Drive-by prompt fill for "It was the hardest thing I ever did in my entire life."
I'll think over KoP's.
Edited to add a paragraph that should have been there before.
“I’m sorry, my lord. Truly, I am.”
The man with weary hazel eyes, whose dark auburn hair was shaggy and somewhat unkempt had a few telltale streaks of grey, the stubble on his jaw even more so, shook his head at the apology. “There’s nothing to apologize for, your majesty. That she’s still alive is more than I could hope for.”
Alistair winced, “Please. Call me Alistair, we’re going to be brothers after all.”
“Then call me Fergus, for the same reason.” Fergus Cousland shook his head, “My little sister actually found someone willing to marry her. And is the king no less.”
The boyish grin was a shadow of itself, but still reflected part of the new king’s charm, “Hey now, Lana’s got a bit of a temper, but she’s not that bad. And I’m not king. Yet.”
Fergus snorted, “That’s because she likes you, you didn’t see how she treated the would-be suitors she didn’t like.”
He thought over what she’d done to people that she didn’t like during their “adventures” while dealing with the civil war and the Blight. He had a good enough imagination to picture how she’d scare off potential suitors that didn’t meet her approval. Dryly, “Oh, I have a good idea. Anyway, you’ve had a long trip to get here and I shouldn’t be selfish by keeping you here. I’ll have a room set up for you in the family wing, if you want to…”
Alistair trailed off and wondered how did you offer a man that he could visit his unconscious little sister?
“If I want to what, Alistair?”
“Er, well, if you wanted to visit Lana. She’s…in the Queen’s Suite…”
Though clearly heartsore and weary, Fergus smiled warmly. It was so much like the one that his sister flashed when happy that it made Alistair’s chest ache. “Thank you, brother.”
He managed to choke out, “You’re more than welcome.”
A nod before the weary warrior got to his feet to head out, but stopped at the door, “Just remember one thing, Alistair. And it’s what kept me going through the worst.”
“And that is?”
“Where’s life, there’s hope.”
He couldn’t help the brief flicker of grief that passed over his face, “That’s one of her favorite sayings.”
“I know, who do you think I picked it up from?” Then the man was gone, clomping down the hall in his battered armor. Alistair scrubbed his face and muttered, “Maker’s breath, now I can understand why Oghren has pickled himself.”
“You did really well with that, Alistair. And I’ll see to the arrangements for the Teyrn.” Alistair jumped, having forgotten Teagan was in the room since the man had been so quiet during the pain filled conversation between the two eventual brothers. Despite it all, Alistair kept hoping that it would be when, not if. But it’d been two weeks since the archdemon had been killed and she still hadn’t woken from the coma…
She’d been in a coma ever since she’d killed the archdemon weeks before. At first no one was overly concerned due to the severity of her injuries along combined with fatigue from not enough rest when they were frantically getting the armies mobilized to go after the Horde. But once the last of the wounds had been healed, she still hadn’t awakened. Wynne, along with the rest of the healers the Circle could provide, hadn’t been able to figure out why Lana remained in a coma when there hadn’t been any damage to her brain.
“Well? Teagan, what conversation were you listening to? That was the hardest thing I’ve had to do in my life. I had to tell him that his parents, wife and son were slaughtered at the orders of his father’s best friend. That his little sister is just barely alive after she did what should have been my responsibility?”
Teagan got to his feet and clapped Alistair on the shoulder, “Truly, you handled that better than you think. And try not to be drunk for your own coronation this afternoon. You’ll want to be able to get drunk afterwards.”
Alistair shook his head and sighed, “And see if you can raid the armory to find some better armor for Fergus. Somehow he doesn’t strike me as the type who’ll want to deal with fancy clothing for the ceremony this afternoon.”
With a nod the other man left, leaving Alistair to his dark thoughts alone in what was now his study.
Modifié par Reika, 30 janvier 2011 - 03:40 .