Re: Dinner: Athelstan and Ragnar
"Perhaps you were hoping to fill it," Athelstan pointed out. It might have been centuries ago, but a house this large was meant for people in it. Only their halls (and Christian churches) were ever this large, and they were always where people gathered and it did not surprise him that Ragnar preferred such now. "I have not wanted for relationships." Friends had been enough, but they had been hard to find in the realm beyond this one. "You won't be--" he said quietly, smiling. All it took was Ragnar saying he didn't want to be alone and he knew that when they returned from the conference, he would not be returning to the B&B.
"And if I never left?" He asked, because the question had to posed. But Athelstan suspected already that even if Ragnar did marry again, he would still have a place in Ragnar's home and at his table.
He picked at his salmon as Ragnar told him of his newfound languages. "I can't imagine you in church, speaking Latin," he said with a laugh, but the thought that Ragnar had learned that one amongst all the others sent warmth through him.
"Will you go to war again?" It was asked as he finished off the last few bites of his starter, and he pushed the plate away to focus solely on his dinner companion. "I never had the taste for it like you did, I don't think. I tried. I wanted you to be proud of me."