Maybe it was just Daimen imagining things, but he thought he’d seen a small flash of gratitude in his brother’s eyes when he said that. He hadn’t expected the big bad time traveler to actually care about his opinion that much. Interesting.
Now, here they were – every Kazinski sibling gathered together. Daimen, Zorian, Kirielle, and Fortov were all standing next to one another at Cyoria’s train station, waiting for the next train to arrive.
Their parents were coming to Cyoria.
It was kind of funny, actually. If his parents had arrived to Koth as planned, they could have been here way earlier. Daimen would have arranged for them to step through the brand new interdimensional gate linking Koth to Eldemar, and they would have been home before you knew it. Alas, they’d actually heard about the attack on Cyoria when they had almost reached their destination, and decided to immediately switch ships and turn back. As a consequence, they had spent almost an entire month in transit before they were able to return to Eldemar.
Sighing inwardly, Daimen noticed that no one except him looked actually excited about that fact. Zorian looked bored and disinterested, clearly intending to just get this over with as quickly and painlessly as possible. Fortov seemed nervous and unsure how to behave. His other young brother had been acting strangely ever since Daimen had evacuated him from Cyoria along with Kirielle, and Daimen had no idea what was going on in his head at the moment, but he clearly wasn’t looking forward to this meeting. As for Kirielle, she was playing around with the fancy snow globe Zorian had bought for her while they had been waiting for the train to arrive, but Daimen could see she was extremely nervous under this disinterested facade.
He should have brought Orissa with him, he lamented. He had originally left her behind because he didn’t want to provoke his parents in this particular meeting, since they were bound to be extremely distraught already, but now he wondered if her presence would have been a positive thing instead.
It was too late for such regrets, however. The train soon entered the station and began to disembark, it wasn’t long before Daimen spotted their parents.
They weren’t carrying much in the way of luggage. Daimen winced internally. It made sense, since they must have had dropped off most of their stuff when they had stopped by in Cirin. Still, the fact they were carrying practically nothing meant they expected this to be a very short visit. This… was probably going to get unpleasant.
Not long after Daimen had spotted their parents, they also spotted him. The two groups quickly made their way towards one another.
"For heaven’s sake, what are you children still doing in this city?" Mother complained the moment they were within earshot.
"Mother-" Daimen tried futilely.
"The whole city was under siege until recently. The academy is closed . Why aren’t you all back in Cirin already?" she continued. Father was totally silent, simply studying each of them in turn. Once he saw that all of them were unharmed, he seemed to relax a little. Most wouldn’t be able to tell, but Daimen was the closest to Father out of all the Kazinski siblings, and could read his little tics pretty well by this point. "Never mind, I’ll help you pack your bags and we’ll be home by tomorrow."
"What? No we won’t," Zorian simply told her in a bored tone of voice.
"Zorian, please let me handle this," Daimen urged in a low tone of voice.
Father gave Zorian a penetrating look for his statement, a gesture that would usually instantly put Zorian on defensive, but of course, this time traveler Zorian was not bothered by it in the slightest. Zorian didn’t talk about family all that much, but Daimen got the notion that Zorian had barely interacted with Mother and Father during the time loop. The two were practically strangers to him, and it showed in his attitude towards them.
That, more than the fact he’d had to kill his original self to be here, greatly disturbed Daimen.
"You seem to have grown some spine in the short time you’ve been here," Father remarked, still staring intently at Zorian. He didn’t say whether this was good or bad, but Daimen knew he thought it was both. He liked when his sons had a firm, decisive attitude, but he also didn’t tolerate disrespect towards himself and Mother.
"Zorian is just dedicated to his studies," Daimen hurriedly explained, shooting Zorian a quick look to shut him up. "Just because the academy is closed doesn’t mean we’re all doing nothing. Zorian is organizing a study group for his class so they can continue studying on their own in private. He even got some of the teachers to help him out."
"But Kirielle-" Mother tried.
"I like it here!" Kirielle immediately exclaimed. "I have friends here and everything!"
"It’s dangerous here," Mother said firmly. She glanced around the group for a second. "I really regret not taking her with us this time, but what’s done is done. What I don’t understand if how you could all let her stay in here under the circumstances. She must be terrified after what happened here!"
"But I’m not!" Kirielle protested.
"Quiet," Mother barked at her.
Kirielle immediately shirked back.
Out of the corner of his eye, Daimen could see Zorian’s mood immediately worsen. Out of all of them here, Kirielle was the one Zorian cared about the most. Daimen was pretty sure his little brother would be willing to make an enemy out of his whole family for Kirielle’s sake, which was more than a little disturbing. Kirielle was a cute kid, but she could be a massive brat sometimes.
"Anyway, if Zorian is as busy as you say, what about Fortov?" Mother continued. "He could have taken Kirielle back to Cirin just fine, yes?"
"Yes, he’s already a failed student wasting his time and our money here," Father agreed. "Why not have him be useful for a change?"
"You!" Fortov protested, visibly outraged.
"Am I wrong?" Father challenged.
"Why even send me back here if that’s what you think about me!?" Fortov protested.
"Please, Father," Daimen urged. "Look, I know Fortov had some issues with his studies lately…"
Father scoffed. Mother sighed. Fortov looked furious, and very bitter.
"…but I have been giving him some help lately, and I’m sure he’ll turn the situation around," Daimen said.
He had promised to take care of Fortov back in the time loop, apparently. Although Daimen didn’t remember it, he had to admit Fortov needed his help. Certainly Zorian made it clear he didn’t want to do anything with the guy. Apparently, despite having lived in the same city for years, Zorian had never bothered to interact with his brother and figure out how to help him.
For all his newfound maturity, this new Zorian still had clear traces of his old self.
He sure could nurse a grudge, for instance.
"And for how long will that last?" Father challenged. "You’ll be back in Koth soon, I imagine, and then he’ll be back on his own. I doubt one month will make that much difference."
"Actually, I’m going to be around much more often than I usually am," Daimen said. "Haven’t you wondered how I got here before you?"
Father and Mother looked at each other.
"Well… I thought maybe you used the teleport network…" tried Mother.
Daimen shook his head with a slight smile.
"Mother, Father… I want to show you something. We can go and meet my fiancée and her family now, if you’re willing. It’s what you were travelling to Koth for, after all."
"What? They came here with you?" Mother asked incredulously. Daimen understood her disbelief. A single individual like him could conceivably cross large distances on a whim, but a small group of people was a lot bigger challenge.