Submission (#1190) Approved

Words: 750

There was a heavy chill in the air as Athair stood by the boat’s edge, staring down into the dark waters below. The journey had been rife with unexpected setbacks, such as wild animals poking holes into the hull and a particularly nasty storm. However, he had heard the call and perhaps it was time to return to the place of his birth.

There had been many reasons why he had left when he was so young, but perhaps it was because he and his father always disagreed. A bitter memory that meant Athair’s children did not know he was from Frostfell or had even met their grandfather. Perhaps that was the true reason he answered the call so he could once again meet his demons headfirst, instead of pretending they did not exist in the first place.

He took a deep breath, his lungs aching from the cold as he checked the boat’s sail. It would be his luck if it ripped when he was so close to the island, but if that happened, he would take it as an omen and turn the ship around. Never to set foot in Frostfell again.

“I really am an old man now.” He sighed, once again looking at the water. The sea had been a comfort when he was young, when he would roam the frozen beach as his father tried to catch him. He still remembered their laughter when his father finally caught him.

“But it was never that easy, was it?” He frowned, shaking his head. “You never made it easy.” He remembered his father yelling when Athair said he wanted to explore the world, both of their yelling and anger. Athair wondered then if his father had missed him, if after all the yelling and hurt, that maybe his father felt all that weight of grief as he lost his son.


Athair looked up as a shadow loomed after head, taking notice of the frosty mountains as he set his boat on course for the Great Hall. He wondered if perhaps his father was still alive, but then came the dread that nearly choked him, what if his father was not. What if his leaving had been too much for the old keb and it had been so many years since that day.

He squeezed his eyes shut for a moment, willing away tears from decades of hurt. Maybe he had overreacted that day, so young and foolish, and pushed away his beloved father. Maybe if he had stayed instead of running away, they could have patched things up and his father could have sent him away with a happy heart.

Athair shook his head, pulling a few ropes to slightly shift the direction of the boat. No things probably would not have changed and there was no point in wasting away old worries and concerns. He would answer the call and then return home to his children. Although with them all being grown up, it was an empty house, and it wasn’t like he could ask his ex-wife to keep him company when his children had to get back to their own lives.

Was this what getting old was? Becoming lonely when you can’t keep the ones you love around you? But unlike his father, Athair didn’t want to keep his children when they wanted to leave, but he supposed he understood why more than ever. After his mother passed on, his father was always with him, always worrying whenever he wanted to explore.

Athair smiled fondly, laughing to himself when he remembered all of those memories. His father was a good man, and he would always remember that, for as long as he would live. Just that alone made him want to rush home to his own children.

But there was no time for that, he could finally see the roof of the Great Hall and he could see the glittering lights of warmth and comfort. There it was again, for the first time in years, he could feel the excitement of Spring in Frostfell.

He urged his boat faster, forgetting his troubles as he waited to make it to the shore. This was a time of new beginnings and a time for him to remember his youth and the friends he left behind. There was no time to think back on unpleasant or even happy memories, it was time to make new ones. It was time to love Frostfell again, just like when he was a boy.