Raju sees Francis trying to raise his hand, sees him failing, and on top of his tight, insistent smile Raju's eyebrows twitch closer together. It keeps surprising him, how badly Francis is doing now. He moves his hand to catch Francis' as it falls, one hand holding there, the pendant pressing between their palms, and the other on his shoulder still.
As Francis goes on, the worry on Raju's face deepens into something else. Raju's breathing is just a little faster than it should be, his grip a little tighter, the line of his jaw is tight. But Francis insists that he survived, too, and it's an inch of stable footing on crumbling ground, but it doesn't make sense. There's so much sitting behind everything Francis says, too many threads to follow when Raju can only take one at a time. There'd been so much between the words that Little had spoken, too, but Raju hadn't needed to see what waited there, then.
Survival is my penance and the man who calls himself Cornelius Hickey, and I ate --
Sort out what's important. It isn't easy to tell; too much at once to guess at any of it. There's the feeling of a hand in his — there's something isolated about this place, for all there's so many of them trapped here, or maybe that's only when set against the life he'd led for a while, those last few months in Delhi, but a shoulder in the grip of one of his hands now, and a hand held in the other, the place where the fire burned him hurting at the touch, but not enough to matter — and there's straightening Francis out. A healthy man finds it easier to clear his mind, and once Francis' mind is clear, the things he has to say will start making sense again.
"Here, ah—" Raju twists for a second to look behind him. He'll have to move the logs a little to make sure the little fire in there doesn't die, but he doesn't want to move his hands yet. "We'll move you closer, where I am, and I'll make sure it's warm. Then I'll find something to wrap your ribs with. Then everything will seem more clear. How can you owe penance for what your men don't even remember? I am sorry about them, Francis. The ones who died. But there... there has to be an explanation. If some of them are here, surely, there's... there's something you're missing. It'll be easier to remember more detail once you're well."
<3
As Francis goes on, the worry on Raju's face deepens into something else. Raju's breathing is just a little faster than it should be, his grip a little tighter, the line of his jaw is tight. But Francis insists that he survived, too, and it's an inch of stable footing on crumbling ground, but it doesn't make sense. There's so much sitting behind everything Francis says, too many threads to follow when Raju can only take one at a time. There'd been so much between the words that Little had spoken, too, but Raju hadn't needed to see what waited there, then.
Survival is my penance and the man who calls himself Cornelius Hickey, and I ate --
Sort out what's important. It isn't easy to tell; too much at once to guess at any of it. There's the feeling of a hand in his — there's something isolated about this place, for all there's so many of them trapped here, or maybe that's only when set against the life he'd led for a while, those last few months in Delhi, but a shoulder in the grip of one of his hands now, and a hand held in the other, the place where the fire burned him hurting at the touch, but not enough to matter — and there's straightening Francis out. A healthy man finds it easier to clear his mind, and once Francis' mind is clear, the things he has to say will start making sense again.
"Here, ah—" Raju twists for a second to look behind him. He'll have to move the logs a little to make sure the little fire in there doesn't die, but he doesn't want to move his hands yet. "We'll move you closer, where I am, and I'll make sure it's warm. Then I'll find something to wrap your ribs with. Then everything will seem more clear. How can you owe penance for what your men don't even remember? I am sorry about them, Francis. The ones who died. But there... there has to be an explanation. If some of them are here, surely, there's... there's something you're missing. It'll be easier to remember more detail once you're well."