“No,” Tynan said.
“Why not?” I asked, eyeing him with surprise.
“I guess, it depends on what your decision is.” Tynan added, looking at Frid.
“What decision?” Frid looked puzzled.
“Are you willing to give it a go?” Tynan picked up a thick piece of bread, and broke it into two pieces with his long fingers.
Frid remained silent.
I switched my gaze from Tynan to Frid, not sure what to say.
We continued eating in an awkward silence, not daring to bring the subject up.
Suddenly, I spotted the familiar figure of an older woman who was walking with the help of a cane.
“Grace,” I whispered and Tynan turned his head watching his grandmother approach our table.
Her light hair was carefully knotted into a twist on top of her head, her dress was as impeccable as I remembered; but the lightness, the spark that she used to have, was gone.
Tynan immediately stood up and both of them shared the longest embrace.
“I came as soon as I could. How are you, my boy?” she asked.
“Good,” Tynan said.
“That’s good.” Grace repeated and her eyes shifted to our table. “Frid. Sol. And who are you?” she asked, looking straight at me.
“My name is Aly. Nice to meet you,” I said, getting up and extending my hand to her.
She shook my hand reluctantly and turned back to Tynan, evidently not caring enough to speak to me.
“She’s too beautiful. That’s a bad sign,” she said in a loud whisper.
My face burned with heat, and I gripped the edge of the table, trying to steady myself.
“You’re speaking to my mate.”
“Is that so?” She turned back, her gaze locking onto me with a look of assessment.
While Tynan and Grace stood together talking, Frid looked like she was not even there, lost in her thoughts.
I sat and leaned back in my chair, hunger having completely left me.
When Tynan finally returned to our table, all of us sat together in silence for some time.
“We have to figure out how to use the water we brought.” Tynan observed.
“I was thinking about the same thing.” Sol nodded.
“Probably something that’s easy to break would work best,” I suggested.
“Something small enough, convenient to carry.” Tynan picked up his bread.
“I can speak to Hanoch and ask if we can use something from storage or maybe make some small vessels,” I added.
“We may not have enough water,” Sol observed.
