Stand and Deliver [Slaine]

[Aeirn Vryndîr]

Aeirn was pondering as Slaine sat down beside him, thinking about various things. It took a moment for him to come around as he blinked, eyeing her; a little taken a back that she sat next to him, indeed, so lost for words was he, that he didn't say any snide, needling remark, merely staying silent as he watched her fumble in the bag; curiosity got the better of him and he used his considerably taller stature to take a peek in to the contents of it- he wouldn't what she had actually packed for this trip, after all, it was clear this was her first jaunt out and about in the big, wide world. "Pack light..." he said idly, coughing a little as she produced some bread, which was unceremoniously dunked in his stew.

Raising a brow as she offered him the chance to do so, he looked a little puzzled, why would she ruin the taste of the bread by soaking it in the stew, a human custom, he thought, an odd one at that. Sneering at the idea for a while; he gave in as she insisted once again, taking the bread that was offered and tentatively giving it a dunk in the broth, letting it soak for a moment before he pulled it out, quickly pushing it into his mouth before it dripped everywhere. The taste was... unique, it was wet, he could taste broth, mainly broth with the texture of bread- it wasn't unpleasant by any means, simply different and something he wasn't sure he liked, though it wasn't something he didn't..

He swallowed, looked at her and raised a brow. "A Felsgrad... custom? It's a little strange; the texture is unpleasant, but, the taste is what you'd expect. Did you pack any other sort of food? I fear you'd have starved, were it not for that stew, bread alone cannot sustain you." he eyed her cautiously, as if expecting a retort of snide remarks, just as they'd been doing all day. The foot they'd gotten off on, was still lingering in the air- after all, it wasn't so easy to befriend a man who had been about to attack you...

[Slaine]

What had she brought for this trip? Pawing through her things he might have seen more books than anything judging from the shape of the bag, though there looked to be quite a few helpful things in there among the mess but lacking any sort of meaningful organization one would be hard pressed to make heads or tails of the mess, but she seemed to do just fine. It was comfortable chaos to her, though it wouldn't last her long on the road - Aeirn was right and she knew it despite how she wanted to claim otherwise.

It wasn't time for that, however. It was time for stew, and she watched carefully as Aeirn acted for all the world like had never occurred to him to dip his bread - this was, of course, absurd to the tiny hybrid, who pitched a face when he claimed the combination to be unpleasant. It was just bread and stew, did he want something more grand or fancy? "I don't know - dad did it, sometimes he'd rip it up into the stew and mix it together, but I think it's nice just like this." She dipped her bread again, using it to push a chunk of Thumper onto her rough-cut spoon before shoving it into her mouth.

It didn't take long for her to finish the bowl and half the loaf, leaving the rest carefully preserved in the waxed cloth that she'd unwrapped it from. Scraping a chunk of bread across the bottom of the bowl she soaked up the remains of the broth, nibbling at the crust as she leaned back into the log and stared at the pot, considering a second helping as she tried to remember her packing list.

"Bread and cheese - apples. I bought them for a boar named Oscar - I figured I needed them more after putting him up in the stables again." She frowned, sounding a bit sulky but not at all snide - she'd realized her mistakes and was owning them, though it was a bit more difficult in her position. The man she was admitting her fault to, after all, had tried to stab her. "I know I need more, but it didn't look that far. I thought it'd be quicker than this-" She trailed off, looking up at him with an expression that suggested she found herself to be the butt of some joke in this instance, wearing a pained grin. "It's colder than I thought it would be - I didn't think we'd gone that far north but maybe it's just the elevation - my books say it's cold in the mountains and the air is thinner." She dug into her pack and retrieved an apple, replacing the half-eaten loaf in her bag as she did so, making certain it would not be crushed.

Hunching back against the log she drew the dirk and carefully began to peel the apple in a spiral. "I wanted to go to Domrhask, but we're not even half way there, are we?"

[Aeirn Vryndîr]

Aeirn exhale, eyeing the sky as Slaine spoke; the stars had come out now, backed by a black canvas, making each one glimmer and glint gently, it was a dazzling display of cosmic energies; Aeirn's mind wandering to such unanswerable and nebulous questions as 'what exactly were stars' and 'why did they shine so'. A shake of the head brought him back to reality, head lowering to gaze at Slaine again, watching her perform her odd bread dunking ritual, sliding it around the bowl as if trying to soak up as much as she could. She was very odd, he didn't deny that, though... most from Felsgrad were. Narrowing his eyes at the mention of a boar, Aeirn gave her a quizzical look, as if trying to ascertain if it was an actual boar, or some very boring man, that just so happened to be called Oscar.

"There is little point aggrieving yourself of such things, take it as a lesson to be learnt, rather than a failure to be dwelt on." Aeirn said, his words of wisdom (if they could be called that) having a logic to it, that you couldn't deny, though he did feel she was a little unprepared for all of this, packing items for a stroll to the next town over, rather than a long journey to lands unknown. He didn't comment on that fact.

The day was now drawing to a close, night having fully overtaken any semblance of daylight, instead the light now came from the clear, moon, its silver light illuminating the camp in an almost tranquil dream state, various flowers almost glittering in the pale glow, Aeirn peered around for a moment, taking the peace of it all in, the one downside being that the cool breeze that had been with them ever since they came into the foothills had rapidly dropped to a cold gust, the air carrying the icy winds of the mountain downward on to them.

"Mrm- Domrhask? I fear you have quite a ways to go if that's your destination- it shall not be easy; why did you not take a skyship?" A little puzzled at the fact, he glanced at her, taking a skyship seemed the obvious choice, to him, it was far less dangerous than walking all the way to the Northern lands, where if the wildlife wouldn't get you, then the cold most certainly would- he himself has never ventured that far north, but he'd heard tales of wagoners and travelers losing fingers and even whole feet and hands to the snow, forever being disfigured due to inadequate preparations. How Slaine was going to fare was anyone's guess.

[Slaine]

Quiet concentration gripped her as she focused on peeling the apple in one long, unbroken spiral, scarcely a scrap of white flesh still clinging to the red skin. She held the spiral up between them, stretching long and spring-like down near to the ground. Spearing the apple with her dirk she tucked the bare fruit into the nook between her thigh and her belly, carefully gathering the skin up into a tight rose-like form, setting it on her knee as she straightened up, picking up the apple and knife once more as she hunkered into her cloak against the biting wind in the foothills. "Skyships crash," she stated bluntly. "It's pretty common, my father said so." That might have been so - the weather in the mountains could prove unpredictable and there were plenty of tragedies in Khy'eras to be reported and read about later. Nigel had said if they were ever to visit, they wouldn't be flying, that was for sure. She had never really questioned it much beyond that, however. Nigel's fear of flight had been seeded in her as well despite her daydreams and desires.

"I don't really know if I want to go to Domrhask, I hear they have some of the most incredible craftsmanship anywhere, and a tree-" She trailed off, turning the slowly oxidizing apple over in her hands. "A tree that can cure most anything..." Again, she lost the script, looking blankly at the apple, grappling internally with a sense of guilt that she could not quite explain. "I mean, I'm not going back to Fellsgrad again - I've already left twice, I don't think I have enough for a third time." Whether she meant in the way of coin or confidence was a nugget of mystery left for Aeirn to worry about as she was finding the nap had not been as refreshing as she had hoped. Near full (near) she did not seem to think it prudent to clarify such things.

Instead, she trimmed a wedge of apple off, biting it from the tip of the blade as she looked at him. "You look like you do this a lot, this travelling thing, but for a long time the furthest I had ever been was a guard post just outside the city limits and that was when I was very young-" She had been shocked stepping out of her door by how different everything had become in the span of several decades, but she didn't want to admit that she had become desperately lost in the only city she had ever known - she feared he might try and exercise some of that undeserved authority and send her home again. "But I can take care of myself, you know." To punctuate her being capable, she offered him a bit of apple from the end of the blade, fixing him with a hard look that said she didn't need his pity despite how she continued to viciously beat about the bush of just coming out and saying it - I don't know what the fuck I'm doing, please help me. "Apple?"

[Aeirn Vryndîr]

Accepting the slice of apple, Aeirn quietly bit of piece off the segment, tentatively letting it sit in his mouth before finally eating it. Slaine did seem rather helpless in many ways, she wasn't used to this life, this world and Aeirn considered the fact that perhaps she'd be better off merely staying in Fellsgrad, but she seemed to determined to adventure, to see the world and all it had to offer, there was something admirable about that, he had to admit. The hour was growing late now, the time they spent talking allowing such to sneak up upon them, Aeirn stifled a yawn, the day finally catching up to him, though admittedly, he was perhaps a little more tired than he let on, a good night's sleep at not been something he'd gotten for a solid few days now, but finally perhaps this was the chance he needed, their job was done, they were no doubt going to pack up and head out the next day and so he thought this would be a good chance to let himself rest, even for just a short time.

"It would appear, against my better judgement, that... perhaps if you so wish, I can escort you up to the northern lands. My band will do fine without me for a time, no doubt, and after we've arrived safely, I'll make my way back down to Ninraih." Aeirn looked at her, his offer no doubt a serious one, judgement from his expression, really he knew she could do with the help and journeying with her would be something of an adventure he thought, what he didn't tell her however is that... while yes, he was slightly concerned she would die a slow and horrible death if he didn't go with, he saw a chance for payment for services rendered, and while this might have been payment of clanking coins, Aeirn didn't seem all too bothered with the acquisition of vast monetary gains, more so relying on knowledge and information, expert advice and such.

"Think it over, now I believe you shall be sharing my tent tonight, it's normally two to a tent, however... well, there isn't a second person for mine normally; I'm afraid however the floor is all I must offer, it seems we didn't pack a spare bedroll." giving a firm nod he pushed himself to his feet, now easily dwarfing her again, and sighed a little. "I myself shall be retiring for the night, do as you wish; goodnight."

It was rather a brusk goodnight, though Aeirn wasn't exactly a man that seemed too concerned about coming off as nice and friendly most of the time. The man simply gave her a small nod, a polite smile as he turned and wandered casually over to his tent, pushing open the flap and stepping through. It had been an eventful day.

[Slaine]

With equal amounts relief and shame she met his offer of escort, focusing again on her apple which she whittled away slice by slice, fearing that in the height of her embarrassment if she were to meet the Kerasoka's gaze she might come apart at the seams. Her pride wanted nothing more than to tell him she didn't need his charity but the smarter parts of her knew when to hold one's tongue, so she did not speak up, instead murmuring a belated "goodnight" through a mouthful of apple.

Never had she eaten an apple slower than she did that night, watching in huddled silence as the camp wound down around her. By the time she retired it was not by choice but rather the chill that had settled down from the mountains. Teeth chattering, she stumbled into the tent with her pack in tow, calling to life several pea-sized motes of light to illuminate the dark tent, the soft sounds of snoring coming from the corner in which the fur bed was nestled.

She was quiet and she was as quick as she could be, pulling free her bedroll and spreading it out in a corner of the tent, draping her cloak across it as a second blanket. Modesty in mind, she dressed down while casting several suspicious glares at the presumably sleeping elf, carefully folding and stacking her belongings before burrowing into the lumpy bedroll she'd come to loathe.

For a time she lay on her back in the dark, watching the motes of light drift lazily above her as they grew dimmer and dimmer before finally one by one winking out. Sleep came sometime before the last ember of light died, dreamless and heavy but oh so needed.

[Fin]