He figured his friend could always use more and had he known where and how he was living, he’d have brought a whole lot more. “Hey, someone with your talent should never be without. That picture you drew of me and Phoebe … incredible. You nailed her looks and you’ve never even seen her, and I can’t thank you enough for leaving that for me. The only pictures I had of her were the ones in my head. Is that why you started drawing?”
He carefully tucked his gift away. “I actually started as a kid. It was one of my favorite things to do until Ryssa saw me and thought I was copying her journals. She had one of her more legendary hissy fits and then when she opened it and saw my feeble attempts at drawing, she laughed and ridiculed them, and ran straight to my father to tell him I’d been wasting my study time and precious parchment on stupidity. He didn’t take it well. He made me burn my sketches and had me whipped. Then he made me earn back all the money I’d squandered on wasting good parchment for foolishness. After that wonderful experience, I had such an aversion to art, I didn’t even want to look at figured pottery.”
Urian cringed at the thought, given how popular such pottery was in their day. “Then how did you learn to draw like that?”
“Vanishing Isle. I didn’t have paper or pencil, but I did have a lot of sticks and a lot of wet sand, and a shit-ton of time. You think I can draw? You should see my sand cities.”
“You mean sand castles?”
“Nah, anyone can build a sand castle. I do entire cities, complete with armies and aqueducts.”
Urian laughed even harder. “I hate to admit it, but I have missed your twisted sense of humor. And I’m stunned you get cell reception out here.”
“I don’t. I was in a town a week ago buying supplies when I called.”
“Ah.” Urian looked around and realized that Styxx was also lacking any form of power. “So how do you charge the phone?”
“Bribe a store clerk to use their outlet for an hour while I shop.”
“You’ve thought of everything.”
Styxx leaned over to his backpack and pulled out a roll of toilet paper, then chucked it at Urian. “I try.”
Laughing, he shook his head. “Dude, that’s so messed up.” Sobering, Urian cleared his throat. “You haven’t asked me about Acheron.”
His expression turned to stone and made Urian regret that he’d brought it up. “I assume he’s doing fine. The world hasn’t ended and I’m not dead.”
“He’s expecting a baby in April.”
Styxx snorted. “That should make medical news then, and I’m sure Soteria is grateful she doesn’t have to go through labor.”
“Wha …?” It took Urian a second to figure out what he meant and then he felt like an idiot. “Ah, gah. Yeah. You knew what I meant.”
He gave him a sarcastic nod. “Do they know what it is?”
“Boy.”
Yeah, that was another somber expression on Styxx’s face that made Urian want to cut out his own tongue. He really needed to change the topic. Obviously, he was stabbing at some deep scars and ripping them open.
Styxx smiled, but it didn’t quite reach his eyes. “I’m happy for them. I’m sure his son will be handsome and strong.”
He cleared his throat. “So how’s Davyn?”
Urian breathed in relief to finally be on a safe topic. “Insane. I seem to attract that personality type for some reason.”
Styxx smirked.“Aeì koloiòs parà koloiôi hizánei.”
Urian scowled at the old Greek saying as he tried to figure out what Styxx was implying. “A jackdaw is always with a jackdaw?”
“Birds of a feather.”
Urian laughed. “Hey now, I resemble that remark.”
Styxx leaned back so that he could peep through the crack in the tent flap. He set his cup aside. “If you really want to know why I love it here, follow me.”
He was definitely curious, because he couldn’t imagineanythingthat would make this worthwhile.
Skylos lifted his head, but since Styxx didn’t call him outside with them, he went back to sleep.
