The impossible son

A cold wind blew through the streets of Mother’s Heart as Eideard walked through them. It was unusual for him to walk this far from his infirmary, but he did so for a reason: One of his sons, Matthew, had run away. He had just walked out of the door and hadn’t returned. Admittedly, it wasn’t rare for the teen to run off and stay away for a couple of days or even weeks, but the thing that worried Eideard the most was the fact that his son had not taken anything with him. No gold and nothing of value that could be exchanged for gold, and that boy was way too stubborn to ever ask his old father for help. The best case scenario would be that he was staying with an acquaintance or at an inn and in a way Eideard hoped that his son was just hiding away in one of the alleys, ready to jump out to surprise his father. Deep down he knew that wouldn’t be the case, but he still had a glimmer of hope that the boy was at least still somewhere in Mother’s Heart.

Figuring that a bar might be a place where Matthew might be hiding, Eideard entered the closest one he could find. There were a couple of people in there, including some patients of his who seemed to be surprised to find their doctor in a bar. After all, he never had a reason to go to one – until now. The silence that followed allowed him to speak. "Some of you might know Matthew." One or two of the men grumbled something under their breath. They definitely knew his troublemaker of a son. "Does anyone of you happen know where he is?" More long silences and shaking of heads. "Have a seat, doctor," the bartender eventually said. Knowing that continuing this search was probably hopeless anyway, Eideard went to sit on one of the stools a bit further away from the others. "Just a glass of water, please."

Lexa first!

While waiting for his glass of water – he had more than enough knowledge and self control to keep his hands off alcohol – he leaned on the counter and let his head rest in the palm of his hand. He knew he had been lying to himself by thinking that Matthew could still be in Mother’s Heart. The kid saw himself as an adult already, and what better way to prove that to the world than to leave your hometown? Though the reasoning was likely not even close to what had happened ten years ago, Eideard couldn’t shake off the feeling that yet again one of his closest family members had disappeared.

His train of thought was interrupted when someone sat down beside him. Before he had the chance to consider who it could be, the person greeted him enthusiastically. Wait, he knew that voice. There was only one person in Mother’s Heart who called him “Breck”. He looked to his right and his eyes widened in astonishment. "Lexa?" What in the world had happened to her? She was smiling. Lexa was smiling. It was so normal for a girl of her age, but Eideard would swear that he had never seen her so cheerful before. At the same time as she asked him what he was doing in the bar, he realized that she was most definitely under the influence of alcohol. The smell of her breath was an extra giveaway. "Realizing my runaway son is not in town anymore," he answered somewhat grudgingly. In the short pause that followed the bartender put a glass of water on the counter, and after having given a thankful nod Eideard held the beaker in his hands. "What about you? What brings you here?" he asked when looking at Lexa again, even though he could already guess the answer. He wanted to hear it from her. While awaiting her answer he brought the beaker to his lips, smelling it before he took a small sip, confirming it was pure water.

Eideard doubted he would get used to Lexa’s current exaggerated expressions. It was uncanny, as if he was talking to a completely different person. Now he had seen his fair share of drunk people in his life – mostly in his infirmary after they had passed out, but talking to someone he knew in this state was something he hadn’t done often. Anyway, when Lexa asked why his son ran away, Eideard shrugged. "I’m not sure," he replied. "He has done so before. I dare say he believes that he is an adult, just because he looks like one." He sighed for a moment, softly shaking his head. "But he is far from mature. I fear for his safety," he continued, with his voice barely louder than a murmur, after which he slowly took another sip from his beaker of water. He didn’t want to imagine what his son, without any food or money, could be up to.

Good thing the diversion he needed for that was sitting right next to him. As Lexa told him she had been on a secret expedition he lowered his cup of water again, questioningly raising an eyebrow. Her choice of words made it sound silly, like how a young child would react when playing a game with friends. However, Eideard knew that there was probably some truth to Lexa’s explanation. She had been gone for two months, so a journey wouldn’t be too surprising. "That’s quite a leap in logic," Eideard said somewhat amused, referring to her statement about drinking just because she couldn’t find something. "So, what were you looking for?"

For just a few moments, Eideard narrowed his eyes in thought when Lexa suggested he should put Matthew in a “dangerous” environment – which in reality would be a controlled one. Now, with a lot more nuance put into that idea, there was a chance that in certain situations with certain people it could make for a good lesson in taking risks and dealing with the consequences of said risks. However, as soon as that thought was over, Eideard shook his head. No, something like that would not work for Matthew. The kid had been through the trauma of losing a family member, and there was no doubt that he still struggled with that to this day. He already had problems trusting people, and Eideard couldn’t imagine that would get any better by having him set up a controlled dangerous situation. That would no doubt lead to some "I hate you, dad"-shouting. "Bad idea," the doctor concluded, fiddling a bit with the beaker in his hands. "It’s not like he’s safe right now, anyway." Oh, it would be good if Matthew would learn his lesson wherever he was now, but Eideard hoped that he would get out of that alive.

It seemed that it took a little while for Lexa to find the words she was looking for when asked about her secret expedition, and Eideard was somewhat surprised to hear her answer, even though he shouldn’t be. The Commander likely didn’t care less about literal treasure, so something as metaphoric as this was to be expected. Though, maybe this was a bit too metaphoric, and Eideard wasn’t too keen on the idea of discussing a deep topic like this. Especially when one of the participants of the conversation was drunk. "Well, you’re not going to find God at the bottom of a bottle," he eventually stated, after which he brought his beaker back to his lips – only to quickly stretch out his arm to get the beaker as far away from his mouth as possible.
There was a locust sitting on the rim of his glass of water.


OOC: So sorry for the lateness! School and fatigue have been in the way.

Eideard’s facial expression barely changed when he heard Lexa’s comment, but his hands tensed around his cup of water. That one hurt, Lexa. "Oh, trust me," he sighed. "If I even had the slightest idea of where he is, I’d drop everything I’m doing, take my horse and make it gallop until I find him." He shook his head. "But I don’t know where he is," he continued as he gestured in random directions, with a hint of frustration in his voice. "North? East? South? For all I know he could’ve taken a boat to the lands in the west." His voice had gotten louder and Eideard, realizing this, took a deep breath and focused his eyes on the cup in his hands, silently contemplating what he had just said and what that meant for Matthew’s well-being. Son, just come home.

He was just starting to find some comfort in the silence that had fallen, until the locust on his cup had interrupted. It wasn’t just his mind that was playing tricks on him – Lexa pointed at something on the bar. A cracked open, green egg that Eideard could swear he had seen before, but he couldn’t immediately place it. "Yes, I see it too," he said while he chucked away the locust on the rim of his beaker. "Bartender?" he called, after which he waited for the barkeeper to walk over to them. "Did someone leave this here?" he asked, still somewhat confused by the whole thing. And was it his ears that were failing on him, or was he hearing a buzzing sound coming from outside?