Page 44 of Vicar
Trinity peered back at him with uncertainty for a few moments before responding.
“You won’t try to wrap me up in angry fire?” she asked shakily. “You won’t enslave me?”
His eyes widened. “Enslave you? Never!” He puffed his tiny chest as much as he could from his crouched position. “I would only ever protect you.”
“I was seriously traumatized by whatever I’d witnessed,” Trinity said softly, shivering.
“I remember,” he murmured, narrowing his eyes. “Because you told me...at some point.”
Tiny Trinity looked around nervously before her gaze returned to him. “How do I know for sure you won’t hurt me, though?”
“I don’t know.” Perplexed, Vicar cocked his head this way and that, thinking about it before his tail perked. “How about this?” He sank to the ground. “I’ll stay right here, and we’ll just talk until you trust me.”
She cocked her head in return. “What are we going to talk about?”
“There’s all sorts of things.” His eyes lit up. “I can tell you all about my Fortress and lair. Oh, and about my family. I have a mom from the future and even have my very own brother, Thorulf. I also have a second brother, Tor.” He shrugged. “Well, Tor’s really my cousin, but he feels like a brother.” He narrowed his eyes, mulling it over. “Then there’s Dagr. He’s a cousin too. .” He nodded once. “He’s nice.”
Trinity shot Vicar a little smile. “You were a talker.”
He chuckled. “So it seems.”
“Do I have a brother or cousin?” tiny Trinity wondered. “And where’s the future?”
“I don’t know if you have a brother or cousin,” Vicar said. “If you haven’t met them yet, just keep an eye on your mom or aunt’s belly. If they swallowed a big rock, you’ll see it there, and pretty soon, it will pop out as a cousin or brother.” He shrugged. “As to the future, it’s way ahead of us.”
“A bigrock?” Trinity mouthed at Vicar, chuckling. “That’s right up there with fitting our pieces together.”
“A big rock?” tiny Trinity echoed her larger self. Her eyes rounded on a nearby stone. “That must really hurt to swallow.”
Vicar nodded gravely. “I imagine it does.”
Trinity looked around curiously, evidently trying to find the future. “And where’s way ahead of us?”
Vicar thought about that with uncertainty. “I think it’s the day after tomorrow or maybe even next week.” He shrugged. “It could even be next month.”
Trinity chuckled again. “You had a cute take on things when you were a baby.”
He was about to respond but stopped as the memory continued, showing them a beginning they had completely forgotten.
A beginning that revealed another piece of their puzzle.
