the wounds are open and bleeding out
Flinching at the sensation of someone landing nearby, Ronin has already half gathered his daughter into his arms. His coat falls awkwardly around her, too large for her frame, and there's sand in her hair that he's carefully brushing out as he cradles her closer. Relaxing only to see that it's Remi, the starlit dome around them from the Seal continues to shower them with starlight - fitting, he thinks, because Seren would want to see her mother's stars when she wakes up.
"What for?" he asks Remi in a voice that's too quick, too tight. Never mind that the gods couldn't come anyway because it's Longnight - for them to appear at all would mean that something has happened. Something that sits on the tip of his tongue like a bloodstain, like a wound he knows far, far too well that never heals. "She would want to see Safrin anyway," he continues, hiccuping in a breath and smoothing her dark hair out of her face.
Some of the crowd have dispersed if only to prevent others from getting closer, though no one, Ronin notices, has gone to fetch a medic. He glances sidelong at Remi as he feels him kneel in the sand beside him, and though he's already reaching uselessly for that golden thread of light that sits inside him, there's nothing left to give and he knows it. No magic to clutch onto. No second chances. No divine intervention.
"...I can't do this again, Remi," he whispers. "This can't happen again."
"What for?" he asks Remi in a voice that's too quick, too tight. Never mind that the gods couldn't come anyway because it's Longnight - for them to appear at all would mean that something has happened. Something that sits on the tip of his tongue like a bloodstain, like a wound he knows far, far too well that never heals. "She would want to see Safrin anyway," he continues, hiccuping in a breath and smoothing her dark hair out of her face.
Some of the crowd have dispersed if only to prevent others from getting closer, though no one, Ronin notices, has gone to fetch a medic. He glances sidelong at Remi as he feels him kneel in the sand beside him, and though he's already reaching uselessly for that golden thread of light that sits inside him, there's nothing left to give and he knows it. No magic to clutch onto. No second chances. No divine intervention.
"...I can't do this again, Remi," he whispers. "This can't happen again."
THE
KNIGHT
