’s so tough!
 
If I were a betting woman, Journal, I would have thought that I would easily be the first one out of the drinking game! As it turns out, though, I was not; bye bye, Zy of the perfect locks! It was quite humorous to see her giggling and talking to the air, as Kravana picked her up and dumped her unceremoniously into a sitting position against the far wall so she wouldn’t drown in her own drool. I would have laughed at the circumstance a little more if I hadn’t been second to be placed by her! To be honest, I think my body rebelled against the sight of Kravana carrying anyone but me in those strong, nature-grown arms so I had to get there next. The last two standing were…um, wait a minute, let me think, I had some weird visions in addition to the real life events…Kaylan and Kravana?? For real? Nah, my mind has to be playing tricks.
 
I’ve just returned from consulting a group member, and yes! It’s true, it was down to Kaylan and Kravana! Kaylan’s staff zapped her with blue pigeons (that I think is inaccurate now that I write it down, but can you blame me with what the zap did to her hair?). She ended up losing, but who can be sad about losing to such a magnificent giantess? No one, that’s who. Kaylan certainly didn’t seem sad, anyway.
 
The rest of the night was a blur, fantasy and reality mixing in a way that makes my cheeks very hot to think about now. I understand now why one should not drink in times of high emotion, because like Grandpa Mary used to say, bottoms up and dignity down! When I remember anything, it’s just short flashes of imagery–us having to be carried to the carriage by the loveliest arms, the smell of clean sweat and some kind of crisp mountain air in my nose over and over again. Did I try to wield my magic without any reason out in the hallway back at home?? YES I DID oh my gosh Journal, I can’t handle myself…every time I ran out into the hallway, Kravana carried me back in and laid me back down and I slumped into her embrace like a drunk kitten! She must have been so annoyed, how mortifying. In fact, she took my book of magic from me for the night…EEK. The worst part is that I think I handed her my letter for her that I was still NOT SURE I was going to give her. YIKES.
 
I cannot say that I kept a copy lying around for me to read over and over again so that my mortification would be complete as I remembered what she was reading word for word, but it went something like this.
 
Dear Kravana,
Hey there! It’s me, Manon.
First and most of all, I want to tell you what an absolute fool I can be. Saying what I said to you in the way that I said it was most unintentional, but I will not insult you by trying to backtrack and explain to you what I really meant; the past is the past. I will not un-dignify you with an attempt to waste your time.
We have never really talked about this, but I am sure you’ve observed things and I want you to know something about me. I’m a time magic wielder. I don’t say that to brag or to make this about me, but I wanted you to know it because I had to make the point to you that I could have turned back the moment where I said something that insulted the very core of who you are anytime I wanted to–but I want nothing but the bare truth between us. Mistakes, poor turns of phrase, missed communication and all.
Which brings me to my next, and most important, point. I wish for you to know how I actually DO view you. As I said before, I will not unring the bell and change time’s trajectory by undoing what I did; I will simply put here in writing what you mean to me. Having a way to read this over and over will supply you with enough repetitions, I hope, that you will understand your value to me and how what I said was a terrible accident.
Kravana, the way you move in this world is incredible to me. I’m not talking physically (although I will get to that I am talking more of the quiet and sure strength you always exude. In the face of new things and new places, you do not allow yourself to be debased or to take less than what you deserve. You deserve the world. Would that I could give you anything you don’t already have! But you have it all–the stoic ability to be silent, the ability to say the right thing at the right time when called for, leadership qualities, and a heart that betrays your sternness with a soft gesture when the timing is perfect. You’re a pure note that echoes through time, which is a thing I think only I can truly appreciate fully (being a time mage and all). You could be a toad, a human, a giantess, a dwarf, an elf, or a tree; the indomitable soul encased in your being is timeless and unbounded by such things.
But you also might be the most beautiful woman I’ve ever seen. Like, your muscles have muscles and that’s pretty…well. You know.
I hope you can find it in your heart to forgive me for my thoughtless comment. I don’t expect anything else from you, because another thing I love about you is the wild freedom of your heart–I would never dare to try to capture such a thing. What I cannot bear is the loss of your camaraderie and warm grunts of affirmation.
 
Sincerely (with many scribbled out attempts at a better sign-off),
Manon
 
Ah time. Only you shall heal the absolute cringe of my drunken acts.
 
ANYway, Kaylan and I woke up looking like a windstorm had mated with a jar of mud in our hair; Zy, of course, looked like a hair dresser’s display. Typical.
 
Laina’s grandfather’s funeral was a grave affair (oh), dignified, honoring. Laina was a sight to behold, showing everyone that the pride of the Klar line was still strong, and giving a lovely speech on the spot. My throat was tight as pride in her swelled my heart. It is not easy to be eloquent at the best of times, and the loss of your grandfather is not the best of times. She is extraordinary. A gentle blue honorific surrounded the King in repose, and I wiped away fresh tears of joy and pride as I watched Kaylan open her eyes with the beatific smile that means she just finished talking with Mishikal. Laina passed along leadership of the clan (BIG sigh of relief) to Norduc, and he in turn gave her his house! Hot springs for life, y’all! He also gave her a pretty intense axe–the Axe of the Dwarven Klar Chief. When talking about our next moves, Norduc said that he would handle the dwarven clans getting united; I sent off word to the dragons via Nithibor that the time was now for them to show up and assist in the cause.
 
And now, I’ve told you all. I will be sad to leave this place, for it has become like a home among new people. I think that’s the nature of a nomad, though; we make homes wherever we go, and maybe when we are all together, home travels with us. I will have to remember that home is in our family rather than a place, because our next destination is Lemish. It will be a quick stop to free the golden dragons before heading on to Kalaman to hopefully find Bo and Zy’s mom! For now, I rest–tomorrow, we set off again. I keep one hand on my book these days to remind me that as long as Grandpa Mary’s hand touched this same spot at one point, I might still be close to the man I knew through the threads of time. Maybe I’ll teach Laina that trick and she can bring a talisman from her grandfather for the same purpose.
 
Word of the day: recrudescence