Mom

I stand and turn to peer down at the family farm. Not one thing had changed since the last time I stood here, I swear our milking goat Nipper even stood in the same place and looked to be chewing on the same apple core as when I’d left. It seemed smaller now, so much smaller, but that reflected a change in viewer not the view. There in the doorway of my childhood home, built by father’s own hands, stands a woman of average height and build in a faded blue linen dress with long gray-streaked dark hair worn in a loose braid that hung straight down her back. At a glance she just another peasant woman, as common as the marigolds that lined the wagon trails and footpaths in this part of the country, but to these eyes she was a one of a kind.

Mom.

As if sensing that this was a moment I had to face alone Rosa gives my arm a squeeze then lets go to take Cassie’s hand. Taking the lead I walk down the grassy slope toward the buildings as my cousin Plautia, with nervous glances over her shoulder, hurries to my grandfather’s house to warn the family of the large stranger and his peculiar entourage. Despite the distance, despite the demon and the goblin, despite me being among a group my mother had never seen, the moment I stand to my full height and begin to walk Mom’s eyes go wide and her hand covers her face to hold back a gasp as she immediately recognizes her own child. She takes a step, pauses, walks and then throws her arms open as she breaks into a run.

“Quint!” She cries out as she closes the distance between us.

The moment she had broken into a run so had I, my pack jostling heavily at my shoulders. We come together in an embrace. As she had done since I was an infant she cups her hand behind my neck and pulls me down to nestle my face into the crook of her neck, that oh so familiar aroma of her lanolin and olive oil lotion hitting my memory as hard as that harpy had when it barreled into me. Hunched down I wrap my long arms around her and squeeze her tight as her body shudders with a joyful sob.

“Mom.”

“My son.” She whispers, squeezing me with all her maternal strength. “Let me see you.” She pulls back to arm’s length as she looks up into my face then slowly down my body. Her hands move independently from her rich brown eyes, feeling my arms and shoulders, so that she could inspect for any malady or injury at twice the speed. Finding my body in good health her gaze quickly returns to meet mine. “I should have known you’d visit the tree first.” Her eyes narrow as she searches my face and eyes. “Oh.” She runs her warm hand across my cheek. “By the gods, you’ve changed.”

“I grew up, Mom.” I say softly. “I’ve done and seen so much since I left.”

“You look…good.” Her calloused thumb rubs my tanned cheek. “You’ve lost weight.”

“Lost and gained. Leaned out a little, that’s all.” I smile. “Just shed some baby fat.”

“I see that.” Her fingers trace along the sinews of my forearm. I myself hadn’t noticed until just now my own transformation over these past few months. I might not have grown a tail like Rosa but the change was nearly as dramatic. My already powerful physique had been hardened in the forge of combat and Toke’s training, my body sculpted through discipline, and in my eyes my mother would see not the skittish boy who used to run from skirts but the steely gaze of a man who had now courage born of submission and life or **** combat. “Gods. You look so much like him.” She says as she pats my side. Her fingers somehow find a small tear I didn’t even know about myself. “I’ll have that fixed up quick as can be.”

Just then the others come to stand at my sides while behind her I could see my family gathering around the well. As if my size and appearance weren’t enough of a hint my mother’s loving embrace now left no doubt who I was. Smiles break out along with excited chatter. Though they wanted to approach Grandpa keeps them back for the moment before breaking off from them himself to come near.

With strangers to greet Mom steps back and looks left and right at my new family. Cassie’s face is met with a VERY approving smile, though that grin quickly fades as she sees Rosa and Collywaddle. Her sharp eyes also then take in the heavy packs on our backs that gave away that we weren’t simply here for quick post-harvest visit. I could see the unspoken questions swirling behind her polite expression. Her eyes settle back onto Cassie and brighten once more. Cassie was someone she could recognize, understand and approve of. The others she didn’t know what to make of just yet. Colly she would have no way of knowing as I had mentioned her only in passing in my letter home but Rosa too she looked at like a mystery to solve.

“Well, well, well. Look at what the road spat back.” Grandpa cackles as he comes to take my arm for a shake. “Ha! The prodigal mule returns. Just in time to avoid harvest of course.”

I let out a humorless laugh. “Good to see you too, Nonno.”

“Told ya he’d be back.” Grandpa says to Mom as he steps back to stand beside her. “And with new mouths to feed no less.” His grin sours as he looks at my two non-human companions. “Not sure we got the right kind of food for these mouths though.”

Mom’s face twitches like it does at her father’s cutting quips, which were especially embarrassing in front of company. “Aren’t you going to introduce us to your…friends, Quint?”

Though their focus was squarely on Cassie my submissive training demanded that I introduce my Lady first, unless there was a good reason not to. I lay my hand on Rosa’s slender shoulder and say with warm affection. “This…” I pause for emphasis. “…is Rosa. The woman I wrote you about. The one I met in Rome.” I shift close enough that my stomach touches Rosa’s arm and slide my hand to her opposite shoulder. “Rosa, this is Mom and Grandpa. Prisca and Flaccus to everybody else.”

“A pleasure to meet you.” Rosa curtsies. “It is an honor to meet Quin’s family.”

When I look back at my mother and grandfather I’d been expecting at least a glimmer of familiarity, instead I am faced with blank confusion followed by worried scowls as they note the intimacy of our posture and the fact that she’d referred to me by my shortened name.

“Rosa.” I say again. “The one I wrote about.”

“Wrote?” Mom blinks.

“The letter I sent.” I say. “I told you about my trip and Paullus’ villa and…everything.”

Mom glances to Grandpa then back to me. “We never got any letter, Quint.”

Fuck! While my claim of that message covering ‘everything’ hadn’t even been close to the truth I had been running on the assumption that it arrived to at least lay the groundwork for the bigger news to come. Without that letter I was starting from nothing. They hadn’t heard a word about me from the moment I’d left here.

“Gah! That blasted messenger.” I mutter. I don’t know why but the image of that smirking Mercury statue in front of my uncle’s cursed villa flashes through my mind. “I paid him a noble’s ransom to send that letter. It never arrived?”

“You got taken for a ride, my boy.” Grandpa chortles, as if he’d somehow known all along. “Still built like an ox, and still thinking like one too. Guy probably saw you comin a mile away.”

Rosa’s expression darkens as she lays her hand over mine protectively. “The messenger came recommended, Mister Flaccus. Quin spent his hard earned coin to hire the best.”

Grandpa’s bushy brows furrow at being spoken back to. His eyes lingers on the brand the identified her as a **** then flit up not to her eyes but her horns. “Who did you say this…creature was again?”

“This lady’s name is Rosa.” I say and swiftly move things along. “And this little ball of sass is Collywaddle.”

“Great to meet ya.” Colly mimics Rosa’s graceful curtsy, coming across as more of a squat for her. “Mathter Quin’th perthonal thlave, that’th me!” She jabs a thumb into her tit. “If he needth anything, I’m the one he callth.”

“Oh, uh, wow.” Mom says, cracks showing in her brittle civility. “A kobalos. How…fascinating. A **** you say? You own a **** now.” She looks to me, the questions in her eyes growing by the second. “Or…slaves?”

“It’s a long story, Mom.” I say, genuinely feeling bad for blindsiding my mother like this even though I’d tried not to. “And this radiant beauty is Cassie. Her family neighbored Paullus’ land.”

Like a rope thrown to a drowning man Mom seizes on this last introduction. “Cassie!” She smiles, though it is muted by my continuing proximity to Rosa. She could sense something was unusual between us but was trying mightily to keep things pleasant. “You are lovely, my dear, and most welcome here. I cannot wait to hear how YOU have come to know my son.”

“It is good to meet you at last, ma’am.” Cassie comes forward and the pair share a polite hug.

“Neighbored?” Grandpa latches onto my use of the past tense. “Don’t tell me you lost your inheritance already!”

“As I said, Nonno, it’s a long story.”

“And a story for later when there are fewer ears about.” Mom says as she holds her hand out for mine and motions back toward my gathered family. “Come, Quint, everyone will be excited to see you again.” As I take her hand Mom shifts to come in beside me and take my arm, not brusquely though not subtly either, to physically interpose herself between Rosa and I. She looks up at me with worry in her eyes.