LSRO: Chapter 313 - In Any Capacity (Patreon)

Weeeee and now I have a time for the surgery on Wednesday it actually feels real. Also, doesn't anyone else hate not getting an early time for surgery? Mine isn't until the afternoon.

I have to be there at 12:45 for prep and the surgery isn't until two hours later, so it's plenty of time for me to freak the hell out.

ARGH.

It'll be FINE.

And I'm making sure that all I have to do while I recover is edit the dictation. Which is pretty easy with one hand.

How is everyone else?

Also - I love Hal

~~

Chapter 49

In Any Capacity

There was a detached part of Quinn that thought it was just typical for Hal to come stumbling through the doorway just as she was finally about to start training her dragon heritage in more depth. Then there was the part of her aghast that her first thought hadn’t been about his injuries.

She didn’t want to downplay how much she liked Uncle Hal. After all, he’d done so much for her and helped her immensely. He’d helped them all. He might be the king of Halschius, but he’d always made time for them and helped the Library when he didn’t have to. So, she was sad he was injured. It just seemed that everything happened when she was trying to complete something else already.

Malakai and Drivok supported the Satyr as he staggered into the room, practically before Quinn could even blink. The Library conjured a size appropriate recliner for the satyr. They dropped Hal into it.

“What happened?” she asked, even though she was fairly sure of the answer.

Hal grinned through the black blood dripping down from a gash over his eyebrow. “You should see the other guys.”

Quinn couldn’t help the smile she gave and the glee she felt at the pluralisation of the word. ‘Guys’ meant he’d made multiple people pay. And at least that meant she could push down on the feeling of finding whoever’d hurt Hal and making them pay herself.

“So what happened?” She repeated slowly, not about to let him off.

But before her question could be answered, Eric appeared, towing Doctor Miles behind him. Quinn activated her wards to allow him entrance, so the poor doctor didn’t suffer from her restrictions. She tried to wait patiently while Hal was tended to, but it was difficult. Worry nipped at her heels like a puppy intent on grabbing her attention.

Eric fluttered over to her side, his face pinched with concern as he watched the doctor attend to Hal. Quinn brushed his thoughts, asking for permission to speak to him mentally. And in response, heard a mental sigh from him. She tried to figure out how to phrase what she wanted to say without sounding completely and utterly insensitive. But she didn’t have to, because Eric spoke first.

You don’t even understand how bad it was. His voice, even through thought, sounded like it was cracking, almost breaking.

She had no idea, nor could she picture it. It’s not something I can imagine.

Eric chuckled very dryly across the mental connection. Even though outwardly it looked like he was a complete wreck, maybe there was a slight hint of paranoia to that laugh. They were mid-skirmish when I got there with the news, he said. Usually, Hal is one of the most calm and collected people on a battlefield. He’s ruthless and efficient, and he never lets anything ruffle his feathers. He always knows exactly what he needs to do, who needs to do it, what needs to happen to bring a battle to its end.

Well, he has been doing it for millions of years, right? Quinn said.

Well, yeah, I guess practice makes perfect. Still, this set off his temper.

Quinn waited while they watched Miles attend to the King, begin to close up the gash over his eye, which appeared to resist some of Miles’ healing abilities. He motioned to Malakai, who put his healing book down and came over to watch the process. Apparently, Miles was dead serious when he told Malakai that he should learn more healing. Quinn knew it sort of ran in his family... somewhat if Arnekai was to be believed.

In the meantime, Eric was still silent. So Quinn broke the mental silence. Well, what happened?

Eric raised an eyebrow in her direction, but his gaze never wavered from Hal's as he spoke in her mind. The only way this distraction could have occurred, I guess, was if his sister knew about it, helped arrange it. The nature of the battle she instigated means that she had to be in cahoots. She knew that he was being deliberately distracted by this specific fight and likely knew what the end goal of it was. It wasn’t just a randomly decided skirmish. but instead was aimed at helping an outside enemy of the family take down Hal’s defenses.

Quinn thought she understood, or at least had a glimmer of understanding. Luckily, Eric carried on.

It’s just not done. The siblings and Hal just fight. It’s what they do. But the fights are between their families. They team up against one another, but they never bring in outsiders. It’s not an outsider’s problem. It shouldn’t even be a problem as it is, anyway. Their wars are succession wars. It has nothing to do with anybody else. And bringing in someone from the outside to assist... that crossed a line.

Quinn cringed. That didn’t sound very honorable, but then she’d never really thought that demon-like creatures would be honorable, but wasn’t that like speciesist? She wasn’t sure. It did make sense, though, how blasé Hal was about the two, three, or seven wars constantly being waged in his territory, about his strange fondness for fighting family when he was like, “Oh, got another war to go to.”

He must be so very disappointed, she said.

Yeah. Eric shook his head. You have no idea. I’ve never seen him this angry. I thought he was going to break things. He could have melted the rock himself. He was so incensed.

Quinn swallowed. Is everybody on his side okay?

Oh, yes. He would never hurt anybody who’s loyal to him. Frankly, usually that includes his siblings. 

Why? I don’t understand, she said.

Look, Eric continued. He usually allows his siblings’ quarter. Like, that’s not the way it works. They have their wars, they end them, the others go back home, and Hal leaves them in peace until the next time they attack. But this time, this time, he caught her, and I don’t think he’s going to let her go. He’ll interrogate her and leave her in the house just indefinitely. She betrayed a way of life that’s existed for millions of years, Quinn. This was a bad outcome. A totally unexpected outcome.

Quinn frowned. She wasn’t so sure she blamed the sister having to constantly fight her siblings. Just wait a second. Do they have to, like, fight him or die? Lose everything if they don’t try to take more? Is it a weird, convoluted thing like that?

Eric looked at her, and she could hear the derisive laugh in his head. No, they all have estates on their own worlds. It’s just that Hal is in charge of the, I guess, region.

Quinn was still trying to wrap her head around that. So they have their own places that they’re in charge of, that they make the rules of, with subjects that look up to them?

Exactly. How did you think it worked?

I don’t know. I thought they were all annoyed that he got to rule over them, and so they kept waging war and they all hated each other.

Well, Eric said, I’m not sure hate is the right word, but they’re all extremely competitive.

And because they’re competitive, they decided to start wars and throw their armies at each other because they want to be the ruler of the region?

Pretty much, Eric said. When you put it like that,

Quinn needed more clarification. He doesn’t imprison his siblings or annihilate them or torture them or take their soldiers and torture them?

No, that’s not really how. Although he’s extremely good at interrogation. It’s one of his main strengths. He just doesn’t use it against family.

Yes, I’ve witnessed that. He does that for other people, though.

Eric grinned quite impishly. Oh, yes. People hire him for that. He’s got a reputation.

Quinn didn’t think she sympathized with Hal’s sister anymore. She turned to watch Miles and Malakai working on Hal’s injuries. They seemed to almost be done. The cuts and blood and abrasions all along his body appeared to be gone, and he was breathing better. His aura was kinder to him, less aggravated and jagged.

“Thank you,” he said, and pushed himself to standing as the other two scattered. Hal grimaced as he moved, flexing his arms and his legs as if he was trying to gauge just how bad the damage had been. “Well, I guess I owe you thanks. Thank you, Doctor. Thank you, Malakai. I’ll tell your grandfather that you don’t suck.”

“Thanks,” Mal said dryly. 

And then Hal turned to Quinn, a sort of smile on his face. “Hello, little egg. I do believe I owe you thanks.” He said it deadly seriously, and Quinn grinned up at him. “So what is it I can do to show you I appreciate all this?”

Quinn seized the opportunity, even though she didn’t think he owed her anything. “You can’t call me little egg anymore. That’s my ask for having come to your palace’s rescue when it needed me.”

Hal threw his head back and chuckled. “No can do. You’ll have to pick something else. Maybe I can give you a nice little lava pool or something attractive for the Library.”

“That’s not fair,” she said, pouting. “And here I helped save your damned palace.”

“Everyone was evacuated safely, Quinn. Don’t act like you had to do an amazing feat of... actually,” Mal butted in, “might not have been an amazing feat, but we used all of our freaking energy and mana reserves for your crap, so you should really be a little more grateful.” Malakai tried his best to look stern, but Quinn could see the twitch at the corner of his mouth.

Hal glared at him, the fire in his eyes flaring brightly. “I don’t think I’ll tell your grandfather anything.”

“Excellent,” Malakai said. “Didn’t want you to.”

Hal turned back to Quinn, effectively ignoring Malakai. “Well, I won’t stop calling you little egg, but I will owe you a favor.”

“To cash in at any time?” She interrupted, narrowing her gaze,

“To cash in at any time.” Hal laughed heartily, even if it sounded a bit thinner than usual. “My favors are pretty good, so whenever you need me, I’ll come for that favor.”

A part of Quinn wanted to ask what made it so different from how things normally went then. But she refrained because that would be kind of rude, plus she felt a little guilty for not having saved everyone in the palace. “I’m sorry we didn’t manage to get Kajaro’s medical and guard team out in one piece.”

Hal shrugged. “You know, I’m just happy as many got out as did. The last thing I expected was an ambush, so it’s my fault for being so ill prepared. I only expected Kajaro to try to break out himself and take himself somewhere he knew personally was going to be safe. I never expected them to be after him, and I should have anticipated it. I’m sorry I left that in your lap.”

“It’s okay, we dealt with it,” Quinn said. “We dealt really well with it.”

He gave her a real smile. “So, I believe you have some memories to go through.”

She nodded. “Milaro and I do. I think it’d be better for him to do the extraction, since my expertise with handling actual memories is minimal. At the moment, it’s all I can do to confine them apart from mine so that they don’t taint what I know.”

“Very well,” he said. “Let me know if I can help in any capacity, and not as a favor. I should be going, though.”

“Where are you going?” She asked.

“Well, I interrupted you and I stole your healer, because mine was on the battlefront tending wounded.” He grimaced sheepishly. “I thought I’d go and double check how things are progressing back in Halschius and the battlefield and I’ll come back tomorrow.”

Quinn’s eyes narrowed. “Be sure that you do because you owe me a nine lives explanation.”

“And that would be my cue to leave,” Hal laughed as he disappeared.

Quinn wasn’t sure what to think of the interlude, but she smiled after him and turned to her trainers. “So let’s finish what we started.”

~~

Yes. I love Hal.

Much love

KT