Chương 29: Adoption Day

Jonny gaped as he gazed on the face of the baron. He knew that face. He had only seen it a few times, but it was unmistakable. He was the guard captain of the Meyer household. Jonny only ever saw him on special occasions, like his birthday banquet, but he made a strong impression. He wasn't especially handsome, but he had green eyes so pale and bright they looked like they were glowing, was always smiling and carried himself with an air of cheerful confidence that made him impossible to ignore.

"Ah, hello there," said the Baron, looking directly at Jonny.

"You weren't here so I never caught your name. Would you mind telling me?" Jonny froze. The guard captain—now baron—was not among the people who knew what had really happened to him, as far as he knew. And if word got out that he was alive… He wasn't strong enough to defend himself yet.

"This is Jonny," said Lucy behind him. No!

"Ah, Jonny," said the Baron with a smile.

"Nice to meet you Jonny. My name is Harrison, this is my wife, Mary, and this here is my daughter, Clarissa!" He bent down to pick up the girl beside him, holding her up by her armpits. She squealed in surprise, and squirmed in his arms for a moment before giving up and resigning herself to her fate. She looked like she was somewhere between six and eight. Definitely older than Jonny, but he couldn't tell by how much.

She had bright blonde hair, just like her mother, and her eyes were the same vibrant green as her father's. She was wearing a poofy, plain, muted green dress, but even Jonny could see that it was nicer than anything the other children were wearing. The fabric was not at all worn, and there were subtle, lacy decorations on the hem, collar, and sleeves, and her gloves, stockings, and earmuffs were much nicer. The baron set her down again, smiling in Jonny's direction.

"I told the other children earlier, but I used to live here, just like all of you. Abbess Helen is like a mother to me, and that makes me kind of like your older brother. You don't have to worry about titles with me, or my daughter." He turned his gaze away from Jonny, sweeping it across the rest of the children.

"I came here today for an adoption, but I can never stop by here without spending a few hours, so I brought my daughter so she can make some friends. My wife and I will be spending some time talking to Abbess Helen, and in the meantime, I hope you all can have fun."

"If you have anything you want to tell Tommy, now is the time," said Helen with a smile.

"He will be leaving us after today." She swept her gaze across the group, but her eyes stopped on Jonny for just a moment.

"But not forever," added the baron.

"My doors are always open to brothers and sisters from St. Elena's! I'm sure you'll meet again! Now, Abbess Helen?" He held out his arm to Abbess Helen, who smiled and linked her elbow with his, allowing him to guide her back inside, along with his wife and Igrette. He never spared Jonny another glance, and at no point did he give any sign of recognition. I guess he didn't notice, then, thought Jonny, breathing a sigh of relief. It made sense.

It had been more than four years since the last time they saw each other, and Jonny was a literal infant back then. He had been declared dead not long after, and this orphanage was pretty far from the duke's castle. Probably. It's probably fine. With the immediate crisis taken care of, he turned his attention back to the center of the crowd, where Tommy and the baron's daughter, Clarissa, were standing awkwardly together.

With the baron gone, the children seemed to have settled down somewhat, and many had gone quiet, unsure how to approach the newcomer. And in their calmness, Jonny was able to shimmy around and find a position where he could actually see them. It was Anna who made the first move, stepping out from the crowd and standing confidently across from Clarissa. The two were about the same height, and both were blonde, but Anna had blue eyes, and had a bit more baby fat in her cheeks.

Seeing the two side by side made Jonny think that maybe Clarissa was older than she looked. He knew that Anna was seven, soon to be eight, and she looked a little younger, which probably put Clarissa at an older eight, or maybe nine. Or not. Jonny had never good at identifying the ages of children, even after spending years around them.

"I'm Anna," said Anna.

"Wanna play castle?"

"Okay," said Clarissa. And just like that, a new friendship was born. Ten minutes later, it died. Jonny stuck around out of curiosity, though he didn't participate, and from what he saw, Anna and Clarissa were wholly incompatible with each other. They were both the exact same kind of person. Strong-willed and bossy. And two strong-willed, bossy people couldn't organize a tea party, even if that tea party was fake.

It was going well while Anna tried to organize the other girls and a few of the boys into roles for the game of castle, but then Clarissa insisted on being a princess. Usually, that was Anna's role, so they had a brief spat before Tommy suggested they both be princesses. Then, they tried to hold a tea party, at which point Clarissa made her upbringing known, taking full charge of it, and rattling off the names of a dozen different teas and pastries that they would pretend to have.

Anna was completely out of her depth, but didn't like how she was losing control, and tried to take charge again, which Clarissa didn't like, and it escalated quickly until the whole thing fell apart. Now, there were two different castles, each with their own princess, and each hosting their own tea party. Anna's castle had some of the shyer kids, while Clarissa's had about twice as many people, and was noticeably more lively. Anna was visibly bitter about this, but did her best to pretend she didn't care.

Tommy was with Clarissa, of course, and the role he had been assigned was, of course, the prince. He didn't do much with his role. He mostly just sat in the snow next to Clarissa while she told all the other children how real castles worked. Jonny thought some of her information was suspect, like when she said that all castles had 'castle fairies' that haunted children who wandered the halls at night, and that the guards' main duty was fighting against them, but the overall experience was somewhat amusing.

He felt a little bad for Anna, but then again, she was always very bossy, and it was cathartic to see her get a taste of her own medicine. Jonny watched for a little while longer, then decided to go back out to finish his run. He felt he should probably talk to Tommy at some point before they left. He didn't want Tommy to leave without a proper goodbye. But Tommy was quite preoccupied, and it didn't look like he would be leaving any time in the next few hours, so it wasn't urgent.

Plus, the run would give him time to think of what he wanted to say. I can't just say "I'll miss you," right? he thought as he set off. That's kinda cringe. I always just called my buddies cunts when it was time to say goodbye, but Helen probably wouldn't like that, and she can apparently watch me from her office… The story has been taken without consent; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident. He ran for over an hour, running through scenarios in his head.

He shunned the more emotional ideas, gradually drifting toward something cooler. Something like a movie or a TV show when two cool guys need to part ways. If I stand on the fence, and give him a nod and a little smile while he walks away, that'd probably work. A silent "until next time." Maybe I should find a hat too. I think tipping a hat would make it cooler…

As he ran, he found himself practicing his nods, trying to figure out the perfect angle to look as cool as possible when he noticed someone standing in his path. He pulled himself from his daydreaming and realized that he was back near the orphanage, and that Clarissa's tea party seemed to have ended. Well, it had to, since the girl herself was now standing out in front of him.

She looked a bit goofy, a child standing with her hands on her hips in a poofy winter dress and an expression that looked like she hadn't quite figured out how to act haughty yet. She had Tommy next to her, and the rest of the kids from her imaginary castle standing behind her, so Jonny slowed down to see what she wanted.

"What are you doing?" she asked.

"Running."

"Why?" Jonny shrugged.

"You're weird."

"Uh…"

"You should play with us," she said.

"We're playing castle, and we need a dragon to attack. You'll be the dragon."

"I will?"

"Yeah," she said with a confident nod. Jonny glanced around. The other children were completely passive. Tommy wasn't making eye contact. The nuns seemed amused. He looked back at Clarissa, taking in her imperious expression, and decided he didn't really like being told what to do.

"Nah, I'm good." Clarissa's mouth opened and closed a few times like a fish. Jonny waited for her to say something for a few seconds, but when she never responded, he decided it was better to just finish his run, so he turned and ran away. When he returned to the orphanage, Clarissa was in his way again, even more than the first time.

"Play with us," she demanded.

"No, thanks," said Jonny without stopping.

"Ugh!" she said, stamping her foot. Jonny had to hide a smirk until he got far enough past her that he knew she couldn't see him. She did not try to get him to play with them again, instead electing one of the older boys to be the dragon, though whenever he got close, she shot him a glare. It was amusing at first, and Jonny even stuck his tongue out at her once to see her reaction, but that got boring after a couple laps, and he went back to focusing on his breathing as he ran.

Time flew, and before he knew it, the sun was nearing the horizon, and the baron finally emerged from the orphanage again. Jonny was close enough at the time to hear Clarissa shout "Daddy!" and take a flying leap into his arms, and for the second time that day, all the children gathered around him. The mood was much different, though, since this time, they all knew that Tommy would be leaving with him.

The baron shared a few words with the children, giving some advice about working hard and behaving well and things like that, then handed the reins over to Helen, who had the kids line up in front of Tommy to give him a goodbye hug. Jonny ended up near the back of the line, because being near the front of a hug line just felt weird.

Most of the kids gave him a perfunctory hug before moving on, but a few started crying, which made Tommy cry too, and some of the nuns cried while watching, and it turned it all into a sordid affair that made Jonny distinctly uncomfortable. When it was finally his turn at the front of the line, for a few seconds, he and Tommy just stared at each other. Tommy wasn't crying anymore, thankfully, but his eyes were red and puffy.

All of Jonny's mental preparation from his run earlier vanished from his mind, and when he finally came up with something that would probably sound cool, Tommy cut him off by rushing in for a bear hug. Ah, dammit. Jonny returned the hug, patting Tommy a few times on the back as he did, and trying to ignore how Tommy's nose was getting his shoulder wet.

"Imma miss you," said Tommy.

"I— I'm gonna miss you too…" The two pulled away, and Tommy tried to smile. Jonny returned the smile, then glanced to the side to see Clarissa glaring at him as he suddenly realized a few things he wanted to say.

"Alright, Tommy, listen," he said, putting his hands on Tommy's shoulders.

"Don't let her boss you around. You can't get strong if you always let a little girl tell you what to do."

"Little girl?!" exclaimed Clarissa while her father chuckled above her.

"You'd be surprised," he said.

"What I'm tryna say is that you gotta have some backbone," said Jonny, ignoring them.

"You gotta make your own decisions. Don't let other people make them for you. You gotta be your own person." Tommy nodded seriously, sniffling a glob of snot back up his nose.

"You're already really strong," Jonny continued.

"You just gotta keep doing what you're good at. Don't try to copy others just 'cause it looks cool. You gotta find your own style and figure out what works for you. Got it?" Tommy nodded again.

"I'm gonna be the best. I'm gonna be stronger than you."

"Not if I can help it," said Jonny with a grin, clapping Tommy's shoulders.

"We'll see. Next time." He pulled his arms away, and started turning away, raising one hand to his temple.

"See you when—" Tommy interrupted him once again by going in for a hug. Ah, dammit, Tommy, you keep ruining the cool stuff, thought Jonny, reciprocating the hug. This hug lasted much longer, and when they pulled away, Tommy was crying again. Jonny felt a slight stinging in his eyes as well, but he fought back, and gave Tommy a smile as he walked away, letting the next kid in his line get his turn.

When they reached the end of the line, Helen had all the kids line up again, this time in a semicircle around Tommy and his new family, and they all gave a chorus of goodbyes. The baron put a gentle hand on Tommy's back, guiding him around toward the door, but Tommy glanced back at Jonny one last time. Jonny raised two fingers to his temple, then flicked outward in a salute. Tommy returned a red-eyed smile before letting himself be led away.

Then, before they fully disappeared, Clarissa glanced back at him as well and stuck her tongue out at him before disappearing through the door. Jonny took a deep breath after he was gone, feeling the cold air and swirling mana enter his lungs. I need to get to work. He walked over to Igrette, reaching her before she could disappear again, and tugged on her sleeve.

"Yes?" she asked.

"Can we go back out to the stone circle tomorrow?"

"Why?" Jonny started to shrug before remembering what she had told him last time he did that.

"I wanna try something." Igrette narrowed her eyes.

"Try what?"

"I'll show you there."

"…I'll have to discuss with Helen first."

"Okay."

"Now, go get ready for dinner."

"Yes, Sister Igrette!" Jonny ran off, letting her get back to work. He was feeling extremely motivated, especially knowing he had a deadline coming up if he wanted to be able to say he was faster than Tommy. Not that he even knew what to do, but with his new ability to breathe mana, he imagined that doing so in the stone circle was going to be at the very least useful for charging up his reserves. Maybe if he got full enough, he could try something.

He joined the throng of children heading inside so they could change their clothes and get ready for dinner, and as he was getting jostled around, he suddenly frowned. I feel like I'm forgetting something… He thought for a few seconds, then shrugged. Well, if I forgot, it probably wasn't important.

"We're staying here?" asked Tommy.

"Just for tonight," said the baron with a smile.

"We'll be heading back to capital of the Meyer duchy in the morning. Ah, there you are, Wesley. Tommy, meet Wesley, our butler. Wesley, meet Thomas, or Tommy, my new son."

"A pleasure, young master," said Wesley, bowing deeply.

"N- nice to meet you," said Tommy.

"Your coat, sir?"

"Of course," said the baron, shedding his coat and handing it to Wesley.

"You too, Tommy." Tommy struggled out of his own coat, handing it to the butler with a soft thanks before allowing the baron to escort him upstairs to his new room. Wesley watched them both go, then went to take the coats to the back room so the maids could dry the snow off and freshen them for the following day.

It only took a few seconds, and when he was done, he was more or less done for the night, Baron Ellis was not a strict employer, and was still getting used to his noble status and the wealth that came with it. For little things like his coats, he was accustomed to entrusting the task to Wesley, but for larger things, he still preferred to do things himself. That suited Wesley just fine, as it gave him plenty of time to do other work.

Other work which would this time involve visiting a local tavern where the nuns of St. Elena's tended to visit after dark. Spying for Lord Raymond wasn't the most glorious profession, but it helped pay the bills. Not that working for Baron Ellis didn't, but if Wesley wanted to splurge a little bit on the weekends, Lord Raymond ensured he didn't have to worry about burning through his savings.

It got a little tedious, sometimes, and he doubted anyone would care what information he gathered about this remote orphanage, but he got paid for everything he learned, no matter how small, so he might as well make the most of his time. It wasn't like there was anything else to do in this little, boring town. I wonder if the nuns like redheads… he thought as he adjusted his collar.