Trying My Best (OPEN)

The silence from Sam was no victory, Jigano knew, and he wished he'd been able to find better words to convince his friend to think for himself, rather than to blindly follow the Voice's commands. It was Yohgel all over again, and his heart contracted painfully at that thought. No, no, that was not a road he wanted to go down again. He had wanted to leave all that behind on this new world...

But the gods had different plans, it would seem. Didn't they always? Different day, same shit to roll uphill.

"There wasn't anyone else," he said softly. "With Caiside dead it was only you and Amalia and I... until just the other day. And I have no idea if Ingrid will work out with us." Recruiting was high on his list of things to do and soon Loren would join them, given the timey wimeys, but Sam's next words made his blood run cold. The silence that stretched between them afterwards was broken by a crack of lightning bright enough to blind and an immediate boom of thunder fit to deafen a snake. If Jigano hadn't already been stunned those words have done so, and at least it gave him an excuse for not responding right away as he waited for sight and hearing to return, blinking rapidly to get the white afterimages to fade. The rain continued to pound on the ground and drum on the roof, beginning to collect in puddles as the downpour continued.

"What is it that you want, Sam?" he asked when he thought he had a chance of being heard again, turning to regard the bookmaker with a complexity of emotions locked behind an unreadable expression.