Little Lion

Leo's Memory

Leo remembered it well. The day he first met his Uncle Bruno. He had been no older than four cycles. It was not two weeks after Leo returned from a parley between the three rulers of the Pax Isles in the great city of Pax Publica. That was when he met Bruno.

Little Leo awoke from his bed that morn to discover he had yet another uncle. Here, he'd thought two was plenty. He dressed himself in his wig and red tunic and went out to meet the man. 

It was Uncle Earl who had the honour of introducing Leo to the new "Uncle Bruno." Uncle Bruno was a good two foot taller than the Avidian, maybe more. He was lumbering and muscular and rested his great weight upon a gilded staff wrought roughly in the shape of a serpent's head. He wore a green silk shirt and a brown cloak, caked with mud. His boots were black and went up to his calves. He looked disheveled, unshaved, and underfed. His tired eyes spoke knowledge beyond his years, and not all of it for the better. He looked the part of a broken man. 

"Little Prince, Uncle Bruno fought alongside your father and me during the war," Uncle Earl reminded Leo. 

Little Leo had heard occasional stories of Uncle Bruno, of course. But he had never met the man. He was a complete stranger. 

"Little Prince, Uncle Bruno has come to stay in the castle for awhile," Uncle Earl went on. Awhile turned into a month and then a year, and then a decade. 

A giant stranger. One that towered twice above the Little Leo. Leo was completely shadowed by the tower of a man before him. Yet he bravely pressed on.

"How do you do, Uncle Bruno. I'm Little Leo, Lord of Castle Hil and Prince of Pax Æure. Are you an Elvali? From the moon?" Leo curiously questioned.

"Aye, that I am Little Lion. That I am. Though I have no memories of it. I grew up in the Deepwood of Y'ar Æurea. My father and brother grew up on the moon before coming here," the giant replied sheepishly. 

"A Deepwood Elvali. You must tell me everything of your home," Little Leo demanded. 

Little Leo grabbed the giant by one of his huge callused hands and dragged him to his favorite spot in the castle, the library asides, under the old oak tree in the training yard. 

Uncle Bruno told many a tale of the Helian Crusades, the Infinite Order, and coming to the Deepwood as a young child. He told tales of the many wonderful monsters within the Deepwood, both beast and botany. He told Leo about his beloved daughter, still in the Deepwood, whom he kept close to him in a chain about his neck. He told Leo what everything he knew of the moon and its colonies. He told Leo about two-headed serpents and Faeries and spirits and Wicked maegic. They talked for hours until it grew dark again.

"Little Lion, I have come here, in no small part, to meet you. Your father tells me you are quite skilled with a sword, and even more so with a book. I hope to continue your training, beyond the word and the blade. I will protect you as your sworn guardian and teach you as much as I can," Uncle Bruno revealed.

Little Leo had never had anyone in his life like Uncle Bruno before. His father was absent, and when he was around, Leo wished he weren't. His mother was cold and dispassionate. All the knights only served Leo. They never befriended him. 

Uncle Earl was a dutiful tutor and teacher, but not Leo's friend. He lacked Leo's curiosity. He went through the motions, but never for Leo's sake. Uncle Earl cared primarily for his mother and father and took charge of Leo in their service. As soon as Uncle Bruno arrived, Leo started seeing a lot less of Uncle Earl, until he became simply Earl. He would still tutor and teach Leo, but little more.

Uncle Bruno became Leo's Uncle, guardian, tutor, chaperone, confidant, and surrogate father-figure all in a matter of days. More than any of that, Uncle Bruno was Leo's first true friend, the Tailor asides. Their bond was immediate.

Little Leo set out to heal the broken man, but instead, he found a true companion. He trained with Bruno, learned with Bruno, and bonded with Bruno. Bruno accepted charge of the boy, becoming his family. 

Together, they began to leave the castle on their own adventures. Just the two of them, and sometimes a squad of knights about their perimeter. But not when they were playing commoners.

They camped in the Darkwood and hunted their own dinner. They returned to Pax Publica to visit Uncle Yor. They even journeyed as far as Orre to see the mountainous Great Faminewall of Orre. 

Uncle Bruno became not only his guardian, but his friend, his companion, and his new father.