➝ @novilunes said: "I saw him today," said with practiced, casual neutrality often afforded to others — not to her. It is anything but, the weight lingering behind the words, glinting in blue eyes that study Astrid keenly. There is a pause before Eadwulf says the name, though she would know without the clarification; they knew he was in the city even before, and there is no other name that would warrant from him such caution. "Bren."
"With his... friends." The stillness denounces his discomfort, though the mixed feelings are held tightly in his chest. It had been a brief thing; it should not disconcert him this much. It does, nevertheless; he forces himself to move, shift for a more comfortable position in Astrid's couch, but the gesture is stiff. "Did he — has he contacted you at all?"
She was too practised to react to his words, the raise of her eyes in his direction as casual as if it were genuine calm that moved them. They both knew it was not. Indeed, he might have already gleaned her answer before she so much as said a single word. No, Bren had not contacted her. He had not said a word to either of them, snuck back into the city with new ' friends ' and a new life as if they meant NOTHING to him, as if he had a right to be here again without acknowledging why he had left them in the first place. All this pain and he expected them to look the other way? He could not possibly be this stupid. He must have hoped to anger them.
The pain that surged through her chest, somewhere deep within she had believed forgotten a long time ago, felt like razor wire across naked skin, like trying to grasp a lightning bolt in the middle of a storm. The intensity surprised her, the way the scar on her face began to itch INFURIATED her. Coming back alone had been insult enough, but to return with new people? Did they even know they were traveling with the lost protégé of one master Ikithon? A murderer, a traitor, a lover. " He has not attempted to contact me, no. " It was a simple response, every word spoken as neutral as could be but he would know the pain behind them, the hurt over being ignored by the man they had loved most, still loved? She should have seen it coming of course. They had known Bren had escaped, that he was still out there and when he had inevitably ended up right back where he started, in the middle of the world's focus, between politics and intrigues, they had been one of the FIRST to hear about it. And yet all she could do was cling to her training in an effort to swallow the rage and sorrow that threatened to claw their way out of her throat.
She was shaking ever so slightly, fingers pressed into the edge of her seat as she forced herself to dismiss it all, to stay focused on the task at hand. No doubt they would be called to deal with their old partner. It would only be a question of if he was going to be brought back into the fold or if they were to spill his blood across the very streets they had travelled together once. " Did he see you? Did you talk to him? "
