Claymore and Dagger (closed)

"I sometimes hope that he's still alive. That I can meet him. There are so many things that I want to tell him." Fiona confessed, looking at her grandfather. "But I hope that he isn't. Ma did make him happy. She was about the only thing in this world that did and if he's dead, then at least they are together."

"Who knows, honestly... Even without Tatianna, Owen believed he had a purpose. Maybe he still pursues it, whatever it is. He never shared it with any of us. If he is still out there... I doubt very much that he'll ever come near where he lost his love ever again. When he was last here, he told me that even the sight of Highlands haunted him."

"Maybe he'll want to find me one day. Until then, I'm content with what I have." Fiona insisted, patting his hand.

"If he does, I'd certainly be willing to welcome him despite it all... He was a broken man, and somehow I felt pity for him." Oleg sighed and sat back. "Anyhow... To more current things. A new dragon came to the village. Do you know who he is?"

"Invah's mate, Gaiann. He must have heard that she came home from her brother and he came to her. I don't know how long they'll stay but I intend to stay until spring."

"It'll be good to have you, especially with a hard winter ahead of us. As strong as Anya may be, with she and Hanni, we could always use another pair of hands and another kit to love."

After a long while, Rhett finally came inside with Orla, who was still chatting away. She had a distinctly Irish accent despite her fluent Erygonian. She greeted Oleg with a kiss on the cheek before smiling to Fiona, switching over to her heavily-accented English. "You mus' be Fiona. Orla Talimbiyr. I'm sorry I didn' say hello earlier, I was lost in a story."

"No need to apologize." Fiona said as Orla greeted her and seemed to be completely at ease with Oleg. "I was just keeping my grandfather company. I'll leave him in your care for the time being."

Fiona leaned over and kissed his cheek, giving him a warm smile as she stood to let Rhett and Orla take her place.

Before anyone could speak again, Yul stepped inside looking like he'd seen a ghost.

"Unvim," he muttered, holding up a letter addressed with handwriting that suddenly brought back years of memories for Fiona. The hand was unmistakable, if a little shaky, addressed to Oleg. It was Owen's script, no doubt, but looked as if it'd been written by a hand shivering with cold or weakness.

Fiona saw the handwriting as it was passed to Oleg, the family suddenly upset by the sudden turn of events. "Is that from my Da?" Fiona asked in a very quiet voice, not really believing that he could still be alive.

Oleg slowly opened the letter, his brows furrowing in concern at what he found written inside. "He's... Asking permission to come here. His expression grew even more troubled at what he read until he finally closed his eyes and rubbed them slowly. "Foolish man..." he murmured, before his gaze turned to Fiona. "You have as much right to read this as I do, little kit, if you want to know where he's been..."

Fiona was haunted by memories of her father. There wasn't an evening or a day when she didn't have a memory of him. Most were bad but there had been a few fleeting moments that she held dear. Taking the letter from her grandfather, she looked down at his familiar handwriting.

Fiona quietly read the letter, folding it neatly away when she was finished. She slowly looked at her grandfather and considered what her father was asking. He wanted to come here for the solstice. He didn't want to bother her and he knew that his father was long since dead. He had nothing left in his world.

"He can come." Fiona finally murmured, looking at Oleg.

Oleg nodded slowly and looked to Yul. Before he could even ask, Yul went to fetch him paper and a charcoal pencil. Oleg wrote a short and simple welcome, but before he sealed it into an envelope, he offered it to Fiona. "Do you want to add anything?"

"No." Fiona said softly as he wrote his note. "If he would like to see me, I'll be here. If not, I'll leave him in peace."

She kissed her grandfather's cheek one last time before she stood and made her way towards her room, pausing to look back at everyone who was watching her so closely. "Wake me before you go to the tavern, please."

With that, she continued on, leaving them all in peace.

Over the weeks leading up to the Solstice, Sam joined a caravan to Malmo for trade in order to visit Queen Kjersten and King Rakkar, as much for friendly reasons as courtly. He returned two days before the Solstice to help the caravan unload their goods and start getting ready for the festival. Kjersten had sent gifts of food and blankets to several tribes in the area including the Voya, as her little way of showing them that she cared for them and their traditions, especially because the tradition of Yule coincided with the tribal Solstice Festival which lasted four days- two days before Solstice, the day of, and one day after.

The day before the Festival was to begin, Sam joined Fiona in running errands around the village for Oleg. They'd grown a bit closer again, though Sam was taking it slow rather than getting caught up in the rush of love like he had last time. But he was content to be at her side. Between Fiona and looking after Kennah, he was in a comfortable place.

Brogan and Sam's family had sent gifts of preserved food to the Voya as well, just arriving the day before the Festival was to begin, and along with it was a gift for Fiona's family in the form of a tough draft horse and plenty of feed, the Ghis' simple wish for them to have a good spring when the horse would help plow fields and haul lumber. There was a package for Fiona too, from Will. He'd sent a heavy rabbit-fur coat and fur-lined boots that he'd commissioned from Justin.

Last to arrive, the evening before the Solstice, was a lone rider on a strange northern, furred drake. Fiona, Sam, and Rhett were all out unloading a wagon of firewood and distributing bundles to families before sunset when the rider approached, pausing a ways away to watch for a long moment.

Fiona had settled in to life with her grandparents. It was nice to have a warm home to come to every evening. She and Sam had found a tentative friendship, comfortable with one another but not quite sure how to continue on. She laughed with him more and more but she wanted to take another step. She would go at his speed, however.

She had sent back a new axe for Will, made by Stacia's father with sturdy steel. She was sure it was more than enough to pay for the rabbit skin coat he had sent. She was surprised that he had spent so much money for an item for her but she welcomed it without hesitation.

As she helped to hand out the wood to the families, she kept glancing towards Sam. "So, will you go to the solstice celebration with me?" She asked as she sat on the edge of the wagon.

"I thought tha' was a given," Sam told her with a warm smile. "Only other person I migh' ask would be Ericka, if Voluun annoyed 'er enough." But he wasn't serious at all. He'd begun to be able to make little jokes here and there finally. Ericka had taken quite a shine to him and his serious nature, often teasing Voluun and Juno that she and Hanni ought to keep Sam instead of them because Sam was such a hard worker.

Sam settled beside Fiona on the back of the wagon as Rhett took the last bundle of firewood and made his way off toward Orla's home. Crossing his arms, Sam noticed the lone drake-rider watching as the crowd of families dispersed. "Don' recognize him..." Sam murmured before the rider drew his drake around to head toward the village center. The rider was clearly were, but his cloak and gloves and thick foot wrappings hid any distinctive features except that he was some kind of canine.

"I've never seen a drake like that before." Fiona said as she glanced towards the figure as he pulled the beast towards the town center. "Roman will have a fit if he sees that drake."

Roman had become a beast to deal with as Kennah grew larger with her egg. She was close to laying, but there was still some question as to when that might happen.

"You do know I was born on the solstice, right? Ma had me in the middle of an awful blizzard." Fiona murmured as she glanced towards Sam. "Uka wants to make a big deal of it with the tribe this year as a welcoming party, but I don't want that."

"Northern drake, pretty rare," Sam muttered as the drake made his way through the snow like it were no more troublesome than tall grass. With wide feet, he didn't sink much into the snow despite his heavy frame. When Fiona mentioned her birth, Sam looked back to her. "I know. Got a gift hidden away an' everythin'. But I imagine Oleg wants t' introduce you on the Solstice most of all, welcome you as a proper Voya."

"I don't need gifts, Sam." Fiona said softly as he mentioned that he already had a gift hidden away for her. "Just being with you is enough for me."

"It's no' jus' some piece o' meaningless tat, it's somethin' useful an' a part of it is important t'both of us," Sam promised her, leaning over to kiss her cheek. "Let's get back t'yer grandfather's place. He wanted us back in time fer dinner, said I had t'come," he gave her a small smile before sending the wagon driver off. "Oughta check on Kennah before I go, though."

"I'll go with you and make sure that Roman hasn't driven her completely crazy yet." Fiona said as she slipped her arm through his own, giving him a smile as they started off towards the barn at the tavern.

Roman was lumbering around the corral, snuffling at the door to the barn when they arrive. Fiona could see that he looked agitated, but she was quick to soothe him.

"What's wrong, beastie?" Fiona murmured, nuzzling against him.

Roman rumbled, but not so much in happiness as stress. Sam's brow furrowed and he opened up the barn, finding a rather alarming sight. For just a moment, he was almost excited to see Kennah clearly cradling an egg against her chest. But she lay on her side, panting heavily and trembling. The moment the door was open, Roman pulled away from Fiona and went inside, nuzzling Kennah's face and neck in concern. There was a worrying amount of blood in the nest of hay, though the bleeding had long since stopped. Now Kennah lay in a corner in a new nest she'd weakly formed out of another bale. The egg was a lovely and strange shade of blue with little sunbursts of white and splotches of black, but there was a definite crack in the shell from the tapered top halfway down the side. When Roman saw it, he let out a pained whine and cradled Kennah's head against his chest as she was clearly just as upset, but sick from bloodloss and the strain of laying the egg. Though Sam didn't know how big drake eggs were supposed to be, it was clear this one had ended up too big.

"It's okay, love," Sam whispered, stroking Kennah's neck as she rumbled and whimpered. "You're gonna be okay, I promise." He glanced to the egg, and he couldn't help but feel terrible, knowing that with a crack in the shell like that, the egg was probably compromised and would never develop properly.

Fiona stood there, feeling helpless as Sam tried to reassure Kennah that everything would be alright and Roman tended to his mate. The egg was cradled tightly against Kennah's chest, the crack in the surface evident in the light of the barn.

"I'll get something to clean her up. And some blankets to help keep the egg warm." Fiona murmured, turning to enter the tavern to get Tavir's help with supplies.