---
Ruden's eyes watered the last time they talked.
The grey helm on his boy fit him.
"Son." It was his boy, his flesh and blood, leaving him. "This war isn't worth your life and body-..." His son's eyes went from neutral to frowning.
"But my friends are there." He wanted desperately to say, 'What if I see you the last time?' His lips were sealed the moment he made his decision to join the army, to join the glorious deathbed of heroes.
But he had a family.
He had a loving father. He was sure he would've had a girlfriend; he was ripe at that age.
"I have to go." Yet those words stung so bad. And the words Ruden stuttered didn't convince him to change his mind.
"Son-"
And henceforth, he died in battle like a hero for him but left a grieving father thinking he could've done more.
He could've convinced him not to die.
---
A conflict from before marred the table.
The trio sat there and ate an apple pie together. The pig rubbed his cheeks clean with an apron, and Katten chuckled. "Since when are you so cultured?"
"So what's the job like- Any info?"
The tea in the thief's hand was spilled when Ruden said, "School."
"You cannot make a joke-..."
Katten choked on the tea while Agnar was super excited for some reason. She loved the idea of teaching kids about her heritage and culture.
"I never thought I would teach kids! But since when does the Corpse Lake have a school? I never heard of that." Agnar smiled at Katten, who grimaced. The old pig sighed.
Henceafter, Ruden shrugged while Katten was angry at him.
"You're kidding me. ME? A teacher? Did you see my track record with kids?" He had nothing to teach children. He barely got by on his own.
"Not a teacher. Just a substitute. And it's not a normal school." Katten raised an eyebrow. His paws hurt from the hot water. "Since when-... How-... Just how did you, a thief, become a teacher in the first place?"
"I'm not a teacher there, but I know someone close, and he needs extra hands."
"Please, Katten. I want to see kids." The black thief turned to the red dragon, surprised.
...
The sun barely was seeable. "Winter ended a long time ago. Spring didn't even start, and yet we are stuck in Autumn whilst not reaching the Summer that we long for."
Autumn must be looking down on him right now.
The black mist from outside the Corpse Lake's school backyard is creeping closer, a sign for people to cover their mouths to not get sick. The thief said to himself while leaning on an old oak tree. "Why did I say yes to this?"
The cat huffed and puffed.
Ruden, in his usual attire, walked up to him and bowed jokingly. "Oh, great teacher. How was your day?"
"...passable." The thief remembered the barely functioning classroom and the illiterate peasant kids of different races somehow playing together, a sight he didn't understand.
"They are nice kids, right?" Being a thief gives people a window to see that life will be hard despite your origin.
Despite... The racism, the slavery, and the mistreatment. So, to see an environment of all species living together in harmony...
It felt.
"Ruden... You built this school, didn't you? Because normally the government has oversight on these matters."
Ruden patted the cat and smiled. "One day, they will come, but not now." Katten closed his eyes awkwardly and accepted the old pig's affection.
"It's really unfair." A quiet muzzle from the cat.
Ruden asked him, "I know. How's the dragon holding up?" Katten watched the ground while thinking.
He guessed, "She's been happy. She's forgetting about what happened. A good thing, I guess." Katten awkwardly looked at the pig, who sat there near the tree.
"You seem to care a lot."
"It's just a phase."
"Ha... Having a son is also just a phase, huh?" "Old man-..."
Katten didn't know what to think anymore as the adventure had just started with his companion and how long he could stay here.
"You want to give her a life that's worth living?"
"Yes, Dad. I want her to experience a warmth that I didn't experience."