Danny's stomach clenched against preemptive disappointment at the gentle tone Khasekhemwy adopted almost immediately. Khase wasn't an unkind teacher, but he wasn't often focused on emotions. A lot of the time that was good, Danny liked having somewhere he could go and learn without being analyzed, but hearing the kindness in the god's voice... It threatened to crush him. Danny sank down slowly into his chair, his father's history book now clenched against his chest like a life preserver. There was a part of him, a part that was largely ignored given the circumstances, that squawked about Khase's plate placement (did he know how anything worked?), but he pushed past the vague thought with little trouble. Danny met Khasekhemwy's eyes steadily. He wasn't sure he wanted to hear what the deity had to say but he'd asked the question, and now he had to listen to the answer even if it wasn't what he wanted to hear.
Danny's heart pinched again as the god continued. He had to swallow back grief - it was so sudden, so sharp, as if losing the opportunity to connect with his father meant losing him all over again - several times before he could manage a nod to show he was listening. Danny gave a one-armed shrug, as if he tried to shake off the emotion that swamped him, and released his death grip on the book enough to look down at its familiar cover.
"I talked to Birch, she had mediumship before, but she... couldn't pin anyone down, and she said... none of them sounded like Dad," he admitted hesitantly. He sighed, the sound full of desperate sadness. "He just... There was a lot left unfinished, you know? Our family..."
Danny gave that same shrug again and cleared his throat, shaking his head as if to clear it. "Thank you, sayedy," Danny gently placed his father's tome to the side of the table, pulling his workbooks forward. "What should we work on now?"
Sol, sensing his boy's sadness even without the benefit of the bond, rested a supportive paw on Danny's foot. |