The next morning, they teamed up against him. When Sebastian rose with the sun, he encouraged Fenris to get some sleep.
"Violet could use a little more, and so could you. We're safe here, and an easy day won't hurt us."
Fenris was tired; he let himself be persuaded.
When he rose, it was hours later. The sun was nearly overhead, and he was cross that they had let him sleep so late. Violet was sitting alone in their camp, slicing some sort of root with a silver knife.
"Sebastian is hunting," was her response to his query. "He made some snares and wanted to set them; he took his bow with him. I said it was a good idea. We need to feed him up; he's much too thin."
Fenris scowled, though he agreed with part of her statement. Sebastian was too thin. It was only that Fenris hadn't realized what was meant by "an easy day." Snares would be set out early to be checked in the evening, which meant they weren't going anywhere until tomorrow. He did not like the idea of staying too long in one place. But it seemed it wasn't up to him now.
"Fine," he said shortly. "I'll get water for tea."
He pulled the water skin from his pack and turned toward the lake.
"Fenris," Violet called. He paused, looking over his shoulder.
"I'll come with you," she said. It didn't sound like what she'd meant to say. She picked up a small pot that had been sitting beside her and joined him.
The woods were full of small sounds - birds chattering, squirrels skittering across the bark in the trees above, the soughing of the wind in the pine trees. When they reached the rocky verge, climbing across the boulders to the water's edge took some concentration, which was a good excuse for silence. At the edge of the water Fenris stooped to drink, using his hands as a cup. Violet stepped onto the far side of a rock which jutted out into the water and sat down. The pot lay beside her, forgotten. Fenris scooped up a second handful of water and splashed it onto his face. He dried himself with his shirt.
"I'm sorry I lost my temper yesterday," Violet said when he was done. She was looking out over the water, not at him. "I can't honestly have expected you to do any differently than you did."
"I... am sorry also," he said carefully. "It is an old argument. We are not likely to solve it soon."
She snorted. "True. But last night... what happens in my dreams isn't your fault. I'm not sure what's wrong with me lately." She reached up to twist her hair into a knot. She tugged it tight, but the moment she let go, it began to slowly unravel. "I guess I've lost my knack for dealing with them."
Either she did not notice that her hair was already falling down, or she did not care. He resisted the urge to fix it.
"Sebastian seems willing to help," he said instead.
"Sebastian's a bit presumptuous."
He raised an eyebrow in surprise, though she could not see it.
"It was your night to sleep," she added.
"I told him to go."
"So he said. But even so." She shifted so she could look at him. "Are you okay?"
His face grew warm. It was just the sun.
"I am fine. How should I be?"
"I'm not sure. There's been a lot happening in the past few days."
A sudden rustle and a whistling cry some twenty yards to their right them made them both start. It was only a bird fleeing her hiding place in the rushes by the water's edge. Her wings flapped rapidly as she took to the sky, but a moment later, she was tumbling down towards the water, an arrow in her breast.
Sebastian stepped from the trees near where she had fallen. His eye on his quarry, he sat to pull off his boots and socks and stripped off his shirt. He seemed unaware that his companions sat farther down the bank. He left his belongings on a rock, and stepped cautiously into the water. Fenris noticed that his back and shoulders were a lighter shade of gold where the sun did not usually touch.
"Well that's something you don't see every day," said Violet.
It took a moment for her words to penetrate. When he turned he found she was looking at him, not Sebastian. He shrugged, irritated.
She smiled anyway, as though he'd confirmed something. "You do fancy him a bit."
"I don't fancy anyone. A foolish expression."
Her smile only grew. "Not anyone? Even in Antiva?"
Fenris snorted and looked away. This, at least, was a familiar topic. "That was camouflage, not fancy."
Sebastian was swimming now. His arms were long and his strokes powerful. Fenris felt Violet watching him again, and turned his gaze resolutely to the far shore of the lake.
"Poor Rico," said Violet with a mock sigh. "He was so taken with you."
"I suffered enough teasing for that at Isabela's hands, thank you."
"So you did." There was laughter in her voice. "You can't really have expected her to hold back? You give her so little to work with."
A splash made him look back to Sebastian. He'd captured his quarry and made his way back to shore. Reaching the rocks, he pulled himself up on to the bank with one hand, the other holding the fallen bird. Water ran down his body in rivulets and dripped from his hair.
"Will you tell me," asked Violet, "if it bothers you?"
"There is nothing to be bothered about."
Sebastian spotted them at last. He lifted a hand before stooping to pick up his belongings. Fenris returned the salute and stood.
Behind him, Violet sighed. "That sounded suspiciously like a 'no.'"
Fenris did not answer. He was too busy choosing his footing with care as he crossed the slippery rocks on his way to meet Sebastian.
#
It felt like ages since Sebastian had been able to eat his fill, though in truth they'd only been on the road a few days. They'd roasted the snipe he'd shot over the fire, and his snares had caught a pair of rabbits, which they'd stewed with bulrush root and some of Violet's herbs. Of the bird, Violet ate only a small piece, saying she'd wait for rabbit. Fenris also took only a piece, muttering something about water birds tasting of fish and leaving him the lion's share. The stew they split a bit more evenly, but as it would be difficult to travel with it, they saved only enough for breakfast the next morning.
Now he sat with his back to a tree, carefully shaving bark from the fir sticks he'd picked up that afternoon for whittling into shafts. It had been a while since he'd taken the time to prepare his own arrows. Fir wood was adequate for shafts, heavy but naturally straight. He didn't have the proper tools to make them perfect, but they would be better than running out. It was exacting work, but the routine of it was familiar; he was content. More than he'd been in quite some time, honestly.
He thought as he worked, what a pity it was that they wouldn't have time to properly cure the rabbit skins. It would likely be cold crossing the mountains. The Vimmarks would make the hills they'd climbed this week look like the steps of Hightown, and once they reached the top there would be no protection from storms that blew in from the south. They had good wool cloaks, but he had a feeling he'd miss his fur-lined hood when the time came. Violet, too, might suffer, used as she was to heavier garments. Her linen shirt and trousers would be little help to her in a strong wind, even if she had mended the tears in the fabric. He had a vision of her russet cloak trimmed with brown fur, bringing out the warm tints of her eyes and the gold of her hair.
Of course, he remembered with a start, her hair wasn't gold anymore. She'd re-dyed it before they left, a dull, muddy brown. He still had trouble reconciling the woman he'd seen in the Chantry and the Viscount's palace with the one before him. Now she stooped over a campfire, minding the roots in the coals by turning them periodically with her bare fingers. Her hair was pulled back in a messy tail and she had soot on one cheek.
As though she felt him watching, she looked up. When she raised one eyebrow, his smile only grew.
"They'll keep better this way," she said.
"And you couldn't use a stick to turn them because...?"
"Too slow." She wiped her fingers on her shirt before licking them to cool them. "Singed fingers heal easily enough."
Across the way, Fenris snorted. Violet made a face at him and turned back to the fire. Sebastian was glad to see that they'd smoothed out their differences during the day. As much as he'd enjoyed his time alone in the woods — more than he'd expected, though he had always loved to hunt — his primary goal had been to give them some time alone for talk. There was a long and complicated history between them, one that he'd only scratched the surface of. He cared for them both, had cared for them even before everything had fallen apart. Now that all was forgiven, he was indebted to them even more. If Violet was right about having a purpose, perhaps helping them was what he was here to do. It was clear there was genuine affection there, even if Fenris struggled to show it. He hoped they'd be guided by that in the days to come.
