Be better, Amalia had told him. Finish what you start, Edrei had said, though with more swearing. Both of them were right, though it had taken Ludo's identification of the blight in his veins to snap him out of the snarling fugue he had thrown himself so willingly into. In the process of that downward spiral he had hurt many of his friends, even before he had fallen ill. Afterwards... well, even afterwards the blight was no excuse. As his talk with Amalia reminded him, he was the elder, the adult, the one who should have known better.
And now, dragging himself out of the pit he had dug for himself, he felt every season of those years being carried on his back.
His staff tapped along as he made his way to Kiada 's home, his footsteps weary with lack of sleep and his skin stretched tight from not eating except when Rory forced him to. The shaking in his hands was worse today, but it came and went in waves, like his temper. Isuma flew above, gliding a little ways ahead to land and wait for him before leading the way again, torn between worry for him and bright joy at seeing her friends again.
The tall man paused outside a door he had only been to once before, gathering his courage as much as his humility before raising his hand to knock. A paper crinkled in the breast of his overlapping tunic, his cloak neatly muffling it as he stood wrapped in grey and white fur against the chilly Leafchange day, the clouds hiding the sun and making it a bitter warning of the winter to come.
And now, dragging himself out of the pit he had dug for himself, he felt every season of those years being carried on his back.
His staff tapped along as he made his way to Kiada 's home, his footsteps weary with lack of sleep and his skin stretched tight from not eating except when Rory forced him to. The shaking in his hands was worse today, but it came and went in waves, like his temper. Isuma flew above, gliding a little ways ahead to land and wait for him before leading the way again, torn between worry for him and bright joy at seeing her friends again.
The tall man paused outside a door he had only been to once before, gathering his courage as much as his humility before raising his hand to knock. A paper crinkled in the breast of his overlapping tunic, his cloak neatly muffling it as he stood wrapped in grey and white fur against the chilly Leafchange day, the clouds hiding the sun and making it a bitter warning of the winter to come.
