Thom looked at Seamus. He cleared his throat quietly, breaking the renewed silence that reigned in the wake of Leinth’s announcement. “Is that true?”
Seamus nodded, swallowing hard. “It’s true,” he said quietly. “But the fact of the matter is that whatever the Hunt offered in exchange for what they’ve requested shouldn’t affect your decision.”
“Of course it should!” Leinth protested, grasping her lover’s arm. “Seamus, you know that the offer was made as a way for them to free you without losing face.”
“Leinth.”
“Don’t,” she snapped. “They deserve to know. Why weren’t you telling them?”
Seamus closed his eyes. “This isn’t the time or place.”
“Maybe not,” Kellin said, crossing her arms and watching Seamus for a moment. “But Leinth is right—you should have told us about their offer to free you from the Hunt in exchange for our letting them settle here in peace.”
Seamus started to shake his head. Cameron stood up. “They’re right,” he said. “And I don’t think that I’d be wrong to say that while you may think that the offer is selfish, it’s not.”
The former Taliesin frowned. “What do you mean?”
“I mean that we need you here as much as the Hunt has ever needed you—maybe more than they’ve ever needed you. Their offer to give you your freedom from them doesn’t just benefit you or you and Leinth. It would benefit everyone here and I’d daresay that it’d benefit your brother and god knows how many other people.” Cameron spread his hands. “Having a few extra hands to defend this place every so often wouldn’t hurt, either. That’s part of the Hunt’s offer, you said. Defense assistance when we need it from whoever happens to be here.”
Seamus nodded slowly. “That was indicated, yes.”
“We’ll have to talk about it,” Kellin said, “but it’s not an unreasonable request.”
“No more unreasonable than any other we’ve ever gotten, anyway,” Davon said. “Except for the time those raiders showed up and asked for everything.”
J.T. snorted. “Well, we know what happened then.” Out of the corner of his eye, he caught Rory’s shiver and Marin’s wince. Thom had gotten shot during that incident, but they’d all made it out alive.
Something told J.T. that they’d make it through this particular scenario alive, too, regardless of what their choice ended up being. For that, he could be nothing if not thankful.
At the end of the day, the fact that it was another day still breathing made all the difference in the world.
It seems obvious to me.
They’ve never turned anyone away who wanted to join their family/home. Each person/group may bring their own enemies but, eventually, there will be so much power there that it won’t matter.
They’re a paranoid lot — Seamus included 🙂