Reunion at Sea

Brothers

Cassandra aimed her bow and arrow at an apple on top of Hookfoot, which she'd put there on top of the man as he slept. Nearby, she could hear Varian "training" with Adira and Hector - more like he was trying to defend himself from their bullying. It was like they were trying to make up for fifteen years of Quirin not training Varian in one week.

"Slow--ngh--down!" Varian protested.

"Come on, you can dodge better than this!" Hector insisted.

"I can, if Adira doesn't nearly break my leg!"

Cassandra chuckled a bit and focused on her own training. She gasped when she saw Eugene take the apple. "Hey!"

"'Hey' yourself." Eugene turned to her. "We're running low on apples and you're wasting them on this? Use something else, like an actual target." He walked off.

"Huh? What?" Hookfoot blinked, then yelped as Varian's sword stabbing into the ground next to him. "Hey, be careful!"

"It's not like I asked for my sword to get knocked out of my hand!" Varian walked over and picked his sword up before he sheathed it. "I'm taking a break!" He stormed off, pulling the mirror out of his pocket.

"He's gonna go vent to Andrew about you guys again." Eugene chuckled.

"He seems to be adjusting well." Adira said thoughtfully.

Cassandra would call 'adjusted well' to be a stretch. Varian had had a bit of a panic attack after being told about what happened after he sang the, as Lucas put it, 'song of death'. Apparently, him glowing was in the range of "completely ludicrous" and he'd then found a quiet place and, according to a snooping Eugene, ranted to Andrew about it with the mirror he'd been sent.

"Guys!" Rapunzel ran up to them. "Hookhand is having a concert tomorrow!" She held up a poster.

"Who what?" Lance looked up from picking flowers.

"Isn't 'Hookhand' the famous ex-thug pianist that you reformed when you escaped the tower?" Varian asked, walking back over to them. "Andrew was busy, Juniper said she'll let him know I called."

"Busy with what?" Cassandra asked.

"I dunno, he was in a private meeting with Lady Caine, she said." Varian shrugged.

"Well, I'm going to guess it has nothing to do with us. By the way, how'd he take the, uh, revelation?" Eugene walked over and flicked Varian's stripe up casually.

"He said that he'd seen it glow before when I didn't have my gloves on and was really upset but wasn't sure what he was seeing and didn't say anything." Varian sighed and tugged on his glove. "Seriously, dad, what the heck."

"Guuuyyyys. The concert?" Rapunzel urged them. "We can all just relax and unwind! Pluuuus, it'll be a Hook Brothers reunion!" She added excitedly.

"Wow, thanks Princess." Hookfoot said with a forced smile. "Seeing my big bro perform sounds delightful." He looked thoughtful. "Hmm...oh, crackers!" He groaned. "The concert's tomorrow and all the way in West Ipsil, that's at least three days on foot."

"But...there has to be a way to get there faster." Rapunzel pouted.

Ruddiger scampered over and climbed up onto her shoulders, nuzzled her, then hopped onto Varian's shoulders and chittered something while doing motions with his little hands. "What? Well, we could...we'd have to strap the horses on, though."

"What is it?" Eugene asked.

"Ruddiger says that he and the rhino could make the trip in time if they pulled the caravan together." Varian shrugged. "Uncle Hector, what do you think?"