Eaton returned to his humble home, though excited to return from the past few days, he still felt oddly hesitant. By now it was slightly later in the morning, the waxing sun peeking around the buildings of Nacogdoches. Jana would certainly be up by now; Elijah probably would have woken her hours earlier. He made one last relieved sigh before pushing open the front door. Jana had just finished straightening out the sheets from the night, and as she heard the door open she turned with a wide smile on her face,
“Eaton, welcome back!” before she went forward and embraced him. Eaton returned the gesture, seeing Elijah staring up at the ceiling lying on his cot. Jana looked at Eaton and said, “So? What did the prodigals find this time?”
“Shoot,” Eaton thought; he had spent the night before the pack’s departure explaining just what they would be doing in Louisiana, about how excited he was to discover what happened to Zoe’s parents, that he was certain that they were still alive and that she would be reunited after all those years . . .
Quickly coming up with something, he gave a halfhearted smile and said, “Well, we found ‘em . . .but . . .”
Jana’s face became concerned as she said, “You can tell me. Come on, let’s sit down.” They both sat on the edge of the bed, Jana taking hold of his hand and putting the other on his shoulder. For someone who usually could hardly contain himself recounting his pack’s tales, something had to have gone horribly wrong for him to act this reserved.
Eaton tried to act normal, but his voice sounded heavy as he recounted his pack’s latest adventure. When he reached the conclusion . . .
“ . . . we caught up with the igohida, their leader holdin’ Zoe’s mom in its clutches. It spilled its guts talkin’ about how this was all because of what Tycheros did to then, how he ruined their lives and now they lived on just to torment him. He stirred our anger and . . . we attacked, trying to get to Agatha but he crushed her neck right in front of us.”
Jana’s eyes widened, her mouth agape in horror. Eaton didn’t even feel like continuing on, this is where he had ended the story when presenting it to Red Oath, after all. Knowing that Jana had lost her own mother years ago, he felt that he did not have to go on and explain anything further. While her heart went out to Zoe, Jana could tell that something else ate at her husband, that not only Zoe’s grief weighed upon him. Elijah started voicing his dissatisfaction, so as Eaton got up to give him the spoons to play with, Jana asked, “Is that the reason you’re so upset, or is there more to the story?”
Eaton let out another sigh; she really knew him too well. Once their son was happily clanging the spoons, Eaton turned back to her and said, “All the time we were tryin’ to find her, I told Zoe that Agatha was alive and no, she didn’t abandon her. I was tryin’ to cheer her up, ‘cause she’d told me she might not like what we found. I hated hearin’ her say that. I encouraged her that it would work out.”
Eaton let out a growl, “And a fat lot of good that did.”
Jana tried to remind, “You were trying to keep her from despair, and keep your pack pushing on. There’s nothing wrong with that, Eaton.”
“Sure there is: Cause I’m maken’ empty promises: When Philips was tauntin’ us, we tried to come up with somethin’ that would save Agatha and we just ended up getting ‘er killed.”
Eaton explained, “Zoe’s mom was bein’ threatened, of course she’s gonna be pissed. Rends, he sees in twenty different shades of red. Mocks was sneakin’ tryin’ to ambush the bastard if he tried to flee into the umbra. And Zas . . . . who knows. But me? What did I do for someone promisin’ Zoe everything would be okay? Nothing! I let Rends lead the charge even after we were warned one wrong move and they’d kill Agatha! The wyrm creeps were willin’ to talk and we weren’t!”
Eaton let out a giant huff; his exhaustion quelled his rage for now. For a moment, the only noise came from Elijah trying to add a chorus to his rusty clatters.
“Eaton, as much as it might frustrate you, I know everyone has times they regret what they’ve done. There are things beyond your control. You shouldn’t beat yourself up over it.”
“I know that, but . . . I still feel I made the wrong call.” Eaton replied, “Long after we tore ‘em to shreds, I thought about what they said. They mighta been wyrm-warped creeps, but they certainly didn’t start out that way. With their way of life destroyed, the wyrm took advantage of their desperation. But I didn’t see that starin’ ‘em down- I thought they waitin’ around, stallin’ before they could do something really nasty.”
He looked back into Jana’s eyes, his own clearly weary from the recent trip,
“They mighta been beyond hope, but I didn’t even try to reason with ‘em. I just thought, ‘they gotta die’.”
Jana shook her head, patting her husband’s back, “You did what you thought was best at the time. The only one who is upset with you is you. Perhaps you should find something to take your mind off it.”
Eaton let out a sarcastic laugh, “Actually, the reason I dwelled so long over it is cause what our pack’s up to next: Tracking down Rend’s pa and killin’ him.
Though he’s gotta mighty good reason for his vengeance; he’s needs our help to avenge his family. At first I thought it’d be straightforward but . . . well, nothin’ we do ever is. But what we found out ‘bout Zoe’s family . . . Call me crazy, but I don’t want to just rush in and kill’ em.”
At his suggestion, Jana frowned, “I would not get in the way of a Fenrir and his prey. I trust that’s not what you have in mind?”
Eaton rolled his eyes shyly, “Actually, I ain’t gonna talk ‘bout it to Rends- yet. I dunno the whole story and his pa might be a hopeless monster who needs a one way trip to the Abyss.”
He leaned closer to Jana, “Though the thing is, I dunno if Rends knows the whole story, either. After what we learned with Zoe’s family, and how folk’s hands were forced, this might be a similar situation. What if his hand was pushed and he didn’t want things to go the way they did? There’s no real good way to tell Rend’s about it, so I’m holdin’ off we know what his pa’s been doin’ the past year.”
He then shrugged, “Plus, he’s supposed to be workin’ with some pretty serious spirits, and just marchin’ in and cuttin’ off his head may mean we never learn what he was doin’, or worse, don’t know how to fix the problems he mighta caused. Given our record of things not workin’ out too well when we just straight up attack, hopefully Rends will be willin’ to hear me out.”
Jana still didn’t seem completely satisfied with Eaton’s idea. She began, “Are you sure that Rends would ever consider what you’re saying? Pray it never happens, but if someone did the same to you, would reconciling with them ever cross your mind?”
“Honestly,” Eaton began, taking a deep breath, “No, it wouldn’t. I would probably want to tear their throat out myself. I don’t think Rends is wrong in anyway; Justice is one thing, but reconciliation is another; somethin’ that we might pass up too often.”
Jana still didn’t seem convinced, though she admired Eaton’s ideals, this whole idea seemed unrealistic. She was well aware of the stubbornness of the Garou; of course, she was often reminded of that because of her husband. Taking note of her concerns Eaton got up and picked up his son, who was teething on the wide end of the spoon.
“I know it doesn’t sound likely, but it’d make for a better story than another Garou killin' another. The Get of Fenris has got enough of those already.”
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