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The Gift

Edward's Intro, Part 4

copyright comidacomida 2018

Despite having trouble following him due to his thick accent, I nevertheless picked up enough to figure out what he was talking about. "You know who my dad was?"

The Wolf straightened up, no longer leaning on the door frame, and he about-faced, heading off after The Ancient One. "Ah... so NOW 'e speaks... come along, lad... yeh got lots ta laern, an' yeh already start a ways bahind."

I questioned Treboada what he knew about my dad; since the Wolf had already about-faced and was padding off after the serpent I had to run to catch up. Although he continued staring straight ahead he acknowledged my presence by rotating one of his ears in my direction. Since walking in silence didn't seem to be a problem for him, I started the conversation. "DO you know anything about my dad, or were you just messing with my head?"

The wolf let out a snort. "If yeh think ah be messin' with yeh heid, why ya followin' me then, lad?"

I didn't appreciate the fact that he wouldn't give me a straight answer; reaching out, I went to grab him by the shoulder, but my hand passed right through. At first I didn't think he realized what I'd tried to do but the faint wag at the tip of his tail made me realize he knew exactly what I'd done and he probably knew how much it pissed me off. I was done acting like a puppet on a string. I came to a stop in the empty hallway. "Tell me. Right now."

Treboada slowed, then halted. He remained facing away from me but his ear remained trained in. "Aye, bae. Ah know'a 'im... spent almost twenty years wi' th' scunner... damned beast o' a man... an' ah'd know beasts."

I was still trying to come to grips with his heavy accent and weird use of words-- I was ALMOST sure he was speaking English most of the time, but he didn't make as much sense as I would have liked. "So... is he here? Did he bring you? Did you bring him?"

The Wolf rotated until he was facing me, that same ear that had pointed forward was now pointing back, and the one focused on me remained facing me. "Nae, Ed... yeh da be may things, but 'e nay be a Seer."

Medved and Tom moved to stand on either side of me; they were much more relaxed around Treboada than they'd been around The Ancient One, but I could still tell that his presence bothered them. I wanted to ask more but I was forced to stay quiet as a lone nurse came down the hall, but the silence around me gave me the feeling that all three spirits knew more than they were saying, and I didn't like the feeling.

The moment she closed a door behind herself and the hallway was mine once again I continued the questioning. "Then where's my father? You said you knew him... that you were spent twenty years with him? So you knew him for two years before he--"

Treboada raised a paw. "Ah knew yeh da since 'e was born, but ah left 'is side after 'e put yeh in yer maw."

The matter-of-fact statement took a moment for me to digest, but once I did some major thoughts exploded into my mind, the first of which was an aggressive counter to his declaration. "You mean after he raped her."

He shrugged so casually that it only made me angrier, and his statement made no sense. "Whit's fer yeh'll no go by yeh."

Gritting my teeth, I took a step closer to him and poked Treboada in his chest with a finger; I was surprised at just how solid he was, and the feel of his firm muscle beneath his shaggy fur. Despite the unexpected solidity I pressed my point, anger far more powerful that curiosity at that point. "Start making sense, damn it!"

His tone remained unchanged and, if anything, it seemed even more condescending. "Keep yeh heid, bae. It means yeh'll get what yeh supposed'ta get."

I'd had enough. Looking around fast enough to make sure there wasn't anyone else around I focused on the Wolf and shouted at him. "So you're saying she was SUPPOSED to get raped?!?"

Looking back on the discussion I can still see how what he'd said pissed me off so much, but I still don't know what I'd planned on resolving with aiming a fist at the superior expression on his muzzle. Unlike my single finger, my balled up ones went right through his head, and not in the satisfying, skull-shattering, blood-spraying way. I spun around from the momentum not stopping and before I knew it there was a massive, furred body pressed up against the back of mine, one huge, muscular arm wrapped around my neck and the other resting atop my head, immobilizing it.

I watched as Tom and Medved immediately went from displeased indifference to downright hostility. The Bear actively snarled. "Release him, Tribesman. Now!"

The Wolf didn't respond to them, focusing on me instead. "Ah like yeh, bae... but yeh gotta learn t' hauld yer wheesht."

Tom took a step forward, a strange, sickle-like sword appearing in his upraised hand. "Let go of my nehed-- Ani lo esheal shuv."

I hadn't been exposed to much Hebrew in my childhood, but there was a certain expression my grandmother used to use all the time, and it was "I won't ask you again.", and, despite Tom having a MUCH deeper voice, and the proper pronunciation, I could tell exactly what he meant. Treboada casually loosened his hold on me, not by letting go, but by merely passing his arms right through my body until he was no longer grappling me. "The baw's on the slates, laddy... yeh gotta grow up if yeh wanna make sense a life."

I turned right back around and raised my fist again. "I want answers or--"

He didn't seemed the least concerned by my threat of violence but, the second time, I had a Bear and Rhino backing me up. He held a single paw upward, quickly interjecting "Noo jist haud on, boy-o... ah ne'er said ah wasn't gonna help but a nod's as guid as a wink tae a blind horse, lad."

I kept my first where it was and I didn't bother holding back my displeasure. "Can you maybe try talking normally?"

Treboada's fur stood on end at that and, for a moment, it felt like I'd poked a wild dog with a stick. A faint golden glow flared into being from behind his green eyes but he closed them before I could do more than take notice. His shoulders heaved for a moment as an almost subsonic growl started in his throat, but he cut it short. Opening his eyes a moment later, I heard the hollow sound of a droplet of blood hit the tiled floor; his claws had cut into his palm.

When he next spoke, I could hear his distinct accent, still present, but forcefully controlled. He opened his eyes again and the faint golden glimmer had faded away into the field of glowing green as he spoke. "Yeh gotta laern t' crawl afore yeh can walk... an' yeh gotta laern t' walk afore yeh can run, Edward."

Despite his statement being easier to understand didn't mean it was that much easier to comprehend, but what I did realize was that something in his statement left me feeling just a little lesser in the Wolf's eyes. I was struck for a moment thinking that I had to defend myself and my viewpoint but that didn't last long. I regrouped emotionally and challenged Treboada further. "What do you want from me?"

His other ear FINALLY snapped back to face me, for once giving me the impression that I had his full attention. "Th' same as th' rest."

I once again failed to get a full answer from him. "And what does everyone else want that you do too?"

It took me a moment to realize that, since The Ancient One had gone on ahead, Treboada had one ear focused on the serpent and the other was on me; I only comprehended why both ears were pointed at me when I felt the firm, iron-clad grip of the green dragon's talon on my shoulder. "For you to reach your full potential, Edward."

The day, as it turned out, was full of half-answers.