Doc was out of the room before anyone else; the quartet of women took longer to get dressed than he did. That meant he got to the dining room before them, and he slowed when he came into sight of the kitchen.
Lia, his elven wife, was finishing making breakfast. Her blonde hair was tied in a braid behind her, swinging gently as she moved around the kitchen. Her sharply pointed elven ears were decorated with earrings. Dressed in her customary buckskins with both pistols on her hips, she was a striking figure. Looking back, she gave him a smirk and wink, her jade eyes full of happiness.
“Husband, are you just going to ogle me?” Lia asked.
“Not just, but for a moment, yes,” Doc smiled back. “Glad we’re not late.”
“They deserved the morning with you since we’ll be gone for days,” Lia said.
“Which I still don’t like,” a grumpy voice said from the dining room table just out of view.
Doc left the hallway, giving Harrid a nod. The dwarf was in his full gear of enchanted armor and weapons and frowning thunderously. “We’ve been over this, Harrid.”
“Doesn’t make me like it any better. I know that Lia and Rosa are the best choices and that I would cause problems, but… it makes me redundant… again.”
“I won’t argue that. As you said, we’ve discussed it already. I’d support you coming, but Rosa and Lia both think it would make it harder for the tribes to accept me. After they do, it’ll be easier to get them to accept my companions and my plans.”
Harrid exhaled slowly, then took a drink from the coffee cup in front of him. “I know, I know…”
“You’ve been more prone to arguments ever since we left,” Lia said simply. It wasn’t an accusation, but merely a statement.
Harrid set his cup down, hunching forward in his seat. “I just…” He trailed off.
“Feel bad about being here and not there? Worrying that you aren’t there for her?” Doc asked softly.
“Yes.” The single word was a bare whisper.
“I understand, Harrid.”
Harrid looked up, meeting Doc’s gaze for a moment before bowing his head. “You do. I am sworn to protect your life. I left to make sure you are safe, which is why this plan has ground on me more than it probably should.”
Doc nodded. “I can fully empathize with your feelings. I’m fine if you want to go back; you can protect Fiala, Ginger, and our children. I trust the guards we left behind, and I’m sure the Ironbeard clan will do everything it can for her, but you being there would give me even more peace of mind. If you want to go back, I will fully endorse your wish.”
“I…” Harrid started, but fell silent as he covered his face with his hands. “I… no… it would dishonor me, my family, my clan…”
“No. It would honor them,” Lia said as she finished gathering breakfast from the stove. “It shows his trust in you, above all others, to guard what he considers precious to him. The fact that it would let you guard your own family is just a bonus.”
“What’s the problem?” Sonya asked, leading the others into the room.
“Nothing’s a problem,” Doc said. “I’m just offering Harrid the chance to go home.”
The others stayed quiet as they took their seats. Lia finished setting the table and they began dishing up breakfast. Harrid sat there the entire time, lost in thought about what he should do, what he wanted to do, and what he would do.
Harrid dropped his hands, wiping the few tears that’d escaped his eyes in the process. “My place is here. I’ll do what I should do. You won’t keep me away from my duty often, I know that. That means for those times you do, it’s for the betterment of your goals. I’ll accept that and try not to be a burden.”
“I’m happy to have you beside me, Harrid, though in truth, I would’ve been happy if you’d gone, too. You’re right in your assessment of you being beside me. I won’t ask you to stay away unless it would hinder the greater plan,” Doc said, having set his fork down between bites. “Now eat, please? I don’t want Ginger to think we starved you.”
“She would be irate with us,” Rosa said from her spot between Doc and Lia.
Harrid’s lips twitched. “I’ll spare you all that wrath.”
“Thank Luck for that…” Doc exhaled in relief.
“She’s a strong woman,” Harrid said softly as he served himself the last of breakfast. “She’s stronger than me in so many ways.”
“My wives are much the same,” Doc smiled. “It’s a blessing.”
“Indeed, it is.”
The women at the table smiled, but stayed quiet as a calmness settled in the home.
~*~*~
Doc had to go back upstairs after breakfast to get the last of his gear. He hadn’t worn his pistol in months, so it felt a little odd on his hip, even after he settled the holster. As he pulled his jacket on, an odd thought tickled his mind. Chuckling, he went back downstairs where the others were waiting.
“Rosa,” Doc asked as he joined them, “how many days has it been since you first felt me in the coach on the way to Deep Gulch?”
Head tilting a little, Rosa’s brow furrowed before she laughed. “Three-hundred and sixty-five.”
“That’s what I thought. It’s my birthday in this world. I came here exactly one year ago.”
“It feels so much longer,” Lia smiled. “So much has changed since that first day when you knocked Skippy out.”
“What’s a birthday?” Ayla asked.
That question stopped Doc for a second. “It’s when you celebrate the day you were born.”
“We only celebrate our majority,” Sonya said.
“Same with the tribes,” Lia nodded.
“The histories speak of celebrating when one becomes an adult, not of celebrating every year,” Sophia added.
“I just found one big difference between our worlds,” Doc said. He was shocked, but as he thought about it, none of his wives had celebrated their birthdays over the year. With everything going on, he’d never considered it.
“Did you want to celebrate it?” Harrid asked. “We can arrange it when you come back from the gathering.”
“No, no, it’s fine. It just struck me as funny that it was a year ago today when I woke up in the carriage going to Deep Gulch,” Doc said slowly.
Sophia pulled a small notebook from her pocket. “This date is important and should be marked, as the future might well want to know it. March the third, one year ago today, is when the Voice of Luck appeared just outside of Deep Gulch.”
“I still find it extremely odd the months match up,” Doc mused. “Ours were named for gods that you never had. Something had to have twisted things for that to happen.”
“The Pontiffica Gregory the Thirteenth changed what’d been the Julias calendar. No one argues with the Pontiffica when he declares the words of Apoc.”
“Pontiffica must be the Pope here…” Doc said.
“Yes,” Rosa nodded, seeing Doc’s and Sophia’s thoughts. “The similarity is there, but the Pontiffica is the head of Apoc’s church. Your world had many other religions where ours doesn’t, as all others were brutally killed off.”
“Some would say my world tried to do the same,” Doc snorted. “That’s all beside the point. We need to go. I didn’t mean to derail everything.”
“But it’s still information that I will record and treasure,” Sophia said.
“Kisses before you go,” Sonya said. “Harrid will be walking with you to the stables.”
Doc gave his wife a smile, going to her first. He kissed her, Ayla, and Sophia goodbye. Lia and Rosa did the same, just switching who was kissing who until all of them had had a turn. Doc smiled at the trio remaining behind before he went out the door.
Harrid walked ahead of them, eyes scanning for trouble. Their house wasn’t far from the stables, but he was determined to do everything he could. The last thing he wanted was for his inaction to cause Doc harm.
The stables had been warned yesterday, so their horses and provisions were packed and ready for them. The tribal meeting was only a couple of hours south of Elka, located on one of the reservations for the Western Shoni. They’d be on the Curled Horn tribe’s land, the closest of the Shoni tribes to the town.
Doc would be meeting with the Curled Horn and Duckwater Shoni tribes of Vedana, and the two Grouse tribes of Uta; Spiny Crest and Red Throat. On top of them, several other tribes said they were possibly going to attend, but they weren’t certain. Just the four tribes would be enough of a push to solidify things in the northern parts of Uta and Vedana.
Mounting up, Doc looked down at Harrid. “My wives are in your care, my friend. I know they’ll be safe.”
“I will place their lives before mine, as I do with you, Shaman.”
Doc reached down, shaking hands with his dwarven bodyguard. “We’ll be back as soon as the gathering ends. If needed, since we’ll only be a few hours south, we can return swiftly.”
Harrid nodded before stepping back. “Be safe.”
Pulling Rosa up to sit behind him, Doc turned his horse to follow Lia. “Ready to go.”
“Let us go and meet your future tribes,” Lia said as she got her stallion moving.
Doc considered her words as he nudged his own horse. I’m hoping I don’t have to do that, he thought. We’ll see what happens when we talk to them.
“Doc, you haven’t checked your faith, have you?” Rosa murmured as they left the stables behind.
“I forgot,” Doc admitted. “I’ll do that now.”
Doc Holyday- 43
Half-Breed Elf/Dwarf
Voice of Luck
Energy: 20/20 (75/75) (175/175)
Vitality: 40/40
Health: 28/28
Faith: 21,937 (39,482)
Doc blinked at his stats. His faith had shot through the roof, even more so than it had been a couple of months before. He’d need to study the options he would have available to him before he picked any.
“Well, hell… guess I have some thinking to do…” Doc murmured.