Natural Magic

Chapter 32 - Mending

“I’m fine,” the old kobold protested. Auntie was laid up against a rock in whatever blankets they had managed to procure for her, trying feebly to get Pithy off of her as the young kobold tried to inspect her head wound. Amerigo stood idly by, holding some soup for Auntie while the two kobolds fought for dominance.

“You’re not, Auntie. Now stay still while I try to care for you for once.”

Amerigo had managed to correct some of the damage, but she was lucky to have regained consciousness.

“How did it even happen, Auntie? I thought the orcs had all come out to fight Chicken.”

Distracted by the question, she stopped struggling for a moment.

“It was some little devil of a goblin, I think. It’s a bit foggy.” Her sentence trailed off. She resumed struggling after a breath. “But I need to get up and fix this. You won’t distract me with idle chatter, Pontifica Primrose.”

The younger kobold held her down easily. “You’ll stay down because it’s good for you. Chicken has things under control.”

She humphed and looked at Amerigo. “And what do you plan on doing with that bowl? Because I know you’re not going to try and feed me.” Despite her bedridden state, her tone was fully venomous.

He looked bashfully at the ground. He’d been bitten by sharks, stung by mollusks, snipped by crabs, and grappled by just about everything with tentacles, but it hadn’t prepared him for dealing with a frustrated Auntie.

Pithy scoffed and held a hand out for the bowl. “That’s no way to thank the person that carried you over the wastes, Auntie. Maybe if he had known how you were going to act, he would have left you there.” She spoke beyond her years when chiding the prickly elder. “You can go if you like,” she said to the gnome standing awkwardly by the bed, “I can handle her. She just has a headache and an overgrown sense of authority.”

“I am your Auntie, you naughty kobold,” Auntie said in an injured voice.

“Yes, Auntie. Now eat your soup, please,” Pithy replied.

“If anyone needs any looking-after, it’s Chicken,” she said more quietly. She caught Amerigo’s eyes again.  There was a pained  expression on her face, but Amerigo could tell that it had nothing to do with her own injuries.

“I know you, caretaker,” she said, “I may have never seen you before, but I know you like I know myself. I recognize how you give yourself to others.”

Amerigo was surprised to find he did not feel awkward as she said this. Having it pointed out, he too felt the strange kinship between them.

“Waste no more time on an old soul. I know Chicken, having raised him like so many from hatching, and this role he has assumed is… it’s hurting him.”

“Auntie!” Pithy said, abashed, “Chicken is more than capable-“ but Auntie continued firmly over the child’s chiding, silencing her.

“It is hurting him because it is not right for him. Something is pushing Chicken into things he is not ready for, things he was never meant for.”

“You mean old matron,” Pithy said. “He finally finds a calling, something more than running around in the heat and wild areas, and you can’t accept it. It’s a tough job, and it’s true he wasn’t trained up for it, but that doesn’t mean we don’t support him.”

Auntie, to Amerigo’s surprise, wasn’t angry when she looked at the young kobold.

“What Chicken did before, well…that was good for his soul. It wasn’t exactly respectable, and it might have seemed a lonely job, but it needed his full attention to do properly. Being the leader is something else, and while he’s old enough to make his own decisions, I know this job and I know Chicken. He’s got the wrong shaped heart to fit at the top, if you get my meaning, and he’s the kind to try and take parts of himself off to fit. He’ll leave himself behind just to please us, trying to do right by us.”