Scarburg Meadhall

[littlemanpoet]

As she had come towards him, opposite urges fought within him, to flee, and to close the distance between them. He stood still. When she placed her small soft hands in his, he almost lost the battle. But no, it was not about abandoning her.

"If it were up to me, Ginna," he said softly, thickly, "we would marry tomorrow. But it is not. Your father's will cannot be so easily shunted aside. A father's wish or will concerning the marriage of a son or daughter are two words for the same thing. He is your lord, and will be until he gives you to the man of his choice. I am not that man, Thornden is. Thornden must be asked if he is willing to court you. Only then will it be permitted -" he stopped and closed his eyes tightly. When he opened them they were moist, but full of despair. "No, I see how this will go. If Thornden declines, your father will find another and another and another of higher station than me. It will go on and on until he wears us both down. It would be better to let me go now. It might lessen the pain for both of us. I'm sorry."

Ginna felt her arms weaken and dropped Harreld's hands from hers. But she held on to her resolve, however tenuously. She still had some fight left in her.

"You know Thornden, he would sooner cut off an arm and a leg than dishonour your friendship in such a way. And I would refuse any man my father might find. I would rather choose to grow old unwed.

"And if you think your pain will lessen in time," she continued, her voice rising as passion overcame her, "then you are a fool. It will not. It will consume you, and so will your guilt when you realise that you have doomed me to loneliness."

These were words she was sure she would come to regret, but she spoke out of a desperate fear. Her tears fell freely now, yet her eyes burned with an obstinate fire as they gazed upon Harreld's.

Seeing Ginna freely shedding tears, tore him within. He wished he could wipe them away, take her in his arms, and say that they could wed, and all else fall where it would. But this was not just about the two of them, would that it were.

"No, I do not think the pain will lessen, but we need not make it worse than it already is, which is hard enough to bear. I am not a man who would dishonor you by ignoring the will of your father. We cannot be wed. Life can be cruel. I wish it were otherwise. I love you but I cannot keep you. I am sorry, more than my words can say."