Goro: Your Dream Come True

*Set two days after The Dwarven Ruins Pt 2.*

Amari arrived home in the late afternoon with baskets hanging from her arms, weighed down from her trip through the market square. The first thing she noticed was a pair of familiar shoes sitting just inside the door.

It had taken many months to instill that habit in him. She'd endured muddy footprints throughout the house in the meantime. "I'll clean it up later," he always said, but he would never get around to it before she decided to just do it herself.

Seeing the shoes delighted her. She'd gladly have taken even the muddy footprints again, if it meant he were home every day.

She took the food into the kitchen and put the bouquet of flowers she'd picked into water. Then she went upstairs and knocked on Goro's door. No response. She put her ear against it and was met with silence, but that didn't necessarily mean anything. He might have been sleeping, perhaps so tired even the knock didn't wake him up.

Back downstairs, she started dinner for three. Chopping vegetables for a stew, leaving aside the turnips because Goro hated them. When the pot was over the fire she headed to her own room to change out of her cleric's robes and into some more comfortable clothes for the evening.

She jumped when she stepped through the door and saw someone sleeping on her side of the bed, curled up under the blankets. She approached and pulled the covers back just far enough to reveal Goro's sleeping face. His skin was flushed from the warmth of the bed, his mouth was slightly open, and his breaths were slow and even.

Amari resisted the urge to brush the hair off his forehead. An act of affection, but it might wake him up. He so badly needed the sleep. The fact that she hadn't woken him already was surprising. He must have been sleeping deeply, a rare occurrence. It had to be preserved.

Too late. Just as she straightened up from leaning over him, he started awake, eyes flying open and breath catching. He blinked at her a few times, then reached his arms out.

She sat beside him on the bed and gave him a hug. He held her tightly, head resting on her shoulder. And he stayed like that for a long time. A worryingly long time. His fingers gripped her, like he was clinging on for dear life.

"Goro," she said, "what's wrong?"

"Nothing." He released her and climbed off the bed, rubbing his eyes. "I have to get going."

"Will you stay for dinner?"

"Can't." He yawned and stretched. He grinned at her as he reached around to scratch his back. He reminded her of a cat, sometimes. The air was filling with the aroma of stew, and his head cocked as he took a whiff. "Smells tasty, though. Sorry to miss it. You know, Amari, I've been thinking. *Re*thinking, you might say. I wonder if it's about time for me to try becoming a good person. You know, make your dream come true. What do you say to that?"

"My dream isn't for you to become a good person. You already are a good person."

"Right, right, deep down. Well, what would you say to me making it so everyone else knows? What if everyone knew you were right all along?"

She tilted her head to the side. "Is it important that everyone else know? Or just that you know?"

Goro scoffed. "I don't know what you want anymore, lady. What would you say in response to me killing a bunch of people so you and Joan can have a nice life together? Does that count as being good, do you think?"

"Goro, Joan and I already have a wonderful life together." Fear squeezed her heart. She hated it when he talked this way, cryptic and foreboding. He was keeping something from her—*Joan* was keeping something from her, too, she was certain of it; the two of them knew a secret and didn't want to tell her about it. That the two people she loved most would put themselves in harm's way, and not even tell her how or why, was unbearable. "My dream is for you to have a good life. For you to be happy."

"Yeah, well, good luck with that," he muttered.

And then he left.

Amari sat for a while longer, brushing a few tears from her cheeks. Then she stood up and remade the bed, smoothing out the blankets, until there was no sign he'd been there at all.