Fantasy Drops of Ember (with TheDarkButterfly)

[Shy2Infinity]

Honestly, she didn't expect him to speak so soon. She was so focused on their surroundings that it didn't even occur to her. When Knight had saved her and brought her to the village, she hadn't thought to give their surroundings a second look. Now, she did. These routes weren't quite so familiar as she expected them to be and despite that Knight didn't seem all that worried about a possible assassination, she was. While she'd significantly changed her appearance in the hopes that she wouldn't be recognized, Knight's appearance hinged on the fact that he would be recognized. It would be all too easily for someone to make an attempt on his life.

A surge of fierce protectiveness rose up at the thought and her hands tightened on the reigns. Her troubled thoughts took a standstill, however, as the object of her thoughts started speaking to her. Her eyes were straight on the path ahead but her head cocked to show that she was paying attention. And the more he spoke, the more alarmed she was. Because while magic existed and all, the thought that actual realms existed was just...

"Hang on!" She held up a hand, her lips spreading thin. "When you first said realm, I thought you just meant she was in a different area of the world. Is she in a different world or something?!" That... Was admittedly hard to believe. She knew magic existed; had seen its effects in play before. She'd been alarmingly skeptical of the whole Soulmate connection, until meeting the prince. But now here she was, finding out that the Lady might exist in some other plane of existence?

 

[TheDarkButterfly]

"I'm.....not really certain how to explain it myself. I don't know if it's a bending of time in our world or a separate world altogether. All I know for sure is that the Lady is on our side and that her realm is safe as long as the Queen does not learn of the way to it." Knight admitted to her, rubbing the back of his neck. "To be honest with you, I'm not exactly sure why she chose to help the revolution.....all I can say is I'm grateful she did." He added this last part softly, almost to himself as he fingered the mask a moment. Then he gave himself a shake, pulling back from his thoughts.

"Anyways, from what I can tell she has existed outside of the Queens reach, possibly even outside of the kingdom's, for a very very long time. I don't think I can describe her any more than that. You'll have to meet her for yourself to understand what I mean." He shook his head. "I wouldn't have believed it either if I had not ended up in her realm myself and seen the things that I have seen. This world has much more than we could ever imagine. The Lady, soul mates, and curses are only barely scratching the surface."

 

[Shy2Infinity]

She let out a harsh huff, turning her attention to the path ahead of them. The more she heard about the Lady, the more interested she was. But she couldn't deny that she was also relatively more wary. Why would someone with such power choose to help them? Just because it was the right thing to do? No, people rarely helped each other just because it was the right thing to do. There might be more to it than that. Shifting her attention back to her companion, she offered a nod. And with a sigh, she gripped the reins between her hands. "I guess I'll have to take your word for it."

Just because she was generally paranoid didn't mean that her brain was right. After all, she'd quickly believed her paranoid thoughts about the prince and look where that got them. Maybe... Maybe the Lady could answer some of her questions? She was well aware how ridiculous it sounded. There was no way the Lady was aware of what had happened that night, but she was probably going to go crazy over these thoughts. She had to know, one way or the other.

"How long is it going to take us to get there, by the way?" As her gaze shot over to him, she had just enough of a mind to comment, "And if you go on some tangent about how you don't know how long it'll take her time, I'm going to hit you."

 

[TheDarkButterfly]

Knight chuckled, relieved that she didn't turn to question his whole role to be played. "It'll be about a day to pass into her realm and then three days after that, so about 4 days for us all together. I hope you like camping. Ame made sure to give us enough provisions to make it to the Lady. We'll be provided for after that, for as long as we stay with her. Triever will be there as well. He's the Lady's bodyguard of sorts, although I'd call him closer to a companion." He said thoughtfully. "He only leaves her realm at her bidding and she only sends him out for important things."

The horses seemed to know the path, Knight not needing to guide them at all. He clucked softly to the stallion as he snorted, tossing his head. "We'll travel with the light, and rest with the dark. Simple as that."

 

[Shy2Infinity]

Perhaps not noticing, or not caring, of the struggles beneath Knight's mysterious armor, she turned away. She didn't mind camping, to be honest. Before she'd gone to the prince's balls, before she'd been turned into an assassin, all she knew was rough living. Her parents were gone, having abandoned her a long time ago. She'd become a street urchin and all that carried her through those lonely days was purpose. Camping would be the least of her troubles, considering the hardships she'd endured so far. "Companion, huh?" That... Somewhat surprised her, though she couldn't say why.

Running a hand along her mare's mane, she resolved to bring some food with her the next time she came to see her. "Okay," she mumbled. As excited as she was to leave the village, at long last, before long the jolting of the travel began to get to her. She was not used to riding a horse, by any stretch of the imagination. Sure, she'd ridden one a couple times in the past, but not enough to be entirely used to the discomfort that came from an extended time on a saddle.

By the end of the day, her legs and rear ached and she was significantly more short tempered than usual. And yet, she refused to admit any of this to Knight. Her jaw clenched with every noticeable bump and her hands tightened with every surge of annoyance. It was a sickly red haze that permeated every moment of joy and calm that they had that day. And yet, she was too stubborn to admit that, perhaps, she needed a break.

 

[TheDarkButterfly]

Knight called a halt when his stallion started becoming restless beneath him. "I think it's a bit time for a break for the horses." He said, unaware of the mood Cinder was in. He was long used to horses and riding them and had forgotten how sore one could get when not used to it. "They could probably use a snack and a bit of a drink." He swung down easily and gat the stallion a pat. He looked at Cinder. ".....do you....need some help down?" It seemed that he had just now noticed her discomfort.

He looked almost a little guilty that he hadn't noticed her discomfort earlier, blaming himself rather than wondering why she never spoke up. "We can rest here for a while. We can even make camp here if you want. It's not that much longer till dark anyways." He shifted almost a little awkwardly. "Does that sound alright to you, Cinder?"

 

[Shy2Infinity]

Imagine her relief when Knight finally called a halt. She breathed a small sigh and shifted uncomfortably. She rubbed her thigh, practically drooping on her mare's saddle. Upon Knight's question, she winced. It was foolish of her to think that he wouldn't notice her discomfort at all. "I'm fine," she murmured quietly. Slowly and agonizingly, she brought her leg over her mare's saddle and slid off. As her feet hit the ground, they almost gave way. She stumbled and instinctually grabbed Knight's arms. Surprise made her stiffen and she jerked back, biting back the instinct to apologize.

Taking in a sharp breath of cool air, her gaze slid away as shame burned in her cheeks. "Perhaps we can rest."

 

[TheDarkButterfly]

"Right. Um, may I suggest stretching out and walking around a little? I will take care of the horses." He gently took the mare's reined from Cinder's hand and led the two horses off a few paces. He set to work removing the saddles from their backs and rubbing them down, both of them standing quietly under his ministrations. Knight kept an eye on Cinder as he worked, cursing himself inwardly for not noticing how much pain she was in. It would just be cruel to put her back in the saddle anymore today. He would force her to agree to make camp for the evening so she could rest.

The stallion lipped at his cloak, pulling him out of his thoughts. "Sorry, sorry." He apologized, giving him an affectionate pat. He hobbled the pair and tied them off with enough rope to wander a bit choose where to nibble at leaves. He turned to Cinder. "I need to go off a little ways to get some water for these two. Will you be alright here by yourself or would you like to come with me?" He asked her.

 

[Shy2Infinity]

He had totally noticed her discomfort. The fire in her cheeks worsened and she suddenly found the nearby trees immensely interesting. "I suppose so..." Biting the inside of her cheek, she reluctantly handed off her reins. It was all she could do, really, to let this fool help her. And why wasn't he calling her out on her obvious lie? She leaned onto her toes and back again as she watched him work, chewing over her thoughts. Maybe he did need the help after all? Not helping made her feel awkward, like she was only freeloading. A frown curled across her lips as she self-consciously rubbed at a sore thigh.

When he questioned her, she snapped her gaze away, like she hadn't been staring at him that whole time. "I'll be alright here, by myself." She gave a jerky nod and rubbed the back of her neck. If you asked her to act normal, she doubted that would be something she could handle. Much less to someone like Knight, who could see right through her at any given opportunity. Turning on her heel, she promptly went to lean against a tree.

She tried to take on the appearance of someone that just didn't care what anyone thought of her... But she detested the thought that it might not have been fool proof as she thought it was.

 

[TheDarkButterfly]

"Okay. Just yell if something happens, alright? We'll be safe once we reach the Lady's realm, but right now we still have to be cautious." With those words, he grabbed a bucket from his bags and set off towards the stream that ran nearby. It was a little ways off from where they were, but still close enough that if Cinder yelled, he'd be able to hear her.

He mulled over what would happen after they reached the Lady's realm and the Lady herself as he walked. He was sure the Lady would have some things to ask of him, and some things to tell him as well. What he was really curious about was why she wanted to see Cinder. Surely it wasn't only because she had successfully assassinated the Prince. No, there had to be something more to it, but what? Ask her to help with the revolution? Set her to task with recruiting more rebels? Surely not. What then? What could be so important to bring Cinder to her?

 

[Shy2Infinity]

"Got it!" She inclined her head, offering a small nod in his direction. She knew that, perhaps more than anyone. But she also knew that, more than anyone, Knight was the one in the most danger. With her more androgynous appearance, most people probably wouldn't give her a second once over. Not to mention everyone had seen Knight's outfit when she was led to the gallows. He stuck out like a sore thumb, far more than she ever could.

As he left, she sucked in a breath and closed her eyes. It was hard to explain, but she had a knack, for sensing other people around her. It wasn't that she had a supernatural sense of hearing, or some sixth sense. She could feel other people's body heat like it was her own. That time in the forest just a couple of days ago had been the first time it'd ever intensified like that before. She'd never really given this odd sense a second thought, it was just always there.

This weird sense of hers was exactly why she'd been accepted to be an assassin to begin with.

With the sense of Knight gradually moving away, she allowed herself to relax. It was then that she hopped away from the tree and started pacing, anything to work out the soreness and stiff muscles.

 

[TheDarkButterfly]

Knight took his time getting the water just to give Cinder some time to herself. They would be spending a lot of time together in the coming days, and he wanted to give her space where he could. He filled the bucket and took the time to remove to mask, letting his face breathe a little in the privacy of the forest. He would have to keep it on in front of Cinder even while sleeping until they reached the Lady. There he would have a room to himself where he could remove the mask again. Until then he would just have to silently suffer and hope it wasn't too uncomfortable to sleep in.

Knight headed back after putting the mask back on, being careful to not slosh the water out of the bucket. The horses whickered at him as he came back in sight and he smiled a little as he set the bucket down so they could drink. He patted the stallion a moment, chuckling as he lipped at his hair. "I didn't think you'd be this thankful for a little water."

 

[Shy2Infinity]

Every time she found herself pacing, she gravitated towards the horses more often than not. Her mind wandered itself in circles, thinking back over the past few days critically. She wasn't the type of person that could just get over what was troubling her, and had the penchant for driving herself crazy with her own thoughts. The mind was a scary place, and she understood that more than many others. Yet despite this little penchant, she was also wired. Entirely too focused on her surroundings, looking for the slightest movement in the undergrowth that would suggest--

The bush closest to her shook, making her jump. A hand subconsciously moved to the knife hidden against her thigh but before the perpetrator revealed itself, she knew exactly what it was going to be.

And right on cue, a rabbit darted out of the bush. It paused there, sniffing the air. It noticed her after a moment and scrambled to get over, though she wasn't hunting it... She sucked in a sharp breath of air and abruptly slammed a hand to her face. How, exactly, does an assassin even rest?! If Knight had been witness to that, she was positive that he would laugh. The image of him giving such an easy laugh came to the forefront and for a moment, it was all she could fixate on. If only he'd remove that stupid mask.

And that was another thing. She could understand, somewhat, wanting to hide your actual appearance from the Queen's minions but why hide your appearance on this journey? Everyone knew the 'knight'. At this point, it seemed like his actual appearance would be a far better disguise than that cliché costume. Now that was a troubling thought. Since she alone, she couldn't help but consider this.

... Maybe he had to hide his real appearance no matter what, even at the cost of his relative safety? But why?! A huff escaped her as she crossed her arms, a sick feeling falling into her stomach. Something didn't sit right with her. But before she could consider it more, her head lifted to the tree line. Knight's heat brushed against hers and she found herself rubbing her arm, as if that would make it go away.

"Welcome back," she made a vague gesture with a hand and shrugged at the whickering horses.

 

[TheDarkButterfly]

"Thanks. Feeling a little better?" Knight asked her, smiling slightly at her as he ignored the stallion moving from his hair to tug on his cloak. "I'm thinking that we should just rest here for the night. It's not urgent to get to the Lady, so we can take our time and rest when we need to. I can fetch us more water and we can have a little tea with our dinner tonight if you'd like. It's just travel rations, but the tea will make it a little more bearable."

He freed his cloak from the stallion gently before moving out of reach, going to his pack again. "It's safe enough to build a fire here, so we might as well make some use of it, right? I'll take watch tonight too, so you can rest. We'll only have to keep watch tonight. Tomorrow we'll be within the Lady's realm and won't have to worry about anything coming at us in the night." He rummaged around for a moment before pulling out a small pouch of tea leaves that Ame gave him. "If you don't mind building the fire, I'll get more water." He moved to her and held out the pouch for her to take.

 

[Shy2Infinity]

And just like that, the annoyances from before came rushing back to her. She pursed her lips, staring back at him silently. It was... Frustrating. That he could see right to the core of the matter so easily, when she still had trouble figuring him out. "I'm fine." And it almost sounded like she was. She was fine about the ride, but stars was her brain being annoying. Whoever Knight was, he'd literally saved her from death. Why did anything else matter?

Yet, she hadn't lived so long by not listening to her paranoia.

But as she listened to him speak, she was conflicted. He seemed to genuinely care about her. There was a sincerity to his words that she couldn't ignore. As he held the pouch out for her to take, her fingers curled around the pouch. They brushed his own and she froze, electricity crawling up her arm and making her feel breathless. Even so, she didn't pull away. Her fingers still encircled the pouch, not quite pulling it free.

Something... Her mind was hazy. She cleared her throat. "We don't have to stop because of me," even her voice sounded just a tad too breathless. "I can just get used to it."

 

[TheDarkButterfly]

Knight hesitated, not letting go of the pouch because he was uncertain if she had a firm grip on it. "It's okay to take your time getting used to it, Cinder." He told her gently. "Like I said, it's no rush to get to the Lady's realm. You don't have to push yourself. Things will....probably get pretty hectic after we leave the Lady's realm so we should take our time while we can, right?" He smiled reassuringly at her.

He didn't want to watch her force herself when she was in that much pain. Seems like he would have to work around her stubbornness so she didn't hurt herself. They could afford to take their time for now, but once the revolution really got started, they probably would be lucky to even catch their breath let alone have a leisurely camp like this.

"Besides, I think Triever would have my head if I brought you in half-crippled from riding too much." He chuckled. "He really took a liking to you, you know. The Lady would be rather cross with me as well, I imagine."

 

[Shy2Infinity]

Weird. He was just plain weird. Her brows furrowed. She didn't look up at him for a long moment, nervous about what she would see there. But when she did, she was surprised to find that there was no judgement there. It was an odd thing, having someone genuinely worried about your well being. Someone having selfish reasoning was far more understandable than someone that cared just to care.

She hesitated a moment longer, considering the pouch in their hands. Rolling her shoulders to work out the encroaching stress, she proceeded to roll her eyes skyward. "Oh good," she pretended to gripe. "So Triever's a worrywart too, huh?" But she didn't say anything more about 'continuing on'. Instead, she took the pouch from him and turned on her heel. She moved away to pick up branches for their campfire.

But as she did so, she couldn't help remembering the feeling of his fingers against hers.

 

[TheDarkButterfly]

Knight inwardly sighed when Cinder took the pouch. "I'm afraid so. He took very good care of me while I was in the Lady's realm. I would dare to call him a mother hen type if I'm honest." He rubbed the back of his neck. "Anyways, I'll go get us more water." He took the bucket from the horses and tossed the remaining water from it before heading back off towards the stream. He was thankful that while she hadn't exactly agreed to remain here for the night, she wasn't pressing the issue.

He was faster with getting the water this time, returning quickly with the full bucket after having thoroughly washed out the bucket. He offered Cinder a smile. "Ready for some dinner and then a good rest?" He asked her.

 

[Shy2Infinity]

As Knight left to go get some water, she was busy at work collecting fire wood. She made well sure to keep the tea leaves with her, just in case. Wild animals would have loved to get ahold of them, she was sure. And why wouldn't they? To them, tea leaves were just another kind of food. Still, when she ultimately came back to the camp site to see Knight, she was busily juggling branches and tea leaves.

She didn't quite manage to look at him straight on as he asked her that. Cinder pretended to be busy with setting up the camp fire and pretended that the awkward way she was feeling had nothing to do with Knight, himself. "Mhmm..." And to herself, she almost sounded distracted.

 

[TheDarkButterfly]

Knight resisted the urge to go and help her, knowing full well that if he even offered assistance after having split the tasks between them that she would probably grow to be quite annoyed with him. He instead busied himself with pulling out a small pot for the tea and two slightly battered cups. He poured some of the water from the bucket into the pot and set it aside, rummaging in his pack for the rations Ame had provided them. It was a typical travellers fare, bread, cheese, some dried meats and small apples. While a meal like that could grow old quickly on long trips, it was perfect for the few days excursion to the Lady and spared them the task of hunting for their meals as they went. Not that they could hunt within the Lady's realm.

While it was peaceful there, it had been starkly devoid of wildlife within the grand woods, meadows and rivers that lay within it. Knight had honestly found the whole thing unnerving while he stayed there with the Lady, resting and recovering under TRiever's ministrations. While there was livestock that lived and bred there, horses and cows and chickens, there was no deer, no squirrels that rummaged through the forset floor, no birds singing in the trees. He wondered if Cinder would notice the silence there like he had.

He had questioned Triever about it but the other man merely shook his head and never answered. Knight hadn't the courage to ask the Lady about it either. While he held great respect and admiration for her, he was equally unnerved by her and her abilities. Part of him wondered how Triever could even stand living there so much.

He had been lost in thought longer than he had realized, staring down into the sack of rations without moving.

 

[Shy2Infinity]

It took her a couple of tries to get the fire going. Her eyes narrowed and this time, she was truly distracted. A curse slipped from her lips every so often as she fidgeted with the bundle of twigs, before taking up her flint and rock again. In truth, she was a bit thankful for the distraction. It gave her time to herself, without Knight falling over himself to help her at every opportunity. Not that she didn't appreciate his help or anything, it was just that... Well, she grew up with the need to do everything herself. If she hadn't, then she likely would have died.

Stars damnit, she wasn't distracted at all! Another soulful curse slipped from her lips before a spark finally caught and a twig caught fire. She immediately dropped the flint and rock and blew carefully at the light fire, coaxing it even further. It didn't take her long after this to get a true camp fire going. She breathed a sigh of relief and lifted her head, curious that Knight hadn't really spoken to her at all through all of that, much less to ask if he could help.

All he was doing, it seemed, was staring at the rations. A frown curled over her lips and she stood carefully. Light, silent feet carried her over to the silent man and she carefully placed a hand to his shoulder. Thankfully, no metaphoric sparks arose from the contact. "Is everything okay?"

 

[TheDarkButterfly]

Knight nearly drew his sword on her as she startled him from his thoughts. His hand had flown to the hilt lightning fast but he had caught himself in time once he realized it was Cinder touching his shoulder. "I...-yes. Yes, everything's fine. Sorry." He relaxed his grip, reaching for the rations instead. "Are you hungry? Ame pack us plenty of things to eat." He was trying to act as if she hadn't caught him wholly off-guard, brushing off the moment as if it had never happened.

'I guess I'm not as recovered as we had thought.' He thought to himself almost bitterly as he held out the sack for Cinder to examine. 'Perhaps another visit to the Lady will do me well. I'll have to be more careful so I don't end up hurting Cinder.'

"Good job on the fire." He stood and put the small pot over the fire, holding it over the flames with some carefully placed branches in order to heat the water within for their tea.

 

[Shy2Infinity]

A sense of urgency quickened and tightened beneath her breast. She steeled herself against it and forced herself to stare at him straight on. From the corner of her eyes, she'd noticed the way his hand flew to his sword hilt, and she mentally cursed herself. It was a bad idea to lay a hand on someone with no warning. He could have so easily cut her down if he'd been less aware. But he didn't. She blinked. Even she was surprised at the depth of trust she was already placing in him, and besides, trust mattered very little in this instance. He still could have cut her, regardless of her trust in him.

She pulled back when he spoke, still cautiously staring him down. He might have been so quick to put it behind them, but that only worsened her worry. Chewing over his words, she reluctantly took the rations and started examining them. Besides, I'm not exactly... close enough, to ever ask about his worries. The thoughts only deepened her frown.

She mentally shook herself and hurried to answer Knight with a wave of her hand. "Took me a bit, but I got there." Stepping closer to the fire, she held out the rations and turned away to look for cups for their tea.

 

[TheDarkButterfly]

Knight took the sake back from her and pointed out the cups to Cinder. He took the tea pouch and opened it, throwing a pinch of the leaves into the now bubbling water. He stirred it, letting the tea steep for a while before removing the hot pot from the flames by wrapping his hands in his cloak, setting it safely in a patch of dirt to cool a little before they poured into the cups.

He was silent in his work, trying to keep his mind off if he was fully recovered or not. The Lady had told him that he was well enough to leave her realm and rescue Cinder, but that didn't mean he was fully recovered either. There was no use in worrying about it right now, he told himself. There was nothing he could do about it other than be cautious about it until he reached the Lady. This trip was about Cinder, not himself anyways. She took priority.

 

[Shy2Infinity]

She blinked and snatched up the cups, turning then to Knight and setting them nearby. Cinder fidgeted somewhat, now feeling awkward since she didn't have too much of anything to do. Squeezing her hands in between her thighs, she watched Knight work. The moment from before was playing through her mind on repeat. She was still trying to puzzle over that. If he had been any less aware, he might have actually hurt her. But then again, it was kind of deserved, considering that they were in the middle of no where and she could have just as easily been an assassin.

A pang struck her heart and she self-consciously rubbed at the irritating pain. Perhaps she needed the distraction or perhaps it was something more. She brought up a knee and rested her arm on it. "Is something wrong?" She would be a fool to not notice the sullen air. It lingered around him, so thick that she could almost taste it. She wasn't an enormously touchy-feely person, nor did she have any real idea of what to say to someone that was upset about something. She half hoped that he would turn her down.