Disclaimer: Liam and Alanna are not mine, I'm just playing with them. They and the rest of the SotL crew belong to the lovely and talented Tamora Pierce.
Title: Fear
Character(s): Liam Ironarm and Alanna of Trebond and Olau
Word Count: 279
Summary: "What blood and bone are made of but can themselves not make on any altar nor by any wound of war. What we may well believe has power to cut and shape and hollow out the dark form of the world surely if wind can, if rain can. But which cannot be held never be held and is no flower but is swift and a huntress and the wind itself is in terror of it and the world cannot lose it." – Cormac McCarthy's 'The Crossing'
He has never been comfortable with magic. It makes his hands shake and his face pale and cold sweat stream down his body and he half fears it and half hates it. It's unnatural, and it goes against everything the Shang taught him. It smacks of cheating, of laziness – both things he has been raised to despise. But she is neither and he is drawn to her despite himself. She's a Gifted Knight, but she hates to use it in any way that could be seen as a crutch. It makes her life easier, to be sure, and it has no doubt saved her on more than one occasion, and he is grateful for that, of course, because then he might never have met her. Still, he cannot come to terms with her Gift and he knows it will be their end. And knowing this, he does all he can to deny it, tries to pretend it doesn't exist and she, Gods all bless her, indulges him. She doesn't use it around him, doesn't talk about it, and he loves her for trying and hates himself for refusing to accept something that is so clearly in her, something forces it's way into the forefront of his mind every time he looks into those unnaturally colored eyes and pretends they can be together. He hates himself for stringing her along, for stringing them both along, for the glimpses he is giving himself of a future he knows will never be. It is part of her and it is part of their world, and he cannot control it – but he can try to control his fear for a little while longer.
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