[Re-Introduction: Sir Dinadan]

[rebecs_with_the_straps]

Dinadan awakens, which is already several positive steps ahead of where he thought he'd be this morning (viz. in the void from which there is no awakening, or in the hereafter that he has done nothing particularly to avoid). A giddy thrill of relief washes through him. He cautiously cracks one eye open, and then the other. For a moment, the sunlight's brightness overwhelms him--an aching reminder that he is, somehow, alive.

But as the sunlight becomes bearable, he realizes that he is somehow, impossibly, once again, in Sagramore's cabbages.


"Christ, do you really only have one joke?" he calls to the sky--but he's grinning all the same. A life condemned to cabbages is better than a death condemned to Hell or the void, and given those are the only two options, he'll gladly take the cabbages.

Friends and strangers may find a tall, blond knight minstrel wandering around in Sagramore's borrowed clothes, occasionally strumming his rebec, definitely not touching anything he shouldn't.

Comments

[rebecs_with_the_straps]

"It's fine; I don't resent thee for it. But I will prod that tender spot for at least another fortnight."

[sagramore]

"Well thou shouldst."

[rebecs_with_the_straps]

"So, go on--tell me the story of thy grand love."

[sagramore]

"I met him when he was newly arrived, and made him breakfast." He looks down at the brandy glass, faraway. "And he made everything feel exciting again. Novel. All the things I'd stopped caring about or given up on, I wanted to do those things with him. We started cooking together. He loves cooking. We read poetry together. I hadn't read anything in years. With him I wanted to be known, I-- I wanted to know everything about him and he wanted to know about me, and I wasn't ashamed of myself with him. He behaved as if everything he learned about me was worth knowing. He takes care of me when I seize. I take care of him when he's in pain. I don't know what to say. I never imagined there would be someone suited to me like that -- I never imagined I'd ever feel as if I were home, and it's with him. He's home."

[rebecs_with_the_straps]

"Careful," says Dinadan gently; "though might'st almost make me believe in love."

[sagramore]

"Jesu knows I've been in love before, I'm always in love, this is different. I feel-- bent towards him like an arc. I feel as if I'd been sleeping before, all though my life, and he woke me."

[rebecs_with_the_straps]

"And he gives other men's charms new savor?"

[sagramore]

"He does. I think I see everything differently with him."

[rebecs_with_the_straps]

"I can't even tease thee about this. This is dire, Sagramore."

[sagramore]

"I'm sorry. I'll try to become jaded again."

[rebecs_with_the_straps]

"Don't thou dare."

[sagramore]

"What! Thou likest the new, sentimental Sagramore?"

[rebecs_with_the_straps]

"Obviously."

[sagramore]

"I'm so relieved."

[rebecs_with_the_straps]

"What! Didst thou think I'd see thee happy and say, 'No, bring me back the glum one'?"

[sagramore]

"Not glum. Unruly, reckless, exciting."

[rebecs_with_the_straps]

"Sagramore, when didst thou ever know me to want more danger rather than less."

[sagramore]

"Danger was not on my list!"

[rebecs_with_the_straps]

"How dost thou define recklessness, if not heedlessness of danger?"

[sagramore]

"Sometimes it can be heedlessness of consequences of any kind."

[rebecs_with_the_straps]

"Oh, so thou heed'st not good fortune as well as ill."

[sagramore]

"Exactly! Now thou understandst."

[rebecs_with_the_straps]

"I don't mind telling thee, thou shouldst try seeking out good fortune now and then. On purpose. Just to see what happens when thou find'st it."

[sagramore]

"Interesting proposition!"

[rebecs_with_the_straps]

"Of course it is, 'twas my idea."