He heard the cry, familiar to him despite never truly hearing the boy call to him. It sounded like him, or perhaps it was simply his imagination and his hopefulness. Half of him was sure that Ahiga was going to show up. The other half was exceptionally negative, thinking, knowing that the boy was not going to listen to him. He had absolutely no reason to listen to his once upon a time uncle. He was a stranger, a man who showed up and ordered him out of his home in Casa. He had come to get him away from a man unfit for a relationship, and he could not expect that the boy would listen to him at all. He would never listen to a man who had come to do the same to him, especially at an age akin to Ahiga. But when he heard the call for him, the Dauphin felt his heart race. Had the boy actually listened to him?
He left off what he was doing, cleaning off a rabbit skin in the kitchen of the Hotel. He wished that the kitchen had windows, but there was only the windows opening up to the empty ballroom. No air permeated through the hotel, except for members lucky enough to open windows. The few doors open in the ballroom barely coaxed a breeze. Strel gazed out at the empty ballroom, the dusty floor and furrowed his brows at it. Then he glanced down to the blood coating his fingers and the dead hare laying on the recently cleaned counter top. It was skinless and the fur no longer on its body was matted with the dried blood. It would have to wait until later, but at least the creature was gutted and it's organs laying discretely near the fence and behind a tree, covered by dried leaves. It was what he named a compost heap. Right now it was just a pile of dead material from the animals he had caught and reeked, but at least it was out of sight.
A bucket full of fresh water stood outside the hotel, and the Dauphin drenched his hands in the water, turning it a red-pink. He had hoped to washed the pelt and set it trying, tanning, in the sun with the others. He had caught himself fat hares, a fantastic haul for a man who barely hunted for himself. There were three other rabbit skins hanging to dry in the sun, though he was sure once he'd dried them he'd just give the rest to Niro. He knew nothing about tanning hide and left it to the professional. The smell of the uncooked meat hung onto him, and he wrinkled his forehead at it, choosing to rush to the border rather than scrub away the scent in a nearby river. It was just faster this way, and he was sure that Ahiga would be hungry.
He came to the border, and saw the boy with all his things about him. Two horses? He thought he had only one. Though glancing at one of the horses showed that Ahiga had not traveled lightly, and all his things seemed bundled on that horse's back. "So you did show up. I figured you'd run away, just to spite me." Strel smiled serenely, smugly almost.
Photo taken by Fergal of Claddagh. Table style inspired by Kitty.
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