He heard low voices speaking at the other end of the room, then heavy footsteps and a door opening and closing. Lindovor strained towards the sounds, his blinded eyes trying to find something to focus on in spite of the healing poultice that bound over top of them.
"Carver?" He paused, "Madam? Old woman...? Are you there?"
A voice that was almost a whisper answered from his bedside.
"I am here."
Lindovor lay back on his pillow with a sigh. The pain in his head was rebuking him sharply for his sudden movement. He asked,
"The man, Wil Carver, said you knew...know a man named Lindovor"
The whisper came again, "I know such a man, yes."
"He lives then?"
"He does."
"Where...where is he? Carver said he helped you tend your beasts...Please..."
"He helps me with many things. He is not here."
"Then where is he?", Lindovor's voice rose in anger; he began to feel like a small boy whose hand was continually slapped away from a plate of sweets. "Why will none of you tell me anything?"
The voice remained a whisper, but the sound of the breeze became more the insistence of the West wind. "You have been told much, yet you would understand more if you listened." The West wind calmed once again into the gentle breeze. "He lives. He is safe. What is he to you that you seek him?"
"He..." Lindovor paused, "He is my father. It was my mother's wish that he be found. He...he did not know of me."
"Was?"
"She is dead. I made a promise..."
Silence, then the statement, "I see." The voice continued,
"Patience is your friend in this. Rest. Heal. You will meet with your father, I promise you, but not yet." Somehow the voiced seemed to recede to the far side of the room.
Lindovor heard the door open and close again, and the footfalls he took to be Wil Carver's approach the bed.
"Here now," said the carpenter in a jovial tone, "I've brought ye some of Miss Rosie's best stew..."
Lindovor raised himself on his elbows. "Madam? Old Woman?", he called. He made an impatient gesture. "I don't want that swill, Where is the Old Woman?"
A hurt tone crept into Wil Carver's voice. "There's no Old Woman here, an' I'm a tellin' Rosie ye said that..."
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*original painting of my character Wilbe, taken from a screenshot.
