(no subject)

[theravenboy]

Everything is routine at the Davies household, and in the Davies routine, Monday night is for cleaning.

Bran changes the linens on his bed, folding the sheet corners under the mattress and laying the quilt Mrs Evans made for him neatly on top. He lifts the rug off the floor and shakes the dust out through his second floor window. Turning to hang the rug on a chair, Bran notices Owen scrubbing the staircase banister. He says nothing, though. They have hardly spoken in weeks.

Bran closes his bedroom door and kneels on the bare floor to pull two sheet-wrapped bundles out from under his bed. He unwraps them, first the harp and then the horn, wiping them reverently. When the footsteps creaking on the stairs demonstrate that Owen is too far away to hear, Bran plays a soft, testing arpeggio on the harp. Every string is still perfectly tuned, of course -- Gwion's work. The instrument cries out to be played longer, but Bran can't, not now. He wraps the harp and horn up again, sets them on top of the clean bed, and proceeds to sweep the floor. When the floor is clear, Bran carefully slides the instruments back under the bed. He opens his door.

Comments

[owendavies.livejournal.com]

The top of Owen Davies' mind is all sheep, dogs, soapy rags for the banister. Under this is chapel business: psalms, hymns, visits to the sick and bereaved.

A constant cold worry for Bran runs beneath these thoughts; Bran has been closed and silent since the day Owen told him not to return to Milliways. Not a safe place, Milliways, not a good place for Bran at all, but without it Bran is alone. He needs friends at home, good ordinary intelligent Christian boys whom he can talk to, who will not draw him back into -- into the dangers that come down from Cader with the mists.

At the bottom of Owen Davies' mind always, but perhaps more these last weeks, are old confused flashing memories: Gwen coming down from the hills with her infant in her arms, all trembling and drenched in snow. Gwen clean and warm in the old cottage. Gwen struggling in Prichard's arms. Then in Owen's memory Gwen's expression is not her own at all, but the unfathomable smile of Desire of the Endless.

Owen does not know from where in his mind the music comes, high, strange harpsong he is sure he's heard before--

[theravenboy]

Bran hears it too, and looks suddenly out into the hallway. The song is not for him. The song will take Owen alone, and bring him back in the same moment with a gift from the Dark in his arms or something broken in his eyes.

No. It will not.

Bran hums the melody, concentrating fiercely. Take me too. Take me with him. The magic resists. It does not want Bran in Milliways this time. Bran gathers more power from the air. It is still not enough to let Bran follow, only enough to permit Bran to watch as Owen disappears.

[theravenboy]

Still concentrating on the music, Bran pivots and kneels beside his bed again. He pulls out the larger bundle and unwraps it rapidly, beginning to play the harp even before he has removed all the sheets. At last he finds himself in the formless space outside the door to Milliways... some time after Owen's arrival.