Cassius sat in his giant wooden chair in the middle of his room, elbows resting on the armrests. His hands were folded together for his head to lay on top of them as he thought. A young boy hurried forth into the room, laughing and playing with his other brother. "Cassius! Hey, Cassius!" the boy exclaimed as he blocked another sword hit.
The man in the chair didn't move, entranced by the fire or just right out ignoring the boys. One of the boys had burning red hair and buck teeth. The other was dark-skinned with short black hair that came off of his head in soft curls. Both were holding crudely-made wooden swords in their small fisted hands.
"Cassius!" the bright-haired boy exclaimed once more.
"What?" Cassius snapped, his head finally turning. It was true, he was the most handsome man in the small village of Vell. His deep blue eyes and naturally curling brown hair were attractive to nearly every single female of the village. All except for one, Annelie.
He had been thinking through how to improve himself, already muscular with defining and striking features. She didn't want him even when he talked about himself to her, which was an anomaly. It only made him want her further.
"Missus Circe threw us out of the living room for roughhousing! Would it bother you if we fought in here?" the boy exclaimed, sweat on his forehead but a bright grin across his face. Cassius groaned lowly.
"I'm surprised you haven't killed the woman yet," he muttered under his breath. With a growl, he rose from his chair and walked over to the boys. "Since you obviously have need of improving your skills, I shall be your foe. Ernest, you take a seat for the moment being. I'll take on Kingsley here," Cassius explained to the young, dark-skinned boy.
He nodded his head, eagerly moving to the seat in which no ever really got to sit in other than Cassius himself after handing over his wooden sword. The boy, Ernest, snuggled into the warm pelts that covered it, enjoying the ready warmth. His dark eyes were on Kingsley, the red-haired boy with not a freckle covering his face, and Cassius.
The big man cracked his neck and swiped the sword through the air a few times to get his body ready. He spun, cutting the air in a single hard movement. A chuckle left his throat. I haven't done this since I was a boy, he thought.
A smirk was on his face as he turned to his foe, Kingsley. The boy had a bright flush on his face, already excited to fight the one, and the only Cassius. They swung at each other, passing the time with the play fight.
Every so often, the boys would switch out, each getting more exercise than they usually got. Fighting Cassius took a lot more energy than fighting each other. Even though Cassius fought for several long hours in the evening, he didn't tire. Instead, he spun and fought, taking it easy on the two boys, until Missus Circe herself came into the room.
She stood in the doorway of the masculine room. Her eyes moved over the pelts on the chair from an assortment of forest animal. Pride flared in her chest as she looked at the walls where trophies sat on ledges or hung in heavy wooden frames. Circe cleared her throat, an old woman with white hair and a short pudgy form. Her eyes were a soft powder blue that was alight with merry emotions she felt pouring through her chest.
"Well... I see the boys took refuge with you then? Hope they weren't too much trouble Cassius," she murmured, voice soft.
Cassius blocked a final strike from Ernest before the boy let go of his sword, sweating heavily. His eyes were on Circe and a wide smile curled his lips upward. "Of course they weren't any trouble. You would have to send the whole pack before it becomes troublesome," Cassius replied with a low chuckle.
"At least I know where to send them when they are getting out of hand then!" she exclaimed with a rich laugh. "I came here to inform you that dinner is ready downstairs, Cassius," Circe explained.
The man nodded, wiped his shirt sleeve on his forehead. "Of course. These two will need to wash up, so they had best be off," Cassius commented. The boys looked up at him sheepishly and scurried off to do just as he had said. His eyes followed them until they were out the dark wooden doorway.
"Those boys definitely look up to you, as do the rest here," Circe admitted with a shake of her head.
Cassius shrugged his shoulders and picked up the sword that Ernest had dropped. He took both of them and set them on a dark oak table. "They just look up to me because they are searching for a father figure," he stated without looking at Circe.
"Who did you look to, Cassius?" she asked, voice dropping low.
He turned to look at Circe, who had become like his mother ever since the Great Fire had swept through the smaller village next to Vell, and stole many lives. "Who do you think, Circe? It was you."
She laughed and shook her head. "Aye, I bet it was," she muttered. Circe shook her finger at Cassius before turning back to the door. "I'll see you downstairs, right?"
"Wouldn't miss it for the world," he replied easily, his voice light. He listened to her footsteps away, out the door, and down the long hall. Cassius blew out a breath and ran a hand through his curly hair, knowing she was worried about him.
There was no reason for him to leave the orphanage until he found a proper girl to marry. Until he convinced Annelie to marry him, he would spend his time in the orphanage, helping when he could.
The kids needed someone to look up to and he needed something to occupy his time. It worked out rather nicely, especially since he couldn't help but want to help the little buggers.
He lived in Missus Circe's Orphanage. It was a building that was there for orphans of any disasters. Cassius had been taken in after his family was burned in a great fire that had overcome his village in a dry spell. Their faces were blanks in his mind, never having really remembered them. He had been young, barely a year old.
Missus Circe had become his mother, his caretaker. Twenty-five years later, he helped her out, as she was growing older by the day. Though she acted as if she had all the energy as when she had been his age, she didn't. Old age was getting to her, making her movements slower than they had been before. Her back caused her great pains, whether she cared to show it or not. The children had no clue, or just a vague idea of what was wrong.
So, when he had to step in and help, he didn't mind. After all, she had done for him, it was the least he could do.
Cassius walked to the doorway of his room, looking back at the place he had made for himself there. For a long moment, he just stood there, staring. His blue eyes moved over all of the objects he had collected over the years and the pelts he had amassed by hunting ever since he could pick up a sword and properly stay quiet.
He shook his head with a chuckle at the thought of all the deer that had escaped him from his own clumsy young self. "Cassius!" a voice called from the stairs. It was a young girl, he guessed it was Marril, a five-year-old with the knack for cooking.
"Coming!" he yelled back. With one final scan of his room, he headed down the long hallway. The house was giant, the largest in Vell. After all, it had to hold twenty children from ages ranging from three to seventeen, Cassius, and Circe.
He finally arrived at the stairs to see the darling blonde-haired hazel-eyed rascal. "Cassius!" she cried out, jumping into his arms immediately. His arms wrapped easily around her and lifted her to his shoulder.
The stairs creaked as he started down. "So, what mischief have you gotten into lately? Any brilliant concoctions you've decided to grace us with at the daily dinner?" he asked her.
A giggle left her mouth, and her small hand came up to cover her mouth. Marril shook her head back and forth. "I didn't have time to do something special today. Tilly and I were trying to figure out how to fly!" the girl explained with the utmost seriousness.
"What did you two come up with?" Cassius asked her, a sparkle entering his eyes at her antics.
The girl smiled wider as she began to explain that if they were to gather enough feathers from birds and could find some wood that they used for bows, that they would be able to build a contraption. It would be able to help them fly in the clouds. Of course, they would have to wait until they had enough materials to make two of the same mechanism because it wasn't fair that one would be able to try it out without the other.
Cassius knew very well that they would lose interest in trying to fly after not even a week. They always came up with ridiculous solutions to everyday things that they couldn't do. It ranged from being able to breathe underwater, to climbing without scraping their hands and feet so terribly.
By the time her story was over they had arrived at the dining room. There was a giant table that spanned the whole room. It was old and worn, but worked like a dream. Mismatched chairs lined the sides of the table and were filled with kids and teens alike. They were all talking and laughing about whatever they had done that day.
Most of the boys quieted when Cassius entered. They squealed and began to try and get up to ask him things or talk to him. "Boys! Sit down now or else you won't get dinner!" Circe exclaimed from inside the kitchen. Her head stuck out of the doorway and had an eyebrow raised at those who tried to rise.
They instantly sat back down in their chairs, each holding a different version of a sheepish smile. Circe turned her gaze to Cassius and smiled widely. Her wrinkled face disappeared once more into the kitchen. The quiet that had taken over the room was once more interrupted with a chorus of voices.
Cassius moved to a seat and set Marril down in it. She turned to talk to a deeply tanned girl with wide, forest-green eyes. He turned away and walked to his chair at the end of the table. When he sat down Circe came hurrying out, along with the remaining older children. They all carried assortments of food. There was roasted deer, their homegrown vegetables that they harvested before winter could freeze them. So much food lined the table, and the children's mouths watered eagerly.
It was a feast, but it was for so many children, so many mouths. Each looked to Missus Circe before they did anything. She sat down beside Cassius, her light gray shirt being brushed as soon as she got comfortable. Her hands folded and she bent her head. Everyone else followed suit, even Cassius. "Thank you for the glorious meal and for the family that we've been bestowed with. Let our days be merry and times be beautiful," she murmured.
A chorus of agreement echoed after her. "Dig in!" she exclaimed. The children reached for what they wanted, filling their plants eagerly. Cassius looked at the giant table of chaos and shook his head with a smile.
It was a mess, but it was his home.
If only he had someone else to share it with. Like Annelie, he thought to himself.
With a cloth folded in his lap, he moved forward to rip some of the roasted deer for himself.