(based on a headcanon that Randy tells stories to Raz’ul and Yashee about a drawven prince, a brave halforc, and a trickster to keep yashee calm during storms and just for fun)
randy starts telling all the heroic stories about the brave halforc and the dwarven prince but slowly, little by little, the trickster is mentioned less and less
until eventually the character is completely gone from the story with no thought from the other characters
so the trickster fades from the background in the story. This is a test, randy thinks.
And to what he can tell, raz’ul and yashee don’t notice. He was right, for now. So he tells the story for the next few nights, the trickster not returning. They still don’t say anything.
One stormy night, hand in hand, Raz’ul and Yashee find their way to Randy’s room for solace from the booming thunder. They love his stories so, so much. Even Splash has heard their retellings now and again. But when they arrive, the room is uncharacteristically clean. On the pristinely made bed lies a single tear stained note, barely scrawled out in thieves cant: “I’m sorry.” And Randy is gone
Randy was taking his time walking away from Strumlotts. He didn’t expect anyone to follow him, especially not into a storm. He didn’t mind getting wet, and he figured the fog and rain would be enough cover for him to sneak away while it was still light out.
He gets about half a mile away from the school before he sees lights between the trees, swishing back and forth, searching.
He picks up his pace. Anyone could be out here, and whoever they are, they’re not looking for him for a good reason. So he starts to jog. And the light follows. It gets closer…
Now he’s running at full speed, and as he looks behind, the light is gone, and instead he smacks into something solid.
The light is in front of him, shining directly from above where he had fallen over. It’s… Splash?
“I… I saw you leave your room, and I wasn’t sure where you were headed… and once you had turned away from the cafeteria i figured… I saw your note.”
He extends a hand to help Randy stand and holds an umbrella over the two of them.
“You belong there. At Strumlotts. You know that right?”
Randy is thankful for the rain, now masking whatever tears have started to pool in his eyes.
“You know, Yashee was really looking forward to your story tonight. She told me all about yesterday how much she missed the trickster.”
Splash smiles in that slightly crooked way the band rarely sees, clapping a hand on Randy’s shoulder. Randy, barely holding himself together, smiles back through tears as he lets Splash guide him back to the school.
Randy, to his own surprise, is met with a tearful Raz’ul and Yashee sitting together on the floor of his dorm room. As soon as Splash brings him up to the door, they rush to hug him, and he’s enveloped in warmth, and something a bit more… unfamiliar: Love.
Some time passes. Randy had a cold for the rest of the week, but thanks to the school nurse (and some good homemade soup from Alto Brown) he quickly got better. His stories return, and this time, the trickster travels with the prince and the halforc. They’re a trio, or a family really. The trickster isn’t sure what he’d do without them. The other two make sure that the trickster remembers they feel the same.
