Private Tales We met by Road

[Serelai Virelle]

Serelai surfaced from sleep like someone dragging themselves out of a swamp. Her eyes cracked open, then promptly shut again as the morning light stabbed directly into her skull. She let out a long, pitiful groan and flopped onto her back, hair an absolute disaster, half stuck to her cheek, half pointing skyward like she’d been electrocuted in the night.

"Uuughhhhh..."

She rolled onto her side.
Sat up.
Immediately regretted it.

Finally she managed to fold herself cross-legged, arms draped over her knees, head drooping forward. She sat there a long moment in a pose that suggested deep meditation but was, in reality, the dramatic misery of someone who hadn’t slept properly in days.

Her eyes squinted open, then slammed shut again. She muttered something indecipherable to no one at all, rubbing her face and pushing her hair back in a series of increasingly futile attempts. She tried again, peering through her fingers this time.

That was when she spotted Lilette by the fire.

For a heartbeat she simply blinked at her. The pale shape of her against the dawn, the shimmer of her eyes in the cooling glow of the coals. Something warm and traitorous stirred quietly in her chest.

But then memory trickled back. The sudden coldness last night, the turned back, the way she’d been dismissed like a nuisance. Serelai’s face immediately shifted into a tiny, unimpressed scowl.

"Hmph."

She reached blindly for her waterskin, uncorked it, and took several loud, defiant gulps, as if rehydration itself were a personal statement. Finally, wiping her mouth with the back of her hand, she just about managed one more word, not quite looking at Lilette yet.

"...Morning."

Lilette Blackbriar​

 

[Lilette Blackbriar]

Lilette stilled, though gently. Her ears twitched gently at a few sounds coming from the tent.

The roast was carefully pulled from the fire and laid out atop a small cloth which in turn lay atop a small box of some kind, sitting just barely in arm's reach. It was in fact closer to Serelai than herself.

"Forsooth! Hearest thou I did, though I wert unsure." she smiled nervously, pretending not to have heard more.

But the moment she looked, that pensive little frown made her stare at the cool sand.

"Yea, indeed, good morn." she said quietly.

The young nun seemed to stuff something inside her robes, while a pale digit unfurled towards the meal she'd been anxiously tending till now.

"I uhm. I hath prepared thee a breakfast."

"Tis not pretty, I doth confess, and 'tis lacking for seasoning and salt," she launched into explanation.

"And-and in truth, I never did cook ere joining my sisters, so forgiveth me mine novice creation, though I hear tell that such meats wilt do thee good on such long a journey as ours, that 'tis most filling."

Lilette began rubbing at her sleeve, thinking of anything which might fill the awkward silence after.

"Well, It doth smell splendid by mine nose." she nodded.

---

Serelai Virelle​

 

[Serelai Virelle]

Serelai blinked slowly at Lilette, still half-asleep, trying to make sense of the sudden shift from last night’s frostbitten retreat to... this. Bright, and nervous? Hopeful? It made her brow knit in mild suspicion.

Her gaze slid from Lilette... to the overcooked lizard... back to Lilette... back to the lizard... and then once more to Lilette, as though perhaps examining the pattern might yield meaning.

"...Sure," she said at last, with the exact tone of someone resigning themselves to fate.

She shuffled closer and sat beside the fire. With a little flick of her fingers, the flames snuffed out instantly, leaving only a thin curl of violet smoke. She reached in, pinched the roasted creature by the tail, and held it up for inspection. It smelled... strong. She angled it away from her nose, winced a bit, then sniffed it again anyway, as if hoping the second attempt might miraculously improve things.

But then she glanced back at Lilette, and at the way she watched, pale eyes bright with such earnest anticipation it almost hurt to look at directly. Gods, she was trying, it seemed, and Serelai, despite herself, felt something... soften.

Well. Now she had to eat it, didn’t she?

She took a bite.

Immediately regretted everything.

It tasted like burnt leather rolled in sand and sadness.

But she forced a bright, utterly dishonest "Mmm!" accompanied by a strained smile that used muscles she didn’t know she had.

"Very... filling," she managed, nodding far too vigorously.

She swallowed. Barely. Her eyes flicked from the creature in her hand to Lilette again.

"Aren’t you going to have any? I wouldn't want you to starve by eating... all of this myself."

Lilette Blackbriar​