Who is your Daddy and what does he do? An Another Earth Short Story

Chicago 2058

Mid-Level, Residential district

Mid-level was crowded, buildings and towers stretching into the space between the mid and upper levels, criss-crossed with walkways, stairs, and of course the traffic lanes of hover-vehicles and other flying contraptions. Holo billboards hovered above rooftops or covered entire sides of buildings, encouraging the ever increasing consumerism that had seemed to engulf the world of the megacities. 

It had been the study of the Great War and the Infection War in his history class that had gotten Dondel Stoutforge and several of the other students in his class upset. His twin sister, Grenna, was among them as well but she had handled it a bit better than her brother. The dwarves had lost their parents at the Battle of the Wall seven years ago, by the reaction of nearly half of their classmates it was clear they had also lost loved ones. Dondel hadn’t meant to shout at their instructor but his anger had gotten the best of him, something that was not uncommon for the young dwarven male. So here he was, waiting in the Principal’s office with his sister once again. 

“We understand how it’s a painful subject for you, Donnie, but it’s important that you and everyone else learn about the Infection War.”, his Principal asked. She was an elderly human woman, likely in her late sixties.

“I get it.”, Dondel growled through his dark haired beard, though it was still short due to his only being in his late teens. “It’s just hard.”

“I know. Have you tried speaking to your Dad about it?”, the Principal responded.

“He’s not my Dad.”, the young dwarf snapped in reply.

“I’m sorry. I sometimes forget you don’t think of him that way. I speak with Carlee so much it slips my mind.”, the woman apologized with a sincere tone to her kind voice. “Have you spoken with your guardian?”, she rephrased.

“We talk to him about it.” Grenna offered, giving her brother a concerned look, her hand still on his shoulder. “It’s hard for him too. He lost a lot of friends.”

“Well, it brought you all together. So keep that in mind.”, the Principal reminded them. “I know it's not the best scenario. But you’re together and you have each other. You are welcome to come talk to me or to one of the counselors if you need to.”

Grenna nodded and smiled at the elderly human, giving Dondel’s broad shoulder a squeeze. “Thank you Mrs. Siefer.”, she said as she slipped off the chair and waited for Dondel to do the same. Her brother mumbled a thanks as well before he walked out of the office, his twin sister right behind him. “We should wait for Carlee to be done, there’s no reason to go back to class with just a few minutes left.”, she suggested with a cheery tone. Dondel nodded as he followed his sister’s lead, walking towards where Carlee’s class was located.

“That wasn’t nice what you said about him.” Grenna said gently, speaking of how Dondel had reacted to their Principal’s comment about their ‘Dad’.

“I didn’t mean it badly. But he’s not our Dad.” Dondel replied as he walked down the hallway with the red headed Grenna. “He's great but he’s still not Dad.”

“I know. It’s just how Carlee sees him. She was so young I don’t think she remembers her parents much.”, his sister said quietly as they reached the doorway of Carlee’s classroom and stood to the side, waiting patiently.

There was a tone that played over the public address system, signalling the end of the school day and the pair of dwarves waited as children of several races, human, dwarven, halfing, even a few orcs and a goblin, all exited from the classroom they were waiting outside of. Soon enough a human girl with dark black hair and bright blue eyes emerged as well, still struggling with getting her backpack on. She smiled bright and wide as she spotted the dwarves, hurrying over to them as she finally managed to get both straps of the backpack over her small shoulders.

“How was your day?” Grenna asked the young girl as the trio started to walk down the hallway.

“We learned what Chicago used to be like in the old days.” Carlee replied, nearly as tall as her adopted siblings even though she was only ten, almost eleven if you asked her.

“Did they tell you about deep dish pizza?” Grenna asked cheerfully.

“We learned about how there was a really big fire a long time ago and that’s why most of the buildings in Old Towne are made with brick and stone.”, the young human answered, smiling at Grenna, “What’s deep dish pizza?”

“We have to get some for dinner tonight.” Grenna suggested, giving Dondel’s shoulder a nudge.

“It’s really expensive.”, her brother replied with a shake of his head.

“What is it?” Carlee asked again as they reached the wide staircase and began to descend to the main floor.

“It’s something that Chicago used to be known for. It’s like a pie but with pizza stuff inside.” Grenna answered, looking over at Carlee with a bright smile. “Oh! We can ask Roland to bring us some from his bar! They hand make it there!”

“Well I wouldn’t want to ask him to give it to us for free.” Dondel said as they reached the landing midway down the stairs and continued descending downwards after a short walk. “But I suppose I can offer to do some dishes or something around his place for a pizza.”

“No onions, okay?” Carlee asked as they reached the main floor and turned left, walking towards the exits.

“How about sausage, pepperoni, and extra cheese?” Greena suggested.

“Sounds good to me.” Dondel agreed with a nod of his head, “How about you?” He asked, looking over at Carlee.

“Okay!”, the young human girl replied, walking out the exit and down the stairs to the street level. 

As the trio approached where the buses were waiting, hovering quietly as students boarded them for the ride home, they could see a small crowd gathered around someone or something. Nearing the crowd Dondel did his best to lead his sisters around the gathering, though catching the familiar sight of silver scales at the center of the crowd he paused, taking a closer look before he gently nudged some of those in front of him to one side. 

At the center of the gathered crowd was a small, silver scaled reptilian humanoid, standing about three feet in height with a pair of curled horns and long ears. A pair of draconic wings were folded at his back and he was adorned in a suit of body armor, with a thick tail swaying in the air behind him. The armor’s shoulder pauldrons bore a stylized silver dragon sigil, marking the creature as one of the Knights of the Silver Claw, elite warriors and commanders of the Great Dragon Sazarial’s legions.

“Daddy!” Carlee’s excited cry sounded from behind Dondel as she pushed her way past him and hurried over to the small knight, throwing her arms around his neck as she reached him. 

“That’s your Dad?”, one of the human boys in the crowd asked Dondel.

“Well, sort of.” The dwarf replied with a shrug of his broad shoulders. “He takes care of us.”

“Dude, why didn’t you ever tell us your Pops was a Knight?”, another of the boys nearby asked. 

“I guess it never came up.” Dondel responded. “I never really thought of him that way.”

“Can we get deep dish pizza for dinner?” Carlee asked as she released her embrace on the small knight.

“I don’t see why not. We can stop by Roland’s restaurant, they make some very good deep dish there.”, the silver scaled knight replied in a raspy voice.

“Manx, I’m sorry if they bothered you about me.” Dondel apologized quietly.

“You are never a bother, Donnie.” Manx replied with a smile upon his scaled muzzle. He noted the slight smile on the dwarf’s features and looked to the gathered crowd around him. “If you will excuse me, children. It was a pleasure to meet all of you.”

There was a round of farewells and the trio fell into step with the kobold as he walked along the sidewalk of the street. They crossed the street after a moment and came upon Manx’s hovercar, a sleek Mitsuyoto Razor. It was a shiny black color with silver highlights, much like the Knight’s armor he wore. Before long they had all climbed in and Manx set the vehicle to autopilot.

“I’m sorry if I created a bit of embarrassment for you back there.” Manx said as he turned in his seat to look at the three of them.

“You could never embarrass us.” Grenna replied with a shake of her head.

“She’s right.” Dondel agreed, “You saw how the other kids reacted to you.” He added with a grin, “Besides it makes all those ‘my dad can beat up your dad’ arguments pretty one sided.”

“I would never harm another child’s father unless he left me no choice.” Manx responded, tilting his horned head a bit.

“It's just a thing little kids argue about, not that you’d actually do it.” Grenna said with a laugh.

“Yeah. And really, how many other kids can claim they have a unicorn skull on the wall?” Dondel added, snickering along with his sister.

“They are exceedingly dangerous creatures and that one had been terrorizing the neighborhoods along the park district for weeks. It’s a bit of a grizzly trophy but the citizens of the park district seemed very pleased to present it to me. It would be rude not to display it.” Manx said with a shrug of his armored shoulders.

“Yeah but you’re a hero to those people.” Grenna said with a proud smile.

“Yeah, Dad. You’re a hero!” Carlee proclaimed proudly from the backseat.

“I was just doing my duty. The Great One expects his Knights to protect the people of this city.” Manx replied, looking out the front window of the hovercar as it changed lanes and angled downwards, descending into Old Towne.

“That’s what all heroes say.” Dondel teased, knowing the little Knight didn’t particularly care for being complimented or regarded as some hero or mighty warrior.

The lights of Old Towne could be seen the moment they came out of the tunnel through the plates, bright and packed together even tighter than the mid-level lights. Holo ads, neon signs, massive projector screens, all of them lighting the lanes and traffic ways between the buildings. The lower one went, the more dense the lighting and advertisement seemed to be. Soon enough the Razor pulled into one of the massive parking facilities, finding a space to park and shut down on the top level.

“Is Roland going to be there?” Grenna asked as she opened the door to the hovercar and hopped out, holding out a hand to help Carlee down. 

“It’s possible. I haven’t spoken with him for a few days so I’m not sure what he’s up to.” Manx replied as he too hopped out of the vehicle and closed the door behind himself, waiting for Dondel to close his side before locking the car and tucking the key into one of the utility containers on his weapon belt.

“When do I get to learn how to shoot?” Carlee asked, her bright blue eyes looking at the blaster pistol holstered on that same weapon belt.

“When you’re a bit older.” Manx assured her again, smiling a sharp toothed grin at the young human.

“Yeah, let Donnie have something he’s the best at for a while.” Grenna teased, nudging her brother with an elbow.

“Yeah you’re already kicking my ass in hand to hand.”, her brother added with a nod of his head.

“That’s because you let me win.” Carlee replied as they began to walk across the top level of the parking facility, taking some stairs up to a walkway and continuing. 

“He really needs to get an elevator.” Grenna grumbled as they started the stair climb.

“It helps to work up an appetite.” Dondel said with a smirk, following along behind her.

“I love the smell of this place.”, he said as he looked around, as usual the restaurant was packed nearly to capacity. 

The bar was at the far end of the seating area, also made of real wood and bearing an assortment of alcohols along the mirrored wall behind it. Stepping out from behind the bar and approaching them was the large form of Roland. He was still the biggest elf Dondel had ever seen, broad shouldered and tall with long dark hair and a thick, well maintained beard. Roland was the only elf he had ever seen with glowing eyes, a subtle blue hue that was more visible in the dim lighting of the bar and restaurant.

“Sir Silverwing, it’s a pleasure as always.”, the elf greeted the knight in his deep, soothing voice as he neared them, leaning over to look at the siblings, “And I see you’ve brought my favorite customers.”

“Hi Roland.” Carlee said with a cheerful tone. “We came for deep dish pizza.”

“Really?” Roland asked as he flashed a warm smile to the human, “Well we have the best in the city. What would you like in it?”

“Sausage, pepperoni, and extra cheese, please.” Grenna answered, smiling brightly at the elf as well.

“Find a place to sit and I’ll have him get right on it.”, the tall elf replied before he turned to head back into the kitchen behind the bar.

They found a booth to slide into not far from the kitchen door and a waitress soon brought them their favored drinks, likely having been told to do so by Roland who knew exactly what each of them would want. The siblings chattered a bit about school and their day while Manx sat quietly listening to them, a small smile upon his scaled features.

“How long have you known Roland?” Grenna asked, snapping the small knight out of his little reverie. 

“My whole life.” Manx replied before lifting his glass and taking a sip. “He’s actually a lot older than he looks.”, he added with a little grin.

“Where did you meet him?” Carlee asked.

“Europe actually. In the old elven kingdom of Spain.”, the kobold answered. 

“Wait, that was before the Great War.” Dondel said with a curious tilt of his head. “How old are you?”

“In a few months I’ll be one hundred and ninety two years old.” Manx replied in a matter of fact tone.

“Whoa!” Carlee said her eyes widening.

“Really? I wouldn’t have pegged you for a day above a hundred and fifty.” Dondel said with a sarcastic smirk. “Why didn’t you ever tell us you were that old?”

“You never asked.” Manx explained simply.

“I didn’t know kobolds could live that long.” Grenna spoke up, looking at the silver scaled knight curiously.

“They don’t. But as you all know, I’m dragontouched. Those genes allow a pretty long lifespan if you’re lucky and I’ve been very lucky.”

“So if you were a Silver Claw back then, you fought in the Great War, right?.” Dondel asked.

“Not until near the end. But I was at the Battle of Berlin.” Manx responded.

“I bet you scared the Imperials.” Carlee said, a proud smile on her lips.

“I was merely part of a big army just doing my part.”, the Knight replied with a shake of his head.

“He’s being modest again.” Roland’s voice cut into the conversation as he approached their table with a basket of breadsticks. “Sir Silverwing here was just a young knight then. But he fought bravely and because of his actions there a lot of innocent lives were saved.”

“See, Dad, you are a hero.” Carlee said with a bright smile at the kobold. 

“You fought at Berlin too. Roland?” Dondel asked curiously.

“I did.”, the elf replied with a nod of his head. “And while I certainly can’t match Sir Silverwing’s heroics I do have these.” He said with a chuckle as he set the breadsticks on the table. “And these.”, he added before setting down three full rolls of tokens to be used in the game room. “If that’s alright?”, he asked, looking towards Manx.

“Can we?” Carlee asked, snatching up one of the rolls of tokens.

“Just leave your drinks here so you don’t spill.” Manx answered with a nod.

All three of the siblings quickly slid out of the booth and made their way to the game room near the far side of the bar and grill. Roland chuckled as he watched them, turning his attention back towards the knight as they disappeared into the game room.

“It’s good to be modest, Manx. Even if you don’t like being told this, you’re their hero.”, the tall elf said with a warm smile to the kobold.

“I just do my duty.” Manx replied with a shrug.

“Really?” Roland asked as he arched one dark brow, quirking a bit of a crooked grin at the knight, “Where in your duties does it state to take in three children you barely know and raise them like your own?"

“It was the right thing to do.” Manx responded, tilting his horned head as he looked up at the elf. 

“And that, Sir Silverwing, “ Roland said as he flashed that warm smile at the kobold again before turning to head back to the bar, still regarding the kobold over one broad shoulder. “Is why you’re they’re hero.”