Her choice of words almost surprised a slight chuckle from him, but he steadied his voice and raised his lantern a bit higher, slanting a coolly amused glance at the young woman. Not so noble as all that. But it is a task I asked to undertake, and I will do what I can to fulfill it. Something he had once thought he would do no matter what, before the scrabble over kingship had taught him differently. Now Edy's last words to him mingled with Ludo's reassurance and warning, a reminder to do better and be better.
No souls drifted towards them in the darkening mist, but even with as weary and prickly as he was these days he found Ashetta's presence less of an interruption than a welcome reminder of life in the world. It was easy to forget, walking the ruins in the dark and calling for the dead, and he did not begrudge her presence in the circle of lanternlight as she moved closer. He did raise a brow at hearing that no work had brought her out amidst the fallen stones and empty houses of ancient ghosts, and he followed her gaze to the light he held between them. The lantern was a strangely organic construction of curved wood and silvered scales reflecting a white flame up from the base. The flame itself burned without wick or fuel, seeming to rest on the reflective mirror beneath it, a steady light in the darkness.
Silence had been the right course, the former-assassin continuing, and the bard's curious brow smoothed down as she explained. Not sleeping seems a common affliction, he affirmed wryly. Even before his sickness he had not slept as much as he should. Now... well, it eluded him even when he chased it. He raised his head at her question, turning to scan the mists that had moved in more thickly around them so that even the closest buildings were half-shrouded, their edges softened and their decrepit state given an almost dream-like quality. Since I received the lantern I have not found any, he admitted reluctantly. But I have only begun to search in earnest recently. I suspect that Deepfrost and Long Night will bring a far greater test of the song's abilities, and the lantern's strength. He let his voice soften, the song fading a little as he looked back at the messenger who had no messages to deliver.
Have you seen them again, since last we met? he asked softly. Ludo or Mort?
No souls drifted towards them in the darkening mist, but even with as weary and prickly as he was these days he found Ashetta's presence less of an interruption than a welcome reminder of life in the world. It was easy to forget, walking the ruins in the dark and calling for the dead, and he did not begrudge her presence in the circle of lanternlight as she moved closer. He did raise a brow at hearing that no work had brought her out amidst the fallen stones and empty houses of ancient ghosts, and he followed her gaze to the light he held between them. The lantern was a strangely organic construction of curved wood and silvered scales reflecting a white flame up from the base. The flame itself burned without wick or fuel, seeming to rest on the reflective mirror beneath it, a steady light in the darkness.
Silence had been the right course, the former-assassin continuing, and the bard's curious brow smoothed down as she explained. Not sleeping seems a common affliction, he affirmed wryly. Even before his sickness he had not slept as much as he should. Now... well, it eluded him even when he chased it. He raised his head at her question, turning to scan the mists that had moved in more thickly around them so that even the closest buildings were half-shrouded, their edges softened and their decrepit state given an almost dream-like quality. Since I received the lantern I have not found any, he admitted reluctantly. But I have only begun to search in earnest recently. I suspect that Deepfrost and Long Night will bring a far greater test of the song's abilities, and the lantern's strength. He let his voice soften, the song fading a little as he looked back at the messenger who had no messages to deliver.
Have you seen them again, since last we met? he asked softly. Ludo or Mort?
