{"id":2954,"date":"2016-08-17T00:00:14","date_gmt":"2016-08-17T04:00:14","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/?p=2954"},"modified":"2016-08-18T11:21:30","modified_gmt":"2016-08-18T15:21:30","slug":"chapter-38-04","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/?p=2954","title":{"rendered":"Thirty-eight – 04"},"content":{"rendered":"

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

He forgot to breathe for a moment. He didn\u2019t like to admit it, but he missed riding with the Hunt\u2014he missed the strange camaraderie, missed the comfort of not having to think, just needing to act<\/em>. He had spent so many years as one of them, he had stopped thinking of them as anything other than\u2014<\/p>\n

They were his family<\/em>.<\/p>\n

Except I have another family, one that\u2019s only just gotten me back.<\/em><\/p>\n

Seamus closed his eyes. It would be all too easy to fall back into old patterns\u2014he already had, by coming here, by seeking out Anselm, by listening to the old instincts instead of the even older ones, the ones from the time before the Wild Hunt, the ones that screamed for him to go to Leinth, to go to Phelan, to go to his sister.<\/p>\n

I should be ashamed.<\/em><\/p>\n

Seamus shook his head slowly. \u201cMy place isn\u2019t with you anymore, old friend. I need to be here, with them\u2014with my family.\u201d<\/p>\n

Anselm smiled. It wasn\u2019t quite what Seamus expected\u2014truly, he\u2019d expected the old soldier to argue, to bargain, to lecture. Instead, he said simply, \u201cThey have always been and always will be your family.\u201d He reached over and squeezed Seamus\u2019s arm. \u201cAnd we will always be your brothers and sisters. I\u2019ll send scouts and pickets. We should have enough time for that.\u201d<\/p>\n

Seamus exhaled, nodding. \u201cThank you, Anselm.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cAnything for a brother.\u201d Anselm squeezed his arm again and turned away. Seamus watched him walk away, standing frozen near his old friend\u2019s tent, near his friend\u2019s cookfire.<\/p>\n

A brother.<\/em><\/p>\n

Seamus closed his eyes for a moment. He took a pair of deep breaths, heart still feeling like lead in his chest.<\/p>\n

They are all family. All of them.<\/em><\/p>\n

He took another deep breath as he opened his eyes. The Hunt\u2019s camp was rousing itself, the men and women of the Wild Hunt girding for the combat that Seamus, in his heart of hearts, knew was imminent.<\/p>\n

He turned and walked back toward the room he shared with Leinth. He would need his gear for what came next.<\/p>\n

After all, he had a family to protect.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

[This post is from Seamus’s point of view.] He forgot to breathe for a moment. He didn\u2019t like to admit it, but he missed riding with the Hunt\u2014he missed the strange camaraderie, missed the comfort of not having to think, … 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":[124,216,14],"tags":[178,150,171,170,149,148,159,147,165,146,195],"class_list":["post-2954","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-book-5","category-chapter-38-book-5","category-story","tag-anselm","tag-awakenings","tag-fantasy","tag-fiction","tag-original-fiction","tag-post-apocalyptic","tag-seamus-vaughan","tag-serial-fiction","tag-story","tag-web-fiction","tag-wild-hunt"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p1EBlN-LE","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2954","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=2954"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2954\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2958,"href":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2954\/revisions\/2958"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2954"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2954"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2954"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}