Page 13 of Unravelled
“No, it was not,” he replied, a touch of warmth in his voice, though his expression remained mostly neutral.
Her gaze flicked past him toward the kitchen door. “Is Tharion inside?” He nodded, stepping aside, giving her room to pass.
The scent of stew met her as she stepped into the kitchen, warm, familiar, spiced with rosemary and salt. Tharion sat at the far end of the kitchens at a small rounded table. He sat hunched over a steaming bowl, his dark hair damp at the ends, likely from the barracks wash.
Mira approached slowly. “Didn’t know the kitchens were open for private service.”
He glanced up, spoon halfway to his mouth. “They’re not.” He gestured toward the bowl. “One apprentice slipped me a helping.”
Mira sank into the seat across from him. “So now I’m out of stew,” she said, half-teasing.
“You didn’t cook it,” he said without looking at her.
“Neither did you.” That earned the barest twitch of a smile from him, but it didn’t last. He went back to eating, silent and methodical.
Mira rested her elbow on the table, tracing a worn knot in the wood with her fingertip. The silence between them was familiar, heavy but familiar. She swallowed. “Torvyn asked me to go with him to Anyerit in a couple of days.”
Tharion froze, the spoon in mid-air. His eyes snapped to hers. “The village?” He lowered the spoon and set it down with deliberate care.
“Yes.” Mira didn't acknowledge the tone in his voice.
His voice darkened. “Mira, that place was under siege less than a day ago. Half of it’s rubble. Why would you,”
“Because I want to help,” she interrupted, her voice certain. “They need healers. Supplies. I may not be a cleric, but I have been with Perrin for almost a year. I can dress wounds, stop bleeding. Comfort people.”
He stood abruptly, the chair scraping back. “That village is not a place for you to go right now.”
She stood too, eyes meeting him. “You don’t get to decide that.”
His jaw flexed. “I’m not deciding. I’m protecting.”
“I'm going to that village. I have to do something ...” she declared. His eyes searched hers. “If there’s a way to make even a piece of this a little better for them then I have to try.”
He exhaled. The fight drained slightly from his frame. “Fine, but you stay with me. No wandering off. No foolish risks. You do not leave my sight. Understood?”
“Fine.” The word came clipped firm with purpose, not defiance.
“Good.” Tharion was quieter. More worn. He sat again, the bowl in front of him remembered as he begun to eat.
Mira didn’t push further. She just watched him, watched the way his shoulders stayed tense, the way his jaw clenched even in silence.
“Does Perrin know?” he asked, not quite meeting her eyes. She shook her head.
“I’ll ask her tomorrow.” Tharion let out a dry huff, half doubt, half resignation. He leaned back with a sharp breath, jaw still tight.
Mira saw it now clearly. He wasn’t angry she was going. He was terrified she wouldn’t come back. Tharion was still trying to protect her, always had, but this wasn’t about her safety anymore.
???
Beneath the soft hush of morning the altar hall was quiet save for the hum of cicadas outside the tall, arched windows. Warm sunlight spilled across the polished stone floor in golden ribbons, flickering through leaves swaying in the breeze. The scent of sun-warmed dried herbs clung to the air, grounded by the ever-present burn of the incense curling from the altar door.
Mira pushed open the carved door, boots tapping impatiently on stone. Cleric Perrin didn’t look up immediately. She was finishing the last loop of a careful sigil in pale chalk along the edge of the dais. Her veil fluttered slightly in the cross-breeze, catching the light like woven moonlight.
“You walk like the day’s already behind you,” Perrin said mildly, still crouched. “And the sun’s barely cleared the sky.”
“I’ve been arguing with myself for the past two hours about how to ask you so you will say yes...” Mira said, striding forward, barely bothering to lower her voice.
Perrin rose slowly, dusting her fingers off with a linen cloth. “I assume this is your way of saying you’ve come with a request for time away.”
