Surrender
Legacy Name: Surrender

pacifist ll desperate ll afraid ll daddy issues

Benjamin Hunt is born on a mild autumn day, a few years after the Republic declares its independance from the Continent. He is born to a fair and gentle Duke and a mother who dies in childbirth. Her death is a tragedy they all feel deeply, from the husband left behind to the common folk of the county. Duke Hadrian Hunt mourns for years, and can barely bring himself to look at his son; a young boy who looks and acts much like his mother, a constant reminder of what has been lost. The Duke might be gentle and kind, but he is not selfless; he leaves the raising of the boy to the household servants and Benjamin grows up running between legs in the kitchens and the servants' corridors. His father does not want to see him, and Benjamin is vaguely aware that his status is different from that of those who love and take care of him.

When Benjamin turns six, the Duke calls him to his study for the first time. The heavy gaze of steel grey eyes is unfamiliar and unwelcome, and small and tender Benjamin shrinks from it. Hadrian frowns, the unease creeping further into the room, almost suffocating. You're to start your schooling. His father's tone is quiet, unthreatening. Benjamin raises his eyes for the first time. He sees the paperwork towering high on the desk, the hunting rifle laid to rest on the fireplace mantle, the call stone glowing a gentle purple, the humming of the ward keys as they vibrate and clang against the roughly hewn wall. Yes, Father he murmers, the word lying strangely on his tongue. What is a father really?

The boy learns of the wild first. He spends his time with the huntsmen in the forests, begs his father to send him to the Great Wild, please father! I want to see the dragons and the ice elk! His mind is full with knowledge of the wonderful and the fantastical, stories of the vibrant flora and fauna just waiting to be unleashed upon any who will listen. Benjamin learns how to ride his family's signature beasts, large horses with hides that shimmer like freshly fallen snow, like the first dew that has frozen on a cold morning. They are intimidating in their size, standing a full two feet above even Mr Koen, the head groomsmen, a man of 6'2". But the boy is gentle and kind and careful, everything that his father used to be and so much more, and the large beasts take to him instantly. They tumble about with him, mindful of the small child and keep their razor sharp hooves away with deft precision. It happens once when the Duke comes to watch his only son practice, and the man vaults the fence and shouts in a panic. That man loves you his maid says, her mouth set in a firm line. He might not show it, but he loves you fiercly. As much as I love my own Lucy and Garn. Benjamin simply nods and remains silent; wouldn't a father eat dinner with him, rather than leave the child alone? But he doesn't want to upset her again so he smiles and hugs her tighter. Never forget she whispers.

The boy has learned of the wild, but he must now learn of the world. Even as his fingers itch to climb a tree and his feet urge him to run and gallop, Benjamin must sit and listen. He fidgets and frets, not unlike a young colt learning to enjoy the saddle, but the Duke insists. He learns his letters and his numbers, improves his writing to a level his father would be happy with, while resentment stirs within him.

The Duke meets a woman; it's not the Duke whom the lady meets, but just Hadrian. She, a widow of but a few years younger than him, with a young daughter, barely a toddler; him, with a son not yet ten years old. They meet on a warm summer day, when her carriage has run into trouble and has gotten stuck with a few broken cogs. Hadrian, on the monster of a beasts he calls Jewel, stops and offers assistance. It is only much later, after a promise of another meeting, that she finds out that he is the Duke. Oh my, she says, I wouldn't have guessed! I thought him rather melancholic and charming. She soon enough becomes Benjamin's new mother and things both change and do not. He has never had a mother nor a real father and every experience is new. The lady, now Eveline Hunt, is as sweet as a field of lavender; she never forces him to spend time with her or her young daughter, but coaxes him out of his shell with soft words and even softer hands. When not with the Duke, she holds tea with him in their gardens; in the summer they spend the mild days under the big willow, the branches draping and hiding them from view. See this, she murmurs. All of this, it's... special. There's magic in these woods, Benjamin, and I think it's in you too. Benjamin loves her, and her tiny daughter, his sister, little Annabel.

When does a boy become a man? Is it when he first hears his father weep and cry for a lost wife? Is it the realization that the Duke is actually just Hadrian? Does the change come from within, from realizing that he too is unable to choose his path in life?

I shan't fight!

No, a boy becomes a man when he must learn of war.

human art

quad art

by Choco

Lea

Akita