Jurdan in the Mortal World

Back to Work

(A/N: hi. i'm thinking 3-5, maybe 6 more real plot chapters, then just fluff and smut to come back to occasionally. i'm really excited, it's gonna be fun, and i am looking forward to moving on to other stories as well.

please vote and comment, and stay home. my posting is going to be super irregular, but if you'd rather i have a schedule, i can try to organize that, i guess. it just means no two-chapters-in-a-day days.)

We're back in the car, me sitting on Cardan's lap once again, him eating funnel cake and me trying to withstand my cramping legs. Ouch.

Oak is whining about "The ride is taking too long, Vivi!" and "Heather, I'm bored!" and "Cardan, I want some funnel cake too!". It's cute but gets infuriating when you're stuck in a car with it for an hour straight.

I lay my head back on Cardan's shoulder and try to go to sleep. Of course, it doesn't help that Cardan is shifting underneath me, making my nausea worse. 

Eventually, the torture stops, and we all unload our sticky, tired selves out of the car. Oak races home, talking about "Pizza, pizza, pizza!" and Cardan stretches out his legs. I don't blame him. If my legs were cramping because I was sitting on him, imagine his legs cramping while he was sat on.

When we get into the dimly lit, cool house, Oak is unloading freezer pizza from the freezer. (A/N: don't hate me for the freezer pizza thing. i love freezer pizza.)

"Can you make some salad?" Vivi asks me, busying herself with the oven.

I take out the greens in answer and shake them all into a big bowl, dumping in some tomatoes and carrots. I shake whatever remainders of dressing that's been abandoned on the counter, and set it on the table with a loud clank. 

Cardan gets up from the couch and looks at me expectantly.

I laugh. "So now, because there is food involved, you want to help."

He nods, and I shove a stack of paper plates into his arms, as well as some plastic cutlery, too lazy to bother with the mismatched real plates.

He flings them out and has the table set in no time.

Suddenly, Heather's voice echoes out from their room. "Jude, Cardan, you guys should pack so you don't have to tomorrow!"

Oak pouts. "They're leaving?! Do they have to leaveeee?" He whines. Heather laughs quietly and guides him into his room. 

"You should take a nap, Oak. We'll wake you up in time for pizza."

"But there's no bedsheet-"

"It's fine. I'll set up a blanket!"

"What happened to my bedsheet?"

I can hear Vivi grumbling. "Cardan happened to your bedsheets."

Said subject catches the words and gives me a very distinct, inconspicuous wink. I take that as me cue to head to Oak's room and haul our stuff out of there, pushing it all into a pile. Good. That should be able to fit in the suitcases...

I feel a presence next to me. "You think we'll be able to fit everything in?" Cardan asks, sliding up behind me and putting his arms around my waist.

"It'll have to fit, or else we're getting rid of all those useless clothes you bought and the endless tubs of cotton candy," I chide, flicking at his arm.

"Would you lovebirds like to borrow our room instead of Oak's?" Heather calls as she exits Oak's room. "I had to ignore every single time Oak asked what happened to his bedsheets, by the way. I wasn't about to give him the 'birds and the bees' talk, so I hightailed it out of there. I think he's asleep now, though." 

I give a sigh of relief. One peaceful evening. Just a few hours of harmony. Of course, with a certain somebody by my side, it is not going to turn out that way. Well, relatively peaceful, then.

I sit on Cardan's lap, slouching on the couch in wait for the pizza to be done. It's a surprise Heather hasn't thrown a fit about all the stuff in the middle of the living room.

"It's a shame we need to wake up Oak so soon," Vivi says, carrying out the steaming pizza, "but he will throw a positive fit if he misses dinner."

"Oh well. When you're dealing with cranky-as-hell beings, even half an hour of sleep can do wonders," Cardan says, throwing a look my direction. I roll my eyes, too focused on the pizza to do anything else. I am goddamned hungry. 

Vivi hurries into Oak's room, coming back with a boy that is a hundred percent bright-eyed and bushy-tailed. Pizza really does do wonders.

Without further ado, Oak crams a piece of pizza in his mouth, grabbing for another at the same time.

"Nuh uh," Heather says sternly. She's a great mom. "A slice for some salad." She dumps an array of vegetables from my salad onto his plate. He whines but soon digs in, eager to eat more pizza.

Soon, we're all full, and Oak is prancing around the dining room table, all crankiness gone, singing, "I don't need to be king, I don't need to be king..." while Cardan looks at me. I ignore the...stare, and help Vivi with dishes. Cardan and I need to be gone after this.

I want to stay. I don't want the pressure of a land and it's people on my shoulders. I love seeing Cardan like this, all his good traits brought to light and amplified. 

With a startle, I realize I don't want the power anymore. Or at least, it's not the most important thing in my life.

I know I will never belong in the mortal world. But some part of me doesn't ever want to say good-bye to the utter normalcy surrounding this place, the lack of tension.

"Jude!" Cardan's voice calls out from the living room. "I have all the stuff packed. It's...definitely...not well packed, but...it's packed, so...we need to go if we want to start getting used to being up at night again."

I leave the dishes somewhat reluctantly, drying my hands on the smiley-face dish towel hanging from the rack. I shuffle into the living room, take a suitcase, and slowly walk towards the door.

"Hurry," Cardan says gently, nudging my legs with his suitcase. "We have ragworts." How we're going to be able to fit the suitcases on the horses is beyond me, but I hurry, obliging.

Heather trails after us, and at the bottom stair, she grabs my wrist. "Jude." Her tone of voice makes me whirl my head towards her. "Come back, okay? We can make this a thing, and go to the amusement park again."

I want to say no, say that I need to adjust myself to Elfhame, say that I can't let my guard down because anyone can do anything. But that part of me died at the slice of a sword across a serpent's neck.

"Maybe let's try the bowling alley next time." The grin Heather gives me is worth it.

Vivi ushers Oak down the steps, bringing me into a bone-cracking embrace. 

Oak just hangs onto my legs, not wanting to let go. "I'll be back," I promise.

He looks past me to Cardan, monitoring the whole scene with nothing in his eyes. "Can you promise to never make me High King ever in my life?" he asks sincerely. 

I choke on my spit as Cardan says, "I promise."

Oak bounds back to Vivi and gives us a wave. I haul my suitcase onto my ragwort as Cardan does the same.

On the way back, I cry.

(A/N: these two chapters weren't really...exciting, but hey, i got two done in a day. and they're decently long, too.)