Chapter 448 - 449: Paths Unravelled.

Chapter 448: Chapter 449: Paths Unravelled.

Khobi sits there late into the night. A lot of years have come and gone, and they have a lot of catching up to do.

In a way though, it’s like no time has passed at all. It could have been hard; they could have become strangers in the years they’ve been apart, but as the hours wear on he realises that he needn’t have worried. 𝒻𝘳ℯℯ𝑤ℯ𝒷𝘯ℴ𝓋ℯ𝘭.𝑐ℴ𝑚

They’re all older and more worn, for sure; having lived lives they weren’t meant to have lived, but at heart, they’re still the people he remembers them being. And even if they weren’t, they’re still his family.

​He starts by telling them about his time in Crade; how he’d come to be here and the events that had unfolded since. And there is so much to tell; more than he had even realised that he wanted to tell them.

And they listen the whole time, watching him grow ever more animated as his stories devolve; from his escape attempts and his quarrels with the guards who foiled them, to his agreement with Gurdet, and the day Bongo had taken him to the training grounds for the first time.

​He tells them about the tournament, and the ball, and the times he’s gone beyond the castle walls –with and without the king’s knowledge.

He tells them about the servant who helped him when he was hurt, his first rivalry, and about the guards who he’d come to call his friends. It’s almost by accident that he tells them so much about Loac; he’d never realised just how many memories here he was tangled up in --how many moments started or ended with him, and surprises himself with how frequently he says his name.

He doesn’t tell them everything, because he’s not quite sure how to, but Khobi also doesn’t seem to notice how much more animated he gets while recounting those stories, nor does he realise the easy affection his voice takes on when he speaks of him, so they gather more than he intends.

​"...This is the same Loac Trent you’re promised to?" Khojin makes sure to clarify, as Khobi stops to draw breath after having recounted his victory over him on the final day of the tournament.

It’s left him a little breathless, and he’s still not sure he’s managed to emphasise just how magnificent it had been.

How he had known that there was something different about the guy but hadn’t understood it until that moment. "The one from dinner?"

​"That’s him," Khobi replies easily, too busy snacking away on one of the sweets to catch the way his uncle exchanges looks with his aunt.

​"...He sounds like quite something."

​"You should see him fight," Khobi assures him immediately, and isn’t aware of how obviously his expression softens. "...He’s incredible."

​Even when he doesn’t fight, too .

​But then as the night grows darker, so too do the memories. Because even though there’s more to say about Crade, more to say about Loac, more to say about his time here, they ask about Briyagi.

And when he tells them about that place their eyes well up with tears all over again, and Khojin takes both his hands in his and begs for his forgiveness; for letting them take him, and not being strong enough to take him back.

​And it’s fine, Khobi tells them over and over that it is, because they’re here now and he’s already heard about the lives they’ve lived in the time they’ve spent apart too, and he gets it. Wounded and on the run in the depths of the wild, ever hunted and ever hounded; at the mercy of strangers as they tried to protect what friends they had left but never truly knowing just who they could trust.

Far from home, refusing to believe the rumours that he was dead, then chasing down the ones that said he wasn’t –that he’d escaped or been set loose to flush them out or that Silas had sent him afield.

But they were always dead ends; never anything more than whispers intended to lead them right back into Silas’s nets.

Then they would be on the run again, and the cycle would begin anew.

They never would have thought that all this time, he’d never even left Briyagi.

​So when they heard through the grapevine that he was here, in Crade; a kingdom that had aligned itself with Silas Luminus, they thought at first that it was just another trap.

And when the messengers first showed up they’d been on the verge of fleeing again, in case Silas was on their heels.

​But when no one came for them, they’d started to wonder, and eventually Khojin had agreed to meet with them.

Gurdet’s letter had been brief. Very brief, in fact, for a man who had been trying so hard to speak with him, and despite full knowing that it could still be a trap, Khojin had resolved to make for Crade.

In their haste they’d gotten careless, and been set upon by bandits and separated from what little company they’d been travelling with.

But by some stroke of luck, some helpful strangers had chanced upon them and come to their aid. It was only after the fray that they’d realised, to their utmost horror that these were no mere travellers but a small company of soldiers from a neighbouring kingdom.

A Captain, no less. To their surprise though, he hadn’t been there to chase them down and hand them over, but accompany them; to keep them secret and keep them safe, at Gurdet’s behest.

​And if by chance they were discovered by Silas’s spies, well, better for them to be believed captives than caught all alone in the wild.

But to their knowledge they had escaped notice, and Khojin admits that that had been in part because of the company they’d kept; the soldiers of Nahja had sharp eyes and sharp ears and were ever vigilant as they led them through the wild, taking them by paths untravelled.