The Autobiography of Gayle Hunter

Daughter of a Hunter and a Smith

It was a busy evening in the tavern.  It often was, I suppose, but that night felt...busier.  Mourn wasn't sitting too far from me, but our conversations rarely overlapped, others coming and going, bringing new of adventures and trials and odd happenings...  Never a dull moment.

But then it did quiet a little, and he was looking at me, and before I could duck my head, he was smiling gently and saying, "We really do have a lot to talk about, don't we," and it wasn't really a question.

I laughed, almost, and said, "We probably do."  The others had mostly moved off to their own conversations, or else taken their leave entirely.  "We could..."  I nodded slightly to the door to the courtyard.  "Now, if you want?"

"I suppose we could," he said, tilting his head in thought.  "Is that something you'd like?"

I laughed, ducking my head.  "Neither of us is going to—  Yes, I...I rather would."

"Well, then."  He stood, and waited for me to rise, and we stepped out into the night together.

I sat on one of the benches by the fountain, settling my lute in my lap, considering if I should perhaps play something...but the distant murmur of other conversations and the buzzing chorus of insects seemed...right, to be the only sounds now.  I raised a hand to my face.  The illusion fell away.

There was the slightest movement beside me, and I caught his smile growing just a touch, and I turned my hand to shield my face, ducking my head away with the breath of a laugh.  "You're going to make me—  Well, I suppose I—  Heavens."  I let my hand down to rest on the lute's strings, but I didn't yet look up.

Mourn laughed—quiet, sheepish.  "Sorry, my apologies.  I...I just..."  A beat.  "I...guess I just find it nice that you don't even ask anymore.  I can't imagine there are many you show your true form to without hesitation."

"...No, there's not...  It...it didn't feel right to keep it."

"Well, I'm certainly not complaining."  There was a smile in his voice, a hint of laughter, and the laughter faded, turning gently sincere.  "It feels more genuine this way, like I get a glimpse of the real you.  It's nice."  A pause.  "You never did answer my question, before we were interrupted in there.  How have you been?"

I'd relaxed by then, comfortable again.  "I've been all right.  Nothing much has happened to me."

"That's good.  Too much excitement isn't always a good thing."

"Indeed..."

"But in the end, there never is a dull moment," Mourn said, a teasing note to his tone.  (Or did Lyn say it?  I couldn't say.)

I only laughed quietly, and nodded.

"I must say, though...you've been making some daring choices of late either way.  While Anna's been rightfully hesitant, you seem keen to engage with me.  I'd say that's plenty exciting."

"...I never did make good choices where my heart was involved."  A pause.  "Or...safe choices.  They've turned out all right so far."

He looked at me, and nodded a little.  There was the whispering rush of insects, the burbling gulps of the fountain...  "You know, I never did get to ask last time," Mourn said, or Lyn did.  "Everything was so...emotional.  But I do think it's important now: what would you have me call you?  In private, of course; your secrets are your own.  But, I'd like to know how you'd like me to refer to you, if that's not too much to ask?"

"Oh.  I think...I don't know.  When I..."  I reached to my face, bone brushing bone.  "When I'm...back, Gayle.  For now...for now I might be Gaul."  A pause, a moment's thought.  "You could use either, though, I think.  If you prefer one."