Chapter 6
CHAPTER SIX
GARRUN
I hadn’t intended to fall asleep. I thought to sit with Henry while he played and rest after I brought him back to his tent.
It wasn’t until he started and the sounds of the music sank into my skin that I lost my battle with sleep.
I was always tired, it had been that way since the attack, but I hadn’t expected Henry’s music to make it so intense.
For a moment as I regained consciousness, I was confused.
I was not in my bed or my tent, the crick in my neck a punishment for using the rock Henry had been sitting on as a pillow.
The heat in the air made me think it was a lot later than when I’d brought Henry to the tree, so thick it was almost oppressive.
I forced my heavy eyelids open, looking around with a frown. The music had stopped. Where was Henry?
“That’s not yours,” Henry chided in a whisper. Ekkar huffed in response, which made Henry chuckle. “That’s Garrun’s food. I’ll ask around about getting something for you after he wakes up.”
“He can get his own meals,” I grumbled, sitting up.
Henry was where I left him, his legs folded and a bowl of food in his lap as he sat beside Ekkar on the rock.
His instrument was back in its case, the bowl half-empty like he’d been eating for a while.
How long was I asleep that he could go get food and come back? And how did he leave on his own?
“Are you hungry? Lisa brought you a bowl as well.”
Ah. The meddling of the healer made more sense than Henry wandering off on his own. “How long was I asleep?”
“I have no clue,” Henry replied with a laugh.
“I got so lost in the music, I played until my fingers hurt. That’s when Lisa showed up and offered to bring us some food.
” He slid his hand across the rock until it bumped into the bowl he’d moved away from Ekkar, offering it to me with a smile.
“The food is good here. Does it make me awful to say I’d expected a lot worse? Or at least a lot more basic?”
Huffing a laugh, I shook my head before remembering he could not see. “You are not awful. Most tributes thought the same way when they arrived. They forget that we learned cooking from them as well as our own people.”
It wasn’t until he frowned that I realized I’d been speaking in my own tongue.
That he’d followed along even a little was a tribute to his skill with the language, but obviously that explanation was too much for him.
I tried again in the common tongue, but I doubted it was much clearer.
“Tributes all think similar. Women who cook taught recipes when joining clan.”
“Oh!” He looked thoughtful, head tilted. “I hadn’t thought of it that way. Alice said there were lots of townsfolk in the clans, bondmates and former tributes, plus everyone who left the towns just recently. I suppose it's only natural to share knowledge.”
I grunted in agreement, focusing on my food.
I learned cooking from my mother, as well as the clan cook, Rhokis, who taught every warrior the basics so we could fend for ourselves if we were ever separated from the clan.
I was not so talented that I would brag, but I could cook well enough if need be.
Sometimes while traveling, I cooked for myself and my fellow warriors on night guard to spare us from having to wait until the morning meal. They all seemed to appreciate it.
“Who taught you music?” I asked, my gaze drifting back to the instrument by his side.
I wanted to hear more, to feel that serenity that sank into my veins as he played beside me, but I heard what he said before.
I didn’t wish for him to injure himself just because his music brought me rest for the first time since the attack.
His happiness was more important than mine.
“My mother,” he replied after finishing his bite of vegetables.
The purple kind that was found in this area that I couldn’t stand.
I made a face at the offensive vegetable in my own bowl, nudging it out of the way so I could get to the good food underneath.
“The violin is actually hers. She was taught by her father. She tried to teach Alice first, but Alice didn’t like the way the strings made her fingers hurt when she practiced.
Our mother was worried the talent would die with her until I came along.
” His smile was warm and nostalgic as he continued.
“After I lost my sight, I’d been really depressed.
It was hard not to feel alone when something so integral to you is taken away.
To help me feel better, my mother handed me her violin.
She said music was meant to be felt, not seen.
Being able to create something so beautiful without needing to see was like a lifeline for me. ”
I expected sadness when he talked about his condition, but from the way he spoke, he no longer felt the ache of loss.
He’d found the connection he craved in his music, much like I did with Ekkar after the attack.
My friend was the only one who didn’t look at me with pity or fear.
He carried his own scars from the attack, though not many dared get close enough to see them.
It was him I was protecting when I got hurt.
My gaze dropped to his hands as I considered his words. “Does it truly hurt you?”
He hummed with a shake of his head. “Not usually, no. A couple songs here and there don’t make much impact anymore.
I got used to the feeling of the strings when I was a lot younger.
It only hurts when I play for hours without resting.
” He flashed me a sheepish grin. “I got a little overzealous today. I’ve never felt so free before. It was hard not to bask in it.”
Frown deepening, I set my bowl aside to give him my full attention. “You are not free?”
He blew out a slow breath, his brows drawn together tightly.
“I’m… reliant on others to function. It’s…
limiting. Sitting out here, playing my music, it brought me a sense of freedom I hadn’t had in a long time.
” His smile came back, those lines around his eyes crinkling as he looked in my direction.
“Thank you for that. It meant a lot.” Then again, in my language to emphasize his words, “Thank you for bringing me here.”
After the meal was finished, I brought Henry back to the clan.
My intention had been to bring him back to his tent, but after his confession about feeling limited, it felt wrong to bring him there so he could sit alone.
I felt rested enough after my nap that I could guide him for a while.
I brought him to the fire where some of my brothers were seated, guiding him to a log to sit on.
“Hey! Not yours!” Faldar complained as Ekkar tried to stick his face in Faldar’s bowl of food.
He twisted, lifting the bowl out of reach, forgetting that on his hind legs, Ekkar stood nearly as tall as me.
He was also heavier than Faldar and putting his paws on the smaller man’s shoulders flattened him in an instant.
The contents of his bowl would have spilled if Dras didn’t rescue it, giving Ekkar a look that said he wouldn’t be so easily pushed around.
“Ekkar. Go get your own food,” I growled, glaring at him. He glared back, but eventually stalked off to the forest to get his own breakfast.
Chuckling from his seat, Henry asked, “Is he causing trouble again?”
“When is he not?” Faldar asked with a scowl as he brushed off his clothes. He reached for the bowl in Dras’s hand, giving him a grateful smile until Dras took a piece of his meat in payment for his interference. Faldar squawked in protest, the pair trading insults with easy smiles.
When I noticed Henry’s head cocked as he tried to follow the conversation, I leaned closer to explain, keeping my words slow and as simple as I could. “Faldar is a new warrior. Only just old enough. Ekkar likes to bully him.”
Letting out a startled laugh, Henry asked, “Truly? That sweet puppy?”
Every clan brother seated or standing nearby all turned to look at him incredulously. I rolled my eyes. “You spoil him. He wouldn’t be so nice otherwise.”
Henry didn’t look even a little abashed, grinning wickedly at me. The easy smile made my stomach clench, and I felt an unfamiliar urge to reach out and touch the indents of his cheeks to feel his smile. He was a beautiful man.
“That’s not fair,” Faldar pouted. “I asked to give him treats to earn his favor. Garrun refused to allow it. What makes you so special?”
“He’s prettier than you,” I grumbled automatically. I regretted it immediately, I didn’t want to make Henry uncomfortable, and luckily I’d said it in our tongue. His lack of reaction made me think he didn’t understand, and my shoulders relaxed as I got more comfortable beside him.
Unfortunately for me, Faldar wasn’t going to let it go, a teasing grin overtaking his face as he waggled his eyebrows obnoxiously at me. “Oh? Is there something we should know? Do you intend to claim him?”
The warning look I gave him made him choke on his own laughter, and Dras smacked him upside the head for me.
Tyos, who’d been distracted lately with his own bondmate, came out of his nearby tent just in time to see Faldar duck and start whining.
The overprotective warrior frowned at his brother, coming to join us with his bondmate at his side.
“Why are you abusing Faldar? He is only a child.”
“I’m not a child!” Faldar protested, though no one paid him any mind. I turned back to Henry, translating for him as best I could so he could keep up with the conversation. He laughed along with the rest of us, and when his sister came to find him, he was still smiling.
“Henry? They’ve got language lessons soon.”
Turning to look in his sister’s direction, he nodded. “Sounds good.” Turning back to me, he gave me a sunny smile that took my breath away. “Thank you for today. Can we go back tomorrow?”
“Whenever you wish,” I replied gruffly.
It bothered me a little to watch him go, but I was comforted by the knowledge that I would see him again soon.
After he disappeared around the line of tents, Tyos sat beside me, his expression curious as he followed my gaze to where Henry had disappeared.
“He asked to see you again? That is good, yes?”
I grunted in response. I didn’t wish to get my hopes up, even if a small part of me hoped Henry’s request meant something. It almost seemed too good to be true.