Tusktaker's Secret Part 25

	After eating a small breakfast together, Thomas drove Lorka back to her house. They would be meeting after school for the next couple weeks to work on shooting. Lorka knew she needed to keep their meetings secret from her father. She didn’t want to lie to him anymore, but it was important to give Thomas time to train for the Nar’shazd.

Thomas put the car in park before giving his Aru’ka a kiss, “I guess I’ll see you afterschool Monday?”

“Yeah. We can go over the basics.” Lorka opened the car door and was about to step out when something got the better of her.

“Hey, Thomas?”

“Yeah?”
She leaned across their seats and planted another kiss right on his lips, “I love you.”

Thomas smiled, “I love you too, Lorka.”

Satisfied, Lorka stepped out of the car and watched Thomas depart before making her way into the house.
Luckily, her father was going to be out of town for a little while.  Ruu’dzs were in season right now, and the large, flightless birds were prized for their livers used in a wide variety of medicable compounds. That gave Lorka some breathing room to ask around for equipment without Jor’ak becoming suspicious. A part of her was hesitant to talk to her mother about their plan. Radha bore the brunt of Jor’ak’s anger after he caught Thomas at their house. She didn’t want to put her mother in that position again unless she had to.
Sneaking in didn’t prove very difficult. Radha’s car was out front, but Lorka didn’t see her in the living room. Maybe she was in one of the backrooms? Trying her best to be quiet, Lorka took off her shoes and crept back to her room. Good she was home free she just…Oh shit! Lorka jumped back in surprise as she opened her door.

Radha was sitting on her bed, reading a book. She peered up from the small leather volume and gave her daughter a frosty look before slamming it shut and standing up.

“H-hey Mom, what are you doing in here?” Lorka asked, trying to play innocent.

“So guess what? I tried calling my daughter this morning to see if she needed a ride home, and her phone was dead.”

“…Oops.” Dammit, Lorka had completely forgotten about her phone in all the excitement.

“So then, being the caring mother that I am, I called Nerada’s house and reached her mother. And you know what? She told me you didn’t stay at her house last night. Imagine that! So.” She said with a very serious expression, “ What were you doing last night?”

“I’d uh…rather not say.”

“Oh fi’azd dar shav!” Radha was so annoyed she was speaking in Orcish. Never a good sign. “Daughter, if you keep silent, I’m going to have to punish you for disobeying me as well as lying. Do you really want to be grounded until your graduation?”

Lorka sighed. She couldn’t win this fight. “I was with Thomas.”

“Oh so you were out gallivanting with…wait, what?” Her mother’s anger dissipated in a moment as she gave her daughter a surprised look. “Well… I didn’t see that coming.”

“Honestly, I didn’t either.” Lorka sat next to her mother and told her about the art gallery. She briefly touched over her conversation with Nier’da before launching into her surprise meeting with Thomas and their reconciliation in the rose garden. Radha’s eyes went wide as she told her mother about her plan to win Jor’ak’s approval in a Nar’shazd.  “That just might work, daughter.” She said with an  approving grin.

“I still need to get Thomas ready of course, but I don’t think it’ll be too hard.”

“A’kua and Chuck should be willing to help,” Radha said as she stroked her chin, “Chuck has a small cabin on the outskirt of town you could use to practice in secret, if need be.”

“I was going to ask around for a couple things from the hunting guild, but maybe you could help me get them.” Lorka pulled out a piece of paper with various supplies listed on it.

Radha gave it a once over before tucking it into her pocket. “Not a problem, daughter. I think Chuck has most of this equipment anyway. The lures and the feeder shouldn’t be a problem.”

“Good. Not like I can ask dad for his stuff, you know?”

She gave her daughter a sly grin before slightly elbowing her. “I’m still punishing you for lying and sleeping over at a boy’s house behind my back, by the way. Two week of washing dishes by yourself.”

“That seems awfully light…” Lorka said.

Her mother arched an eyebrow, “You want to make it four weeks?”

“No No! Thank you mother, you are very generous.” The young orc told her.

Satisfied, Radha got off the bed and began to walk towards the door, “Come with me. There’s something I need to give before the hunt.”
Lorka gave her mother a confused look, “What is it?”

“Well…it’s more like two things. C’mon, I’m not going to spoil the surprise.”

Radha led her daughter to the house’s storage shed, a small building just outside the house filled with various knick-knacks and hunting supplies the family didn’t have room for in the main house. Pelts and spears hung on the walls, while Radha’s spare sewing machine and herbal treatment kits took up their own small corner of the shed.

“Close your eyes daughter.”

Lorka did as her mother asked. Radha sat down a rather heavy object in front of Lorka and then began to move around more objects. “Can I open my eyes yet?” Lorka asked.

“Be patient daughter! I'm still looking.”

She sighed and waited impatiently for her mother to finish rummaging through the shed.

“Okay, now open your eyes!” She instructed.

Lorka gasped as she saw the surprise in front of her. It was her old steamer chest full of old books, the one she threw out after he breakup with Thomas. She fell to her knees and unclasped the simple lock. As she dug through the box, she noticed everything was exactly as she left it. All of her books…Lorka thought she’d never see them again. Emotions filled the young Tusktaker as she looked at her mother, “I thought I told you to get rid of these?”

“It didn’t sit right with me. Even if you and Thomas didn’t get back together, I knew you would miss them eventually.”

“Mom…” Lorka felt herself tearing up. “Thank you.” She whispered as she clutched an old volume of poetry to her chest.

Radha smiled as she leaned down next to her daughter and patted her on the head, “There’s something else too, daughter. A gift for you and Thomas.” She pulled out a long wooden box from behind her back.  It was covered in protective runes and old orcish scripts from the Anu’Daz, the Bitter Leaves’ religious text. Lorka took the object from her mother and gingerly sat it on the ground before undoing the large, bronze clasp on the side. As she opened the container, her jaw dropped. Five wooden arrows, fletched with cockatrice feathers and bearing a broad silver-metal arrow heads, laid inside the box. Lorka carefully took one in her hand and test the tip with her finger. It was extremely sharp, so sharp she accidentally drew a little bit of blood. The metal seemed to shimmer unnaturally at certain angles, unlike any metal Lorka had seen from Earth. “This isn’t what I think it is, right?” She said in amazement as she continued to examine the strange metal.

“Mythril.” Radha said simply, “I had to sell most of what we had to pay for the house. We were going to sell those two, but I talked your father out of it. Those were the arrows I used on my own Nar’shazd, and I knew I wanted you to have them someday. I just didn’t realize you would need them this soon,” She said with a chuckle.

Mythril was incredibly rare, even back in the Homelands it was a much sought after material for weapons and armor thanks to its amazing properties. Not only was it extremely light weight and durable for its size, but it could also be used as a conductor for magical energies. Most of it had been traded with the Earth government for living space or cash. Some families held onto their old heirlooms, but they were few and far because of the desperate state of the Homelands immigrants. The fact that Radha had managed to save even this much was quite a feat. Lorka grabbed her mother in a bear hug before burying her head in Radha's shoulder. “This is the best present you’ve ever given me. I…I don’t even know what to say!”

Radha smiled as she folded her arms around her daughter's back, “Say you’ll make me proud. Prove your father wrong about Thomas and show him just what you two can accomplish together.”

“We’ll bag the biggest dire boar in the area!” Lorka promised.

Radha let out a laugh as she ruffled her daughter’s hair, “That’s the spirit!”

Lorka’s smile began to turn into a frown as a realization dawned on her. There was still one more issue that needed to be addressed. “Mom, I just thought of something. What if dad doesn’t accept Thomas even with a successful Nar’shazd? Could dad say it’s invalid because Thomas is a human?"

“In all my years as a Bitter Leaf and Tusktaker, I’ve never seen a parent turn their nose up at a successful Nar’shazd, human or orc.  I am worried about your father’ stubbornness, but…I think I know someone that can help. I’m going to call an old friend and see what he can do.”

“Who are you talking about?” Lorka asked.

Radha nodded a mischievous sparkle in her eyes as she spoke, “You'll see. He’s the ace up my sleeves, to use that humie expression. I was going to bring the idea up to you soon, but you beat me to it. I’ll take care of your father. You just focus on getting Thomas ready for the hunt.”

It wasn’t going to be easy, but Lorka felt like everything was coming together. With the arrows and her mother’s help, they might actually have a chance. Now the only thing left to do was train.