1st Draft Fridays - A Fistful of ... (#6)

Breidentel

Geddis has never mentioned this, and a lot of the words are new to Dakadza, but he thinks he follows the gist. "I don't understand. How can someone be punished after death?"

Aidan focuses on checking the horses in a blatant maneuver to avoid the male's scowl.

"You've never told him this?" the male snaps.

Aidan sighs. "Not everyone believes it necessary to go all religious on people, Fer, especially not ones who are already actively seeking to improve how they treat others. Dakadza's a good man, good for Geddis—and speaking of Geddis, are you going to respect that she is as free as you are to have her own beliefs and make her own choices?"

The male's lips thin. "She seduced a married man."

"Sure you don't have that backwards? Liathen was a terrible flirt with Lallie—and by that I do mean literally terrible, but it was sort of endearing, if you like having to be the teacher in your relationship... What?"

Dakadza glances at the male, who looks more annoyed than startled, and asks, "You...like males?"

Aidan blinks. "I don't dislike any particular... Oh." He snorts. "No, in the way you're asking, the only person I 'like' is my wife."

That fits with how he'd behaved in Marsdenfel...and his reactions when Waislen tried cornering them both into showing their 'true' selves, since she doubted their sincere disinterest in any of the locals. Dakadza had thought Aidan acting, when he'd been absentmindedly alerting Waislen to her wardrobe 'accidents', and he'd followed Aidan's lead. Waislen had backed off but still kept a leery eye on them both, though she'd relaxed about Dakadza after he demonstrated his preference for Geddis.

He'd asked her why, once. She'd said that a man hurting her wouldn't harm anyone she fell in love with, and Dakadza feels silly for only now figuring out that she was telling him she was only interested in other females. That explains why Berthen was so angry with Liathen about choosing her as a lover. (And was probably part of how Waislen and Berthen had ended up friends, for that matter.)

"So are you going to restrain your criticism, or am I dragging you back to Grehafen?"

"I need to be here!"

Aidan turns about and starts hauling the male out, leaning and leveraging his weight and the horses to help him pull. "Should've thought of that before deciding to be a sanctimonious—"

Dakadza catches the straps on one horse's head, stopping them before they get too aggressive with each other. "How can someone be punished after death? Do you mean revenants?"

Aidan sighs as the male speaks up. "The Creator judges all souls after their bodies' deaths."

"Possibly," Aidan cuts in. "It's a common belief—I personally believe a form of it—but not everyone does, and Ferrell tends to forget that." He raises his voice, speaking over the male's attempted response, "Ferrell also forgets that even his specific beliefs aren't the only possible interpretation of his sources."

Aidan's flat look is met by a frown.

"The plain reading of—"

"Wrong article and adjective. Believing the black fires to be a real thing is a—as in, one possible, not the only—literal reading, not a 'plain' reading—and even that's not entirely literal because people aren't voles!"

 Dakadza has no idea what they're talking about. "Are you referring to a book?"

Aidan closes his eyes, while the male, Ferrell, scowls more heavily. "You've never read any holy texts?"

"Holy? I don't know this word." Rather, he's thought it was an invective, from how Geddis uses it sometimes.

Aidan physically steps between Dakadza and Ferrell. "Do you believe there's some kind of life we have after we die, or that there's some kind of being that's outside our reality and limitations?"

 Judging from the tired expression on Aidan's face, he knows full well that Dakadza's answer is "No."

Ferrell splutters.

"Can you join me in Grehafen and the trip to Salles? It'll be dangerous, and we'll probably have to kill some people. I promise not to lecture you about it."

Dakadza considers. He doesn't exactly have plans, beyond lingering here, and Geddis doesn't actually need him, for that. He can leave a note, leave a sealed letter with the news about her son, and go do something useful, while traveling like he's always wanted. "I want to see Saf."

Aidan blinks at him. "That's a good idea."

He doesn't explain, but he's also busy holding Ferrell, who's protesting that he needs to be here, to see his sister—

Oh. "You're Geddis's brother."

"Yes. Who did you think I was?"

"I had no idea." Dakadza glances to Aidan. "I'll meet you in Grehafen."

Then Dakadza turns to Ferrell, eyes this man who is so insistent that others should know the same things he does. "I'm pretty sure Geddis doesn't want to see you, anyway."