Borne of Fire

Chapter 32

The morning sun had risen rapidly into a clear blue sky by the time they reached McSweens home. It was hard to tell if the state of it was as a result of the Ulrogg attack or if it was always that way. Books, notes and writings lay piled on every available surface - indeed some larger books lay grouped alongside one another to actually form a surface in one place which other books were balanced on. Drawings and maps were stuck to most of the walls and even over part of the window, lending the room a darkened haze.

"Come in, come in. You are all most welcome." He had spoken almost constantly on the brief walk across the village, mostly about trivialities having warned them about speaking about more important matters where others may overhear and become "excited".

"Is that what was going on when we first saw you? At the tavern?" Randyl asked and McSween paused briefly, clearing his throat before replying.

"Ahem...er...yes. Yes, I'm afraid it was. A good solid case of ignore the problem and hope it goes away, unfortunately."

And so the conversation had continued on about everything and nothing, mostly voiced by McSween who was nothing if not enthusiastic about...well, everything really it had to be said. The weather, the slow growth of oak trees, the best way to cook and serve salted pork, specifically bacon as they passed one home still fortunate enough to have a working stove - the smell tempting and teasing at Braxters taste buds almost enough to make him drool. All of these things contained equal satisfaction for McSween and he passed comment on everything with the ease of one well informed.

By and by they reached his home, or at least the place he was staying nightly at that time - as he explained it he travelled about quiet often so where "home" actually was tended to be wherever he was at that time and that could, and sometimes did, include "by the river" or "under a nice tree". Telling Braxter about sleeping beneath a tree, under the stars, at one with nature and protected from any rains by the thick greenery of the boughs above him made it sound quite appealing. Such was his enthusiasm about things which other people may consider the sleeping habits of a vagrant and only to be undertaken if there was literally no other alternative.

The door to his home did not so much as swing open, rather it needed to be lifted out of the way to allow entry. "The Ulrogg broke down your door brother?" L'non asked with a grimace.

"No, no, not at all. I simply...well the hinges never seemed very...important in the grand scheme of things I mean. I never got round to fixing them in place." McSween smiled with a shrug and stood to one side, ushering them into his home and placing the door back in place behind him when they had all entered.

Clean, dry and warm. Cluttered, unkempt and a great mess. All were equally accurate ways to describe the interior of McSweens home and he seemed quite proud of whichever way his visitors chose to view it. Just as his conversation would suddenly jump from one subject to the next, inside his home he seemed to be doing three or four different things all at the same time.

First he cleared spaces for them to sit, which they all did gratefully - trying their best to ignore and trying harder still to not disturb the piles of books which surrounded them. While he cleared space he also managed to not only locate but successfully light a small stove upon which he proceeded to brew a substance which he called tea but which smelled unlike any tea Braxter had ever smelled before. Once this was bubbling satisfactorily he produced a crate from under what was presumably his bed and, asking for assistance from Ja'aris, lifted it onto the table in the centre of the very crowded room.

"Herbal remedies, healing potions and a little something besides if I know you of old Ja'aris." McSween gave a chuckle as he gestured towards the contents of the crate with one hand while trying to open a bottle of something green and dried with the other.