Chapter Text
Dunstan Thorn was getting ready for bed on the night his life changed forever. Well, technically that night was nine months ago but I’m getting ahead of myself. He had already slipped himself into his night shirt and was just about to snuff out the rest of the lights in his house when a knock came at the door. Dunstan grabbed one of the lamps nearby and took I with him as he answered.
When he opened the door he saw the wall guard in front of him which was odd for him as he had kept a constant vigil over the opening, rarely stepping away from it. But here he was, standing in the middle of the snow with a basket in his hand. And it was…crying?
The guard handed him the basket and inside he saw a small baby, wrapped in a knitted blanket and wailing its lungs out.
“This was left at the wall for you,” the guard said. “Says here is name is Tristan.” He referred to the note that was in the basket which identified the owner as Dunstan and the baby as Tristan. Dunstan was a little shocked and when he looked back up at the guard he just stared at him with a look that said, “I don’t know what happened but I hope it was worth it.”
Nevertheless, Dunstan took this child into his home and closed the door with the hand holding the lantern. He then carefully took the child up to his bedroom and quickly got to work calming him down. First he took Tristan out of the basket and held him like he saw those mothers in town do with their children. As he started to gently rock the boy back to sleep, he glanced down at the basket to see what else was there. Along with the note there was a small package that was addressed to the boy. He assumed it was for when he was older and could read it so he decided not to pry further.
After the boy calmed down, Dunstan took a look at the note addressed to him. It didn’t say much. Just a basic To Dunstan Thorn, This is your son. Please take care of him in my absence. That’s all.
Dunstan tried to rack his brain as to why a child would show up on his doorstep when he remembered exactly what had happened nine months before. He had thought it was a dream. Or rather he tried to rationalize it as that.
After returning to Wall, Dunstan had told a few people, sans wall guard, about what had happened and they all dismissed it as the overactive imagination of a young man who maybe was so enchanted after finally crossing the wall he made up the town and the events that transpired. And while he did at first try and defend his statements (he did have some proof with the chain and snowdrop), he eventually gave up and starting thinking maybe it was a dream or that he had embellished the story. But it wasn’t. He did cross the wall that night. He did meet a beautiful and exchange a kiss for a glass snowdrop. They did spend one passionate night together in the back of her mistress’s cart while said mistress was out getting wasted. And Tristan here was proof that it had happened.
He never expected his little escapade past the wall to have this big of a ramification. Maybe it was because of how surreal the whole experience was. He didn’t even know much about the woman he fathered the child with. He had been so entranced by the whole situation and coupled with his shyness towards women in general, he never so much as got a name. Just that she was supposedly a princess and was tricked into being a witch’s slave. He wished he could have freed her, but between the magical chain and his reluctance to murder anyone despite their questionable actions (especially since that woman was a witch, she’d probably have cursed him for even attempting it) he unfortunately had to leave her behind. Which was a shame because the woman was lovely. Even after their little tryst, she made him feel comfortable and talked with him about all matter of things from his home to their interests. Just from their short time together he felt at ease with her and could talk to her about anything. They could share a life together. But it wasn’t long before her warden would come back and he had to leave before his father noticed his absence and sent out a search party for him. The last thing he said to her before running back towards the wall was. “I hope we’ll meet again princess.” Before giving a little bow.
“Maybe one day I’ll be free again and we’ll be able to spend forever together,” she said
“One day. Stay strong and think of me.”
She definitely did as now he was the sole caretaker of this young boy despite still being a young boy himself. He suspected the witch didn’t take too kindly to there being a child she would have to look after and probably made her get rid of him once he was born. Or maybe she had hidden her pregnancy and had given him up in an attempt to keep him from suffering the same fate alongside her. That witch was a piece of work and probably would have used him as extra labor or may have even sold him to another witch who would use him for their own nefarious deeds. Or Worse.
Nevertheless, Dunstan looked down at his son and felt nothing but love for him. This was his son. And no matter what the circumstances of his birth were, nothing was going to change that.
“Hello there Tristan,” he finally said to his son. “I hope you’re okay. I know it’s really cold out there. Well if it wasn’t obvious before, I’m you’re father. You’re mother can’t be with us here unfortunately, so I’ll be here for anything you need.”
He looked around his house and realized how out of his depth he was and let out a deep sigh.
“Unfortunately I’m not wealthy and I don’t have much to give you in terms of luxury, and while you’re mother is a princess, she’s in a situation where she wouldn’t be able to provide you that life at the moment. Or any life for that matter. But I promise you that I will do everything in my power to make sure you grow up healthy and happy. And maybe one day, you’re mother can be here with us and we can be a family. I don’t know when or if that will happen but I like to hold on to hope.”
Tristan just sat there in his arms, sleeping, not hearing or understanding anything his father was saying or even the severity of the entire situation. He was there, peacefully slumbering through his father’s calm words like a lullaby. Dunstan could only smile.
Despite being thrust into this situation with barely any time to prepare, he knew he was going to make this work. In just less than an hour his life had changed and his world now revolved around Tristan. And he knew that he would do anything for this boy.
Suddenly, Tristan started crying again. Dunstan panicked and tried rocking him to sleep again, but it was clear that Tristan was crying for a different reason aside from wanting to sleep. The new father quickly went over to the kitchen to see if he had anything to feed his son. He resolved himself to go talk to his father tomorrow morning to get some help and maybe some advice on how to raise a child. He knew that this was going to be a long night. And he also knew the town was going to have questions surrounding the sudden appearance of a baby coming into his life. But he didn’t care. Because Dunstan Thorn loved Tristan and he was going to do anything for this little boy.