Brendyn Michael Forlorn's Arc

Chapter 5 of 5

The stranger set down two bowls and led Brendyn outside. A short path wound past the garden to a quiet rise of stone steps between the trees. They sat on the worn edge, bowls balanced on their knees. The morning was cool. Brendyn's leg ached, but he stayed. He shifted to reach his spoon, and the ring slipped from his coat pocket. It struck the stone with a small, bright sound. Not the river stone he carried as a token — the other one. The delicate band with the pale blue stone, the one he had kept hidden under the rougher ring for years. The stranger looked down at it. They did not pick it up. They did not look away either. "That was hers," Brendyn said. He did not say the name. He set his spoon back in the bowl. "I carry two. One I show. One I don't." The stranger was quiet a long moment. Then they stood and walked a few steps to a weathered glass case mounted on a post beside the path. Inside sat a small clay jar. "I keep one too," they said. "Out here, where I have to pass it." Brendyn picked up the bright ring and closed his hand around it. He did not put it back in his pocket. He set it on the step between them, beside his bowl, where it could be seen. The stranger sat down again. They ate. Something had been shown, and not refused. For the first time in a long life, Brendyn did not feel the urge to stand up and go.