ALL NOVEL Ch. 2.59 Epilogue
59.
Naomi passed the straining plate over to Marcus, smiling graciously as her husband took it. Thick slabs of meat smothered in rich gravy, the heady aromas filled the small dining room as her family and closest confidantes ate dinner. Alan was there, presentable for once in clean clothes. He smiled and laughed as he chatted with both of her daughters at once, holding two separate conversations at the same time.
The man had been a revelation once he had acclimated to his surroundings. There was a festive air to him, a joy of life that pressed back on the hardships that surrounded them all. He spoke of his son with wonder and awe, always using the present tense as if there was no world in which Cameron could be dead.
Naomi wished that he would never have to face that harsh reality. So many were gone and the odds of his son living through the past months was just too extreme. She’d be there to help him when the loss finally settled on him, steering him away from the madness of grief. And being prepared to do what was necessary if that madness overwhelmed him.
Already in a month he had surged to become the second strongest person in the mountain community. He led several small groups, alternating them through as they grew tired while his energy never wavered. A true leech. It wasn’t an attractive class name, but it was powerful. Lots of skills that allowed him to absorb mana, strength, vitality. He could heal as fast as he took damage, every one of his punches growing in strength.
Marcus and the girls had been shocked when they watched him strip his shirt off for the first time and fight in just shorts. Every inch of his body was a weapon, sapping away with every strike. Alan never said what exactly his base build was, but Naomi had watched carefully. Dexterity, durability, and vitality were her educated guesses for his top three.
Speed to close the distance, the ability to take the damage he needed to begin his chain of attacks, and the vitality required to keep healing. Willpower was low, his sanity was frayed and trembling on its last legs. No matter how much he smiled and laughed, she couldn’t stop remembering the beast he had been.
“Love, why so dour?” Marcus chided, nudging her and leaning in close. There was no true privacy in a room filled with Acolytes. They had finished their evolutions over the last few days, the cream of the crop and her closest allies the first to breach the bottleneck.
Key members of the community would go next. The farmers and crafters and some of the defense force who were required to protect the settlement when the fighters were gone. Slowly Naomi would work her way to the bottom levels of the settlement and all those who had yet to find their niche.
“Just thinking of what’s going on outside of our walls,” she replied, offering Marcus a wan smile.
“Nasty is what it is. I have nightmares of our trip up here.”
“We were lucky to find you all,” Mrs. Park said solemnly. A quiet descended over the table as palpable aura of remembrance and fear filled the room. Naomi felt for them, this was the scariest thing they had ever experience. Yet, part of her wanted to snap at them for being so weak.
She had lived through the true horror of watching her family die. There had been no safety for her, no community to welcome her with open arms and protect her and guide her. The memories were deep scars that brutalized her psyche and only the sight of her smiling, laughing, living children could soothe those aches.
“So, you all met as you left the city?” Alan asked, leaning back and placing his interlocked fingers over his flat belly.
“She saved my granddaughter from a lizard-thing.”
“Nia did the saving. It was a perfect shot,” Naomi said as her daughter ducked her head as a wave of adoration echoed around the table.
“That’s good luck there. You’ve been a guardian angel to so many people, Naomi.” Alan’s content look flickered and a hint of suspicion and paranoia slithered across his face in an instant. If she hadn’t been looking she wouldn’t have noticed it.
“It is not luck that we save those who need it. All are welcome as long as they obey the rules of the settlement.” The entire table joined voices as the second half the sentence was still rolling off her tongue. She repeated the mantra every time a scouting party went off to prowl the mountain valleys and roads.
“All of you laugh, but it’s a good sentiment,” Naomi defended herself with a quick smile and a swing of her empty fork at the group. The dinner dissolved into simple talk for a while and then naturally broke up. Cleanup was just dishes, all of the food had been consumed down to the last morsel as the new appetites of the Acolyte’s was rearing its ravenous head.
Alan lagged behind, letting Mrs. Park and Iseul and the others leave in front of him. It was evident he wanted a word and the others were gracious enough to leave promptly. Naomi had a feeling she knew what this was going to be about.
“Naomi, I just want to thank you for taking me in. You probably saved my life out there and I don’t have the words to express how deeply grateful I am to you for that.”
“But?”
“But…I want to find my son,” Alan let the facade of happiness and joy fall away and she see the deep yearning in him. It was a wound that would not heal with him sitting her relatively safe and fed.
“Fine. I’ll be joining you though.”
“You don’t have to do that.”
“Yes. I do.”
“It’s like that?”
“Alan, you’re a dangerous man. When we found you, you were on the brink. I don’t want to see you tip over that edge.”
“He’s alive. I know he is.”
“I pray that he is. But I’ll still be going with you.”
“Couple days enough time for you to get everything in order here?”
“Yes. Let’s say day after tomorrow. You, me, and a few others.”
“Marcus and the kids?”
“No. They’ll be staying here.”
Alan looked at her for a moment and that wellspring of anxiety and fear slowly closed and his normal cheerful expression showed back up.
“Alright. Day after tomorrow we can head up North.”