"Did my family send you? Are you here to take me home?"
Seravyn didn't immediately respond, examining what she thought was poison, shaking and sniffing it before returning it to the bookshelf. Pocketing the loose coins on the table nearby, she asked, "Are you Thonnir of Morthal?"
"Yes, yes I am. Is my family alright? Are they not too worried? It's been so long, I doubted help would ever come."
"I came as soon as I could."
It was a lie. She'd ridden south of a borrowed house to her home near Falkreath to drop off some treasures; swords and maces and bows from her latest enemies, enchanted armor she admired but had no desire to wear, potions she could not fathom a need for but wished to keep anyway. From her home she'd gone west in a carriage overnight to Riften, gazing at the half-moon while laying on the bench in the back. She'd met liaisons in Riften, checking on jobs and new recruits before heading back out again. Only then had she trekked northward on foot toward Windhelm, searching by memory for the now-familiar break in the trees where the cave entrance that led into old ruins would be found.
It had only truly added two days to her trip, but given that from Windhelm it would have been a one-day ride, a mote of guilt sharpened her defensive statement and silenced her newly-free charge.
She undid his binds from behind and helped him up. When he turned, she decided to be grateful for the shroud covering the lower half of her face as sudden attraction left her jaw slack and her lips suddenly dry. He was not quite beautiful, but his features were striking. The ice blue of most Nord eyes stood out on his somewhat more richly tan skin. The dirty blond hair pushed back enough to frame his face but not distract from it. His lips looked soft, his jaw firm, and most striking of all, his blue eyes looked squarely into hers without fear or doubt.
"I didn't mean to sound ungrateful. Forgive me for losing my manners."
His accent was definitely that of a farmer, and she doubted his manners were exactly enough to please a court in Blacklight even at their best, but she was charmed and responded warmly enough in turn. "Don't trouble yourself; I doubt many people deal well with being held at knifepoint for a sum beyond their family's means. Come, let me take you home."
"What of the others?" His gaze flickered from her to the corpse of the leader on the floor not steps from them. "Are they... gone?"
"Ye-es." She was mostly certain, but placed a hand on his forearm and bade him still with a look before taking a breath and once more whispering into the emptiness of the room and feeling knowledge of life around her flood her mind. There was a single light to be seen, and he shone brilliantly before her. Blinking, slightly dazzled by the light, she confirmed, "Yes, they're all gone."
She flashed him a smile, but then remembered her face cover. Though even after giving him a reassuring, confident twitch at the corners of her lips, he seemed disturbed. For a moment, she simply stared at him, looking into the pulsing, whorling, nebulous mass of energy only she could see in him, but one moment dragged on into another and he looked away, clearly embarrassed.
"Perhaps we should, uh, go?"
"Hm? Oh, yes, yes let's." I was probably staring too much. It's a shame all that life will be extinguished someday, though.
The thought struck Seravyn as deeply hollowing, and so she led Thonnir out of the cave through the backway she'd now traversed many times with no further conversation. She led through the trees, heading ever north.
Stars and Moons 2b/?
Seravyn didn't immediately respond, examining what she thought was poison, shaking and sniffing it before returning it to the bookshelf. Pocketing the loose coins on the table nearby, she asked, "Are you Thonnir of Morthal?"
"Yes, yes I am. Is my family alright? Are they not too worried? It's been so long, I doubted help would ever come."
"I came as soon as I could."
It was a lie. She'd ridden south of a borrowed house to her home near Falkreath to drop off some treasures; swords and maces and bows from her latest enemies, enchanted armor she admired but had no desire to wear, potions she could not fathom a need for but wished to keep anyway. From her home she'd gone west in a carriage overnight to Riften, gazing at the half-moon while laying on the bench in the back. She'd met liaisons in Riften, checking on jobs and new recruits before heading back out again. Only then had she trekked northward on foot toward Windhelm, searching by memory for the now-familiar break in the trees where the cave entrance that led into old ruins would be found.
It had only truly added two days to her trip, but given that from Windhelm it would have been a one-day ride, a mote of guilt sharpened her defensive statement and silenced her newly-free charge.
She undid his binds from behind and helped him up. When he turned, she decided to be grateful for the shroud covering the lower half of her face as sudden attraction left her jaw slack and her lips suddenly dry. He was not quite beautiful, but his features were striking. The ice blue of most Nord eyes stood out on his somewhat more richly tan skin. The dirty blond hair pushed back enough to frame his face but not distract from it. His lips looked soft, his jaw firm, and most striking of all, his blue eyes looked squarely into hers without fear or doubt.
"I didn't mean to sound ungrateful. Forgive me for losing my manners."
His accent was definitely that of a farmer, and she doubted his manners were exactly enough to please a court in Blacklight even at their best, but she was charmed and responded warmly enough in turn. "Don't trouble yourself; I doubt many people deal well with being held at knifepoint for a sum beyond their family's means. Come, let me take you home."
"What of the others?" His gaze flickered from her to the corpse of the leader on the floor not steps from them. "Are they... gone?"
"Ye-es." She was mostly certain, but placed a hand on his forearm and bade him still with a look before taking a breath and once more whispering into the emptiness of the room and feeling knowledge of life around her flood her mind. There was a single light to be seen, and he shone brilliantly before her. Blinking, slightly dazzled by the light, she confirmed, "Yes, they're all gone."
She flashed him a smile, but then remembered her face cover. Though even after giving him a reassuring, confident twitch at the corners of her lips, he seemed disturbed. For a moment, she simply stared at him, looking into the pulsing, whorling, nebulous mass of energy only she could see in him, but one moment dragged on into another and he looked away, clearly embarrassed.
"Perhaps we should, uh, go?"
"Hm? Oh, yes, yes let's." I was probably staring too much. It's a shame all that life will be extinguished someday, though.
The thought struck Seravyn as deeply hollowing, and so she led Thonnir out of the cave through the backway she'd now traversed many times with no further conversation. She led through the trees, heading ever north.