Ember took a deep breath, tucking her chin down further into her jacket. She was tired, cold and wet. She hunched her shoulders, shoving her hands tighter under her arms. The rain was pouring down. Dustfinger stood by her side, also soaking wet, water dripping from his hair. Neither one of them had moved for what felt like an hour. Water was starting to drip down Ember's neck.
They had tried to figure out the best course of action, but plainly, they couldn't risk waking up Silvertongue's child. Ember could just imagine knocking on the door and having the little girl answer. So Dustfinger decided that they should wait, and wait they did. Then the rain started, it got colder and they continued to wait. The front of the house was more sheltered, but they would have been seen by everyone and anyone - and that was another risk they couldn't take. Ember clenched her jaw. Dustfinger looked so still beside her. He was like a statue, Ember could barely see that he was breathing. Gwin was chattering inside the rucksack, the martin was clearly unhappy at the cold, damp weather. They watched the house, waiting on - waiting for some movement, anything to signal that they might now be noticed and they could get inside and shelter from the rain.
Finally there was movement in one of the windows. It was the girl. Meggie. Damn it. She was at her window, with something in her hands - she struck a match, the soft light casting a glow on her young face, then she looked out and saw them. Her eyes widened and she blew the match out, running from the room. Well, Silvertongue would know they were there soon. After a short break, little Meggie and another figure - her father, Mortimer, the silvertongue - stood behind her. Both firedancers watched as his face fell and he spoke to his daughter, presumably sending her back to bed before they disappeared from the window.
They waited. The front door was opened. "Dustfinger? Ember? Is that you?"
Ember glanced at Dustfinger and he nodded, rolling his shoulders and started making his way to the front of the house. Ember followed, thankful for some dry warmth. Dustfinger blocked her view as she came round the front, she could barely see Silvertongue past him; not that that bothered her overly much. She shrugged her soaked coat tighter around her shoulders.
Dustfinger stepped inside the house and she followed, watching as he attempted to wipe his face dry with his jacket sleeve. He offered Dustfinger a hand to shake and said, "How are you Silvertongue? It's been a long time" his voice was thick with his mocking tone. Dustfinger had lost a lot of sympathy over the years.
Silvertongue seemed nervous, but shook his hand all the same. Ember watched in silence - she didn't want to shake his hand. "A very long time" he mumbled, glancing over the Fire Dancers' shoulders back out into the night, as he continued to watch out, he said distractedly, "Come in, you'll catch your death." Ember scoffed quietly, but Silvertongue continued as if she hadn't made a sound, "Meggie says you've been standing out there for some time"
As he spoke he began to lead them through the house towards his workshop, past the staircase where little Meggie was standing awkwardly. The two strangers in her house stared back at her studying her with a hint of curiosity. Dustfinger and Ember, she thought, judging that the former was the man and the latter the woman - their names sounded familiar somehow, though she was sure she;d never seen these people before. Their presense had somehow made the house feel very crowded. She tried to figure out their relation to one another, they clearly weren't a couple - the right age for a father and daughter, but they looked nothing alike; even though their hair was soaked and difficult to distinguish the colour of, the woman's hair didn't seem to match up with the thin, scruffy beard on the man's face; their features didn't match either, she had fine, sharp features, almost angular, while his face was softer, rounder, though it still held a hint of roughness about it; their build was entirely different too, the woman had long limbs, with hints of strong muscles under her soaked clothing, while the man, although he was quite tall, he was more stocky, his shoulders were a bit squared, though his chest wasn't muscular enough to make up for his shoulders width, and from the way his clothes hung off him, Meggie thought that maybe once he'd been bigger built than he was now. She wanted to get a better look, but between their looks and her father telling her to go back to bed, she didn't think she'd have that chance. But what did these two people want with Mo? Why would they need a book binder? And why in the middle of the night?
Dustfinger smiled ever so slightly at the mention of the little girl, "Yes, Meggie, of course. She's grown"
"You remember her?" Silvertongue asked.
"Of course. How old is she now?" asked Dustfinger, giving the girl a smile. She didn't smile in return, making Ember laugh quietly.
"She's twelve"
"Twelve? My word" Ember said, the slightest hint of mocking in her voice, "Nearly as old as I was when we first met" Meggie thought that last sentence held a subtle malice, but she couldn't figure out why.
"...Um, yes" he nodded awkwardly,
"Twelve," Dustfinger repeated, "Of course, she would have been, let's see... three then. No?"
Silvertongue nodded, "Come on, I'll get you something hot to drink" he said, almost impatiently, like he wanted them out of the way of his daughter. There was so much tension in the air, so many repressed and subdued feeling was putting the Silvertongue and his daughter at unease. Why did these two strangers seem to be more comfortable in their home than they themselves did?
Silvertongue held open the door and told them to go inside, before looking back at his daughter and telling her, "You go back to sleep."
Dustfinger sat down, making himself at home, while Ember stood, hands in her trouser pockets while her eyes browsed the room. Silvertongue shut the door, turning and looking at the pair. Ember didn't bother looking at him, she was more interested in studying the various colours of paper he had stacked on a bench, "You know she isn't going to go to bed" she told him bluntly, he didn't say anything so Ember then turned her attention to the man "I should know, I was a curious child too - it can be dangerous to be curious Silvertongue."
He swallowed painfully, a lump having risen to his throat. He addressed Dustfinger, though he watched Ember from the corner of is eye, "Why are you here?"
Ember stopped paying attention then, letting the two men speak as she examined the tools that had been left out on a separate bench. She had no interest in being there, no real interest in giving Silvertongue a warning of what was to come. She'd grown toxically bitter since the day she had met the man, she had no pity, no sympathy for him - he brought this upon himself. But Mo listened quietly as Dustfinger informed him of what was going on. The bookbinder felt the panic rise in his chest - he'd managed to keep himself and Meggie out of this for so long, and now? It was coming back for him. Capricorn was coming back for him.
He sighed, harshly, making Ember's head snap round to look at him, her fingers still on one of the small, shiny tools. "Thank you" he muttered to Dustfinger, running a hand through his dark hair, "Um, I'll get you both towels and I'll put the kettle on" he said as he turned and left the room. Before the door shut again, Dustfinger and Ember heard him tell his daughter once again to go back to sleep - and her protests; "Send them away, Mo. Please! Send them away. I don't like them" Ember glared at the door, as if she could see through it and watch the conversation. A few moments of silence passed, them Silvertongue returned with two warm towels, which he handed to Dustfinger before going to make them both some tea to warm them up a little.
"Here" Dustfinger said, passing a towel to Ember.
"Thanks" she mumbled, taking it off him. She shrugged off her soaked coat and over shirt, folding them over a chair where they started to drip onto the floor. She leant forward, flipping her hair over so it hung down in front of her as she towelled it off - her hair a little wavy as it began to dry, though soon enough it would be poker straight again. She stood straight, flipping her hair back behind her and putting the towel down. Quickly she started tightly braiding her hair, as she did Dustfinger watched, making a vague attempt to dry off his own. He could see she was uneasy and uncomfortable in the house, but they needed to do this - it would be worth it. It had to be.
Silvertongue returned with a tray of mugs, sitting it down and letting them take a mug each. He picked up the conversation where he'd stopped it and Ember let her mind wander - it wandered all the way home again, not like it hadn't done that before. She let it wander, imagining things that she would often imagine, shops that would have opened since they left, others that had closed, children that had been born, men who could have died; how her adopted sisters would look now, how Roxanne would look... how Marriatt would look...
Silvertongue raised his voice, stopping Ember's thoughts in their tracks. Silently she sipped on her tea, watching on. Dustfinger, of course, was staying perfectly calm - sipping his tea in between comments. She watched on, barely following the conversation, waiting for Dustfinger to finish his tea so they could leave. But soon he did, sitting his mug back on the tray and standing up. Immediately, Ember stood too, putting down her half finished mug beside her and pulling her damp shirt and jacket back on. Even as Silvertongue showed them out, Dustfinger kept the conversation going, making sure Silvertongue's daughter could heard, making sure that something would have to be done. Dustfinger had become a better lier since we'd been trapped here, a better manipulator, but that didn't mean he felt less guilty about it.
Ember picked up the conversation, organising for them to come back tomorrow. Silvertongue told them to come at half past one in the afternoon. She nodded. Silvertongue held the door open for them, Dustfinger went first, then Ember, they stopped just outside the door and said good night. Silvertongue offered Ember a hand shake, and she shoved her hands deep in her pockets, saying only, "We'll see you tomorrow"