Boula let it drop, thankfully,
but after that time, Salt found himself in his wandering thoughts returning back constantly to what she had pointed out to him.
"You are attentive. That's it exactly. You're too attentive."
It was a reversal of what he had been told his entire life -- that he and his bloodline, despite their prime blood, were stricken with a slyph's curse. That the curse was not in fact a constant state of dreaming but a constant state of heightened awareness...
Well, it changed nothing about his situation, but it did change the way that he looked at things. Somehow being too aware felt better than being too dreamy, and this time when Luserna drifted by and began to berate him for not paying attention, he interrupted, "I have been paying attention."
She stopped, startled -- the others looked up as well, fixed their eyes on him, and Salt went on.
"I have been paying attention," he repeated, "to your questions. And your problems. All of them. The way you don't bother figuring out anything for yourself, but ask everyone else for the answers and berate them for not knowing them. I know the way your eyes glance over to check your appearance in every building window we pass. I know the way you flick your ears at everyone but the people who talk to you, and the way every word you say is punctuated by the wrinkling of your nose, like you're disgusted that anyone bothers to try to tell you anything. So," he concluded, "I'm listening. Shut up."
"You are attentive. That's it exactly. You're too attentive."
It was a reversal of what he had been told his entire life -- that he and his bloodline, despite their prime blood, were stricken with a slyph's curse. That the curse was not in fact a constant state of dreaming but a constant state of heightened awareness...
Well, it changed nothing about his situation, but it did change the way that he looked at things. Somehow being too aware felt better than being too dreamy, and this time when Luserna drifted by and began to berate him for not paying attention, he interrupted, "I have been paying attention."
She stopped, startled -- the others looked up as well, fixed their eyes on him, and Salt went on.
"I have been paying attention," he repeated, "to your questions. And your problems. All of them. The way you don't bother figuring out anything for yourself, but ask everyone else for the answers and berate them for not knowing them. I know the way your eyes glance over to check your appearance in every building window we pass. I know the way you flick your ears at everyone but the people who talk to you, and the way every word you say is punctuated by the wrinkling of your nose, like you're disgusted that anyone bothers to try to tell you anything. So," he concluded, "I'm listening. Shut up."
Labels: salt
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home