It Brought Tears To Our Eyes
2047 Words
Farah turned around when she heard her name being called. That voice — sounded so awfully familiar. A man's voice whom she had not heard for nearly 24 months suddenly rang through the entrance of the domain and reached her ears.
She pricked her ears up, an electrifying sensation crawled over her skin, making her fine hairs on her arms stood on the ends as if someone had rubbed their woollen covered feet on a rug and had touched her.
She turned her head and saw a familiar silhouette albeit the hobbling gait. She peered at the silhouette and she recognised it almost immediately. She couldn't believe her eyes as the silhouette slowly take form, of a handsome middle-aged man, the one that called her his precious and would make for her the young sweet corn in brine...
"Fa—Father... FATHER...!!!" Farah hollered and jumped up from her seat and ran towards the hobbling man, who saw her running, dropped down on his knee while the other leg was sprawled before him. Farah ran and slid on her knees and caught her father as both were bawling out in tears of joy, amidst the curious onlookers from the rest of us.
Suddenly it dawned on me that it was Firestone, the one that Eagle had passed me the news that they had discovered Farah's father and had sent word to bring him over to Gracehaven. Little did I realise that the moment the news had reached me, some Shadow members had already picked the man up.
Old Kayla who saw the reunion before her wiped away the tears that had flowed without her knowing herself. It was a joyous moment and only one who witnessed it knew how happy beyond words would a reunion of a father and his long lost daughter would be.
Old Kayla went up to Farah and old Jack went up to the man and assisted him to stand up amidst the sobs and tears of joy from both the father and daughter.
After some time, they both regained their composure and were smiling and laughing as they looked at each other, longingly to hear their laughter and the chatter for so long.
Farah held on to her father's right arm and sauntered over and announced, "Your Majesty this is my father. Firestone. He was the foreman of the quarries in Durham, Newcastle on Trent and he was injured when our mining town had suffered a mine explosion one day."
Farah spoke up nonchalantly and this made Firestone to immediately got on one knee, saluted and then got trouble of getting up by himself without any assistant. Old Jack, once again helped the man up and said, "You don't have to do that anymore, especially in your condition. This would be the last bow our Majesty would be expecting from you."
"Farah, bring your father and sit around with the rest of the Priests and Priestesses. We continue a while more in our discussion and then we would break the meeting up." I gestured with my arm towards the group and Farah sat with her father as she continually hugged his arm, never wanting to let him go any more.
Old Kayla and Old Jack returned to their seats and once we had concluded the remaining part of the meeting, we all walked out from the domain towards the dining area in the courtyard.
=*=
"How have you been, Firestone? Your daughter had been talking about you incessantly since she came here to Gracehaven. I think she got here slightly more than a week, I suppose, together with the group."
"I am fine, Your Majesty. I am no more working as a foreman due to the injury I sustained 2 years ago. My leg had been amputated and now being supported by a wooden prosthetic below the knee."
"You looked so grown up, precious. My gosh...! I felt like it was all a dream... Are you a..."
Firestone turned his attention to rub the top of her daughter's heaf as he noticed that her daughter had been well fed and there was no sign of malnourishment or ill-treatment. She looked radiant even with her tear-stained face.
Farah was hugging tightly to Firestone's arm and had buried her face into it. She missed how her father smelled, after a hard day's work in the quarries, covered with dust and grime but she would still hug him upon his return if she did not help him on site but doing the balancing of accounts at home.
Farah raised her head slightly and replied, "Yes Father. There are 4 Witches including me and 4 sorcerers too. We are not known as Witches now because of the misconception that others may think about us. We are now regarded as Priests and Priestesses of Gracehaven."
"Your Majesty, I would thank you from the pits of my heart and soul for giving me the best gift ever that anyone had ever given me before. You had reunited me with my long lost daughter whom I had nearly given up the queries about her wellbeing."
"How do you come to realise about my daughter's abilities, Your Majesty? I thought that Witches were shunned by the public eyes and treated lower than the outcasts?"
I simply answered that Gracehaven was special and treats everyone the same. I asked for several pieces of pan-fried flatbread, with seasoned fish fillings and lots of onions and chilli, to be served as supper. Our domain assistant went to Gracehaven's Greasy Spoon to proceed with the orders and waited there to be served.
Seeing me ordering the pan-fried flatbread, priority was being made for us as the chefs immediately worked to get it prepared and then by 5 to 8 minutes, stacks of the pan-fried flatbread, filed with seasoned fish fillings with eggs, onions and chilli were brought up to our seats. A fairly large bowl of vegetable curry was brought up along with several plates.
"Come, let's eat first and we can continue later. It is impertinent to eat and talk at the same time. Here in Gracehaven, it is a practice that I had instilled in everyone." I took a plate and brought it before Firestone and handed the plates to everyone else too. The stacks of the pan-fried flatbread with the fillings of season fish, eggs, onions and chilli were handed out by the domain assistant.
Soon mugs of ale arrived and were served to us as well. When the pan-fried flatbread was served before Firestone and his daughter, he can't help but raised his eyebrows in wonder. The smell of the freshly pan-fried flatbread before him was wafting through the air, like little dragons of steam dancing on top of it and finally entered through his nostril.
He can't help distinguishing the smell of seasoned fish, eggs, onions and a hint of spiciness from the pan-fried flatbread. It was neither too thick or thin and he was half thinking it was a trencher. There was a small bowl for everyone to pour the curry vegetables into it and Firestone can help but wipe his drool on the back of his hand.
"Go ahead, dig in. Don't mind us or the royalty thing. It's just a title, nothing more to it." I remarked and he was surprised that royalty was able to dine along with the commoners, like as it was a daily chore to His Majesty.
Marcel asked the domain assistant to get another round of pan-fried flatbread but this time with game meat because as he remarked, "It takes two hands to clap and two pan-fried flatbreads to complete a meal. Hehehe."
The domain assistant went to gather the orders once more and waited to be served. It didn't take long before another platter filled with layers of pan-fried flatbread, this time filled with seasoned game meat, eggs, onions and chilli arrived.
Firestone tore off a piece of the pan-fried bread but instead of stuffing it into his mouth, he fed his daughter first beside him. Farah, seeing her being fed as she used to when she was little, quickly grasped both of her hands and took it into her mouth. She then brought her father's hand to her forehead as in a blessing kind of manner as her eyes brimmed once again with tears.
She then tore off a piece of her pan-fried flatbread and fed her father too, returning the gesture, returning the long lost feeling of seeing her father, as he too accepted the food that was fed to him.
Both were brimming with tears as they fed each other in that manner while the rest who watched, had splattered some salted tears into their pan-fried flatbread as well — Marcel included.
"*Ahem* the chilli today is a little spicy, innit... It brought tears and sniffles even during mealtime." I cracked a joke to enliven the mood a bit and everyone agreed while some laughed at me for diverting our sentiments on seeing such a scene and directed to the food instead.
After the meal and after literally licking our fingers clean, we all sat back and chill with the mug of chilled ale. When Firestone drank it for the first time his eyes went wide, as wide as an egg yolk cooked in a sunny side up and exclaimed, "This is the first time I drank an ale that felt so cool...!"
"That's Imelda's project, father. She's the Ice Queen. Hehehe. She made the copper dispensing tun to be insulated with ice so the ale within would be kept cool and it felt more fun to drink this way too."
"Hahaha. Uncle Firestone, Farah is the Fire Maiden too. We are the total opposite of each other but we are close as sisters...!" Imelda pointed out and we all laughed at their antics as they start giving out names to each other.
"Father, let me introduce you to the rest of the group..." and she pointed who was who in the group and their role. When it came to Penelope, Heather butted in and with a straight face she announced, "Penelope is a Plant Whisperer. She will whisper and sing them lullabies to make them grow faster within a week. Then the crops could be harvested within a week."
Upon hearing this, everyone roared with laughter as Marcel nearly spat his mouthful of ale which he was about to swallow and had to trickle it back into his mug before he choked in it...!
The situation was made light and everyone was happy... But the happiest was the pair of father and daughter that had finally reunited after being apart with no news of each other for 24 months...
"Father, our houses here do not have a separate room so you might have to sleep on your own. Wait, Andy can sleep with you and accompany you, right Andy?"
Andy looked up from his food (he was such a slow eater) and simply nodded his head as to agree with Farah's suggestion. Furthermore staying with 3 adults in a house was a little crampy to him since he used to have his own cruck with his evil brother.
He sighed inwardly and felt how wonderful it would be if his parents and his own flesh and blood brother would be as accepting as the pair of father and daughter who were busy catching up with old times and so on.
"Father... Now I could finally be able to taste the sweet young corn that you used to prepare for me every time you have seen them sprouting... Hahaha." Farah laughed like a small little girl as her father rubbed her head affectionately.
"Just like old times, my little precious one. Just like old times..."
=*=
After supper, Old Jack and Old Kayla brought the pair of father and daughter to the residential lots. The two Shadow members from out of town had joined in with the workforce once they had accomplished their objective in bringing back their subject safely to Gracehaven.
I was noted of it by Eagle as I would be making some additions to the population once again. Besides, the militia strength of Gracehaven had risen slowly and surely for this past few months.
- Writer
