A/N None of the characters or settings belong to me. This is non-canon compliant set after Book 4 but before 7. Constructive criticism is appreciated.
Cassandra hated being on a boat. Despised it. The boat slugged over the waves slowly, to slow. She stood on deck with Ranger Halt beside her. She was on her way back to Araluen after a diplomatic mission to Arrida. Will and Horace were to busy doing… whatever… so the princess had asked Halt to come with her, he gruffly accepted and a week later they were on their way.
"I'm going to our quarters" Cass told Halt, he nodded and Cass walked down the stairs. Our quarters, because Cassandra insisted on going on the mission without the royal guard King Duncan made sure that Halt would never leave Cassandra alone. So, for the past month they'd shared adjacent rooms. And now on the ship they shared a cabin. Cass slept on the one bed and Halt slept on the floor, despite Cass telling him that it was ok for him to sleep on the bed as well. To an extent Cass was grateful he'd declined, it saved her a lot of awkward moments.
Halt had taken to leaving her alone on the boat, where could she go? How could she possibly be in danger? Cass opened the door to the small cabin and stretched. She took of her top layer (a woolen coat) and walked toward the small washroom. She'd started running her bath about an hour ago and was happy that it was finally ready, it would loosen her knots.
She took of her undercoat and trousers and then her bra and underpants. She slowly let herself sink into the hot water. It was strange to think about the fact that she was on a very large body of water… in a bathtub. She let out a bark of laughter.
Lightning struck, she'd noticed the sky getting darker and the waves getting a bit bigger but it'd happened before and it was never anything to worry about yet, when Erak started shouting at the men to get to the oars, she realized that this was a storm.
"Princess Cassandra?" She heard Halt say from the main room, Cass could feel herself blushing scarlet,
"I'm in the bath.." She said, wishing that her embarrassment wasn't obvious in her voice,
"Oh, Oh, Ooooh… um… ok. Tell me when you're coming out so I can err… look away." Halt stammered, Cass was temped to laugh at the way Halt had completely lost his chill.
"I'll just come out now" She told him, she stepped out of the bath and walked into the main room. She changed into a comfortable set of clothes, long woolen pants and a woolen jerkin. Every obvious sound that her changing made Halt's shoulders tense. This was awkward.
"Ok.. Um, how's the storm?" She asked timidly, Halt turned around to look at her and snorted
"Bad enough for Erak to send me to the cabin so… pretty bad" Halt told her, she nodded. It was cold she realised, and Halt had only his cloak to sleep under. "Sleep on the bad tonight. We'll be… back to back. It's to cold for you to sleep only under your cloak"