"Let's just say they won't be grounding me again!" Xavier's statement was accompanied by an angry stare.
Jared shifted uncomfortably, "Heh, your just kidding, right?"
Xavier didn't reply. Instead he shifted and turned onto his back. He lay there looking up at the top of the wagon. "Yeah," he said calmly. "I'm just kidding. I never actually knew my folks ... or their families. I'm told my parents had "illegally consummated their relationship". I was the result. So, yeah, I'm a bastard orphan." Xavier seemed amused by the term.
"Anyway, my dad was taken to prison and then served in the military. He was killed by Karh'Thul in his first year of service. My mom was sent to prison after my birth and then did her term of military service. She, too, was killed in battle by Karh'Thul."
Xavier noticed Jared's expression become slightly fearful. "Now before you start thinking that I'm doomed to be killed by Karh'Thul too, let me tell you that neither of my parents were particularly well trained in combat. Also, being former prisoners, they were chosen for the more dangerous missions."
"Neither of my parent's families wanted anything to do with me. I was either "that slut's child" or "the offspring of that bastard". So I was raised in the loving care of the orphanage. Guess you could say Shanteel is the closest thing to a parent that I have ever known."
Xavier laughed a bit. "Maybe he and your dad can start a Father-of-the-Year club?"
