{"id":3181,"date":"2017-03-29T00:00:10","date_gmt":"2017-03-29T04:00:10","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/?p=3181"},"modified":"2017-03-28T18:27:40","modified_gmt":"2017-03-28T22:27:40","slug":"seven-03-3","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/?p=3181","title":{"rendered":"Seven – 03"},"content":{"rendered":"

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

\u201cAre you planning on abandoning us already?\u201d Thom asked, the words bitter on his tongue. \u201cLast I checked, you were part of us.\u201d<\/p>\n

Seamus exhaled, closing his eyes for a moment. \u201cI\u2019m sorry. Poor choice of words\u2014though I\u2019ll point out that I wasn\u2019t here the first few times you dealt with them and so far as I know, they don\u2019t have a real reason to be coming after me.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThat you know of,\u201d Thom said. He wanted to be angry at Seamus, but he found his ire fading quickly, replaced only by weariness and resignation.<\/p>\n

Because we don\u2019t have enough problems already\u2014what\u2019s one more? Why not send Vammatar\u2019s avengers after us, too?<\/em><\/p>\n

Thom shook his head. \u201cHow long ago was it? Do you know?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThat they were digging? During the fighting out here, I\u2019d imagine. It was the perfect distraction. No one would have noticed until it was too late, had they been successful in their aims.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cTheir aim being to get to our dead,\u201d Thom said.<\/p>\n

Seamus nodded. \u201cThat\u2019s what appears to be the case, in any event.\u201d<\/p>\n

I don\u2019t want to think about what they\u2019d want to do with our dead.<\/em> Thom\u2019s lips thinned. \u201cBut they failed.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cSo it would seem.\u201d<\/p>\n

Thom nodded, his gaze drifting back to the wall. Suddenly it seemed like too small a thing, not enough to protect what was most precious to him.<\/p>\n

But what else do I have?<\/em><\/p>\n

Nothing else.<\/em><\/p>\n

He sighed. Seamus put his hand on his shoulder and Thom closed his eyes.<\/p>\n

\u201cHow did you manage it?\u201d he asked softly. \u201cDay after day, year after year, finding ways to protect your people against shit like all of this?\u201d<\/p>\n

Seamus smiled crookedly. \u201cI didn\u2019t have to. My father did, then I was sent away\u2014it became Teague\u2019s problem for a time, but only after most of the old threats had already retreated, when they came back before all of this hell began. I don\u2019t envy you, Thom, not at all, but I am<\/em> intending to help\u2014in any way that I can.\u201d<\/p>\n

Thom managed a crooked smile. \u201cFantastic. Figure out a better way to defend the settlement\u2014and tell me what the hell you meant when you said that maybe we couldn\u2019t rely on the Wild Hunt to help.\u201d<\/p>\n

Seamus winced and looked away. \u201cI had hoped you wouldn\u2019t ask.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you\u2019d hoped I wouldn\u2019t ask, you shouldn\u2019t have said anything.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cToo true,\u201d Seamus said with a rueful smile. It faded as he turned away, stared out over the field, the churned and broken earth, the spot where Pluton had died.<\/p>\n

\u201cSomething feels wrong,\u201d he whispered.<\/p>\n

Thom held his breath and waited.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

[This post is from Thom’s point of view.] \u201cAre you planning on abandoning us already?\u201d Thom asked, the words bitter on his tongue. \u201cLast I checked, you were part of us.\u201d Seamus exhaled, closing his eyes for a moment. \u201cI\u2019m … 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":[240,248,14],"tags":[150,171,170,149,148,159,168,147,165,158,146],"class_list":["post-3181","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-book-6","category-chapter-07-book-6","category-story","tag-awakenings","tag-fantasy","tag-fiction","tag-original-fiction","tag-post-apocalyptic","tag-seamus-vaughan","tag-serial","tag-serial-fiction","tag-story","tag-thom-ambrose","tag-web-fiction"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p1EBlN-Pj","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3181","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=3181"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3181\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3182,"href":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3181\/revisions\/3182"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3181"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3181"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3181"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}