Liriel, Liriel, I need Skoo- Liriel. He need warm arms around him and Liriel there, Liriel whispering it was going to be all right. She'd always been the strong one really, far more than he was. He was just another warlord king. She was a dragonslaying hero of legend. He needed her like the air he breathed, and she was better off without him. But maybe that wasn't his call to make, he was starting to realise. At any rate, he was damned if her family were carting her off against her will.
“We're gonna find her,” Argis promised, patting his back. “We're gonna find her and get you two back here and then you and she can have a long talk, yeah? And Da... I still think you're the bravest man I know.”
“You possibly need to get out more,” Madanach said, but he couldn't help but smile. Eola might be disillusioned and furious, Lucia might be traumatised, he'd barely had a chance to see Sissel, but it seemed his son understood and still loved him. Madanach had never felt prouder of the man his son had become, and having been Argis's sole parent for five years, he was perhaps the child Madanach had been closest to at one point. Perhaps he'd not screwed up completely on the parenting front if Argis had turned out a good and honourable man who still loved his father even though said father was a complete mess. And if he could get one child right, maybe the rest of his life could follow, right?
One step at a time. One day at a time. That was what the treatment programme advised. That addiction could happen to anyone, and it didn't mean you were hopeless or a fool. That there was hope for even the most wretched, but it wasn't an easy path. You just had to keep walking it with people who cared about you and with your fellow sufferers, and eventually you'd all get there together and if you fell off along the way, everyone else helped you up and you all kept walking. He'd said it to others often enough, he just never thought it'd be him. But he could see in his son's eyes that Argis wasn't even shocked, never mind surprised. As if he'd guessed it'd happen eventually.
“Thank you, son. I'm proud of you, you know that, right.”
“Yeah, I know,” Argis said, one arm round his father as they made their way out, Borkul and Jordis falling into step behind them. Time to go rescue the Reach-Queen.
~~~~~~~~
A/N: Lirela would be Madanach's first grandchild via Argis and Elisif - only a baby at the moment but obviously Madanach dotes on her something chronic. Argis and Elisif may have married due to the peace deal that gave Madanach the Reach, but they're genuinely in love, very happy and Argis has been very subtly encouraging Elisif to stand up for herself more and generally taking a few tips off his father in how to be a ruler.
Liriel's Thieves Guild exploits are almost worth a fic in their own right but alas I don't think I'll ever get the chance to write them...
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timeasmymeasure
Re: Thicker Than Blood 9.8
Date: 2014-02-26 11:08 pm (UTC)“We're gonna find her,” Argis promised, patting his back. “We're gonna find her and get you two back here and then you and she can have a long talk, yeah? And Da... I still think you're the bravest man I know.”
“You possibly need to get out more,” Madanach said, but he couldn't help but smile. Eola might be disillusioned and furious, Lucia might be traumatised, he'd barely had a chance to see Sissel, but it seemed his son understood and still loved him. Madanach had never felt prouder of the man his son had become, and having been Argis's sole parent for five years, he was perhaps the child Madanach had been closest to at one point. Perhaps he'd not screwed up completely on the parenting front if Argis had turned out a good and honourable man who still loved his father even though said father was a complete mess. And if he could get one child right, maybe the rest of his life could follow, right?
One step at a time. One day at a time. That was what the treatment programme advised. That addiction could happen to anyone, and it didn't mean you were hopeless or a fool. That there was hope for even the most wretched, but it wasn't an easy path. You just had to keep walking it with people who cared about you and with your fellow sufferers, and eventually you'd all get there together and if you fell off along the way, everyone else helped you up and you all kept walking. He'd said it to others often enough, he just never thought it'd be him. But he could see in his son's eyes that Argis wasn't even shocked, never mind surprised. As if he'd guessed it'd happen eventually.
“Thank you, son. I'm proud of you, you know that, right.”
“Yeah, I know,” Argis said, one arm round his father as they made their way out, Borkul and Jordis falling into step behind them. Time to go rescue the Reach-Queen.
~~~~~~~~
A/N: Lirela would be Madanach's first grandchild via Argis and Elisif - only a baby at the moment but obviously Madanach dotes on her something chronic. Argis and Elisif may have married due to the peace deal that gave Madanach the Reach, but they're genuinely in love, very happy and Argis has been very subtly encouraging Elisif to stand up for herself more and generally taking a few tips off his father in how to be a ruler.
Liriel's Thieves Guild exploits are almost worth a fic in their own right but alas I don't think I'll ever get the chance to write them...