Sons of Ironstorm - Book 4: Griffon's Stand

Realizations and Answers

The young Wielder had barely settled himself before:

<<That's an unpleasant look,>> Tamaryn softly pointed out as she stepped out from behind the tub to gracefully sit herself down on a small stool near the other end. The powerful human favored her with a quick glance, a small part of him impressed that the sea elf managed to reach his side almost as fast as Dezi had. He could only hope she didn't have a similar message for him.

In looking at her, Shawn saw that one possible explanation Tamaryn had managed to get here so quickly was that she had obviously come straight from their impromptu meeting out in the courtyard as the young Merisin hadn't yet taken Shawn up on his charge to rest and get something to eat. Despite still being clothed in scale armor and mud, her hair matted with perspiration and filth, the Ironstorm prince found her almost irresistibly desirable.

<<Fostered by an unpleasant realization,>> Shawn admitted, using the force of will to wipe both his surging desire from his body and the dark look from his face. In its place, he plastered a wan smile. <<Come to lecture me further on my thoughtlessness?>>

Tamaryn's answering smile was mischievous.

<<No,>> she replied playfully, her eyes drinking in the sight of him. <<I'd say by the size of that bruise growing on your jaw, you've been lectured enough for one day. Tangled with a copperback, did you?>>

Shawn chuckled wryly as he lifted a dripping hand to rub at the rapidly purpling mark Dezi had left on the side of his face. He could heal it with a rune but, for some reason, he didn't want to. Perhaps it would serve as a reminder of sorts. Perhaps ...

<<Aye, one with a shock of white hair,>> he admitted before seriousness returned in a rush. <<But she, my brother and Lady Jaeda all have made points I'm forced to consider, even in the shadow of my recent escape from the lords of the Abyss.>>

Tamaryn leaned forward to fold her arms over the tub's wooden edge, resting her head on top of them to gaze at him wide-eyed.

<<Tell me, my love,>> she quietly urged. <<I'm a good listener.>>

<<Aye, that you are.>> Shawn smiled in fond remembrance before sobering once again. <<To tell you the truth, Tam, I think I deserve much more than a mere bruise on my jaw for a fault I've been forced to admit I have.>> When the beautiful Merisin chose not to comment on the flat statement, Shawn pushed on.

<<You see, I've discovered that starting with the Sunara attack before the Trials in Aerlorn and ending with my capture by the lords of the Abyss a tenday ago, I've let my reactions govern my forward path while claiming destiny and fate controlled me. Fate has become my excuse for everything that I do.>> He paused, looking down into the steaming water.

<<Or do not do.>>

<<You have a powerful fate, my love,>> Tamaryn interjected to gently point out. <<You'll save our world, our very existence.>>

<<Aye, but it doesn't give me the right to abdicate all thought, reason, and responsibility for my own life,>> Shawn looked up to tightly counter. <<While the Utterance tells me what I am and what I'll accomplish, it doesn't tell me how I'll do it. It doesn't tell me what to learn, what to practice, how to speak. Not even what kind of man I should be.>> His momentary frustrated fire spent, Shawn's gaze fell back down to the water's surface and its lazily coiling ribbons of rising steam.

<<Yet I've let it. I react, Tam, when I should be acting. And, in doing so, yield up thought and consideration of those around me. Like you, and the rest of the Covenant.>> His face tightened.