by Anna Eluvae
"And that's it?" asked Nemm. "That's the entirety of what you know?"
"The rest is conjecture," said Lothaire. "If Lexari is dead, you would have to ask Wenaru, but if he's dead as well, which I imagine is the case, then I don't know who would know the truth. It's possible that your father happened upon them before he happened up you, or that he went to them so that they could soften the introduction. All I have are guesses. Lexari was your father figure, it's no real surprise that he would want that position uncontested."
"He wasn't a father figure," said Nemm.
Lothaire shrugged. "Then I don't know. I was trying to drive in whatever wedges I could find and Wenaru thought I was about to strike a nerve. Would you truly not care if your father was killed while trying to reconcile with you?"
"No," said Nemm. She stood up and adjusted her glass armor. "I think I've heard enough from you though. Dravus, you can do what you please with the man." She stalked out of the room without another word.
* * *
Dravus tapped Nemm on the shoulder from behind.
"I'm fine," she said. She could cry about it later, if she really had to. Her father had taken himself out of her life early on. He hadn't deserved to see her again. There was no reason to think that a reunion would have gone well anyway. There was no proof he was really dead, or that Lexari had done it, just the hearsay of a deceiver. It shouldn't have hit her so hard.
"I know you're fine," said Dravus. He shifted. "Listen, I was thinking that perhaps we could stay together, at least for a time. I need passage back to Genthric and you have a ship in port. I know you like to keep moving, perhaps you could chart us a course that would take you by there."
"We don't typically revisit a city so soon," said Nemm. She had her hands on the glass daggers at her side. She changed their shape, so that they would be better for slipping between the gap in a suit of armor, then again so they would give her reach, then broad and thick so they would resist chipping or breaking. Glass was normally comforting to the touch. "Usually it's two years, maybe more."
"All the same," said Dravus. "I'm in no rush to return home. It might be good if my friends and family had some time to absorb the news first."
"You don't have to stay with me," said Nemm. She let out a sigh. "I'm fine. I said that I was fine. I've been through worse."
Dravus shrugged. "I'd like to go home, but I'm not too picky about when. It just seemed more efficient this way." He was looking at her with kind, gentle, understanding eyes.
Nemm was ready to accuse him of putting up a facade, but if that's what he was doing, what would have to be said of her? Had she actually said that she'd been through worse? She'd been traveling with Lexari for nearly her entire adult life. She'd killed the closest thing to family that she had left. Her future hadn't been this uncertain in a very long time. What good would it do to pretend that she didn't want a companion? Dravus was perhaps the only person in the world who might understand her.
"Alright," said Nemm. "We'll be here another day, then we'll go to Bordes and see whether the ship is still there. There are more pressing stops than Genthric though, I have to warn you. It might be some time before we say our goodbyes."
"That's fine," said Dravus. "I was thinking that some time at sea might be good for learning more etiquette."
"Better that we work on combat," said Nemm. "There are troubled times ahead of us. We have a substantial fraction of the artifacts locked away, but there are more, including the one you gave to the Bone Warden. If the wrong person tries to do the wrong things …" She trailed off. The problem seemed insurmountable. The world was simply going to change; there was nothing that they could do about it, except perhaps by trying to stop the worst of it.
"We'll have to be ready," said Dravus.
"Yes," replied Nemm. "We will."