Difference between revisions of "Logs:Talking in Code"

The docks were cold, wet. He was cold, and they both were getting wetter.

"You've come."

"As I said."

"Good. Make yourself useful."

The work turned cold into a tired heat, turned the wet from something external to something omnipresent and penetrating. By the end the muscles around his ribs ached lightly, and they were both breathing through their mouths.

"You haven't forgotten."

"No."

"Tired?"

"Different muscles."

"There should be chowder, in the commons."

"If we are finished here."

"I have been thinking, for some time now, it might do well to be off the docks."

The room had the welcome dry warmth of the hearth. The chowder warmed him all through his chest, while the beads of water disappeared from both their hairlines.

"You only just missed your brother."

"He accompanied her, then?"

"It will do them both good."

"A marriage, was it?"

"Of... an old friend of hers."

"An odd time. And you?"

"I had duties here."

"Is that all."

"Clear the bowls, Halikon."

It was darker, and still cold and wet, when they stepped outside. The warmth the hearth had given the inside of his riding jacket was dissipating quickly. Arekoth was looking purposefully miserable, more so when they both turned to him.

"You'll not come have a drink, then."

"We ought return."

"It will be as empty the next time. And my son will not hide."

"I do not. Madilla will be expecting us."

"Best see you face that also. Do not wait too long."

The grip his father took on his shoulder was warmer than he expected. When he answered in kind, he found his father's shoulder as tense as his own. Both nodded farewell, and separated promptly.