Private The Keeper and the Thief

[Paila Dalle]

Four weeks. Paila let the number settle in her mind without immediately answering. It sounded strangely ordinary. Four weeks to weed a garden. Four weeks for bread to rise and be baked a dozen times over. Four weeks for the seasons to edge just a little closer toward their next turning.

Finally she looked up at him. "I believe you," she said simply. There was no attempt to argue away the threat he had placed before her. Only the quiet acknowledgment that he meant every word exactly as he had spoken it. "I also believe that you think that what you're doing is right." Her eyes lingered on his face for a moment before drifting toward the helmet tucked beneath his arm. "I don't know whether that comforts me....or concerns me more."

The cottage fell quiet again. Outside, the wind brushed through the fields, carrying with it the sounds of insects beginning their evening chorus.

Paila rose from her chair, gathering the empty bowls with practiced ease. The little utility droid cautiously emerged from it's hiding place, emitting an inquisitive whistle as though trying to determine whether the danger had finally passed. As she carried the dishes toward the kitchen, she paused halfway there and glanced back over one shoulder. "You've had a long journey." A faint smile touched her expression. "Would you like some stew packed for the trip back?" The question was asked with complete sincerity. Not because she had accepted his ultimatum. Not because she intended to meet it straight away. But simply because, whatever happened in four weeks' time, he still had a long flight ahead of him, and no one should have to travel hungry.

Tag: Aurelian Sigismund

 

[Aurelian Sigismund]

"You have no reason for concern." His cold voice proclaimed, the silent annotation that this only counted when she would follow up on the choice laid out before her. He was confident in her rationality and reasonability to make the right choice, he was confident in not only his but his reaches ability to make sure that his words were neither empty nor wasted.

The offer of more stew somehow disarmed him once more, not as unprepared as last time but still gave him a heartbeat of hesitation. Yet he shook his head, "No, there is no need." Then he turned to leave, stepping outside the door he came in and stopping on her front porch. His gaze was slowly gliding along the horizon, not like a watchman would look out for danger, but like an artist taking in the scenery.

"A small measure of peace can be a valuable reminder of what can be achieved if one does not lose sight of the goal." It was not insight or humility that came through from his words. He seemed to genuinely care about it but he also could not understand the actual meaning of it, there was truth but no heart in his words, reality but no emotion.

After that he started walking towards the Vehemence which lingered in the stunning scenery like a dark-skinned predator, invasive and terrible.

Paila Dalle