A Tall and Small Collection | Soren

Distracting Stories

In the meantime, Soren stepped off to the side toward Ashlynn. He wasn't sure when he became comfortable with it, and perhaps the circumstances left him numb, but when he saw her hand extended and laid on the ground he stepped onto it. She raised him up, pulling him slightly to the side.

"You okay?" she asked softly. Soren, finding it better to kneel on her hand rather than stand, readjusted so his legs could dangle from the edge. Something about the warmth of her hand was oddly soothing. Soren gave a non-committal shrug, rubbing his eyes in hopes that would alleviate the rising tension. "That bad?"

Soren nodded. "I don't know if he's going to pull through Ashlynn." The utterance was a harsh one and certainly conveyed Ashlynn's worst fear after discovering the injured Borrower. "I mean, I was in bad shape but this is..."

"We'll figure it out," reassured Ashlynn. "And... you have me, if you need anything." Soren looked up into her blue-grey eyes.

"Thanks," he smiled. "We could really use that right now."

The moment would have lasted longer if Rey's shout didn't redirect their attention. "Soren! He woke up! He's awake! He's awake!" Ashlynn startled, shaking her hand enough to make Soren gasp and throw himself backwards to make sure he didn't accidentally fall off of her hand. She lowered her hand so Soren could step off and be led quickly to where Brady lay.

The breathy words were accompanied by a slight wheezing sound. Undoubtedly, it was Brady speaking. Dorian was currently clinging to his father's hands as he listened intently to what he was saying. Soren only picked up on the last bits of it, but whatever was said before obviously was upsetting the middle brother based on the tears in his eyes.

"Be sure to look after Rey, okay?" wheezed Brady.

"Okay dad." Dorian agreed without hesitation. Soren bit his tongue. He wanted to scold Brady for talking like this to his son; at the same time, if this made him feel better Soren couldn't deny him. Instead, he went for a slightly less harsh approach.

"You don't need to be worrying about that," said Soren. "We all look out for each other, just like how we're going to look after those bruises of yours." Rey scurried from Soren's side and hopped into the container, so he and Dorian were on opposite sides of Brady.

"Yeah dad," Rey chimed in. "We look out for each other." They were silent for a few minutes, none of them certain of what to say until Soren had enough. They needed something – anything – to lighten the mood. He sat on the edge of the container, a faint smile on his lips.

"Do you remember the first time you saw snow Rey? Dorian?" All three of them redirected their attention to the seemingly unrelated words, clinging to them as a wanted distraction. Rey and Dorian both shook their heads at first before Dorian piped up.

"It was in the old house, right?" asked Dorian. Soren nodded.

"Yeah," the eldest muttered. "The old house. We were walking up and down the walls searching for buried treasure. There was the split in the wall that we hadn't explored. Remember? So, we followed it and ended up outside right as it started snowing."

"I... think I remember that," muttered Rey. "It was by the climbing bush, right?"

"Right," confirmed Soren. "It was freezing outside, and we almost turned back if not for the snow."

"I remember. The snowflakes were huge. Almost as big as Rey," Dorian chimed in. "Not that it was hard to do."

"Hey!" Rey retorted. "I wasn't that little." Their reactions, like clockwork, shifted from frowning and sad to small grins of amusement. Slowly, the stories continued to trickle out from things Soren remembered and questions from Dorian and Rey. Brady chimed in every once in a while, but for the most part listened as the three boys talked.

Soren could see fragments of wincing smiles from Brady, as if he could see each memory play out as they talked. Slowly, the mood lightened. They talked for hours, Brady fading in and out from time to time. They would check on him, see if ne heeded anything in particular, but his answer was the same.

"I'm just glad to be here with you boys."

They ate dinner at some point, and Soren gave a more thorough check-up on Brady; and it wasn't good. His fever was spiking despite the cold cotton cloth bundles on his forehead and wrists. His breathing was more shallow than before and Soren swore the wheezing was getting worse.

Soren remembered these same symptoms from his mother. It wasn't a good sign. At some point in the night, Brady called the boys to his side, saying how much he loved them and how proud he was of them. The night was a somber one, and one they wouldn't forget.

Ashlynn had stayed up, not wanting them to be alone but feeling awkward at the same time, feeling this was something private she wasn't meant to be a part of. What pieces stood out in Ashlynn's mind was the way Rey came out, sniffling and stifling soft whimpers. She sat on the ground and watched him curl up in her hand.

The human did what she could to offer comfort, rubbing his shoulders with the tips of her fingers as delicately as she could. It was so easy to forget how small he was for how much personality he had shown since being here with her.

She knew it was difficult and that the morning would be even worse; but, for now, she let her fingertips stroke the boy's back and cradle him until he drifted off to sleep.