“Falatha stands but not
At his goodly station
As the loss of his ship
Sweet Falaya
Still drags him down
Beneath the waves
Of a heavy sadness
Owing to the recency
Of that said loss”
“Yes it's been but a pair of days
Which is hardly enough time
For one to get but over
The good of a ship
That he happily had”
I said to Thamm
The senior of us served
Who was old and kindly
And the perfect example
For me to follow
“Yes indeed
We have a need
Goodly Thidge
To give him a few more days
Without the loss
Of any honour accrued
Or privileges either
Especially since the station
At which he normally stands
Is of less import
Than some at which we post our
soldiers”
He said as he stood up to leave
Looking back at me
Before he did
But make no mistake
He will only receive
Those few more days
Then he must return to duty”
He said as if
I was talking to him
When that was supposed to be
A secret thing
That no one knew
But still I protested
“Whatever do you mean
Senior Thamm
I know but not
Of what you speak”
I said with eyes staring into his
Without a breaking
Of my goodly gaze
“Don't be a fool
Loyalty to a fault
To one as old as Falatha
Is not the course that you should take
Oh goodly Thidge
But since I admire you
As much as I do
I'll let it slide for now
But that now expires
At the end of an hour
At which good time
You'll stand but up
And admit what we both know
And pass my message on
In an unofficial way
Because I don't need the hassle
Of extra paperwork
Because we both know as well
That he'll be looking
To take more time
Than he's properly allowed
So be forceful with him
And tell him yes
How much time he has left
To not be at his station
Before we insist
That he return to duty
Without facing
His day in court”
He said
Looking down at me
With a hard cold look
Of disapproval
That I rarely saw him give
To anyone
Let alone me
One of his certain favourites
So this was not a goodly moment
To say the least
He shook his head sadly
As I said nothing
And barely have nodded
As he continued to look down at me
Before he turned and walked away
With the terrible hardness
Of severe disappointment
In the choice that I made
To stand by Falatha
When it was a simple admission
To have said I understand
But I didn't do that
And I'm not sure why
Because I don't think I have
Any depth of feelings for him
That made this choice
The one that I made
And with that truth
Being uppermost
In mine own mind
I shouldn't have any problem
In coming clean with Thamm
Once the hour ends
But before that hour ends
I should send a message
To Falatha now
And let him know
That time is running out
That he'll have to return to his post
In 5 more days
And not one day more
Like he'd like to have
Or is that just what Thamm wants
Like how'd he even know
That Falatha and me
Were even talking
When I was fiarly certain
That I was keeping it under wraps
Like is it possible
That he's hacked my messages
And knows everything we've shared
These past few weeks
“Fobbith if he has”
I said out loud
As I was suddenly annoyed
With kindly old Thamm