Defense

To my surprise, Alexandros was seated at the kitchen table with Eva and their father when I came down for breakfast. Their mother was bustling about, making blueberry pancakes.

“Oh, good morning everyone,” I sat next to Eva. “Alexandros, I thought you lived at the guard station?”

“Only when I’m on duty. On my off days I come here to spend time with my folks, and to get some of mom’s amazing cooking!”

She was indeed a good cook, I could attest to that after staying with their family for-goodness, had it been only a week? So much had happened, it felt longer. Alexandros continued as his mom served him and his father first.

“I was thinking, maybe the three of us could visit Orion at his new job. Eva did you show Wish the tavern yet?”

“No, only the outside.” If Eva had been planning to say anything else, she forgot it as her mom set a plate of pancakes in front of her, then me. Alexandros too abandoned conversation in favor of food. I took a bite. There was crispy bacon cooked into the pancakes. I stared at their mom in adoration. She smiled back, looking a bit confused.

“It’s so good!” I practically groaned in rapture. Everyone laughed, but I didn’t mind.

She replied, “I’m just happy to see all of you enjoying my cooking. I do love it when we can sit down and have a meal as a family.”

I nodded, trying to ignore a flicker of memory.

                                        ~~~~~~~<><><>*<><><>~~~~~~~

The butcher shop, yellow brick like Master Finnigan’s magic shop, had only a couple customers inside. A bald, muscular man in a bloody apron greeted us in an exceptionally gentle voice.

“Morning, Alexandros, Eva, and I do believe you’re Wish, right? If you’re looking for Orion, he’s making a delivery, should be back shortly. Good worker, that one. Eager to learn. Feel free to shop while waiting. Perhaps your mother would like some sausages?”

As Alexandros and Eva discussed whether to buy sausages, and if so what kind, I stepped outside to look down the street. No Orion. I was being impatient. I turned to head back inside.

Wham!

I stumbled back, and the old lady I had just collided with gasped and flailed as she tried to keep her balance, sending her brown paper package flying to the side. I uselessly moved to get the package, then reconsidered my priorities and moved to help the lady regain her balance, but she regained it on her own. I went for the package after all, which had landed in a puddle.

“I-I’m so sorry, I didn’t mean to-“

She drew herself up to her full height, which meant she was at exactly eye level with me. If she had been taller or shorter, maybe that would have granted me some distance from her indignant glare, which was so disdainful that I found myself going silent without finishing my sentence.

“Couldn’t be bothered to look where you were going, could you?”

The coldness in her voice further froze mine. I silently held out her now-dripping package, eyes lowered. She made me wait for an uncomfortable few seconds before speaking again with agonizing unhurriedness, with no attempt to shorten my discomfort.

“Well what are you handing me that for? It’s ruined now.”

I swallowed, not meeting her gaze. “I’m sorry, I-“

“‘Sorry’ doesn’t make up for carelessness, child. It would do you good to learn that. Seeing how you ruined my pork chops, I think it only fair that you buy me-“

Alexandros’s voice cut her off, with an iron sort of cheeriness.

“Of course we’ll buy you some new pork chops, ma’am. It was an unfortunate accident, wasn’t it? I’m glad both of you are okay.”

I had no idea when he and Eva had come out of the shop, I had been staring at the ground. He continued.

“I saw what happened through the window. No wonder you ran into our friend here, you had quite a few puddles to keep an eye out for, didn’t you? Good thing Wish wasn’t walking in your direction. All she did was turn in place. If you had both been walking with any speed, you might have taken a tumble along with your package!”

He said this all with that same iron cheeriness. The old lady turned to him with the dignity of a monarch gave him a polite nod.

“That is very kind of you, but since she is the one responsible for my ruined-“

He cut her off again. “Oh I insist! Again, it was an unfortunate accident, and I’d rather it not ruin anyone’s day. Come inside and pick out the best pork chops, although that will be difficult to do; all of them are of excellent quality!”

He casually placed a hand on her shoulder and shepherded her inside. I noticed Eva’s tight smile as she silently nodded along to Alexandros’s words, as though she was trying to imitate his armorlike goodwill. To my embarrassment, I stared in a pitiful sort of gratitude at his retreating back and her sympathetic gaze over her shoulder. As the door closed behind them, a door opened in my memory.

“What do you mean, you forgot? That’s no excuse. You know better.”

Mom’s voice was dismissive, as if she was barely paying attention to our conversation.

“I’m sorry,” I mumbled at the floor. Dad joined in.

“You should pay more attention to your mother. It’s disrespectful how you ignore her.”

“I didn’t ignore her, I forgot!”

Mom deigned to look in my direction.

“Young lady, what you should be doing now is apologizing, not correcting your father.”

“Alright, I’m sorry for forgetting to buy eggs on the way home!”

“Don’t speak to me in that tone! I swear, you get all upset about such little things. It’s only eggs.”

“I think you owe your mother a better apology than that. Try again.”

The door opened again, startling me. Alexandros and Eva escorted the lady out, who gave me a stiff nod as she walked past.

“Have a nice day, ma’am!” Alexandros practically sang out as she headed down the street. I turned away as they faced me, trying to hide the ridiculous tears welling up in my eyes. This wasn’t worth crying over. Don’t get upset over the little things.

Eva, without warning, grabbed my face in both her hands and frowned at my tears. I blinked confusedly and failed to suppress a sniffle.  She turned my face towards Alexandros as if to display what a mess I was.

“See! She made her cry! Oh that horrible woman, making a fuss over something so small and making Wish apologize for something that wasn’t even her fault!”

Alexandros laughed softly as he pulled Eva’s hands away from me. I hastily scrubbed at my face and tried to keep my voice steady as I spoke.

“No, I’m the one making a fuss over the little things. It was my fault. I-“

“Wish.” Alexandros sounded displeased. Like the first day we had met, I forced myself to meet his gaze. He looked displeased, but something else too. Sad?

“It wasn’t your fault.” He paused and let that sink in for a moment. And it did take a long moment for me to finally see the obvious. He had defended me. I felt ashamed. I opened my mouth to apologize for being such a doormat, but realized that wasn’t the best response.

So instead I merely nodded. It seemed sufficient.