Amalia
A deeper conversation is all I want from you-
When Amalia returns it is with two cups and a kettle now set upon the stove. She places them silently onto the counter letting Loren take his time. Letting him manage his grief how he needs to, a sounding board if nothing else, incapable of very much more today. "He did," she agrees, the ghost of a half-smile flitting over her lips. "He asked them well."The next thing she grabs is a pot of dry tea, spiced and heady: the same one she served Abasi that day when he came into her shop. As the water heats in the stove behind them Loren's voice breaks; Amalia smiles again, still faintly, more for the lost undertaker than for anything else. She shrugs: "I didn't mind," she admits, running her finger around the rim of a mug. "I took him to meet Ludo, after. I hope that made it easier for him when... the next time they met."
- I want the words you're afraid to say:
the lonely ones you keep hidden
between the folds of your heart
