Zorroku and Peaches
Part 13
It was actually a relief to mark what you wanted to be taken with you and your yurt. Which fit onto a special cart pulled by a mammoth, that was, coincidentally given to you by Jaseeneh, who was named Abuna with her calf Gisi. And it was easier to simply take all of Medowne's old clothes that had simply been sized down to suit you as your new wardrobe too. While everything else you were happy to either send back to Avlar with Jaseeneh and most of everyone else, or simply let it stay there in Thunder Herd. You grabbed your favorite things from the tent so that the yurt had a beautiful blend of both Mountain Blizzard and Thunder Herd touches.
But while Jaseeneh and her son Drashaneh and Cilanthe returned to the Clan to get things ready for your family's arrival, Kakazi stayed with Lilly, insisting she needed his help with things. While Zorroku insisted on helping you himself. Which you could not and would not argue with while Shuzug and Nar always seemed to stay close too. And while one was blue and one was green, they were practically twins and soon became inseparable as they both continued to treat you more like a big sister than anything. Yotul and Bula continued to practically depend on you to keep them out of trouble, especially once they began to prank their older brothers and if it had not been for that book of riddles that they began to speak in to each other, you wouldn't have known what they were up to because otherwise, their mothers to threatened to put them back on the leashes they wore when they were toddlers.
But between Zorroku and Nar and Shuzug, they managed to get everything else, so you could focus on Ori and the mountain lion cubs and the wolf pups who never seemed to stray too far from your side. You were astounded by how quickly things could be taken down and packed up when you left with your family to go back to White Rock to move your family and their belongings from there to Avlar. And while it took a whole day of riding, you were happy and content to be back home, to show off your daughter and her very handsome father while Shuzug and Nar were happy to reset up most of your home before slipping away as Shuzug wanted to show Nar all around, specifically the huge white rock that served as a den for the black wolves of the clan. As others in White Rock simply took the fact that Zorroku never strayed from your side either as a sign of you choosing Zorroku. And for him to have his yurt connected with your own, was a sign of that union, as unofficial as it was and in the eyes of just about everyone else, your choice had already been made, despite you putting your name and your "gifts" into the invitations for the celebration that you had helped Cilanthe, Yotul and Bula write out while their husbands signed off as Mountain Blizzard sent out messengers to every clan all three were allied with.
But of course, once you got back, Bully's bitches were arguing with Khagra and Bula about Bully's children. Because Bula and Khagra wanted their grandchildren to stay with them and not go to Avlar with their mothers, because losing you and your family to Avlar was already hard enough, but they were adamant that if Bullard's widows were going to go, they were going to leave their children with them with Black Wolf Clan, because that's where they belonged. Which for Bullard's oldest kids, was easy for Burquen to simply say that Bully Jr. and Belinda were old enough to decide for themselves. Because while they were 7, and 6 respectfully, to orcs, they might as well have been middle teens as far as size, personal and mental development. Bully Jr. was adamant he was going to stay with his grandparents, and urged his sisters to do the same.
Especially since their mothers had all told them to basically get lost since they had gotten to Thunder Herd and met with others from Mountain Blizzard and the promise of their new fortune from the 8,500 pounds of salt split three ways which, Jaseeneh, for the sake of simple math made it 2,850 bricks each. And gave them each a check to be cashed at the Bank in Avlar while she wrote down the numbers on the checks so that the banks would know to get the money ready, just in case they decided to go to any other bank within the mountain city fortress.
You weren't surprised when those girls cared more about that precious piece of black paper with gold ink than anything else and cared more about exactly what such a huge sum could buy there as they got a sense of just how big of a fortune that really was. It was enough to set them up to live like Queens for decades. Because their suitors insisted was a very large fortune and one that usually was the inheritance of only the richest of orcs in Avlar. And Famire and Crelle were of the same mind set. Famire had only bore Bullard one son- Fabu who was only 4, but was the equivalent to a 8 or 9 year old human. While Celle had only given Bullard a daughter who was now only 3 but was not much different than a 6 year old human.
And it incensed for you to see how their mothers bickered over what was theirs in Khagra's house to pack up and take to Avlar with them while you were happy to simply take Bullard's kids with you to the gardens and away from all the distressing fighting. Which the kids were all extremely grateful for. As even Zorroku could empathize with how they were feeling when his own mother had passed and his father had moved on with Yotul, as Bullard Jr and Fabu were keen on talking to him about it and how to move on. Because Bullard Jr. could still remember all the doting of his father and all the lessos his father tried to teach him but it felt like the moment Bullard died, his own grandparents switched gears and had now started pouring everything into his infant cousins and he couldn't help but feel abandoned and resentful, which Zorroku and yourself completely sympathized and empathized with which helped Bully Jr. and Kabu make sense of the huge changes that had seemed to happen overnight with their mothers. All while you couldn't help but use Zorroku as an example to Belinda and Becina especially for what to look for in a good mate and father too.
Your own home's garden was practically stripped bare and every extra seed of every food possible was taken and you were actually astounded to come back and found that while such a small humble home always had such love and joy in it. The analogy of the pot was brought to mind. Oh how quickly you had grown out of it. And how easily you had done so too. And while you gave the now empty house, with it's bare kitchen and garden walls one last once over, it was just a house that was soon going to be filled with new occupants and their meager belongings. But they would no doubt find that it would give them the shelter it had always given you and your family. You were just happy to climb the trees one last time to pick the newly ripened and ready fruits from them while also taking as many cuttings of the branches to make new trees as possible. And while the tree itself would grow back anew, it would also be parents to yet another new garden, one in Avlar.
And it was while you were up there that you realized why you loved doing this.
It was the view.
Because while you could see most of White Rock from here. You could see the mountains beyond them where Avlar was hidden inside of as you could see the pillars of smoke rise from the tops like smoking volcanos but smiled when you knew it was just a facade to hide the cities inside. You smiled when finally, you could give into the southern wind's call to go northward to such a place.
"Finally, we get to go to our rightful home." Your mother sighed dreamily as she had climbed the trees with you as she looked over at the mountains happily too.
"It almost doesn't seem real." You murmured before you reached over to get one last peach to eat while you sat in the tree boughs as she did the same.
"I know. But it's the gods' will." She smiled.
"Do you regret marrying dad and staying here as long as we did?" You questioned her.
"While I don't regret marrying your father. I wish I would have pulled us away once we mourned Bully and Miles. Because after they died, things got worse." She admitted.
"I can't help but agree because they did." You agreed.
"But I'm happy we're out now. And hopefully, this will be as bad as things can be there. And with Grecko, hopefully he will have the heart to bring about the change that Bully always tried to bring." She admitted.
"Me too." You nodded in agreement to that.
"Well, everything else is way too small to harvest." You noted as you looked around you and could not see anything worth taking from the tree.
"I agree." She nodded as you both weaved your bodies down the tree back down to the ground as you noticed Glasha was armpit deep into a sheep to help it give birth while your brother Dastrin helped her while Marnausta with with your other brother Brunah doing the same for the goats since it was now officially the start of lambing season which would last the next 4 days or so here.
"Come on guys, let's help birth those lambs." You uged them as you brought them into the pen and helped get each ewe which you were happy to help out with yourself while Lilly was playing catch up with the other lambs to make sure they were nursing and had moms who were healthy while your brothers kept track of who gave birth to who and who belonged to who thanks to some chalk markings on their rumps. But it would be round the clock birthing since the pregnant sheep were in a covered pen to keep them close and safe as you were secretly happy that those two in particular seemed to be just as drawn to your brothers as Zorroku and his other brothers had been to you- at least, at first.
"Auntie Bella, could we sleep in your house? Our mothers are still fighting." Caruna asked tentatively.
"Of course, I'd be happy to have you." You smiled before you brought them up to your bedroom where you let Caruna, Becina and Belinda get into bed with you while Zorroku set up a second guest bed for the boys before he went to sleep in his own yurt to let you have some privacy with them before he closed the door from your upstairs to his.
"Thank you for letting us sleep with you." Caruna thanked you as she laid on the other side of Ori who was still nursing but her eyes were fighting to stay open as you were quite tired yourself from working hard with the garden and the sheep all day.
"You're welcome." You smiled as you reached up to pet her head affectionately.
"Especially when my mother's suitors keep looking at me the way they do my mom." Belinda revealed as you nearly twisted your head off your neck to look behind you at her.
"They do?" You asked worriedly.
"Yeah, it makes me feel weird." She frowned.
"Well then you really should stay with your grandparents, because if he's looking at you like he is your mom, it won't take long before he would start touching you that way too and you're way too young for that kind of thing." You urged them.
"That's what Grandma said too." She revealed.
"But what if I want to stay with you? And call you my mom?" Becina asked.
"Yeah?" Caruna asked hopefully.
"That would be up to your grandparents. They have more of a right to you than I do. But if you want to stay with me until everything is sorted out and settled with your moms and your grandparents, you're more than welcome to. But we'll see what happens between now and then ok?" You invited.
"Ok." They all readily agreed as you couldn't help but feel sorry for them. That they'd rather have you than their grandparents because even their grandparents had their hands full with Grecko's kids.
Once all the lambs and kids had been birthed, then you bought, outright, your favorites, using the very salt Rhotan had put into the chest for you. And while you didn't care if you paid more than they were usually worth, you were happy to not have to worry about the mammoth not carting all of that heavy salt themselves from among your belongings. Your siblings did the same and practically bought out Khagra and Bula's flock, the best of the best of them too. Leaving only the older, and truly undesirable behind.
But to Bully's bitches, they didn't care. They just wanted the salt and that much more money to spend at Avlar. Miles' widow's refused to have any part of the ransome part but took payment in the form of the physical salt from your hands and the hands of your siblings for the sheep and goats at least, all the while Bullard's kids continued to sleep in your yurt and stay practically glued to your sides until the very last night when Bula and Khagra came to bring them back home to unpack their things because they had to practically buy their own grandkids outright from their mothers who were showing just how selfish and greedy they really were.
But your last night at White Rock, instead of being happy, you felt restless and even slightly agitated.
"What's wrong?" Zorroku asked as he lowkey watched you pace in the space of your upstairs while he got Ori dressed and ready for bed.
"I don't know. I just...I have, not necessarily a bad feeling, but like, there's something big that I'm forgetting. And I feel like I'll be halfway there and finally remember what it is." You admitted before Zorroku began to list off everything he could think of as you were quick to answer when and how you had taken care of that.
"Maybe it'll come to you in a dream?" Zorroku offered.
"No, I feel like the matter is staring at me in the face or like a snake, hidden in the grass, ready to strike and I can't even see that it's there." You tried to explain as you felt more and more uneasy.
"I need to get some air, will you two be ok? I just...I need to take a walk and get some air and maybe it'll come to me." You offered before you slipped a robe on and some shoes before you took a lantern and walked out, to, you didn't quite know where, but you let your feet guide you while you wore a belt with weapons on them, just in case. You stopped to check in on Bullard's kids but they were already fast asleep in their beds. And while they all the girls were in one room while the two boys were in another. They were safe and sound.
"Everything ok?" Bula asked as she watched you look in on them before you could press a kiss to the crowns of their heads because as much as you loved them, they weren't yours. But that wouldn't mean that you wouldn't want to spoil them rotten while you could.
"Just worried. Trying to find the cause." You admitted before you left their rooms, satisfied that they were ok at least.
"You were always quite partial to them." Bula smiled.
"Yeah, I know." You smiled as you reached up to rub the back of your neck, wondering if you strained it, pulling those breech baby lambs and goats out of their mothers.
"So what is it?" She asked.
"I have no idea. I can't think of anything. I already asked Zushku to list off everything he could think of and I already did all of it and more. But I feel like there's just something else. Something big that I'm missing and it's like I can't see or know what it is, even though it's right there in front of me but I can't see it." You admitted.
"Well I'm sorry to say, I can't think of anything." She shook her head with an apologetic smile.
"Did they get to say goodbye at least? To their moms?" You asked.
"Yeah, one cold hug and a 'be good' before those bitches finally left." She admitted.
"There are times I wonder what Bully ever saw in any of them." She sighed before she poured you both a shot of whiskey while you both sat down at her table.
"A chance to clean his balls out." You answered candidly which got her to snicker a laugh before you joined her and laughed softly.
"You're probably right." She murmured.
"Have you said your goodbyes to everyone?" She asked.
"Yeah, I practically went door to door to do it too." You nodded.
"Well, then I can't think of anything then." She shrugged before you finished the shot in the small cup.
"Thank you for listening and thanks for letting me make sure they were all ok." You thanked her graciously as you got up and hugged her.
"I love you, thank you for doing all you ever could to protect me and my family." You thanked her.
"You're welcome Sweetheart. If you're happy, then I'm happy." She smiled as she hugged you back and kissed your cheeks as you did the same.
"I wish Bullard would have listened to you." She offered.
"Me too. But we can't change the past. Only do what we can for the future. And I have no doubts that his kids are better off here than they would be with their own mothers, sadly." You offered before you finally let go.
"Well, I hope you always know that you're more than welcome to come back and see them, and all of us of course." She warmly invited.
"Thank you. And I hope you know that you and every other member of your family are welcome to do the same. Especially those guys." You nodded over to the bedrooms that Bullard's kids took up.
"I know they are. I have a feeling they might stay close to you as long as they have the chance to be." Bula offered.
"And I'll always be happy to have them." You smiled.
"Good night." You offered.
"Good night." She offered before you saw yourself out. But now that you were out. The nagging feeling returned, this time, much more pointedly. So you just decided to go where the feeling was leading you.
"Bella? Are you ok? What are you doing?" Shuzug asked as you passed as he was rooming with Nar and his tent outside the village's borders with everyone else.
"No, I'm not ok. But I don't know what's wrong either. I just...I have a feeling there's a snake in the grass." You answered
"Where?" Nar asked as he looked down and brought the lantern down to the ground to inspect the grass around you.
"No, not physically, metaphorically." You tried to explain.
"Well, we should go with you." Shuzug insisted.
"No, I need to be alone. I feel like I won't see it if there are too many people looking for it. I need to get to the right spot and then be still, be quiet, and wait and listen." You excused as you waived them off.
You just kept walking until you found yourself at the very spot Bully took you to have a picnic at the night before he left and the moment you realized you were in the spot, you couldn't bear to stand and just sunk down your knees and finally let a sob wrack through you.
"Hey it's ok, it's ok." Came a voice that you didn't dare open your eyes to find the source of, because you didn't want the source of the voice to vanish if your eyes opened before you felt them settle down next to you and wrap their arms around you as you- beyond belief, reached out to hold them back as they felt so real. You had done everything you could to avoid this spot in daylight for the last two years and you hadn't gotten a chance to come here before you went to Thunder Herd. But it would figure that here, all along, was Bully's spirit, just waiting for you to come back here because apparently, you two had some unfinished business.
"No it's not." You sobbed.
"Yes it is. It's been two whole years Bella. Even for you- it's been long enough." He reassured you as he kissed the crown of your head.
"Bully, I wish you never left." You cried as you buried your face into the crux of his neck and shoulder as he was somehow sitting on the ground, with you in his lap as you wrapped yourself around him. The same way you had done most of your life as the feel of his arms circled tightly around you was a sensation you had forgotten could feel so soothing and comforting. Here you had done all you could to soothe and comfort everyone else when it was you- you never really got soothed and comforted yourself.
"Me too. You have no idea how frustrating it's been watching everything go on from where I am and with me having no power to do anything about it." He admitted as he held you and rocked you, the same way he had done your whole life.
"I'm so sorry about your kids. Their mother's..." You tried to excuse.
"I know. I chose poorly. I went for the quick and easy fix of blue balls waiting for you and the quick and easy fix ended up costing me everything in the long run." He admitted.
"But, they are now at an age where they can start to see and really think for themselves. I have a feeling, that once you leave for Avlar, they'll follow you home and try to claim you as their mother instead, because those bitches will be too busy leaching new blood from a new host to have new litters anyway." He admitted.
"Like the fleas they are." You quipped as you and him both chuckled as it felt so divinely good to be held like this by him, even if it was one, last time. This was why you couldn't find peace before leaving here. Because you had yet to say goodbye to the one person whose spirit remained here.
"So have you been here this whole time?" You asked.
"No, I've been with you this whole time. But when I saw Zorroku and his full brothers, I recognized their mother's spirit in them. And knew who they were and why they were there and I knew it was time for you to finally get the freedom you've been owed your whole life." He offered.
"I feel like at any moment, I'm going to wake up and it will have all been a dream and you'll be coming on the horizon with the freed slave girls you gave your life trying to rescue." You admitted.
"No, I'm sorry to always be disappointing, but where I have failed, obviously Zorroku has succeeded. And he will continue to succeed where I have failed." He praised with a contented smile in the tone of his voice.
"I wish you would have been given the chance to try to succeed yourself." You offered before you simply opened your eyes and rubbed your cheek into the same shirt he had been wearing that night.
"Me too. But hopefully, my own children will get to do so for me. I have a feeling you'll still be that motherly aunt to them, if not the mother to them I always wished you could have been." He offered hopefully.
"A second mother if your bitches wouldn't be so bitchy about it." You offered which got him to bark a laugh.
"Yeah, I agree. You've always been a far better mother to them than all of their birth mothers ever were combined. One of the many things I've always loved about you." He admitted.
"Have you shown yourself to them?" You asked.
"I've shown myself to my children and given them the peace and closure and instruction they've needed and wanted. And I've just been waiting, just for this. Just for you, because it was the least I could do." He offered.
"The one time you wait, and you're..." You couldn't bring yourself to say the words.
"I know. Ironic isn't it? But the afterlife is just nothing but more waiting." He smiled.
"But what about Miles?" You asked.
"Oh, he didn't need to wait. He always had his affairs in order before he even had affairs to start with." Bullard admitted.
"True." You had to admit.
"I have missed you." You admitted.
"I've missed you too. And while my children have always been a source of pride and joy, they would have been worth waiting for- if they had come from you- from the start. But sadly, we can't go back and change anything about the past. Only do what we can in the present and do what we can in the future." He admitted.
"Speaking of the future, any advice you can give from the other side?" You asked.
"Nope. You've already made your choice. And it's the best one you could have ever made. You have another man, with the same heart condition I always wished I truly had, both in ideals and in practice. Your daughter is adorable and she may be small now, but man, is she mighty." Bullard appraised.
"So you're not..." You began.
"Nope. If anything, I'm proud and relieved. As is Medowne." He admitted before a woman, in very clear Yellow River Clan clothing came and knelt next to you.
"Medowne?" You asked as you looked at her.
"Hi Bella. I'm here, I've been following you since Zorroku came and found you himself. Thank you very much for taking Orianna as your own. I hope you don't mind, I've been steering her towards you since I died and met Bullard here. And he had nothing but the highest praise. I hope you don't mind, but I was so desperate for Orianna to not join me, because I have enough of my little ones here as it is. But I helped steer Arob and him towards you."
"No, I don't mind. She's wonderful and I'm happy to have her. I'm just sorry that you're not here to..." You began.
"Don't worry about that. Just focus on the here and now. That's all I would ever want you to do. And Orianna is finally free, and happy and healthy now. It's like she got a second rebirth the moment you came into her life. Where she was finally given a do over in every respect. And I'm so happy that she has you now. She's been waiting all her life for you. And now that she has you. She won't let go. And I'm happy and content with that. And I know Zorroku will do the same. And I'm happy that he will finally have everything he's always needed and wanted. Which is a family, and peace in his house and love in his heart and faith in his spirit. All of which have been missing in his life before now too, which you have given him reason to have once again. So from the bottom of my heart, thank you. Now, I'll leave you to say your last goodbyes, before he too can be fully free himself. As can I now." She smiled as she came and kissed your cheeks and hugged you before she walked away, vanishing into the night before you finally looked over at Bullard, who looked like he hadn't aged a day since you last saw him.
"See? You were right to resist me. Because if you hadn't, you wouldn't be free to be with Ori and Zorroku." He smiled.
"I still feel like..."
"Nope. You did the right thing. You did your best to talk some sense and reason into me. Even when I was senseless and unreasonable. And next time, I know I will listen and heed you. Next time, My Beautiful Belladonna. Next time around, I'm sure we'll get it right next time. Because it's you who I have missed the most, more than life itself." He smiled before he reached up to cup your cheek as you leaned into his touch as you were reluctant to move, because you didn't want this to end anytime soon before you reached out to hold his own face in your hands, tracing his features, committing his face to memory before finally kissing him the way he had tried to kiss you that night as the rest of the campsite he had pitched that night practically came to life as the kiss progressed and suddenly, you were in the hunting tent Bullard always used for hunting. You didn't care if you were going to lose your virginity to Bullard's ghost, you were going to enjoy every heartbeat of time you could get. He tasted the same, the felt the same where you could count and remember by heart every little detail about him. You found your sweet release as Bullard did the same before you simply held him over you because you didn't want to let him go for anything.
"That was definitely worth the wait." Bullard smiled before he kissed you sweetly.
"Can you show me the next time?" You asked before he kissed your forehead. And you got to see it, where you were part orc this time, but where Bullard had waited, and he waited and waited for you. And while he was no longer the Clan Chief's son, he was still high ranking. And how the two of you started a clan all your own. And the house you built together was beautiful and colorful and how you were both the best cook and also one of the better artisans of the clan, working with pearls and seafood shells for jewelry and as decoration for other things. But how the clan you both would found would be just the kind of clan Bullard always wanted to have, with very high and fine honor. Where no being was ever mistreated. Where Miles and Lilly actually got to be together too and would actually sail out to sea on great big ships and even get to have cities in the mountains where you would do a majority of your business with. But your first born son would find a very beautiful wife too, who was fiery in spirit, yet heavenly in appearance and personality too and that their children would be a new kind of orc and that their grandchildren would be rulers in their own rights. But that both Bullard and yourself would be perfectly happy and content with each other and only each other and have so many kids, you needed a very long table to have them all sit around for dinner.
"Worth the wait?" Bullard asked once he pulled away.
"Worth the wait." You agreed.
"Goodbye Bella, I'll see you on the other side." He said before he kissed you one last time and when he pulled away, you opened your eyes to see that you were still kneeling in the spot you had been before as you looked around and while your tears had long since dried up. You felt Bullard's presence leave one last embrace with you as you closed your eyes to see Bullard now kneeling in front of you and hugging you as you gave him one last hug goodbye.
"Goodbye Bullard. I love you." You breathed out.
"Goodbye Bella. I have always loved you too. And next time, I promise to prove it and show it to you by waiting." Bullard promised before he and his touch finally departed.
You opened your eyes to see two huge seashells in each palm. A special tree starting to grow in each one as you smiled and tears came down your cheeks to see them before you looked down to see a third in front of you as you carefully cradled all three to your chest with one arm while your hand grabbed the lantern and walked back to your yurt as peace and ease came back to you, as you now, felt free to leave this place. Knowing that this place, and Bullard in particular, had given you- your own parting bridal gifts only to come back to see Zorroku asleep in a rocking chair with Ori on his chest before you put the shells down on your dresser and watered them before you got ready for bed and gently woke up Zorroku.
"Hey, everything ok?" Zorroku asked.
"Yeah, I was missing saying goodbye to Bullard, it was my unfinished business. I never got a chance to make my own peace with him when I left before. Now that I did, I feel much better. He even left me bridal gifts. And he couldn't pass on before I got them from him." You answered as you pointed to them.
"Are those abalone shells?" He asked as he helped transfer Ori from his chest to yours.
"I guess." You shrugged.
"I've only seen them on raids with clans who could get them from the other clans on the coasts. Huh." He noted as he looked at them curiously.
"What's growing in them?" He asked when he saw the saplings.
"I don't know. I have a feeling we'll find out when I plant them back at home in Thunder Herd." You shrugged.
"Come on, let's get into bed and get some sleep." You urged him before he obediently followed you into bed and happily spooned you while you fell into a blissful sleep as dreams of the here and now treated you to a blissfully happy future with Zorroku and Orianna and your future family together.