This was likely true on the one hand, seeing as Dagan was meant to be home before supper. It was also likely that, after a few hours of tardiness, his mother and father and all of his siblings still living at home would have assumed he’d stopped in at the winery and gone home with someone from there, never to be found until morning.
Which, well, that last part was true, anyhow, if not the bit about going home with someone. Dagan was almost proud of himself for a moment. “Thad, you are a giant among councilors. That said, I’ve made this particular drunken walk plenty of times without incident in my life, so I’m sure I’ll be fine.” He glanced around, toward a small knot of people, Mina included, who may or may not have been watching him. Waiting for him.
Dagan cleared his throat. It had been a triumphant return home so far. No point ruining it with a half-assed sexual exploit now, was there? “Though,” he added, “I’d be grateful if you could walk with me to the end of the market.”
Thad looked over his own shoulder toward the knot of young people, frowning. When he turned his sharp gaze back to Dagan, there was a question in it.
Dagan just smiled as brightly as he could. “Don’t want anyone thinking I need an escort,” he half-lied.
“Ah, well, yes, then. Glad to help.” Thad started walking.
Dagan followed, heaving his pack onto his back and checking that his pouch, official scout badge and all, was still in place. He’d made quite enough of an ass of himself in front of his betters for one night, thanks very much. No need to compound the offenses.
*
“Oh, you’re home after all!”
Dagan opened one eye, prepared to tell whoever it was to fuck right off. He couldn’t have slept more than two hours, and everything was so bright.
Iason, the eldest of Dagan’s siblings still living at home, leapt onto his bed. They wore their loose shirt and shorts as if they’d just crawled out of their own bed, and yet they were chirpy as a lovebird. “You’re home!” they shouted. “We didn’t hear you come in. Nika said you were probably waylaid by someone who wanted a lay.”
Dagan reached up and covered Iason’s mouth with one hand. “Too much talking.”
Iason batted his hand away and giggled. They were slight, long-limbed, and ethereal in body; Dagan was shorter, but he could take them. He said, “I will wrestle you to the ground if you don’t stop chirping at me.”
Iason bounced off the bed. “Fine! Missed you too!” And then they flounced out of the little room.
Ah yes, good to be home again. What was life without the chaos of a massive, rowdy, busy family? There were 10 children in the family, in all, with Dagan directly in the middle of the birth order. Technically, he still lived at home, which made him the oldest there, but practically he was gone for moons at a time for training. And now for scouting.
Real, actual scouting. He’d done it. Four years of his life, working, learning, hoping. Soon, it’d be just him and the forest.
By the forest gods, that sounded so peaceful. He could hardly wait, and he’d only just returned home.
“Dags!” someone yelled from the common room. “You’re home? Get out here for breakfast!”
Dagan groaned and stretched. His calves were sore; ugh, had he danced last night? Felt like he’d danced. He should’ve come home, drank a bucket of water, and eaten a good meal, but no. He’d been an idiot, instead.
He was getting too old for this. Sure, 20 wasn’t that old, but on mornings like this it felt old.
“Dagan!” someone else yelled.
“Coming!” He rolled out of bed and pulled on a clean shirt. The grime of the forest path felt like a second skin, but a bath would have to wait. “I’m coming, already!”
When he emerged into the common room, Iason was already dressed and playing board games with Nika. Nika abandoned the game to hug Dagan, saying, “We missed you!”
“Missed you too,” he told them as he pulled back. Were they still growing? “I swear you’re taller.”
“I wish,” they laughed. “Mother has breakfast ready. She just made strawberry preserves and everything.”
At that, Dagan began to feel a little more awake. He ducked into the kitchen, a huge space, always warm and full of people and food. Korina, another teenage sibling, carried a plate of some kind of flat cakes stacked high in one hand. She paused to kiss his cheek as she passed on her way to the common room. “Morning, Dags!”
The rich, sweet smell of nut meal and honey followed her, and Dagan’s stomach rumbled loudly.
“My sweet boy, there you are.” His mother, a pleasantly round, beautiful woman—though he may have been biased, seeing as he had her eyes—came to him with hands outstretched.
Dagan took them and leaned in to kiss her. She smelled of honey and berries and a million good things that instantly set him at ease. “I hear there’s strawberry preserves?”
“So single-minded.” She patted his face and went up on her toes.
He ducked so she could kiss his forehead. She was a few inches shorter than him, and he was no giant, himself. “I’ve been accused of that before, but not about preserves.”
Another pat to the cheek and a little cluck of her tongue, “Tsk,” and she laughed. “I’ve missed your face.”
It might’ve seemed unlikely, seeing as she had five other children still living at home, not to mention the older four scattered around the conservancy nearby. Only Alonza had moved away, and that must’ve been over a decade ago, by now. But Dagan believed her, anyhow, because his mother was the single most affectionate human he’d ever known; if anyone could have enough love for ten children, it was certainly her. “I missed yours too,” he said with a smile. “Can I help?”
She placed a large wooden platter laden with fresh bread and the coveted preserves in his hands and patted him on the butt to send him back into the common room.
As each other member of the household appeared around the table, they greeted and hugged Dagan: father, then Alexia and Erron, the youngest in the family. Finally, when they were all gathered, everyone tore into the flat cakes, preserves, fruit, and bread, and of course pot after pot of mint tea to go around. Dagan, still exhausted from last night but content as he’d ever been, sipped his tea and nibbled his cakes and preserves quietly, letting the chaos and noise of home wash over him pleasantly, like a light, refreshing rain on a hot day.
Long after they finished breakfast, the siblings sat around the table, catching Dagan up on the gossip he’d missed while out on the trail. They were only interrupted by a knock at the door, which seemed to send them all in different directions. Korina and Iason jumped up to help Mother and Father clean the kitchen, while Nika, Alexia, and Erron darted off to whatever projects they had for the day—Alexia and Erron, in particular, whispering a little frantically. What were they up to? Probably nothing good. They rarely were.
Dagan, who had nowhere to be and nothing to do, thankfully, just wanted to go back to bed. Instead, he answered the door.
Mina stood on the step, pretty in a bright yellow vest and skirt, hair braided neatly over both shoulders.
“Hello, sweetness.” Dagan smiled and stepped back, gesturing to invite her in. “We’ve just finished breakfast, but we didn’t entirely demolish the bread and preserves, if you’re interested.”
“Actually, I wondered if we could go for a walk?” she asked.
