Origins: A Deepwoods Book - a Collection of Deepwoods Short Stories (Deepwoods Series 0) (30 page)

“Shi,” Grae chuckled behind her, “that wasn’t a question.
You sound more like you’re issuing a demand.”

“It is a demand,” she retorted, not letting go of them. “I
like them too much. They’re not allowed to leave.”

A somewhat nervous giggle escaped Denney, and then she
laughed out loud, hugging the woman back. “So we never had the option of
parting in Goldschmidt?”

“Not after the third day,” Siobhan agreed and finally let go
of them. “We all decided that you two were a fine fit into the guild. Although
we weren’t sure how to charm you into staying with us.”

Conli had an odd expression on his face. “Then, you weren’t
trying to charm us these past three days?”

“No?” Siobhan cocked her head, puzzled. “Why, did it look
like we were? We hadn’t come up with a plan yet. Hard to plan when you two were
always in earshot.”

“They’re charming naturally,” Denney observed to her uncle.

“Apparently. Well, Guildmaster, if you’re serious, then we
really would like to stay with you. But perhaps you should talk to the rest of
the guild first?”

Siobhan negated the idea with a careless toss of the hand.
“I get complete say in who stays in the guild. It’s always been that way.
Besides, I won’t get any objections with you two.”

That last statement just warmed Denney right to the core.
“Then what do we need to do to make this official?”

“Register you in Goldschmidt and get you both crests. Which
we’ll do after we’ve dropped off a certain caravan.” A demented grin on her
face, Siobhan declared, “But you’re ours now, paperwork or no paperwork. Grae,
spread the word! We have new members.”

The quiet man beamed at them. “Gladly.”

“And that is the story of Denney Icean and Conli Roroana.”

“It was a fine telling, and I thank ya for it.” Rune had
turned over onto his side partway through the story and had his head propped up
on his hand. “It’s true, ya and Conli seem to come as a packaged set.”

“We have ever since he came and got me in Quigg,” she
admitted frankly. “Although since joining Deepwoods, he hasn’t been as fiercely
overprotective as before. Not after Wolf, Tran, and Fei made it clear they
would hammer anyone that looked at me cross-eyed.”

“Gave him breathing room,” Rune stated knowingly. “Denney, I
do have one question for ya.”

“Shoot.”

“When we first met, ya were nervous about me, too. Was that
’cause I was an assassin or Wynngaardian?”

“A little of both,” she admitted. “And you were so
incredibly hard to read. What unnerved us all was that your mouth would smile,
but your eyes never reflected any sort of emotion at all. We weren’t sure if
you had a heart. That first time you came to my defense, without Siobhan
telling you to, I was so surprised I actually froze for a few seconds. I
realized in that moment that we actually did mean something to you. Before
that, I hadn’t thought we did.”

“Was that it?” Rune thought about how he was, those early
days with Deepwoods. In truth, even he wasn’t sure if he felt any true emotions
back then. He’d been betrayed and hurt so many times that it was a wonder his
heart was still functioning at all. “I suppose we are alike in this, then.
Deepwoods charmed us into staying.”

Startled, she stared at him for a heartbeat before laughing.
“It’s true! We both reacted the same way. Funny, isn’t it? They don’t think of
themselves as particularly charming, in fact Siobhan says all the time we’re a
motley crew, but after spending only a day with them, you start to wish you
could always stay.”

With him, Rune wasn’t sure it had been a full day. After
only a few hours of watching how the guild interacted with each other, he’d
become so envious of them he’d nearly been green with it.

Denney stretched out fully on the grass, her arms high above
her head, smile dreamy. “The best thing that Conli ever did for me, aside from
taking me from Quigg, was to choose Deepwoods as our guild. We would have been
so lost without them.”

Rune was deeply thankful that they had joined Deepwoods as
well, if for entirely different and selfish reasons.

“Well, now you have everyone’s stories. What do you think?”

He sat on that question for a moment before concluding
aloud, “Siobhan’s crazy.”

Denney didn’t expect that answer and choked, curling over
onto her side as she laughed. “R-really? Is that all you think?”

“I’m grateful she’s crazy,” Rune assured her, tickled to see
her laughing so much at something he’d said. “But think about it. Every one of
us came with a passle of trouble like a dark cloud hanging over our heads. The
only exception of that being Fei. But she took us all on anyway. Makes a man
wonder if that’s a requirement for getting Siobhan’s attention.”

“Tran wasn’t in trouble when he came in,” she pointed out,
eyes still dancing merrily.

“He’s worse. He
creates
trouble.”

Denney opened her mouth in protest, paused, and hummed
thoughtfully. “I cannot retort. It’s true. He’s as bad as Wolf in that aspect.”

Rune would know, after everything he’d seen, and the few
times he’d been called upon to pull both men out of a fight. “Actually, when I
think on it, Fei’s just as crazy for joining. Siobhan’s one thing, but he
actually volunteered to try to keep the peace in the guild.”

“You do wonder just how lonely he was to be drawn into the guild.”
Denney wagged a chiding finger at him. “But that’s not what you really, truly
think, is it?”

“No, I truly think Siobhan’s crazy.” And he was incredibly
thankful for it. He wouldn’t trade a single member in Deepwoods for the world.

“LUNCH!” Fei called out.

Groaning, Denney rolled up to her feet. “I’m just hungry
enough to move.”

“I hear ya.” Rune came up faster than she did, ignoring
twinging muscles, because he wanted to offer her a hand. Denney accepted the
gesture, letting him pull her up to her feet, which gave him a blissful two
seconds of close contact with her. He smiled at her smile and followed her
readily to the cook fire.

Yes, he was completely and selfishly glad.