Rodentia Adventures

CHAPTER 2: THE JOURNEY BEGINS!

"I'm not!" he replied.. 

"Whew, I'm glad that's settled. Now, if you'll excuse me..." the mother hummed, returning to her work, a small heart-shaped mass of red knitted yarn. The two siblings stared at her for a moment, expecting a more solid contribution to the debate which would never come. After a few moments of awkward silence, the older brother finally spoke up once more. 

"Look, can you please tell that daughter of yours that she's not allowed to go off on a suicide mission?" Aaron asked in an exasperated tone. Half her height taller than Jerin and over twice as wide, the light brown mouse did his best to sound calm and patient, but he was clearly fighting a losing battle. 

Marrun, The mother once again looked up from her project with both eyes this time, which meant that the matter was clearly a serious one, her brow just a little bit furrowed. "Now, Jerin, you know how I feel about suicide missions..." 

"Yeah, yeah, I know." the younger mouse said, rolling her eyes, apparently this being a conversation they've had many times before. "...but it's not a suicide mission! It's a regular mission!" 

"It's a 'regular mission' that's going to get you killed." Aaron said. 

"Maybe it would for most mice, but I have this!" she said smugly, pulling the sword from her belt, which despite being dragged through all manner of filth within the underground tunnels still has an almost unnatural gleam to it. 

"My word! That's quite the nice magical sword you have there!" the gruff voice of her father said, leaning over her shoulder to examine it. It was a simple motion on his part, as he was already leaning on a walking stick. He didn't require it, of course, but it was all part of a clever retirement plan that he had concocted many months ago. His fur was of a similar grey to that of his spouse, body similarly small, if anything even more gaunt and thin, not quite matching the image that one would have expected from the strength of his voice alone. 

"Nobody is denying that it's a nice sword. Still, she can't be going off on some ridiculous quest at her age!" Aaron said. 

In response to this, his father smiled a soft and knowing grin. "If I remember correctly, you were no older than her the first time you picked up your sword and shield, and went off seeking adventure." 

"I know! And it went terribly!" The older brother took a deep breath, lowering his head,, forcing a more diplomatic tone. It didn't come easily. He turned back to his sister. "Look, I understand, you want excitement, and want to make things right, but it takes a lot more than a piece of pointy metal and blind optimism to change the world. You don't need to change the world right now, either... the world isn't going anywhere, and one day, when you're older, stronger and much, much wiser, you'll be able to do whatever you want." 

The younger sibling had similarly calmed down, just a little. "Older, wiser and stronger, huh?" she asked, paws folded about her chest, sword held under one arm and angled to rest against the floor. "Like you? You're older, you say you're smarter, and you're really strong. Why aren't you changing the world? Or are you okay with how things turned out?" she had added that last bit with a little extra venom in her voice. 

The older brother slumped his unusually broad shoulders. He dwarfed the sibling in sheer stature, but now looked thoroughly defeated. "You know I'm not, and if I thought that there was a chance, any chance of success, I'd be right there with you, but there isn't. You'll just die for nothing. You said it yourself: I'm stronger than you, and if I can't do it, what makes you think that you can?" 

Jerin looked him in the eyes, and coldly replied. "Because someone has to, and I'm the only one willing to try." 

Darren, the silver furred father clapped his son on the shoulder, no small feat when one considered the height difference along with his naturally bent body. "Whelp, it sounds like that's settled. You gave it a good shot, but the heart wants what it wants."