milliways_bar | (no subject)

"Aye," Will says, and fetches a rope to help him aboard.

"My organ could do with someone playing it."

He doesn't get it.

Nor does Teja, innocent denizen of 19th century canon...

Teja climbs aboard, after tying the surfboard to the end of the rope.

"And how are you faring?" Will asks. "Is the forge doing well?"

"It is!" Teja says. "And I have brought cats, to hunt mice in the stables, and doze by the forge-fire, or in a safe distance from it. I am still the one that uses it most, especially since Weyland left, the smith of legend, that my people sang about."

Pause, while Teja straightens, and looks around, dripping from the hems of his clothes, and his hair. He gives Will a little smile.

"I have not seen your ship in a long, long while; and truly, I have not felt the wish to ask for passage, again. This strange little afterlife has given me a life, it seems."

"I'm glad."

And he is; there's no bitterness in his smile at all as Will continues, "the year I spent here before was the most miserable of my life. I'm glad someone else finds otherwise."

"What made it so miserable?" Teja asks, matter-of-factly.

"Situations which had nothing to do with the bar," Will says, closing up slightly. "A man of my close aquaintance had just died, and my wedding delayed."

Teja nods, quietly. He had lost friends, and love.-

"Indeed, the loss of a friend will make any man grieve," he said. "I missed mine so much, at first, I considered taking passage with you -- you remember!"

"I do," Will confirms, and doesn't offer any more information about the Jack situation. "Fortumately my own circumstance was resolved and now the bar is a welcome solace."

"Indeed," Teja says, "but for the part where you may not set foot into it, as such. But yes, I know what you mean."

Will steps back into the centre of the neck, a subtle movement of his arm inviting Teja to come towards the cabin.

"And what is making the bar such a great afterlife for you at present?"

Teja follows, nodding gratitude.

"Peace," he says. "I have never had true peace, while alive. Now, I may have friends, play new music from the future, and learn new forge-craft -- in peace! I may love in peace, and the horses I keep will, most likely, never see battle."

Maybe Will understands. Now he brings peace, he's at his happiest.

"Love?"

But that's the interesting part.

Teja nods.

"A feeling I could ill afford, in my war-torn world, when I was alive," he says.

Will gives a small, smile. "When I was alive, it was all I ever had."

It's all he has now, as well.

"I had my people," Teja says. "My friends. My duty, my purpose, and my oath. My grief for that which was lost."