"Tu as une famille?" asks a new voice—this one female, quiet but rough with age. And close. Bastien can't help turning to look, back into the wine cellar he wanted to leave. In the shadows there's a woman, small and thin beneath her enormous hat, with her face painted so intricately it could be a mask.
"No," he says again, which could only be a repetition of his answer to Sidony—but the part of him that would have done anything in the world for the woman with that face adds an obedient, "Il n'y a personne."
It's what he said, when she asked him then. No family. No one.
She smiles, sympathetic and pleased. For a moment afterwards her gaze turns to Sidony and turns calculating. A pretty, sharp thing, suitable for her house, except: "This one is too old," she says in Trade. "A sha—"
She vanishes. Disintegrates, really, back into shadow, and Bastien snaps out of it. He shifts his wine to one arm so he can reach the other arm out to Sidony, to usher her toward the door and keep a barrier between her and that dark corner. "We should find the others," he says.
no subject
"Tu as une famille?" asks a new voice—this one female, quiet but rough with age. And close. Bastien can't help turning to look, back into the wine cellar he wanted to leave. In the shadows there's a woman, small and thin beneath her enormous hat, with her face painted so intricately it could be a mask.
"No," he says again, which could only be a repetition of his answer to Sidony—but the part of him that would have done anything in the world for the woman with that face adds an obedient, "Il n'y a personne."
It's what he said, when she asked him then. No family. No one.
She smiles, sympathetic and pleased. For a moment afterwards her gaze turns to Sidony and turns calculating. A pretty, sharp thing, suitable for her house, except: "This one is too old," she says in Trade. "A sha—"
She vanishes. Disintegrates, really, back into shadow, and Bastien snaps out of it. He shifts his wine to one arm so he can reach the other arm out to Sidony, to usher her toward the door and keep a barrier between her and that dark corner. "We should find the others," he says.