Hope wakes up late the next day but she doesn't know how late till she's up and in the main hall to eat. As she walks up the stairs, she has to hold on to the wall beside them for support. Her leg was sore and stiff but her back wasn't so bad, the injury on it wasn't as bad as the injury on her leg. When she reaches the top step she sees everyone gathered at the table for what she thinks is breakfast.
The first one to notice her was Torvrar. "Hey! Look who finally decided to get out of bed!" He hollers making everyone turn and look at her. She lifts an eyebrow up at him as she limps over to the table. "What do you mean by that?" She asks with now furrowed eyebrows. "It's lunch time Hope." Ria tells her with a small giggle. "Huh?!" Hope exclaims shocked. "How come nobody woke me up!?" Hope asked while slamming both hands down on the table. "Because they told us not to." Athis answers after taking a drink out of his mug.
"But I could've been training all day." Hope said while standing up straight and crossing her arms. "Oh no." Aela's voice from behind makes her uncross her arms and turn to look at her. "You're not going to be doing any training for a while." Aela tells her as she walks to her. "Not with those wounds." She nudges her head towards her leg. "Pfft. I'm fine." Hope crosses her arms back over her breasts. "Oh really?" Aela lifts an eyebrow up at her. Suddenly Skjor is next to her and without any warning slaps the back of her leg hard.
"Ah!" A pained yell comes from Hope as she falls over. "See, you're not fine." Aela points out while helping Hope back up to her feet. Hope looks at her with a contempt expression on her face. "Listen to her whelp, she knows what she is talking about." Skjor cuts in giving Hope a light pat to the shoulder. A small irritated groan comes from Hope as she watches Skjor walk away. "You can watch others train but other than that, you need to rest or you won't heal." Aela places a friendly hand on Hope's shoulder. Hope looks at her. "Understand?" Aela asks with a smile. A small sigh escapes Hope as she gives Aela an understood nod. "Good." Aela squeezes her shoulder and then walks away. "I have a job to do today anyways, so I really wouldn't of been able to train you." She gives Hope a small wave before leaving the building.
Hope lets out another small sigh as she starts to limp towards an empty chair next to Ria. She slowly takes her seat and then lets out a relieved sigh when she's finally sitting. "How are you feeling?" Ria asks with a smile. "As you would expect..." Hope answers while looking down at the platters full of food in front of her. Ria's smile slowly fades as she senses Hope's distance towards her. Hope started to reach for some food but loud clattering from the chair next to her interrupts her.
She looks over and sees that Torvrar has taken the seat next to her. 'Of course...' She thinks to herself with a quiet sigh. "So! I hear you were attacked by a wolf last night!" He said with a smile while leaning on the table with his elbow. A contempt expression forms on Hope's face as she looks down at the table. "So...It was only one wolf that took you down?" Torvrar asks with a smirk. The contempt expression on Hope's face changes into a sneer. "I-it was a big wolf!" Ria cuts in trying to defend Hope but she seemed to only make it worse.
Torvrar slaps his knee and laughs loudly. A different chuckle catches their attention. Hope looks up and can see Njada sitting across from her on the other side of the table, with a smirk on her face. "I knew it was a mistake to let someone like you into the Companions! I could tell you were weak the moment I saw you." Njada speaks loudly for all to hear as she leans back in her chair with her arms crossed over her breasts. Hope sneers at her. 'It wasn't a wolf!' She wants to tell them. She wants to scream at them, but she can't. No one believed her last night and no one would believe her now. They were making fun of her for being weak, she didn't need them to start making fun of her for being crazy.
"That's enough!" Vilkas's loud voice made everybody jump. They all shifted in their chairs to look at him. He was sitting in his usual spot with his arms crossed and an angry expression on his face. Like always, Farkas was right next to him and he too was glaring at the ones who were making fun of Hope. "She's been through enough, she doesn't need your crap." Vilkas glares at both Njada and Torvrar making them wince and look away. Hope blinked as she continued to stare at Vilkas. She was surprised that he defended her like that, it was the last thing she thought he'd ever do.
Vilkas turns his head to her and for a moment, their eyes meet and they stare at each other. She watches a small frown form on Vilkas's face and then sees something appear in his eyes, but he looks away before she can figure out what it was. She shifts her eyes to Farkas who was looking away from her rather awkwardly. That's when she remembers that he basically saw her naked last night. 'Oh yeah...' She quietly clears her throat and looks back at the table to start grabbing food.
Hope grabs a good amount of food for her plate but something was bothering her and keeping her from eating. She shifts her eyes to the side to look at Ria. "Hey." Hope grabs her attention. Ria looks at her with a lifted eyebrow. "Do you really believe that it was just a wolf?" She asks quietly so that no one else can hear her. Ria swallows her water down hard and then slowly looks away from Hope to look down at the table. Hope watches her clench her jaw and her muscles become tense. "You want an honest answer?" She asks quietly.
Hope nods while quickly leaning towards her. "I don't know what it was, I don't know what I saw." Ria slightly turns her head to look back at Hope. "But I would honestly rather believe that it was just a really big wolf than...something else..." She admits with eyebrows knit together. Hope sighs as she sits back up straight and looks down at the table. She can hear Ria's fork and knife beginning to scrape against her plate indicating that she went back to eating. Another sigh escapes Hope as she scoots back her chair and then gets up.
Ria watches her with a mouth full of food, she sees Hope quickly make her way towards the doors going outside. Ria swallows her food. "Where are you going?" She asks with eyebrows knit together in concern. "Outside." Is all Hope tells her before opening the door and leaving the building. Vilkas watched with grimace on his face. 'What's she going out there for?' Vilkas can't help but wonder as he continues to stare at the door. "Mmm." Vilkas groans as he starts to think more about something else now. With a sigh Vilkas gets up and leaves the table, but he doesn't head outside yet. Instead, he goes for the stairs that lead into the lower part of Jorrvaskr. "Where are you going?" Farkas asks while taking a drink of his mead. "To get something." Vilkas answers him as he descends down the stairs.
Hope limps outside and looks around. Nobody has come outside yet, she couldn't help but feel relieved to be alone. She needed to be alone to collect her thoughts. She walks past the few tables that sit outside and goes out into the training yard. She looks around and on the stone wall she sees one of the many weapon racks that the Companions had and on it was the bow and set of arrows she was training with. 'Good, Aela didn't put them away.' She thinks to herself while making her way over to them.
She winces when she bends down to pick up the bag of arrows. She carefully places them on her back and then takes the bow off of the weapon rack. She knew Aela told her to just rest for the day but she couldn't. She needed to do something to keep her mind busy. Hope walks over to the spot she was standing in yesterday. She remembers hitting the target once last night and hopes that she will be able to hit it some more today.
"What are you doing?" Vilkas's voice startles Hope causing her to jump and let out a surprised gasp. She quickly turns to face him and then furrows her eyebrows down when she sees that it is him. Vilkas looks at her with an eyebrow raised as he examines the bag of arrows on her back and the hunting bow in her hand. "Non of your business." She tells him with her nose wrinkled. Vilkas scoffs at her smart mouth. "It is my business. Aela told you not to train today." He approaches her with his eyebrows furrowed. "Well Aela isn't here." Hope quickly looks away from him.
"Well I am." He irritably responds. Hope slightly moves her head to look back at him with a lifted eyebrow. That's when she notices that Vilkas is actually wearing casual ware instead of his heavy armor. On him is a white shirt made of cloth and a normal set of tan pants with boots on underneath them. She can't help but admire the way his muscles look in the tight shirt he wears. She clears her throat and looks back away as she feels her face become heated. "Why aren't you wearing your armor?" She asks while keeping her eyes away from him.
Vilkas looks down at himself for a moment and then looks back up at her while clearing his throat. "It's my day off." He tells her as he scratches at his chest. "Companions get days off?" She asks looking back at him, being slightly amused. "Occasionally." He answers with a shrug and small smile. A small chuckle escapes Hope as she starts to think of the silly idea. They were mighty warriors who took on hard jobs for people, so it seemed silly to think about them taking a day off to lounge around.
"Back to the point." Vilkas clears his throat again changing the subject. Hope lifts an eyebrow up at him. "You should listen to Aela. After..." He trails off as the image of Hope pinned to the ground beneath him comes to his mind. "After what?" Hope asks keeping her eyebrow lifted. Vilkas quickly clears his throat again as he forces the image to go away. "After what happened to you last night, it would be unwise to push yourself with training." He tells her. Hope quickly looks away from him with her eyes down at the ground.
Vilkas stares at her for a moment and then sighs as he walks to her back. She turns her body to follow him with her eyes and then lifts an eyebrow up at him when he tries to stand behind her. "What are you-" "Just stand still." Vilkas cuts her off as he grabs her shoulders and gently turns her around. Hope keeps an eyebrow raised as she stands there looking forward. Vilkas removes the bag of arrows from her and then grabs the end of her shirt to lift it. "What are you doing!?" Hope asks as she quickly pulls her shit back down.
"Relax!" Vilkas tells her with furrowed eyebrows. "I'm just going to check your wound." He explains while grabbing the end of her shirt again. "How did you know I had one on my back?" She asks as she allows him to lift the back of her shirt up. "Aela told me about it this morning." Vilkas quickly lies. "Oh." Hope said with a small nod indicating that she believed him. A small sigh comes from Vilkas as he lifts the back of Hope's shirt to her shoulders. He examines the bandages wrapped around the lower part of her torso to cover the wound. He can tell that they needed to be changed soon.
"Where's the tie to this thing?" He asks while looking around her back for it. Hope just stands there for a moment thinking and then tenses up uncomfortably. "What?" Vilkas asks sensing her discomfort. "She tied the bandages together in front." She tells him quietly. "Oh." Vilkas breaths out. "Where?" He asks in a quiet tone that matches hers. "Here, let me see if I can get it." She said quickly as she started to struggle with the tight knot.
Vilkas waits for a bit and watches her hands fiddle with the knot from over her shoulder. After a while of fighting with it, Hope lets out a defeated sigh and lowers her arms back down. "I can't get it..." She admits with a frown. "Here, let me try." Vilkas said while keeping the tone of his voice quiet. He slowly reaches his hands around her waist and when he does, he can feel her become tense. He has to stand close to her so he can look over her shoulder at the knot.
Vilkas thought standing that close to Hope would be irritating and the last thing he ever wanted to do, but it wasn't. Vilkas finds himself inching closer to her as he runs his hands up her stomach to reach the knotted bandages. He can feel her shiver from his hot breath hitting the back of her neck and he can see a warm red color appear on her freckles on her cheeks. The longer he stood close to her the more the heat between them increased. It was heat he thought was impossible for them, but it was there and he knew she could feel it too.
His hands worked with the knot slowly, due to it being too tight but a little of it was on purpose. He couldn't bring himself to step away from her just yet, even though being this close to her was maddening. But not in the bad way, it was maddening because of the scent he was getting off of her. The sweet scent she carried, the sweet scent that he could smell even when he was in a totally different room than her. At first he thought it was just because she was new and that he needed to get used to it, but he could never get used to it because he could never get enough of it.
She smelled like warm cinnamon and fresh spices that one would use to make sweets. Her scent reminded him of happy days when he was a child and he didn't have too many of those, so it calmed him and made him feel relaxed. The stubble on the bottom of his face rubs against her bare neck as his nose comes into contact with her head just below her hair-line. Without thinking, Vilkas inhaled against her filling his nostrils with her scent. He felt her shiver against him again while also feeling goosebumps rise on her skin beneath his nose.
"I think you got!" Hope tells him loudly making him jump and take a step back. He quickly clears his throat as he starts to unwrap the bandages around her. Vilkas can feel his own face heat up from that heated moment between them. He carefully peels the bandages off of her wound and examines it closely. The punctures on her back had already scabbed over and were healing nicely. "It looks good." He tells her as he starts to re-wrap the bandages around her. He ties them together in a tight knot and then lowers her shirt back down. He hears Hope let out a small sigh as she smooths the bottom of her shirt out.
"Go sit, I want to check the one on your leg too." He says while looking down at her hurt leg. Hope turns and looks at him with a lifted eyebrow. "What?" He asks. "Why do you care about my injuries?" She asks. "Because Aela's gone and someone has to keep an eye on them." He tells her while gesturing a hand out towards one of the tables and chairs. Hope looks at him suspiciously and then limps over to the sitting area. She grabs the nearest chair and then pulls it out to take a seat. When she sits down, Vilkas kneels down in front of her and grabs her injured leg.
She inhales sharply when his hand comes into contact with her injury. "Sorry." He apologizes quickly while removing her shoe and then carefully lifting her pant-leg up. Vilkas inhales deeply as he gently holds her leg up so he can begin to unwrap the bandage. He finds himself admiring her slim leg and that made him start to wonder about...things. He bites his tongue to force himself out of those dirty thoughts as he finishes unwrapping her leg. He turns her leg slightly so he can get a good look at the wound.
Hope sees Vilkas's jaw become tense and then something appear in his eyes as he looks at her injury. Vilkas moves his hand to his head and pinches the bridge of his nose with his thumb and index finger. Hope furrows her eyebrows down at him. "Something wrong?" She asks slightly concerned. A small sigh leaves Vilkas as he removes his hand from his face. "No, it seems to be healing nicely." He tells her with a low voice. "Doesn't sound like it." She points out while keeping her eyebrows furrowed. Vilkas moves his eyes up to her face and realizes that she caught on to the unease in his voice.
He clears his throat as he starts to re-bandage her leg. "They're just deep is all but they are healing nicely, they'll probably scar though." He explains while tieing the bandages together around her leg. She nods already knowing that. "I suggest you change the bandages soon." Vilkas advises as he gets back up to his feet. "If you like, I could help you." He offers while moving a hand to the back of his neck to rub it. Hope looks up at him with surprised eyes. She blinks and stares at him for a moment and then slightly looks back down at her leg. "That's okay, I'll probably get Ria to help me or something." She tells him with a faint blush forming on her cheeks.
Vilkas understands with a nod as he lowers his hand back down. "I meant what I said before by the way." He tells her. "If you push yourself with these wounds, you're only going to make recovery take longer and make you're condition worse." He says while crossing his arms over his chest. Hope wrinkles her nose at him again and then turns her head to look away from him. "Anyways." He sighs as he starts to fiddle with something on his belt. She looks back up to watch him. She moves her eyes down to his belt and sees a familiar sword and sheathe tied to it. "I did come out here for a reason and this is it." He says while holding the weapon out to her.
Hope stands up from her chair and takes it from Vilkas's hand. She slides the sword out of its sheathe and is surprised to see it was her sword. "How did you know where to find this?" She asks looking back up at him. Vilkas swallows hard as he tries to think. The truth was, he knew she dropped it along with her armor and so he thought the least he could do was to go and retrieve it for her. But he couldn't tell her the truth, he needed to come up with something else to tell her. "Skjor had me go get it this morning, along with your armor." He tells her.
Hope lifts an eyebrow up at him and then looks back down at the sword. "To be honest, I actually forgot about it till now." She says with a smile as she slides her sword back into its sheath. A small sigh of relief escapes Vilkas. "I went ahead and took your armor up to Eorlund, it got banged up pretty bad and needed to be fixed up." He tells her with a small smile. Hope looks back up at him with a growing smile.
Vilkas raises an eyebrow up at her in question, she's never smiled at him like that before. "Look at you, first it was advice, then it was checking on my wounds and now its retrieving my things. If I didn't know better, I'd say you were getting a crush on me." She teases with a smile and faint blush. Vilkas scoffs furrowing his eyebrows. "Please." He turns away from her and starts to walk away. "You're not my type." He mumbles as he disappears around a corner. "Liar." Hope whispers as she places her sword on the table next to her and then walks back to the bag of arrows on the ground.
Hope's back in her place that she was in before Vilkas interrupted her. She grabs an arrow out of the bag, she readies it on the string of the bow and then raises the bow in the air. She focuses in on the target, takes in a deep breath, and lets the arrow go. THUD! The arrow hits the target and lands on the higher part of it. A smile forms on Hope's face as she lowers the bow to look at it. The arrow just barely hit the target's edge but it was still good, considering she just started practicing the bow a couple days ago.
She readies another arrow while lifting the bow back up. She does exactly what she did with the first one and prepares herself to let go of the arrow. "Seriously!" A loud voice makes her jump and let go of the arrow, since she lost focus, it barely made three feet away from her before plummeting into the ground. She lowers the bow and quickly looks to where the voice came from and saw Skjor standing there, with his arms crossed and a frown on his face. Hope quickly looks away from him with her eyebrows furrowed.
"Did Aela's words go through your ears whelp?" He asks with an irritable voice as he approaches her. Hope just stands there keeping her face away from him with her eyebrows still furrowed. "Well?" He scowls at her silence. She finally looks back at him but keeps her eyebrows furrowed. "All I'm doing is practicing my aim, it's not like I'm moving around much and I plan on taking breaks." She explains. Skjor stares at her with his scowl for a moment. Then, his mean expression slowly fades as a sigh escapes from him. "Alright fine." He gives in. Hope lifts her eyebrows up at him, surprised at how quick it was for him to give in like that. "Just make sure not to over do it." He tells her and then turns from her to walk away. She watches him for a moment and then turns back around to continue. 'Alright, let's see if I can get closer to the middle...'