Work Text:
Hal had a habit of walking around the whole house once before he went to bed. After so many years, it had become mindless, just something he did with little thought of why. He liked to check that his children were all asleep, or if not asleep then at least reading in bed or planning on heading to their rooms soon if a midnight snack was in order first. If there were guests in the house, he made sure that extra towels were laid out in the bathroom and food for breakfast was easy to find in the kitchen, so if they woke up before him in the morning and needed anything it would be there for them and they wouldn’t have to wait for the rest of the house to rise. He would also make sure the doors and windows were latched, unless it was summer and they needed to be cracked for ventilation, and in that case he ensured only the windows on the second floor were open. Both the front and back exterior doors of the house had charmed doorbells, in case someone did need to get in, and as the last step on his nightly routine he would switch these to the setting where they would only alert him rather than chime throughout the house when rung.
He had never been more aware of the fact that this habit developed after returning from the War of Axe and Vine than he was right now. It was hard not to notice his own nervous habits when another veteran, one even younger than he had been when he came back from war and settled down with a home to patrol, was sleeping in his guest room. When Azune arrived at his doorstep earlier in the day, bearing a letter from Thjazi, every inch of him practically screamed soldier. He had stood at attention, hands clasped behind his back when they didn’t rest at the short sword at his belt, and he flinched and turned to look at every sudden noise with wide eyes. Hal thought that Elodie and his kids probably didn’t recognize it, but for those in the know, it wasn’t hard to spot how he scoped out potential exits as he was shown around the house. It threw the origins of Hal’s own wary habits into sharp relief.
Regardless of the paranoia it may have at first stemmed from, his nightly patrol now brought Hal a feeling of comfort and security. It was calming to see that all was as it should be, and allowed him to sleep largely without the nightmares that plagued him after the war. And when things weren’t as they should be, which could be anything from a leak in the plumbing to Alogar staying up too late studying for a test when he would be better served by sleeping to a young magpie somehow getting into the house, it gave him a chance to resolve the issue quickly.
Tonight seemed to be one of the latter occasions, when all was not right. The door to the guest room he’d put Azune in was ajar, open enough for Hal to look in and see that the teen was not inside. Not a reason to panic yet. Perhaps he was just in the bathroom. It didn’t mean he’d bolted. Not even when both Hal’s instincts and Thjazi’s letter had said it would be hard to get the kid to stay.
They’d managed it this afternoon, at least. Hal didn’t know if he could have done it alone, but fortunately, Hero had unknowingly helped with the endeavor. Upon meeting Azune, she’d immediately recruited the new person to play with into her games of make-believe. It seemed even teenage boys couldn’t say no to her, unless they had years of built-up big brother immunity to her cuteness like Alogar had, and he’d allowed himself to be dragged into a game of restaurant with her. Even though it was unclear if he knew what a restaurant was. Between Hero’s game and Elodie recruiting Azune’s help with actual cooking, they’d managed to keep him occupied until dinner was on the table. From there, it had been easier than Hal feared it would be to convince him to eat with them and spend the night. He didn’t know if persuading him was helped by the fact that the kid clearly had nowhere else to go. Worryingly, he thought that might not have been a factor Azune took into consideration, and that he was perhaps more swayed by the fact that denying a portion of the meal and a freely-offered guest room would have been rude.
Hal hoped Azune’s obvious unwillingness to be an imposition hadn’t outweighed the obligations of guesthood in his mind. He suddenly wished he had a bell set up above the exterior doors in addition to the doorbells outside, so he would know not just whether someone wanted to be let in but whether the doors had been opened to allow someone out. Sneaking out of the house occasionally was a teenager’s right, however, and he hadn’t wanted to deny his kids that feeling of freedom. Speaking of which, maybe Azune was down at Alogar’s room? The two boys were about the same age, and staying up too late talking during a sleepover was an even more time-honored tradition than sneaking out.
As Hal walked towards the stairs, he almost tripped over a pile of laundry that had been dropped outside of Hero’s door. Only his dark vision allowed him to stop in time to avoid kicking it, and he was even more grateful for this fact when he realized it was not dirty clothes at all. It was Azune. The way the kid was curled up made him look even smaller than he was. There was a blanket pulled around his shoulders, and something soft held in his hands, but no pillow beneath his head, much less a mattress. Despite the lack of cushioning from the hard floor, he appeared to be fast asleep.
Wary of waking a sleeping soldier too fast, but not knowing what else to do, Hal knelt down and laid a hand carefully on his shoulder. Azune startled awake with a gasp, scrambling to sit up, but at least he didn’t scream, and at least he didn’t lash out.
“Easy, Azune, easy, easy. It’s alright, you’re perfectly safe,” Hal whispered quickly. He watched as Azune’s thin chest heaved with rapid breaths, the blanket slipping off his shoulders as he pushed himself upright. His hands clenched against the bundle of cloth he was holding. Hal realized it was one of Hero’s favorite stuffed animals, a large rabbit that used to be Alogar’s which his aunt Kjasha had given him on his first name day. By now the fake fur of the animal’s ears was badly worn out, but its body was still firm and comforting to hold. Hero, who couldn’t fathom sleeping without a stuffie, tended to lend it to guests who stayed over and couldn’t prove to her that they already had one. Azune certainly hadn’t; he’d arrived with nothing more than the clothes on his back and the sword at his belt. He was currently wearing a set of pajamas Alogar had recently grown out of, having had none of his own.
“Thjazi-?” As Azune’s eyes didn’t focus on him, Hal realized the kid couldn’t see in the dark well enough to tell who it was.
“Not far off. I’m his brother, Halandil. Thjazi sent you to stay with me, remember? We’re in my house in Dol-Makjar.” He tried to give Azune the most relevant details to help ground him, the basic whos and wheres of the situation, in case he’d forgotten or was disoriented from sleep. He remembered Thaisha doing the same for him when they’d first moved in together. Azune nodded, taking a few deep breaths. He didn’t shrug off the hand Hal laid on his shoulder, so he kept it there in the hopes it would help. Waiting until after Azune seemed calm, he asked quietly, “Can I ask why you’re sleeping on the hallway floor instead of the guest room, kid?”
“You told me to look out for Hero.”
Hal paused for a second before speaking, wanting to make sure he got this right. Words had power, and he had always believed in wielding that power carefully. “While that’s very sweet that you took that so seriously, this isn’t exactly what I meant.” At the time he’d said it, he had just meant whether Azune could keep her entertained until dinner while the adults were busy. Perhaps spotting her if she tried copying after Shadia and doing gymnastics in the house. That and crossing the street was the only area she actually needed someone looking out for her physical safety on a daily basis. Very much unlike the dangers present in Azune’s life up until now.
“I’m sorry.”
“It’s alright. You didn’t do anything wrong. Like I said, I’m very touched that you want to protect her. It’s very safe here in the house, though, and in this part of the city in general, and she doesn’t need you guarding her door. So how do you feel about getting off this floor and somewhere more comfortable?”
Azune avoided his eyes, then, looking down unseeingly at the stuffed rabbit in his lap. In that moment, he looked much younger than fifteen. Far more a kid than a soldier. “Do I have to go back to the guest room?”
“Not if you don’t want to. Is there something you don’t like about it?” He was careful not to phrase it as whether something was wrong, because then Azune would probably scramble to reassure him that it was fine, great actually, that he appreciated it, etc., thus derailing the intention of the conversation, which was about him and how he felt..
Azune shrugged. “It’s just… quiet.”
“Oh. You aren’t used to having a room, or a tent, to yourself,” Hal guessed. It wasn’t hard to realize. He honestly should have thought of that earlier. “I felt the same after getting back from the Axe and Vine.” There had been only a few months between when he returned from the front and when he and Thaisha moved in together, but it had been enough for him to remember those nights unpleasantly. He had spent most of them tossing and turning in a bed that felt too soft, unsettled by not being able to hear anyone breathing in the room around him.
Thankfully, he had an idea of what to do about both of those problems now. No one would ever accuse the chaises in his study of being comfortable, but they were better than the floor, and most importantly, it wouldn’t leave Azune in the middle of the hallway where he’d likely be stepped on come morning and concern everyone in the process.
“Well, I’m guessing that tomorrow, Alogar wouldn’t mind having a bit of a sleepover, but I’ve got an idea for tonight. There are a couple chaises in my study, and I'll take whichever one you don't.”
“I- I can't ask you to-”
“You're not asking, I'm offering. And actually, you're giving me a great excuse. I was meaning to stay up for a while and get some work done anyway, if the light from the candle on my desk wouldn’t bother you.”
Hal hadn't really been planning on working tonight, but he knew he was a good enough actor, and Azune was naive enough, for him to get away with the lie. It helped also that the kid still couldn't see him in the dark corridor. Hal thought he was probably only facing the right direction because of the hand still on his shoulder.
“No, sir. The light won’t bother me. But- you don't have to stay, after that. Wouldn't your bed be more comfortable than a couch?”
“Ordinarily, yes, but my partner Elodie, wonderful woman in almost every way,” Hal leaned in conspiratorially. “Horrible blanket hog. As soon as it gets cold each fall I spend half the night trying to wrestle even one of the quilts back from her so I don't freeze. Sometimes it's nice to have a couple of the covers to myself for a change.”
This time, Hal didn't give Azune a chance to argue. He stood up, leaning briefly on Azune's shoulder when his knees faltered. The kid was sturdier than would be expected based on his short stature and skinniness. Hal helped him up in turn and guided him over to the study.
“Pick a chaise, get comfortable,” Hal invited as he lit a candle on the desk. “I'm going to get us some more blankets.” Azune still had just the one with him, which Hal recognized as the top layer from the guest bed. He also had the stuffed rabbit, holding it close to his chest. Hal didn't remark on it before going to the guest bedroom and linen closet to get them more layers. While he was up, he completed the rest of his loop around the house, making sure everything else was alright. The last thing Azune needed his first night here was something going wrong because Hal wasn’t careful enough.
When he returned to the study, Azune was again curled up, but at least not on the floor this time. He'd picked the chaise closer to the door, and looked tiny on it. Hal moved slowly and deliberately as he ventured over to tuck Azune in under more blankets.
“Let me know if you need anything else,” Hal said. He knew the kid was unlikely to ask for help, given his everything, but he had to offer. “Or feel free to get it yourself if you want. Our home is yours.”
“Th-thank you,” Azune replied softly. The stuffed rabbit was a lump under the blankets. Seeing it, Hal’s heart swelled with love and pride for his younger daughter. She was so caring, and in that care and innocence had managed to give Azune a comfort that he certainly would have been too embarrassed to accept from anyone else. Teenage boys were not exactly known for still sleeping with stuffed animals. Hence why Alogar had in fact given Hero the bunny in the first place, as he’d been growing out of it when she was born.
“Of course, kid, you’re very welcome.” Moving deliberately, and glad he’d thought to light a candle already so Azune could see, Hal affectionately ruffled the kid’s hair. It was straighter and thinner than that of Alogar and Shadia, more like little Hero’s in texture, and didn’t cling to his hand, with one exception. There was a small braid just beside his ear. It was identical to the one Thjazi used to wear, the one Thimble gave him. Only her sized hands could manage to tie the braid off so neatly not with a leather tie or hairband but with one of the strands of hair itself. It had clearly been in the kid’s hair awhile, starting to get ragged. Hal made sure not to let his hand snag on it or unravel it further. “Goodnight, Azune. Sleep well.”
“Goodnight.”
Hal moved to sit at his desk, lit by the warm light of the candle. He had a letter to write to Thjazi in return for the one Azune had brought with him. With luck, the sound of his quill on paper would be exactly the kind of background noise Azune needed to rest.