As if one ka-mai wasn't enough...

[hile_father]

Roland approached the shelter the pale boy had pointed him to, eyes narrowed and hands on his guns. He hesitated a few feet from the doorway, listening to his instincts, looking for signs that this was a trap, an ambush. "If thee mean me no harm, show yourself," he called, glancing behind him. The boy had disappeared. Not a good sign.

Comments

[eddiecdean]

Eddie stood up from his mat in one fluid movement. He knew that voice. If he lived for a million years and died a thousand deaths, he'd know the sound of Roland Deschain's voice as well as he knew his own.

Pulling a sweater over his head, he moved slowly towards the door of the wikiup, surprised at the calmness he felt compared to the dizzy, almost painful joy that had swept through him upon seeing Jake again for the first time. He'd half-hoped, but refused to expect Roland's appearance. Now he was here, and this joy held no pain.

Later, mayhap. Not yet.

He stopped a few feet before the entrance, angling his body to cast no shadow. A slow smile washed over him as he answered his dinh.

"If thee be Roland of Gilead, then I mean thee no harm," he called, and his smile hid laughter behind it. His father was here. Fucking ka. Eddie stepped outside.

[hile_father]

"Eddie," Roland breathed, his hands falling from his guns, nerveless. He crossed to Eddie in two long strides and embraced him without preamble. "But how...?"

[eddiecdean]

"Hile, Father." Eddie shook his head.

He returned Roland's embrace, tightening his arms and burrowing his head under Roland's chin as if he were a child.

"I have no fucking idea." The words were muffled by Roland's shirt. The laughter that had been hiding behind Eddie's smile bubbled to the surface then and brought some tears with it.

Eddie Dean, you sentimental schmuck.

But Eddie really didn't give a shit at all. He laughed again through the tears that were wetting Roland's shirt. Roland was here, and Jake, and Oy and Cuthbert and ka was finally cutting him some slack.

One more. Just one more, that's all I ask. The thought (never a prayer,Eddie didn't pray) came like a pinprick, then flew away again and left the two of them.

He pulled Roland closer and didn't let go.

[hile_father]

Roland held Eddie close, breathing deep and slow. "The boy," he said after a bit, glancing over his shoulder. "Who was he?" What name had he given? "...Bran Davis."