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Post by Rowenna on Sept 19, 2006 0:56:27 GMT -5
“Oh, I rarely stay at Inns,” Rowen replied honestly. The life of a thief left little room for commodities that involved going out in the open and into places where other people might see her--identify her--and, well, the rest wasn’t a pretty thought. Terribly exciting, maybe, but more trouble than it was worth. “... or open grass. Or anyplace open at all--here--I’ll get a fire going.”
Within what was perhaps a total of fifteen minutes, Rowen had fulfilled her word, and had fire started at a relatively dry spot not terribly far away--nor terribly close, but enough for the fire to suit its purpose of warmth and aid. The illumination gave off orange on what was green, and white, and brown, and pale. She crouched down by the fire, arms supporting her front, and cloak set off aside nearby, and her skin and hair took on hues of autumn, of a mixed yellow and red.
“Come here, Lerris,” she said. “There goes day one. Just two more, maybe three. And then...”
She paused and looked into the fire. She never considered that they might part--and still, she didn’t. She had Lerris--and soon, she would have Byron as well. Hopefully. If he was there--no, he had to be. There was no if or maybe, he had to, or...
She embraced her legs and looked on thoughtfully. She didn’t want to feel unhappy--she didn’t want to feel sad. Sometimes such feelings could be driven away by disdain of them. But most of the time, all she could do was pretend it wasn’t there. Visibly, at least. She couldn’t show weakness--it didn’t matter why, or for what. And by the same token, a part of her nurtured it, and let it eat at her at the same time the other side of her being took part in what she wanted--him.
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Post by Lerris on Sept 20, 2006 20:28:03 GMT -5
Lerris sat down right behind her, and wrapped his arms around her shoulders, pulling her slowly into his arms. “…And then, when we get where we are going we will deal with it then.” He kissed her on the back of her head, and smiled at the warmth of the fire. He stayed quiet, and gazed into the fire thinking of what he would do, or even say when they found Byron.
Lerris didn’t like the idea of leaving her, after everything that had just happened, it just wouldn’t be right. He sighed, and shook his head at the foolishness of it all. “I know, that we are both thinking on the same thing right now. I want you to know, that no matter what happens, I don’t plan to go anywhere.”
He took in a deep breath, and shook his head, “Unless of course, you would want me to go?” It was almost a joke, and almost a real question. At the time, Lerris wasn’t sure which one.
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Post by Rowenna on Sept 21, 2006 0:56:52 GMT -5
“You’re not going anywhere if I have anything to say about it,” she replied with a coy grin, enjoying the warmth of his body against her back and around her arms. She really hadn’t thought it--that is, she didn’t see them leaving one another. Perhaps she was ambitious--or just knew what she had, and what she wanted. She didn’t know what Byron would say--she tried to picture it in her mind, but could never imagine anything coherent enough to base herself on. Surely he’d think more about her having tracked him all that way than who she gave her affections to? Perhaps he’d be angry that she defied his wishes. He wasn’t ready for this. That’s all there was to it.
She let the stream of thought end there. She turned around, and let herself fall into Lerris’ arms, connecting with him to the mouth. She stayed that way for a moment, and the next moment she was looking down at him with silver eyes and a golden smile.
“Quel du.”
She removed herself from him, and lay herself down beside. Her cloak was her blanket, and she was still--minutes, hours, years--she couldn’t say how long it was before she finally fell asleep with the strange content of being close to someone which she had never felt before.
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Post by Lerris on Sept 24, 2006 23:21:02 GMT -5
Sleep came quick, and the morning seemed like it came even quicker. Lerris opened his eyes, and stared up at the sky. It was just the right time when the sun was just beginning to show itself, Lerris smiled and just lay there for several minutes.
He sat up slowly, and saw that the fire had long since burned itself out. He took in a deep breath, he felt…refreshed. His eyes finally came upon Rowen, and slowly a smile split his face. He went about getting ready for the long day of walking ahead, he stood finally and began stretching, a nights sleep on the ground wasn’t ever comfortable.
An hour passed and Rowen still slept, the elf sighed and looked one last time at the position of the sun. It was time to leave, if they were ever going to catch up to Byron they had to be quick. Lerris bent down and gently brushed the hair from Rowen’s face. He kissed her forehead lightly, “Time to go Rowen.” He whispered.
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Post by Rowenna on Sept 25, 2006 1:14:36 GMT -5
Rowen opened her eyes slowly, waking gradually with the uncertainty if she had been woken up or if she had awoken of her own doing, if he had said something... though she was almost certain he did, or if she had only heard it in the slowly fading remnants of a dream. She smiled and kissed him once, letting herself lay back against the grass for a moment more. The grass was a vibrant green against her back, and her hair vermillion against the morning sun. She looked to the sun, a pale orb of yellow against a pale blue sky, and noted it was early--but not too early. And she remembered what they were there for. She remembered the gentle but familiar ache of her back from sleeping on ground, the emptiness of her stomach from refusing to eat the previous day, and she remembered the light of her head from all these different feelings, convoluted and chaotic in a mind bent on order. But she smiled nonetheless... for many of these feelings that reigned entropy in her mind were good.
“You slept too long,” she accused Lerris playfully, lying still with he above her. “I have been lying in wait all morning for you to wake up; I’ll thank you to remember we still have a task at hand.”
With this, she sat up, her hair all a’muss from sleep, and she stretched out her back, only lightly sore, for it seemed grass as a nice change from sleeping on dirt and rock. She ran her fingers through her hair and put her cloak on her back, where it belonged. She reached her full height, and her legs protested the shift of position.
“Are you coming Lerris?” she smiled, her nose inches away from his neck.
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Post by Lerris on Oct 2, 2006 22:56:34 GMT -5
Lerris could not help but chuckle, he silently watched her with a smile as she stretched about. Getting ready for the days walk ahead, “Please forgive me for not waking earlier, next time, maybe you should wake me up sooner?” He shook his head and took her arm, starting to lead her towards their destination.
The day was beautiful, and Lerris was glad that they did not get drenched the night before by any rain-fall. He sighed, taking in the landscape about him once more. He knew that making it to Edoras was only the easiest part of this trip, that the real trouble lay with a apprentice simply gone rogue.
He wouldn’t be easy to find, and it pained him what Rowen would feel when she realized that he was forever lost. Because at that very moment, she looked for the first time he had ever seen her, at peace. He sighed, and kissed her on the cheek, it might of seen random and odd to her, but to him it was almost an apology. He had promised to find her apprentice, and for some reason, he was starting to think he was setting her up for a long fall.
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Post by Rowenna on Oct 4, 2006 0:56:14 GMT -5
They walked for a few moments in silence, and Rowen smiled, playfully letting her hand brush over Lerris’ hair and roughly mess it to the best of her ability. She seized him by the waist and held him close, slightly leaning and walking by his side.
“I’m running out of things to ask you, Lerris,” she said with a slight smile as she continued to stay by him, the two figures shaped like a pair of crossing blades of grass. “You can ask me anything you want.”
The offer was likely some attempt to break the silence, or perhaps to connect in some other way. She found she liked to talk to him; in fact, she always had. The subconscious just never cared to relay the information to her conscious self, or in some way, she didn’t let herself explore that possibility. Were things really any different from how they had always been? In a way, yes... and in another way, a strange and deeper image at an unlikely course, they hadn’t truly changed at all.
And, of course, her mind would drift to Byron. That day, long ago, when they were training, and he got angry and left to be off on his own much like that day... and she wondered, really pondered over her mistakes. Too hard. Too strict. Too uncaring. And not enough; not all she could have been as a teacher to a student, or a parent to a...
She didn’t want to think of things like that, but all the same, she knew she had to. Before the end. Before the final reckoning. But perhaps she could divert her attention for a little longer...
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Post by Lerris on Oct 12, 2006 19:13:21 GMT -5
Lerris laughed, he didn’t know where to start with asking her questions. It seemed like every time he would try and find out more about her the worst things would become. He knew Rowen had a dark past, one that may soon either end or begin anew depending on the rogue apprentice.
Things seemed to always lead back to Byron, back to something he knew Rowen wanted to keep her mind off of. He knew the banter was more then just talk, they both knew they wanted to be happy as long as they could before something bad happened again. Was that so bad? To push away the things that worry you and focus on only the good things in life?
It may be a bit ignorant, but perhaps it was truly for the best, so Lerris spoke, “I have so many questions, and have no idea how to word them. I want to know everything about you, every detail no matter how small. I want to know what you are thinking right now, I want to know…you.” He smiled, and couldn’t help but kiss her atop the head.
It was the truth, for the first time in his life Lerris knew why he was alive, knew his light in the dark; and it was holding onto his waist and he had his arm around his light, and for now, was not planning on letting go.
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Post by Rowenna on Oct 12, 2006 23:55:09 GMT -5
She felt her heart flutter like a pulse beat, and she smiled softly, her eyes and her body betraying genuine moved affection.
“Well, you are a flatterer, aren’t you?” she covered herself with a sheepish smile, tempering her flighty head. “You already know me, Lerris. I think, in a way, you know me better than most. All’s left is facts and figures that you may piece as you like.”
She smiled and straightened her back, letting her head sit erect and bob with pride and eyes of glittering reflection.
“Very well. I was born in the middle of nowhere; Samuel and Lilith, those were my parents’ names. My mother, as I recall, was vivacious and childlike, and my father was warm but firm. I don’t care about them, really. Members of a distant past that belonged to a small child that shared my name and face. I left them, and went to a different nowhere, wherein I learned about cunning, slight of hand, and family love. I left once more, and since then, traveled nowhere to noplace to nowhere special, filling my purse and living by a sword and learning my blade to my student. Sometimes, I sneeze when I go from a dark place to a light place. I love night and I love sleep, and I am not afraid of anything. How is that for a start?”
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Post by Lerris on Oct 13, 2006 23:13:40 GMT -5
Lerris shrugged, it hadn’t been meant as flattery, every word he had spoken had been the truth. He supposed she was right, they had spent a good portion of time together wither at the time they were being attacked by mad men, or attacking each other. He knew things about her that others could only guess about, they say you best know a person after you have fought them, and well, Lerris and Rowen had fought on more then one occasion.
Lerris listened intensely to every word of Rowen’s short story, it made him sad that she cared not for her parents. But he knew it was not his place to say anything, and let her continue on about how she learned the way of a thief. He chuckled finally as she finished, “You sneeze when you go from a dark to a light place?” He shrugged, “I’ll have to remember that.” Why? He wasn’t quite sure himself, “I am glad we both love sleep and the night, and as for not being afraid of anything…”
He shook his head, he knew that it could not possibly be the truth. Everyone has some sort of fear, even the most battle-hardened soldier fears something. Lerris couldn’t help but smile, Rowen was a battle-hardened soldier and much more then that. Lerris felt that she feared the loss of her apprentice more then anything right now.
“You are a pretty fearless woman, more fearless then any I have ever met.” It was the truth, she was probably even more fearless then himself. “But everyone, even myself, even you Rowen, has to fear something.”
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Post by Rowenna on Oct 15, 2006 2:41:58 GMT -5
Rowen paused a moment at that. Fear? Did she? Indeed... fear like a strange taste she did not quite recognize, fear like the cold hard breath on the back of her neck on a day that otherwise wrought of sunshine. Fear like a shadow of enveloping darkness that could only be seen when her head was turned, and her eyes were left away from the thing that took her from behind.
“I am not afraid,” she said more resolutely, betraying nothing but her incessant pride. “I fear nothing...” Not death, not war, not pain, not ill, not life. Well... perhaps there were things of the aforementioned. Things it held, like people, like one person whose life could end if he took a wrong turn, a novice who went off like a fledgling from the nest. Of course, she did not say so. She didn’t even look it; but for the first time, she allowed herself to feel it. Small increments at a time--pieces of honesty, pieces of feeling, pieces of knowledge, pieces of truth. Why run from truth? No, she had been running all along. She had to stop running, had to seek it. Seek all kinds of truth--the truth that lay many miles ahead of her, and the truth that walked beside her. Both were real, and she needed both. She realized, she had to ground herself, but being aware didn’t mean being unhappy. One truth was pain, and the other was joy; and both were true, plain as the momentary chill on her back and the whisper of wind by her ear. “Being afraid just weighs you down... doesn’t it?”
All of three sentences, and she felt like she was babbling nonsense; it had to stop. She could not look at least completely as a fool.
“Anyway, perhaps fear is just an elf thing,” she smiled warmly and nudged him heavily with the side of her body. The warmth was not an illusion, but perhaps some result of the conflicting feelings inside; confusion as to whether she should be happy or whether she should rot in a bottle. For a time, the more obvious part of her wanted to play. He had mocked the human race enough to last two lifetimes of insults; it had to be her right once in awhile, too.
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Post by Lerris on Oct 15, 2006 21:32:11 GMT -5
Lerris smiled at her, he knew she was making a joke to make herself feel a bit more comfortable. He didn’t push her, knowing her pride would not let her admit to any sort of fear at all. “Maybe it is just an elf thing…” He said while trying to hold back a laugh, “But I think I have seen it in other beings as well.” He shook his head as she nudged him, and he playfully nudged her back.
Maybe now was not the time to discuss fear, or doubt, or any of that. For the first time in quite a while Lerris was happy, and maybe the same doubled for Rowen. She had spent all her life as a thief in the darkness, with no time to smile and only time to steal. Finally, if only for a short time, she could be happy, he should let her.
To ignore such a thing of fear was a little foolish, but in the past few days Lerris had done more then one foolish thing and gotten away with it. He did so now, realizing that eventually it would all catch up to him. Perhaps when they reached Edoras, Rowen’s fears may become reality then. If they don’t find Byron, or if he chooses not to be found at all.
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Post by Rowenna on Oct 16, 2006 20:11:13 GMT -5
“All in your mind, Lerris,” she smiled fondly. Ever did the shadow still linger over her shoulder, the chill on her skin that was fear. All the same, she found her way to coexist with it, for a time. The single name lingered in her mind. Byron. And the memory... young boy, small, child who had come up to her, and she wanted nothing to do with him. How things changed. He was still a young boy in her eyes, and still, he needed her, whether he understood it that way or not. He will be found, she repeated to herself silently. He will be found.
“Well then!” she went on. “You wanted to know everything about me--what makes me tick, what makes me me. Hence, am I do be defined by my masterful ability to sneeze at all the wrong times, or do you believe there’s more to it than that? Ask me something, anything; be specific, ere I know not what to talk about.”
She let her hands fasten behind her back, and kept that smirk stretched across her face. She almost wondered if it was fair to put him on the spot like that, but all the same, she felt no remorse; it was amusing, in its own way. After all, the day was still young, and she would not let it die in silence.
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Post by Lerris on Nov 7, 2006 0:46:38 GMT -5
Lerris nodded, a smile on his face, he glanced up towards the sky and let his mind try to find the right words within his head. He didn’t want to ask anything, he didn’t want to speak in fear he might ask the wrong question. Lerris finally shrugged, “Rowen, I fear that I am still in some sort of shock.” He laughed still watching the sky as he spoke, “There are so many things to know, so much time to recap and speak of that I cannot even begin to think of the right question to start it all.”
He sighed then, and brought his gaze back to what lay ahead of him. “I think I may have disappointed you, because I can’t think of anything to talk about.” He smiled, and turned his eyes to Rowen, “Can you possibly forgive me?” The elf suddenly dug into his pocket, realizing that he still had a small bag of dried food with him. He produced the small bag from his pocket and un-tied the straps.
"A token of my forgiveness?" He said holding the bag of food towards Rowen with a smile.
(You make sense you do....)
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Post by Rowenna on Nov 12, 2006 23:52:49 GMT -5
Rowen remained silent for a moment, saucy smile on her face, and an amiable flare of defiance in her eyes. Truth be told, she was painfully aware of the emptiness of her stomach, having refused food in the past day or so, and she was just beginning to regret it. However, with pride, she held her indignant silence for a moment, walking along side. She let her head and shoulders bob in acquiescence, allowing an air of grudging acceptance pass over them.
“Oh, very well, if you insist,” she said, accepting some dry fruit with a hidden gratitude. “I forgive you--for now. But perhaps you should think up something to say as I fill myself, for I will not degrade myself to talking about the weather.”
She chewed the dried morsels, letting her mind drift, thinking about the shadow of memory that kept at her heel with every step. Did he want her to just talk about herself--did he expect her to define herself, or explain herself in simple tongue and speech? Without guidance, no less? Not that she placed any blame on him, not anything of the sort; she was just wondering how to begin. There was only one thing her mind revolved around, and it wouldn’t have taken an absolute genius to guess what. With the stream of her thoughts, her words did slip as the running water of a creek, no reservation, no care to hold back, continuing on with the voice of her thoughts.
“Come to think of it, Byron always takes care of the victuals; this just reminded me. I always made him do it, practicing self-reliance. Maybe his doing it and my mastery in watching him forage and hunt for training’s sake made me lazy and unable to fend for myself,” she joked mildly. “Then again, it never did look like he was going to let me hunt for him. He likes it; eager.”
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