Lithos: After The Contest of Strength

"That was a terrible trick to play on your father, Lithos. Also hilarious, and a delight to behold." 

Tara Foundingstone paused to lean against the bar and look down at her son. Lithos was mopping the stone floor of The Shattered Golem and didn't look up. "He wanted to see me be strong," Lithos muttered. "Me! Being strong. I don't see why that's so important to him. I get things done."

His mother chuckled. "Well, you certainly got that done. Beat your father in an arm-wrestling contest! That took some nerve." She looked around, making sure her husband was still a-bed. "It was very clever."

"Have to be clever when you can't be strong," Lithos said, trying to keep the bitterness out of his voice. "Will he be angry when he figures it out?"

Tara foundingstone shook her head. "He'll think it was clever, too, once he stops to think about it. Your father and I didn't get where we are without learning to value other people's skills, and I guarantee you that we have never once considered Flyleaf Windborne lacking because he relies on magic instead of arms."

That actually was reassuring, now that he thought about it. Lithos sighed and kept mopping. "Why is he always on about it, then?"

There was a long pause in which the clink of rearranged bottles and the steady swiff swiff of the mop were the only sounds to be heard. Then Tara said, "I think your father is legitimately disappointed. Not in you or any of our other children, but just in general. He wanted a big, strong child that he could raise to be a fighter, and he never quite got that. Pythia's the closest physically, but she followed me into the clergy. James is closest to him in outlook, but James isn't big enough for your father to wrestle around with. Amergin went his own way, and you and Whisper and Archibald are all doing your own things -- and doing them well." 

She paused, then started hanging a row of pewter mugs along the back of the bar. "Your father isn't disappointed in any of you," she continued after a moment. "He's just a little disappointed that none of his children turned out more like him, and he's not always good at expressing that without sounding like he's accusing somebody."

"So he is going to be disappointed when he realizes that I'm not actually some super-strong goblin prodigy that he can teach to swing an axe," Lithos said, lifting the mop and swirling it around in the bucket of water. 

"Well, yes," his mother admitted, "but he's also going to be very proud that you found a way to win a contest of strength anyway."