User blog:Leea/The Tale of Voronwe, Chapter 88

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4th Era 171, 7th of Second Seed, Pyandonea
Balasian was reflecting on the day when Curwe murmured his very thoughts aloud.

"Wow. What a day."

He laughed softly, not wanting to disturb Talgando and his wife in the other room. They were all bedding down for the night, and he and Curwe were doing so in some borrowed bedrolls - more donations from the pile - and had been quietly talking before they went to sleep.

There had been quite a few visitors that day, and they had seen and visited with them all. He suspected that the temple normally didn't get that many people for "counselling," but perhaps they did, with the war on between the Dominion and the Empire.

* * *

When night had begun to fall, they had shared a supper with Talgando and Alana, and talked a little about the day.

''"How long do you plan on staying?" Talgando had asked, with Alana looking like she was just as eager to know, too.''

"I don't know," he'd admitted, "I suppose until the storm is over. Of course, since its a freak of someone's mind rather than a pure product of nature, it could last for an unknown amount of time."

''"True. Very true." the priest replied, cutting up his buttered bread. "Last I checked," he said, the bread poised on his fork and half-way to his mouth, "At sundown the dark thunderheads still were wreaking havok on Summerset."''

"I hope the house will be okay," Curwe thought aloud, "But I should just come to grips with reality that that hope is a very real impossibility."

''"Unfortunately, yes." Balasian confirmed, eating steamed carrots, drenched with a cream sauce. The supper had been vegetarian, at Curwe's request. After nearly a century for being with her, he'd grown accustomed to eating her diet, so he went along with it whole heartedly. Turned out, he didn't miss meat after all. He set down his fork and reached for her hand. She took it and they squeezed each other's hands. "In any event, there will be plenty of trees down to fix up the old place with. In a way, Orghum and Orgnum already did half the work for us."''

She chuckled.

"Besides," he continued, squeezing her hand again, "We're safe for now. The house is just a house, despite all the memories there. You're the real treasure worth saving."

She blushed and smiled shyly, and Talgando and Alana smiled as well, squeezing their own clasped hands beneath the table.

* * *

Curwe had settled into her bedroll, her back against his. The borrowed pillows kept their necks level, and would prevent twisted and crinked muscles in the morning. The bedroll was warm and soft on the inside, but it did nothing to ease his fears of being back here. It had diminished when he had visited during the daylight hours, yet now, in the near-silent dark, those fears came back to life. But that's always how it was, wasn't it? After all, unless you were Khajiit, you couldn't see in the dark. Places, even familiar ones, took on the curious property of both expanding and contracting at the same time. They grew in size so that what you wanted to find couldn't be found, and shrunk so that everything seemed to be too close together and claustrophobic. King Orgnum felt too close at hand, though if that was the result of the dark he was uncertain. He felt like Orgnum was in the temple, perhaps in this very room, but that he couldn't see him, but the King was watching his every move, waiting to strike. Of course, he knew that to be untrue (Orthendar was monitoring the property, and didn't detect anyone other than the four of them in the basement - and nothing could escape his supernatural senses.) but he felt that way all the same. Deep down, he knew it was just nerves. He took a deep breath and let it out silently, hoping that would help ease the heavy feeling.

Everything will be fine, he told himself, as he tried to drift off to sleep. You'll be fine, Curwe will be fine, everything will be fine.