Ranvir knocked on the door to his parents’ temporary apartments. Inside, he heard his father’s laughter as he packed the last of their belongings together. While the break between trimesters had seemed longer than the others, it was also somehow so much shorter. He couldn’t believe it was ending.

He smiled down at Frija who was idly gnawing on the first two fingers of her hand, getting drool everywhere. She was almost two months old and Ranvir ached with the month he’d lost to travel, though he similarly sang with the joy of getting to see her grow up.

I have a daughter, he couldn’t the stop the grin.

His mother opened the door, smiling as she saw him, “Good morning Hearthfire, here to say goodbye?”

Ranvir nodded leaning down to hug Frey, supporting her granddaughter with his powers as he did, “And walk you to the carriage,” he added. He still had trouble understanding how his mother could be so calm about traveling in those monstrosities, though with her injury it was a necessity. She couldn’t walk all the way from Rime’s Shadow to the Capital, not on one leg.

Behind his mother, he could see Gunnor re-sorting the last of their baggage as he tried to close their case. Unsurprisingly, he struggled getting the clothes to fit inside, despite them being the exact same as when he’d left.

“Need help with that?” Ranvir asked.

“No, I got it,” his father grunted, shoving the lid down and forcing the lock. Ranvir thought he heard wood straining, though he didn’t investigate further. He had his hands busy taking care of his daughter, he didn’t want to add his dad to that list.

“Come here, son!” His father exclaimed crossing the room. In a moment of insight, Frey took Frija from Ranvir’s arms before Gunnor’s enthusiasm could capture either of them. Then Ranvir was swept up in a mighty bear hug, his father laying his full strength into the squeeze. Ranvir squeezed back until he was red in the face and his arms shook. “My little boy! Look how strong you’ve become,” Gunnor yelled after putting Ranvir down. He was equally red-faced and panting for air, “Such a fine young man, you come back to us, you hear?”

Ranvir smiled, “I plan on it, dad. Don’t worry. The only way anyone’s gonna stop me is if they throw me off this plane.”

Gunnor laughed heartily and slapped Ranvir on the back, then bowed down and kissed his wife with passion. Ranvir stood awkwardly on the side watching his mother trying to keep her attention on holding Frija safe.

While his father was prone to passionate outburst, Ranvir trusted in his mother to keep her head during those situations. Sure enough, once Gunnor let his wife go, Frey didn’t even have to adjust her hold on her granddaughter, though, she was more than a little flushed.

“Am I going to become a big brother, as well?” Ranvir asked a hint of worry as he took his daughter back.

“Don’t you worry about that,” his mother said leaning against his father, resting a hand on his chest. His parents were only in their thirties, late as they might be. Ranvir knew his father’d wanted more children, though Ranvir’s birth had been tough on Frey and then there’d been the accident. But, they had been spending a lot of time in the capital during the last two weeks, ostensibly to see the city before returning home, but also far away from their son...

Ranvir shook his head, that wasn’t a line of thought he was interested in following. His parents could do as they pleased and he would happily support them, so long as he didn’t need to know the exact details.

“Are you ready to go, then?” Ranvir asked once Gunnor retrieved their suitcase. The contraption of sealed wood and simple copper hinges was likely mostly of his father’s own make. During the harvesting season, the lumberyard was bustling with activity, but the demand fell during the rest of the year. There was always something to do for a few lumberjacks, but there was also enough free time that the rest of them had free reign of the tools, so long as they didn’t break anything.

Not to disparage his father’s work, but the suitcase was clearly not a master carpenter’s work. For one, the case was slightly too small to comfortably fit two people’s belongings, the handle at the top had no grooves for the fingers, and the treatment had been layered thickly on the right side, staining it noticeably darker than the rest of the case.

“That we are!” Gunnor said walking ahead of them. While he was only of moderate height, he had long legs and a short torso, which gave him a surprisingly fast walk. Frey smiled at Ranvir, she’d gotten her crutch under her arm and followed him as they walked down the halls and into the fresh air.

Almost immediately, Frija started wriggling, opening and closing her eyes. Ranvir had, despite his own misgivings, followed his mother’s advice and let her nap outside in a crib designed to handle the weather, it had a roof outcropping that stopped the snow, though it hadn’t fallen for a couple days and hadn’t fallen heavily all break. Now, his daughter seemed to assume that outside meant nap time. She rolled slightly into him, he could feel her breath against his chest as she settled.

“You’re very lucky,” his mother murmured. “Very few are blessed with a child that sleeps as easy as her.”

Ranvir chuckled, “I’m guessing you weren’t?” He had to stifle a yawn himself, as they trudged through the days-old snow covering the campus.

“Oh, no, you were great at falling asleep. You just didn’t stay that way.” His mother grinned up at him, the new difference in their height felt odd to him. He’d been somewhat taller than her for a long time now, but he’d grown noticeably since joining the academy and had grown into fully looked down on her.

“I’m sorry about that,” Ranvir replied, though the smile on his lips put the lie to those words. His mother just grinned back and shoved him lightly with her shoulder. In the distance, Ranvir could see a carriage in the Queen’s colors rolling into the complex and down the circular driveway, which had been kept clear of snow, even on days of heavy fall.

“Is that the Queen?” Frey asked a little excitedely.

“Just a messenger, or something like that,” while you didn’t see one of the Queen’s carriages every day, it was maybe a once or twice a week occurrence during normal times. As they got closer, Lord Isgerd’s carriage came into view. It was an enormous wooden behemoth, it was as big as the one that had taken Ranvir, Sansir, and Esmund to the academy and that had been designed to fit a dozen young tethered and their cargo, except this one had proper coverings on the side, paneled in the black and gold of Isgerd’s liege-lord, though Ranvir couldn’t remember her name.

“The rest are already there,” Frey cursed under her breath and she sped up. It was plain to see that the one legged woman with the crutch wasn’t meant to be hurrying along at that pace, let alone on this much compressed snow and ice. Ranvir quickened his step to keep up with her, though even his mother’s briskest step still wasn’t that fast. He could see the slight flush on her face from thinking that they were waiting for her.

“Slow down, mom,” Ranvir hissed at her, “You’re still early, don’t worry,” It didn’t help that Gunnor had already joined them and was loading their luggage onto the roof. Ranvir could see Esmund’s parents trying to corral their daughters into saying goodbye to Esmund and Kirs and getting them into the carriage without too much of a fuss. It wasn’t working.

A lot of tears were already being shed as they went from Esmund to Kirs in a never ending circle of hugs and goodbyes. Ranvir thought they must’ve been at it for a little while as Esmund was already looking thoroughly tired of their escapades, not that it stopped him from hugging each and every sister that approached.

Sansir, Grevor, and Master Tore were standing off to the side, having their own hushed conversation. Ranvir couldn’t tell what they were saying, but judging from the embarrassed look on Sansir’s face, the slightly worried one on Grev’s, and the old carpenter’s evil eye towards the light tethered, Ranvir could only suspect he was threatening Grevor with bodily harm.

Frija burped in his arms and Ranvir knew for he could see the mindset Tore came from. He knew already that he would be a menace to anyone Frija brought home. It was decided and so it should be.

“My loves!” Gunnor exclaimed running to them as if he hadn’t just hurried ahead of them. Another round of hugging, these ones were less excited energy and more calm sincerity and love. Gingerly, Gunnor bowed down and kissed the sleeping Frija on her forehead, “Sleep well little granddaughter and grow strong and fierce, like your grandmother before you.”

“Grow strong and steadfast, little one,” Frey said offering Ranvir a small pouch. Opening it, he saw the ring inside. It was of similar make to the ones in his necklace, except ‘Daughter’ was written across it.

“Thank you, both of you,” Ranvir said emotion, colorful and voluminous, welling in his throat. They embraced again. “For bringing her to me, for sharing your love with her, and for teaching me how take care of her. I will raise a strong and powerful daughter, I promise you.”

“I made something for you, as well,” his mother said. She retrieved another pouch, this one slightly larger. From it she pulled an iron armband with four fixtures of brass dangling from it. Ranvir recognized them as holy symbols of space, the father/warrior, the son/daughter, and the companion/friend. The space symbol had the throughline of the tether circling the glyph of space in a complex interweaving pattern. The father/warrior was a depiction of the first spear with which the first man protect his family. The son/daughter was, depending on how you looked at it, either the canopy or the roots of a tree, like the tree from which the Triplet Goddess could track the lineages of all people. The friend/companion was a shield like the ones soldiers were equipped with to help protect themselves and their allies. All throughout the work Ranvir noticed small details that indicated to him that Frey had made this with her own hands.

“Is that why you were gone so much this last week?” Ranvir asked gingerly lifting the space symbol, admiring the intricacy. His mother nodded in silent reply. “You did this in a week?”

His mother smiled at him, “Let me put it on you.”

Ranvir nodded and offered his left wrist. The iron band didn’t have a lock, it didn’t fully connect leaving an opening in the rear allowing for the band to expand. Frey pulled it open and slid it around Ranvir’s wrist, where it fell back into shape. It was slightly loose around his wrist and it fell down to rest against his hand. The cold metal of the spear rested in Ranvir’s palm as he let his arm go slack.

Frey pursed her lips, “It’s a little loose.”

“It’s as well done as it could be, mom,” Ranvir said pulling her into a sudden hug that made her drop her crutch. “I love you,” he whispered squeezing her tight, abruptly feeling tears in his eyes.

“I love you too,” she patted his back before pulling away.

“It’s time,” Isgerd called from the carriage’s doorway.

More last minute goodbyes were shared as people started piling into the carriage. Absently, Ranvir noticed someone moving towards the Queen’s carriage and he peeked over to see one of her servants walking alongside Master Floki, liver spots standing out on his forehead and mostly bald pate. The Master stopped at the carriage entry and pointed in their direction before the servant helped him up into it, then said servant turned toward their group.

“Trouble?” Grev asked from Ranvir’s left.

“Indubiously,” Esmund grunted from his right.

“Indubitably,” Kirs corrected.