Broken Silence

Malina rarely angered her father. She’d seen him yell at her brothers plenty of times, but he had only been that furious with her twice in her life. The first was when she was seven years old, and she’d pushed Scamp out of a tree, broken his arm, and put the blame on Max. It was the first and last time she ever lied to her father. The second time was right after she’d raised her voice at her father in Kane’s defense. She shrunk back immediately with the look he gave her, sinking into her seat as he stood up and started towards the library. Everyone went silent as Malina reluctantly followed him, shutting the door behind her.

She sat down in a chair and watched Percy pace back and forth in the library. She could see his muscles tensing as he tried to figure out what to say, but he couldn’t come up with anything. Eventually, he just kneeled down in front of her, looking her directly in the eyes and speaking in a quiet, but hard tone of voice.

“You’re not to work at that tavern anymore, do you understand?” he said sternly.

“What?” Malina frowned. “Daddy, I’m not fragile. I can do it.”

“This has nothing to do with fragility,” Percy snapped. “This has to do with how you put all of your trust in a complete stranger’s hands. Not just any stranger, Malina. A street fighter that you met in the tavern in The Smokes. I know men like this. They’re no good.”

“You don’t know him,” Malina argued, raising her voice again. “Uncle Colt did street fighting!”

Percy froze when his brother was mentioned, and he stood up. Malina knew he would never hit her, but it didn’t make the way he towered over her feel any less menacing.

“And where is Uncle Colt now?” Percy said quietly. “Dead. Murdered when he was around Max’s age. This is where people like him end up. The same goes for people who spend too much time with them.”

Malina’s gaze turned to the door when her mother entered, looking just as angry with Percy as he was with Malina. She didn’t break eye contact with him, but addressed Malina in as gentle a voice she could manage.

“Darling, do you mind? I think Daddy and I need to have a talk. Alone.”

Malina nodded and quickly hurried out the door. She nearly ran into Kane who waited outside with a worried look on his face. She went to close the door, but left it open a crack, just so she could spy on her parents and listen to everything they were saying.

“Malina, is everything alright?” Kane asked.

He seemed a bit startled when she shushed him and leaned in to spy on the conversation happening inside. Kane caught on quickly, and she was suddenly aware of how close he was to her as he leaned over her and also listened. She pushed the thought from her mind and focused on the sound of her mother’s voice.

“Percy, he’s a good person. I don’t care how in denial you are. You can see that.”

“What am I supposed to do? Hand him all of my pocket change and wish him the best with my daughter?”

“We raised our daughter with the same morals we hold. She will help someone with any cause she truly believes in. Clearly, she believes in this.”

“Let’s say I do allow her to go. Can we trust this boy to keep an eye on her? She can barely hold her ground in The Smokes, let alone out in the world. At least at Luke’s tavern, I can come to her if she needs me. This boy batted his eyelashes at her, and suddenly she’s head over heels.”

“Well she’ll never learn if you don’t let her go. And what does it matter if she likes him or not?”

Malina found herself blushing hard, and was grateful Kane was behind her. She would have died if she had to look at him now.

“He’s too old for her,” Percy grunted. “She’s only seventeen years old.”

“So was I,” Emily argued.

The two of them went silent, before Emily finally spoke again, this time in a much gentler tone.

“I was only seventeen years old, Percy. Barely. I had only just turned seventeen. And you were only two years older than me. We were children, and we had less figured out than they did. Look at us now.”

“It was… Different.”

“You're right, it was. Need I remind you of who you were, and the circumstances under which we met? I had absolutely no reason to trust you, if I were to judge you on your background? And your ‘occupation’ as a-”

“Emily, please,” Percy said quickly.

Malina tried not to sigh. For a moment, there was a hope that she’d hear something new about her father’s past. According to him, the first twenty years of his life never happened. They were quiet a little while longer, then Malina heard her father’s heavy footsteps heading towards the door. She quickly straightened up and shoved Kane back so they were a few feet away, and it wasn’t obvious they were listening in. They pretended they’d been making casual conversation, turning to face Percy as he stared at them, contemplating something. Eventually, he shook his head and reached into his inside coat pocket, pulling out his checkbook. He quickly wrote something down, then handed the note over to Kane. He took it in disbelief, his eyes widening when he saw the number written down.

“Sir, I simply can’t accept this,” he said.

“You will accept it,” Percy said sternly, expression hard as stone. “If you argue with me, I may just change my mind. And don’t think for a minute that I’ll have my daughter traveling in horrible conditions. I don’t need her getting scurvy. You two can leave tomorrow. The sooner you leave, the sooner she comes home. If you take longer than two weeks, I will come for you. Personally.”

“Yes, sir,” Kane said. “Thank you very much.”

Malina wasn’t sure how to process it all, or who to look at. Kane kept his expression calm, but Malina could see both fear and excitement in his eyes. Emily was beaming, staring lovingly at her husband. Percy kept his stone hard expression, but Malina could tell he was still upset.

Kane thanked Percy again before leaving, but he wasn’t giving much of a response. The brothers, after hearing what had happened, also seemed a little bitter. Some because they were protective of their little sister, and the other because they were mad she got leave on some grand adventure and they didn’t.

Malina tried to catch her father to speak to him after Kane left, but he’d disappeared shortly after, as well. She felt her heart sink, finding her mother instead.

“Where has Daddy gone?” she asked.

“Oh,” Emily said, giving her an apologetic smile and putting an arm around her daughter’s shoulders. “He’s just gone out for a little bit of a stroll. He has quite a bit on his mind. Don’t you worry about him. Let’s go pack a bag for you, shall we?”

She was quick to pack her bag and go to bed, though she had a hard time sleeping. Kane came early in the morning to get her, but was surprised to find that she’d already been ready to go for hours beforehand. Kane was standing by the door with Percy when she came downstairs, and she tried hard not to blush when he smiled at her. Percy wasn’t quite as smiley. Kane waited outside as Malina said her goodbyes, hugging her mother and each of her brothers first. Scamp wouldn’t look her in the eye, and always having been closest with him, she hugged him extra tightly.

“I won’t have too much fun without you,” she promised.

“You better not,” he smirked.

She then turned to her father, who just fixed her hair and smoothed out her sleeves for her, unsure of what to say.

“When you get to the docks, just remember to tell them I am the one who sent you,” he said.

“The docks?” Malina frowned. “I’m going on a ship?”

Percy tilted her chin up to look her in the eyes, nodding slowly. “You can do this, Lina. I know you can.”

She took a shaky breath and nodded back. He was about to say his goodbyes and let them go when he suddenly put his hand on Kane’s shoulder and ushered him back inside the house.

“I just want to have a quick word with you,” he mumbled. “Privately.”

Kane seemed slightly alarmed, but held his head high as he followed Percy into the other room. Malina stayed close to Scamp, not realizing how tightly she was squeezing his hand.

“You’ll be fine,” he whispered to her. “Ships are sturdy. You’ll be alright.”

“If you say so.”