Duncan trudged through the snow-laden woods, his mind alive with memories that he'd long buried. It was dark, and the sounds from the feast inside the castle echoed among the trees. He kept his head down as he continued on into the forest.
When he'd first returned to Adoria, he'd walked this particular route countless times. He could trace every step blindfolded. Every rock and root had become familiar. It was all he could do to keep from thinking of what he'd left behind. It had been difficult not to return to Palingard once Gabriel was dead. He could still remember the first few months he spent in Ruiari, mourning the loss of his friend. He'd never been married, and had never expected to fall in love.
He met her daughter first. Lilly was a very bright, outgoing child, full of life and imagination. She reminded him just a little of Ariana, with perhaps a tad more restraint. He was in the marketplace when he discovered her following him. He dodged in and out of several tents, just to make sure that she was indeed on his heels, and not just coincidently taking the same path. He finally felt her eyes right on him, and twirled to catch her. She was still a girl at the time, not quite eleven years old. She stopped, openly surprised at his speed, and started giggling.
"What is it that you find so fascinating about me?" he asked, bending down to see her better. Her eyes were a deep brown with little flecks of gold.
"You have something in your pack that's moving," she said it as though he were ridiculous for not having noticed it himself.
He looked at her, wondering if she were trying to fool him, before he remembered that he'd indeed taken his furry friend along. He smiled and pulled his satchel around to undo the clasp. A small, black- and brown-striped head poked its way through the hole in the opening. Her eyes lit up as Duncan pulled the ferret from the bag and held him out for her to hold.
"Will he bite?"
"Only sour little girls, but you don't look sour to me."
She laughed and took the ferret with both hands, cradling him to her neck. "He's so soft. What's his name?"
Duncan thought about it for a moment. He hadn't named him, but the look in her eyes promised him utter disappointment if he didn't come up with one.
"Why don't you ask him?" He thought he would buy himself some time. He watched as the little girl leaned her ear down to the tiny cold nose and jerked her head up seconds later, a great revelation on her lips.
"Spoon!"
He laughed. "What?" He shook his head, not entirely certain that he'd heard her right.
"He said his name is Spoon." She shook her head. "What a silly thing to name a weasel." She then turned to address the ferret. "He should never have picked such a funny name."
"Well, I suppose you will just have to give him a new name," Duncan laughed.
She stopped stroking his fur and turned a serious glance toward Duncan. "Oh no. He says that he likes his name very much. I couldn't take it from him."
"Alright then," Duncan sighed, wondering how he'd become such a soft-hearted fool. "I do have a favor to ask of you. Do you think you could do something for me?"
She nodded.
"Spoon doesn't really have a home, and I think he would very much like to go home with you. You see I've been looking for a little girl, just like you, to keep him for me. Do you think you could do that?"
"Yes, I could. I would take very good care of him!"
Duncan patted the ferret on the top of the head. He would kind of miss him, having found him well over a year ago, but she took to him so well, that he didn't have the heart to keep such a thing for himself, not being a grown Adorian. "Run along then and introduce Spoon to his new home."
She smiled and threw one arm around him in a quick hug before running off back into the crowded market.
It was later that same day, well into the evening, that her very displeased mother found him and conveyed her disapproval for her involuntary adoption of the creature. He'd swung his door open with the idea that maybe the girl's father had come to find him, to question why Duncan had felt it necessary to give his daughter anything at all, let alone something living. But instead of the tall, dark-headed man he'd imagined, there stood a woman with one hand on her hip, the other holding out the ferret, who was struggling for solid ground. She was so perfect. Her smile had a slight crook to it, leaning down a little more on the left than the right, and her skin was like that of a child's doll. She opened her mouth to speak, but stuttered her words at first. She'd expected some strange, shady character to open the door.
"I meant no harm, my lady, and I'm sincerely sorry if I've caused you any trouble." He hadn't meant to greet her that way, "lady" wasn't a common term in the villages, but she'd struck him as having the regal nature of the Adorian women whom he'd grown accustomed to addressing upon his visits home. Aside from her clothing, there was nothing that could connect her to Middengard for him.
She smiled. "I just wanted to make sure that this wasn't a beloved pet that my daughter has somehow convinced you that she can't live without. She has a way of doing that."
He laughed, shaking his head. "No. Not at all, but I should have asked permission before telling her that it was alright. Really, I am sorry." Ironically enough Duncan had been moping about the remainder of the afternoon thinking about how he'd really grown quite attached to the little guy. Against everything in his usual demeanor, he reached out his hand for hers. "I don't believe that we have met before. My name is Duncan."
She smiled as he kissed the top of her hand. "My name is Jocelyn. I believe you have already met Lillian, my daughter." As she said the little girl's name, her head poked out from behind her mother, her eyes big and sad, and she'd no doubt been told that they were going to return Spoon to his rightful owner.
It was that night that she'd stolen his heart, that they both had. They didn't come in, or stay much longer, but in the following days and months he learned much about them. Her husband had been part of the human cavalry that had come to Palingard's aid in the siege that had killed Caelyn, Ariana's mother. He'd also lost his life that day, leaving Jocelyn a widow.
Before long, she and Duncan were married and he took Lillian as his own daughter. They tried for several years to have another child, but weren't blessed until right before Ruiari's fall. She'd just told him several days prior that she was with child. She believed it to be a son. He never had the chance to tell her where he was really from.
The day that they died was frozen in his memory. He breathed in the cold air, and stopped walking for a second. Closing his eyes, he could still see Lilly's face as she looked at him pleadingly from Garren's hold. Duncan had been trying to find her all morning.
Duncan shook as he remembered holding Lilly lifeless in his arms.
Jocelyn was already dead. She'd kissed him lightly on the cheek, as he was in between consciousness and dreams, whispering to him that she was going to the market for bread and would be right back. He awoke shortly after to the sound of horses' hooves and the screams of the Dragee.
Duncan never mentioned the unborn child to Michael. He would probably have never spoken Jocelyn's or Lillian's names again at all had it not been for Michael's keen perception. He'd approached Duncan shortly after his return to Adoria. They'd always had a sort of strained relationship since Michael had become an adult. Despite this, Michael had known something was different with Duncan. And Duncan couldn't lie to Michael any more than he could've ever lied to Michael's father. He told him of his marriage, and of their deaths and hadn't spoken of it since, including when Michael came to him earlier in the evening to tell him that it had been decided that Garren would live. Not only that Garren would live, but that the elders were also presenting him with Jenner's sword.
Duncan found his way to a large set of boulders that was fixed upright along the bank of a waterfall. Everything was pretty well iced over this time of the year, but it was still peaceful. He sat down and stretched his legs out in front of him. How could the elders be so foolish? What part of this didn't scream deception to them? Everything about it felt wrong.
He stopped breathing as he listened to the sound of something stirring in the bushes beside him. Holding his hand on his sword, he rose from his seat and was about investigate further when, from out of the ice-covered thicket, Ariana's dog emerged.
"What are you doing all the way out here?" Duncan asked, leaning down to pet him. "It's just as well. All who walk on two legs have lost their minds. Good thing you've got four."
Duncan returned to his seat as Koen lay down next to him. He noticed then that Koen was breathing hard and placed his hand on the dog's chest. His heart was beating furiously, as if he'd been running.
"Where have you been?" Koen just looked up at him. "I suppose it's silly to sit here and talk to a dog." He shrugged. If everyone else was allowed to go insane, he might as well follow suit. "Since we're speaking candidly here, what do you think Gabriel would've done?" Duncan let his hand lie still on Koen's back. "No, I don't suppose you can answer that, not having known him."
Koen let out a soft whine, almost as if he were sympathizing with Duncan.
"It's alright, friend." He rubbed the dog on the head. "I wouldn't have told Gabriel that his only son was being an idiot, either, even if he were still alive to hear it."