{"id":4581,"date":"2021-03-31T00:00:32","date_gmt":"2021-03-31T04:00:32","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/?p=4581"},"modified":"2021-03-27T17:10:17","modified_gmt":"2021-03-27T21:10:17","slug":"eighteen-04-4","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/?p=4581","title":{"rendered":"Eighteen – 04"},"content":{"rendered":"

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

Matt\u2019s brows went up.\u00a0 \u201cFor Cariocecus, you mean?\u00a0 I\u2019m open to suggestions.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cHe does have a soft spot for the kids,\u201d Phelan said, opening the shutters over one of cut-out windows, letting some more light and air into the space.\u00a0 There was a cross-breeze this morning that would make it more comfortable, at least for a little while, in the close heat of the old forge.<\/p>\n

\u201cAre you volunteering yours?\u201d<\/p>\n

Phelan winced again and knew that Matt saw the expression even though his back was still turned to both he and Thordin.\u00a0 \u201cThat\u2019s not fair.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cNo, it wasn\u2019t.\u201d\u00a0 One corner of Matt\u2019s mouth lifted into a wry smile.\u00a0 \u201cWe both know that none of us play fair anymore\u2014at least not all the time.\u00a0 Family does shit like that.\u201d<\/p>\n

Snorting softly, Phelan looked around for something to keep his hands busy, finding a whetstone and some newly forged prep knives that needed honing and sharpening.\u00a0 \u201cPoint taken.\u00a0 I wasn\u2019t volunteering Kay or<\/em> Finn.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cGood.\u00a0 Though it wouldn\u2019t surprise me if either or both of them volunteered.\u201d\u00a0 Matt shook his head, taking up a pair of tongs and thrusting the piece of metal on the anvil back into the forge itself.\u00a0 \u201cI don\u2019t know, Phelan.\u00a0 Where would we even start looking for Cariocecus?\u201d\u00a0 He glanced toward Thordin.\u00a0 \u201cDo you have any bright ideas?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s been how long since we\u2019ve seen him?\u201d\u00a0 Thordin frowned.\u00a0 \u201cSix months?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cCloser to a year,\u201d Phelan said.\u00a0 \u201cHe was here for the autumnal equinox and the harvest.\u00a0 I know I haven\u2019t seen him since, but someone else might\u2019ve.\u00a0 You know him.\u00a0 He keeps his own council and keeps to himself these days.\u00a0 I think he\u2019s starting to feel all the years.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cAre you?\u201d\u00a0 Thordin studied him for a few seconds.\u00a0 \u201cAre you starting to feel the weight of the centuries?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI started to feel the weight of the centuries at least two hundred years ago,\u201d Phelan said.\u00a0 It was only a half-joking lie.\u00a0 \u201cThough it definitely hits harder every time I see Drew\u2019s brother and his pack.\u00a0 Brings back memories of Kit O\u2019Shea all those years ago.\u201d\u00a0 Closest I ever got to someone in all those years before Jac happened\u2014before all of them happened.\u00a0 I should\u2019ve stayed in touch with her more.<\/em>\u00a0 Of course, she was long gone, now\u2014probably.<\/p>\n

D\u00e9ithe agus arrachtaigh\u2014I don\u2019t even know what became of her, if she was gone before the end of it all or if she survived it.\u00a0 I\u2019ll likely never know.<\/em><\/p>\n

It was another one of those marks upon his soul that he\u2019d never quite wash clean.<\/p>\n

Thordin grimaced slightly.\u00a0 \u201cSorry, brother.\u201d<\/p>\n

Phelan waved a hand, pouring a little clean water from a pocket near the quench over the whetstone.\u00a0 \u201cIt\u2019s all right.\u00a0 I know what you were getting at.\u00a0 We\u2019ve all handled everything a little different, all of us from the Otherworlds that are somehow still here.\u00a0 Me, Hecate, Neve, Sif\u2014all of us.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cTruer words are rarely spoken,\u201d Matt murmured, turning whatever he was working on in the embers.\u00a0 \u201cFor some of you, I think it\u2019s making up for lost time.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWell, you might not be wrong in that,\u201d Phelan said, adjusting the bench so he could straddle it, starting to run the edge of the knife\u2019s blade on an angle along the length of the whetstone.\u00a0 \u201cI know I am, for better or worse.\u00a0 The things I have here are things I never dreamed I\u2019d have again.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cSounds right.\u201d\u00a0 Matt pulled the heated metal out of the forge, laying it on the anvil and taking up his hammer again.\u00a0 \u201cI think Hecate\u2019s pregnant again and trying to figure out how to tell me.\u00a0 Of course all of this would happen now\u2014again.\u201d\u00a0 He shook his head.\u00a0 \u201cShe\u2019ll tell me not to worry.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cMore like she\u2019ll tell you when<\/em> to worry,\u201d Phelan said softly, watching his friend as he started to hammer at the piece of iron.\u00a0 \u201cAnd she\u2019ll tell you when the time\u2019s right.\u00a0 You\u2019ve got enough on your mind right now, Matt.\u00a0 She won\u2019t want to add another if she doesn\u2019t have to.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cHas Jacqueline said anything to you about it?\u201d<\/p>\n

He shook his head.\u00a0 \u201cNo.\u00a0 No, not yet, but she doesn\u2019t always<\/em> tell me about this sort of thing.\u00a0 There are a lot of things they keep from us, y\u2019know.\u00a0 The ladies?\u00a0 They keep their own counsel.\u00a0 Probably wiser than we are in some ways.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIn a lot of ways,\u201d Thordin said with a smirk.\u00a0 \u201cBut we\u2019ll not get into your deficiencies, Wanderer.\u00a0 Or mine, or his.\u201d<\/p>\n

Phelan snorted again.\u00a0 \u201cBest not.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cBest not indeed,\u201d Matt said, his tone only slightly grim.\u00a0 \u201cWe haven\u2019t made a decision about Cariocecus.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ll go,\u201d Phelan said.\u00a0 \u201cI might as well, right?\u00a0 I\u2019m one of the ones with the best odds of finding him.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cDon\u2019t go alone,\u201d Thordin said.<\/p>\n

\u201cI won\u2019t,\u201d Phelan assured him, lifting the knife to the light streaming in through the window, checking his work.\u00a0 \u201cI\u2019m not that big of a fool\u2014not anymore.\u201d<\/p>\n

I don\u2019t have a death wish anymore.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

[This post is from Phelan’s point of view.] Matt\u2019s brows went up.\u00a0 \u201cFor Cariocecus, you mean?\u00a0 I\u2019m open to suggestions.\u201d \u201cHe does have a soft spot for the kids,\u201d Phelan said, opening the shutters over one of cut-out windows, letting … 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":[336,337,367,14],"tags":[340,150,171,170,181,149,173,148,168,147,165,169,146],"class_list":["post-4581","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-ambrose-cycle","category-book-8","category-chapter-18-book-8","category-story","tag-ambrose-cycle","tag-awakenings","tag-fantasy","tag-fiction","tag-matthew-astoris","tag-original-fiction","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-1bT","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4581","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=4581"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4581\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4582,"href":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4581\/revisions\/4582"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=4581"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=4581"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=4581"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}