Papercuts

Loren not afraid to use every trick in the book Grumpy Ronin was grumpy apparently. Honestly, Loren was getting a bit tired of the other man’s attitude; the ex-captain was moping and acting as if one, the Launceleyn was the problem and two, as if the former baron’s woes were, in the grand scheme of things, all that troubling. Considering that Loren had been tortured for some twenty odd years of his life, had several members of his family murdered, and was still missing a few, on top of his personal relationships all being up in the air, he had little patience and even less tolerance for moping. If he had to knock some sense into the other man, Loren was more than happy to do so. Still, they were at least talking honestly, for which he was grateful: there’d been too many secrets in Northaven and it seemed this new land was the same. At the very least he could prevent that in his personal life. It was a small gesture, but an important one. ”Fair enough. But I’m backing off, not going away.” Taking a deep and shuddering breath, he glanced at the rows of unknown tomes before returning his gaze to Ronin. ”We need to stick together, now more than ever it seems.” If the ex-captain was listening, he might detect the plaintive note in the former librarian’s voice; Loren was just as scared and helpless here as everyone else. The difference was, after spending most of his life scared and helpless—even recently, when he’d shown his strength and proved his worth he felt that way—he knew how to manage it. Throttling down the urge to roll his eyes at Ronin, Loren gave the other man a flat and unamused glance. ”Fine. We can walk each other back, how about that?” Thankfully, however, the conversation turned to happier matters (and Loren had said he’d back off, and he would). And indeed, what better news could there be than a baby? New life for a new world, if that wasn’t a portent Loren didn’t know what was, not that he believed in such matters. As for terror, well, that was silly. Punching his friend in the arm, the Launceleyn grinned, transformed into a different, much younger and freer seeming person by the expression. ”I hope you’re feeling something other than terror, otherwise I imagine your lady love will be quite miffed with you.” The grin became a smile, but amusement still twinkled in the former duke’s eyes. ”That child is going to be the most spoiled and loved child ever. After all, it’ll be the first one born in this new world, that much is true, but that just means the whole community will rally around it.” Loren wasn’t the best caretaker, but he would make sure no one ever suffered through a childhood like his if he had something to say about it. Besides, it’d be easy: he’d just have to do the opposite of what his family would do and the kid would be fine. ”Have you started thinking about names?” It was probably premature for that, but Loren’s excitement was palpable and bubbling out.