Chapter 3 A Seat at the Table
Luca wakes before dinner.
I hear him stir from the workshop, a sharp intake of breath followed by the scrape of metal against wood. I picture him reaching for his shield. He kept his hand on it even in his sleep.
Suki appears in the hallway before I can move. She catches my eye and shakes her head slightly. Give him a moment.
She's right. Waking up in a strange place with people hovering would only make it worse.
I busy myself wiping down the workbench, listening to the small sounds from the back room. Blankets shifting. A quiet exhale. Then footsteps, unsteady but deliberate, moving toward the door.
Luca appears in the hallway with his shield clutched against his chest. He's pale, but his eyes are clearer than before. Less wild. He looks around the workshop like he's trying to figure out how he got here.
I set down my cloth and keep my hands visible. "How do you feel?"
He considers the question longer than most people would, one hand absently rubbing his stomach. "Hungry."
That startles a laugh out of me. Honest answer. I like him already.
"Lyra's making dinner." I gesture toward the kitchen, where I can hear pots clanking. "There's a place for you, if you want it."
Something flickers across his face. Suspicion, maybe. Or hope. Hard to tell the difference when someone's been hurt enough.
He shifts his grip on the shield. "I should go. I've already taken up your bed."
I hold the kitchen door open for him. "That bed is for anyone who needs it. Come eat something. You can decide about leaving afterward."
Luca hesitates in the doorway. "She doesn't know me."
I stop and turn back to face him. He's watching me with that careful look, the one that says he's waiting for the other shoe to drop. I remember wearing that expression. I remember how exhausting it was.
I step aside so he can see the place set for him. "She knows you'll need food when you wake. That's enough."
He follows me, carrying the shield close enough that it brushes the doorframe.
Lyra stands at the stove with her sleeves rolled up. Suki sets the last plate on the table, then shifts the bread basket so there is room for everyone.
And Mira is here, because of course she is. The village elder has a talent for showing up exactly when she's needed, usually with food. Tonight she's brought a basket of bread rolls, still steaming, and her apprentice Thea trails behind her with a jar of preserves.
Mira looks up when we enter and her eyes find Luca immediately. She doesn't stare, doesn't ask questions, just nods once like he belongs here and turns back to arranging rolls on a plate.
Thea moves a chair away from the busy end of the table. Luca can sit without anyone squeezing past his back.
Luca notices the arrangement too. His grip on his shield loosens slightly.
Lyra wipes her hands on a cloth and crosses to us, her smile easy and warm. "I'm Lyra. You must be Luca. Gregori said you'd be joining us."
Luca blinks at her like she's speaking another language. "He did?"
"He hoped you would." Lyra gestures toward the chair by the wall. "That one's yours if you want it. There's a stool beside it for your shield."
The small kindness hits him visibly. His throat works, and he nods once before lowering himself into the chair. The shield goes onto the stool within arm's reach, and I watch some of the tension bleed from his shoulders now that it's close but not crushing his chest.
Lyra ladles stew into bowls while Suki distributes bread. Thea settles beside Suki, quiet as always, her attention on the food. Mira sits at the head of the table like she belongs there. In a way, she does. This is her village. We're all her responsibility.
I take my usual seat across from Luca and accept the bowl Lyra passes me. The stew is thick with vegetables and chunks of meat, the bread still warm enough to steam when I tear it.
The first few minutes pass in near silence. Luca stares at his bowl, both hands wrapped around it like he's absorbing the warmth. He hasn't lifted his spoon.
I know that feeling too. The fear that eating will somehow obligate you. That kindness always comes with a price.
I tear off some bread and dip it into my stew. "Cali tried to get her dinner early. Lyra caught her beside the pot."
Lyra passes Luca a spoon. "She claimed she was checking it for mice."
I slide my bowl away from the edge. "Did she find any?"
Lyra lays a cloth under the hot pot. "Apparently we interrupted the search."
Luca's lips twitch. Not quite a smile, but close. He picks up his spoon.
That's when Cali arrives.
She stalks into the kitchen with the air of someone who has been grievously wronged. Her tail is puffed, her ears flat, and she's staring at the stool where Luca's shield rests.
Cali stops beside the stool and looks up at Luca with naked outrage. "That is my spot."
Luca freezes with the spoon halfway to his mouth. He looks at me, then at Cali, then at his shield.
Before he can move, Mira picks up a piece of fish from a separate plate I hadn't noticed and sets it on the chair beside mine. Cali's eyes track the fish. Her tail slowly deflates.
She climbs onto the chair and settles with the fish between her paws, radiating wounded dignity. "He can stay. This time."
I scratch behind her ears as she eats, and she allows it with the air of someone granting a tremendous favor.
Luca watches the whole exchange with an expression caught between confusion and wonder. "Does she always get fish?"
"She demands it." Lyra passes the bread basket around the table. "We've learned it's easier to provide fish than listen to the complaints."
Cali pulls the fish closer beneath her paws. "I could ask for two."
Dinner continues. The conversation flows around Luca without demanding anything from him, and slowly, bite by bite, he empties his bowl. Lyra refills it without comment. He doesn't object.
Suki mentions the road from the south, the mud near the waypoint where traders often rest. Thea asks if anyone heard about the merchant who got stuck there last month.
Luca's spoon stops moving.
I notice immediately. The color drains from his face, and his hand reaches toward the shield on the stool beside him.
I set my spoon down before its clatter can startle him. "Luca?"
He keeps his fingers hooked over the shield. "That resting place. There's an old waystation northeast of it. I thought it was empty."
The table goes quiet.
Luca pushes his bowl away, leaving the last mouthful. "That's where they kept me. Before I got out."
Kept him. My hand tightens on the table. He walked all the way here from a place he had to escape.
Mira sets down her bread, her weathered face very still. "How long?"
Luca rubs his thumb against the shield's rim. "I don't know. Long enough to stop counting."
Suki's ears flatten against her head. Thea has stopped eating entirely.
I want to ask questions. I want to know everything, every detail that might help me understand who did this and why. But Luca is shaking now, his whole body trembling with the effort of holding himself together.
There will be time for questions later. Right now, he needs something else.
I lean forward across the table, keeping my hands where he can see them. "We'll find out what happened. I can't promise it'll be fast, but I can promise we'll try."
Luca looks at me with those grey, haunted eyes. "Why? You don't owe me anything."
Don't I? Someone did this to him. Someone sealed him and kept him and made him believe he was nothing. If I can help undo even part of that damage, how is that not my responsibility?
I leave my hand on the table instead of reaching for him. "I want you to have somewhere to stay. You don't have to explain everything tonight."
He stares at me for a long moment. Then, slowly, he nods.
Cali finishes her fish and jumps down from her chair. She crosses to Luca and butts her head against his knee before climbing into his lap, settling against his chest with a proprietary air.
Luca looks down at her, startled. His hand hovers over her back, uncertain.
Cali wedges herself between his elbow and his chest. "Keep that arm there. I'm slipping."
He doesn't stop shaking. But his hand comes down to rest on her back, tentative at first, then more firmly. Some of the trembling eases.
Lyra catches my eye across the table. Her expression says everything I'm feeling. Anger. Grief. Determination.
Someone did this deliberately. Someone kept Luca in an abandoned waystation and broke him on purpose.
And somewhere northeast of the south road, there might be answers.
[ROYAL HEALTHGuest: Fed.Bed: Available.Treatment: Still pending.No, dinner did not break the seal. It did get him to eat. Let that count for something before you start asking questions again.]
I pass Luca the bread. The waystation can wait until he is ready to tell us more.