(no subject)

[thewidewideworld]

{From here}

Sinric leans Athelstan into their rooms. It's clear he hasn't slept there either. Even the mead cup sits on the table when he left it.

He draws Athelstan towards the bathroom. "Will you bathe with me?" His voice is soft and gentle. "Your clothes smell rather strongly of goat."

Comments

[thewidewideworld]

He nods. "I can't leave him. Not until I must. I be at his side till his final breath." It is a promise made to the core of his being.

"Castor will go with him, unless some reason binds him to stay behind. If he does not, it will be one of his lieutenants; all of whom I trust." And trust is not something he gives lightly any more. "I had thought to bring Castor into my confidence but... I don't know how to tell him what I know without explaining how I know it."

[athelstanthescribe]

"Are there any in the city known and trusted as seers?"

[thewidewideworld]

"Such things are outlawed in a Christian city. Witchcraft and magic are tools of the devil."

[athelstanthescribe]

"Yes", he agrees sadly. "Even the wise women who only mean to help may be accused, though often a blind eye may be turned there."

[thewidewideworld]

"And predicting the death of the Emperor is high treason." He shakes his head. "Castor is a good man and a dear friend. I can't help but wonder if I might be better to simply tell the truth. As strange as it seems, he might believe me."

[athelstanthescribe]

Athelstan considers that.

"It's a risk. But even if he thought you were going mad, surely he could never suspect you of plotting the emperor's death."

[thewidewideworld]

"No, that he would never do. But he might try to prevent that which cannot be changed."

[athelstanthescribe]

"There'd be nothing he could do until the very last moment", he says thoughtfully. "Keep Constantine from being wounded."

[thewidewideworld]

"But he would try. And I fear perhaps lose his own life in the trying."

[athelstanthescribe]

"I know it's hard to bear that knowledge alone."

But.

[thewidewideworld]

"It would be harder not to know. To heard the bells toll across the city as they carried his body to Hagia Sophia for burial. I have often wondered how that would feel. How the day would look when all my world ended."

[athelstanthescribe]

"And you won't get to see it", he says, soft and sad. "Unless you could disguise yourself somehow."

[thewidewideworld]

"No. If things had been different, if I hadn't seen it coming from so far and known I had a life to lead and look forward to, I might have thrown myself from the palace walls."

[athelstanthescribe]

"I'm glad you didn't", he says simply.

[thewidewideworld]

"I'm glad that in a bar full of people, I found you and Ragnar and chose you for myself as lovers. Or I might never have known I had a reason to live on past that day."

[athelstanthescribe]

"It was fated. No one else could have told you about your future, after all."

[thewidewideworld]

"Fate indeed." Sinric smiles, almost to himself.

[athelstanthescribe]

He smiles back, small and fleeting.

"You had to live to complete the circle."

[thewidewideworld]

Sinric nods and smiles back, just as tightly. "Just so."

{ooc: shall we fade somewhere soon?}

[athelstanthescribe]

[ooc: I think that works?]