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The clock continues within the silent living room, it has for the last 17 minutes since Silver proclaimed his intentions to Baul.
He hasn't shaken his eye contact with Baul for the said 17 minutes. Before he left the cottage, Lilia grabbed him by the shoulders and told him to never show fear or uncertainty before Baul, especially when it pertains to his famil-
"You wish to court my grandson." The fae broke the silence, seated on the armchair directly opposite the loveseat that Silver had been sitting on.
Silver slowly shakes his head, making sure not to break the eye contact. "Not exactly, I wish to date Sebek before I court him."
He received, what he assumes, a hum of approval from Baul. Both men have maintained a rigid and straight posture since Silver arrived at his cottage. Paired with the uncomfortable seats, it seems impossible to relax, which is good for Silver's case since his heart rate is going so fast he can't even feel a tingle of sleep go through him during the silent standoff.
"If in the foreseeable future our dating, if he accepts, goes well, and he agrees to begin courting, I will inform you."
"I would expect that to happen regardless." Baul glares at the human.
The clock continues to tick while each man has not moved. Outside some noises of rustling fauna and forest, being the only additional white noise. Silver stares at the fae, his face intense, and still refuses to break eye contact.
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Baul sits up from the armchair, taking a deep breath and pushing off the blanket on his lap. He stood and walked over to a wall decorated with very few photos. Silver can only make out some familiar faces, such as the freshman photo of Sebek in his ceremonial robes during orientation, some group photos of Sebek with his siblings, and one of Sebek's mother smiling at the camera in her wedding dress with a Baul close to tears near her.
Baul points at one in particular, a photo of a young Sebek reading a book on his father's lap. Silver couldn't help but smile a little at the young boy looking like he's sounding out the words while his father has a hand on his shoulder.
"This is one of my favorite photos of my grandson," Baul began, regaining the attention of Silver again, "It was taken by my daughter to show me how studious my youngest grandchild is."
He takes a deep breath, "During the same time as this photo, I was before a council of Nocturnal Fae, and the topic was Sebek." He turns to look at Silver, "Due to his late manifestation of magic, the council forced us all to see them. In comparison to his older sister and brother, they had manifested their magic at a younger age than many faes do to begin with, so Sebek not following their lead was worrisome."
Silver nods, his gaze looking straight at the young boy calmly seated on his father's lap without a complaint, the same he always spent most of his years complaining and cursing at.
"They called for my daughter to go before the council, but in my mind, I knew she wouldn't be as civil about her youngest as a grandfather would be about his grandson. So I went in her stead."
The fae stands looking at the image for a while, before plucking it off the wall and walking towards Silver and handing it to him.
While Silver inspects the aged frame, Baul continues, "I remember the moment every time I see Sebek curse at himself. Maybe during that time, I shared the previous belief that his human part was a hindrance and a nuisance, the cause of his lack of magic. In that sense. My argument before the council was to simply give him time, just like eggs of fae, you cannot stress them to hatch, they take time."
During his analysis of the frame, Silver notices some more details. For example, the cold, mossy, and wet rock his father is seated on, along with Sebek's hair falling before his forehead, truly makes him resemble his father in their style. Silver also ran his hands along the frame, there is no dust, but the hinges have a tightness to them, most likely when this photo was added into the frame, it was never opened again but cleaned regularly.
"When I did leave the council, my grandson ran up to me, jumping away from his father, and proclaimed he finished half the book already. Do you know what I said next, Silver?" Baul looked pained in his expression.
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"What did you say to him?" Silver asked, an accidental hit of venom entering the question with a horrible glare paired along. Before he could apologize, Baul replied.
"Told him off for being too emotive, too human like his father." Baul looks away, breaking the eye contact battle they were having. "The tears I saw in that moment were horrible. They filled up his eyes so quickly, and his father tried to console him, but he pushed him always and trembled to try and contain his tears."
"You said that to your grandchild, your third and youngest one?" Silver shook his head, holding the photo frame gentler than he had before. "I apologize for speaking out of line, but how could you?"
Baul sighs, walking back to pick up the frame from Silver and returning it to the wall. He straightened it before going to a bookshelf nearby.
"I'm not sure why I even did that," Baul riffles through thick books within his cases, "After thinking about the instance for years, I think I can mostly connect it to me comparing him to his siblings. As you know, and most of Briar Valley, Sebek is the 3rd case of a documented Fae and Human hybrid. His siblings were the only basis to provide information about his growth, and when he didn't follow his siblings' trend of early and strong magic manifestation, I felt loss."
"Isn't it common in any field to not trust such a small group of data?" Silver begins, "Whether for battle tactic success chances to magic techniques, we need to trust a bigger pool of numbers to even come close to a conclusion."
"You are right," Baul said while taking out a thick leather book, "And to this day I regret not trusting my grandson's growth more. He developed strong magic abilities, maybe too strong for him with his smaller than average pool of magic, but he is known for not backing down." Baul smiles softly, before schooling his face and returning to a stoic face and hands the book to Silver
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Silver opens to the first page, until he stops, "Is this-"
"The letter entries he's sent to me since his freshman year? Yes." Baul replied, now returning to the armchair he was previously perched on. "I've kept every letter and photograph he's sent, and he's quite detailed with them."
When Silver reads the first letter, the recounting of freshman orientation and how hectic it was for everyone involved. He continues quickly perusing them, seeing entries about Malleus's guard duty to the earnest compliments about students, from Epel to Riddle to Vil, and even some of the cafeteria ghosts. He continues flipping and finds entries about events during his past few years at NRC. For instance, his success in helping the sports clubs during the Vargas trip in freshman year, when he decided to become the leader of the Equestrian Club when Silver and Riddle entered their 4th years, and him attending Malleus and Lilia's graduation with Silver.
Silver can't help but read them in silence for quite a while. He doesn't realize how absorbed he is until Baul coughs and he looks back at the older man.
"Is there a certain purpose for showing me this?" Silver then adds, "I appreciate this view into Sebek's eyes, but this seems like I'm breaching something private."
"Maybe so, but," Baul lets the book flip itself on a certain page, "But I hoped you would find this entry the most important."
Silver nods and looks down at his lap towards it.
Dear Grandfather,
I hope this letter finds you well, my senior project is going quite fair. I wish to thank you for connecting me with Lilia again during his "off the grid era" (I still do not understand what he means by that). Because of that, I can study the local fauna of Briar Valley with Silver.
I understand it was you, who pushed me to explore areas outside of simply using my senior year to guard Malleus, even going as far as to veto my requests to the castle to spend my two semesters there. It took some time but I am grateful for it. Lilia approving me to use the cottage as a base to study, with Silver overseeing my research was eye-opening. During this time, Silver and I were able to bond, days spent exploring the forest and foraging like we were undergoing one of Lilia's training camps. When we were younger, I remember Silver getting a fever but the herbs around the cottage provided a cooling effect for the body. I feel like I'm young again whenever I'm with Silver, like time has not changed, especially when 10 years later I am leaving the same cottage to go into the forest and collect the very same herbs for a fever he has again.
To be frank, I don't understand why you of all people had me reunite with Silver by stopping me from going into the official guard duty with Malleus this early. Since Silver decided to take a year off and recollect himself, you sent me to spend time with him. I remember his face when I showed up at the cottage with a bag of clothing, it was one of the few times he was stunned. But he quickly recovered and welcomed me, most likely due to not having a visitor for weeks or even months.
It's felt like an adventure being with him once again after not seeing him since Lilia and Malleus' graduation. He cut his hair short, quite regrettably he admits, but has grown in terms of height (but still shorter than me of course) and upped the level of workout routine for royal guards. Even with all these changes, I still see Silver as the human child of Lilia, and the first person I can think of to handle my life with.
This is quite a longer letter than I expected, but I hope my gratitude for you "meddling" with my future and relationships. I don't think I could have found Silver and be open with him, had you not threatened the post office for the castle every time I send mail to Briar Valley.
Sincerely,
Sebek Zigvolt
PS: Lilia was in fact with me when writing this letter and insisted I use "Meddling" to describe you. As he was the one who told me about your weekly visits to the Post Office.
Silver stares at the letter with his mouth agape quite a bit. Attempting to close it before letting it hang again.
"That's quite similar to the expression I had when my grandson thanked me for not letting him jump into his dream job." Baul sighs, seeing his grandson's crush currently stop functioning.
"You mean, we wouldn't have seen each other again had you not-"
"Yes yes, had I not physically gone to the only post office of Briar Valley and threatened to bite a hole through every wall if they ever let a piece of mail from my grandson reach the Castle." Baul sighs, flicking his hand to let the book close. "Also had I not seen how you both looked at each other during your graduation, I wouldn't have brought up the request to Lilia to allow you both to reconnect."
Baul stands once more, rolling his shoulder, "Now, I may be on the older end of generations, but even I can notice when someone has a look of love. After all, it's the same look my daughter's husband has every time he looks at her, the same after 25 years."
Silver stares at the closed book for a bit of time. He can't help the smile that spreads on his face, to think that the man who hated the relationship his daughter had with a human, played a little matchmaker to reunite his grandson with a human.
"I guess, all I can say is thank you, Sir."
"Do not call me Sir, until you and my grandson join the Royal Guard officially together." Baul looks at Silver to confirm.
"Yes, Sebek and I have sent in our applications and recommendations together. He even threatened to not join the guard, knowing that he won't ever know anyone as good as a battle partner as I am with him." Silver scratched his neck a bit, remembering the conversation of his hesitation on committing to the line of duty until Sebek managed to rope him back in.
"Hm, so he cares enough about you to risk what he aspired to be all his life," Baul scratched his chin.
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"In case you haven't connected it... I have decided, you have my complete permission to date my grandson."
Dong
Silver stands up quickly to give Baul a salute. The book falls on the other side of the loveseat from the movement.
"Please do not do that, a simple 'I understand' would have sufficed." Baul sighs, to then receive an 'I understand' from Silver.
Silver grabs the book and hands it to Baul and watches the man put it back.
"But I must ask, why did you even ask for my permission? We have longed passed the ages of courting and dating being mandatory. My daughter and her husband still married each other even when I didn't approve." Baul asks, leading Silver out the door.
What can be called the most flustered face Baul has seen from Silver, his eyes looking at the clock and his back straightening even tighter, "Well, I didn't think Sebek would necessarily accept me... so I thought if I got your approval, one of his favorite people, he would at least consider."
When opening the door, Baul stops Silver when he crosses the doorway by clasping a hand on his shoulder. "Well, I know my grandson values his opinion, but in terms of love, it's up to him to decide, no matter what I advise."
When Silver nods and attempts to turn away, Baul leans in, "Young man, I hope you do know that if you break his heart first, he has a family full of people who are ready to find you and kill you, yes?"
Silver's expression does not change from his straight face, "If I ever hurt him I think I would kill myself first."
Baul lets out a hearty laugh, patting Silver's back to leave, and slams the door. He continued to laugh till he stopped due to his back acting up and groans, but a smile still on his face.
He looks around his house, towards the wall of photos of his family, and sees how much space there is.
"Hm, I wonder if I should put up a child photo of those two... I'll ask his her husband has any pictures of Sebek and Silver."