Walking, talking, then a reunion

Id been some time since we left the clearing, Cassidy was about 30 feet in front of us herding the goats, Henry was resting against my back with his arms around my waist, and I was carrying Henry along with 2 sacks of their stuff because I'm nice, Henry hadn't said much but his grip on my waist was firm so I thought he was probably thinking about what had happened and what was happening.

My suspicions were confirmed when he asked "can I ask you a question?" "Sure, I've got time." I said, already sick of hiking "why did you help us?" expecting the question I quickly said "a little bit of me needing a place to stay and a little bit of me being soft hearted." Henry chuckled a little "I've only heard of a few good monsters, we're lucky you ran into us." "you're lucky those dumbass goblins burned down your barn or I never would have found your farm." I said jokingly, Henry gave a quick laugh before saying "if that's lucky then I don't want to imagine being unlucky." our conversation lulled for a minute, Henry seemingly thinking "you said you needed a place to stay?" "yep, I don't have anywhere to go and I don't know much about this area so it seemed like a good request from your father." "You needn't worry then because if there's one thing I know about father it's that he'd never betray someone who saved his family." "happy to hear it." our conversation lulled again.

After some minutes henry spoke again "I just realized I never ask your name, mind if I ask?" "not at all though the answer might annoy you." "how so?" "I used to have a name but some stuff happened and I don't want to use it anymore, but I haven't chosen a new one yet." "I see, guess we'll help you decide once we get home." I was quiet for a moment after Henry spoke "thank you, henry." "no problem"

Overall the hike back took almost 4 hours with a break in the middle, by time we passed the tree line and could see the farm it was midday and we were all exhausted, looking around I quickly spotted Marcus practically running towards us seeming to have noticed us first, I dropped the sacks I was carrying and with Cassidy's help got henry on his feet just as Marcus reach us, pulling his kids into a bear hug he began sniffling while saying "gods I was so afraid, I was so sure id never see you 2 again, that those goblins were going to do terrible things to you 2." Cassidy on the verge of tears returned the hug just as fiercely and said "I was terrified, I didn't know what to do and I was so afraid you were dead." Henry also returned the hug and while not crying but with a lot of emotion in his voice said "we're safe now, we're all safe." The group hug lasted another minute or so before Marcus loosened his and now with one hand on each of his kids shoulders he said "I love you 2 so goddamn much." Seeming to notice me Marcus let his kids go and walked up to me before pulling me into our own hug and began thanking me for saving his kids, after a minute he let me go and said "I promise to repay you no matter what it takes you hear me?" "got it" slapping my shoulder Marcus began leading us towards the farm house.