Page 79 of The Two of Us at the End of the World

Not all night? said Grey Hair, as if she meant more than the question said.

We slept, said Bear Shirt.

You slept, said Scar Girl. Oh well, that’s fine. That’s normal.

She said it in a way that made it clear it was anything but fine or normal, but that it was completely beyond her understanding. She shook her head and cut a piece of meat for herself to taste. She blew on it before popping it in her mouth.

You just slept, she said. In the one bed?

She was now staring at Bear Shirt, so still she appeared not to be breathing. I recognised that stillness as the exact opposite of the calm that it would be so easy to mistake it for. There was some great force being held at bay behind those unblinking eyes.

Yes, said Bear Shirt, and there was a matching kind of quiet defiance hidden in hers.

And did he…? Scar Girl began.

No, said Bear Shirt. Well. No. It was… stranger than that.

The flames cracked and popped as the fat from the roasting deer fell into them, sending them higher and brighter, which made me pull back further into the cover of the shadows

Scar Girl looked at Bear Shirt as if waiting for more, and then when nothing more happened, she finally moved and looked sideways at Grey Hair. Grey Hair shrugged her shoulders with such a tiny movement it would have been easy to think you’d imagined it.

But he took—began Scar Girl.

I know what he did, Bear Shirt said, rubbing the fur behind the dog’s ears. I know what he stole, what he burned, what he threatened. But—

But, said Grey Hair.

They both looked at her. She shrugged again, bigger this time, something unsettlingly close to a smile lifting one corner of her mouth.

But, she repeated. Such a small word, but oh so very big are the things that it can drag along behind it.

But how could he be truly bad and make that music, said Bear Shirt.

You like him, said Scar Girl. After all he did, you like him.

If he hadn’t done it, I wouldn’t have found you again, said Bear Shirt.

That was an accident, said Scar Girl. You didn’t have to—

I did what I wanted, said Bear Shirt, eyes unblinking, chin tilted upwards in defiance, as if daring Scar Girl to disapprove it.

There was a long period of silence after this, the only sounds being more crackling of the fire as the green wood popped and fizzled with the fat dripping on it as the wind rattled its way through the leaves on the trees all around us.

Did you hurt his pride? said Grey Hair quietly.

The question seemed to wing into the firelight out of nowhere. They both twisted their necks towards her in surprise.

What? said Bear Shirt.

A man will cross the world to avenge his pride, said Grey Hair. Or burn it.

I didn’t do anything to his pride, said Bear Shirt.

I should have killed him instead of his damn boat, said Scar Girl, voice flat and uncompromising as a knife.

I’m glad you didn’t, said Bear Shirt, voice suddenly quieter.

Scar Girl snorted and threw another log on the fire, sending a shower of sparks high into the night, towards me and my hiding place. I pulled my head back into the deep shadows in case any of the three pairs of eyes instinctively following them might catch sight of me.