Uninvited Guest|Rivenway, Ronduin

[Devon]

It was early in the morning at the Hayes household and Darin was very busy catching up on some much wanted sleep. It was quiet, even the twins were napping instead of terrorizing the house. At the door a small figure arrived and promptly began to knock on the door.

Groggily Darin woke up and grumbled under his breath. "Who the hell is coming here so early?" Darin sighed figuring he would just ignore it and the person would go away, but the knocking continued. "Ugh," he mumbled as he got out of bed and went to the front door. Opening the door he initially didn't see anyone, glancing down he was greeted by a young boy with red hair.

The boy looked up at Darin and spoke up, "Are you Darin Hayes?"
Darin slowly nodded his head at the kid, confused as to why he would be here so early in the morning. The boy smiled brightly and immediately wrapped his arms around Darin's waist. "Daddy!"

[Kender Bard]

Pandora hadn't bothered to get up. Come this time of year, and onward into winter and early Spring, she was loathe to get up unless made to or else midday. She instead snuggled deeper under her blankets and missed Darin's warm presence. Ven was in much the same state.

"Do you hear something?" she asked her companion sleepily when she overheard what she thought was one of the boys squealing.

Ven didn't respond. Instead he slithered out from his warm little corner and after Darin. He flicked his tongue in the air as he noted the boy. "What's going on here?" he asked, knowing Darin couldn't understand. Instead he slithered over Darin's foot.

[Devon]

Darin was dumbfounded with a very blank look on his face. Ven sliding over his foot didn't even register to the man. Instead he just stared off into the distance while the boy hugged him. The boy saw Ven and stepped back, the snake was kind of creepy to the child. "Dad..dad..are you okay?" he asked.

Snapping out of it Darin looked to Ven as if he were pleading to be saved and then back to the boy. "What are you talking about? Who in the world are you?"

"I'm your son," the boy answered as if it were a matter of fact. Darin stared hard at the boy, but the child wasn't phased, instead he just kept on smiling. Feeling a little chilly Darin picked Ven up and stepped back into his home. Before closing the door he looked to the boy and muttered, "You might as well come in so I can figure this out.."

The boy nodded and followed Darin into his home.

[Kender Bard]

Ven hissed at being picked up by Darin but knew better than to squirm or try to slither away. He'd been dropped before doing just that. "Put me down!" he hissed at Darin. "Pandora's going to want to see this interloping offspring."

[Devon]

Darin couldn't understand Ven's hissing but he knew the snake didn't like being held for to long so once they were inside again he put the snake down. Looking to the kid he pointed to a chair and ordered, "Sit.." The boy nodded and sat down and was getting ready to speak before Darin cut him off, "Just be quiet for a few minutes..I need to go and look at something."

Darin sighed and went off to his room to wake Pandora. The young boy sat in the chair as he was told, swinging his feet and idly glancing around the room he was in.

[Kender Bard]

Pandora woke, groggily, when Darin roused her. By then, Ven was in the room as well. "Wha...?"

"One of Darin's other offspring is in the nest," Ven supplied helpfully.

"WHAT?!" Pandora yelped and sat straight up.

[Devon]

Darin looked between Ven and Pandora, shaking his head. "That damn snake," he murmured. Sitting down beside Pandora he tried to explain what little he knew as well. "Some kid came to the door, asked for me and said he was my kid. I've never seen him before in my life."

[Kender Bard]

Pandora glared at him but for once it didn't seem she was mad at him directly... yet. "Let me see him," she ordered, throwing the covers back and hastily dressing.

[Devon]

Darin nodded and led Pandora to the kitchen where the little boy was sitting. "This is the kid..who never told me his name," Darin said to Pandora. The little boy looked between Pandora and Darin and then said, "My name is Arthur, mom and everyone just calls me Art."

"Who is your mother kid?" Darin asked. "Lilah," Art answered quickly. Darin said nothing, but his face looked a little pale.

[Kender Bard]

Pandora narrowed her eyes at Darin and put her face close to his. "You know who that isss...."

It was a statement, not a question, and it was clear that Pandora was rapidly working out a target for her anger.

[Devon]

"Years ago Pandora," Darin said calmly. "I was 17 at the time, when I had just started working for the Ilyamen guard."

Darin looked the kid, who looked up at Darin and Pandora with a smile, and then back to Pandora and whispered. "I met her during one of my first patrols, she was being attacked by a drunkard, I save her and the next day she came to the headquarters offering me lunch and she kept coming for a few months after that. It didn't work out though and the last I had heard she had moved away or something. I never knew she was pregnant."

Turning his attention again to the kid he asked, "Does your mother know you're here? And how in the hell did you get here anyway?" Art blinked twice at Darin and then replied, "No she doesn't and I took a caravan here on my own."

Darin had to at least acknowledge that the kid was resourceful, but the fact that his mother had no idea where he was probably had her at her wits end. Sighing he reached a decision before Pandora had a chance to say something. "We can't just send you away..I'm going to send a letter to your mother telling her where you are and to come and get you. Until then...you can stay here and in the meantime I'll get to the bottom of this. I hate surprises."

[Kender Bard]

Pandora bared her fangs at Darin. She had been... slightly mollified during Darin's explanations, though not greatly. She thought he was a Force-damned fool or plain unlucky to wind up not only siring a bastard but to have the damn thing track him down.

But when Darin had gone ahead and said that the child would not be sent away, her anger returned in a flash. "I didn't agree to thisss," she hissed at him. "He may not ssstay here. Sssend him to the temple!"

[Devon]

Art looked at both Darin and Pandora confused. Darin ushered Pandora into another room quickly so he could speak to her without being in front of the boy. "Pandora!" he growled. "I know you don't like this, hell I don't like this either, but if that boy is my child I'm not going to send him off to the temple. I take care of my own, I take care of you, Seth, and Sawyer. Hell I even look after that damned snake of yours who'd rather bite me in my sleep."

Darin sighed and ran a hand through his hair. "Pandora, I just need you to be with me on this. We'll send word to his mother today and get this resolved as quickly as possible. I just want my lady to support me."

[Kender Bard]

"He'sss your bassstard!" Pandora snarled. "I don't want anything to do with him! I am not telling you to sssend him into the cold. The temple hasss accomodationsss jussst for thisss sssort of thing. You take care of your own? Well which of your own do you care for more? You don't even know if he isss yoursss anyway!"

[Devon]

"Of course I care for Seth and Sawyer more," Darin countered. "I just don't want to leave him in a temple. It is easier if I can keep an eye on him here and if I take him to the temple he'll probably end up coming here every morning until his mother comes for him." Darin took a deep breath and let it out. "Besides, I have a soft spot for kids. You remember that one Beast girl we met, we both ended up taking her all the way to Sensatia just to get her help."