(no subject)

[thewidewideworld]

{from here}

Sinric takes Athelstan's hand and leads him through an almost invisible door and down a couple of seemingly perfectly flat hallways that somehow open out onto the rooftop and a little flat terrace with a view of the eastern sky.

Sinric clearly spends some time up here because the spot is furnished with a daybed big enough to lay on or for two to sit together comfortingly and is draped with soft furry blankets of a cloth unknown in their time.

He helps Athelstan to the daybed and sits with him, setting the flask aside for now. The stars are still clear in the sky, even as dawn smudges the horizon with warmth.

Comments

[thewidewideworld]

He shakes his head. "I know you and Ragnar would never do anything to harm me, or to frighten me without cause. Sometimes the fear comes on me caused by nothing, suddenly like a shock. I would never blame you for that."

[athelstanthescribe]

"Even so", he insists gently, "you're not to hide it. We'll want to know, so we can soothe you."

[thewidewideworld]

"If you will do the same for me?" He asks softly. "And let me help as best I can."

[athelstanthescribe]

"I promise." He turns to look into Sinric's eyes. "Your best help has been very good so far."

[thewidewideworld]

Sinric kisses him again, soft and sweet. "However I can help, I will."

[athelstanthescribe]

"The only thing missing", Athelstan says with sudden sadness, "is Ragnar."

[thewidewideworld]

A sadness Sinric shares. He rests a hand over Athelstan's heart. "He is here."

[athelstanthescribe]

"And he always will be. But it aches to see him."

[thewidewideworld]

"I hope I can bring you to each other soon." He sighs, saddened to see them apart.

[athelstanthescribe]

"That will depend on the door, and how long each of us can stay before the restlessness sets in."

[thewidewideworld]

Sinric nods, wishing there was some other way.

He stokes Athelstan's hair. "Until that day, you must rest and make yourself well. The better to enjoy his company."

[athelstanthescribe]

"I'm already stronger than I was", he says hopefully. "Perhaps after all I might get back to full health."

[thewidewideworld]

"You will. I have faith in that." He rests a hand on Athelstan's sleeve. "As strong as you feel now, you will be stronger still in time."

[athelstanthescribe]

He makes a face at the sleeve itself.

"I'll be glad never to see these robes again, when the time comes. Though their insistence that I be what I was does get me the treatment of an infirm brother."

[thewidewideworld]

"Then shed them." Sinric urges gently. "I will fetch you fresh clothes before we go back down. You need not wear them here."

[athelstanthescribe]

"Yes", he agrees readily. "Yes, I will."

[thewidewideworld]

Sinric rises to help Athelstan out of his clothes, keeping the blankets around them to keep the slight chill of the day out.

[athelstanthescribe]

He sits up and raises his arms to let Sinric pull the robes off over his head.

[thewidewideworld]

Sinric folds the robe and sets them aside for later. Athelstan will need them again but not for now. He rests his hand on the from on Athelstan's linen undershirt. "This too?"

[athelstanthescribe]

"Yes, that too", he says with a nod. "It isn't mine."

[thewidewideworld]

He helps Athelstan out of that too, and his pants if he wills it. His own clothes are too small for Athelstan so he can't share them. He does snuggle down next to him under the pile of furs and blankets under the warm sun.

[athelstanthescribe]

Athelstan lets the pants go easily, warm enough with the coverings and the sun and body heat.

"They can't make me change back. And when I'm free, I shall throw these in the ocean."

[thewidewideworld]

Sinric smiles and strokes Athelstan's bare and beautiful shoulders. "They can't. They will never have that power over you."

[athelstanthescribe]

"Not when I know the love and home that waits for me. If I had nothing to look to... but I don't."

[thewidewideworld]

He cups Athelstan's cheek and draws him up gently to look him in the eye. "You have hope. And that hope is a shield against the despair that whispers in your ear in the very depths of the night." He speaks from experience of his own.