(no subject)
Jan. 4th, 2006 10:54 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
theravenboy[Immediately after this]
Bran meant to check the time when he and his father returned from Milliways. As it happens, the hands of the kitchen clock are still set at 7:15, as they were when Bran and Owen left, but Bran forgets to look. He walks upstairs without looking left or right, without even saying goodnight to his da. Lluchddu follows Bran up to his bedroom, curling up on the thin carpet. Bran pets him once, absently, and then sits down on the edge of the bed, setting the harp beside him with abstracted care.
In the dream, her scream tore the air ragged, and her blue, blue eyes stared at nothing and no one. Is that how it was? Did Caradog Prichard's thick hands tear the gown from her shoulder, and how far did he go before Owen came? Was I there, in a cradle in the corner, watching? If I tried, could I remember it?
Bran goes to the loo and washes his face, twice. He goes back to his room and changes his clothes, hardly noticing which pyjamas he chooses.
What did the Rider say to him? Maybe she said, out loud, 'I hear your sheepman has a visitor. A young woman it is, alone with her child, clearly no better than she should be.' Maybe her spoken words were polite, and underneath them the Dark whispered in Prichard's brain. Maybe--
Maybe she whispered in his head again. Maybe she told him to kill Cafall. She and the Brenin Llwyd together, sending grey fog all through his mind--
I can't think of this now.
But Bran's mind is full of Cafall's bloody body and Guinevere's tangled hair, and the too-kind smile of Blodwen Rowlands, the shepherd's wife.
Bran meant to check the time when he and his father returned from Milliways. As it happens, the hands of the kitchen clock are still set at 7:15, as they were when Bran and Owen left, but Bran forgets to look. He walks upstairs without looking left or right, without even saying goodnight to his da. Lluchddu follows Bran up to his bedroom, curling up on the thin carpet. Bran pets him once, absently, and then sits down on the edge of the bed, setting the harp beside him with abstracted care.
In the dream, her scream tore the air ragged, and her blue, blue eyes stared at nothing and no one. Is that how it was? Did Caradog Prichard's thick hands tear the gown from her shoulder, and how far did he go before Owen came? Was I there, in a cradle in the corner, watching? If I tried, could I remember it?
Bran goes to the loo and washes his face, twice. He goes back to his room and changes his clothes, hardly noticing which pyjamas he chooses.
What did the Rider say to him? Maybe she said, out loud, 'I hear your sheepman has a visitor. A young woman it is, alone with her child, clearly no better than she should be.' Maybe her spoken words were polite, and underneath them the Dark whispered in Prichard's brain. Maybe--
Maybe she whispered in his head again. Maybe she told him to kill Cafall. She and the Brenin Llwyd together, sending grey fog all through his mind--
I can't think of this now.
But Bran's mind is full of Cafall's bloody body and Guinevere's tangled hair, and the too-kind smile of Blodwen Rowlands, the shepherd's wife.
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Date: 2006-01-04 05:29 pm (UTC)Have mercy upon me, O LORD; for I am weak: O LORD, heal me; for my bones are vexed.
My soul is also sore vexed: but thou, O LORD, how long?
The teakettle whistles. Owen rises to turn off the heat, but forgets to make the tea.
Mine eye is consumed because of grief; it waxeth old because of all mine enemies.
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Date: 2006-01-04 05:36 pm (UTC)At length, instead of trying to sleep, Bran goes downstairs again.
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Date: 2006-01-04 05:40 pm (UTC)(I am poured out like water, and all my bones are out of joint.)
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Date: 2006-01-04 05:44 pm (UTC)Bran heats the water again and drops a spoonful of tea in the pot.
"You were brave," Bran says, pouring boiling water over the loose tea.
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Date: 2006-01-04 05:47 pm (UTC)"I would have killed her. And murder is a sin, boy."
Owen turns the page again.
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Date: 2006-01-04 05:56 pm (UTC)Bran spills tea on the counter and wipes it up with a dishtowel.
"...I wish I had."
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Date: 2006-01-04 06:24 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-01-04 07:00 pm (UTC)The sharp, bitter sound Bran makes as he carries the full teacups to the table could either be a laugh or a sob.
"We could not have killed her anyway. Immortal, and all that. She could have killed us, though."
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Date: 2006-01-04 07:08 pm (UTC)"Your hands are shaking, Bran." Owen's are none too steady either.
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Date: 2006-01-04 08:08 pm (UTC)"I would go back now, if I thought I could hurt her. I would ask Merlion to bring Eirias back for me, so I could fight-- and none of it would do any good at all. None of it would save--"
He lets go of the chair and turns aside to the window, blinking rapidly.
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Date: 2006-01-04 08:13 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-01-04 08:18 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-01-04 08:25 pm (UTC)At last he says, "You have school in the morning, bachgen."
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Date: 2006-01-04 08:28 pm (UTC)"You should go to sleep too, da."
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Date: 2006-01-04 08:29 pm (UTC)