[SRP] Blood Lines (Tethys x Solomon)

[Epine de Rose]

His suspicions had been confirmed correct; no sooner had he encountered the strange 'ghost' upon the river bank, than the game had changed. He had gone from having a very uneventful week, to one of heightened stress. A day or so after he had encountered Spectre, Havase had strode into his camp and dismissed all of his Reavers. It had been an ordered that none of them had appreciated, and yet Tethys had done nothing except wave them away. His father's Collective preferred not to meddle, and given that one of his most peaceful men had walked in to the Captain's camp, it had been abundantly clear that something was amiss.

Havase had been brief in his request, summarising a fair portion of it as irrelevant. In the grand scheme of things Tethys hadn't needed to know the severity of the situation, or at least not the details. All he had needed to know was that the Collective desperately needed not just his help, but that of his brother. Havase had been firm in this, it couldn't be their mother, it had to be Solomon, and while the Captain hadn't necessarily understood why this was the case, he had agreed to set off to collect him as soon as possible.

He had left Iloziya in charge as he had made way for the Bahari, accompanied only by his own medic. Onesimos had said nothing as they bounded towards their destination, and not a sliver of complaint was heard from either of them despite the pounding in their own limbs.

It had been with considerable surprise that the Bahari'mtoto guards had greeted them, in part alarmed by their sudden reappearance. They'd come without warning, no messengers sent to alert them of their intentions to return and yet here they were. What was worse, was that the guards weren't even graced with a full explanation, they were simply given a very direct order.

"Take me to my brother."

Words: 326

 

[Epine de Rose]

His presence hadn't been requested, it had been demanded.

To say that such a thing was unprecedented; they had come in to his site, and while they had carefully picked their way across the unfinished foundations, it was abundantly clear that they weren't here for small talk. When the guards had finally reached him, they had only been able to provide him with a very brief explanation, his brother had returned in a flurry of chaos and demanded his attention immediately. It had sent alarm bells ringing through the lion's head, and casting down his materials he had ordered the Nyangumi to lead him to where his brother had broken ground.

He hadn't really known what he expected... Had he been expecting someone to be injured, was his mother all right? Hell, were his siblings all right? In the last several months he had found himself with a family. He'd gone from nothing to having a considerable amount invested in the world, and he wasn't entirely sure he was ready for it. Yet it was with relief that his gaze fell upon his brother, a sibling who seemed to be as strong as an ox for the time being. Discounting the wild eyes, the slight breathlessness, and perhaps the quaking of exhausted limbs, Tethys was a vision of good health.

"Tethys?" Solomon asked as he nodded for the guards to depart. "What's wrong...?" he continued. "What's happened?"

He drew to a halt and took a seat as he regarded his brother more closely, as well as his companion. Whatever it was, it was some form of unsettling news, as the Captain was someone he had long grown used to being jovial. Hell, even in a bad mood Tethys always seemed to have a rather dry sense of humour... He didn't do grim.

Words; 304

 

[Epine de Rose]

"You need to come with me," Tethys replied, turning round immediately to face his otherwise startled brother. It certainly wasn't how he would have liked to great him, but in the given circumstances it wasn't the right time for small talk. Truth be told, it wasn't even the right time to negotiate with the king - whether Solomon would have preferred to notify him of his intentions or not, Havase had made it abundantly clear to the Captain that the longer they left it, the worse it would become.

"We've found your father," he stated softly and shook his head. "You were right, he wasn't dead," he added. It was at this point that he elected to lapse into silence, if only to give his brother a very brief moment of time to gather his wits about him. No doubt he would have several questions, but Tethys would much have preferred to answer them on the way back to the forward camps... Camps that would no doubt be moving shortly now that they had realised they were in a region the scourge would never go.

"But I won't lie when I say he is not in a good way," he continued. "They didn't give me the full details, they didn't have time," he explained. "But they made it clear that they believe the only way to help him at this point, is for him to see you," he stated. "He isn't responding to their normal methods, if anything he's getting worse..."

Words: 251
Total Words (Tet): 577

 

[Epine de Rose]

His father?

It had been years, and while he may have operated on the belief that he was neither alive or dead, it had been in large part to help him avoid the possibility that he might have to grieve. In all honesty he hadn't been ready to be alone in the world, and while his mother was still around, he was often left to his own devices. He'd found some semblance of comfort in believing that maybe, somehow, his father was still out there.

...And sure enough he was; returned to him by the very same individual who had given him a family. My how the world had changed, and how strange that it had all been as a result of encountering his half-brother. It seemed as though they were all actors in a grand play, one that had finally moved in to the next act, and all he could do was follow it to its conclusion.

However his brother's warnings that his father was unwell and in dire need of his presence was certainly a cause for concern. He was certainly no healer, so it appeared that on this occasion his father needed more than medical assistance. Perhaps his insanity had finally caught up to him, and he was almost entirely lost to it.

It was with a curt nod that he turned to the Nyangumi nearby. "Inform the King that I'll be gone for a time," he ordered. "And do not tell my mother," he added with such conviction that the eyes of the guard's widened.

Just like Destati, he knew that Arimathras wouldn't respond well to the sight of his father if he was truly so far gone.

"Let's go," he finished. Other Bumani would no doubt sweep in to tidy up his site, though it would have to wait until it was completed, it would still be made safe.

"You can explain the rest on the way."

Words: 326
Total Words (Sol): 630