The bard could only shrug at the question. ”If someone is keeping a list, I don’t know of it. Sometimes we have a tendency to all pull in different directions and no one is really used to having a king – and queen,” he added grudgingly, ”to be a central repository. But at the very least I can start one, and hopefully add to it as we go.” Shaky fingers dipped into the wide sleeve of his other arm, feeling for one of the small pockets sewn there and withdrawing a pencil stub. Flipping the paper Loren had given him over he wrote Ronin’s name and then his own. After a short pause he added ‘Melita’ and ‘Kiada’ to it with question marks. After a longer pause he added ‘Phoebe’ with three question marks, remembering her outburst at the meeting. Not that a temper tantrum was unusual for the midwife, but yelling at Remi in public was. ”Maybe… if we post a list of symptoms to the notice board and ask anyone who has them to come of the Infirmary? Don’t call it the ‘blight’ but… try to reach out to individuals who come to ask about it? I’ll see if I can run it by Ronin…” Another thing to add to the list that just kept growing longer and longer.
While the days remaining to them grew shorter and shorter.
Jigano blinked at the mention of using summoned animals, a bark of startled laughter escaping at the very obvious solution he had missed. ”Yes, yes of course that would work! Rory can summon animals too. It’s how they tested the antidote to the Spire Demon’s poison, I believe, but he does it so rarely I didn’t even think… well. Thank you, let’s add that back to the list of things to test, then.” The bard wasn’t about to cut himself to demonstrate why he thought blood seemed more likely than other routes, but he had hurt himself recently and seen the black streaks among the red that made him fastidious about not getting it on anyone else.
When Loren looked away Jigano first thought that the other man was avoiding the monster that the bard was admitting to becoming. He didn’t expect the sudden outreach – a mirror of what he had tried to offer in the woods, in some ways, a point of connection that the Launceleyn seemed trying to build between them. He felt himself bristling at the false equivalence, the gall of the man, acting as though a rough upbringing was in any way the same as having one’s sanity and soul devoured, piece by piece, by an alien darkness that stole the steadiness of mind and heart both. Fists clenched, jaw clenched, he breathed through his nose and reminded himself that Loren meant well. Just like he had, in the Woods. Their situations were reversed now and he wouldn’t lose control. Not after what he had just told the other man.
But oh, it was tempting. So sweetly tempting to just give in for one sharp, cutting line…
Afraid of what he would say if he opened his mouth he just nodded tightly.
Edrei had pardoned him in her official capacity as Queen, but he was too focused on fighting back the surge of temper to repeat himself. He at least managed an easier smile at the declaration of protection, appreciating the thought even if he had the same misgivings that Loren did about how long the scholar would last against the Tyrant if it came down to violence. ”I’ll wish you luck with it,” he said instead of the crueler words that still lingered at the back of his tongue. ”And given time you should be able to repair the damage.” Time, of course, being the resource in shortest supply for some among them.
While the days remaining to them grew shorter and shorter.
Jigano blinked at the mention of using summoned animals, a bark of startled laughter escaping at the very obvious solution he had missed. ”Yes, yes of course that would work! Rory can summon animals too. It’s how they tested the antidote to the Spire Demon’s poison, I believe, but he does it so rarely I didn’t even think… well. Thank you, let’s add that back to the list of things to test, then.” The bard wasn’t about to cut himself to demonstrate why he thought blood seemed more likely than other routes, but he had hurt himself recently and seen the black streaks among the red that made him fastidious about not getting it on anyone else.
When Loren looked away Jigano first thought that the other man was avoiding the monster that the bard was admitting to becoming. He didn’t expect the sudden outreach – a mirror of what he had tried to offer in the woods, in some ways, a point of connection that the Launceleyn seemed trying to build between them. He felt himself bristling at the false equivalence, the gall of the man, acting as though a rough upbringing was in any way the same as having one’s sanity and soul devoured, piece by piece, by an alien darkness that stole the steadiness of mind and heart both. Fists clenched, jaw clenched, he breathed through his nose and reminded himself that Loren meant well. Just like he had, in the Woods. Their situations were reversed now and he wouldn’t lose control. Not after what he had just told the other man.
But oh, it was tempting. So sweetly tempting to just give in for one sharp, cutting line…
Afraid of what he would say if he opened his mouth he just nodded tightly.
Edrei had pardoned him in her official capacity as Queen, but he was too focused on fighting back the surge of temper to repeat himself. He at least managed an easier smile at the declaration of protection, appreciating the thought even if he had the same misgivings that Loren did about how long the scholar would last against the Tyrant if it came down to violence. ”I’ll wish you luck with it,” he said instead of the crueler words that still lingered at the back of his tongue. ”And given time you should be able to repair the damage.” Time, of course, being the resource in shortest supply for some among them.
