{"id":4283,"date":"2020-04-17T20:14:38","date_gmt":"2020-04-18T00:14:38","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/?p=4283"},"modified":"2020-04-17T20:14:38","modified_gmt":"2020-04-18T00:14:38","slug":"four-01-5","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/?p=4283","title":{"rendered":"Four – 01"},"content":{"rendered":"

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

Matt paused in his pacing, staring into the embers. Almost unconsciously, he reached for the bellows, barely stopping himself from stoking the fire.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou have that look,\u201d Phelan said quietly.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat look is that?\u201d he asked, though he already knew the answer. It was always the same answer, though it had been a long time since he\u2019d heard those words\u2014at least from Phelan. He heard those words from his wife all the time, but sometimes the look she referred to was different.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe one where you\u2019re contemplating something you\u2019re not sure you want to be contemplating but have to whether you want to or not.\u201d<\/p>\n

One corner of his mouth twitched toward a smile. \u201cYou\u2019ve got that one right.\u201d He took a deep breath and exhaled it slowly, glancing at Gilad. \u201cGo get cleaned up and have something to eat. You rode hard to get back here with that news.\u201d<\/p>\n

Gilad nodded. \u201cI just wish there was more I could tell you\u2014and that we had answers about New Hope.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cAye, me too.\u201d Matt shook his head. \u201cThere\u2019s nothing for it. Either way, we\u2019ll know in a few days if all\u2019s well or not.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cEither by someone coming or not, yes,\u201d Gilad agreed. He scrubbed a hand across his eyes. \u201cI think maybe I\u2019ll wait until I\u2019ve gotten some rest to have that food. It was a long ride.\u201d<\/p>\n

Matt just nodded. \u201cAs long as you eat something sooner rather than later.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cDon\u2019t worry, I will.\u201d He slipped out, leaving Matt alone with Phelan.<\/p>\n

Matt\u2019s gaze drifted back to the embers, though he could feel the weight of his old friend\u2019s stare.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t like not having answers,\u201d Matt murmured.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou haven\u2019t for years,\u201d Phelan said. \u201cNone of us ever did, really.\u201d<\/p>\n

Matt closed his eyes. \u201cWhy did I let them do this to me, Phelan?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cLet them?\u201d Phelan choked on a laugh. \u201cIt was going to be you regardless, Matt. Once they were gone? It was always going to be you. There was no other choice.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

[This post is from Matt’s point of view.] Matt paused in his pacing, staring into the embers. Almost unconsciously, he reached for the bellows, barely stopping himself from stoking the fire. \u201cYou have that look,\u201d Phelan said quietly. \u201cWhat look … 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":[336,337,346],"tags":[340,150,171,170,343,181,149,173,148,168,147,165,146,195],"class_list":["post-4283","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-ambrose-cycle","category-book-8","category-chapter-04-book-8","tag-ambrose-cycle","tag-awakenings","tag-fantasy","tag-fiction","tag-gilad","tag-matthew-astoris","tag-original-fiction","tag-phelan-ocredne","tag-post-apocalyptic","tag-serial","tag-serial-fiction","tag-story","tag-web-fiction","tag-wild-hunt"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p1EBlN-175","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4283","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=4283"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4283\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4284,"href":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4283\/revisions\/4284"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=4283"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=4283"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=4283"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}