A/N: These are a few drabbles, close to the 200 word mark. I wrote them a few weeks ago when I wasn't feeling so great. Any more drabbles will be added to this.
Disclaimer: I don't own anything you recognise as Tamora Pierce's.
A Song To Say Goodbye.
Gary ignored the wind tugging insistently at his tunic, like he ignored that ache somewhere inside him. It was a traitorous ache.
From his balcony he could see down into the courtyard and could watch the men move around, one man in particular.
His friend was leaving the palace to travel south. It was one goodbye, but it marked other, less physical goodbyes. Times were changing. He had said his own goodbye to his Aunt and Uncle, and he was preparing to say farewell to the cousin he knew. Jon would have to become King now, and leave the man in the shadows.
He knew he would have to adapt too. Gone were the days when jests, border patrols and courting the latest beauty were all he had to think of: he would have to say goodbye to the old him and welcome his new duties.
It wasn't only himself and Jonathan that would be changing. Gary gripped the balustrade until his knuckles showed white as he watched Raoul ride out of the palace gates. He feared how different his friend might be when he returned; he feared how different he might be.
That goodbye- to that friendship- was one he never wanted to make.
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