Twilight Between: Day 9

Word Count: 54,071

Summary of Events:

Because of the days continuing to be very hot, Adler had continued to go without his shirt, and as he worked, he noticed a woman who was clearly from his master's house watching him, but he couldn't begin to guess why. Emma and Torben were invited for lunch at the home of the Ambassador to Zeig from Außtöst, who was a good friend of Emma's maternal uncle Meinrad, as well as Torben, and to whom Torben expressed is worries about his private audience; having personally met Kronprinz Theoderich many times, the ambassador encouraged Torben from many fronts, including Torben's deep knowledge of all things related to slavery reform . . .

Excerpt of the Day:

“Surely you have been so steeped in the arguments of slavery reform that they, like tea in hot water, have permeated your mind so that you are never at a loss, no matter what argument is thrown at you,” Herr Eginhard said. “I could even see debating slavery reform with others as being like a game to you.”

“Nein,” Papa replied. “It is exhausting. It is as if I am one of the Ancient Men fighting in an unending war against innumerable, indefatigable enemies with no hope of end. I am ready for König Odalrich to come, and to tell me to cease or to die, for I will cease gladly.”

“You do not mean you would give up on slavery reform?” Herr Eginhard asked, his tone as worried as Emma felt at Papa’s words.

“I could never,” Papa replied. “It is impossible. For I feel also as if a part of me is, in fact, as König Odalrich. I am the only one who has a real solution to the problem, and I must present it or there will never be peace.”

“And you are feeling the fear he felt at the idea of embarking out of his caves on his journey?” Herr Eginhard asked. “A fear of the unknown without?”
Papa looked surprised, and Emma felt surprised too. She’d certainly never heard in all the stories she’d been told of König Odalrich I having been afraid to leave the Caves.

“I know it isn’t in the histories and the legends,” Herr Eginhard said. “But surely you do not think he was a fearless man. Surely he was afraid, even if not as afraid as his father had been.”
After gazing at his nearly-empty plate for a long moment, Papa nodded. “Surely.”

“You are not offended, are you?” Herr Eginhard asked.

Emma wasn’t sure Papa had heard, as his gaze had drifted back to his plate, where it lingered for a long moment before he shook his head, raising it at the same time.

“Nein,” Papa replied. “You have merely added a vital dimension of humanity to that greatest of heroes for every man and boy of Zeig.”

“It is something I have pondered many times,” Herr Eginhard said. “Seeing how König Odalrich was König over the Außtöst Lands, and his story is well and familiar there as well as here. Even if he did not have the full measure of his father’s cowardice, if he was truly human, he must have felt fear at the prospect of doing something he may well have even dreamed of for years.”

Papa nodded, and Emma found her mind wandering back to König Odalrich’s Grab beneath Bärhöhleberg. His likeness had looked so lifelike as it lay in repose, so much that she could easily have imagined it waking, living, and breathing, and she wondered if Papa was thinking of the same thing, and how it really only made sense that he would be just as capable of fear as any other man who drew breath.

Pronunciations:

Herr: hehr

Eginhard: eggihnhahd