{"id":3218,"date":"2017-05-05T00:00:42","date_gmt":"2017-05-05T04:00:42","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/?p=3218"},"modified":"2017-05-04T16:09:51","modified_gmt":"2017-05-04T20:09:51","slug":"ten-05-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/?p=3218","title":{"rendered":"Ten – 05"},"content":{"rendered":"

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

The hammer fell into an easy rhythm; it was as if he\u2019d never left, never been away. Matt hummed a quiet tune as he worked. His shoulders would ache later, but feeling this close to normal was worth that ache. Maybe that was why she\u2019d sent him up here\u2014to think, to clear his head, but also to get comfortable in his own skin again. A lot had happened in the past few weeks. Needing to reorient himself was almost a given. Coming up to the forge let him do that, even more than it had that first morning when his sister had come to find him up there, taking stock of the situation.<\/p>\n

He thrust the blade he\u2019d been working back into the forge, reaching for the bellows and swiping an arm across his forehead.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s the best way to get soot all over your face,\u201d Thordin said, momentarily eclipsing the light that streamed into the space from outside. Matt turned, his brow arching.<\/p>\n

\u201cHow do you know that\u2019s not the look I\u2019m going for?\u201d<\/p>\n

Thordin grinned and Phelan laughed. Matt smiled and shook his head, scrubbing at his cheek and knowing that he\u2019d left some kind of soot behind.<\/p>\n

\u201cSomething going on that I should know about?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cMm,\u201d Thordin said, stepping past him to take over the bellows. \u201cJust wanted to check in with you, see what you\u2019d picked back up again.\u201d<\/p>\n

Matt snorted. \u201cEverything.\u201d<\/p>\n

Thordin snorted, starting to pump the bellows. Phelan picked up one of the racked swords that was waiting for sharpening and sat down at the whetstone, starting the tedious work that Matt had been avoiding all afternoon.<\/p>\n

\u201cHow\u2019s Hecate adjusting?\u201d Phelan asked.<\/p>\n

\u201cWell, she hasn\u2019t come out of our room yet,\u201d Matt said. \u201cBut she and Marin have been talking and I think that\u2019s helped.\u201d He exhaled, turning the blade as it heated. \u201cIt\u2019s helped me, anyway.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWorried?\u201d Thordin asked.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou have no idea,\u201d Matt muttered, then sighed. \u201cI love her, man. If she can\u2019t…if she can\u2019t stay here, then wherever she goes, I go with her. I\u2019m not going to abandon her.\u201d<\/p>\n

I\u2019m not going to abandon her again.<\/em><\/p>\n

He squeezed his eyes shut and exhaled.<\/p>\n

Christ, Matt. You\u2019re thinking like C\u00edar again.<\/em><\/p>\n

The frightening part was, he wasn\u2019t certain it was necessarily a bad thing anymore.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

[This post is from Matt’s point of view.] The hammer fell into an easy rhythm; it was as if he\u2019d never left, never been away. Matt hummed a quiet tune as he worked. His shoulders would ache later, but feeling … 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":[240,251,14],"tags":[150,171,170,181,173,148,168,147,165,169,146],"class_list":["post-3218","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-book-6","category-chapter-10-book-6","category-story","tag-awakenings","tag-fantasy","tag-fiction","tag-matthew-astoris","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-PU","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3218","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=3218"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3218\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3219,"href":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3218\/revisions\/3219"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3218"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3218"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3218"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}