Wil woke up. He was in Nick hollow, his head hurt and whirled, he heard happy laughing from below, he heard many things. He heard a fire crackling, snow and wind whooshing outside his cold and slightly frosted window, he heard his Father and Weezie talking and laughing downstairs, he heard everything going on inside the big tree he now called home. No, this has been my home since I was a wee buck, no reason for it to stop now, right?

“Wil, honey! Time for breakfast!”

Weezie had called from below, Wil groaned and rolled out of his nice warm bed and splooted onto the cold wooden floor he heard muffled sounds from the bed opposite of him as he crawled over to the bed. “Lyra, Lana, get up its breakfast time, let’s go down.” Shuffling, muffling, giggles erupted and two twin brown blurs raced out of the bed and over Wil and tumbled swiftly down the stairs.

Wil sighed inwardly and slowly shuffled after them, grabbing his silky worn scarf on his way down.

At the bottom he saw Weezie place some veggie pies on the stone table, his father was reading a book by the fire, his reading glasses pushed down, the book of enormous size was sitting in his lap, labeled in big words:

The Flame And How She Sparked.

Wil’s father had read him that book, and Wil himself had tried to tackle that big book and its extensive words before. “Come now my men it’s time to eat.” Weezie chirped out merrily, Father heaved the book onto the ground and, putting his hand on Wil’s shoulder, led him towards the table. They sat down to eat, and after the blessing, the small talk began.

“So… Papa.” He began.

“Yes Wil?”

“Um, when are we-I-I mean me-I mean when am I-.”

Father huffed. “Spit it out, son.” Weezie looked meaningfully at him, Father knew Wil had a slight stutter, Lyra and Lana kept eating rather noisily. “When am I going to visit mother?” He rushed out the words like a waterfall.

The girls had stopped eating. Weezie looked at Father. Father looked at Wil. While Wil looked sullenly at the ground, stupid question, Wil had finally made up the courage to say something and of course it would go wrong, nothing really ever goes as planned.

Father spoke slowly as if chewing celery. “Now Wil,” he began. “That’s a far journey, there are still loose wolves around the first warren, dangerous place out there, owls and other things. Can’t it wait till the family reunion this Spring? They do come up here.”

“Yea, but I miss her, I always stay with you guys, I-I haven’t seen her or stayed with her since you guys split! I miss her.” Wil barely noticed Weezie shoo the girls outside to do their chores, Wil tugged at his scarf, its black silk cool against his warm neck.

Weezie turned to him. “Wil, dear…”

“Weezie you can’t do that! You aren’t even my real mom you have no right t-to d-do that!”

Weezie flinched. Father turned to his son and sighed, he loved his son very much, but this was going too far. “Wilfred Lander Longtreader!” Wil flinched as his father said his whole name. “She may not be your real mother but I expect you to treat her like one.”

Wil boiled. “Papa, how am I supposed to know how to treat her, if I don’t know my own mother?”

Father stood up and banged his hand on the table, then weakly fell back into his chair. His leg, Wil thought. His leg is crippled.

He knew that his father had fought bravely in a war and had paid for it by the loss of properly using his leg ever again. His father spoke.

“Wil enough, we will not talk more about this, I gave you my answer, it is too dangerous outside of this valley. Right now, I want you to go outside and do your chores. Your mother does not want you; she never did.”

“Of course, she wants me!” Wil said his eyes felt red, why would his father say such things!

“No, she doesn’t,” Father corrected his son. “she and I went our separate ways for a reason. She didn’t want a child, she was too dedicated to her work, her life, I, on the other hand, was left to write papers and tend to a leg that doesn’t work anymore. And,” he looked over to Weezie, “I did want a life and family. I could tell that your mother had feelings for someone else, though she did stay loyal to me, and I to her. We went opposite. I left with Weezie to here and your sisters were born. And your mother stayed in First Warren,” He looked down at his hands. He wasn’t even crying his face was emotionless, he really was moving on. “with a man, my friend, named Jo.”

Father looked up at Wil, Wil scrunched up his face angrily and turned toward the door and ran, grabbing his coat and he ran up the hill to a small grove of maples, he sat down in a little hollowed dip in the ground beside the largest tree. He curled up and cried. Did his mother really not want him?

There we go, and if you can't tell I changed a few things.

-@Dikko_The_Squolf