E I K
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There is some struggle on the man's face. It soon after creeps into his voice but Eik sees it first, and it reminds him of his dreams. Dreams in which he finds his family, but as he gets closer their faces become distorted, subtly at first but by the end of the dream their flesh is melting, dripping off their bones. White and red dreams that follow him into his waking life.
(You could call them nightmares.)
While the sight makes him a bit uncomfortable, he is not afraid of the man and his basket of things. The only thing he has to lose now is life itself, and it would not be much of a pity for that to be lost. Then again, the thought of dying for these fickle debutantes strokes an old fire in him that he thought was gone (ironically, in the literal flames of his past) ((but save that for another time-- let's not mix metaphors)). No, he will not die today, not for these fools.
Eik believes the man, despite his nervousness and stammer. The dark mare beside him (he glances to her wings, gracefully tucked to her side. he thinks of her flying low across the desert and the millions of grains of sand that would dance beneath her) seems nervous, uptight. He thinks back to her prayers and wonders what it is that she fears here, beneath the harsh blaze of her Dear God.
He wonders. The brighter the light, the stronger the shadow.
Inkheart talks about rules and laws, and he ponders lines drawn in sand and the many words that sculpt these people. And the eagerness of children to be told what to do, how to think. There seems to be some procedure that she is following, so he listens closely, scraping what meaning he can from what she says- and also what she doesn't say. He feels no need to press the agenda forward, although he is curious about what the man brings- and what it is he wants in return.
There is one thing that catches his attention, and seems unrelated enough to Inkheart's structured diplomacy that he feels he can ask the question without drawing away from the political undertones of the encounter. (and breathe.)
"Why did you leave?"
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@Only @Inkheart
Time makes fools of us all
