makesthings | After

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After

The days after the fight at the Lightning Farm and Milliways pass by quickly as there's much to do. Sameth must be a prince to get the promised land to the refugee Southerlings, he must be Wallmaker in terms of helping to rebuild all that's been broken and he has to figure out how to be Wallmaker.

His first major project is Lirael's hand, which takes a couple of months and lots of adjusting to get right. In between working on the hand, he reads all that he can about Wallmakers and talks with his father about the Great Charter Stones so he can take over mending them.

He knows that he needs to travel the Old Kingdom to see the damage to Charter Stones and go over every part of the Wall to understand what he needs to do. Milliways is always at the back of his thoughts as he wonders if Kait was there for the final battle, if she's well, but there's so much to do that he doesn't have time to look for a door.

One night after working far too late, which seems to be what he does of late, he ends up asleep in a comfortable chair in the family study.

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Sabriel tsks at him, despite the fact that she frequently comes back bleeding copiously and occasionally with exciting new infections.

"Don't run yourself into the ground, Sam. There's so much to do, but it's not worth your exhausting yourself."

"I'm not and I enjoy it,"

He starts to say that it's not like what he was doing before but he shouldn't say that.

"Hmm."

Well, she can almost understand.

After all, she derives a certain satisfaction from banishing Dead spirits.

"Do I need to look at that, or will it be all right?"

"It should be fine. I was going to heal it up when I had a moment,"

He unwinds the bandage and it's a clean cut and not bleeding. All the blood went into the stones.

Sabriel peers over with professional interest.

"Looks all right. Still, I may as well..."

It's not as though she isn't going to sleep like the dead - pardon the pun - tonight anyway.

She sketches a Charter Mark onto the skin of his hand near the bleeding, and it sinks in slowly, warming and soothing.

"Thank you," He knows she doesn't need to do the healing but that makes it nice. As it's one of the motherly things she does and he smiles.

Even now that he's Wallmaker, duties make more sense but he still worries that he disappointed her by not being Abhorsen-in-Waiting.

Sabriel nods in satisfaction as the Charter Mark takes hold, then pauses.

Still leaning over the back of his chair, she carefully wraps her arms round his shoulders for a moment, a little awkward.

She missed her family so much, all the time.

The hug is unexpected but nice and he closes his eyes to savor it.

He always wishes he knew how to have more moments like this but doesn't know where to start.

Nor does Sabriel.

Family is hard.

"I missed you," she says quietly. "How are you? And the others?"

"Busy, we're all busy with different things. The Southerling refugees seem to be settling in fairly well and Ellimere doesn't seem too annoyed at the job I did with them,"

Politics is hard and not something he'll ever feel comfortable with.

Sabriel nods.

Still against his shoulder.

It's late.

"That's good," she says softly. "I shall have to speak to her tomorrow."

...Odds are good that Touchstone will wake as soon as she goes into their room. Some instincts have never left him.

"She'll be glad to see you. We always are,"

Talking is harder but at least now he's not hiding as much from her.

"Hm."

She finally stands up again, a little embarrassed.

"We should go up. Lest we both fall asleep here."

"Yes, that makes sense. Will you be here for breakfast? I can show you how some projects are going if you're interested,"

He never knows how much she is but he wants to show her that he knows how to be a Wallmaker. This is something he can do.

Sabriel smiles, tired but genuine.

"I will be here," she promises.

He stands up and stretches, he's aching more than he realized,

"Good, then I'll see you tomorrow."

"Goodnight, Sameth."

"Good night," Morning arrives rather sooner than Sameth expected but it tends to do that. Breakfast is one of those rare times when the entire family is there which is nice and awkward.

After eating, he starts for his workshop and says to his mother, "Do you want to see what I'm working on?"

"Please," she says, getting up, and ignoring Touchstone's amused look at her haste.

It's not a crime to make up for lost time while she's home.

(She'll get him back for teasing her later.)

As he waits for her, he rolls up his sleeves and starts thinking about his list for the day.

When she reaches him, he starts up the stairs and its odd but sort of nice to have her there.

Sabriel follows, quiet and curious.

She has thought of Sameth as her heir for so long that it easy to slip back into that way of thinking. But she hopes that knowing Sam is a Wallmaker and seeing it for herself will make the difference.

He opens his workshop door and goes directly to the small forge where he uses a Charter Mark to wake up the fire. His current project is Lirael's hand which is in pieces around the workshop, the golden sheathing has been put around a few fingers.

The palm is still being put together and is sitting close to the fire, "I'm mainly working on Lirael's hand and trying to make sure it has enough movement. When you use the bells are there any odd positions you use?"

Now, this is something she can understand.

"That's a good thought," she says, peering at it. "You do need a decent amount of flexibility, although strength and sureness is more important."

Falter while sounding any of the Bells, and you and everyone around you are in deep, deep trouble.

"But her pipes must surely require a lot more delicacy, and I know she'll still be using them, if she can."

"I briefly used the pipes and they require a slightly different sort of movement I think,"

As they're talking, he's testing different motions with his hands,

"Could you show me what you do? I've given it so far the same type of movement I have but its those smaller and specific gestures that are most important."

"Let's try a few forms," she says, detaching Ranna from the bandolier she wears, but leaving the clapper muffled.

She holds it out, letting Sam see how she wraps her fingers around the handle, held so she can move it without ever loosening her grip.

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