candles seem to freeze in anticipation.
There are a few very long moments of nothingness. Then a figure appears from around the corner.
Before I can stop myself the throwing knife flicks from my hand. I realize just in time that the figure is not hostile, but is Aela. Though the knife still leaves my hand, I am able to alter its course just enough to miss her.
She stops eyes wide as the knife embeds in the wall an inch in front of her face. Her eyes glance to me as if she is asking permission to move at all. “Sorry,” I say quietly, moving towards her and taking the knife from the wall. She doesn’t move again until after I sit down.
“Don’t you sleep?” she asks, moving to the chair on the other side of the fire.
“I need very little,” I reply darkly. “I cannot afford to sleep.”
“Why not?” she asks.
I glance down the hallway where my mother and two brothers sleep. Nathaniel sleeps heavily in a chair across the room. Then I respond quietly, “Tygnar is trying to get at me by hurting my mother. I cannot sleep because if I do, I chance it happening while I am asleep.” She accepts my answer, eyeing my warhammer that leans against the stone hearth only inches to my left. I begin twirling my knife again as I ask, “What are you doing up?”
“Couldn’t sleep,” she answers. “Thinking about…”
“What happened at the bridge?” I finish. She nods. “You may see your friend again,” I comfort. “You may yet. When all of this is over and Diagrall has been overthrown.” She does not answer. “Your home is in Kera?” I ask. She nods. “We will take you there on our way back. I do not think we will need to stay for much longer.”
“Why not?”
“Because whatever is going to happen will happen soon.”
There’s a pause. Then she says, “Thank you for the thought, but I don’t think I want to be going back.”
“Why?” I ask flatly.
“I have nothing to go back to,” she responds. “A man has been courting me, but… he’s a little old. I do not love him, nor will I ever love him or anyone like him. I would not be sad if I never saw him again.”
“Understood,” I reply. “Is there someone you do love?”
“No,” she replies unequivocally.
I nod and repeat, “Understood. What will you do then?”
“Can I accompany you into the army?” she asks without hesitation.
“You may,” I respond slowly. “Women are not accepted into the army very well, but you may try if you like.”
“They will accept me,” she mutters.
“Why do you want to join?” I ask, ignoring her last comment.
“Because I have nothing left to do with my life,” she answers. “I need an escape from what I do have.”
I nod. “Very well.”
Silence pervades for a moment. Then she says, “How do you do it?”
“Do what?”
“Everything.”
“You’ll have to be more specific,” I say, shaking my head slightly. “Or I’ll be explaining the basics of smithing for the next week.”
“How do you fight like you do?” she specifies. “How are you unstoppable on the battlefield, but still have these powerful connections with your family and friends? How is it possible that you can throw a knife like you just did, but have the ability to make that hammer there?”
I think carefully for a moment. Then I say, “It is because I have these relationships that I am able to do what I do.”
Her face conveys her thought, “What?”
“I am able to fight because I have something to fight for,” I answer. “The relationships I have give me something to protect. I failed to protect one of them, and I swear to you it will not happen again.”
“I see,” she says quietly.
We sit in silence for a few minutes, and then I break the quiet by saying, “Do not concern yourself with my worries. You should get some sleep.”
“As should you,” she replies coolly. “Good night.” Then she gets up and walks back down the hall.
The next morning, I eat breakfast and take a nap. I have no fear sleeping during the day. The attack will be a stealthy one, and definitely not during the day.
When I wake a few hours later, Percival is looking at me from across the room. James and Jericho are discussing something intensely at the table.
I sit up straighter in the chair and greet Percival, but wait for the other two to finish their heated conversation that has something to do with cows