I tucked a wayward curl behind my ear, noting again how greasy and dirty I felt.
Gods what a sight and smell I must be.
I casually sniffed myself and nearly retched. I shuffled back a few feet so my stench wouldn’t draft down wind and hit the poor man straight in the nostrils. The General, ever observant, caught the action and gave me a brief smile. “There’s no need for that. We all smell the same right now.”
“Like death warmed over?” The words were out before I could help it and my eyes widened before I slapped my dirt-covered hands to my mouth.
The General let out a bark of a laugh before schooling his expression again, though this time it was much more open and relaxed.
“Yes, Faylinn, I would imagine exactly like that.”
I nervously dropped my hands from my mouth and crossed my arms over my chest. We were silent again, both of us relishing the breeze and lost to our thoughts.
“We are leaving tonight,” he said, suddenly. I blinked over at him. “Your people are ready to start their lives again, and we’ve done all we could. Some homes have been rebuilt, enough for your people to live together until others are completed. Some of the fields are replanted, and we’ve traded for a few crystals and other items they’ll need to get back on their feet. They seem...anxious to get back to living, without us here,” he added at the end.
“Why?”
“Why, what?” he countered.
“Why would you help us like this? Use your magic stores, trade for crystals and animals and things. We’re just a small village, in aborderterritory. Inconsequential to the Warlord. Plus, we harbored a Keeper, enemy number one to your leader.” I wasn’t accusatory, necessarily, but I was worried he was going to want something in return when we had nothing left to give.
The General smiled softly at me. “Someone told me that the world doesn’t exist in black and white, and I would like to see it more that way. Even if just for a little bit, in a small, inconsequential village.”
I frowned slightly as I regarded him. “You’re an enigma, General.”
“And you’re way too intelligent to be stuck here your whole life,” he countered.
I reared my head back. “Excuse me? This is myhome. Thesepeopleare my home. I’m notstuckhere.”
“Aren’t you?” He turned his body to face mine, his eyes boring into my own, searching my soul. “What are you going to do for the rest of your life here? Heal people? It’s admirable, sure, but don’t you think you’re destined for more, Faylinn?”
I chewed my lip absently. Of course I’d thought about it. But I meant what I said, my home was here. “These people need me, now more than ever,” I finally said, though I wasn’t sure I fully believed it.
The General only grunted in response before turning away from me, his expression guarded again.
“What are you not saying, General?” I was getting frustrated with his inability to be forthcoming.
“You’re a Rune Master, Faylinn. A damn powerful one at that. You are incredibly intelligent, rivaling that of even some of the scholars in Lord d’Refan’s personal employment.”
I scoffed. “You barely know me. You can’t know that.”
He turned to face me again, his presence and body crowding my own, but I refused to step back, choosing to hold my ground, even as his innate scent of smoke and sweetgrass enveloped me.
How did he still smell like that?
I craned my head slightly to see into his eyes.
“I looked in your house. Your journals were open on the table, your theories? Your scribblings and equations, your tonics and salves. That is astounding work. And you did it all with access to very little. Imagine what you could do with access toeverything, any information you wanted at your fingertips.”
My blood sang at the thought, goosebumps peppering my skin and my breath caught in my throat.
Any information I wanted?
“What are you saying, General?” I asked again, my voice barely a whisper.
“Come with us. To Vespera.”
Now Ididtake a step back, my lungs filling with blissfullyclean spring air.
