The Eighth Son

Third

Renon;
Eren came down late for supper, as always. "Hey, runt! We saved you some bread!" He pursed his lips, not bothering to answer.

"Renon!" Mam scolded me. She pushed a plate across the table to Eren, like she did every night, because our brothers wouldn't have left him a bone. "Breen, you have dishes tonight."

He groaned. "Make Talon do it. He's older...."

"Make Breen do it," Talon replied. "He's younger."

"Then make Skolan do it!" Breen shot back.

"I'll do it,"Eren said quietly.

"Make sure you don't drop them. They weigh a pound or two."

"Shut up, Adron," Roden said.

You wouldnt defend him if you knew the truth, I thought.

"I won't," Eren replied evenly.

"Thank you, Eren," Mam said, glaring at Adron.
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When we finished the silent meal, Eren got up to wash the bowls from our stew and the others left the room, belching noisily.

"If only your father could hear you," Mam muttered under her breath as she went upstairs.

I carried some utensils over to the trough of water and began rubbing them clean. Eren glanced at me, then kept working.

"Have you been possessed?" he asked me. "It's not like you to be...helpful."

"Maybe I'm just in a good mood..... Or maybe I want to talk to you."

"About what? Are you going to scold me for missing ridanne too?"

"No. Just want to remind you that seventh day is soon."

He faltered, then kept scrubbing. "Why does that matter to me? I will not be seeing Roden off."

"You know what I mean, Seer." He dropped the bowl he was drying and it clattered to the floor.

"Told you he'd drop it!" Adron yelled from the yard.

"How do you know that?" he asked softly.

"Vertraen isn't the only one who's been talking to the Varlas."

"What do you want?"

"Maybe I just care about the runt of the litter."

"And maybe I'm the son of a tap dancing Irish gnome."

"I like Roden a lot more than you. If he goes with the Seeker, he will die. And it will be for fault. You need to tell him when he comes. Or you'll have more to worry about than missed ridanne." Before he could answer, I left the room.