Activity

Jericho led the party through the winding tunnel.  As they walked the walls shifted from prickling spikes to carven stone, lit every few meters by brackets of ever-burning torches.  She did not know where they were going but she hoped it would be spacious enough she could keep her distance from the large reptile accompanying them.  He made her uneasy.

Though I suppose that isn’t difficult, Jericho thought, careful to shield it from the dragon.  Her trust was hard-earned, after all.

Beside her Brendin walked with a wearisome slowness.  He appeared lost in rumination, and Jericho found herself wondering what had drawn his mind away.  Her gift did not grant her the ability to hear the thoughts of others.  But she could sense a weightiness to his mood.  Something was pressing on his conscience, something to do with his lost past she guessed.  He would likely be deep in thought for some time.  So the woman left him to his dwelling and focused her attention on the two others in their company.

“I’m sorry.”

Jericho glanced at the flagstones beneath her feet and did not lift her eyes for some time.  The boy was her junior by a greater number of years than he’d know, yet something about him resonated with her.  She too had been lost before.  She had little family to speak of and more than her fair share of secrets to keep.  And she had had her trust broken time and again.

When she finally lifted her head Jericho’s eyes were glittering with an old pain.  She slowed slightly and fell into step with the boy as Nithel walked on his other side.  Surreptitiously, Jericho slipped her hand into Alessio’s long enough to give him a (hopefully) comforting squeeze.  Warmth, compassion, kindness, affection – all of them she projected towards him.  Then once more she strode ahead and matched step with Brendin