page twenty-two

[fantasies]

[He's visiting. For lunch, for his lessons, just because. His routine is so simple and easy and practiced at this point that he barely considers the possibility (inevitability) that it might be interrupted.

He's halfway into the rooms before he realizes something is off.

Bandit waits patiently for him at the threshold, still and alert like he almost never is. Henry stands there for a long moment with his hand on the doorknob, as if looking at the empty nameplate could will them back into the castle.

Fleetingly, painfully, he thinks it's good that they got to leave together, that neither of them had to be left here without family like he'd been.

He fumbles with his bag, and the journal opens to Bandit's soft whining.]

Um.

[There's a long pause where he doesn't trust his voice.]

Arya and Robb Stark went home. I... In case anybody didn't know.

Comments

[secondchances]

[Steph frowns at her journal for a bit before replying--Arya wasn't going back to anything good, considering how she was the last time she went home, but there's not really anything that can be done about that from here.]

Hey, Henry. You okay?

[fantasies]

Yeah. [He won't cry. Arya would tease him if he cried.] I just, um.... It surprised me, that's all.

[secondchances]

I'm sorry to see them go.

Can I come see you for a little while?

[fantasies]

Um, yeah. Yeah, that'd be okay.

[He'd like that very much.]

... Can I come meet you, though?

[He doesn't think he should stand in front of this door anymore.]

[secondchances]

Sure. I'll be in the lobby, okay? [BRB rushing there.]

[fantasies]

Okay.

[He shuts the journal. It's slow going, down the stairs of the tower, but eventually he wanders out into the lobby. He has the journal hugged tight against his chest, and he looks a bit dazed, a bit drawn.

Bandit sticks close to him, brushing at his legs, quiet and still.

When Henry sees her, he smiles wide. It's sad, but genuine.]

Hi, Steph.

[secondchances]

[Poor kid. What was her last conversation with Arya about? How to handle being here for so long, with people leaving left and right?]

Hey, Henry.

[She opens her arms for a hug. Now's a good time.]

Dictated forever

[whichwayyoulean]

Man, there really is a lot of that going on right now.

[It didn't help knowing they were going home to a terrible, awful world. One the might not even survive. But he knows he can't focus on those who have left, not when Henry needs his attention now]

...You doing okay, kiddo?

[fantasies]

[Henry takes a deep breath.]

Yeah. ... yeah.

I just thought, um... [He sniffs, and laughs a little.] I dunno what I thought.

[whichwayyoulean]

[Oh, kid. The Once-ler's quiet for a moment, before exhaling softly]

Hey, want me to make you some pancakes? Guaranteed to make you feel better.

[fantasies]

[Another small, watery laugh.]

Can we put chocolate chips in them?

[whichwayyoulean]

Sure thing, we can have heaps of them.

[fantasies]

Okay. Yeah. That... That sounds good.

[a pause.]

Is it okay if me and Bandit come to your room?

dictated;

[ensorceler]

[ He means Robb is off to die and Arya's off to have a Hellish life, and Anne is sorry she knows this, but maybe someone ought to. She carries enough darkness around her; there's still more room yet. ]

Oh, Henry...to you this must be the harshest of blows that few compare. Is your lady mother still here, I should hope?

[fantasies]

[He understood, a little, enough to know that they were better off here than anywhere else. But in the end, it's best he never found out the details.]

Yeah, she's still here. I... I have somewhere to go, don't worry.

[Still, though. A year and change, mostly spent hopping from room to room, and this was the place he lived the longest.

He doesn't know what he'll do if Emma leaves again.]

[ensorceler]

[ A partial reason Anne hasn't gotten to know her all over again... It's a harsh enough beat to lose friends left and right, let alone family. Even adopted... The Starks were an odd bunch, and her respect for them is higher than most no matter their strangeness. ]

Do you pray for them?

[fantasies]

[He laughs a little, weakly.]

I dunno if Arya would want me to.

[ensorceler]

She would be angry with me many times over, then, but I will continue to pray regardless. She is deserving of that and more.

[fantasies]

[A pause. Well, when it's put that way--]

Yeah... Yeah, you're right.

Okay. I'll pray for her. And Robb and Nymeria and Grey Wind, too.

[lucre]

[ Robb she will miss dearly, when she would have readily proclaimed her loyalty for him, which she figures will count for much influence in this castle. Arya is the one she is unsure of. Were they not just starting to finally understand each other? Leave it to the castle to interfere. ]

And the wolves?

[ Sorry, Henry, she'll remember how to be sympathetic soon.]

[fantasies]

Bandit's still here with me.

[But Bandit isn't a direwolf. Henry pauses to stroke his head.]

But, um. Nymeria and Grey Wind are gone, too.

[lucre]

They were inseparable.

[ She might have been speaking of the wolves to their owners, or perhaps of the siblings. ]

Were you living with them in that house?

[fantasies]

[A painful pause.]

Um. No, not... not for a little while. My mom came back, so....

[He cuts himself off. It wasn't for very long, this time, but he knows how much it hurt Arya when he left.]

[lucre]

I am glad for you, little Henry.

[ But he still doesn't seem entirely pleased. Bittersweet. ]

When you wish it, might I request your company?

[fantasies]

Um. [His voice wobbles.] Soon. Soon would be okay.