Chapter 912: What He Missed

The gates of the mansion opened before Trafalgar and Rhosyn reached them. Two guards greeted their lord and stepped aside immediately, but Trafalgar barely slowed as he followed the familiar path cutting through the snow-covered gardens.

After spending the entire walk through Euclid thinking about Myrrhvale, Maeron, Dravok and everything else waiting for him, seeing the mansion ahead finally pushed most of it aside. There were still problems to deal with, but none of them needed his attention in the next five minutes.

The front doors opened before they reached the steps.

Mayla came out first with Aaron wrapped warmly against her chest, protecting him from the cold that entered through the open doorway. Her brown eyes found Trafalgar immediately, and the relief that crossed her face made it obvious she had been waiting for this moment since the day he left.

Aubrelle followed beside her with Pipin perched comfortably on one shoulder. Her long golden hair fell loosely around her face, leaving the pale scars surrounding her unfocused crimson eyes uncovered as usual.

Cynthia appeared just behind them, her long silver-white hair falling over the dark clothes she wore around the house. She looked Trafalgar over almost immediately, though unlike Mayla, she seemed more interested in confirming that every part of him had returned intact.

Mayla was the first to move.

"You're finally back. I know you said it wouldn't take forever, but after the first few days I started thinking Myrrhvale had decided to keep you there."

Trafalgar crossed the remaining distance and wrapped one arm around her carefully, mindful of Aaron between them. Mayla leaned against him as much as the child allowed and stayed there for several seconds before finally loosening her hold.

"I would've left eventually. I was getting tired of looking at water everywhere I went."

"That's not what I was worried about." Mayla looked up at him, her voice quieter. "I told you before you left that I didn't want you going. I knew you had your reasons, but knowing that doesn't stop me from wondering whether something happened every time another day passes."

Trafalgar remembered that conversation perfectly. Mayla had never tried to stop him, but she had not hidden how much she disliked watching him leave either.

"I know. I'm sorry it took this long."

Mayla's expression softened, and Trafalgar lowered his gaze toward the bundle in her arms.

For a moment, everything else disappeared.

Aaron was awake.

Trafalgar stared at his son long enough for Mayla to notice.

"Well?"

Trafalgar blinked once before looking between her and the baby.

"He's gotten bigger. That's not me imagining things, right? He actually looks noticeably bigger than when I left."

Mayla gave him an almost disbelieving look.

"Of course he's bigger, Trafalgar. Babies tend to do that when their fathers disappear for weeks."

"Give him here."

Mayla carefully transferred Aaron into his arms, and the difference became even more obvious once Trafalgar was holding him.

He remembered how light Aaron had felt before leaving. The child was still tiny, but there was more weight against his forearms now, his cheeks were slightly fuller, and the thin dark hair covering his head had become much easier to notice.

Even the way he moved seemed different.

Trafalgar adjusted him carefully and studied his face.

"You really did change. I leave for a little while and you're already trying to make me feel like I missed half your childhood."

Mayla stepped closer.

"You haven't missed that much. But he does more now. He follows people with his eyes for longer, grabs anything you leave within reach, and he's started reacting much more clearly to voices."

Trafalgar looked down just as Aaron's eyes shifted toward him.

"Does he even remember me?"

"I think he does." Mayla's smile returned. "Talk to him properly."

Trafalgar raised an eyebrow, but looked at Aaron again.

"Hey, little man. It's me. I know I've been gone longer than I planned, but don't start acting like you don't know your own father."

Aaron's arms moved almost immediately. One tiny hand caught a fold of Trafalgar's shirt and closed around it.

Trafalgar stopped.

Mayla watched his expression carefully.

"See? He does that when he hears you. Sometimes when we mention you around him, he starts looking around too. At first I thought I was imagining it, but Cynthia noticed the same thing."

Trafalgar lowered his eyes toward Aaron's hand.

Before leaving for Myrrhvale, he had thought about exactly this.

The things he could miss were never going to be important enough for anyone to write down. Those moments simply happened once and disappeared.

Aaron tightened his fingers around the fabric again.

Trafalgar smiled faintly.

"Alright. Maybe you do remember me."

Aubrelle stepped closer once Trafalgar finally looked away from Aaron. Pipin shifted on her shoulder while her attention stayed firmly on Trafalgar.

"Now that you've finished confirming your son hasn't forgotten you, can I ask whether you're actually alright? You look exhausted."

"I am exhausted. Myrrhvale wasn't exactly relaxing, but nothing happened that I can't recover from after sleeping properly for a few days."

Aubrelle's expression tightened slightly.

"That's a much better answer than simply saying you're fine. Every time you say that, it usually means there's something you're leaving out because you don't think it's important."

Cynthia moved closer from the other side and gave Trafalgar another slow inspection.

"I was about to say the same thing. Are you injured anywhere? And don't answer with 'nothing worth mentioning,' because I already know that's how you avoid answering the question."

Trafalgar looked between both women.

"No serious injuries. A few things happened while we were there, but I'm not hiding a broken rib under my clothes or anything like that. I'm tired more than anything else."

Cynthia accepted that after another moment.

"Good. Because you look like you need sleep far more than another training session, regardless of whatever stupid idea is already forming in your head."

That was uncomfortably accurate, but Trafalgar decided not to mention it.

Mayla's attention moved past him instead.

Rhosyn had remained several steps behind during the reunion, quietly allowing Trafalgar to have the moment with his family without inserting herself into it.

Mayla smiled when she saw her.

"Rhosyn, don't stand all the way back there. You were gone too."

Rhosyn gave a small nod and stepped closer.

"It's good to see all of you again. Everything seems... quieter here than what we've been dealing with."

"It usually is when Trafalgar isn't creating problems inside the house."

Trafalgar glanced toward Cynthia, but before he could answer, Mayla had already reached Rhosyn.

Rhosyn seemed to expect a normal greeting.

Instead, Mayla hugged her.

The Primordial went completely still for a moment, clearly caught off guard. Her arms remained at her sides before she slowly returned the embrace.

"I'm glad you came back safely too," Mayla said. "And thank you for staying with him. I know he can take care of himself, but it still makes things easier knowing he isn't alone."

Rhosyn shook her head slightly after they separated.

"You don't need to thank me for that. I would've gone with him either way."

Cynthia approached next, and Rhosyn looked considerably more prepared when she opened her arms.

"She's still going to thank you, and so am I. We know what he's like when he decides something needs to be done."

Rhosyn returned the embrace with far less hesitation this time.

"Unfortunately, I know that very well."

Aubrelle came last. Pipin lifted from her shoulder and circled nearby while she stepped forward, wrapping her arms around Rhosyn in a warm embrace of her own.

"It's good to have you back. Both of you."

Rhosyn's posture relaxed as she returned it.

"It's good to be back."

Trafalgar watched them while Aaron remained against his chest.

There had been a time when Rhosyn would have stood outside a moment like this and remained there. She had spent too many years moving alone, carrying things nobody around her could understand and keeping enough distance that disappearing again would always be easy.

That distance was gradually disappearing.

Nobody had sat down and decided Rhosyn was part of the household now. It had simply happened through enough ordinary moments that eventually nobody questioned why she was there.

Rhosyn returned to their side instead of stepping away again.

Aaron moved in Trafalgar's arms a moment later, releasing his clothes and finding one of his fingers instead. His small hand closed around it with noticeably more strength than Trafalgar remembered.

He stared at the grip.

"Okay. That definitely wasn't this strong before."

Mayla leaned slightly against his arm.

"No. He's been getting stronger every day."

Trafalgar let Aaron keep his finger as the group finally went inside. Warm air replaced the cold from the entrance, and servants quietly took their outer clothes without interrupting the reunion.

For once, Trafalgar had no interest in asking Arthur for reports.

He did not want to check messages, investigate Maeron, search for Dravok, think about Vaelion or wonder what the next Great Family wanted from him.

All of that could wait.

Trafalgar looked down at Aaron again before glancing toward Mayla, Cynthia, Aubrelle and Rhosyn walking beside him.

For the next few days, unless something absolutely demanded his attention, he had already decided exactly what he was going to do.

As little as possible.

He had missed enough already.