Title: Galinntry
Fandom: Adventure World
Rating: General Audiences
Word Count: 1071
Summary: Indulgent character introspection about honesty: Galinn contemplates his relationship with Laufrey, and how the shadow of his sister hangs over everything.
Notes: I had hoped to get this done last weekend, but huzzah for amnesty! And yay for actually finishing something at all! Please forgive my terrible title - I used it as a joke then couldn't think of anything better. Subject to change should inspiration strike :p

Galinntry

The hunt had been up more enjoyable than Galinn had anticipated. The successful slaying of the hydra aside, there was something almost nostalgic about grudgingly riding through the wilds of Oskorìnn with Laufrey while the eager pursued more mundane game. Laufrey had been forced on a few similar expeditions as a youth and then, as now, Galinn had gone along to provide him some companionship. It hadn’t been quite the same, as expectations had been a little higher for their participation in the social aspects of the outing this time, but it was enough to stir up old familiar ‘what if’ speculations. Now that he had retired for the evening he found these harder to shake off, though his mood was more wistful than bitter.

Things were good here - he’d found a balance between the expectations of his youth and the plotting of the last fifteen years. Laufrey was Jarl, and seemed happy with his arrangements with Aerfen and the Bloody Rose. He’d welcomed Galinn back as an old friend, and accepted his sincerity even before it had been proven. The possibility that they might rekindle something more out of faded memories of youthful experimentations…. well. Neither had broached the subject one way or another.

It wasn’t that Laufrey seemed disinterested, but he didn’t seem inclined to pursue things himself. Perhaps, as Jarl, he didn’t see it as his place, or was focused on his work. Certainly Aerfen was no issue, as their arrangement was purely political and she had a dalliance of her own already. Maybe it was that he saw the friendship as more reliable; too useful to risk. Maybe Laufrey was just looking for some stronger indication of interest on his part. Galinn had held back from this deliberately - he didn’t trust his own motives and, as idyllic as his return to Barrum had been, he couldn’t trust the situation.

Laufrey would be easy to seduce, and doing so would put Galinn into an even more secure position, especially if Oskorìnn continued to develop and expand as it had over the past year. In the past fifteen years, he’d become used to deploying his charms to get close to people who could offer something he needed or wanted. Those arrangements had been temporary - mercenary - endeavours. He couldn’t remember now exactly how it had started. It might have been his own idea, an offer made that he’d never managed to retract. Or maybe it had always been Vaenn, pushing him to become a better tool for her schemes.

His sister was a spectre he didn’t know how to shake off. He’d been cautious when he’d first returned, careful not to reveal much about his circumstances until he has a better sense of what the powershift had meant. But Marvold was truly dead, and Laufrey was more than a puppet for goons squatting on his power. Fifteen years of scheming, fortunes waxing and waning with his sister’s limited patience, of scrabbling after any scraps of knowledge or power that might further ends that couldn’t be met, and there was no vengeance to be had, no one to rescue.

For now she was safely locked away. He could have retrieved her, but it would undermine the feelings of relief and freedom he’d felt the more distance that he’d put between them. In theory, he’d returned to Barrum only to investigate the rumours of Marvold’s death. If things had gone differently, he might have actually returned for her. But things were good here. There was space for him to deploy his talents as necessary, but he was not required to use them continuously. There was space for him to be someone else - to be himself, whoever that might be. To go riding out in the dead of winter and snark and complain and sneak sips of whiskey with a friend while other people hunted. It was not space Vaenn had much allowed him.

He still felt constrained by her, knowing that she would take his alliance as betrayal - this was one reason he hadn’t parted company with her earlier. In her obsession, she’d pushed him to excel, and he did owe her a great deal: Galinn was very good at what he did, and he was proud of his skills and knowledge. She could still come back, but Galinn doubted that her intentions would be viewed as anything but hostile. She might challenge Aerfen, but Laufrey would hardly thank her if she succeeded. She would never be willing to set aside her plans or acknowledge that her home was in good hands that were not her own. But it was true - she’d never had the personal presence to attract followers like Aerfen had, she lacked any real experience in military matters, let alone in managing a kingdom. She could have killed Marvold, and she could protect herself and her throne. She could hire mercenaries to fight for her, but she could never make Oskorìnn into what he was seeing now.

Galinn knew that he should to talk to Laufrey, to tell him - warn him, if nothing else, that she could be a threat down the line. It was difficult to reconcile with the instincts he’d developed in his years of wandering with Vaenn, only expecting to stay in one place until either they’d achieved whatever they needed, or they were uncovered and forced to move on. He didn’t want to have come home on the premise that he would inevitably be back wandering once things took a turn for the worse. And that was assuming he could get away at all, as Aerfen took her vengeance very seriously - Galinn had seen just how effective her instruments could be. His choices, really, were either to tell Laufrey and salvage what he could, or have it come out in some uncontrolled way and face more serious consequences. The temptation of the second option was that he could embrace the beguiling illusion that everything was fine, right up until it wasn’t.

That the wiser choice was clear didn’t make it any easier to commit, especially on days like today. It made it all the harder to sort out where his own honest desires lay that his instincts told him to pull Laufrey closer, just to make his position more secure.

At least, perhaps, having everything out in the open would help to clear up that confusion.