“When do you plan on leaving?”
He hesitated. “I’m not sure. Probably sometime in the next few days.”
A pained expression came across Torsten’s face again, but this time it was gone as quickly as Florian had noticed it. “If you stay until next week, I’d like to have a... a celebration feast, to send Rune off with our well-wishes.”
It wasn’t exactly a request, and not even a question; but he’d already decided that he wouldn’t deny the olive branch Torsten was extending to him. He forced himself to smile, even though he didn’t really want to wait around that long.
“That sounds good,” he said, nodding. “Alright. We’ll leave after your celebration feast, then.”
Torsten managed a small smile, and this time it almost seemed genuine.
“It’s a plan,” he said simply, then turned to go again. “That was all. You can go.”
He walked away without any further discussion, and Florian stared after him for a long moment, half in disbelief. When he turned around to walk back to the cottage, he burst out laughing entirely. The other three would never believe that this was how their conversation had gone.
