The laughter was unnerving, but Sam could deal with being laughed at - had dealt with it all of his life, in fact. It even helped to calm his nerves a little for a moment, as he considered this might just be how the people in this story laughed; the Vizier even came forward to give them the feather. He took it and looked aside as the bird was taken, shame causing a blush on his cheeks but not enough for him to speak out.
His shy embarrassment was broken with a cry from the door. Sam's immediate mental response was to point out it had never been agreed he was just borrowing the items, but it didn't seem like this crowd would be interested in those sorts of semantics.
Everything happened far too fast. They were surrounded, Jigano was tied down and Sam was quickly overpowered by guards. In the split second he had, he looked at the feather in his hands -- it will protect you, the bird had said. Selflessly, without thinking, he turned and tucked the feather into Jigano's mane, deep enough it was at least partially hidden.
As far as he saw it this situation was his fault - had he just been braver, better, stronger, more charismatic...he knew if he had been the horse it would have been better for them both. At least this way there was a chance of the more useful between them living to leave.
Kneeling at the tip of a sword, he waited to see what this 'cauldron' was. Again, he fervently hoped that there was no pain in the fictional world, though Jigano's reaction to the burns wasn't helping with that thought.
His shy embarrassment was broken with a cry from the door. Sam's immediate mental response was to point out it had never been agreed he was just borrowing the items, but it didn't seem like this crowd would be interested in those sorts of semantics.
Everything happened far too fast. They were surrounded, Jigano was tied down and Sam was quickly overpowered by guards. In the split second he had, he looked at the feather in his hands -- it will protect you, the bird had said. Selflessly, without thinking, he turned and tucked the feather into Jigano's mane, deep enough it was at least partially hidden.
As far as he saw it this situation was his fault - had he just been braver, better, stronger, more charismatic...he knew if he had been the horse it would have been better for them both. At least this way there was a chance of the more useful between them living to leave.
Kneeling at the tip of a sword, he waited to see what this 'cauldron' was. Again, he fervently hoped that there was no pain in the fictional world, though Jigano's reaction to the burns wasn't helping with that thought.
