Private Tales Fire and Brimstone

[Luna Griffinsbane]

Crisp air, sundered by smoke that reeked of something unpleasant, undesired. Unwanted. Nightmares, death and madness all swirling in the clean light of a spring day, while the chill winds blew from peaks even higher above, piercing the heavens themselves, crowned with clouds and blowing snow that reflected the afternoon light such that they glowed as from within.

A shuffling, staggering step forward. Another. What was it she ran from, exactly? Her hazy eyes staring into the middle distance, seeing and yet unseeing, clouded as with fever, could impart little of what went on behind them. A pale face smeared with smoke and blood - not hers - looked past the face of people that should have been familiar. Ears faintly pointed, a gift of the mother, failed to catch words that came from mouths long since accustomed, acquainted, familiar.

"What....what have I..." the girl murmured as she staggered forward, heedless of hands, heedless of words, heedless of everything in her addled state. Images, blurred and indistinct, assailed her, along with sensations most unwelcome. Why did her heart ache so? Why did tears well at the corners of her eyes? Where was she? Why was she?

The dark place behind those watering eyes held no answers. "...have I .... done..."

A deeply drawn breath. Gasps, distant, so terribly distant, and more words running together into a stream of sound with no meaning. The girl didn't even feel the ground as it rushed up to meet her, the sickening crunch of a boneless body striking the ground as hands reached to catch her.

And failed. Poetic justice, perhaps?

-

She sat bolt upright, covers falling away from a thin linen shift plastered to her thin frame. Her breath came in quick gasps, eyes wild and unfocused as of she yet saw the terrors that had haunted her in her sleep. Sweat beading on her brow, her eyes came into focus, took in her surroundings, and it was then that she realized that perhaps some part of the nightmare, as formless as it had been, might be true. This was not her room, and this was certainly not her home. The scent of the mountains remained, but the scent of the farm - the earth, the animals, all of the things that made it home - had been replaced by something subtly different.

She blinked in the darkness of the room, and allowed herself to fall back against the hard mattress and soft pillows. Pain lanced through her arm, a white-hot dagger that cut through her murky thoughts quickly and cleanly. Eyes blurred with pain, she looked blearily at her pained left arm without raising her head. It was bound tightly with bandages, clean white with dark spots here and there in a line. She didn't remember anything about it, the injury or how she got it. She turned her head ceiling-ward again.

There, she stared at the unfamiliar ceiling, dark beams of wood supporting what had to be another floor (for the sounds of booted feet walking across it, and the muted conversations of others beyond). Her body ached deeply, as if it had been hard used and denied proper rest for many days, her eyes grainy, her mouth foul tasting. She felt immeasurably thirsty, and a weakness that could only be caused by days without food. It was perhaps a sad state of affairs that she was familiar with all of these things.

Have I been ill? The thought skittered across her mind without finding much purchase. The dream still held some weight, a dark and formless ball of pain and suffering that she scarcely could believe to be anything other than a fever dream. As if to confirm her suspicions, she heard the door to the room creak open an inch or two, casting a bar of light into the darkness. An eye appeared there, looking into the room, before vanishing, the door closing behind it.

"She still slumbers, Aldra. We should really wake her up-," a male voice whispered from beyond the door, cutting off abruptly as though signaled to do so.

"Let her rest. She can't remain asleep too much longer. You saw the state she was in when she came here." Another voice answered, distinctly female. The names seemed familiar to her, but her head seemed filled with a fog. It was receding, but thinking remained difficult all the same. For a moment, she thought to speak out, to let them know she was conscious. The effort seemed to taxing at the moment though, and she held her peace.

"I'm sure its the Griffinsbane girl, though I can't imagine why she is here alone. Have we heard anything...," the first voice continued, growing fainter and more distant until it faded altogether, replaced by relative silence. She closed her eyes, and tried to gather together her thoughts, which was a surprisingly difficult task.

After what seemed like an eternity, restlessness overcame weakness, and she sat up again, head swimming threateningly. After waiting a moment for it to clear, she threw the covers aside, and kicked her legs free of them. After a moment, she got to her feet, the floor creaking beneath her feather-light weight. Almost immediately, her eye was caught by a full mirror, taller than she was, silver-backed glass imperfect and mildly bubbled. She took a tenuous step forward, and then carefully crossed the room to stand before it, appalled by what she saw.

Bed-mussed hair, tangled and matted from sweat, framed her pale face. Dark circles underscored her eyes, which wasn't surprising if she'd been ill for any length of time, but more distressing were the patchwork bruises that mottled every inch of exposed flesh, as if she'd been beaten to within an inch of her life. Scratches and scrapes marred her face and arms, and for the life of her she could not recall where they had come from. She looked on a moment longer, disturbed and confused at what she saw, before stepping away with more questions than she had before. She struggled for a moment with a certain amount of frustration, unable to understand how she had come to be where she was.

The door to the room opening caught her attention, right ear twitching involuntarily to the sound as she turned to face the visitor. Her head spun sickeningly for a moment as the figure smiled, raising a hand to someone in the hallway and making some unseen gesture. "Ah, its good to see you up and about," the woman said as she stepped clear of the door, and closed it behind her.

Luna felt that she should know this woman, but was at a loss. She was tall and handsome, body running towards plump with a motherly look about her. She wore a dress with a wide white apron, dark hair shot through with silver done up i na tight bun. "I was worried you might not awaken, of course," she drawled in a thick back-country accent. "How d'ya feel, my dear?"

Luna shook her head slowly. "About how I look," she replied tiredly. She wavered a bit on her feet, then made her way back to the bed, bare feet thumping the floor heavily. "What....how did I...where?"

The older woman laughed softly, but her face took on a more serious cast as she began her reply. "Don't rightly know, but you're in Mill Creek. Been out cold for a three days. You're Kerra's aren't you?" The woman hardly waited for Luna's nod before continuing. "Thought so. I don't get up this way often, though I suppose its just as well I was here. The Katids' youngest took sick with a fever, and they sent for me a few days gone."

It suddenly clicked in place. This woman was Aldra, the local healer. She tended the regions' sick and injured, and had for longer than Luna herself had been alive. She had been at the farm when... Her mind backed away from that memory, unwilling to explore that detail. "I've been sick, then?" she said, though it was more of a statement than it was a question.

"As to that...I am not really sure, girl." The older woman folded her arms beneath her breasts and shook her head. "You were in a bad way, though. The people here said you stumbled into the green, trailing blood behind you, looking like you'd been in a fire or fallen off a mountain." She paused. "Still look like someone took a switch to you and beat every inch of you with it. How do you feel?"

The girl shrugged. "Wretched, I guess," she replied. Aldra nodded sympathetically, as the door opened wide enough to admit a hand clutching a dress. Aldra crossed the room in a couple of quick, light steps and snathced it. "You get out o' here, Gavin. Your pa will want you in the common by now, I reckon," she said to a young man i nthe hallway who was trying to look around Aldra's imposing figure. She closed the door on his muttered assent, and turned to Luna with the dress in her hands. She tossed it on the bed beside the young woman, took a sniff of the air and wrinkled her nose.

"I'll have someone draw you a bath so you can get cleaned up. You can borrow the dress until you get back home." Aldra eyed her sideways a moment, an unreadable expression on her face before she took a deep breath, turned, and approached the girl on the bed. "Suppose I'd best look you over, thought, before we do that."

-

To say that she felt like a new woman was an incomplete picture. Stale sweat sluiced away by warm water, and the lingering scent of something she couldn't identify. The feel of a clean shift against her skin was welcome, as was the plain dress she wore stepping from the bath house. Especially the dress; winter might be gone, but its memory still lingered in the air in those places away from a hearth.

Her arm still ached abominably where that woman had taken away the bandages to replace them with fresh. The wound was deep and vicious, but clean on its edges as though caused by a knife. She couldn't recall getting it, but then, she could recall little of the last several days. If it had only been the arm, it wouldn't have been so bad, but her head ached just as terribly, as though some giant hand were squeezing her temples together.

She walked down the hallway carefully, stepping out into a common room. This was the local in for the village, a small affair tailored to the few merchants who happened by every year or so. Mill Creek was by no means along any trade route, far flung into the wilds of the Spine as it was. The locals probably belonged to one monarch or ruler or another, but so seldom was anyone seen, here, that none except perhaps the mayor would even know to whom they were to pay fealty to. Smoke hung in the air in thin streamers as local farmers sat at tables, drinking the dark, heady ale they themelves made. It was late enough in the afternoon that there were five or six of them present, carts and cart horses outside in the street while their children or hired hands, those that could afford such, loaded or unloaded whatever it was that had brought them into town in the first place.

"Have a seat, Luna. I expect you're hungry?" She turned as she strode into the room, and saw the overweight keeper of the inn behind his counter. Luna nodded her agreement, and he grinned at her. It seemed forced, though. "Figured as much," he drawled, turning to go back into the kitchen. "Sit where you like, I'll be just a moment."

Stazn, that was his name. Luna picked the first table and settled into the hard wooden chair with a sigh. People at other tables glanced at her with unreadable expressions or forced smiles, before going uncomfortably back to their conversations. She didn't particularly feel like greeting anyone right then, anyway, but something in their demeanor left her unsettled. What was wrong? There didn't seem to be anything wrong here in the village, but clearly something was.

The clink of a heavy crockery plate and equally heavily made mug filled with water announced food being set before her. She looked at the meal - sliced beef drowned in gravy, potatoes and a hunk of crusty bread, and then looked to Gavin, questioningly. "Master Stazn, I...don't have any money for this with me," she said to him.

"No worries, lass," he replied, shrugging his shoulders. "You can pay me later." There was something in his eyes though. As he turned to walk away, she caught the sleeve of his shirt. He paused, awaiting the inevitable question.

"What is wrong, Master Stazn?" she queried uneasily. "All of you look at me as if..."

"Just eat, lass. Time enough to discuss things once you've eaten something. Can't keep your strength up on an empty stomach, right?" He averted his eyes and pulled free of her grasp, walking with an affected air of unconcern back into the back of the inn. Luna watched him go, maelstrom of emotion - dread, confusion, despair, anger - swirling in her mind. The meal before her didn't appear anywhere near as appetizing as it had before, which was an achievement in and of itself, and she ate it mechanically, tasting nothing as she did. She was surprised, therefore, to find that she had eaten every last bite, and scraped the plate clean with the bread to leave not a crumb.

She sat there, then, and stared at the table before her, mind whirling. The light of the sun dipped lower, although it couldn't be much past three or four in the afternoon. The few people who had been here had drifted away like ghosts, as if they didn't wish to be present for what was to come. It left her feeling listless, aimless, and lost.

She made to rise, then, lost in her own thoughts, when she felt a hand fall on her shoulder. "You should sit, lass." She looked up, clouded eyes clearing and finally seeing wjhat was before her. Aldra and Stazn were there, as well as Gavin, the keeper's youngest son. The knot of ice in her gut grew, got colder, stabbing icicles into her spin.

"What is wrong?" She looked from one of them to the next, noting eyes full of concern and sympathy, and her own dread increased a hundred fold. "Please tell me," she pleaded.

"What do you want us to say, girl?" Aldra replied, shaking her head slowly. "We scarcely know ourselves. You arrived her half dead, bleeding, fevered, and alone? A day or more's travel from your home? Surely you know what is wrong."

As Luna shook her head, the keeper added his own voice to the matronly village medicine woman. "Surely you remember something, Luna? What happened out there, and why are you here, alone?"

"I...," she began, and then clutched at her head as though it pained her. What had happened? She struggled to recall, but all she could remember was milking the cows early in the morning, and without a frame of reference she couldn't even be sure what day that was. That....and then nightmares without form, as likely to be false as true. "I don't remember," she whispered. The others looked at one another, and then to her.

"We sent some people up to your farm to check on them. We haven't heard from them, or from Nathan or Kerra or Dalen, and its been three days since they all left." Stazn said, pulling up a chair and and leaning on the back of it. "They should have been there and back by now, unless something waylaid them on the way. Those boys we sent are excellent woodsmen, so I doubt anything natural would get the drop on them. You have to tell us, Luna."

She shook her head, rewarding herself with a pounding pain behind the eyes. "I know not," she said in a hoarse whisper. "I don't even remember how I got here. I was milking Da's cows, and then....and then I was here, in bed." Haunting echoes in her mind betrayed her, though, snippets of darkness, fire, pain, sorrow. There was something there, but was it nothing but a fever dream, or was it real? A nightmare or truth? She couldn't answer, she could scarcely pull the pieces together let alone make them make sense. "I've...got to go home," she said suddenly, rising. "They'll be wondering where I am," she added as she started toward the door outside.

"Wait, girl! Don't be a fool!" This, from Aldra, was just as easily ignored as she threaded her way - rather unsteadily - towards the door. Towards home.

 

[Hugi]

Hugi has been wandering alone for some time, his prospects in the larger cities having dwindled to little more than being hired muscle for lazy guards around the less reputable streets. The clink of his axes the only unsecured sound around him while his boots crunched through undergrowth. He was following a blood trail. Something had been around these parts, something terrible it seemed by the sight of the farmhouse some ways back.

Or at least what he had guessed was once a farmhouse.

The giant of a man had been passing through and backtracked when something behind him had caught his attention. The town before that house had nothing in the way of monsters or other troubles, and he wasn't about to make his presence an issue. Nordenfiir always made folk nervous. The whispers of their bestial nature and paired with the wonder if he would snap into a rage giving him all the motivation he needed to move on.

He had done a little bit of hard work while he was there. A fence that needed mending, logs that needed splitting. Hard work that always pleased the man to do. Something that gave him a little purpose besides being a fight mongering ruffian.

The trail had led him back towards the town though. A curious thing since it seemed whatever had wrought its mayhem on the house had well and run off. Perhaps a survivor had made the trail. Maybe an animal that sought comfort of humans.

Either way, it was enough for the man to come lumbering back into town. He hadn't kept proper count of how many days he had been walking, his trek through the woods rather than the rough road had been spent looking for signs of creatures or people rather than paying attention to time.

The helmet he usually wore was removed before he tried to enter the inn. He opened the door, only to be greeted by a very small woman pushing toward the door. A hand the size of her head coming down in her way as the man squared himself in the doorway.

"Woah there little miss." Hugi rumbled, his deep voice carrying well across the inside of the room. The man who owned the place, Stanz, seemed to be after the girl along with another woman. Not being one to insert himself usually, he was caught in an awkward spot of blocking the entire doorway with his body.

 

[Luna Griffinsbane]

Gavin rushed forward just as the door to the humble little inn opened,easily weaving through the tables and chairs, few as they were. He reached Luna quickly, grabbing her by the arm. The girl let out a piercing squeal as he tried to bring her up short, pain radiating outward in spikes, agony nearly mind numbing. The young man let her go in surprise, and she stumbled forward a few steps. Only to land against, and bounce off of, the hand of a giant. With a pained grasp, the young woman landed on her rump, legs spread before her.

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry..." the boy exclaimed before trailing off into silence. He stared, mouth agape, at the stranger towering in the doorway. He wasn't the only one, either; Luna quite openly stared as well, as if she were looking at a tree that had suddenly sprouted legs and decided to walk in to the mill with a list of demands.

"Excuse me, my good man! Welcome to the Brook and Bramble," Stanz said without missing a beat. The stranger was clearly unusual, at least for these parts, but his business involved outsiders passing through, albeit uncommonly. "Please, feel free to take a seat. I will be with you in a moment."

Aldra sniffed at that, and made a shooing gesture towards the grey haired innkeeper. "Deal with your guest, Stanz. I'll take care of the girl."

But she was already back on her feet, spots of fresh blood blooming on the bandaged arm that Gavin had mishandled, unsteady and even more pallid than before. "Excuse me," she said in an almost diffident manner to the stranger blocking the door. "Please let me by."

"Young lady, you should be back in bed! Let the boys handle this. They should be back soon. No sense risking yourself, especially in your condition..." The woman gestured at Luna, as if to emphasize the fact that she couldn't even stand steadily.

Luna tried to draw herself up, defiant. The effect was somewhat spoiled by her diminutive stature, and the fact she looked as though she'd been beaten within an inch of her life. "Pa an' Ma will be worried! I have to go back," she replied.

 

[Hugi]

Hugi looked to the inn keeper as he spoke but didn't move. The young lady before him looked as though she'd been beaten with a fervor, and his gut reaction was pulled back harshly. He didn't take kindly to folk being beaten, even less so when it was someone so small.

The woman that spoke made it clear the girl was in need of tending, but the little ones words caught his attention.

"I'll find a seat in a moment." He informed the man, his eyes falling back to the pair before him. The younger one seemed set on leaving, even in her state of being unable to stand without seeming to shake like a leaf in the wind.

"Oy'll move from the door when you listen to the wise woman. The road would not be kind to you, no matter how close 'er far you 'ave to travel. Yer ma and pa will jus' have to worry till then." Hugi spoke calmly, hand still ready to stop her. He did not move, save to further close off the doorway if she tried to squeeze past him. Not that it took much more than him turning a little to square his entire frame into the opening.

 

[Luna Griffinsbane]

She stood unsteadily defiant for a moment longer, and then settled back, looking suddenly tired. "I'm not a child, you know," she said, tone a touch acerbic, a touch lost. The healer shook her head as she stepped forward at a sedate pace. "Maybe if you would act like an adult, we would treat you like one."

Aldra made to lay a hand on the girls shoulder, but she shrugged it off irritably, heading back to the table she had been at originally. Seating herself with a sigh, she had to admit - at least inwardly - that they were right. But how could she explain? This premonition of dread, of dark deeds done and still to he done? And the ethereal memory, if that was what it was, of something dreadful.

"Something is wrong," she said in a low voice. "I know something is wrong. They need my help." From what, though? That was a question, but not the only one. Phantoms in her mind, flashing steel or water. Heat, such intense heat, and pain.

What was wrong with her?

"Whatever is wrong, lass, the men of this village have gone to check up on. All you'll do is get in the way, or worse, get hurt," Stanz said in a matter-of-fact tone, nodding appreciatively to the hulking giant in the door. "Feel free to set yourself, sir. Much appreciation for helping us corral this bull-headed girl," he added, to muttered imprecations from the girl, which drew a disapproving glare from Aldra.

"You've never been the healthiest anyway, Luna. Stop being stubborn and let us help you!" She said, fists at her hips and stubborn, no-nonsense expression on her face.

"Fine, whatever," she said with a scowl. I'll just sneak out tonight. She felt a strong sense of foreboding, something compelling her to return home. They can't mean to keep a watch on me, anyway. I'm twenty, I am an adult, and they can't stop me.

Despite the fact she was contemplating sneaking away. She eyed the stranger at the door resentfully.

 

[Hugi]

The girl, woman rather, stood her ground but eventually caved. The healer's hand was shrugged off, and the words caught his attention. Related maybe was the trouble she spoke of. Chance was never a common occurrence for the mercenary. Things tended to line themselves out with a bit of digging and he may have found the right vein by coming back.

"Some kind of trouble at your home?" The large man asked, slowly following behind her after receiving a glare from her. His curiosity had gotten the better of him, and if the bruises and blood on her had been any sign of the trouble she spoke of, it seemed he had found something worth looking into. He seated himself, turning a chair around to rest his arms on the back while sharing the table with her.

"It may no' be mah place to ask, but I deal with sorting out trouble and-" He began before pointing to her arm. "Not usually your run of the mill kind of trouble gives a person wounds like that."

It was a bit of a reach, but the girl might have known something. And she seemed intent on returning to wherever home was. If home was where he was figuring it was, she may very well be the only person that he could have asked for any sort of leads on what may have done it.

"Where is home for you, if I might ask." He finally inquired, his expression settling into a bland frown, betraying nothing of what he had swirling about in his own thoughts.

 

[Luna Griffinsbane]

She took a deep breath, and let it out slowly. "I wish I knew," she said. She eyed the nameless stranger with shadowed eyes. "I woke up here, not so long ago. I don't remember how I got here, except..."

How did she explain? The nightmare seemed so real, something far more than any fever dream could ever be. She could recall the ghost of pain, a trace of suffering and horror and sorrow, and yet she could not recall any details. Darkness, fire, pain. Blood on the ground, shadows. It was an insubstantial melange, a collage of images that seemed disconnected.

"We sent a few of the young 'uns up the the Griffinsbane homestead a few days ago," Aldra said, suddenly beside Luna with a hand on her shoulder. Luna started, but said nothing. She didn't like the....compassion in the older woman's voice, or what it potentially entailed. "They should have been back by now; the girls' home isn;t much more than a day into the woods."

"For you, maybe," the young woman replied crossly. "Much less if you cut through the woods." She had grown up in these parts, and was a fair hand at trail craft. It would be a rare one indeed who didn't pick up those skills at all when so far from civilized lands. "I don't need you doting on my like I am your grandchild, Mistress Aldra," she added. "I can take care of myself."

The older woman snorted. "All evidence to the contrary." The healer looked at the hulking man, and sighed softly herself. "Its not your place to ask, but this isn't exactly run of the mill trouble, is it?" She looked out the front window and sighed. Darkness was already falling, the shadows of the taller peaks falling across the sheltered valley. "That's just the trouble, we don't know."

"Nothing ever happens here," Luna said, looking at Aldra. "We don't need help, we can take care of ourselves." The words rang hollow in her ears, but she couldn't admit to needing any help. They would just make her stay here, make her stay in a bed - how she hated being laid up! - and they would send this stranger to her house in her stead. The fact that others had already gone and not returned never crossed her mind.

"She's too stubborn a child to ask, but I will. There is a farmstead up the valley north of here some miles. You have the look of a sell-sword about you. Do you think you could check on it? Unexciting work, but..." Aldra looked the giant in the eyes, having to look up even though the stranger was seated. Her jaw was set, her expression stubborn, yet neutral. Luna's was anything but.

 

[Hugi]

Hugi stared at the pair, his eyes not betraying what he had come to realize. The house he had stumbled across was likely this young ladies, and the discovery of what happened would likely be rebuked if he simply laid it out for her. If her words were anything to go by to the other woman anyway.

The two spoke back and forth, securing what he had guessed of Luna. He did not sigh or react to her terse words however. Instead rubbing his chin as Aldra spoke to him.

"I can do that. Won't be heading out till mornin' likely bein' as it's so late already." Hugi informed her. He wasn't about to say anything regarding the farmstead just yet. He severely hoped there was another just out of sight of the one he had managed to miss somehow, and that she was merely caught up in whatever had taken place at the remnants of the other.

 

[Luna Griffinsbane]

It was readily apparent to her that they were not going to let her leave on her own, and likely would not let her leave even if accompanied. Their stubborn desire to keep her here rankled in a way that made her want to lash out, to take out her frustrations on all of them. She doubted that she had the strength to flip the table she sat at, though, and there was little chance of resisting one of them, let alone all of them, if they decided she needed to be subdued.

All that pent up anger melted away, though, without a proper outlet for it. She suddenly slumped, looking as exhausted as she felt, and turned her shadowed eyes to look at Aldra, and then the stranger who had blocked the door. "Its not fair," she whispered. Those dark eyes seemed to be on the edge of tears, but she blinked them away angrily. "You don't understand! I have to..."

"The world ain't fair, girl. Never has been, never will be. Learn to make the best of it; its all we can do to just keep one foot stepping in front of the others."

Luna stood up suddenly, and almost sat back down, hard. Steadying herself against the table with both hands, she stared at the dark, polished surface of the table. A single tear traced a path down one cheek, dangling a moment on her chin before dropping to splash on the dark, aged wood. "I'm sorry, mistress. I am...I am tired. I will retire now," she said, sound exactly as tired as that. It wasn't feigned, either; she could barely stand. Perhaps the little she'd eaten would revive her strength. It didn't matter, though.

Standing straight with difficulty, she shrugged off the hand of the healer and half walked, half staggered her way back into the hallway. Once she was in the bedroom, she shut the door and leaned her back against it. She felt old and abused, and unbidden tears streamed down her face, one after the other until she couldn't hold a sob back. Why am I crying? she thought to herself, but it was distant. She made her way to the bed and, fully clothed, crawled on top of the covers, tears leaving dark stains on the coverlet as she hugged herself into a ball, and wept.

-

Aldra waited until she heard the door close, and then let out a breath she had been holding the whole afternoon. They had succeeded in their subterfuge, at least for now. It wouldn't hold for long, but at least it would last long enough to keep the fool, headstrong girl from doing anything foolish until she had better recovered.

The aged wise woman pulled the chair Luna had been seated in out, and sat heavily into it. "I will surely go to hell for the things I am forced to do," she drawled slowly, shaking her head slowly. "I am sorry to drag you into the middle of this, stranger. These are strange times we live in." She pressed a hand to her eyes, seeming suddenly ten years older.

She looked him square in the eyes, sensing something of what he was, something more than human, and nodded. "You know what there is to be found out there. I can see it in your eyes. Just...just please, help us shield her from it for another day or two? Her parents...her parents have been a blessing to this village for years. I can't bear to think what they would say if we let their daughter kill herself over..." She trailed off, and then sighed. "Your room and meal is on me tonight, good sir." She realized that he had never introduced himself, but then, neither had she. "I will see you in the morning, and we can discuss this in more detail." She rose, and made her way to the door, stopping to eye him in a curious manner. And then she left, out the front and into the darkness.

On the table, several silver crowns lay, gleaming dully by lantern light.

-

She woke with a start.

She hadn't meant to fall asleep, but despite her own protests she had to admit that she was tired. Even now, she felt like she could lay in bed another week and still be exhausted. This wasn't the time for that, however. She had things to be about, and her rest could wait. She sat up in her bed, noting that she was still fully clothed, the dress wrinkled from the mistreatment. Her eyes felt puffy and red, and she realized with a start hat she had cried herself to sleep.

Outside, an owl hooted, and some small animal squealed in terror, cut off abruptly as a swooping shadow descended. The moonlight outside cast everything in stark grey scale, and it streamed through the window letting into this room. Luna scarcely dared to breath, ears straining for the sound of others moving about. She had no idea how late or early it was, only that it was well into the night. Within the inn, silence dominated everything. The only sound was the distant howl of wolves, many miles distant.

Feeling not much better than she had before laying down, she rubbed the sleep and salt from her eyes, and swung her feet carefully over the edge of the bed, heart seeming to pause, waiting for the squeal of the floor or the very bed itself to betray her. Silence greeted her feet touching the floor, and she let out a breath, and then got up, the shifting of the fabric on her body loud in her ears as she made her way to the closet to gather her boots. She didn't dare don them indoors, for the racket they'd make with each step was unwanted. Instead, she padded her way as lightly as she could - blessedly, she weighed less than a feather pillow - and went to the window. The shutters were thrown open and the latch was well oiled and easy to flip.

The air was chilly outside, enough so that she could see each breath as she slipped through the window, landing heavily on the grass outside. Her heart stopped for a long moment, ears straining to hear if anyone else had heard her and was moving about, but for the moment it appeared that she was getting away without being caught. She would no breathe easily until she made it out of the village, but at least she was out of the inn, the worst of the danger behind her. She shivered a little - it really was colder than she expected it to be, but once she got moving she would keep warm.

She made sure she had her belt knife with her, then quickly and quietly put her boots on over the thick woolen socks, and stamped them as quietly as she could to get the settled.

She was tired, and her heart hurt even if she couldn't fathom why, and she felt a little unsteady on her feet...but at least she was doing something. Carefully, with all the stealth she could muster, she made her way out of the village, striking for the woods.

Striking for home.

 

[Hugi]

The man watched Luna stand and nearly stumble under her own fatigue. Muscles tensed as he resisted the urge to reach across the table and grab hold of her clothes to keep her upright. No need to cause a misunderstanding since he was only going to be here for another night. He didn't need everyone staring in anxious fear when he wanted to enjoy a cooked meal at a table than over a campfire. She took her leave after trading words with the elder woman, and the visible relief on his face was plain as she left.

The woman took the seat, sagging into it as though the weight of the world rested squarely on her. She apologized for involving him, the slight tilt of his head with a smile all the more he moved as he spoke.

"Strange indeed. And it is no trouble t'me." He spoke with a hint of cheer in his voice before her knowing look. The smile widened a bit before turning to a deep frown at her words. He wasn't uncomfortable under her scrutiny, but that she understood what he had yet to say was disarming. He gave a succinct nod, his hands wringing together as he thought of his words.

"The world is sometimes unfair. I'll do what I can." He made no promise, and his words were void of anything heartfelt. The world truly was unfair at times. And the struggle to move forward was sometimes almost to much for some. Each bore their own weight in life, and at times it was too much for one person. He wouldn't hold the girl back from discovering anything, she seemed too headstrong to let this simply leave this alone. He would do what he could though to keep her safe. He ordered a meal and drink, left a few extra silvers after the food and room as a thanks before heading directly to sleep. If he had any idea about that injured woman, she would likely do something silly while they all were occupied. Or dead asleep.

---

Hugi woke only a short time later. Hearing the dying signs of people filtering out and to their own homes. Of the keep milling about and busting tables. He dressed quickly, the helmet strapped to his hip beside one of the axes as he stepped out of the room and went outside after waving to the man. He walked slowly around the building, taking deep breaths through his nose as he caught a scent that should not have been there.

"Figures." He muttered as he caught the trail she had unknowingly left behind. His senses were nothing extraordinary compared to his kin that had their other form, but they were certainly better than any regular persons. His eyes had adjusted to the night quickly, guiding him through the woods as he silently chased that woman through the night. It was startling for a man of his size to be so deathly silent, trailing wild animals and other things that went bump in the night had been hard lessons for how the man was suppose to tread through the night. The axes on his hips were kept quiet by his hands, the helmet even remaining silent with a careful twist of the strap it was tethered to.

He caught up with her easily enough, his long legs easily three of her steps in comparison. He came within earshot of her, watching for both feet to be on the ground before he spoke. He probably sounded like a bear, the deep rumble of his voice cutting through the natural sounds around them abruptly.

"Little ladies shouldn't go walking the woods at night, no matter how well they know them." He called, slowly stepping closer.

 

[Luna Griffinsbane]

Moving helped a little with the cold, at least, though not as much as she would have liked. The girl moved through the shadowy moonlight like a wraith, keeping to the darker places and out of the cart path that wound through the center of the sleeping village. The dozen or so steeply thatch-roofed homes that made up the entirety of Mill Creek stood silent in the darkness, an occasional stream of white smoke drifting from a chimney and eliciting the desire to curl up by their fire. Or would have elicited that desire if Luna's thoughts weren't arrow straight homed in on getting back to the farm, to her family.

Back to answer the questions of whether the nightmares were true, or if she had been having some kind of strange fever dream, left in town in the capable care of Aldra as she'd had to in the past. The pieces of the puzzle didn't make any sense to her, none at all. The only way forward was to go and answer the questions herself.

She struck out of the village, and into the woods. The sounds of the forest were anything but silent in the night, as the nocturnal creatures went about their business while their day-walking cousins slept in nests and dens. The incessant whine of mosquitoes rose and fell as she passed through places where stagnant water stood and they could breed, although blessedly it was too cool for the influx of spring to be about. She moved through the woods as one who had been born in them, which was in truth exactly what she was. Despite the dress, she caught few branches, few things snarled her up, and her footfalls descended in relative silence. She made little sign as she went, and kept her eyes peeled for any sign ahead of her. There were bears in these woods, as well as wolves and mountain cats. All of them generally avoided people, but that didn't mean that she should be careless about it.

Despite feeling a touch light headed, a touch overwrought, she made good time. Although her steps were shorter than most, she was nimble and quick, and even tired she had been traveling for a few hours before she caught the first sound from behind her, distant and faint. It forced her to stop, ears straining to listen, but when it didn't repeat itself, she went back to the work of putting one foot in front of the other. Only one thing to think of, only one thing to do.

And so it was that she was caught completely unawares when a stranger spoke from behind her, voice a deep bass rumble like...well, there was nothing she could liken it too. She spun at the first syllable, reaching for a belt knife that wasn't there and, for one terrible moment, knew true, existential panic.

And then her eyes focused, and her mind cleared itself, and she heard what the voice had actually said, and saw who it belonged to. The man looked strangely at home, here in the dark woods, half his face cast in moonlight that cut through the canopy of fir trees towering overhead. He continued to approach, and she involuntarily backpedaled away from him, eyes as wide as teacups.

"A-and grown men shouldn't sn-sneak up on ladies," she stammered back to him. her back fetched up against a tree, and she found that she couldn't break eye contact with him. "You are not taking me back there," she said, voice gaining a touch of defiance despite the fear clear on her face. "I won't go until I see if my family is ok," she finished. She shivered a little, more for the encroaching cold than for any fear. The moon was settling towards the peaks to the west, marking the night as far more than half gone. "I just won't."

 

[Hugi]

The deep rumbling laughter came from him at the thought of him sneaking up on her. He had, but the image of himself sneaking up on her played out in his mind like a great bear stalking a rabbit.

"Shouldn't. But then you should nay be out of bed with the condition you are in." He gave her a chuckling response. She backed into a tree and began to shiver, his enroaching steps stopping when she became defensive. He helds his hands up, a gesture of not touching or harming her as he watched.

"I won't make you go back. But you are not going alone." Hugi told her plainly. There wasn't room for arguement in his tone, even if he believed she would argue against his company. "Animals are less likely to present themselves with me around."

He stepped past her, and waited a moment before looking back to her. "Shall we?" He inquired, nodding his head the other way. He silently prayed to the gods as he watched her, hoping the world would be kind and their mercy upon her.

 

[Luna Griffinsbane]

Everyone talks to me like I am a child, and can't take care of myself! The thoughts within were not betrayed on her face as fear melted away, by stages, into annoyance. The chuckling dispelled the fear of harm, although it rankled that he thought the whole situation was worthy of laughter. She couldn't, there was too much in the back of her mind. Ill at ease didn't precisely describe it.

She sniffed uneasily at the notion of him trying to take her back. The simple statement that he wasn't going to implied that he could, and he was not ready for the kind of fight she would have put up if he'd even thinking of trying. "I've lived in these woods my entire life," she said in reply to animals not being keen on his presence, as if the unspoken implication was that she was some damsel who needed protecting from the wolves. "How would a farm girl live if she didn't pick up a thing or two?"

She could understand why the predators in the woods might steer clear of him, though. He was as big as a bear, almost as wide as a barn door and thick across the shoulders. A speculative look, there and gone in an instant. Not her type.

It was amazing how, with such a simple manner, he managed to disarm her of any pretense at suspicion or concern. She found herself stepping away from the tree, watching him continue deeper into the woodlands in an apparently deliberate, slow pace. She started at his words, and hurried along in his wake without question.

The forest here was dark, especially as the moon began to vanish from the sky, and the only light was the stars overhead. The silvery light of the moon had been a boon she had not considered much, and as the shadows gathered thicker, she realized how foolish it was to travel through the woods at night. Her pace decreased as she had to pick her way with ever more care, trying to avoid tripping over roots or stones and fallen branches. Her companion seemed to have little problem finding his way under the canopy of firs and pines.

She quickened her pace as much as she dared, nearly tripping a couple times, until she caught up and walked more or less beside this stranger. "Who are you," she asked, curiosity plain. "I've...never seen anyone like you before," she added.

 

[Hugi]

Her response to his words of animals avoiding him made him hide a smile. She thought his size was the factor he was alluding to rather than his born to nature. Well enough in his mind to let her think that for now. He wasn't going to let her words be however as he took a deep breath.

"I don' doubt you have, and living out in the woods would make ya' notice the feel of predator eyes upon ye'. Survivin' demands it." Hugi explained, his tone light even as he continued to easily step over the undergrowth. He ducked through branches, breaking some that would catch her before they had a chance to do so. "Have you ever hunted them though?" A genuine question with the same light tone, and whether she placed hidden meaning behind the words or not, he was still curious.

She followed behind him for a time, and he kept his pace terrifically slow for her as she now walked beside him. Her curiosity finally got the better of her, and he looked to her. In the failing light of the moon, she could see the two glowing orbs of his pupils. Much like a cat in the dark, his eyes glowed slightly, a plain sign of the something other that was in him. He took a deep breath through the nose, and caught her scent once more before turning back to the path.

"My name is Hugi. Likely you won' ever see another like myself outside of war. My people don' stray from far from the frozen land I call home...called home." His words turned sad at the talk of home. A heavy sigh came along with the diminishing cheer before moving to another vein of the question. "Lived ten years down here in the southland's. Mainly working for guards to scared to go to shady taverns and sort out drunken fights. Got tired of it and started roaming the wilds, more honor helping common folk sort out what ails them than taking punches."

He glanced to her, the hint of a smile tugging at the corner of his mouth. "And you are a farm girl 'eh? Simple life, but fulfilling."

 

[Luna Griffinsbane]

War. It was a concept she was unfamiliar with beyond the things taught to her by her mother, which she had always felt were kept deliberately vague. Men fighting other men, men killing other men, for land, or for causes, or for any of a variety of reasons. The cold, dispassionate way that her mother had described the whole affair seemed to belie a much more personal acquaintance with the subject than she was willing to admit to. But to Luna, it was just a word, much as the killing of another thinking being was a concept that only a criminal should know of.

"I am called Luna," she offered, after he mentioned his own. There was something buried, right in front of her eyes, about his homeland. There was a sorrow there that she could almost empathize with, even if she could not understand it. Perhaps a topic avoided, an old wound best left unpicked.

She shrugged at his comment. "I don't know. I've been one since birth, I s'pose," she said in reply. There was no frame of reference to say whether her life was simple or not. Worrying about the weather, or whether the wolves would come into the pens in the evening and kill their sheep or their cattle, that was was the extent of the complexity of her life. Making sure that enough food was grown during the warm months of the year to feed themselves, and still sell some to the town or the traveling peddlers that rarely, if regularly, came into the mountains. She chose not to answer the question about hunting predators; it was rare that there was need to do so, when the predators would come right up to your doors at night when the winters were especially hard.

"I suppose I will marry, some day, and raise a family of my own," she added in a matter-of-fact tone. The ghost of her terror the night before was creeping back upon her thought, and the uneasiness she felt was growing as they continued along the woodland path, little more than a game trail. The sun had begun to turn the eastern horizon a pale pearlescant color, the sun still well below the horizon. Her breath misted the air before her, though the chill wasn't too terrible so long as she wsa moving. "Find a piece of land to call my own, out here, and raise my children." I mean, that was what every woman did here, after all. Her view of the world beyond the sheltered little valley was limited, the ideas of the adventurous life that the fellow she walked with something that had never occurred to her before. Why would they?

"Surely....surely you want the same thing?" she asked him, curious.