A Tale of One Deviant (Book One)

Chapter 169: You Need to Visit More

"Ah!" I completely went off track again, when wandering the halls of the castle, catching sight of just the man I was looking for.

Master, please, just a few hallways more and you'll be-

"Grandfather!" I called out, standing upside down in the air and suddenly appearing face to face with him. I thought he was already used to my antics and wouldn't react much, but the way he jumped in place, tapping off the ground and throwing himself backwards, made me think I really hadn't visited in too long. He was just a blur, and then he was smacking himself against a pillar in an open hallway that he hadn't realized was there. It was a bit awkward to see his arms flailing, trying to regain his balance while the things he'd been carrying scattered themselves about. "Uh...Grandfather?"

Old folks - well, he was only in his early fifties, but still - really didn't change much, did they? He still sported his military haircut, cropped short, with gray leaking further on the sides. Besides that, it was brown, and his eyes were just as green as his son's and his grandchildren's. The same variation of scholarly robes that he'd first worn when we first met at the twins' birthday party, years ago, swished, and I felt like I was looking at a priest and not a former soldier when seeing them.

He paused a few moments as I turned around in the air, hanging there and tilting my head to the side. My waves of red tumbled over my thick, tall scarf, over my shoulders, as he stared, and stared, and stared. Stubble on his chin was scratched at while trying to put the puzzle pieces together, reaching for the pillar to pry himself off of a thick bush he'd crushed.

"You are not an illusion?"

"Huh?"

"You are really my granddaughter?"

"Y-Yes? Grandfather."

"Hm." He was skeptical about this, keeping his eyes on me and not daring to look away. Awkwardly getting up, he came back down the hall while I hovered, confused, only to stand in front of me and sway from side to side to inspect my 3D presence. "Firea?"

"Grandfather, I'm aware that my presence this past year has been quite...nonexistent, in the capital, but there is still no reason to treat me like a cardboard cutout attempting to deceive you."

His eyes finally went up to mine, taking in every aspect of the granddaughter of his that changed every time they met.

"I thought I was hallucinating again. My granddaughter's voice is really coming from this spot in the air."

"I'm not a ghost, Grandfather."

"Hm," he hummed again, eyebrows going high in mild surprise. "Could've fooled me. Are you sure you're my-"

"There, you see?" I changed my appearance to not be the poster child for an anti-slavery movement anymore. Standard de Libellule clothing, pale skin, no scars, two arms, less skinny, regular scarred eyes again, no dark circles under them. I looked like my old self before the accursed year of 982 had begun. Hair just a bit less in my face. "I am your-"

"Your grandmother and I have been worried sick," he interrupted, pulling me from the air and crushing me in a very, very big hug. I could hear the worry in his tone, feel the slight shaking in his hands constantly brushing my hair down as if he needed to constantly ensure that I was really there. "Do you know how worried we were?"

"Worried sick-"

"Firea, you can't keep disappearing like that, it's bad for our hearts."

"It's just teleportatio-"

"Not like that, not like that. You know what I mean," the man persisted, then brushing my hair upward to place kisses on my forehead. The stubble did not feel good at all, but his aura was releasing stress that I was only just beginning to feel, so I squeezed my eyes shut and, like with Chord, just bore the love. "Disappearing without a word. When Earl came a few months ago while traveling to the north, he looked like he'd had the life sucked out of him. When Martin and Sarah would send letters back, it was terrible, and the children-"