e&tg 27

[rone]

Gialarçi shook her head.  "Beat up by a child.  Perhaps it's for the best that you're getting out of the business, Mwaele.  Next time it'll be an orc's axe or a guard's sabre and there'll be less of you to entertain me."

"I am not getting out of the business.  I'm being forced out," i grumbled as i looked around the somewhat crowded room, watching the people interact.  "And," i added, "she did not beat me up.  She caught me off guard.  I wouldn't have regarded an orc or a guard so lightly."

"You once quoted to me from the Mercenary Code: “One never knows where a threat comes from.”  Besides, you knew she was a gang leader.  Admit it: you've lost your killer instinct."

I stared at my beer.  "It's like i don't know myself anymore."

"I don't recognize you, either.  And you know what the cause is."

I looked at her.  "I do?  I mean, what?"

She stared at me for a second before answering.  "Well, it's probably not the sole reason, but it's probably the main reason.  Your gryphon, Mwaele.  You are, for the first time in your life, responsible for another life."

I laughed mirthlessly.  "My job has often caused me to be responsible for a life.  Sometimes many lives."

She held up her left hand.  "Let me rephrase that.  You've been entrusted with the well-being of others before, but only within the context of your occupation.  You gave Kohasadi your allegiance, your trust, your love, of your own accord and will."

I bristled.  "I told you, that druid—"

"Oh, be quiet!"  She slapped her hand on the bar.  "You have taken to that gryphon like a boy to his first love.  You can't even carry on a conversation with him, yet you show him devotion i dare say you have never given anyone in your life.  Not even Cossu."

Her words stung me and left me speechless.  After i sat there for a few seconds, Gialarçi said, "I'm sorry, Mwaele.  That was blunt and insensitive on my part."

I shook my head.  "No, don't apologize.  I, i... i did love her.  I think."

She tipped her head to her right.  "I don't think you did.  But i think you could have, Ele."

I held my forehead.  "You're right.  I really have taken to Kohasadi.  I wonder if that druid did something to make it stick, or if gryphons put out some smell or magic when they bond to someone—"

"Or maybe," she interrupted, "you had in you the ability to care for another being all this time."

Comments

[pennyhill.livejournal.com]

You mean, after all this time, you're really writing a love story?

[snicker]

[ronebofh.livejournal.com]

Bah. All good stories are love stories.

subtract -2 from your HP

[lammah.livejournal.com]

is it your AD&D or my ADD that keeps me from being able to make heads or tails of this?

[ronebofh.livejournal.com]

I suspect that you have not read the whole story. I would recommend clicking on the "salvatoresque crap" tag, going back to part 1, and working your way up to this one.

/me digs for a quarter

[lammah.livejournal.com]

Ah, thanks. Get it now.

*clink*

[glitter-ninja.livejournal.com]

Diggin' the new hawt 'n' sexy icon.

Haw haw Mwaele got emotionally owned.

[ronebofh.livejournal.com]

For values of "hawt 'n' sexy" approaching "i just woke up and i hate life", maybe.

AD&Delightful!

[lammah.livejournal.com]

Rone, this is excellent stuff. Sat down and read them through.
Keep it coming!

[ronebofh.livejournal.com]

Thank you, kind sir, er, camelid!