Page 114 of A Tale of Ice and Ash
“I can see you looking at her, you know.”
“Sorry.”
“Don’t be sorry. Be honest. What are your intentions with my daughter? You have a reputation, you know.”
“Yeah, it’s not unwarranted either…” Cole scratched the back of his neck. “But... it’s not like that with Snow. Eirwen. I don’t... I don’t have any intentions towards her, exactly, because I’m pretty sure she’s not interested. Not… not like that.” He added, thinking back to the hot springs and being really grateful that dwarves couldn’t read minds.
“She tell you that?”
“No, but–”
“She likes you. She might not know it yet, but she does.”
“Are you... sure?”
“I’ve been her father long enough to know that.”
Cole smiled.
“Don’t smile like that!” Onyx snapped.
“Sorry,” said Cole. “If… if I was interested… and I’m not saying I am, but… I take it I wouldn’t have your blessing?”
Onyx puffed harder on his pipe. “Doesn’t matter if you do or don’t. She’s the only one you need to think about.”
“Sheisthe only one I think about,” Cole said, without really thinking. “I mean, er… sure.”
Onyx sighed. “I’ll offer you a piece of advice: tell her how you feel. She’ll pretend she doesn’t know otherwise. It’s her way. I don’t know why.”
Cole actually had a fairly good idea ofwhy,and at least part of it had something to do with spending almost five years in the company of an emotionally-repressed dwarf that did the exact same thing. The other part… that came from losing Olwen, from finding it too hard to say how much you cared, when a person could be wrenched from you in a moment. To her credit, she’d neverstoppedcaring though, never even stopping showing it. She was as warm as she’d ever been, but her heart was muted, anything deep in her expression unreadable.
Cole wasn’t particularly good at speaking his feelings either, but he supposed he might need to be a bit braver in that regard. She was certainly worth being brave for.
He closed his eyes, and pretended to sleep. He tried not to think about her.
It didn’t work.
∞∞∞
Eirwen woke early the next morning, the others having excused her from watch, and started a fire, trying to not to glance too long at Cole. His arms were outstretched over Onyx’s head, and she wondered if he’d fallen asleep reaching for her before the dwarf had slunk into the space between them.
Silly. Foolish. Don’t think about that.
Her heart beat a little faster at the thought.
The rest of the party rose not longer after. They had a quick breakfast, freed themselves from the barricaded chamber, and headed out into the ruined city.
The path leading up to the palace was the best place to draw the shades into. It was open, directly under the path of the sunstone, and not far from the steps leading to the chamber above it. It’s only downside was the lack of cover, with few buildings to take refuge in if the numbers became overwhelming.
“We’ll rig some traps,” said Merry. “Keep them at bay.”
Onyx nodded. “We used to play here, you know. As boys.”
Merry gasped. “Youplayed?”
“A long time ago.”
It was hard to imagine Onyx as a child, to imagine him as anything other than wrinkled and hunched. The stark difference between the brothers was ever more apparent now.
