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Aug. 13th, 2006 01:25 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
wordslingingTitle: Experience
Fandom: Dark Tower
Characters: Cuthbert Allgood, Roland Deschain, Alain Johns
Rating: PG
Summary: Post Wizard and Glass. As below, this wasn't intended as a companion to "Innocence". It just worked out that way.
They don’t celebrate Reap Night anymore.
It’s not something they’ve ever talked about. It’s not something that’s ever required words. It’s simply what they do.
On the first Reap Night since Mejis—one year to the day after Susan’s death—Roland simply left the castle and headed in the direction of the forest instead of the pavilion that held the festivities. Before he’d reached the first trees, Cuthbert and Alain had joined him.
None of them spoke as they walked, losing themselves in the forest until they could no longer hear any sounds of celebration. None of them spoke as they sat in a circle around the small fire they’d built. Even Cuthbert passed that first night in silence.
None of them spoke. And none of them slept.
At one point, Roland rose and walked away from the fire. Cuthbert made as if to follow, but Alain stopped him with a look. Roland hadn’t stopped them from following into the forest, though they would have gone back, if he’d told them to. He knew their concern for him, knew that neither of them was much more able to face the bonfire than he was. So he’d let them follow him this far. But for at least part of this night, he needed solitude.
He came back an hour later. If he’d wept, there was no sign of it. Firelight and shadow played tricks on his face, made it seem older, and his two closest and dearest friends found it hard to look at him.
Since then, they’ve done the same thing every year. They leave well before the bonfire is lit, go back when it’s late enough the next day for the ashes and burnt logs to have been cleared.
Cuthbert, at least, has never been completely silent after the first time, and sometimes even Roland joins in the conversation. Mostly, though, he just listens to Bert and Alain talk. It soothes him more than he knows how to tell.
He always spends an hour alone, and they never question how he passes that hour. They never question anything about these annual retreats. And none of them ever mention Mejis, or Susan’s name.
It’s not something they talk about.
Fandom: Dark Tower
Characters: Cuthbert Allgood, Roland Deschain, Alain Johns
Rating: PG
Summary: Post Wizard and Glass. As below, this wasn't intended as a companion to "Innocence". It just worked out that way.
They don’t celebrate Reap Night anymore.
It’s not something they’ve ever talked about. It’s not something that’s ever required words. It’s simply what they do.
On the first Reap Night since Mejis—one year to the day after Susan’s death—Roland simply left the castle and headed in the direction of the forest instead of the pavilion that held the festivities. Before he’d reached the first trees, Cuthbert and Alain had joined him.
None of them spoke as they walked, losing themselves in the forest until they could no longer hear any sounds of celebration. None of them spoke as they sat in a circle around the small fire they’d built. Even Cuthbert passed that first night in silence.
None of them spoke. And none of them slept.
At one point, Roland rose and walked away from the fire. Cuthbert made as if to follow, but Alain stopped him with a look. Roland hadn’t stopped them from following into the forest, though they would have gone back, if he’d told them to. He knew their concern for him, knew that neither of them was much more able to face the bonfire than he was. So he’d let them follow him this far. But for at least part of this night, he needed solitude.
He came back an hour later. If he’d wept, there was no sign of it. Firelight and shadow played tricks on his face, made it seem older, and his two closest and dearest friends found it hard to look at him.
Since then, they’ve done the same thing every year. They leave well before the bonfire is lit, go back when it’s late enough the next day for the ashes and burnt logs to have been cleared.
Cuthbert, at least, has never been completely silent after the first time, and sometimes even Roland joins in the conversation. Mostly, though, he just listens to Bert and Alain talk. It soothes him more than he knows how to tell.
He always spends an hour alone, and they never question how he passes that hour. They never question anything about these annual retreats. And none of them ever mention Mejis, or Susan’s name.
It’s not something they talk about.
