Tales of the Wastelander Ch. 56 - Teaser (Patreon)

A shadow fell across the table, and the girls turned their heads as one, but then sighed in relief. Rylan stood there carrying a basket of apples with a confused look on his face. He looked from Solena’s darkened face to the three women around her and immediately understood enough to become dangerous.

“Are we talking about Rainer?” Rylan asked, and when Solena raised her head, he smirked when he noted the look on her face.

“You,” Solena said very calmly, “should think carefully about your next words.”

“I was only going to say I think you two look good together.”

“That was actually nice,” Solena sighed appreciatively.

“I can be nice,” Rylan stated happily.

“We were discussing baby names,” Chelsea informed him, and Rylan’s smile widened. Solena stood, and Rylan took one step backward, looking worried that she might slug him.

“Remember something, brother,” she warned.

“What?” he asked.

“They are leaving.”

He glanced at Samara, Chelsea and Khara, then back at his sister, who was smiling just a little too sweetly, which worried him.

“You aren’t… and I know where you sleep,” Solena finished, which diminished her brother’s amusement.

“I understand,” he nodded, knowing that she wasn’t playing. Solena sat back down, and Rylan wisely decided not to elaborate, although the grin remained on his face as he put down the apples. For all the teasing though, he was genuinely pleased.

He knew what Rainer had done, but he also knew what Rainer had not done. There was no need for him to posture as Solena’s protector when Solena could flatten most men herself. More importantly, she was his sister, not his property. If she wanted to spend time with Rainer, that was her decision. Rylan could judge the man on what he saw now. So far, what he saw was someone working very hard not to waste the chance he had been given.

Samara saw it too as she looked toward the distant workshop. Rainer had reappeared carrying another piece of timber while Harl walked beside him. There was something profoundly ordinary about it, and that was what made it matter.

In the world Samara had known, people liked to speak about justice as though punishment were the end of the conversation. Here, in this little settlement six centuries after civilization had supposedly destroyed itself, the people seemed to understand something more complicated.

Rainer’s past had not disappeared.

Nobody had declared him innocent of choices he had made. Nobody had demanded Solena forgive him, love him or reward him because he had once protected her. But neither had they decided that the worst period of his life was the only thing he would ever be permitted to become.

He had been judged and punished accordingly.

Now he had been given work and if he proved himself through what he did next, perhaps eventually he would be given something harder to earn: a home. Samara smiled faintly as she watched Solena pretend not to glance toward the workshop for what was probably the sixth time. Chelsea noticed too and a devilish little smirk crossed her features.

“So,” she started.

“Don’t,” Solena warned, immediately pointing at her. Chelsea raised both hands, and for several seconds she behaved herself, but then she smiled.

“Rainer does have a nice name. Easy to pair with—”

Solena lunged across the table, hands outstretched and reaching for Chelsea’s neck. Chelsea shrieked with laughter and scrambled away while Khara nearly fell out of her chair. Rylan retreated to a safe distance with his apples, and Samara laughed hard enough that she had to hold her stomach.

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Across the settlement, Rainer heard the commotion and looked toward Zahn’s house. He spotted Solena chasing Chelsea around the tree, while the human woman was giggling like she had lost her mind. He had absolutely no idea what was happening and wondered what could cause Solena to look so angry. Harl followed his gaze and noticed the ruckus, then smirked before looking back to his new apprentice.

“Girl trouble?” he asked.

Rainer looked at the older carpenter, then back toward Solena, and a smile crept onto his face.

“Maybe,” Rainer said with a shrug.

“Work first,” Harl grunted and handed him another board.

“Yes, Master,” Rainer replied, taking it.