“Still a believer,” Seamus replied. “Your faith always amazes me, dad. I don’t think I’ll ever have the strength of conviction that you do.”
“You don’t believe the same things I do, but you do have a type of faith, son. You don’t think there’s a God above, but you still walk his line. You know I firmly believe in my Christian upbringing, and I’ve tried to teach you to follow that road. But I don’t think the other faiths are wrong, for all I know, they’re all right. I just hope that someday you’ll find something to really believe in, and follow it with all your heart.” William looked up at the sky, “That would probably be my final wish.”
Seamus shook his head, “You old goat, you’ll probably outlive me. I deal with violent people on a daily basis, after all.”
~*~*~
Alburet came back to his senses to find Stacia staring at him, “What?”
“Ya memory, ya know it be ya memory,” Stacia replied.
“I’d forgotten that. I can see it so sharply now. I had forgotten it,” Alburet murmured as he replayed the memory in his mind, savoring the happy time.
“Aye, it be one of the many fragments ya lost,” Stacia replied softly. “Did I hurt ya?”
“No,” he shook his head then pulled her to him, holding her. “Thank you,” he swallowed hard as tears started to fall from his eyes. “I can see him so vividly now. His face was starting to blur on me before.” He shook as he let his tears fall, “I miss him.”
“Aye,” Stacia held him, soothing him as she stroked his hair. “I can help ya iffin ya will let me. I only ask ya to follow his words, me dear Asthore. Follow ya heart, do nay let the shackles of ya old world bind ya here.”
It took Alburet a minute to control himself, but he did in time stop crying. He pulled back to meet her loving eyes. “I can’t promise anything, Kitten, but I’ll try.”
“Tha’ be all tha’ I can ask,” she stood up, giving him another kiss. “Now ya need to get ready, and I need to be seein’ tha’ breakfast does nay burn. Take ya time, take a proper shower before ya come join us.”
He watched her go before he got out of bed, his mind churning with the memory she’d summoned for him. He could still hear the earnestness of his father’s words, just as he had all those years ago. Would his father want him to walk this path? Would he have approved, Alburet wondered as he went into the bathroom.
He took his seat, the bowl of frumenty and cup of coffee waiting for him both steaming. “We have a few things to take care of today,” he told them. “We have a party of guildies who are not playing nice. I wanted to talk to them while Gerald’s at his meeting. I also need to send out an announcement about the raffle to the guild, and I was thinking maybe we could go hit one of the other continents for the lower level zones today as well.”
“That’s fine,” Karen replied, her words a little clipped. “Who’s acting up?”
Alburet filled them in on the problems between Ironhand and Bloodmoon’s groups. “We need to get her side of the story, and see what needs to be done to solve the issue.”
“Bloodmoon,” Karen tasted the name. “She was at the meeting at Mindblown. She wanted Gerald to take over the guild from you.”
“Great, so she will probably not respond well to me,” Alburet shrugged. “We’ll see what happens.”
Stacia and Karen finished eating first, and Stacia asked Karen to help her with something in another room. Alburet looked at Fluff once they were alone, “Fluff, about this morning, I’m sorry.”
Fluff shook her head as she turned away from him, “It’s fine.”
“I’m still sorry. I shouldn’t have stared at you like I did. I just wasn’t prepared to see you like that, and you are beautiful, which made it hard to look away. It was still wrong of me to stare at you like that.”
She hunched in on herself, mumbling, “I didn’t mind. I feel safe with you. I know you wouldn’t hurt me. It…” She paused, swallowing hard, before she continued, “It felt nice to be looked at like that, by you.”
Alburet was stunned into silence by what he’d just heard. “I thought you liked Karen?” he asked after a minute.
“I do,” Fluffball’s voice was barely audible. “She is strong and protective of me. Dad always said that being with another girl was bad, though, so I can’t…”
“It’s hard to think of her like that even though you want to,” Alburet finished for her, seeing her small nod in agreement. “You won’t be considered a bad girl for liking Karen. I like Karen, and Stacia likes Karen, too. Stacia isn’t bad, is she?”
“No,” Fluff whispered, “she’s nice. She makes you happy… I wish I could.”
He sipped his coffee in a bit of a rush to cover his sudden nervousness. “You do, Fluff,” he finally managed. “I’m happy you’re my friend and we can have this time together.”
Fluff looked down,” Okay.”
He didn’t think as he pulled her over to him, putting her on his lap and starting to rub one of her ears. “I mean it, Fluff, you do make me happy. One day maybe I can explain it better, but right now I ask that you trust me, okay?”
Fluff started purring as she relaxed in his arms, “Okay.” The single word exuded happiness as she leaned against his chest, her arms going loosely around him. It was a minute before she spoke again, “I haven’t been held by a person in years. People only ever hurt me and make me feel bad. You’ve never hurt me and only shown that you care for me. Thank you, for not hurting me or scaring me.”
He didn’t know what to say to that so he just kissed the top of her head. He didn’t see Stacia and Karen came out of the bedroom. Karen stopped with a frown on her face as she looked at them. Stacia gently touched her shoulder, then moved up behind Alburet. “Will ya be offerin’ us all a turn on ya lap?”
Alburet jolted slightly at Stacia’s words, not having heard her approach. “I don’t see why I can’t give you all a cuddle before we leave. Fluff, are you okay now?”
Fluff’s arms tightened around him before she let go and stood up, “Okay.” She went into the guest bedroom, not looking at anyone as she left.
“Karen, ya take the next hug, I be right back,” Stacia followed Fluff, leaving Karen and Alburet alone.
Karen looked at Alburet then away, “I’m fine.”
Alburet snagged her wrist and pulled her onto his lap. “Karen, I’m sorry.” He had the words out before she could react to being pulled onto his lap.
She looked at him from a few inches away, “For what?” Her words were chilly as she met his eyes, hers full of hurt.
“I didn’t mean to hurt you, to push you away like I did. I was just trying to do what my father had always told me. In doing so, I hurt you, someone I do care for. I never meant to cause you any pain, and I have. For that I am sorry. You are such a vibrant and outgoing woman that I didn’t consider what me getting married and seeming to spurn you would be like for you. I’m asking for you to forgive me for what I did.” His tone was calm, but she could see the remorse in his eyes.
Karen’s gaze softened some before she looked away, “I was just looking for a fun time. I never meant to actually care for you, or Stacia. But you both got to me. I care about both of you and when you got married I was jealous of both of you in a way. I had thought though that it would be okay, that we could still have fun together, but then you crushed that hope. I know what it’s like to want to do what your father taught you, so I’ve tried not to be mad about it. But I am. Even more so when I see you looking at Fluff like you just did.”
“Stacia is going to start helping me with some issues I have. She just reminded me of a memory of my father. He urged me to follow my heart. I’m still a little unsure of what it is I want, but things might change. Give me time to think things over, okay?” He asked as he put his arms around her.