Out of the City [Gil and Mael]

[Mael Leblanc]

I should have known better than to think he would accept an oath like that. Had he not said that he regarded us as equals from the very beginning?

"Friends it is, then," I agreed. "Now, we'd best pay this lady-friend of yours a visit, eh?" I tied my blindfold in place again, once more hiding my ruined sockets from the rest of the world. "Now, where is my horse?"

"You're going to ride with me, Mael," Adrien was using that sort of tone that tolerated no disagreement.

"I'm not a child, Adrien!" I retorted.

"We're wasting time!" He snarled. "Kali-ma's cunt, Mael! I'm certain the last thing m'lord needs is to hear you resume your whining!"

"But--" Godsdammit, that man's logic was impenetrable. "Fine, but I can ride back on my own..." If we managed to live that long. I had heard reports of increased banditry in the wake of the war, and I hoped for our sake that we managed to avoid most of them.

[Gillermo Stregazza]

At long last, we were getting moving, and I would have lied if I had said I wasn't relieved. I found a smile for them both, now profoundly amused at the altercation. I was growing fond of them both. It felt a bit like a betrayal, to think that there was a man who might one day take, in my life, the place of my missing Jebean friend – but the emotion was there nonetheless, true and complete, and as treacherous as it felt, it was heartening, too.

“If I have my way,” I said, jesting as I put my coat back on and walked back to Strider, who had witnessed the exchange while placidly grazing, “you will return in a carriage, with a maiden to coddle your whims and ale to make you sing,” I teased. “The both of you.”

I hopped on my trusty stallion's back, then, and waited for them to be ready. I felt, suddenly, like I could take on the world – even in its greatest fury, even Mirielle's anger. Friendship was giving me heart.

Continued here.