Sorrow of the Wind

[Summerstream]

“Sis..! Wake up!!” The door to the bedroom flew open with a loud bang, causing the familiar half-fae woman who had been snoring peacefully in bed to sit up frantically flailing her arms. She looked around with an unfocused expression before she registered that her bedroom door was open. The red-haired monk stood in the door with hair normally clipped back loose, the hair covering her left eye. One yellow eye stared at the sleepy paladin.

“Wuh... the hell Sophie... It's barely dawn...” Summerstream mumbled, blinking repeatedly. “I wuz having a good dream for once....” She yawned, then rubbed her eyes before reaching for her glasses and putting them on and looking towards the girl standing in the door.

“There's someone downstairs to see you. They said it was important.” Sophie balanced on her heels as her sister came to. She puffed her cheeks impatiently as her sister moved lethargically. The monk also noted that she should get her older sister nightclothes sooner rather than later.

“Better be... ugh... Go put tea on... I'll be down in a few minutes...” Summerstream waved her hand dismissively in the air as she dragged herself out of bed. The monk blinked before blowing the air in her cheeks out and leaving her sister to dress.

“Sorry for waking you up, Summ.” The plum-haired girl spoke as the sleepy paladin stifled a yawn with her hand. Summerstream placed a cup of tea on the table before she flopped down in the adjacent armchair and picked up the cup and took a sip from it.

“Don't worry about it, Rimi. Sophie said it was important... So why the hell did my boss come to my home in Geffen rather than just sending a messenger?” Summerstream sighed as she slouched in the chair, evidently quite comfortable.

“Urgency, and you probably wouldn't be here when the messenger finally arrived. “Plus I got out of the capital! Anyways, have you seen the paper?” Rimino grinned as Summerstream groaned. At the foot of the stairs, the paladin could see her sons peeking out from around the corner. Summerstream sat up and narrowed her eyes at the Sword Captain in front of her.

“Rimino, I just woke up fifteen minutes ago. Do you really think I had the time to look at the newspaper?” Summerstream blinked at the newspaper shoved under her nose. She put her cup down and opened it to see a story circled in red ink, and an envelope with the royal seal on it staring at her. She set the envelope on the table before she leaned back to read, and translate as needed for her sister who had come to stand behind her.

“Can I go check on those two in the ICU?” Sophie asked, leaning down.

“Yeah, sure. I'm not going to stop you.” Summerstream set the paper aside to break the seal on the letter. She removed the parchment and started to read it. “...Rimino, is this some sick joke?”

“A joke? Nahh~” She saw the woman grin. “You've been reassigned at the request of the king~”

Summerstream hung her head and finished reading the letter. “I hate you, you know that, right?” she groaned and leaned back to look at the ceiling with a heavy sigh. “Tyr, Freyr, I want you to go with Rimino for a few days, okay?”

“But I don't like her mummy!” Tyr protested, jumping out of the stairwell.

“Tyr, please. Your aunt and I have something we need to attend to.” Summerstream sighed irritably. “And no, you can't come with us.”

“...Okay mummy.” Tyr hung his head. His brother was grinning happily, but remained quiet.

“Thank you.. I'll bring you a treat when I get back, okay?” Summerstream looked over to her son, who grinned in response. “Be good, and don't get into trouble.” The paladin got up to ruffle her son's hair. She heard Tyr giggle before he ran off, snagging his quiet brother by the arm to return to their room. Summerstream watched them with a tired smile. Sophie excitedly ran past her to go to her room.

“So, if I've been reassigned, you get to babysit for Bushido and I, Rimino.” Summerstream smirked and looked over her shoulder at her boss. “Shouldn't be too hard, right?~”

“That's fine, Summer~” Rimino grinned and stood up. “Well it'll be more interesting than me sitting around doing paper work all day. I think I get the better end of the bargain.”

“As long as I'm getting paid for this.” Summerstream grumbled and stood to the side as the twins ran down the stairs to aggressively hug the Sword Captain.

“You will, you will. Sheesh, do you think I would do such a thing without ensuring you would be paid? I'll take good care of these two.” Summerstream responded with raised eyebrows. The stairs creaked behind her as Rimino lead the twins off and outside of the house. Summerstream followed them and watched them off, waving to Tyr as he looked behind him with a small smile. She remained in the doorway until they were out of sight.

“Do you need anything from Louyang, Sophie?” Summerstream bit her lip.

I hope Tyr and Freyr don't hate me for this...

“No, Sis, I got what I need. I can send a runner to get things for me~” Sophie responded cheerfully as Summerstream stretched and let her wings vibrate behind her. “She was just following orders, right?”

“Yeah, she was. The letter more or less confirmed it.” Summerstream started to walk towards the room where she kept her armor. “I don't like heading into stuff like this blind, so I'm coming in with you. I pray to Yggdrasil that they're both conscious so I can ask them about what they saw...”

“And I'll patch them up as good as new!~” Sophie giggled enthusiastically. “And I'll patch you up if you get hurt, Sis~”

Summerstream put her hand on the door frame belonging to the room where she kept her armor on a stand. “I don't plan on getting hurt, you know. Either way. Let's hurry up and get to Prontera. I'll drop you off, come in and check if those two soldiers are conscious, then go check out what Niflheim is like... I can plan from there how to approach this.” Summerstream smiled at her younger sister before she started to don her armor.

Mystra's castle, hmm? Hard to think that is where Lucretia was almost a year ago. Summerstream couldn't help but smile a little to herself as she clipped her cape into place and fastened her silver leaf in sight.

“Hell or high water, Yggdrasil protect me.”