TM Challenge 206
(Laughing in the evening as he never laughs, he insists on sharing a cup, which Mordred might well refuse--but how often does Gaheris laugh? So there's wine between them, dark and red as their shared blood, and Morgause watches them silently--impossible to tell what she thinks.
Gaheris is caught in the light, his face bright and flush with excitement; Mordred's back from Camelot, Gaheris hasn't gone yet. Gaheris is slow and shy and might well be the last to leave home, even taking Gareth into account.
Impossible for either of them to tell what Morgause thinks--but she has no patience with this son, who spends his every moment trying to please her when there's nothing pleasing about him; it's all but fawning, it would be if he wasn't so withdrawn. But he pleases Mordred, or at least Mordred smiles, his cynical smile, and Gaheris catches his breath in his chest so suddenly that she can feel it from where she sits.
It's not the wine. Who knows when Mordred will be home again, after this visit, or when Gaheris will leave the sea--who knows. Gaheris is laughing because Mordred is smiling, light on the cup, wind in the harbour.
When else does Gaheris laugh?)
Words: 208
Gaheris is caught in the light, his face bright and flush with excitement; Mordred's back from Camelot, Gaheris hasn't gone yet. Gaheris is slow and shy and might well be the last to leave home, even taking Gareth into account.
Impossible for either of them to tell what Morgause thinks--but she has no patience with this son, who spends his every moment trying to please her when there's nothing pleasing about him; it's all but fawning, it would be if he wasn't so withdrawn. But he pleases Mordred, or at least Mordred smiles, his cynical smile, and Gaheris catches his breath in his chest so suddenly that she can feel it from where she sits.
It's not the wine. Who knows when Mordred will be home again, after this visit, or when Gaheris will leave the sea--who knows. Gaheris is laughing because Mordred is smiling, light on the cup, wind in the harbour.
When else does Gaheris laugh?)
Words: 208