A Steady Situation, Part 6

The moon passed behind a cloud, leaving only the muddled glow of lamps and candles, reflected off of metalwork, glass, and glazed crockery. For once, all was completely still.

She looked at the letter again. Her face was completely static and expressionless, save for a slight frown. Gazing at those words, they reduced to a simple mark of ink on parchment; bled from some faraway plant, sprawling listlessly from the earth, hanging cosmically motionless in a gulch of disparate eventualities.

He had never had a good relationship with his family, but she never had either. He understood the feelings of loss, though. Both of them sat staring, him just close enough to her, but not so close.

And, then, a silver lunar light grew in that room. The edges of their faces were illuminated in a collage of orange and pale substance.

She folded the letter back, and placed it in its envelope.