Al and Erevain

"Very well, sharuhk," Al says with a smile, and kisses him happily.

"My father's name is Simeon," She tells Erevain again, taking him to the stairway. "He only speaks Orcish. He understands Common, he just doesn't speak it. Uncle and I aren't sure if it's from his injuries or if it's a form of protest or mourning." She grips the handrail and looks back at Erevain. "His mental state... varies. He's still himself, but sometimes it's hard for him to stay focused on what's happening around him or follow a conversation. Don't feel bad if this meeting doesn't go the way we expect."

Alalla climbs the stairs with Erevain at her back, her anxiety rising as she does. She breathes it away. Their meeting with her uncle well, just as she knew it would. So will this. Her father and Erevain will get along. They must.

They reach the top of the stairs and enter the living quarters of the house. Al leads the way to the door of the main room.

"Stay here for a moment," she says. She kisses Erevain and squeezes his hand, then opens the door quietly.

The main living room contains a large table, some counters built into one wall, and a fireplace of brick built into another, meant to provide warmth and a place to cook. Some cushions and chairs near the table and fireplace provide places to sit.

In front of the fireplace in a cushioned rocking chair, his back to Alalla and Erevain standing at the room's entrance, sits Simeon, Alalla's father. The soft scrapings of whittling can be heard, and occasionally his dark hands reach for a different tool or knife from the small table beside him.

Al gives Erevain's hand one last squeeze, then leaves him in the doorway. She goes around the chair to kneel in front of her father.

"Papa, I'm home," Al says with a smile, placing her hands on his knees.

The large man chuckles with surprise. "Fierce one!" he says in reply to his daughter's Orcish. "How I've missed you, child." Simeon puts down his carving and takes Alalla's hands, the large scar down the side of his face distorted by his even larger smile. "Tell me of the adventures you have had while you were away."

"I will, Papa. They have been quite remarkable. First, though, I have someone very important for you to meet." Al gestures to Erevain for him to come in. "I'd like you to meet Erevain. He is my husband. He is sharuhk."

Simeon turns to look at Erevain as he approaches. His face is smooth and unreadable. "Hmmm. You bring an elf here to listen to our Orcish, Alalla?"

Alalla's expression mirrors her father's, showing Erevain just who she had learned it from, as she breathes away her worry. They just need a chance. They will get along. They must.

"Do you know what language we speak, elf? What do you think of our family now?" Simeon picks his carving up again, waiting for Alalla to translate, though his face looks as though he does care if he receives an answer or not.

Al, of course, does not translate, and gives Erevain a smile of encouragement, holding out her hand for him to take.

Erevain steps around in front of Simeon. "I think our family is a blessing, Simeon. As you once looked on an orc woman and saw her heart, I ask that you look at me and see mine. Alalla is sharuhk. I would not be alive if it were not for her skill, resolve, compassion, and love."

Simeon blinks in surprise and looks up at Erevain quickly. His brow furrows slightly as he considers Erevain's words, and his eyes fall to his daughter's hand on his lap, and the silver ring on her finger.

"You believe this..." Simeon pauses, searching for a word. Alalla opens her mouth to offer it, but he holds up a hand, stopping her. He continues again slowly. "You believe this Erevain loves you, daughter of mine?" His dark eyes search hers, looking for understanding.

"Yes, Papa," Al says fervently. "Once I thought he only loved the idea of me, the person he thought I was. But I was wrong.

When he looks at me he sees only me and not a thing more, and he makes me feel like that's enough. But I am more with him Papa. I am more hopeful, and more confident." Alalla takes Erevain's hand and grins up at him widely, showing tusks and teeth alike. "When I'm with him, Papa, I like being me."

Simeon looks at the couple before him, but his eyes seem far away. When Alalla finishes speaking he gives no sign that he heard.

"I often wish I had never brought you to Targos, fierce one." Simeon turns his head and looks out the window, watching the snow fall.

Alalla squeezes Erevain's hand comfortingly, hiding her own disappointment. Of all the times for her father to lose focus...

"I had no choice, of course," Simeon continues, "but you were happy on our homestead, away from the world. It was here that you learned what the weight of people's judgements and expectations feels like. It was this place that first took your smile."

Simeon looks to Erevain with a sharpness and presentness in his gaze he did not have before, despite the moisture in his eyes. "I would give everything I have to you in thanks for returning it to her, elf." He looks to his daughter and cups her face in one rough hand. "But it seems I cannot, for she has given herself to you already."

Alalla's husband kneels beside her in front of her father. "And I to her, Simeon. We will keep each other safe." Erevain pauses, glances at Alalla, then continues. "We have plans... we hope... to mend the relationship between orcs and the other races. If we can bring respect to both sides, we can also avoid more bloodshed."

"Really?" Simeon says with surprise. "That's quite the job." He tucks Alalla's hair behind her pointed ear, then begins digging in a pocket. "I don't believe Shelur was the only one of her kind capable of change, but her situation was unique. It will be hard to sway the orcs from hatred while their gods urge them toward it."

Simeon pulls a bead made of pale honey coloured wood from his pocket, and threads it onto one of Alalla's dreadlocks. He turns it for a moment, admiring the tiny oak leaves and acorns carved into it with satisfaction.

"It will be difficult. The orc pantheon holds us tightly," Alalla murmurs, pressing her father's hand to one cheek before he can withdraw it, and holding Erevain's hand in her free one. She forces out the memories of Nishrek and Gruumsh's gloating, and turns to smile at her husband once more. "But Erevain gives me hope that it is possible."

Erevain nods. "If there is a way, we shall find it." He puts a finger on Alalla's new bead, marveling at its craftsmanship.

Simeon's gaze has moved to the mantle of the fireplace, and more specifically to the small wooden bust of an orcish woman placed in the middle of all the other decorative carvings. The silence after Erevain speaks, however, seems to pull the man back to the present, and his face shows show mild surprise at finding an elf beside his daughter at his knees. Though it seems for a moment he is seeing Erevain for the first time, it passes quickly, and Simeon puts a fatherly hand each of Alalla and Erevain's shoulders with a smile.

"Few things can keep my daughter from what she puts her mind to. I doubt she picked anyone less capable than herself for her spouse. I am sure you two will accomplish much. But-!" Simeon waves a hand. "To me, my daughter has just been married! I won't be cheated my chance to celebrate. Go and get your uncle, girl. Tell him to get the good drink. Tonight we feast!"

Alalla stands with a relieved grin. All was as she thought. She gives her father and Erevain each a kiss on the head.

"I'll be just a moment," she murmurs to her husband, then departs.

Simeon watches his daughter leave with a smile, but the sight of Erevain when he turns back makes him frown.

"Erevain," he says after a pause, and his countenance lifts. "Yes? I apologize. My mind isn't what it was. I was always a dreamer, but Shelur would mock me for how I lose grasp of the world now. You must forgive me. Alalla and Ellis pretend not to notice, usually, but I know they do." He pulls a small bag from a box under the table beside his chair, and fishes around inside for a few little blocks of wood. He compares them for a moment, looking between them and Erevain, then selects a pale cube.