Maenta ended her laughter with a sigh and put down her spoon, still having
not tasted her shogo. She bowed her head and held out her hands over her food, palms
up. Shayn grimaced and nearly dropped his fork. Jorgan bowed his head to say his
own blessing over the food. Shayn kicked him in the ankle and he muffled a grunt
of surprise. He knew better than to open his eyes until the blessing had finished,
or he would laugh at whatever face his brother was making at him.
Ben prayed aloud, thanking Enlo for safe travels and for the adventure
and change ahead of them, and especially for the gift of meeting a beloved teacher.
Jorgan nearly opened his eyes at that. When had his father ever used a word like
“beloved“? And when did Ben pray aloud over their meals?
Jorgan swallowed hard. He wasn’t going to be expected to pray aloud, was he? Praying was hard, because even though he believed Enlo was real, and the All-Maker cared about him, he just couldn’t find the right words when people were expected to pray aloud. Praying was hard a lot of the time. If he stopped to think about what he was saying, he always had questions. Why would Enlo listen to him, right that moment, when so many other people in the universe were praying about much more important things? If he prayed inside his head, silently, he could believe his prayers were filed away, waiting until Enlo had time to hear them. He didn’t feel like he was intruding on grown-up conversations.
Tila didn’t join in, and neither did Maenta. A few seconds after Ben finished, Jorgan opened one eye, just to make sure it was safe. Maenta winked at him. He muffled a laugh and opened his other eye, and now he reached for the bread pudding.
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