The Green Dragon Inn #11 - The Last Chapter

[Thinlómien]

I can't believe this! That lad is pulling my leg! But though he was no reader of minds, Grimhorn could see that Rían was dead serious. He wasn't playing, this time.

My father, Grimhorn thought. He was astonished to find out how much it hurt after all these years. All these years of secretly knowing that everything wasn't like it seemed to be, he reminded himself. At some level he had known that there was something wrong with his father.

Then his mood changed. Why do I accept all the lad says as truth? His father was a big liar, so isn't he quite probably a liar as well? But again, there was too much pain in his voice. He might have been mistaken for the man. Seen what his father had wanted him to see. It was a frail hope, but Grimhorn clinged to it.

Then he came back to his senses. That wasn't probable, so he shouldn't use time in that idle dreaming. Maybe he could ask Rían, if he was sure it was Grimgor Bearhand he had seen. But it wasn't the most important thing. The most important thing was that there had been hostility between Hermit Sundry and Grimgor Bearhand. What and why was it, was the matter. I knew my father well enough. He wouldn't have burned a man's house without a reason. I wonder what reason did Hermit Sundry provide him...

Grimhorn would have liked to talk this over with someone, but Rían really wasn't the ideal guy. There were too much personal feelings tangled to this matter. If there was someone neutral, or someone on the same side with him, who could solve this and talk the matter over.

Then he realised how childishly he was thinking. There wasn't anyone else. It was Rían Sundry who he would solve this matter with, no one else. They needed each other's help to find out the truth. Neither could do it alone. He had to accept that he needed Rían's help. And he needed to accept that his father did what he did and it couldn't be changed anymore.

"Now you make sense, master Rían. However painful it is, we need to talk. You say let's begin with my father, and I agree it's a good idea. Then we could move on to yours and see what there was between them and what was this "Owl's Eye"-thing of your father's."

Grimhorn took a big gulp of beer and asked: "What would you like to know about the man your father called "The One That Runs at Dusk"?"