They adopted young Oakroot out of compassion, grew to love hir as family, though teaching the little to not steal was harder than it looked. The aftermath of the fight was to sooth the child, and teach the little thief some restraint, and let them know that, no matter what, they'll never NOT be loved as family. https://peakd.com/fiction/@internutter/challenge-04609-l225-unattended-children-will-be-stolen-by-adventurers -- Anon Guest
They knew that Oakroot was from a bad place when they dug him out of his hollow. He obviously had the goal of having enough money for a "real place". As if owning a house would solve all his problems.
He was seven at best. Of course he had nebulous ideas about what made life better on a permanent basis.
He also had a nebulous idea of how much money was necessary to own a home. Any shiny object could be worth 'enough' in his eyes, and that triggered his sticky fingers. What Oakroot had no idea about was that he already had a home in a different format.
There was not four walls, there were four Adventurers. No set hearth nor a roof over their heads, but there were people willing to protect Oakroot from anything. And, further to the point, they had the funds to acquire a base of operations.
Just as soon as they at least discouraged Oakroot from being so sticky-fingered.
Bases of operations came with cities or polities around them. And those came with a local Watch. Officers of the Watch were not very fond of thieves, no matter what they did to save the world.
Which required a family talk.
After a good meal, when Oakroot was most likely to stay put and not run away. They'd had to rescue him from several attempts to run from his imagined fear of their retribution. Always taking him back in and assuaging his fears.
"We need to talk about your temptation to take what isn't yours," said Gisse. "We need to know if you can stop yourself."
"You see," said Whatli, "we have enough to get... a real place."
"You don't need to take things any more," added Tagnis. "You have us, and we will look after you."
Darme added, "But we can't protect you from the law when the Watch catches you, shortstack. We really need to know. Can you leave the shinies where you see them?"
"A real place? For all of us?" Oakroot said, trying to wrap his head around the concept. "And I don't gotta pay for my keep?"
"You're our kid," said Whatli. "Why would we make you pay for home and family?"
He shouldn't have asked. Oakroot's former evaluation of normal was not a pleasant thing to know about. Summarised with a worn expression repeated to them for the first time.
"Gold, gore, or gropes - nobody eats for free."
No wonder he preferred eking out an existence in the woods. No wonder he wanted the independence of a "real place."
"We don't work like that," said Gisse.
"And if you want us to take out the bastards who do..." offered Darme. "I don't think many will weep."
[Photo by Brian Wangenheim on Unsplash]
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