{"id":3470,"date":"2018-01-12T00:00:29","date_gmt":"2018-01-12T05:00:29","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/?p=3470"},"modified":"2018-01-11T19:05:18","modified_gmt":"2018-01-12T00:05:18","slug":"thirty-05-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/?p=3470","title":{"rendered":"Thirty – 05"},"content":{"rendered":"

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

They found a bench to sit on near the far end of the path, surrounded by trees and the old rubble from the fallen dormitories. Matt wrapped his arm around her shoulders and they stared out into the trees surrounding the ravine, listening to the sounds of the birds in the trees and the activity behind them. The Hunt was training on the far side of the rubble, some of them sparring, others practicing archery. The song of bowstrings and the ring of steel on steel echoed softly, muted by distance and debris but still audible.<\/p>\n

The sound was oddly comforting.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt all feels very long ago and far away,\u201d Hecate said softly. \u201cAnd at the same time, it feels very close.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat does?\u201d he murmured, cheek against her hair. It smelled faintly of lavender.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe past,\u201d she said, resting her hand on his knee.<\/p>\n

His free hand covered hers, squeezing gently. \u201cIs that bad?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cNo. Not really.\u201d She sighed softly. \u201cRemembering the good parts is comforting. Just\u2014still trying not to think about the bad.\u201d<\/p>\n

Matt pressed a kiss to her temple and then squeezed her a little closer. \u201cI know there was a lot of bad,\u201d he said quietly.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt doesn\u2019t balance,\u201d she admitted. \u201cBut the good\u2014it was enough to get me through the worst times. I\u2019m still here, right?\u201d<\/p>\n

He nodded, throat momentarily too tight to speak. She pulled back slightly, studying him for a few seconds, brow furrowing.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s okay,\u201d she said. \u201cI\u2019m okay.\u201d She paused. \u201cAre you okay?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cYeah,\u201d he said after a few seconds of hesitation. \u201cYeah, I\u2019m okay. I just\u2014for a second I was worried, that\u2019s all.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hecate stared at him for a few seconds, then grinned, leaned in, and kissed him.<\/p>\n

\u201cI love you,\u201d she whispered against his lips. \u201cNever forget it.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cNever,\u201d he promised, wrapping both arms around her for a few seconds. \u201cI swear it.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

[This post is from Matt’s point of view.] They found a bench to sit on near the far end of the path, surrounded by trees and the old rubble from the fallen dormitories. Matt wrapped his arm around her shoulders … 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":[240,280,14],"tags":[150,171,170,194,181,149,148,168,147,165,146],"class_list":["post-3470","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-book-6","category-chapter-30-book-6","category-story","tag-awakenings","tag-fantasy","tag-fiction","tag-hecate","tag-matthew-astoris","tag-original-fiction","tag-post-apocalyptic","tag-serial","tag-serial-fiction","tag-story","tag-web-fiction"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p1EBlN-TY","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3470","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=3470"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3470\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3471,"href":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3470\/revisions\/3471"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3470"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3470"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3470"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}