Count Only The Happy Hours

Part 1: V

And Nerevar certainly was furious.

"I gave you both explicit instructions," he said; it was only by virtue of spending the past few years as a leader that he wasn't yelling–the Neht that Vehk had met several years ago wasn't quite so good at tempering his passion, good or bad. Even so, his tone was snappish and short. "I told you to keep your heads down, and you get into a fight ."

"It was my fault," Vivec said quickly. "I left the room and–"

"I don't care whose fault it was, you both ignored orders and put yourselves at risk," Nerevar interrupted. Alandro, standing just behind him, crossed his arms and tsked.

"I don't know what you expected, Nerevar," he said dryly. "This is what happens when you conscript children ."

That sent Vivec's hackles up. "Just because we're young doesn't make us useless. Even if we're still learning, we–"

"You cock it up because you don't have any lived experience," Alandro shot back.

"And what would you have done, Sul, if you had been in my..."

" Stop. The both of you, stop, " Nerevar said, holding up his hands. He let out a sharp breath, rubbing his face before he looked up at the ceiling with a very quiet, "Azura help us."

Amidst the arguing, Voryn–who'd been tasked with explaining to the family why there were suddenly five of them in the house when they'd only expected two–had slipped silently back into the room. His arms were folded as he watched the scene, and he looked down to Sil.

"Did you kill them?" he asked plainly as the room went quiet.

Sil, nose still bloodied and slightly crooked, sniffed and shook his head. "I don't think so. Vivec stabbed one."

"Not lethally; just to his stomach. Easy to heal," Vivec added.

"Pity."

Nerevar let out a long breath, light eyes narrowing at Voryn as he swept over to Sil. "There's a time and place for killing; that wasn't it."

"No? Certainly seemed like the Nords thought it was." He tilted Sil's face up. "This will hurt." Before anyone could intervene, he tweaked the younger mer's nose back into place, with a flash of gold healing magic quickly following. Sil, to his credit, didn't so much as yelp; he never seemed to make any noise when in peril, Vivec was noticing. He shook his head once Voryn let him go. "Did they take anything from you?"

Sil glanced down at the scrap metal he was still cradling. "My bag. It had..." He glanced over at Nerevar and Alandro before he looked back to Voryn. "...tools in it. From the dwemer."

"Mm." Voryn straightened up, a flick of his head sending a wave of dark hair over his shoulder casually. "I'll go alert the authorities, then."

"The authorities aren't going to..." Vivec's argument died as Voryn glanced at him, a dangerous flash in his dark eyes, though it wasn't directed at him. Ah .

"Sil, come with me," Voryn said, crooking a finger. "You've shown you have a good memory; I want you to tell me what these Nords look like, for my report. We can clean your face up a bit as well."

Sil glanced up at Vivec, who nodded for him to go along. As the two made their way out, Vivec turned his attention back to Nerevar and Alandro. The latter was still watching him coolly, and the former had taken a seat as he rubbed his forehead. When he did finally look up at him, Vivec suddenly felt much, much younger, once again a boy picked up by a wandering rebel and neck-deep in a world he wasn't prepared for.