Let the road

On the outside, it might appear that at any moment a duel would ensue. The tension between father and son thickly clung in the air around the gathered elves. If anyone shuffled their feet in awkward silence neither men noticed. After searching the counter Ruth found some cooking wine, hiding how he topped up his mug by looking back over his shoulder. He almost grinned as his father admitted his gratitude, even if it was only surface deep in sentiment, spoken in front of witnesses was a victory in itself.

Yet, as was with their families run of luck, the satisfaction was short lived. Ruth was not heartless, at his core he cared for people. Ridiculed them for their foolishness, but he took his oath as a healer seriously. And then anger gripped him, his eyes narrowed, “You couldn’t keep one from getting injured?” Leaning against the counter the younger man would shake his head, biting his lower lip to stem anything harsher slipping out. After a sigh he nodded again, “Fine. Then I’ll come back with you shortly and do what I can in the immediate.”

Ruth stared for a long minute and then his attention fixed off into the distance. Bobbing a shoulder he tried to quickly count up roughly, though the awkwardness brought on by being asked such a thing, from a man he was supposed to loathe too, had him hesitantly answer. “...A while, I come and go, depending on my work. It has me leaving for weeks at a time, but I stay mostly to repay Megara and her kindness. Don’t tell her I said that.”