March 16, 2010

In Which Dalston Makes Up for Lost Embraces

October 14, 1165

Tired of watching the clouds breeze by, Dalston arched his back and fiddled with a loose thread of his tunic. When was Deian's game going to start? He had waited long enough, and was now growing impatient. Maybe he was testing them one at a time, and Dalston had drawn the last turn. Yes, that had to be it. The only other reason it should take this long was in the event that both Octavius and Severin had lost and Deian was therefore not even bothering with him, but that was bleak thinking; Dalston preferred the first possibility.

"Dalston?"

He looked up to see a tall, fair-haired man standing on the other side of the rose bushes, his mouth as immobile as Dalston remembered, but a smile in his eyes of the likes he hadn't seen in many years. "Father?"

Dalston scrambled to his feet, then edged through the bushes, an eye open for any indication that this man was not who he thought it was. "Father, is it really you?"

His father nodded. "Yes, son, it's me."

Still somewhat skeptical, Dalston placed his arms around him, then proceeded upward to his shoulders and face. He did not disappear upon contact, nor morph into whatever object had been the framework for the mirage. He was most assuredly real, and most assuredly present.

"It is you!" Dalston exclaimed as his father pulled him in for an embrace. "Father! I missed you!"

"I missed you too, son," his father muttered into his ear. "You've done well for yourself, Dalston; I'm proud of you."

Dalston felt a smile break on his slowly-warming face. "Have you seen my children?"

His father placed a hand on his shoulder. "Indeed, I have. They're beautiful."

"Dalston? Abrich, is it Dalston?"

A slender figure emerged from the exterior rim of the thicket and made her way toward the father and son, the skirts of her gown swishing over the blades of grass as her pace quickened to a run. "Dalston? Is that you?"

"It's him, Rica," his father confirmed, using that familiar pet name that hadn't breached Dalston's ears in decades.

Her unforgotten smile swelled to its potential. "My son."

As opposed to her straight-laced, controlled husband, she had always been an irrepressibly joyful woman, her happiness that of the most contagious of sorts. Dalston could not help but return the grin. "Mother!"

Laughing, she rested her hand on Dalston's arms and met his eyes, her smile unbroken. "It's wonderful to see you again!"

She flung her arms around his neck and held him tightly, as though determined to make up for all those long years of lost embraces. "Oh, Dalston! I haven't been so happy in years!"

Dalston placed a quick kiss on her cheek. "Mother, it's been far too long."

NEXT CHAPTER:

13 comments:

Van said...

Sorry if this chapter seemed kind of flat (not too mention, not nearly enough text per image), but I didn't really want to drag this one out any more than necessary.

Alix S. said...

OMG! Did Dalston just lose?!

Van said...

It would appear that he has :(

thewynd said...

NOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!! You're just making us think he's dead right??? Van!!!!! How did he lose???? I want a do-over!

Van said...

More answers to come fairly soon.

In the mean time, it might be worth comparing this post to the following:

In Which Octavius Gains an Unlikely Ally
In Which Severin Recalls What He Forgot to Forget
In Which Electra Learns the Meaning of Always

Whymustallthegoodonesbetaken said...

no no no no no no no (this could go on a while..) no no no no no no ..

Phoenix said...

Well, I really wasn't all that attached to Dalston so I'm not that torn up about it. What gets me is that if one of them lose they ALL lose right? SO that means Octavius and Severin are both dead then? Or no?

Anonymous said...

Oh, no!! Not fair!

*sniffle* Poor Celina is going to be brokenhearted ... and so will Lornian ... and Xetrica, and Abrich, and Woodrona, and well, Farilon won't even remember his father -- but still, that's just as tragic!

*cries* I just feel so bad for all of them.

Van said...

Whymustallthegoodonesbetaken: Sorry :(

Phoenix: Nope. Deian mused that either at least two of them would live, or none of them would live. Since Octavius and Severin actually met up in the last post, we can assume they're both--physically--fine.

Morgaine: Yeah, his poor family is going to be so crushed. You're right, little Farilon won't even remember him, and Rona probably won't remember all that much either :(

Kudos to you for being able to name all of Dalston's kids! I don't think Abrich has even appeared yet.

thewynd said...

So...if Dalston lost, was he in Heaven? Did he lose because Severin and Octavius couldn't find him? Will we learn what happened in the next update?

*sobs* I liked him even if we didn't see a lot of him. I'm sad...

Van said...

Yep. Octavius and Severin could have been given months to look, and they never would have found him :(

Sorry :( I've known this was coming since I rolled up the random death dates, and I'll admit that part of the reason for Dalston's recent reemergence in the story was his imminent doom. I figured he was a main enough character that his death required some buildup--not on the scale as what would have been needed for Severin or Florian or somebody like that, but still some.

In any case, though, I do think his death can contribute to the story, and that he can still play a bit of a role in death. I hate to see him go, but at the same time, I have to admit that even in the very beginning, I always found it difficult to imagine Dalston as an old man. Perhaps even in the character conception phases he was doomed to an early grave :(

Verity said...

Oh crap! Dalston! Nooooooo!

For a minute I was thinking thank goodnes he atoned for his adultery. But then... if he hadn't then he would still be alive :(

Van said...

An instance of religion as a double-edged sword, for sure :S