Power and The Queen

Chapter Seventeen. 🟢

Dinner ended too quickly for Cora. It has been like that for several days now. Her father returned finally, but he was not the same. She could not understand it, but something about him was different. He barely talked at home.

At first, Cora thought it was due to the argument her parents had, but when she saw him yell at Tivo for absolutely no reason, she knew something was wrong. She watched him as he sat at the head of the table, wondering what happened to him in Tarach. She went to him as she used to when she was younger, expecting him to tell her tales of his travels, but all he did was work.

When she left for work or her delivery, her father was already awake and in his workshop and when she returned for dinner, he was there too. Tivo started learning to make weapons since the Prefect of Ovalon did not train him and his age grade.

That was the law; every boy of Tivo's age was to be trained, and later, should they be interested, they joined either the Knights or the soldiers. However, only those with the best of skills were chosen to be Knight's squires, like Barun. Her eyes followed her father as he got up to leave.

"Going to bed father?" Cora asked.

She watched him intensely. He forced a smile on his tired face and nodded. If possible, her father looked more muscular, and he was visibly tired and very sweaty. She knew he had overworked himself again. He got several offers from the city market. There is a tremendous increase in the demand for weapons in the market and it was very beneficial, for Zirk could raise the prices a little.

"Who will teach Damiel today?" Cora asked.

Her father started teaching Damiel to read. He was the only one in the family who could not and, for some odd reason, her father insisted. It gave them an edge since peasants could not read. It did get her the job at the library.

"Go rest Damiel, we read your favourite tomorrow," Zirk told Damiel.

He nodded and left with his mother, holding a lamp to guide his way.

"If there is something wrong, you can tell us father," Tivo said, making Cora turn to him.

So he noticed too, she thought.

Her father nodded and left for his room. Cora sat there next to Tivo till the silence got awkward.

"Did he tell you anything?" Tivo asked Cora.

He knew his father was very close to her. Maybe he told her something, or maybe it is his way of expressing his frustrations. His father was always strong, just like Cora, no matter what they went through.

"No Tivo," Cora answered and sighed. "I think he is avoiding speaking to me. My instincts are telling me something happened to him in Tarach and it is not a good feeling."

"We have to find a way to help him."

"Don't worry, he will tell us when he is ready."

She carried the wrap of her leftover food out to the back of the house, checking if she was being followed. Tivo had already retired to the room he shared with Damiel before she left. The moonlight was very bright, so she did not need a lamp. She walked quickly to the place she had hidden Rue.

Rue has grown now to more than half the size of an average pillow. This made it difficult to take her to the city, so she left her in Ovalon most of the time. As Rue made herself known, Cora smiled. She was looking more like her mother each day she grew.

Cora could not see much in the moonlight, but she suspected the wolf's fur was dirty. Rue loved to play and run around in the garden behind their house. The garden led to the woods, which Barun said has a secret path to the city.