Reunion Part2

In which our otterly heroes...or at least heroish protagonists are met with some interesting revelations about their past families.

continuing direction from Reunion Part1

Rorgan frowns. "You're...not answering the question. Whose family are you referring to?" He asks, genuinely lost. Apparently, it hadn't occurred to either of them how similar they looked, to the point that they were hardly distinguishable"

Henri rubs at his greying head fur, "uh...well..." This was an unexpected development. "Wait? Seriously? You both don't know?" Elesi stands in aw and begins to chuckle. Henri replies again, "Here, no sense in talkin out here in the middle of the woods. Elise, be a dear and grab the fox." To Rorgan and Derrin he says, "We have a camp not too far away. We can talk there..."

Rorgan shrugs. No point in arguing at this point. Derrin seems to have the same thought process, and nods in agreement. "Right, well I s'pose you can show us t' yer camp then." He says, cracking his knuckles casually, which is quickly followed by Rorgan doing the same out of impulse in the exact same way.

By not too far away Henri of course meant the distance in woodlander bandit terms which means the camp was actually several hours away on paw through a dense forest path. Henri would not speak of any more questions despite any prodding he encountered. Elesi quickly bound up the still unconscious fox hand and foot and carried him easily over her shoulder, whistling a merry tune as she walked.

The camp sight itself is nothing more than a large burlap tent with a pair of sleeping black fur sleeping bags inside. A small fire pit lays untended with two logs sitting around it. "Home sweet home." Elesi smiles as she roughly deposits Vannon next to one of the logs. He sprawls out over the fallen tree like a dead rug. "Hey dad, you want to entertain our guests while I get supper ready?" Henri sets down his cross bow sitting on the opposite log. He seems to struggle as he sits. "Alright boys. Now tell me. What do you remember of your home village?"

Both otters sit on a log rather nervously, not quite sure what to make of all of this. Rorgan is the first to respond. "I didn't know I even came from a village." Derrin nods in agreement to this, as though he felt the same way. "The first thing I remember is living with a squirrel family," He says, continuing.

Henri nods his head as Elesi pulls out a small cauldron from a supply chest. After dusting off a couple of wandering bugs she gets it set up on a spit over the fire pit. "I'm not surprised really," Henri continues, "You were all so young. The village was a pretty sight, down by the river in the more mountainous regions. There was a bridge that over ran over the water. It was small but...peaceful." He laughs, "I remember a lot of dibbuns back then. There were, ten of you a think that all traveled in a group. Elesi was one of them along with her brothers..." Elesi begins to stroke the fire.

Derrin raises an eyebrow at this. "So..yore sayin' we were part o' that group? Who were the brothers?" The questions seem to be bursting out of these two like water.

Elesi replies simply with a fient smile on her face, "My brothers didn't make it out of the village when it burned to the ground." She walks back to grab some fresh water in a canteen and pour it into the cooking pot. Going back again for potatos and veggies to toss in the soup Henri Explains with only a moments hesitation, "I had four children, Elesi was the oldest and only one still living." Over on the log Vannon begins to stir, "Oh...my head..."

Not paying any attention to the vulpine Henri asks, "What do you remember of your parents?" He doesn't say who's parents he asks of.

Yet again, the twin otters are taken off guard, and are rather confused. "Whose parents are you talking about?" Asks Rorgan again, seeming to become a little more desperate to know, and Derrin certainly doesn't look much different.

The young Elesi chuckles, "Not very bright fellows are they?" She says to Vannon. Before he can reply Elesi shoves a carrot into his mouth, "You tried to rob a bandit out on the road, not very smart either, so i'm going to make you into a hat, ok?" She grins at the terrified expression the fox gives her. He looks to the pot and one can only imagine what is going through Vannon's mind.

Rubbing at his eyes Hernri asks, "Rorgan, tell me what you know about your parents, then Derrin can do the same."

Rorgan shrugs instantly. "I don't remember anythin' about my parents. As I said, my first memory is of a squirrel family that adopted me after findin' me wanderin' the woods." Derrin, who had heard this story before, nods slowly as he listens before telling his part. "I don't remember anythin' about my parents either, but I do remember a soft voice like honey." He seems to get a slightly dreamy look as he recalls this. "It always calmed me down, but I can't see anythin'. I just hear the voice sometimes."

The grey furred fox makes a low key whine as he turns his head to Rorgan and Derrin. It doesn't take long to reconize Rorgan and he gives the otter a pleading look. He has no wish to be made into a hat, or stew, or what ever this horrible smiling cook plans to make him into.

The elderly bandit nods, "Ah, yes, Galah could charm a hare out of a meal. She was always very kind to her sons. /Both/ of them." There, if the otters don't get it this time he is going to beat the information into them with a rock.

Derrin raises an eyebrow, evidently being as thick in this moment as thick could be. "So I had a brother?" He asks, unaware that he had probably irritated this old bandit past normal bounds with his ignornce. Rorgan hears the whine, and he looks over at Vannon for just a moment before shrugging and looking back at Henri.

The elderly otter stands up and goes to smack derrin up side the head, then does the same with Rorgan. "Who do you think boy? You just spent the last few hours walking with him." Henri then cracks a broad smile, some of his teeth are missing.

Both otters spend a few seconds rubbing their heads where they had been smacked, but upon hearing Henri's statement, they both freeze in their seats, trying to make sure they had heard right. "S-So yore sayin' Derrin...was..er, /is/ my brother?!" Asks Rorgan, unwilling to look over to see said otter's expression.

The stew is starting to smell rather nice now, Elesi takes a break from cooking to pull out some bowls, "Don't blame yerselves for not knowing. It's been so long, I hardly recognized you as well. But we all used to play down by the river." Henri nods his head, taking a bowl as he does, "Fiagai and Galah never looked so happy than when they had you two as dibbuns.

Derrin can hardly take all of this in. "Fiagai an' Galah...were those...our parents?" After all this time, it really felt weird to refer to his parents as being both his and Rorgan's. Rorgan seems to be taking it a bit harder than Derrin though, as shown through his blank stare of shock.

Elesi deposits a bowl of stew in the laps of each otter. She leans over the fox, removing his food like gag and gives him a bowl as well. Thank goodness his paws are not bound behind his back. "Come then kidos, Im sure you have a lot of questions about your parrents. What would you like to know first?"

Rorgan shakes his head, trying to think straight. "Who exactly were our parents?" He asks. It may not be the most in depth question, but of course, it was a neccessary one for somebeast who had no idea who his parents were.

Henri continues, "Your father, Fiagai was a bit of a scrawny fellow. Very wiry. He was a marksmen with a bow and a great hunter." The fox gulps down his bowl of stew before letting out a content sigh. Three days with out food anything will taste good. He raises a paw, or rather both paws, tentatively, "Er, excuse me, I know I'm just kind of an outsider here and frankly not sure why you brought me along..." The younger otter near the stew pot replies cheerfully, "Fox hides are worth a pretty penny up north...plus you have a bounty on your head from Tussock." The fox nods, "Right, I'll get back to that in a moment, but first, I assume their father was an otter...a fishy eating woodlander...so what did he hunt?"

"Vermin." Henri replies after sampling his stew. He admits there is a lot to be desired of Elesi's cooking but hey, its food, "Bandits as well, he was a forester. He got along well with most of the forest beasts, sometimes even sold birds and fish he had caught to the surrounding vermin tribes."

Both otters raise an eyebrow at this. "So that would explain Rorgan's shooting, but what about our mother?" Asks Derrin, getting slightly more eager to larn more about his past. Rorgan actually smiles, happy to know he had a father that he knew he would be proud of.

Elesi refills the vulpine's stew, "Here, we need to put some meat on your bones foxy, plus you're interrupting the story..." Vannon gives her an incredulous look but hey, food! He remains quiet for now, focusing on using his sneaky fox brain to come up with an escape plan while Henri continues his tale, "Oh Galah? She was a fine looking otter. She had dark fur. She met your father in the healers hut where she worked. Your father spent a lot of time there, he was always getting beaten up or injuring himself in the woods, sometimes I wondered if it were on purpose just to see her. She was a petite lass, but man did she have one mean left hook." Henri chuckles as he rubs his chin, "Take my advice kiddos, never get smart with a lass who grew up with five brothers."

Derrin laughs at the old bandit. "I guess Rorgan an' I inherited somethin' of our parents' skills then, eh?" Rorgan, for his part, can slightly imagine what his parents must have been like, but this sparks another qusetion from him. "Wot happened t' them?" He asks suddenly.

The old otter pauses, his smile fades. Taking a deep breath he explains. "I was wondering when you would get to that question. It isn't an easy one. Our village, it was...plundered by raiders. One of the local vermin tribes came in and burned it to the ground. Those they didn't take into slavery were killed...my wife and my two sons were among the dead." Henri takes another spoonfull of stew. He pauses for a long moment with no emotion about the statement. "Your father and I were among the defenders, I...took a blow to the head and when I woke up the battle was over. I never found their bodies but I do not know if they still live, or even if they were taken by the raiders."

The smiles of the twins fade, and they look down. "Oh..." Mumbles Rorgan, heavily put off by this. Derrin, however, asks another question. "Y-You said you don't know wot happened t' them right? So they could still be alive.."

Finishing his stew Henri puts rather bluntly, "I wouldn't count on it. Even if they survived the battle nothing in heaven nor earth would have kept them from their dibbuns..." Elesi chastises her father by smacking him up side the head, "What was that for!" The old otter gulps at the glare he recieves from his daughter, "Now don't you go gettin their hopes up just to dash it to pieces!" She turns to Rorgan and Derrin, "There is always hope. I mean, look at you too! Who would have guessed that you are both alive and...well...er, what is it exactly that you both do now?"

Henri shakes his head, smirking a bit, "Elesi's right, your turn now. What have you two been doing all this time? Where have you been!?"

Both otters look at each other before looking back at Henri. "Well..." Begins Rorgan. "We both joined the Rogue Crew when we grew up, and we became friends. We stayed for quite a few seasons before I left, traveling down south." At this point, Derrin picks up the story. "After a sevseasons, I left as well and came down south lookin' fer Rorgan, an' so here we are!"

Henri raises an eyebrow, "Rouges crew? I don't have to worry about being dragged to the nearest guard station do I?" The otter says with a crooked smile. Vannon finishes his second bowl of stew, "Speaking of which, ifin I may interupt again. Say Rorgan, I don't suppose you would help a vulpine out here and tell these crazy otters that depositing one of your buddies off for the guards of tussock would be a bad, very bad idea." The fox give Rorgan wide, puppy dog eyes offeset only by his emancipated appearence, "Remember that time in the ruins of beggar's pass, with the lizards and the death and arrows flying about? Leaping heroically over the edge of a cliff to save your hide?" Vannon says with a pleading whimper.

Rorgan raises an eyebrow, looking back at Vannon. "I'll admit I didn't expect t' see you after that, but I'm sure that wotever you did t' make them want t' sell yer fur was bad enough t' deserve that."

Vannon whines, "B-but all I did was try to rob one otter on the road! I was hungry! Starvin! On my last leg what else was i..." The fox is cut short by the potato thrust into his open maw. "Don't you worry foxy, we will make sure you are nice and well fed...you're hide will sell better that way. The fox gives another whimper. "What about you two? What do you plan to do now?" Elesi asks.

Rorgan shrugs, looking back at Elisi. "We were on our way t' Ferravale fer a drink, but we didn't have any real plans." This is the moment Derrin blurts out, "I want t' find our parents!" Rather suddenly. The other otter looks over, surprised. "Derrin..you don't even know if they're alive."

Vannon begins to shout out that he can help them find them, not that he knows where they are of course, but reguardless teh fox's potato gag makes it come out as a mere unreadable mumble. Elesi and Henri both exchange glances before Henri replies, "Well you are welcome to stay the night with us. THe road ways are not safe to travel by night." Elesi smiles, "And we can travel with you on the way to Tussock."

Derrin simply ignores what Rorgan says, and smiles back at Elisi and Henri. "Thank you both fer yer help. We're both very grateful that you were able t' tell us about our past. Do you have any idea where we could look fer our parents at all?"

The older otter rubs his chin, "Well, the only beasts who know what happened to them are the vermin who took them. And that tribe is long gone now." He adds, "There is a small village where that tribe of vermin used to live, it's run by woodlanders so you shouldn't have any problems there."

Rorgan decides it would be much easier for him to simply go along with Derrin, knowing nothing would change his mind. "Well do you think any of the beasts there would know? If it was run by vermin, I can't imagine there were any woodlanders there."

Henri chuckles, "Oh the woodlanders there drove the vermin out after they attacked your village. There might be someone there who knows what happened to the vermin who one owned the land." He finishes his stew. "It's up north, a little ways past tussock. I can take you there if you want after we get done visiting Ferreval and dropping this fox in Tussock."

Both otters nod, looking uncanny in their similarity in terms of how they do it. "Thank you Henri," Says Rorgan. "And thank you as well Elisi. Hopefully this search won't be in vain."