When Em Matte stepped into The Eye, she connected the waking world with the mortal ones. Her death led to Union Day, a day in which all the galaxy was suddenly, and sometimes tragically united. Now everyone must struggle to survive and rebuild in a...
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Days bled into weeks. Desperate searches turned more and more futile with each passing hour. By the time a month rolled around, Tine was no longer even trying to find Em anymore. When he woke in whatever world it was, he drank until he could no longer see anything. His dreams were the only place he could be with her. Waking was torture.
He was at the table in the sitting room at the Keep one day, half a bottle in when the door opened. Odette stood in the doorway for a moment, looking around the gloomy mess with Orac on her hip. Her face was full of fury as she marched over to him and plucked the bottle from his hand. She set it down on the other end of the table and went back, holding the baby boy out to Tine.
"Odette, I can't..."
"She was my daughter!" Odette snapped as she put Orac into his arms, her hands holding Tine's in place as she said, "I'm going back to Earth and to The Eye. Everyone here will help you when they can, but these children need you. Dina is in Rahi with Serith; she will be back tonight."
With that she stepped back. As soon as her hands left him, the baby turned towards her, his face contorting for a moment before he started to wail. Tine had never even seen him cry before, but now he was shrieking, his tiny fists clenched onto Tine's shirt as tears poured from his eyes.
"Odette!" Tine called, but the woman did not come back. "Shhh," Tine said, awkwardly patting Orac's back. He stood, swaying slightly as he made his way towards the door, but Odette was nowhere to be seen. "Come on, please stop crying," Tine said, bouncing the baby slightly.
Going back into his quarters, Tine walked the floor with the little boy, trying desperately to sooth him when a thought popped into his head. Sitting down, he awkwardly took the boy's hand and put it on his then signed, "Father is here. You're okay."
To his surprise, the boy signed back, "Grandmother."
"Grandmother is gone for a short time," he signed back. "I'll keep you safe." The boy's tears slowed into sniffles and he rested his head on Tine's chest, his hand still holding Tine's.
Tine had fallen asleep on the windowsill seat, the baby resting on his chest when Dina tapped on his arm. "Father?" she said softly.
Tine opened bleary eyes to see her standing in front of Serith, who looked no kind of pleased. "This place is filthy," she said matter-of-factly. "Drith told me it was bad, but I little expected to find a landfill in here."
"I can help you clean," Dina said eagerly, looking back at her, then hurrying over to the table, where she started gathering dirty dishes.
"You better be glad the children like you," Serith said as she took Orac, who was still sleeping and laid him in a basket Tine hadn't noticed before. He wondered if Odette had left it or if Serith brought it in with her.
"Thanks for taking care of them," he said as he got up and popped his back.
She huffed. "You can thank me by taking a shower. You smell like death itself."
