#earthrunes

"Would have stopped him. Made him go away."

A faint frown. "I didn't lie to him. I just... didn't really answer the questions he was asking." Another shrug. "Nevermind."

"It's gone now."

"Made her stay...."

"And you are mad."

A sigh. "I am -not- angry." Firmly.

"You are hurt. Not mad. Aye."

A shrug. "I've done worse to you. To others. So."

"And thus, we are sundered? It... it feels so. That I have pushed thee too far."

"Unwittingly, but... nonetheless."

He shakes his head. "No. I understand."

"I trust thee. Thou art my oldest friend. All I want to do is run and hide, but I... I fear if I do so, if I give up, then it would be giving up and I would lose you forever..."

"I don't want that."

"I would not blame you. I have been a poor friend."

"I feel as if I have lost myself."

"You've been running and hiding for longer than this." Gently. "Zara, you have to -do- something about Paler. So you can be free."

"We have to protect that scribe..ought.. I had thought to ask you to speak to Jude. He... he... I cannot go, he makes me feel like a moth under glass..."

"Count Jude?" Baffled disbelief.

"Aye..." A shudder. "Exposed."

A beat. "From Ardent Harbor in Pacifica? -That- Count Jude? Liam?"

"Aye..."

"But he... you and he, you could protect the mortal?"

"He says... in the letter, he says there will be others... the longer I go without meeting him..."

"He has threatened thee, has threatened Shalimar, has threatened this hold... I should not have come here, but I.... I miss..."

August's eyes flash with angry sparks. "Let him threaten me, I wish he -would- come for me! He is a villian, a knave and a coward. And now he threatens defenseless mortals?!?!"

Zara's hands tangle in a knot, and she nods. "I should kill him. He is mad, he will not stop..."

August puts his hand on the table. "You needn't do it."

A soft hiccup - a sob?

He sits up more attentively. "Zara? Please don't cry."

She rubs at her face again, trying not to.

"Please?" He entreats, and puts his warm hand on hers.

((pause))

A rasp. "Sorry, aye..." She turns her face, to hide wet cheeks.

"Oh. Zara." He moves to wipe her tears, if she lets him.

She does. "P-pardon."

A crooked, soft smile. "S"ok." Softly. "I know it's hard. Stressful."

"I don't want him dead. I just want him to stop... "

"Then it's Count Jude, and yes. I'll take it to him." Softly, gently, as he wipes her tears with warm fingertips.

"I just... I had thought, mayhaps.... I could try soothsay... bring da'an down upon him..."

He nods. "You're so good at that. Saved my neck, I don't know how many times."

"There is a risk... risks..."

August nods, watching her, deeply engaged. One hand rests on her tangled fingers, the other still on her cheek.

"I would need to be there, with him, to cast... cannot... not through a tattletale, not something like that..."

"I would have to see him. And I doubt he would just.... let me, aye?"

"I, ah, I haven't been in the loop with him. Except that one time at Firnost. What does Earl say?"

"We... we don't actually talk of him much. Earl would kill him, too, aye." Miserable.

"He sent the letter to Earl... "

"Earl wants you happy, and safe."

She nods. "I am safe, have been safe..."

"But not happy." He observes.