Prompt: Sky, chocolate, clutter

She'd never seen the sky turn to night this early, not here in Gloriano. With the suns diminished shine a chill began to settle into her bones. She knew she must return to her chambers, yet what awaited her there was nothing compared to this stinging wind.

She heaved a sigh. To stay or not to stay?

Time passed while contemplating this question, without her realizing it until a drop of condensed mist dripped from her nose tip onto her lips. The sensation brought her back to her current predicament. One in which her body was trembling and her clothes damp.

Her joints and bones pained her on her slow trek back. It gave her sick satisfaction. A self-imposed punishment to make up for the hole in her chest. Even the cold and winter like darkness told her this was where she belonged, so much like the snow covered home she often found herself longing for.

But what was done was done.

Zieg had been a pleasant retrieve in a long string of lonely days, she told herself.

They would walk different paths now. All was fine. All was as it should be.

Some semblance of logic told her to apologize, to seek his forgiveness. Yet as the thought crossed her mind she easily dismissed it. That was not for her, sappy melodramas were for Damia or Shirley. There was nothing to apologize for, she told herself, she had no regrets, she'd meant every cutting word she'd said. Her ego, her pride, and her sense of self would not allow her to go back on words she'd spoken truthfully.

Yet the sight of the nearing towers weighed down on her every step. Her eyes sought out his tower… it was dark…Zieg. Perhaps he'd gone to bed early to dissuade her from attempting an apology.

As if she would.

Her gaze, like her mood, lowered to her black booted feet as they made their methodical way down a memorized path she knew too well; down a dark lonely path to what she knew would be a darker and lonelier tower.

At the foot of her stairs she closed her eyes. The climb seemed insurmountable when something in her she could not name urged her to turn around and seek him wherever he may be.

It was fleeting. With a quick breath she reigned in her emotions.

She was resigned to her fate.

Gathering all her strength she lifted her foot and planted it savagely onto the first step. Satisfaction came at the swift ache and it hastened her towards the next. Before her anger and frustration could torture her other foot a door burst open and a light spilled down the steps.

The widening of her eyes expressed her shock at finding him at her door. While she remained immobile thinking what this could mean, he was already next to her, yelling at her for running loose without telling anyone. She could say nothing as his hand wrapped around her arm and lead her up into her chamber.

It was hot. Warmer than her chamber had ever been. Zieg had taken the liberty to add plenty of logs to her fire. From the disastrous state of her chamber she surmised he'd been here a while, she'd half a mind to shout him into a corner… he could never understand the concept of private belongings, treating them as if they were his. She took a look around at the clutter, her misplaced books, scrolls, weapons, her bed looked slept on and his smelly boots were dumped next to her cleaned linens.

"Rose! I'm talking to you," his stern voice called to her attention, his hands on his hips and an exasperated expression at being ignored.

When she said nothing he gestured to her table where upon sat a kettle and two cups.

"It's hot chocolate."

When she neither answered nor moved he shook his head and pulled out a chair for himself and poured himself a cup of steaming hot chocolate.

Between racing thoughts she managed to sit herself across from him and reached for her cup. Zieg promptly filled it to the brim.

"After you drink this you're getting out of those damp clothes. Seriously, where were you? You had me worried sick." He admitted looking away.

Rose lifted her cup carefully and the aroma was sweet. She sipped it and found it very sugary. To a nauseating degree.

"Do you like it?"

She took another sip and told him she did.

"I made it," he confessed sheepishly.

That would explain the burn lumps.

He sat there with a genuine smile on his face as she drank down his concoction with a straight face (another form of self-punishment?)

"What do you think about taking a short trip down to the lake-port, I hear it's very nice. I'm sure Diaz would love a report on the new Ransad arrivals."

"We leave tomorrow for the Flanvel borders," Rose reminded him.

"Mmmmmmm. Not anymore, we don't," he grinned. "I've already talked it over with Diaz. You and I will be gone for about 5 days to merry Ronsad."

After a brief silence she asked him why he was doing this. In her mind she replayed their heated argument, his frustrated shouts echoing in her mind.

"Why? What do you mean? Can't I a guy get away with his adoring lady ones in a while?" He acted as if nothing had happened not so long ago. "Oh!- more chocolate?"

She looked at her empty cup that had emptied into her now churning stomach.

"Please."

His grin turned foolish with pleasure as he refilled her cup and watched her drink it down.

But how could she not? He said it was chocolate, but it was not. It was love, and it tasted like forgiveness.

The hardest part about writing is having to go back and edit ! ! ! I don't want to! It was so hard to sit myself down and type it up, I'm amazingly slow! !

Speaking about editing! I wan't to thank Kjanuary for helping me edit Sway. I DID edit it, but I can't find the word document now! ! I also don't want to move on to chapter 2 without 1! ! ! I don't know what to do!

To tell you the truth, I'm not very pleased with this story. I rushed to finish it when I could have elaborated scenes some more… so lazy!