"Old Bard!" Andre begged pitifully, clutching Bard's hand.
Bard neither agreed nor disagreed.
"Old Bard!" Andre's voice lowered even further in supplication.
Bard looked amused.
"Old Bard!" Andre now had tears welling up in his eyes.
"Don't give me that, you think I'd believe it?" Bard sighed, "But this time I'll let you have it."
"Consider it a debt I owe you!" Andre beamed with joy, and before he walked out the door, he patted his chest and said, "Old Bard! If you ever need anything, I'm your man to take a blade to both sides!"
Before his voice had even faded, he dashed off like a streak of smoke.
"Have you ever counted how many times you've owed me?" Bard laughed and cursed.
Andre was already far away, but his voice drifted back from outside the shack: "Take a blade to both sides!"
"If you let him have his way too often, Andre will start to take it for granted," Winters couldn't help but speak up.
"Isn't he already doing that?" Bard replied helplessly.
…