Parents

August’s recent interactions with his father were alright. The duke’s stress must’ve been relieved, meaning he had more time to himself. He was less stoic, but still not as expressive as he was in the other timeline. That did not matter too much.

“Father.”

“Yes, August,” he said patiently.

“I brought a guest.”

The duke looked up. It was Heilke and August. Heilke greeted the duke.

August put down a shard onto the duke’s desk. “Heilke and I are having the ceremony next month. Do come.”

The duke stared at the shard, blinking slowly. Heilke noticed this, did another curtsy, then exited the room.

“I’ll invite Mother after this, and will help in clearing her work so she can come,” August said, too focused on trying to convince his father to notice his expression.

A light thud came from the desk. Then another, and another. Only then, August noticed darker patches of wood just under the duke’s head. Those were tears.

August panicked. He never expected the duke to be in tears.

“Father?”

He smiled, cheeks still wet. “You really have grown, haven’t you August?”

His tone was an almost nostalgic one, though it did not sound like he just cried. August felt a pang in his chest and tears welled. This was almost like the father he knew.  It was strange, seeing the cold duke who did not ask for Heilke’s name be the same person August was originally used to.

“I will come to your wedding, August. And you do not need to help your mother. I will help her myself, so do what you need to do with Heilke.”

August lowered his head for a nod, but did not raise his head as high as it was before. He did not want to cry as well.

“I’ll be taking my leave,” August said. His voice was unstable. How was he meant to invite his mother like this?

August exited the room to find Heilke waiting outside the door.

“How was it?” she asked, smiling.

August sniffed and looked up, holding in his tears. “He says he’s going to come.”

Heilke put her arm around his shoulder and gave him two pats. “Let’s invite the duchess now.”

August did a similar process with his mother. Calling her, giving her a crystal, then inviting her.

“I see you’ve talked with your father?” she said with a chuckle.

His mother must’ve noticed his red eyes. August quickly rubbed his eyes.

She walked towards August and hugged him.

“This is great news. I will make sure to be there on the day.”

Now it was time to invite Heilke’s family. Björnn accepted the shard, though he said “I still don’t approve,” while directly glaring at August.

Heike replied, “What are you saying at this point in time? Just come.”

Björnn responded with a grunt. He then took out an embroidered handkerchief from his suit pocket. “Heilke’s mother,” he said into the handkerchief.

Heilke furrowed her eyebrows.

“Father, were you in contact with Mum this whole time!?” she yelled.

Björnn averted his gaze and cleared his throat.

A voice came through the handkerchief. “What’s up Björnn!”

It was a sweet voice, quite energetic.

“Your daughter’s getting married.”

“Oh my! Pass me to her!”

Björnn glared at Heilke, gripping the handkerchief hard.

“Hurry!”

Björnn sighed and offered the handkerchief.

“Mum?”

“Heilke darling! Tell me everything!”

“Like?”

“Who is it you’re marrying!”

“August Vin Gardner.”

Heilke’s mother repeated the name under her breath a few times.

“Oh! That August!?”

August choked on his saliva and coughed.

Heilke nodded with a smile. “Yes, but no,” she answered.

A chuckle could be heard through the call. “Alright, I’ll be there. Is there anything I need to know, like the dress code? That’s something your father would never remember.”

Björnn used his eyes to chase August from the room, as if to say ‘It’s my family time, get out.”

They arrived at Phinn’s building.

“Brother,” Heilke called.

Phinn had a lot more free time with Heilke helping him out.

She dropped a shard into Phinn’s hands and nudged August.

“We invite you to our wedding ceremony,” August said stiffly.

Phinn stared at him blankly, as if he just processed Heilke and August’s relationship.

“Oh.”

“I thought you knew?”

“I’m a little slow when it comes to these things,” he said with a guffaw. “Heilke didn’t give me a full explanation at the time. Well, I’ll be sure to come. See you then, August, Heilke.”

“See you.”

*

The two took a walk to the dwarf town. A dwarf recognised August’s blonde hair and took out a translator.

“Little Vin Gardner, welcome.”

August nodded.

“Who is the one next to you?” the dwarf asked.

“She’s my lifelong partner,” August responded.

The dwarf gave a nod of approval.

“We are holding a ceremony to show the world this fact next month,” Heilke took out a shard. “Would you like to come?”

The dwarf flashed its teeth. This was their version of a smile.

“Of course,” it said.

Heilke gave the shard to the dwarf.

“What is this?” it asked. The dwarf spun the shard around and observed it. “A mana crystal?”

“It was a huge crystal at one point, but we decided to shatter it. Maybe we should have just handed it to you.”

The dwarf shook its head. “We have no need for a large crystal, especially one that already has magic cast onto it. If you gave the crystal to us, we would have shattered it ourselves anyways. I have never seen this spell before, what is it?”

“It’s healing magic. Originally it could regrow even limbs, but now it’s just a little gimmick for minor wounds that are just slightly inconvenient.”

The dwarf was impressed. “This is a well crafted spell.”

“Yes, I couldn’t find a good reference for magic integration in the books written by humans, so I found some tomes by dwarves. They were of great help,” Heilke said.

The dwarf giggled. “That’s good.”

“We’re using it as an invitation to our ceremony as well,” August said.

“I like her,” the dwarf said. “I’ll inform the village chief that Little Vin Gardner is holding a ceremony.”

August took out a small bag of shards.. “This is for everyone. I trust you to share it.”

The dwarf did a thumbs up. “Goodbye.”

August and Heilke returned the thumbs up, then waved goodbye.