You Owe Me a Son

Rain.

The early morning breeze was refreshing in the summer heat. The chirp of birds in the surrounding trees and the animals hiding in the foliage were relaxing, no sounds of war, no sounds of death. Hal was up early as usual, part of his new routine. His morning consisted of collecting logs for fires, repairing parts of a rundown barn and tending to the little livestock that had been purchased along with the land. A different life to what he had been used to, what they had both been used to. No violence.

Hal spent the majority of the days keeping himself busy, avoiding the wife he had arranged for following his service in the war. The adjustment had been more difficult than expected however the principle around the arrangement remained. Their interactions were often brief, sharing a table at dinner often without conversation. A month and there had been little change. Compared to war however the life of peace suited him greatly and no desire for violence remained.

With the animals seen to, Hal moved onto the roof repair of the house. A scaffold of logs, branches and crudely cut boards created the access for materials over old grey timber. Hal stood crouched against the roof with a hammer and nails, placing planks in position before the rythmic sound of a hammer ringing against metal nails echoed around the surrounding area.  Hal had hung up his sword belt in exchange for a belt, the only things resembling weapons were the hatchet he used for wood chopping and a short hunting knife. His hair was tied tightly at the back of his head, clean and cut neatly. Something he had grown fond of was the regular opportunity to bathe that war did not present. His beard was trimmed neatly, his clothes although they clung to his skin with sweat from working in the sun were clean for the most part. A white linen work shirt, laced loosely at the top, dark leather pants and worn leather boots. He held a nail between his teeth for ease each time he placed another board.

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Blaire lightly stirred in her sleep before slowly letting her eyes rise to an open. She let out a large yawn and turned over in the bed to find that Hal was gone. It wasn't unusual that her husband didn't stay long enough to see her wake, in fact he never had in the whole month they had been married. Of course it made things easier for her, but recently she had been feeling lonely.

She hated war and everything to do with it, but she enjoyed being surrounded by people, even if they were in pain, it took her mind off of her own dark thoughts. However, here in the countryside there was nowhere to run and no distractions. She didn't want to be the first one to break, but the silence between them was deafening.

She let out a heavy sigh and pushed herself up with a grunt, rubbing her eyes forcefully like a child and itching her black roots. She managed to shuffle over to their wardrobe before stopping and winching at a forceful banging sound coming from above. "You've got to be kidding me" she mumbled to herself in annoyance, now realising why she had woke so early and not at noon.

Blaire grabbed one of Hal's work tops and flung it over herself, not caring that her legs were on display. She stormed down the creaky staircase and exited the house with bare feet, tracking through the grass and mud until she could finally see the culprit perched on the roof. "Hal! Do you not think this could have waited until this afternoon, or did you just feel like pissing me off today?!" She shouted up at the man with her hand shielding her eyes from the sun raised behind him.

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Hal didn't stop at first, taking the nail from between his teeth before hammering it into place. Only then did he finally speak. "We've been fortunate enough to have good weather for now, but it's going to rain at some point. This needs to be done sooner rather than later...." He hadn't turned his head at first moving to arrange another plank in place. His voice had shown no sign of irritation, it had even hinted at a little humour.