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+---- Thread: [o] should this be easy? (/showthread.php?tid=12931)
should this be easy? - Vesper - 06-18-2026
By the time Vesper reaches Hak Etme, LongNight has already made a slow thing of every mile. The skyship ride has stretched longer than it should have, every dark hour giving him too much room to consider what he might say when he found Colt. He’d tried several versions, each worse than the last. Are you hurt? had sounded too simple. Why didn't you call Sunjata? had sounded too sharp. Why did you call me? had lasted longest, if only because it had been honest in more directions than one.
Only Colt isn’t at the Sandgate; she'd gone south, he’s told. For LongNight. Safe, from the sound of it, and Vesper supposes that ought to be the only piece of information worth keeping. It’s the reason he came, or near enough to it; the thing beneath all the rest that had put him on a skyship headed toward the desert in the first place. She’s alive. She’s not stranded out here with whatever had remained of that creature’s shadow dragging across the sand, so maybe this is better.
The thought sits badly, even as some small part of him is relieved by it. Relief is an ugly thing when it comes dressed as avoidance, and Vesper knows it well enough not to mistake it for virtue. Still, it loosens something beneath his ribs as he stands beside a small shack at the port, a cup of something hot and harsh held between both hands, his silver rings clicking once against the clay.
For better or worse, there will be no difficult conversation tonight. No careful look at her face to see whether she regrets calling him, no need to decide whether anger or concern should have the first word. No chance to say too much, or worse, not enough. And so, Vesper lifts the cup and drinks, letting the burn occupy his mouth where words might have gone. Around his boots, his shadow pools close and quiet, indistinct in the dark. Vesper keeps his gaze on the port instead of the road south, thumb moving over the rough rim of the cup as if patience is a thing that can be worn smooth.