Vin is not prepared

“Osh!”

Vin dropped out of the tree and came crashing through the brush with all the grace of a bear cub.

“I wasn’t sure it was you!” he laughed.

Osh had not seen the boy in months, but even to his arms he felt unfamiliar: brittle and bony.

Then he saw his face, and he would scarcely have recognized him if Vin had not such distinctive features.

His skin was stretched tight over his prominent cheekbones and the sharp crook of his nose, but it sagged around his thin, chapped mouth. His eyes were so dark and sunken that Osh was uncomfortably reminded of the skull beneath.

“Don’t tell me you’ve been up in that tree all this time,” Osh scolded.

“I was with the elf Druze…”

“And he forgot you needed to eat,” Osh sighed.

The look of pain the passed over the boy’s face was chilling. Osh had never truly been hungry in his life.

“Never mind that.” Osh clapped him on the shoulder. “He did the same thing when he ran off with the elf Iylaina. If I remember your appetite, you’ll be fat again in no time.”

Vin smiled feebly.

Osh could already hear Paul, Vash, and the dog shouting back and forth. They were already on their way. Somehow Osh would have to prepare Vin.

“Now,” Osh said in English, “I wish to introduce you to my friend Dunstan. We shall pretend he found you, so he can get the reward.”

“What’s the reward?” Dunstan laughed.

“I think you get a gratitude kiss from Lady Lili.”

“Oh, in that case…”

“Or from her husband, I don’t remember which,” Osh said quickly. He had not been able to say the name after all. “So, this is Dunstan, who is having this big castle on the hill.”

“I am very happy to meet you,” Dunstan said. “You have already made quite an impression on my sisters.”

“Your sisters!” Vin said. “Those two black-​​haired girls who gave me some bread?”

“They and the young Princess.”

“Oh!” Vin laughed freely, which reassured Osh more than anything so far. “Your sisters are funny. One sister is funny in a nice way and the other in a silly way. Do you have any brothers? Younger?”

“Well, my brother Yware is fifteen, but he’s far away across the sea now.”

Vin gasped in awe.

“And I have another brother who is almost ten – who is nevertheless called the Old Man – and a baby brother, David.”

“As in the giant story?” Vin asked eagerly.

“David and Goliath?” Dunstan laughed. “We don’t have any Goliaths in my family. We’re all short.”

“Ah, Vin?” Osh interrupted gently. He could hear Paul’s feet pounding closer already.

Vin ignored him and asked Dunstan, “Did you ever go far away across the sea? Did you ever sail on the water?”

“Yes, I – ”

“Did you ever fight with an army? Did you ever take the enemy’s banner?” Vin swung an imaginary sword.

“No, praise God! I’m afraid I shall next year, however.”

“Oh!”

Vin appeared speechless enough that Osh thought he might have slipped in a word or two, but Paul was already upon them.

“Kiv!” Vin cried.

“Paul!” Paul corrected.

“Vin!” Vin laughed just before he was squeezed too tightly to speak. Paul had not seen Vin in years.

Osh saw on his son’s face the same expression that must have crossed his own when he had first looked into Vin’s. But Paul only said, “Look how tall you are!”

“Look how ugly you are!” Vin laughed. “Vash told me you looked like a goat, but I had no idea!”

“I will make you regret that remark,” Paul threatened. “At least I can shave off my ugly.”

“Vin…” Osh said again. He heard other feet coming, jogging slowly enough that he was certain it was not Vash.

Vin still ignored him, preferring to wrestle with Paul.

Fortunately it was only Alred.

The first look of shock that Vin gave the man told Osh what Egelric could expect. Vin looked pale and ill, and Alred’s soft, sad smile could not have cheered him.

“This is my father,” Dunstan said, “His Grace – ”

“Alred,” Alred interrupted.

Vin leapt back to life as if someone had released a spring in him. “You’re his father? Did you write: ‘So this middle-​​earth, a bit each day, droops and decays; therefore man cannot call himself wise before he have his share of winters…’?”

“Something like that,” Alred chuckled, but his face regained some of its color.

“Oh!” Vin gasped. “Can you write another? Is it true? Did it happen to you?”

Alred smiled and bowed. “A true poet never writes anything but the truth, though not necessarily his own.”

Osh could hear the approach of a frantically barking dog. He said gently, “Vin…”

“Did you ever go across the icy sea?” Vin asked eagerly. “Did you ever fight against an army?”

“He has,” Dunstan said, “and even taken banners too. And he saved his lord’s life once in mortal combat. And he even – ”

“And he will tell you all about that later,” Alred interrupted. “War stories are best told around a fire, with a full belly and a cup of wine. Say… you’ve never tasted wine, have you, old man?”

“Or mead!” Vin gasped. “In your mead-​​hall! With the thanes!”

“Everything you know about men you learned from reading Beowulf, I see,” Alred laughed. “When those other two stragglers find us, I propose we all retire to my son’s ‘mead-​​hall’ and invite a few ‘thanes’ over for a drink, shall we?”

“Ah – Vin?” Osh said hopefully.

“You forgot a straggler,” Paul said.

By that time the dog had reached them at a joyous, howling run. He pulled up sharply at Vin’s feet, however, and flattened his ears against his head and wagged his tail meekly.

Vin stared at him for a moment with wide eyes.

“He’s not dangerous,” Alred said.

“Did this dog lead you to me?” Vin asked.

“One might say so,” Alred said. “That’s what we were hoping he was trying to tell us. Do you know him?”

Vin grabbed the dog’s head and shook it playfully, growling at him in the way he had when he claimed to “talk” to the wolves in their own language. The dog answered with a joyous bark, almost as if he had understood.

“I have seen him before,” Vin said.

Osh noticed that Paul had been trying to catch his eye, but it was because the ears of both of them had already been alerted to the arrival of two more pairs of running feet.

When they reached the clearing, it became clear that Vash was allowing Egelric to keep up with him, but it meant that Vash would still be greeting the boy by the time Egelric reached his side.

“Vin, listen,” Osh said anxiously.

“Vash!” Vin dropped to his knees and threw his arms wide, laughing.

Vash picked him up off the ground and swung him around once before setting him back on his feet and squeezing him. “You beetlehead!” he growled into the boy’s hair. “We were wild with worry about you! Where’s Druze?”

“Vash! I – don’t know…”

“Vin…” Osh whimpered. “Vash…”

But it was too late. Vash spun Vin around until he was pointed at the tallest man, and then he pushed him forward.

“Vin,” he announced, “it is time for you to meet your father.”