Hineni lets his hand rest on the walls of the house.

As far as he can recall, he had spent all of his early years here, nested between them. Then, after the incident and his currently missing memories of his later childhood, it is the place that he had returned to. These walls sheltered him, protected him. But they also hid him away from the world.

This is the home his mother, the woman who had tried to sacrifice him as a baby to the owl-god, but had a change of heart. It's the place she had brought him to keep him safe. It is the home that his father, a man who has no blood relation to him, had tried to raise him in, here in this unsuspecting quiet, dumpy neighborhood.

For years, the house had held many secrets and it still guards just as many more that are yet to be revealed.

— But secrets of the past don’t matter when you have people to take care of today.

He lets his fingers slide down the old wall. Hineni is still undecided if he should sell the structure or not when they move. Financially, it is probably the wise decision to make.

A part of him hangs onto it though. After all, it’s the only home has ever known. Good memories were made here, albeit mostly only recently. But maybe that itself is the reason to go?

Good memories can be made anywhere else, especially with the people who he has with himself. The money would be good. This house is big and as an established guild, he’ll certainly find a willing buyer ready to kick his door down to pay any price he can name. But even without the money from the sale, they already have more than enough.

A part of him does get cold feet about the whole prospect of a move. There’s so much involved in it. But he knows that he can’t back out now. Not only has he talked too big of a game already by asking all of the others, but it just doesn’t make sense to stay here for the life that he wants for them all.

Hineni closes his fingers and knocks against the wall once, just to let the old house know that he’s decided.

The house doesn’t respond. After all, it would be weird if it did. But he feels like he owes it at least a heads-up of some kind.

Even if it doesn’t make any sense.

It is what it is.

“This is damn nice, Rhine,” says Hineni, looking at the finished necklace that Rhine has finally completed after months of work. “You did good.”

- [Golden Amulet]{Follower of the Owl-God} -

- Quality -

High

- Composition -

Gold: 99.9%

Impurities: 0.1%

- Quality Effects -

+05% SOUL

+03% to all STATS A small, hand-made, golden talisman in the shape of an ornate, woody tree with a flush crown. The tree and the leaves are highly detailed. ‘Made by Rhine - The River-Wizard, follower of the Owl-God’ Weight: 0.1kg Durability: 20/20 Value: 3330 Obols

“Thanks,” says Rhine, rubbing the back of his head. He looks tired. Hineni supposes he has been working himself to the bone, between the forge and the dungeoneering and then this project here. “I’m glad I finally got it done,” says Rhine as he wipes a strand of hair that had come loose from his tied up bun out of his face. “But, actually…” Rhine rubs his arm. “I’m kind of scared now, you know?”

“What do you mean?” asks Hineni, putting the necklace back down.

“Well, what if… I dunno, what if the thing I want to ask for is stupid?” says Rhine. “Or if she doesn’t want to do it?”

“I’m sure there’s a lot of leeway here,” says Hineni. “You worked your butt off on this, Rhine. She knows that. I’m sure that whatever your thing is, she’ll do her best to get as close as she can,” he says. "And if she doesn't, which isn't gonna happen anyway, I'll put a word in for you."

Rhine looks at him and then nods, picking up the necklace and then tucks it into his pocket, patting it. Hineni watches him get up, noticing that there’s a familiar, steeled confidence in his eyes. It reminds of the prideful look that he had, when he had put out the fire in the kitchen, after breaking into the house upon their first real meeting.

“I know it’s none of my business,” starts Hineni, his curiosity getting the best of him. What could Rhine possibly want to exchange this to Obscura for? New abilities? Some sort of power-boost? A haircut? What would have made him want to put all of this effort into this project? “Don’t answer if you don’t want to. But wh-”

“- I want her to fix my mom,” says Rhine, standing there with his back still turned to him.

Hineni blinks, staring for a moment. The forge is quiet. “…Rhine,” he starts, shaking his head.

“- She didn’t use to be like that!” explains Rhine, quickly. “She used to be a really great person! But then…” He lowers his gaze. “But then my dad died and she just… she just changed, you know?” He looks over his shoulder, back towards Hineni. “- But if someone can change one way, they can also change back, right?” he asks with a hopeful voice, his returned vision betraying the soft-dampness that was hidden beneath the aquamarine surface of his steeled eyes.

Hineni exhales, looking around the forge, before staring back at Rhine as he tries to think of what to say here. This isn't what he was expecting.

“- I don’t want to stay here either. I want to go and live somewhere else with everyone too,” says Rhine, his voice cracking. “But I can’t just…” Rhine clears his throat and looks back forward, discreetly trying to rub his face dry. “- I can’t just go if she’s not going to be okay.” Rhine stands there, stiff as a board, his hands clenched by his side as he stares away and towards the door to the forge, paralyzed. "That's not what a man would do, right?"

Hineni walks over to him, putting a hand on his shoulder.

“Rhine, you listen to me,” says Hineni. “I mean it when I say that you’re the best man that I’ve ever known.” He squeezes Rhine’s shoulder, finally understanding now.

Rhine, in a desperate bid to fill the void left in their family’s life by his father’s absence, had in the past thrown off of himself the full mantle of his own childhood, far too early, in order to adopt the title of manhood that was far too large for him to carry. This is why the full title of ‘wizard’ had always been important to him. He hadn’t chosen to work and to be this person out of a deep need to fuel a powerful ego that seemed inherent to the caricature of ‘Rhine, the river-wizard’. That was just the veneer. It was also not because of a need to physically provide that had forced him to do so.

It was simply all a desperate bid to get back something that had been lost for a long time. After all, one has to be a man in order to be a wizard. Perhaps the claim, stemming from the opposite direction, could have the same effect? Whether this is all warranted, justified or even sensible to want or think is perhaps up for debate for the more logical minds of the world. But the heart is often hard to argue with.

“- I just…” Rhine’s throat makes an odd sound as he clenches his teeth and fist, fighting down a squeezing of his throat. “- I just want my mom back!” admits Rhine. Hineni continues to stand there, holding his shoulder as he doesn't really know how to act in this situation. Rhine turns around, hiding his face in his chest. “I -” his voice breaks as Hineni feels a wetness growing on his shirt.

“- I know,” consoles Hineni, placing a hand on Rhine’s back. “I know,” he reaffirms, holding Rhine in an awkward dad-hug and rubbing his back, like his own father had done for him in the now, so very distant, past. Rhine cries and Hineni does his best to withstand the torrential raging of the rivers that he finds himself before, as the boy lets out what he has to let out.

— Perhaps Hineni hasn’t helped this problem? For months now, Rhine has been desperately trying to prove and assert his manhood in a bid to reach this goal. But perhaps Hineni shouldn’t have fed this fire as much as he had? Perhaps he should have just told the boy that it is okay to be just that for a while, a boy.

There is enough time left for manhood later on.

He holds the crying person and lifts his gaze up towards the ceiling of the forge tower, towards the high windows, where an owl is sitting and watching in silence.

Hineni supposes that all of them, if they had the choice, simply want a piece of their past back - But perhaps not all of it. What an odd connection for people to share.

Life is complicated very often, if you are a man, a boy, an owl-god or whoever else. “- I know,” says Hineni a third time as Rhine howls.