LOREN
The other man’s words brought the summoner back from the dark place he always found himself when he thought about his past, his childhood, his upbringing. His eyes, when he finally found Peter’s, weren’t sad or angry or pained. No, Loren just looked exhausted. The sort of bone-deep weariness that only came from the world grinding him down until he was the barest shadow of a man.
He took a moment to respond to the other man’s comment. It was a beautiful, optimistic idea from Peter, who barely seemed more than a shadow himself. Once upon a time, the summoner would’ve agreed wholeheartedly, even embraced it. Now, though, he wasn’t so sure. He seemed to keep making the mistakes of his past. ”The oath is gone.” That much, at least had changed: it had been tied to a bloodline and a world that no longer existed.
If only the rest of the Launceleyn ways had gone with it. ”I’d like to think so. I tried. And I don’t want to hurt my family.” That much, at least, he could do away with, even if Beatrix and Jace couldn’t. ”But I don’t know how to do better.” That last part was whispered in a broken voice; Loren was so tired of pretending that he knew how to rise from the ashes that his family had left behind. Maybe it was time to stop pretending, then, and just accept his heritage.
He took a moment to respond to the other man’s comment. It was a beautiful, optimistic idea from Peter, who barely seemed more than a shadow himself. Once upon a time, the summoner would’ve agreed wholeheartedly, even embraced it. Now, though, he wasn’t so sure. He seemed to keep making the mistakes of his past. ”The oath is gone.” That much, at least had changed: it had been tied to a bloodline and a world that no longer existed.
If only the rest of the Launceleyn ways had gone with it. ”I’d like to think so. I tried. And I don’t want to hurt my family.” That much, at least, he could do away with, even if Beatrix and Jace couldn’t. ”But I don’t know how to do better.” That last part was whispered in a broken voice; Loren was so tired of pretending that he knew how to rise from the ashes that his family had left behind. Maybe it was time to stop pretending, then, and just accept his heritage.
But don’t be weary if it’s broken
Families are like that—
they’re split up and always torn.
