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Arlen Kallem has recently come into possession of a boat. Well, actually he's recently come into possession of a few things, given his mother just died. But most relevantly, he has a boat. And a friend, with whom he can boat. These facts are relevant.
Harin has no objections to boating; he's still in shock, as far as Arlen can tell, which is pretty unreasonable, considering it's been like a week since his dad died, and the guy was a complete asshole. But it does make him conveniently portable and boat-able. Arlen is the skipper and Harin is the something. They are the perfect team.
Even the most perfect team can make dumb mistakes, though. Like drifting farther out to sea than intended. Or not noticing a hurricane brewing. Or being swept across the ocean until they smash onto the far shore. That sort of thing.
Ari, sprawled on the beach, has a pillow; the pillow is a large chunk of rock protruding from the sand. It's such a lovely pillow. Very comfortable. He's going to sleep now. Harin has similar opinions on the subject.
"None taken. Maybe we should attach it to Arlen instead, he's got a respectable tallness quotient himself."
"If you like you can piggyback on me once you've healed and we don't need a special harness or something. I'm full willing to carry small persons, but I can't imagine broken legs would make that comfortable."
"Broken legs aren't known for making things comfortable, it's true."
Miraen gives Harin a 'please translate your bizarre friend' sort of look.
Harin shrugs. "He likes a lot of stuff that hurts. And I think some of it he associates with playing with his mum. Which is its own whole issue that I don't need to get into right now. Oh, and she always had the Serlast prime fix his bones when they broke, and they lived nearby, so he was never out of commission more than a few hours any given time unless he was on business or something."
"That does make sense," says Miraen. "There aren't any primes in Elannwy, so I have to heal the long way. It's highly inconvenient."
"As did I. Less because he wasn't available and more because Dad had, uh, his own opinions on broken legs."
"His dad was an asshole. S'why Mom killed him. Not that she wasn't an asshole, or anything."
The unexpected guests stay the night. Arlen sleeps beside Harin in case the latter has nightmares and needs emergency hugging, and Harin sleeps beside Arlen in case the former needs to be protected from harm in some way that can be accomplished by a very tall twelve-year-old.
Then he makes breakfast again when more people are awake.
Breakfast is thoroughly delicious.
Arlen eats like the animal he is; Harin has some residual manners from his terrible dad, but only just. Also, he eats a truly terrifying amount of food.
