Wilson and Aella sat at the table. Several hours earlier, Devon had excused himself to take care of the business.

"Why didn't we go out to see your sister today?" Aella asked.

Wilson fidgeted in his chair, trying to get comfortable. He took a small sip of his ale. "Well, I guess I never told you this before, but my sister and I have a strange relationship."

Aella laughed. She laughed loud. Several nearby patrons looked over at her, but quickly looked away. Earlier, she had made it clear that not only was she not interested in any men approaching her, but if any decided to go against her wishes to be left alone, she would make life miserable for them with her sharp tongue.

It had started innocently enough. A nervous young man that might have been all of twenty, had approached her. "How's life treating you?" he had asked, with the expected awkwardness of a country boy trying to talk with a beautiful and exotic visitor.

Not even sparing the boy a glance, Aella responded, "Not as bad as it will be treating you if you don't get out of here." Then she had turned slowly to face the young man. "Right now," she added as she reached for her short sword.

The young man had fled without a second glance. Several of the nearby patrons had laughed at his miserable experience. And yet, many of them had quit shooting appraising glances her way.

"Why did you have to be so hard on the poor kid?" asked Wilson.

"Give them an opening, and they will be all over me like a Roc on a Goblin," was all the answer he had received.

"Well?" Aella asked, interrupting his short memory.

Wilson tapped the table a few times with his right-hand forefinger. "It's like this," he said. "She and I were thick as Elysian Thieves when we were younger. But over time, we realized we had different views on life." Wilson took a deep breath and looked over at Aella. "And we slowly grew apart." With a quick push against the table, Wilson slid his chair back. "I'm going to get a breath of fresh air." He walked quickly out the door.

"That isn't all of it," said Devon from where he stood behind the table. Aella hadn't noticed him approach. "She takes after his
Dad a bit," added Devon as if this explained everything.

"And?" said Aella, by way of questioning.

"Well," continued Devon, "their dad disappeared several years back. Most people think he ran out on the family. The dad, that is," mumbled Devon. "After a while, everyone gave Wil such a hard time about it, that he became angry. His sister was convinced there was something more to the story." Devon filled up Aella's mug. "She still is convinced there is more to the story. Plus, her mother never said one thing negative about her dad, which is one reason Grace is even more sure there is more to the story than just another run away husband."

"Oh," said Aella. "Guess that explains why he never talks about his family much. He talked about you all the time, but we hardly ever heard anything about the rest." Aella took another sip of the ale. "Best ale I've had in years," she said.

"Thanks," said Devon.

Aella nodded a bit, as if finally putting the pieces of a puzzle together. "I wasn't even sure he had any family until he got called into the General's tent a couple days ago."

Wilson walked back into the tavern. He sat down at the table and stared at Devon. "Haven't been sharing any family secrets, have you?" he asked with an innocent sounding voice.

Devon just walked over to the next table and began filling ale cups around the room.

"You shouldn't be hard on him," said Aella.

Wilson nodded, "That's true. I shouldn't. But it is kind of fun to give him a bit of a hard time. Now, what were you two talking about while I was out?" he asked.

The Black Oak Sword

Chapter 1: Part 1, Part 2, Part 3
Chapter 2: Part 1 , Part 2
Chapter 3: Part 1 , Part 2,Part 3
Chapter 4:Part 1,Part 2
Chapter 5: Part 1
Chapter 6: Part 1, Part 2
Chapter 7: Part 1, Part 2

© 2017, Stone Golem Publishing

**All pictures used are labeled for reuse. They come from Max Pixel

Follow @bigpanda for more flash fiction.