Spring didn’t arrive loud in the holler. It slipped in quiet, right alongside the eggs. By morning, a list of directions and hints was tacked to the side of the war barn, numbered. The goblins gathered fast, drawn in by curiosity and suspicion in equal measure.
“An easter egg hunt?” Ellie asked, finishing off her donut.
Nickie squinted at the board. “Why they all posted like this?”
Alexis smirked. “So Ma can watch us struggle in real time.”
From the porch, Ma lifted her coffee cup, entirely unbothered. “You’ll find your clues there. You’ll find your eggs where you find ‘em.”
Dowski crossed his arms. “How many?”
Ma smiled. “Enough.”
Eri groaned. “That ain’t helpful.”
“You’ll bring me proof,” Ma continued. “Quiet like. You want the final hint…” she paused just long enough to hook them, “you earn it.”
Ellie nudged Nickie. “She’s enjoyin’ this.”
Nickie didn’t hesitate. “Oh, she absolutely is.”
The night before, Ma had found Pa in his usual way, holed off in his war office working on stats. “I need a teeny tiny favor,” she said. “I’m organizing a challenge for the goblins and need you to do something for me. It'll take you ten seconds to do."
He glanced over, easy enough. “What do you need me to do?”
“Hide this egg.”
He took it without protest, turning it once in his hand like he was trying to place how he’d gotten roped into this at all. “I’m confused.”
“Easter Egg hunt. Just hide it.”
“Okay.” No resistance, just mild confusion. “Where you want it?”
“Anywhere in here.”
He tucked it away without ceremony. “That it?”
“Yeah. And, well, you’re gonna need to let them come in to look for it.”
He just stared at her. “I don’t understand…”
“My final hint falsely points them your way,” she explained. “So they may come looking for the golden egg here and, well, you’ll need to let them in.”
Pa said nothing, still looking confused.
“It will be brief, once they realize you’re a false lead. You can take it out when it’s all over.”
He sighed, then nodded. “Okay.”
She patted his arm. “You wanna dress up like the easter bunny, too?”
“That’s not a teeny tiny favor,” Pa replied and Ma laughed, kissed his cheek, then left him to his work.
By the time the sun was up, Jaybbles was already at the war barn, scanning the clues like they might disappear if he blinked. “Ma…”
“No extra hints.”
“I didn’t even ask yet.”
“You were about to.”
Behind him, Alexis shoved his shoulder. “Move. You’re hoggin’ it.”
“I ain’t hoggin’, I’m readin’.”
“You’re breathin’ on it.”
The first eggs were found quick, too quick. Confidence built fast, voices got louder, and then everything slammed to a halt at Egg #3.
BamBam circled the same crate twice, Dowski checked under the same plank again, and RG climbed something he absolutely had no business climbing. Nothing.
“It ain’t here,” Alexis said flatly.
“It is,” Ma answered from the porch.
“Then it’s hid wrong.”
Ma smiled into her cup.
Ellie crouched low, scanning. “We’re missin’ somethin’ obvious.”
Nickie frowned. “Or overthinkin’ it.”
Jaybbles called from somewhere behind them, “Or y’all just ain’t good at this.”
Everyone’s heads snapped around. “Did you find the third egg?”
“Yup!” Jaybbles replied gleefully
“What extra hints did Ma give you?” asked XTC. “Share with us!”
“She didn’t,” Jaybbles replied. “Think about the hint. What do you see before you enter the clan…?”
“Jay,” Alexis snapped, “I swear….”
Something clicked in XTC’s eyes. “Ooooooohhhhh…..” he said and off he went.
“STOP CHEATING!” Ma yelled from the porch.
Jules appeared like she’d been there the whole time, leaning against a tree, dark hair loose, eyes amused. “Well this is painful to watch.”
Nickie groaned. “You ain’t helpin’.”
“Oh, I am,” she said sweetly. “You’re just not listenin’.”
Alexis narrowed her eyes. “You know where it is.”
Jules tipped her head. “Warm.”
Everyone froze.
Dowski turned slowly. “Wait. Who’s warm?”
Jules smiled wider. “Not you.”
RG spun in a circle. “I was just over there!”
“Then you were warm,” Jules said, already turning away. “Now you’re not.”
“THAT AIN’T HELPFUL!”
“Hot,” she added casually over her shoulder.
They scrambled.
She paused. “…colder.”
Chaos.
When Jaybbles finally found them all, he made sure the entire holler knew. “I got ‘em all.”
Nick didn’t even look impressed. “No you didn’t.”
“I did.”
“You lyin’.”
“I ain’t!”
“You got extra hints.”
“I did NOT get extra hints.”
From the porch, Ma called calmly, “He didn’t.”
“This means I win!” Jaybbles declared.
“No, it doesn’t,” Ma corrected. “Just means you’re eligible for the golden egg hint tomorrow. Whoever finds the golden egg wins. But y’all gotta find all the eggs first then I will give the hint for the golden egg at the same time, to everyone.”
That somehow made it worse.
From there, it went full goblin. RG got caught tailing Dowski step for step until Dowski spun around and chased him off. Eri tried to peek into Alexis’s basket and caught a sharp smack for it. Looty accused everyone of “actin’ suspicious,” and at one point, someone casually approached Ma holding a very normal chicken egg. “…This one.”
Ma stared at it, then at them. “That come from my hunt?”
“It’s an egg.”
“Put it back in the coop.”
By Easter morning, those who had completed the hunt received the final hint, all at once.
A golden egg, dropped where the leader resides
A title may claim it, but presence reveals it
Seen, then gone
The Paterfamilias?
A patriarch ghost, phantom warlord?
A Matriarch, ever present
Real or imagined, who holds what matters?
Two eggs were left behind, only one intact
Looty scratched his head. “What’s a….pater…fa…milias?”
Nick read it once. “That’s Pa.”
Alexis nodded. “Yeah, that’s Pa.”
RG added, “Leader resides. Easy.”
Dowski shrugged. “Only place that fits.”
Ellie read it again, slower this time, but said nothing.
And just like that, they all went the same direction.
Jules lingered on the porch with Ma, watching them go.
Ma didn’t look at her. “You’re meddlin’.”
“I’m guiding.”
“You’re stirring.”
Jules smirked. “Same thing, depending on who wins.” Her eyes flicked toward Ma. Then back to the departing goblins. “They’re all goin’ the wrong way.”
Ma took a slow sip. “Mmhmm.”
Jules grinned. “Good.”
There was a brief scuffle over who would knock on Pa’s door.
“You do it.”
“No way! YOU do it!”
“I’m not interrupting him.”
“Good grief!” exclaimed Ellie. “If the egg is here, then he’s expecting us.”
The goblins considered a moment. Finally, RG spoke up. “I vote Ellie knocks. She’s the favorite child.”
Ellie stepped forward and knocked at Pa’s war room door. A pause. Another knock.
The door opened. Pa stood there, looked them all over. “What?”
“We got the final hint.”
Pa paused, then sighed. “Alright.” He stepped aside.
They entered carefully, like they weren’t sure they were allowed to breathe. Eyes scanning, trying not to look like they were snooping while very obviously snooping. Nickie crouched near something, her hand reaching. “I’m just lookin’ to see…”
“Well it ain’t there,” Pa said flatly.
RG reached toward a shelf.
“Not there either.”
RG froze. “Wasn’t gonna…”
“You were.”
Alexis cracked a drawer open slightly.
“That ain’t it either.” Pa told her.
“I didn’t even…”
“You were about to.”
Ellie crossed her arms. “You gonna help or just narrate us bein’ wrong?”
Pa leaned back against the wall. “Don’t want y’all breakin’ somethin’ I gotta fix later.”
And then, they found it. The egg. Cracked clean through. Split. Useless.
“That ain’t right.”
Pa nodded once. “Yeah. You’re too late.”
“Too late for what?” asked Jaybbles.
“The bunny came through already,” he said simply, repeating what Ma told him to say. “That one’s broke. No good.”
Silence. Confusion. That creeping sense that something wasn’t adding up, but no one was sure what.
“But the hint said ‘where the leader resides’…” said RG in confusion.
“It also said ‘pater…fam….ilias’,” said Looty. “That’s…that’s you. This has to be the place.”
Pa pushed off the wall and headed for the door. “If you’re still here, you’re behind.”
“Behind what?”
He didn’t answer. Just opened the door. “Move along.”
They stepped out, still thinking, still unsure.
The door shut.
“Pretty sure Pa has the golden egg,” Alexis mused, looking perplexed.
The door opened again. “Happy Easter.”
Shut again.
They didn’t say a word on the way back. Not about the egg. Not about it being broken. Not about Pa. Because if they were behind, maybe everyone else was too.
Meanwhile, XTC stood off to the side, reading the hint again.
A title may claim it… but presence reveals it.
He glanced toward Pa’s space. Then toward the returning group, empty handed, confused, unsettled, bickering.
If the egg had been there, someone would’ve had it.
“Wrong place.”
They turned without a word. Back toward the cabins. Past the war barn. Past the paths already searched. And then, the porch.
Ma.
Sitting where she always sat. Watching everything. Missing nothing.
A Matriarch, ever present.
XTC slowed, this time with purpose. No rush. No announcement. Just a quiet step forward, a careful look…
And there it was.
The golden egg.
Whole. Intact.
He picked it up, turning it once in his hand. “Huh.”
Back near the war barn, the others were still arguing. “I’m tellin’ you, that was it!”
“It was BROKE!”
“Then how’s that the final egg?!”
“He said we were late!”
“Late for WHAT?!”
Jaybbles was pacing now. Frustrated. Loud. “This don’t make sense! We found ALL the others!”
“Did you?”
The voice cut through everything. They turned. XTC stood there, calm, holding something.
Nick blinked. “No way.”
Alexis leaned forward. “Is that…?”
RG just pointed. “Ain’t no way.”
Jaybbles froze. “What is that?”
XTC held it up slightly. “The golden egg.”
Madness ensued.
“WHERE’D YOU GET THAT?!”
“That ain’t fair!”
“You didn’t go to Pa’s?!”
“How’d you…?”
“You cheated somehow!”
Jaybbles threw his hands up. “No, ain’t no way!” Jaybbles turned to Ma like this was clearly her fault. “That was Pa’s!”
Ma tilted her head. “Was it?”
“That’s what it said!”
Ma took a slow sip. “Did it?”
Behind him, Ellie spoke quietly. “It said ‘leader.’”
Nickie added, “And ‘presence.’”
Jaybbles stared at them. “Oh come ON.”
“Ma is a leader. Ma is THE leader,” Ellie said. “Pa holds the title. Ma holds the presence.”
Everyone went quiet.
Ma stepped off the porch at last, slow and unhurried, her gaze settling on XTC. “Looks like someone was payin’ attention.” She tapped the golden egg lightly. “Only one intact.”
Behind them, RG muttered, “We really went all the way out there for nothin’…”
Alexis smirked. “Not for nothin’. We got told to leave.”
Jaybbles sighed. “I guess. Well, congratulations XTC.”
Up on the porch again, Ma settled back into her chair, quiet and satisfied. Because the hunt had never been about speed. Or even the eggs.
It was about who noticed what everyone else missed.
And this time?
That was XTC.
By the time the arguing died down – or at least quieted to a tolerable level – the holler had shifted. The hunt was over, and now it smelled like food.
Long tables had been dragged out near the porch, patched together from whatever could be found – planks, barrels, old boards that had seen better days – and somehow it worked. Dishes covered every inch. Roasted meats, buttered vegetables, fresh bread, something sweet cooling near the end that no one was allowed to touch yet.
BamBam leaned over one of the trays. “We get all this?”
Alexis smacked his hand away. “You touch it, you lose it.”
Near the steps, baskets had appeared, each one a little different, stuffed full with bright wrappers, colored eggs, small potion bottles, and unmistakable chocolate shapes tucked inside.
RG picked one up. “…Is this mine?”
Looty was already digging through his. “Oh yeah, this is mine.”
XTC held up a huge chocolate bunny. “No way.”
Ma sat watching it all unfold, that same quiet satisfaction settling in. Jules lounged beside her like she’d claimed the spot as her own, eyes tracking the chaos below.
“You did good,” Jules said lazily.
Ma hummed. “They did alright.”
Jules smirked. “Some of ‘em.”
Her gaze drifted across the crowd, lingering just long enough on Jaybbles to be noticed. “Warmer,” she murmured under her breath, and he spun instinctively like he’d been called.
“What?!”
Jules only smiled and looked away.
A shadow fell across the steps, and Pa appeared without announcement, like he’d always been there and no one had noticed. He took in the tables, the baskets, the noise. Goodfella followed not far behind him, took a seat near Jules.
“A lot goin’ on.” Pa noted.
Ma glanced up at him. “It’s Easter.”
He nodded once, accepting that explanation without question.
“Who won?” Goodfella asked. Towards the end of the table, XTC held up his golden egg triumphantly. “Good work!” Goodfella congratulated.
RG, mouth already full, pointed. “Pa! You missed it! We….”
“I know,” Pa said. “Your goblin hands were all over my war room.”
Jaybbles stepped forward. “I almost had it…”
“Almost ain’t good enough,” Pa replied, flat and final.
Silence hit for half a second before Nick snorted and Alexis lost it, laughter breaking the tension wide open.
Pa moved past them, settling at the front of the table near Ma and Jules without ceremony, not taking over, not directing, just present, watching.
Jules glanced at him sideways. “You handled your part well.”
“Ten seconds,” he mumbled.
Jules smirked. “Efficient. Ma must appreciate that.”
“It gets the job done.”
Jules tilted her head slightly. “You sure about that?”
Clack.
Ma’s spoon came down between them on the table, sharp enough to cut through the noise. “Not talk for the dinner table.”
Nearby, XTC sat quieter than the rest, the golden egg set off to the side, noticed, respected, but no longer fought over. The win had already settled.
Ma stood at last, clapping once. “Alright,” she said. “Eat before it gets cold.”
That was all it took.
The holler surged forward, plates filling, voices rising, arguments shifting from eggs to portions and who took too much of what.
And for once, no one was hunting anything, just eating, laughing, bickering anyway.
Later, up on the porch, Ma leaned back in her chair, Jules beside her, Pa nearby, the holler full and loud and alive.
The game was finished. The lesson learned, whether they admitted it or not.
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