{"id":2897,"date":"2016-06-22T00:00:47","date_gmt":"2016-06-22T04:00:47","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/?p=2897"},"modified":"2016-06-21T09:28:03","modified_gmt":"2016-06-21T13:28:03","slug":"thirty-four-06","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/?p=2897","title":{"rendered":"Thirty-four – 06"},"content":{"rendered":"

[This post is from Phelan’s point of view.]<\/em><\/p>\n

Phelan kept walking\u2014out of the tent, out into the sunshine and the grass of a late afternoon. The chill of winter had faded, giving away to a spring that was warming quickly, would turn to a brief, violent summer if he was anyone to guess.<\/p>\n

He didn\u2019t intend to end up there. It just happened.<\/p>\n

The sound of a hammer against an anvil echoed from the forge and his heart lifted even as his throat tightened. He knew it wasn\u2019t Matt up there. Matt was still gone, still lost\u2014not forever, he hoped, but sometimes it was hard to believe that they\u2019d ever see him again.<\/p>\n

Phelan closed his eyes, leaning against the solid walls that he\u2019d helped build. The stone was cool where it had been sitting in the shadows, warm where the sun had hit it. If he just closed his eyes, he could take himself back to before, before it had all started to come unglued, before everything had stopped making sense in his brain.<\/p>\n

Does she really know how to love someone\u2014anyone?<\/em><\/p>\n

The sound within the forge stopped. Phelan opened his eyes, tilting his head back to stare at the sky for a few long moments.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m not disturbing you, am I?\u201d he asked quietly, knowing full well that Thordin would hear him.<\/p>\n

\u201cGet in here if you need to talk,\u201d his friend rumbled. The sound of the hammer resumed.<\/p>\n

Phelan managed to smile, his eyes stinging.<\/p>\n

There are worse problems to have than friends who know when something\u2019s eating away at you\u2014even without seeing you.<\/em><\/p>\n

He straightened from his lean and went inside. Thordin glanced up at him for a brief moment before he shoved the piece he was working on back into the maw of the kiln to heat. Phelan sat down and reached for a sword with one hand, setting his book down with the other.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s eating away at you,\u201d Thordin observed, pumping the bellows and watching the flames build in the firebox. \u201cHas Jac told you that\u2019s bad for you, or do I have to do it for her?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI do a lot of things that are bad for me,\u201d Phelan murmured, picking up one of the whetstones. \u201cI\u2019m not dead yet.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cYet is the operative term in that statement,\u201d Thordin said. \u201cIs this about your sister?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cYes,\u201d Phelan said, then sighed. \u201cAnd no. I can\u2019t stop her from doing what she wants to do, Thordin, but somehow everyone seems to be expecting me to find a way.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cYou\u2019re her brother, not her keeper.\u201d Thordin pulled the blade out of the fire and laid it on the anvil. \u201cAre you worried?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThat she\u2019ll get killed?\u201d<\/p>\n

Phelan hesitated, then shook his head. \u201cNo,\u201d he said in a soft voice. \u201cNo, I\u2019m afraid that she\u2019ll succeed.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

[This post is from Phelan’s point of view.] Phelan kept walking\u2014out of the tent, out into the sunshine and the grass of a late afternoon. The chill of winter had faded, giving away to a spring that was warming quickly, … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[124,209,14],"tags":[150,171,170,149,173,148,168,147,165,169,146],"class_list":["post-2897","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-book-5","category-chapter-34-book-5","category-story","tag-awakenings","tag-fantasy","tag-fiction","tag-original-fiction","tag-phelan-ocredne","tag-post-apocalyptic","tag-serial","tag-serial-fiction","tag-story","tag-thordin","tag-web-fiction"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p1EBlN-KJ","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2897","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2897"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2897\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2898,"href":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2897\/revisions\/2898"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2897"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2897"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2897"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}