View Flat HTML
View Metadata
Search Post
When Ophel's company have given their report, he dismisses them, and the General, and his son, and Garrett from a chamber of his own house, and sits heavily down in a chair.
"Ophel."
fall-with-adam
“My lord.”
Ophel stays behind, waiting for the heavy doors to shut. He gives Raina a faint smile as she breezes past, sending him a concerned look.
He stays on the other side of the room.
“Did you need something?”
strong-enough-to-fail
It hits him like a punch to the gut, even now.
He only sets his teeth. He never liked to show his feelings - he likes it still less now. He has had enough of that for a lifetime.
"...Have you ever seen battle before?" he says suddenly. It sounds a foolish question - but - skirmish, yes, but a pitched battle between forces -
fall-with-adam
He furrows his brow.
“I was there, when Volturgard was– attacked, though I assume that is not what you mean. I have never been an army man, no, if that is what you ask.”
strong-enough-to-fail
"So I thought."
He scratches his chin.
"...What do you expect?"
He hates it, hates this, the way his voice still sounds so rough and his words mean nothing and- breathe.
fall-with-adam
“Loss and bloodshed, I presume. I am no stranger to the fundamentals.”
He does not like to think about this.
“My friend – why do you ask?”
strong-enough-to-fail
"Because it will come. Very soon. The first in some time that I- well. Your very first. It is not a day men often forget."
His fingers flex, the ducal ring marking his skin.
"It is not- the sea is not only a large lake. A battle is not only a large skirmish. I- truly, I fear for you."
fall-with-adam
At last, he crosses the room.
He will come to sit across Voltur, close enough to reach out if he needs to.
“I can hold my own. I ask that you worry about yourself.”
A pause.
“How is your back?”
fall-with-adam
“…Respectfully, my lord, I had to skin you alive not even a week ago. You are certain that you are fine?”
fall-with-adam
fall-with-adam
“Well. I suppose you have, indeed.”
Ophel sits there, trying not to tap his foot. He is acutely aware of the weight of Voltur’s stare upon his skin.
He is being strange. Voltur is being strange. Although – nothing is the same anymore, so perhaps they are all being perfectly normal.
Nothing is the same.
“I will admit, I share similar concerns. If I may speak plainly, you…” He runs his gaze over him, sighing softly. “You have made a recovery worthy of a soldier. But so soon, you have taken so much onto your shoulders. Are you well, Voltur?”
strong-enough-to-fail
He scrubs one hand down his face. Stands, and goes to Garrett's decanter - even now, after all these years, his first thought is not to call for a servant - and pours for himself and Ophel a measure of dwarvish whisky.
"After all this time-" he takes a draught - "yes, speak plainly. And I will speak plainly in turn: I often thought, in my dark moments, that if you could stay standing, after - after the choice you made - then I could not well complain. Well I may not be, but - I will endure."
fall-with-adam
Ophel takes a small, polite sip from the glass, but nothing more than that. He holds it between his fingers like balancing a paperweight.
“These are times of strife. It is easier said than done – but I urge you to do more than endure, Voltur. I stayed standing because I am needed. You are needed also. That is a way to stay alive, but it is no way to live.”
strong-enough-to-fail
"Mm. So you have said. But I wonder - I think perhaps it might be better to find happiness in this hardship, than be idle and miserable."
fall-with-adam
He quirks an eyebrow. “…Yes. Of course. I do not believe that contradicts what I am saying, my friend.”
They are so out of sync–
A breath. “It is no matter; I concur.”
strong-enough-to-fail
strong-enough-to-fail
The silence stretches out awkwardly between them, unbearably tight. He clears his throat.
strong-enough-to-fail
strong-enough-to-fail
"What?"
It's not the most dignified thing to say - not at all appropriate - should he be using the diplomatic forms - no, it's Ophel of all people -
Oh. Of course.
"...I am sorry. It is a great loss to the kingdom." Those words are too... Small... For all that has happened. Oh- "What happened to your superiors, I mean to say. How were you told?"
fall-with-adam
It may be a trick of the light, but Ophel’s eyes shine. Little diamonds in the corners, blinked away in a moment.
“I was contacted by the Most High some time ago. The Church has a– vested interest in keeping the kingdom standing.”