It's the Beginning of A....

The twin orc brothers Skottson and Sethset had to return to their soldierly duties. Skott wanted to spend some time with them, but neither wanted to get in their way nor did he feel that falling right into an overly familiar dynamic would be the best route to establishing a rapport with the children.

Well, children in the definitional sense. They were adults by Aeirunian laws. Skott mentally kicked himself once more for failing to be there for this surprise family. There was always Lucy—he maintained a good rapport with her. Fighting side by side helped with family bonding.

All manner of diplomatic events would preoccupy Lamora for the next several days. That left Skott and Lucy with plenty of free time.

“Hey, why don’t you check that portal ring of yours?” Skott said on a lark.

Lucy-Kignora engaged the portal ring. “Hmmm. The veil is thinner than usual. Not enough to make a proper portal. But back at the mage’s tower, scholars have found a way to pull signals from the land of Earth.”

“Signals, huh?” Skott smiled.

“Indeed.” Lucy nodded. “I believe the mages called it ‘television.’”

Skott started to laugh.

Oh, this would do nicely…

+++

An oblong, opaque portal manifested on the windy roof of the tall tree-tower. It was too small to squeeze a hand through, and Earth could not be seen through its milky film.

“You’re sure this is pointed at my back yard?” Skott asked.

“Indeed. It’s the same calibration I used to find you.”

Skott gazed at his phone. Battery was holding steady (he’d turned off the moment he returned to Aeirun) and, now that this portal was beaming Skott’s Wi-Fi and signal between worlds and

“It’s a little faint,” he said. “But I can make a phone call. Nice.”

Huh, he’d never actually gotten around to favoriting Nessa’s contact number. He had memorized the number and her texts were always at the top of the list, so this was hardly a problem. Skott gave her a call.

“Hey, hey,” said Nessa.

“Hello, it’s me again.” Wind interrupted Skott’s phone call.

“Did you make it to Switzerland?”

“Yeah,” Skott lied. “I’m on top of a mountain. I hope you can hear me.”

“I can hear the wind!” she said. “Sooooo, find your secret daughter?”

“Lucy? She’s here.” Skott angled the phone towards the pint-sized half-orc. “It’s audio only. Just say hi like I told you.”

“Uh, Guten Tag?” Lucy said, with no clue what that meant at all.

“Hello!” Nessa said. “I’ve always wanted to go to Europe.”

“Where are you?” Skott asked.

“At your place. That’s okay, right?”

Skott nodded, though she couldn’t exactly see him. “Sure. I said it was okay.”

With the minuscule portal manifesting out in the yard, they were maybe thirty feet apart! Hopefully, sound didn’t carry through this portal, or there’d be an echo that would make continuing this masquerade particularly difficult.

“Well, I’m sure data rates are kind of a pain,” Nessa said. “I won’t keep you.”

“Thanks. I’ll be back in, what, a week? Wll try to call you once or twice more before then. Thanks.”

“Bye, Bye, Bye,” Nessa said.

The portal collapsed, ending the conversation.

Skott wiped some sweat off his head. Even in the stiff breeze, the Aeirun heat was getting to him. He looked over to Lucy and found her leering at him with skeptical eyes.

“Dump the Earth floozy, Skott of Omaha, and date my mother once more,” said the half-orc.

“W-who’re you callin’ a floozy?” Skott gave Lucy a look. “If you must know, Nessa is inoffensive and perfectly nice. Lamora is a lovely woman, yes, though I sense she’s a little busy at the moment.”

The wind whipped with frightening seed this far above the city’s treeline. They were only up here to get a portal signal. With that task done, Skott and Lucy went back to the conference chamber they’d borrowed.

+++

Night fell, and the heat of this alien land tapered off into a more manageable range. Aeirunians had yet to invent good fan tech, so staking out the coolest chambers in any given dwelling was all Skott could hope for, really.

“Skott of Oma—Ahem, Father. What of your other party members?”

“Oh, the other guys? Haven’t seen ‘em in years.”

The old party had gone north while Lamora and Skott went to go find his portal back to Earth. Lamora rejoined them in time to bring the north to heel.

“Bring the bad back together, old hero!” Lucy implored. “If the Redeemers on the road were frightened by just one old hero, imagine what they’d do if you all fought side by side!”

Skott stifled a chuckle. He was quite certain Lucy just wanted to get him and Lamora into close proximity more often.

“The old party, eh? I’ll admit, I was hoping to meet the family first,” Skott admitted. “Party of orcs, goblins, dwarves, and some humans has probably spread to the four winds, yeah? Going to have to cover that hanging thread in some new otherworldly adventure.”

“Hmm. Yes, the remaining heroes are not necessarily public figures in the way that Mother is.”

“I mean, I’d love to meet them again if there were any opportunity to do so,” Skott added. “It’s just, still have two other children to meet, yeah?”

Grognar and Sara. The first was in the mage’s tower down by the seacoast. The second was off at sea on some unknown journey. No return to Aeirun would be complete without at least rounding out the family reunion.

A whiff of something foul wafted in through the room’s open windows.

“That’s… that’s ozone?” Skott guessed.

Lucy’s eyes lit up at the phrase. She sniffed the air.

“Spellcasting medium. Atmospheric transmutation.” Lucy ran to the window.

The winds outside had stopped, bathing the entire courtyard beneath this tower in an unnatural doldrums. A slight haze hung in the air, which dissipated as a whirling vortex manifested right there in the palatial estate’s courtyard.

It was a vortex that Skott of Omaha had nothing but healthy respect for.

“That. That there’s a tornado!”

Lucy nodded. “Indeed, Father. Often used to disguise short-range teleportation.”

This was no natural formation. It stayed rooted in place. Soldiers scrambled for cover in the courtyard below.

“All the dignitaries should be in the tower…” Skott began. “Thought that leaves…”

In the time it took to say this, three more miniature twisters formed down in the courtyard.

“… Skottson and Seth!” Lucy said with a gasp.

Father and daughter looked at each other. They weren’t about to leave the brothers to potential cyclone-based doom! The pair ran out the door, sounding the alarm everywhere they could.