{"id":3684,"date":"2018-08-08T00:00:21","date_gmt":"2018-08-08T04:00:21","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/?p=3684"},"modified":"2018-08-07T21:16:21","modified_gmt":"2018-08-08T01:16:21","slug":"forty-three-07","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/?p=3684","title":{"rendered":"Forty-three – 07"},"content":{"rendered":"

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

The rattle of bowls jarred me from my thoughts\u2014or perhaps it had been a doze. Tala was getting bowls to serve the stew. Either it had been closer to ready than I realized, or I really had slept for a time. I took a slow, deep breath and shifted slightly, careful not to disturb Thom and Lin.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt smells good, Tala,\u201d I said quietly, wrapping my arm around Thom.<\/p>\n

\u201cHopefully it\u2019ll taste as good,\u201d she said with a faint smile, starting to ladle it out into bowls.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m sure it will,\u201d Phelan mumbled, blinking slowly. \u201cIt\u2019ll be hot and bracing and fortifying and\u2014and\u2014\u201d he stopped, grasping for words and staring at the fire. I sighed.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou should be in bed,\u201d I said.<\/p>\n

\u201cSoon,\u201d he answered. \u201cAfter we eat. It\u2019s\u2014it\u2019s been a long day.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIt certainly has,\u201d Tala agreed. \u201cBut we made it.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThis time,\u201d Hecate said, her voice faint. Her fingers bunched in the fabric of Matt\u2019s shirt as she, too, stared into the flames of the cookfire. \u201cWe made it this time. But there will be more. We\u2019d be fools to believe otherwise.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re not fools,\u201d I murmured, looking at her, brow creasing. \u201cAre you\u2026?\u201d<\/p>\n

She didn\u2019t look at me. \u201cAll right? Time will tell.\u201d I saw Matt\u2019s arm tighten around her slightly and she shifted, pressing closer. \u201cIt always does.\u201d For a few seconds, she was silent, then she finally looked at me. \u201cYou want to know what happened.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cYou don\u2019t have to\u2014\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cPerhaps not now,\u201d she said, gazing at me steadily. \u201cBut later, eventually, I will. It wouldn\u2019t be fair not to. But not right now. Not tonight. They won\u2019t come back tonight. They won\u2019t try again tonight. All of you made sure of that\u2014and I helped.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cYou did,\u201d Matt murmured, burying his nose in her hair. \u201cMore than you know. Far more than you know.\u201d<\/p>\n

A soft snort escaped her, but she smiled. \u201cAll I was doing was protecting my family\u2014as families, real families, do.\u201d Hecate looked up at my brother, then at me, a tremulous smile curving her lips. \u201cAnd that\u2019s what you are. My family.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

[This post is from Marin’s point of view.] The rattle of bowls jarred me from my thoughts\u2014or perhaps it had been a doze. Tala was getting bowls to serve the stew. Either it had been closer to ready than I … 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":[240,295,14],"tags":[150,171,170,194,152,181,149,173,148,168,147,165,215,158,200,146],"class_list":["post-3684","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-book-6","category-chapter-43-book-6","category-story","tag-awakenings","tag-fantasy","tag-fiction","tag-hecate","tag-marin-astoris","tag-matthew-astoris","tag-original-fiction","tag-phelan-ocredne","tag-post-apocalyptic","tag-serial","tag-serial-fiction","tag-story","tag-tala-johanson","tag-thom-ambrose","tag-thomas-merlin-ambrose","tag-web-fiction"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p1EBlN-Xq","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3684","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=3684"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3684\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3685,"href":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3684\/revisions\/3685"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3684"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3684"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3684"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}