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Show 64 tried to go to a monastery, then, because he didn't ever want to marry anyone else, but his parents made him come back and wed my mother." "Your mother is a decent person," I said, trying to think of something kind to say about that silent, cheerless woman. "She's ten years older than my father, and she has always been sickly- After my father lost his true love but was obliged to marry anyway, he comforted himself with the hope that he would have many sons. But he only had me." "He should be glad he has you," I declared. "He does not feel that way," she said simply, with no bitterness. "Are you sure you don't want to dance, Geist?" "No, I'm too tired." And I was. I was weary deep into my bones. Watching the other people jump and jig all around me made me even more exhausted. Hilde stood on tiptoe to whisper something into Gast's ear, and he nodded. Then she moved into the crowd. She was not dancing, but when I caught sight of her again she was clapping her hands and seemed enraptured by the music. Her gray eyes looked wider than ever, and her long, loose-flowing hair had flowers entwined through it. Hilde seemed prettier since Gast had come, or perhaps I had not bothered to notice before. The last bit of twilight was gone after Gast finished that tune, and Dietrich and Damien ran up to the pile of wood and brush. Each twin carried a lighted torch in his hand. When they set the dry wood aflame it blazed up brightly, lighting the square while distant lightning |