{"id":4526,"date":"2021-01-27T21:25:16","date_gmt":"2021-01-28T02:25:16","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/?p=4526"},"modified":"2021-01-27T21:25:16","modified_gmt":"2021-01-28T02:25:16","slug":"sixteen-04-5","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/?p=4526","title":{"rendered":"Sixteen – 04"},"content":{"rendered":"

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

The woman glanced around as she slipped past him and into the cottage, as if taking in the sight of his companions sleeping on various cots, clothing washed as best they\u2019d been able to in the washbasin in the corner, strung up to dry.\u00a0 She cast a faint, wry smile over her shoulder at him, barely visible in the dim light.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have boards and tubs for that,\u201d she said.\u00a0 \u201cAll you have to do is ask.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re\u2014we\u2019re not used to it,\u201d Bryant murmured, watching as she carefully picked her way through dropped gear and hanging clothes toward the bed in the corner.\u00a0 David was still out like a light, Issy curled up on a cot pulled up adjacent to it, also still fast asleep.\u00a0 \u201cUsually we just do what we can when we can get some shelter for a night or two, then we move on.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cBut not this time.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cNo,\u201d he said slowly, quietly.\u00a0 Why were the others still asleep?\u00a0 Weren\u2019t they hearing this?\u00a0 Or were his friends just that<\/em> exhausted?<\/p>\n

Maybe that was it.\u00a0 He was just too restless, and they were just too wiped out.<\/p>\n

If not for David, they probably wouldn\u2019t have pushed onward or as hard.<\/p>\n

He watched her slowly turn up the lamp perched on a table at the head of David\u2019s bed, watched as she checked for fever with the back of her hand.\u00a0 Bryant swallowed hard while watching her, uneasy but at the same time comforted by the combination of briskness and tenderness in her movements.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou\u2019re a healer,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cYes,\u201d she said, glancing back at him.\u00a0 \u201cI could send the other one, but his bedside manner has always left a great deal to be desired.\u201d<\/p>\n

Bryant swallowed against a dry throat and shook his head.\u00a0 \u201cNo.\u00a0 No, it\u2019s fine.\u00a0 But\u2014it\u2019s early and they\u2019re all still\u2014\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cOur days have always started early here,\u201d she said.\u00a0 \u201cEver since everything came crashing down.\u00a0 If something isn\u2019t broken, you don\u2019t fix it, right?\u201d<\/p>\n

He frowned, but nodded.\u00a0 In that, at least, she was right.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

[This post is from Bryant Tapping’s point of view.] The woman glanced around as she slipped past him and into the cottage, as if taking in the sight of his companions sleeping on various cots, clothing washed as best they\u2019d … 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":[336,337,365,14],"tags":[340,150,358,170,174,350,149,148,168,147,165,146],"class_list":["post-4526","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-ambrose-cycle","category-book-8","category-chapter-16-book-8","category-story","tag-ambrose-cycle","tag-awakenings","tag-bryant-tapping","tag-fiction","tag-jacqueline-bell","tag-knights-errant","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-1b0","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4526","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=4526"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4526\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4527,"href":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4526\/revisions\/4527"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=4526"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=4526"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=4526"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}