Chapter 12 - Learning to Stay
The first months of marriage were not perfect.
That surprised neither of them.
Asa sometimes became overprotective.
Sahale hated it.
Sahale sometimes interpreted concern as pity.
Asa hated that.
They argued.
Once over a ladder.
Once over a horse.
Once spectacularly over whether Sahale could travel alone to Red Bluff.
“I survived before you,” she snapped.
“I know.”
“You behave as though I’ll break.”
“I watched everyone I loved die!”
The words exploded from Asa before he could stop them.
Silence followed.
Sahale understood.
His protection was not contempt.
It was fear.
That night they finally spoke about Ruth and Jona without Asa hiding behind short answers.
He cried.
Sahale held him.
Days later, Sahale spoke about her accident.
About waking after the fall.
About hearing people discuss her future as if she were not present.
About Greyhawk gradually treating her differently.
About learning to expect abandonment before anyone could surprise her with it.
Asa held her.
Their marriage changed after that.
They stopped trying merely to protect each other.
They began learning each other.
Then Sahale had an idea.
The workshop could become more than a place for saddle repairs.
She wanted to teach.
Children.
Women.
Anyone who had been told physical limitations made them useless.
Asa looked around his tiny workshop.
“We’ll need a bigger building.”
Sahale smiled.
“Then build one.”
May you like
So he did.
And what began with a wooden stool slowly became something neither of them had imagined.
