[This post is from Marin’s point of view.]
Lin let out a soft whimpering noise when his aunt and uncle turned away, taking Tory with them. I exhaled a breath and reached down, letting his tiny hand wrap around one of my fingers. “It’s all right,” I soothed him softly. “You’ll see him again soon enough—a lot of him, I think.”
Thordin’s hand touched my shoulder and I glanced up at him, managing a weak smile. He shook his head slightly.
“You don’t have to stay out here and keep me company, Marin. I can take the watch. Gods and powers know that someone else will probably be out here soon enough to join me, right?”
“Maybe,” I said softly, then sighed. My stomach twisted, folding in on itself for a few seconds before righting itself again. “Or maybe I think you deserve the company until someone gets here.”
“You’re worried about Thom.”
“I’m always worried about Thom.” I turned and headed back to my spot by the fire. Lin began to fuss softly, a cry that I’d started to recognize as his hungry cry. I shook my head a little and leaned back against the log, shifting him gently in my arms to get him into a better position for a pre-dawn feeding. Thordin didn’t so much as flinch when he realized what I was doing, just sat down again, a bit nearer now, and resumed staring into the fire.
“All of it gets harder before it gets easier, doesn’t it?”
I smiled crookedly as I lifted Lin to my breast and he began to nurse. “More than likely. I’m still waiting for more of the easier to happen. It’s going to be difficult if it stays hard forever.”
Thordin choked on a laugh and shook his head, reclaiming his cup of coffee. He stared into the mug for a few seconds. “We really are all becoming a family, aren’t we?”
I paused, staring at nothing for a few moments as I turned the words over in my head, let the concept trickle through my brain.
“Yes,” I finally said. “Yes, we are. We absolutely are.”
“Good,” he murmured, then smiled at me.
I smiled back and nodded.
Family does for family—and it would be as a family that we would stand or fall. I didn’t think then—and still don’t now—that any of us would have wanted it another way.
