Chapter 3: My Mom was a Monk, and My Dad Sang with Werewolves

And from what I knew of Lucille, she could hardly wait for the wedding. It was more than just her lust for power, which all Lurranna have in spades. She really did love you.

The following days proceeded at a hypersonic pace. Both Torsha and Thisimius drove Ryan relentlessly in his mastery of swordplay and magma. Ryan eventually got to the point where he could hold his own against Torsha in most of their bouts, but Thisy still grumbled that his magma control left much to be desired. Thomas popped in every once in a while, and Ryan showed him a little of what he learned from his training sessions. He didn’t have much time for anything but training with the schedule that Thisy and Torsha had cooked up for him, but they allowed him a few breaks to spend time with Thomas. Unfortunately, Thomas would sometimes show up with Nanny Eliza and Cedric who would come in carrying Tyrant. Ryan was happy to see Tyrant despite getting pecked in the head repeatedly. However, Nanny Eliza would always watch him with that horrible look in her gray eyes, and then remind him of the fortune she gave him. Her insistence alone was enough for him to keep the slip containing the fortune with him, though he still had no idea why. Even Tork, the Space Dragon, occasionally showed up out of the blue, always flying in with picnic baskets in his hands. Torsha would tell Ryan to spend a little extra time with Thisy, and then she would scamper off with the Dragon, sometimes for hours. Ryan could only imagine what the Dragon and the Werewolf were up to.

Tork, being over seven feet tall, made for an odd companion for the short Torsha. Yet, they seemed so natural together. Somehow, Tork’s golden scales, large leathery wings, big horns, and long, thick tail seemed the perfect complement to Torsha’s more delicate canine features. His orangish golden eyes glinted with mirth every time he saw his new Werewolf girlfriend. He even seemed more confident in himself since the two started dating. Torsha liked mussing his black mane that adorned his head like hair, and they often rubbed their snouts together and shared small kisses. She commented that she wanted to change up Tork’s outfit seeing as how he usually only wore a warrior’s metal skirting around his waist and black leather straps crossed over his chest so he could hold his weapons on his back.

In the few breaks he was given, Ryan also talked with Hannah whenever Thomas wasn’t begging for attention. She was more open about her work at the Monastery than she used to be, and he learned a lot about the customs and beliefs of the Monks. His mother would be happy to know that he learned a great deal more about the Caretaker and the Realm of Light after years of Caretaker School at both the Toramirese Chapel and the Fire Ministry Chapel.

Ryan sat on a bench with Hannah after a particularly long workout with a towel draped over his sweaty shoulders. Even after months of constant training with Eramar and Tork, Ryan couldn’t remember feeling this tired and sore, his every muscle aching after constant sparring matches and lava baths.

“They’re really serious about getting me ready for the Final,” he said, still panting.

“It’s not just the Exam you need to be ready for. Someone’s coming for you, and you’re going to need every edge you can get,” said Hannah, handing Ryan a bottle of water which he took gratefully.

After a satisfying chug, he set aside the sloshing bottle. “You keep saying that, but I can’t imagine anyone trying anything during the Finals. I mean, you’ve already told me that both the Fire Ministry and the Monastery are working together to beef up security. Anyone would have to be crazy to try anything now. Either that or just plain imbecilic.”

Hannah chuckled. “Look whose vocabulary improved.”

“You pick up a couple things hanging around all these drama queens.”

Hannah smiled, but the worry never left her features. “Ryan. There is something dangerous coming. And though you’ve made fantastic progress in your training thus far, even that might not be enough for what’s ahead.”

Ryan took in the implications of Hannah’s tone, inferring things that he probably shouldn’t. “Is it him, the one that attacked my family? Is he the one behind this?”

Hannah’s lack of response told him all he needed to know.

“I know you know more about him and those Black Dragons than what you said.”

“I told you. I only have suspicions, nothing concrete. What I may or may not know at this point doesn’t matter. All that does matter is keeping you safe. We don’t know if it is the same ones who attacked Toramirese. If they are, they’re probably only indirectly connected. Besides, if I did tell you what I ... I suspect of Richard’s killer, would it make any difference? I can honestly say I have no idea how to find him or the Black Dragons that aided him. And even if I did know, would you stand even a ghost of a chance of killing him as you are now?”

Ryan remained silent. He didn’t need to answer. Whatever that creature was, he knew that he couldn’t defeat it in his current state. Not something that could compel Black Dragons to do its bidding.

Still, all this training ... it makes me think that I’m getting closer, he thought optimistically. Maybe someday, I’ll be able to answer ‘yes’ to that question.

“Besides, you have more important things to concern yourself with. Your progress as an Elemental for one. I know for certain that Richard wouldn’t want you to be consumed by vengeance. He wanted much greater things for you.”

Ryan stayed quiet as his attention went to his training partners. Torsha was sitting on a pink picnic blanket snuggling up to Tork. While Ryan was drenched in sweat and bruises, the two were giggling like an old married couple snacking on extremely rare slabs of meat. Thisimius was looking after Thomas who was trying to make a pyroclastic cloud in his hands again, but with little success. Even with the shift in mood brought on by the conversation, it had been a long time since Ryan felt so complete. And yet, there was still so much missing. He wished that all his friends in Squad 99 could be here to see his progress, especially Éclair.

“Penny for your thoughts,” said Hannah as she gestured towards Tork and Torsha, her foot tapping casually as she crossed her legs. “They make a cute couple. And I hear you helped bring that about. Who knew that you’d be a matchmaker.”

“Still, it’s not exactly the match that I’ve been hoping for,” Ryan commented softly, almost to himself.

“Ah, yes. The young royal. Don’t worry. I have a feeling that you’ll find someone else. A handsome boy like you is bound to.”

No, I won’t. Not like Éclair. No one else could even come close.

“Speaking of couples,” said Ryan, hoping to change the topic. “You were going to tell me about my dad, weren’t you?”

Hannah suddenly cleared her throat uncomfortably, seemingly taken aback by this subject. “What’s there to say? He was a good man, like you are. Much better than I deserved even for the short time I knew him.”

“Oh, come on! You’ve gotta have some good stories on the old man. Dad loved funny stories, especially telling ones about me.”

Hannah looked out past Ryan as if seeing something only she could see, and she smiled warmly. “Well, there was the time that he wrote a song for me.”

Ryan’s world went blank. “Dad ... my dad ... sang?”

“Not very well, but it was really cute. He even got a band of Werewolves to help him with the chorus. We had a Werewolf friend from the old Squad 99 back then, and he brought some of his packmates for our drinking party that night. Now Werewolves, they love to sing. Well, howl mostly. I’ll never forget the night that Richard Uruks serenaded me with a band of drunken wolf hunters howling behind him in the night.” Hannah broke off into soft laughter as she finished.

Her joy felt so warm to Ryan, and for a moment, he could almost picture his dad howling with a bunch of burly Werewolves. The old man did have a weird sense of humor.

“Do you think ... could you tell me anything about my mother?” asked Ryan hesitantly. He’d rarely heard Hannah speak about his mother, Brianna. Considering her feelings for Richard, he could understand. “Never mind. It’s stupid. I shouldn’t have asked you that.”

“No, it’s alright,” said Hannah sadly, though still with a kind smile. “Your mother ... actually, she was a Monk of the Light Monastery. She spent a great deal of her life here on this moon.”

Ryan had taken a lot in recently, heard a lot of earth-shattering news that left him speechless. Just when he thought that the discoveries couldn’t get any more startling, this happens. “My ... my m-mother. She was ... that means ... she could ... huh?”

Hannah nodded slowly, reaching out and fiddling with a strand of Ryan’s hair. “You got her hair. I saw it long before I saw Richard in you. I never knew her that well personally, but I do remember that bright, red hair and feeling envious of it. Shortly after I joined the Monastery, she grew distant from the other Light Monks, always taking more and more long missions away from the Monastery’s main headquarters here on Galsin. I, on the other hand, sequestered myself in the Monastery’s teachings, all but closing myself off from the outside world. It was...” Hannah paused, frowning as if she remembered something distasteful. “It was a difficult time for me. I had recently left both the Ministry of Fire and Richard. Everything I had ever known. And beyond that, I suffered an ... an injury which still daunts me to this day.”

“I’m ... I’m sorry, Auntie,” said Ryan, the plain hurt in her words filling him with woe.

Hannah matted Ryan’s hair playfully. “Don’t be, moron. Most of it was my own doing, and feeling sorry for self-inflicted wounds doesn’t help anyone ... least of all, me.” Hannah sighed and wetted her lips. “It took me a long time to recover, a lifetime actually. But I did eventually and that’s that. Now, aren’t we supposed to be talking about your mother? Fool boy, always getting me off-topic. As arbitrary as your father.”

Hannah drew herself up and smoothed out her ruffled robes at her knees before facing Ryan full-on. “Your Mother, Brianna Trevar before she married your father, was one of the greatest Monks that ever lived. A true Lady of the Light if ever there was one. In fact, I hear she was well on her way to becoming High Priestess of our order, a position second only to the Prime Minister himself.”

“Wait, aren’t you High Priestess?” asked Ryan in astonishment.

Only then did he realize how important Hannah Lioness must’ve been, and she favored him of all people. Even more amazing was the fact that his mother was that important, too. His mother, the quiet and content farmer’s wife who baked pies and foraged in the woods.

Hannah flicked Ryan’s ear with a frown. “What did I say about getting me off-topic? Do you wanna hear about your man-stealing mother or not?”

Ryan rubbed his ear and grumbled, “Well, you don’t have to call her ‘man-stealing’, but continue.”

“It was said by some that Brianna had Angel blood in her lineage, though you probably knew about that already given the rumors from the Elves in Toramirese. Anyway, at the time that I had hidden away from the world, Brianna, who was already an accomplished Monk long before I joined, started to venture out. She met your father on joint missions taken between the Monastery and the Ministry of Fire. The two organizations were much closer in those days. Zanderius, himself, was just getting accustomed to his powers as the Sacred Vessel of Purity, but he still considered himself a Fire Elemental at heart since that had been his home for most of his life. And, of course, Zorron was still...”

Hannah stopped abruptly as if she said something she shouldn’t have. Then she laughed briskly, and Ryan wondered if it was a real laugh. “Look at me, already getting off tangent. I swear, you have the worst effect on me. Well, as I said, they met on joint missions between the Monastery and the Fire Ministry, and from what I heard among the gossip going about Galsin, Brianna found more and more reasons to venture out on adventures with the Fire Elementals ... with Richard in particular.”

Something about the way she told the story gave Ryan the impression that his parents’ relationship was frowned upon in some way. “Was there ... was there something wrong with them being together?”

Hannah hesitated, clearly choosing her words carefully as she spoke. “Not necessarily. Light Monks aren’t forbidden from marriage. Indeed, love and marriage are joyous occasions in the Lord Caretaker’s eyes; occasions to be cherished and celebrated. But it is slightly uncommon as many Monks tend to be married to their work. Rarer even for Monks to marry Elementals. Too many theological disputes there. Elementals tend to have only a vague grasp of the Caretaker, and consider most of our teachings to be zealotry. Although, there were ... other factors discouraging Brianna’s interest in Richard.” The last part she said almost unwillingly.

“What other factors?”

“That’s not important right now,” said Hannah with a dismissive wave. “What is important is that because of these many issues, it took a long, long time before Richard and Brianna finally got married. Longer than you can imagine. But throughout all those years, their love for each other stayed true. When they finally did marry, they both decided to leave the Monastery and the Fire Ministry behind. They didn’t want you mixed up in all the politics and bigotry that both organizations seem to inspire. You probably never even saw them use their powers, did you?”

Ryan shook his head sadly. “I kept forgetting they had powers, even after they finally admitted to being former Elementals. But I never knew mom was part of the Monastery. Why did they keep so much from me, Auntie?”

Hannah shrugged. “I can’t say for certain, child. Both were powerful warriors in their times who made any number of enemies. Maybe they just wanted to protect you from galivanting off for adventure and meeting some of those enemies.”

In other words, they didn’t think I was strong enough to handle all this.

Slightly crestfallen, Ryan focused on his feet, but Hannah put a hand under his chin and gently brought his head up to face her. “But I do know that they both loved you with everything they had. Everything they were centered around how much they loved you. You were the most important thing to either one of them. I think you know that.”