{"id":4654,"date":"2021-06-30T09:17:42","date_gmt":"2021-06-30T13:17:42","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/?p=4654"},"modified":"2021-06-30T09:17:42","modified_gmt":"2021-06-30T13:17:42","slug":"twenty-two-04-5","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/?p=4654","title":{"rendered":"Twenty-two – 04"},"content":{"rendered":"

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

\u201cOh, that<\/em> doesn\u2019t sound ominous at all<\/em>.\u201d\u00a0 Astrid circled him slowly, arms still crossed and her brow furrowed as she stared at him.\u00a0 \u201cBecause, you know, it\u2019s not like we both don\u2019t know what the absolute largest question is.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cEnlighten me, because I\u2019m clueless.\u201d<\/p>\n

Astrid deadpanned, though the look in her eyes was the one she\u2019d inherited from her mother.\u00a0 \u201cWhat bothered you so much about all of this that you\u2019re out here<\/em> instead of back in the village doing all the stuff you usually do on a day like today?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cOn a day like today, I\u2019d usually be out fishing by now.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cNot when Lin\u2019s gotten himself into recent trouble,\u201d Astrid said, stopping square in front of him.\u00a0 \u201cIn that scenario, you\u2019re with him.\u00a0 You\u2019re always<\/em> with him unless Kay\u2019s waved you off.\u00a0 So what the hell gives, Tory?\u00a0 What\u2019s going on?\u201d<\/p>\n

He sucked in a breath and tried to avoid her gaze, focusing instead on the river.\u00a0 It was hard, given that she stood nearly as tall as he did and she\u2019d done a good job of planting herself directly<\/em> in front of him\u2014as if she\u2019d known what he\u2019d try.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou can\u2019t even look<\/em> at me,\u201d she said softly.\u00a0 \u201cIt must be bad.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cYes and no,\u201d he murmured.<\/p>\n

\u201cThen why won\u2019t you look at me?\u201d<\/p>\n

He blew out a quiet, annoyed breath and squeezed his eyes shut for a few seconds.\u00a0 \u201cBecause this is damned hard.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIf it was easy, you wouldn\u2019t be out here, Tory.\u201d<\/p>\n

That was the rub, wasn\u2019t it?\u00a0 He massaged his forehead between his brows.\u00a0 \u201cThe strangers came looking for something\u2014someone.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThey usually do, based on the stories.\u00a0 It was Uncle Phelan, wasn\u2019t it?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI wish,\u201d he muttered.\u00a0 \u201cThey were looking for me.\u00a0 Or, more precisely, someone they think I might be.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201c…what?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cYeah,\u201d he sighed.\u00a0 \u201cI know.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

[This post is from Artorius Mackenzie’s point of view.] \u201cOh, that doesn\u2019t sound ominous at all.\u201d\u00a0 Astrid circled him slowly, arms still crossed and her brow furrowed as she stared at him.\u00a0 \u201cBecause, you know, it\u2019s not like we both … 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":[336,337,371,14],"tags":[340,271,372,150,171,170,149,148,168,147,165,146],"class_list":["post-4654","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-ambrose-cycle","category-book-8","category-chapter-22-book-8","category-story","tag-ambrose-cycle","tag-artorius-mackenzie","tag-astrid-sifsdottir","tag-awakenings","tag-fantasy","tag-fiction","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-1d4","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4654","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=4654"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4654\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4655,"href":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4654\/revisions\/4655"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=4654"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=4654"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=4654"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}