XXVIII. Intermission
The group got a little more travel time in that night thankfully because the clouds had moved out for a while, allowing in a little more moonlight aside from the torches they lit to put on the sides of the cart and help for easier navigation over the snow covered terrain. Aislinn fell asleep without even realizing it as they went, and Trista dozed off for just a short bit before a few bumps in the road woke her again.
That was when Cullen noticed Dreyan's possible affections for Trista as Aislinn had mentioned to him earlier. He'd been thinking to himself quietly, settled next to Aislinn at that point because of the way the wind was blowing, and the back of the cart was helping to take the chill off of him. Not to mention Alec had also gotten time for a rest, and in his sleep, he kept shoving his boots in Cullen's direction, which Dreyan had remarked on by saying the man never had been a light sleeper.
So Cullen moved, relaxing against his back and hearing Aislinn let a few mutters every now and again just across from him which he would idly wonder if there was any meaning behind them. He was also keeping an ear out to their surroundings when they suddenly hit a bump and Trista let out a little groan of frustration, sitting up and rubbing her eyes quietly.
Dreyan's voice was what brought Cullen's attention back into focus on his immediate surroundings as the Captain asked the young mage very quietly, "Are you...alright?"
She'd looked up and smiled at him, nodding her head without a verbal response. Dreyan had then offered her one of his rare smiles in return, and Cullen doubted he even knew he was doing that, but the smile more than the words told Cullen all he needed to know. It also made him wonder briefly if he'd ever smiled at Aislinn without paying any attention to it, but he decided not to think about that. Instead, he thought about whether or not he should speak with Dreyan over this. After all, he'd feel like a hypocrite if he tried to remind the man of how impossible it all was really, or at least improbable, when Cullen himself had decided to try for something more with Aislinn regardless of the difficulties surrounding them.
Still, maybe he should speak with Dreyan, he considered. Perhaps his position put him in a place where he would be able to at least offer the young man some advice. He hesitated on that however. Cullen thought it might be a better idea to ask Aislinn what she thought first. After all, Aislinn not only knew Dreyan better, but also, talking to him would mean telling him that Cullen was getting involved with the First Enchanter. So this would concern her inevitably and he would have to consult her about it first.
But eventually, the cart was stopped and they made camp. This was for two reasons, the first being that the clouds had began to gather again and snow had started falling lightly. The other reason was that the roadways weren't in the best of shape, the bumping only getting worse as they went, so they would need to make sure they could see to avoid dips and getting stuck, otherwise they might lose a wheel or get stranded altogether. Daylight was going to be necessary for that.
Camp wasn't too hard to set up. They had two small tents, one that was big enough for both of the mages, and the other the Templars were going to take turns sleeping in after shifts of watching camp and the surrounding area. Aislinn used her magic to start a fire where Alec had set up a pile of wood he'd found and brought back over, and Brent tended to the horses with Dreyan's help, making sure they were fed and watered.
Trista got a little food out which she started cooking in a pan, just some salted pork and bread, nothing fancy, but it got the camp to smell good after a while. Cullen had gone with Alec during that point in time to check around the area and make sure there was nothing about, such as wild animals or anything else that might sneak up on them unexpectedly, and then came back to see Aislinn settled with Trista by the fire, Brent across from them on the opposite side, and Dreyan getting the second tent fixed up completely. Brent was taking the first rest since he'd spent the day driving them.
Trista gave the Templar some of the food she'd just made and told him to go ahead and retire to the tent to eat there where it would be warmer for him. The blonde haired Templar thanked her for it and did just that, heading inside to get a little shuteye. Alec volunteered to take first watch while Cullen joined them with Dreyan, and settled himself near the fire when he heard Aislinn asking, "Did you find anything to worry about?"
"No," he shook his head. "Not even tracks. This place is deserted."
"Good," Aislinn sighed out, reaching to take some of the bread and pork that Trista then offered her, thanking her for it. "You know what makes me the most angry about this kind of thing?" She shook her head and answered, "The fact that if an apostate were to come along, he'd think Trista and I were here under some kind of captivity. If he had friends with them, they would attack."
"I was thinking that too," Trista said softly. "I...know...they don't understand how different it is in Morsfeld, and even I'm surprised by how it is. But I would be very upset if any of the Templars were attacked because of us."
"It...wouldn't...be your fault."
Dreyan had told her that, and Aislinn thought it was the cutest thing in the world. She didn't interrupt however, simply went on with her eating while Dreyan added, "It would be the mage's faults for misunderstanding everything."
"I know," Trista replied, then sighed out a breath. "I just wish people would ask questions first, or in the very least, leave everyone else to their own business.
"Leaving people to their own business has always been one of the biggest problems have had it seems," Aislinn spoke finally. "People always like to stick their noses where they don't belong. Speaking of which," she looked around and narrowed her brows, "where are the Teryn's men anyway? Did they ride on ahead without us?"
"No," Cullen shook his head, "Alec and I spotted them up the road a good ways, in their own camp. But at least they're not interfering with us."
Trista pursed her lips over the news. "I'm glad Alec's out looking then. They might be in their own camp, but I wouldn't be surprised if one of them starts sneaking around, trying something funny. They antagonize every chance they get."
"That's why Alec's out there," Cullen supplied. "I figured they wouldn't be content to leave well enough alone."
Trista looked at Cullen and gave a nod of her head, but her expression became curious. After a moment, she asked, "Commander, can I ask you something...and I don't...mean to pry. I'm just curious about it."
Cullen was quite for a moment, but he nodded finally, asking her, "What is it?"
"You were in Kirkwall when that Chantry was destroyed, weren't you?"
He was silent for a moment, but his countenance didn't change, remained fairly stern and unreadable. Still, he answered, "I was."
"Did you...do you, I mean, know who the mage was that destroyed it?"
Cullen thought about that, and slowly began nodding, "Yes, we know who did it. The last I've heard however, all attempts to locate him have failed."
"Actually, I was curious about something else," Trista told him in response to that, making Cullen think she was about to ask him why the Templars there attacked the entire Circle instead of just dragging in the mage who'd destroyed the Chantry to begin with. Instead, she surprised him by asking, "I wanted to know if...well, do you know why he did it? I mean I know the stories, the ones that say it was done to try to free mages, or to make a statement, and then some of the stories say it was just a madman with a vendetta. I wanted to know which of those were true, if you know that is."
Cullen sighed in a breath deeply, knowing he was about to say something Trista, and even Aislinn, probably wouldn't like. But he said it anyway. "I don't know his precise reasoning for certain, but like so many typical mages being pushed into a corner, he reacted. He'd been allowed freedom in Kirkwall however, freedom for several years while consorting with the Champion as one of his friends, but the Champion didn't know anything about the explosion prior to it happening from what I understand. Still, he destroyed it. That doesn't make a very convincing statement to me."
Aislinn listened to this, and she looked down, shaking her head. "As much as I hate to say it, I can understand the actions taken. I don't agree with them, but I know where they came from."
Cullen couldn't help the look he gave Aislinn when she said that. Seeing it, she waved a hand idly and said, "Sometimes it's hard to handle, the thought that all your life you were kept in check, missing out on things that other, normal people got to do because everyone is so afraid of you, or missing family that you were taken away from like I missed mine. That's what I mean by understanding. Even now, I look back at my youth, and I get so bitter over it all that I can't see straight. I would never do something like that, but I know the root of it."
Cullen wished that didn't make so much sense, but it had. He wanted to make a reply of sometime, but Dreyan beat him to the punch by asking her, "What happened to your family?"
Aislinn looked at the Captain, and then looked down. "I was an only child, and my mother was ill when they found out I had magical abilities. They took me away from her, and not long after I was sent to the Tower, she died, and I...wasn't there for her. Sometimes I think she might not have died at all if I had been allowed to stay. My father passed away half a year later, from illness they said, but I half wonder if it wasn't from loneliness, missing his wife and his child."
Everyone was quiet after Aislinn said that, and Cullen couldn't help but to stare at her. He didn't know she'd lost her parents right after being taken to the Circle Tower, though he knew the Chantry would have argued that she wasn't her parent's child any longer anyhow. As he considered it, he heard Dreyan saying, "I'm sorry, I...I didn't mean to bring up something so painful. I should've known it would be from the way you spoke though."
"No, it's okay," Aislinn replied, offering Dreyan a small smile. "I haven't spoken of them in quite some time. I think they deserve a mention again."
She watched the Captain nodding his head, but even though she'd told him that, she still felt like she needed a moment alone. It had been a very long time since she'd mentioned her parents to anyone after all, and it still hurt her to speak of them. Now that she'd eaten, she felt it was a good time to excuse herself for a moment being the only person who hadn't had a real personal break yet except when she'd gone to relieve herself once they'd stopped to set camp, and she pushed herself up, saying, "Still, I need a minute for a break. I'll be right back."
Cullen watched her standing and turning to leave, getting the feeling that she needed the time alone, and after she'd gotten far enough away, Dreyan said, "I hope I didn't cause that."
"No, she's fine, I'm sure. Stay here with Trista," he added. "I don't like the thought of her being completely alone with the Teryn's men potentially about."
"Yes, Ser," Dreyan nodded, and watched his commander standing up to walk off in the direction that Aislinn had gone.
While Cullen's main goal was, in fact, to keep the Teryn's men in line, he was also concerned about Aislinn and wanted to make sure she was alright. It wasn't hard to follow her either, the tracks in the snow very direct, and Cullen didn't worry that he would barge in on something he shouldn't have because everyone had taken a personal break right after they'd made camp.
Finally, he came across the large pond that he and Alec had found before, glimmering distantly in the moonlight beyond the trees, and followed the tracks around some thick bushes that med to a little clearing that was partially enclosed by the plant life. Aislinn was standing around the corner, and as he got closer, he asked her name, which got her to look over at him.
Aislinn had come to stop by two trees standing within the small clearing of brush she'd found where she figured she'd be mostly out of sight as she hadn't forgotten about the Teryn's men either, leaning against one of them, her hands folded around herself to try to keep warmer, and when she saw Cullen, she replied by saying, "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to worry you. I just needed a few minutes by myself."
"It's alright. I just wanted to make sure you really were fine, not to mention the Teryn's men being about as they are isn't a situation I want to leave you alone in, regardless of your status as a mage. I thought I should tell you I was here first however," he replied. "I'll leave if you wish."
Aislinn got a half smile on her lips, then she shook her head, "No, stay. It's secluded and quiet here, and I think we both need some silence after the day of traveling we've had."
Cullen could agree with that, so he stepped into the clearing, stopping at the tree she was standing near with about three feet of distance between the two of them. Looking down at her, he started a little quiet conversation by saying, "I didn't know you lost your parents in such a way."
She was quiet, but then began to nod after a moment of thought. "I still miss them, and I hated the Templars who went with me to my mother's funeral. I wanted to be alone and they wouldn't let me be. I just felt so strange, like I was some kind of disease running around. I didn't want to tell you that though because I was afraid that...it might be insulting to you."
"No," he shook his head. "I can understand why you'd feel that way, though. I...changed my views on mages, so even if I wanted to, I'd have no right to feel such a way about it. But I still think some things practiced are...unjust. A child should never be taken from a loving parent." Aislinn could tell by the way he said those words that he'd meant them, and let him continue as she listened. "Even I can't convince myself that it's a reasonable practice where it concerns mages. It's necessary to watch them, true, but I've always thought it might be more practical to make arrangements for someone to stay with them when they're children."
She nodded at him, glad he at least thought that much. "I wish they would have. I think what hurts me the most is knowing she was sick and not being there with her at least when she died."
"I think I can understand that too," he replied softly. "I...never knew my own parents, so perhaps not quite as well, but I wouldn't like to lose someone important to me in that manner."
Aislinn continued watching him quietly after he spoke, remembering that he'd been raised by Sisters in a monastery, and so she couldn't help but ask, "You don't know your parent's names at all?"
"No," he shook his head, shrugging a single, pauldron covered shoulder. "I've wanted to know who they were and why I didn't know them. But I've never been able to get any information."
"Did the Sister you mentioned not know anything?"
"No, she only began serving in that monastery when I was about six years old, long after any information could have been passed on to her. The Mother there seemed to know a bit more though. She said she met my mother but didn't know her by name. All she could tell me was that she was a lovely woman, but I still don't know to this day if she meant in looks or in personality. She also never told me why my mother didn't keep me. She said she would when I was older, but she passed away before the time ever came."
Aislinn thought about that for a few minutes, then suggested, "Not that I'm trying to hit a soft spot, but have you ever considered that your mother might have been a mage? Or maybe both of them?"
"Actually," he sighed, "yes, the thought crossed my mind a time or two. I just can't say for certain."
"I wish you could, Cullen," Aislinn replied softly. She hated the thought of another child being taken from its parents simply because they were mages, but it happened far too often, and there were several people who didn't know their parents because of it. Cullen could have easily been one of many. Still, she told him, "Who knows though, maybe one day you will."
"Maybe," he nodded, "if the Maker is willing for it. But I'd be content not to know as well. It's not at the foremost part of my mind, and hasn't been for quite some time."
"I understand," Aislinn informed him, then offered a small smile. She got the feeling he wasn't completely comfortable with the subject, or uncomfortable, just that he didn't really care about talking about it, so she decided to change it for him. In doing so, she waved a hand and said, "So, I had a thought about something I may as well tell you while we're here alone by the way. I think you might want to speak to Dreyan."
Well that was strange, Cullen thought to himself. "I'd had the same thought. I wanted to ask your opinion on it."
"Oh?"
"Yes, I felt talking to him, I may have to divulge a few things, namely between you and me, and I thought to ask before I said anything at all."
Aislinn couldn't help smiling at him over that line. Nodding, she said, "Well, I think you should, even if you have to mention us, this, you know. Or tell Marleyna since she'll figure it out eventually anyway," she chuckled softly.
"Yes, she seems to have a knack for doing that," Cullen replied with a smile on his face even though his tone had been a bit bland. "I do wonder what I might say to him though. Marleyna is better with these kinds of things than I am. Until I spoke with her about it, I was still dead set against trying to have anything to do with you in that manner."
"Then I guess I should thank her," Aislinn replied with a smile. Curiously, she asked him, "Did you...really think it would be so wrong? Or was it just your duty you were concerned with, and this getting in the way of that?"
"I...uh," he drew out, thinking it over. "Maybe both at times. I...thought I could handle it sometimes, but others I reminded myself that my entire focus needed to be on the Order and my dedication to it." After admitting that, he let a little sigh, which showed up as steam in the cold air, then told her, "Honestly I've been rather torn lately. Marleyna has shown me so many things that I'm not quite certain where I stand anymore."
"Are you torn on me?," she asked, unable to help herself.
"Yes," he told her honestly. "But I've decided I can't just look back, not after everything that's happened, Aislinn. Most of what I'm torn on regarding you is trying to figure out just how I stand with you when I'm not certain of where I stand anywhere else, and how that might end up affecting you in the future. I don't want to put you at unnecessary risk."
His concern for her well being was extremely touching, and Aislinn began nodding in her understanding while reaching over and taking his hand into both of hers. "Talk to me about it then. I could offer some kind of perspective at least."
"I had the feeling you would say that, and...I agree," he replied, reaching his free hand up to cover the top of hers as he spoke. "I just...don't know how I can continue to stand for them both when I'm so uncertain of who I can trust anymore."
"It's hard outside of the Circle," Aislinn said plainly. "I don't know who to trust either. But...I know I can trust you, and the ones here with me. I have friends, and that's what matters most." Following that, she let out a little sigh and looked down. "When the time comes, if it comes and we're forced into making choices, I will remain loyal to them, and to you."
Cullen knew that was the best course of action in any matter, though hearing her saying she'd remain loyal to him if push came to shove really relieved him in some way he hadn't quite expected it to. She was also right about things being difficult outside of the circle. The Templars, his men at Morsfeld, he'd come to know a good deal better over the time he'd been at the Circle, and he knew they were reliable, as well as the Clergy there, and even the mages.
He couldn't say he was friends with any of them other than the Senior Mages perhaps, but they weren't scared, they didn't cower away, they interacted with his own men and he'd heard conversations being held discussing issues, even beliefs when it came to certain practices, and it was always a debate, never an argument. It was different from what he'd known before, and the mages listened to them, didn't try to defy them whenever things had to be done in a certain way.
Of course, normal practices weren't being exercised either, but there was obedience, and there was understanding, things that had been given from the mages when they in turn had been handed more freedoms and less scrutiny. It was debunking the Chantry's views on them, and Cullen's opinions. For the first time in a long while, he felt more like the man he used to who was a little more open and receptive to suggestion, and less like a heartless soldier who was looked at with fear and even contempt. He'd nearly forgotten how good that actually felt. In turn, it made him wonder if the Templars had also been so unhappy because they'd had difficulty in finding acceptance of their own, not with each other of course, but simply with their duties in watching the mages of a Circle.
So Cullen, looking at Aislinn now, told her, "I would stand by this people in this Circle and Marleyna if I were made to choose, and however I can, I will stand by you. But, " he started, asking her, "What if wherever I ended up standing went against what you stand for as a mage?"
"What about the things I stand for as a human?," Aislinn asked in response. "I'm human first, Cullen. Call me unpatriotic all you want to," she chuckled, using the term loosely, "but just living well is more important to me. Yes, mages have to fight for the right to be human, but I don't side with mages, or Templars. I side with people. Those I think have the best interests at heart are those who would have my loyalty."
He liked how she'd said that. Looking her over, he thought about it for a moment, and watched her lifting a hand to his cheek, brushing her gloved fingers along it slowly. The snow continued to drift down around them, and he said, "If that's true, and you stood by me, I would feel truly fortunate and honored."
"I know," she chuckled out softly, then she let a little gasp and covered her mouth. The sudden action got him a little confused, but before he could ask her what it was all about, she snickered, and then looked around as if making certain they were absolutely alone. The movement got Cullen to look about briefly himself, seeing no one whatsoever, until she looked back up at him and said, "I still need to fill that promise you made me keep about telling you the truth of what went on."
His face became a bit blank, and Aislinn continued smiling and stepped in a bit closer, deciding if she was going to tell him this - and now seemed like as good a time as any - then she was going to do it right. She took his hands and put them around her back, then settled her own against his arms and said, "I promise you when I say that nothing happened that could be called bad, Cullen, so don't fret over that. Everything you did was perfectly...," she tried not to snicker, and then told him, "gentlemanly."
His face felt like it was burning. Still, like a moth being drawn to a burning flame, he asked her, "What was that?"
Her silver eyes locked on his as she told him, "Well, I myself thought it was nice, of course, but you were ill, and out of it, so I had to stop you from going further. Still, I liked what did happen."
Cullen felt as if his head might've exploded, or been about to, but here she was just smiling and being...coy of all things about it. Telling him she'd enjoyed what they had done was not something he needed to hear - though that shouldn't suggest he hadn't liked to hear it. But the part that liked hearing it was buried under a good bit of humility, modesty, and embarrassment about as thick as the layer of snow they were standing in covering the ground. He couldn't find any words to speak in that moment, staring down at her blankly.
Aislinn didn't stop either, she just told him the truth. "I was asleep, but I started waking up to find you were on me, kissing me."
"Kissing you?"
"My chest, yes."
Silence.
"Then you kissed me on the mouth when I told you to stop and get more rest, brushed my lips with your thumb, and asked against my ear why you ached whenever you thought of me. This was, of course, after you'd started trying to undress me a little."
Cullen couldn't help himself. He suddenly let go of her and turned around to walk away a good few steps while muttering out, "Maker...!" He covered his upper face with his hand and rubbed his temples slowly, drawing thumb and forefinger over his eyes and pinched the bridge of his nose. "Please say I didn't."
"You made me promise to tell you the truth," Aislinn replied plainly, stepping in behind him quietly. She stopped when he suddenly turned around in response and found her standing right at him when he'd expected her to still be in the same spot as before, which made him back up as if out of sheer instinct alone. But she grabbed his hand before he could get too far away and pulled, though he didn't budge much.
She couldn't help but snicker over it, saying, "Don't worry about it so much, Cullen. I told you the exact truth, and I meant it when I said I didn't feel one bit ashamed by it or embarrassed."
"But I do," he replied, still staring at her with that mortification in his eyes that she'd thought briefly might've been gone due to his newfound comfort with her. Nope, he's still as shy as he once was.
"I understand that," she replied, still holding onto his hand. "But you did absolutely nothing wrong. You just kissed me somewhere you hadn't yet, and then told me something you wouldn't say so easily if you knew what you were doing."
"How can you be so...carefree about it?," he asked her in return, and the question wasn't accusatory at all. He was honestly wondering this, considering he had a hard time even looking at her just then. "It doesn't bother you?"
"No," she shook her head. "Not at all. You know, if you came a little closer, I'd show you why too."
Cullen blinked, unable to understand what that meant exactly. "What are you..."
"Cullen," Aislinn started, then she smiled and just stepped in herself. He had no where to go after all, a tree being behind him which he'd backed into when she'd moved. She continued to smile as she leaned up and said, "Close your eyes for me."
"I...I'd rather not."
Aislinn pursed her lips at him, lifting a single brow, and Cullen finally decided to listen, letting a soft sigh of breath before he shut his eyes. Aislinn only wished for two things in that moment, one being a small footstool so that she didn't have to lean so far, and the other was that he wasn't wearing quite so much armor, but she made due. She leaned up and showed him exactly how she could be so carefree and not bothered about it.
Cullen waited, thinking she was probably going to pull some trick on him like stuffing a snow ball in his face or some other such thing, but instead, he felt her lips on his chin, brushing slowly up, but not to his own. Instead, she traced them along his jaw slowly, one of her hands hooked around his shoulder, the other at his back which was less covered than his front side, her fingers running up and down his spine slowly beneath his sword and shield, only impeded by the straps holding his plate mail on.
From his jaw, she began to trace her lips down the side of his neck, parting them and drawing her tongue lightly over his skin, just barely scraping it with her teeth without purposeful intent. As she began to nibble, she felt his posture going more lax, heard him let out a breath, and since he'd leaned into it a good bit more, she let go of his shoulder and rubbed both of her hands across his back before turning her head to the opposite side of his neck, giving a slight suck and then moving up toward his ear. When she nibbled lightly there, she felt him pulling her in with both arms, guessing she'd found just the right spot.
Against his ear, after she'd stopped her attention for a moment, she whispered out softly, "I love you, Cullen, more than you know." Then she brushed her lips against the rim and added, "I don't think giving you a little joy for it is out of the question."
Cullen felt a good bit of dizziness washing over him when she said those words like that, his lips parted as he drew breath, leaning his head into her slowly as she continued to draw her lips against him. It was making him tingle all over, his breathing picking up a bit, and between kisses, he heard her asking, "How do you feel now?"
He didn't think he could have answered, but he heard himself saying, "Dizzy..."
"That's why it doesn't bother me, love," she whispered back. "Being close to you and knowing you enjoy it is worth being carefree about it."
She turned her head and kissed his lips then, and as soon as he felt the touch, he reacted to it, giving her the same kiss back, deepening it. He loved the way she felt, the way her fingers pushed through his hair, the way she kissed him, and most of all, he loved her. Knowing those things he'd done now didn't seem so bad, and what she'd told him about being carefree made sense, especially when he heard the soft whimper in the back of her throat as he'd kissed her, telling him she was enjoying it.
He had to follow suit, find out more of her meaning behind it, and he broke the kiss and turned his head against her cheek with the effort, pressing kisses along her jaw and to her throat, doing more than his reservations ever really allowed him to, but doing the things he'd always wanted to anyway. He felt her tightening her grip on him in response to the kisses he places against her skin, heard a slight pick up of breath, and the satisfaction of getting that kind of reaction was overwhelming to him. He wanted to draw her in tighter and continue on, find out even more, but two things stopped him from doing everything he'd had an inkling to do in that moment.
One thing was where those kinds of actions would lead them both, which brought him to the second reason, and that was where they were currently at. It was not the right place for that kind of thing, and just as he'd stopped himself, he heard both a foreign sound and that of her whispering his name to him. Her voice sounded more serious than it should have though in that situation, so he knew she'd heard the sound as well and had been trying to get his attention over it.
Aislinn had only opened her eyes slightly when he'd first broken the kiss, unable to help the way her breathing had picked up as he'd moved along, her grip on him tightening, her head lolling to the side in response to his lip brushing the sensitive skin of her throat as if to give him better access. She was of the mind to let him continue on if he wanted to, but the same thoughts about their location had entered her head, and that was when she heard a crack of wood as if a twig or some other limb of a tree had been snapped somewhere off in the distance or another. It could've been Alec making his rounds in watch she'd thought at first, but it broke through her daze of enjoyment completely and in response to it, Aislinn whispered Cullen's name to get his attention.
He was already looking up though while she was staring in the direction it had come from, and they both remained quiet for a moment, watching the area.
Silently, Aislinn stepped away from Cullen, and he let go of her, the both of them moving from where they'd been standing in order to be able to see beyond the thick branches of the shrubbery that had been hiding them. The pond in the distance was reflecting moonlight shining in from breaks here and there in the clouds, which illuminated the area in the darkness through the snow that was so lightly falling - but neither of them saw anything, all being quiet as they'd walked out to have a look.
So Aislinn turned her head and glanced up at Cullen, saying, "I guess we should head back anyway before Dreyan and Trista think I drowned in my own tears."
She'd turned to go, but felt Cullen grabbing her shoulder to stop her, so she looked back at him, about to ask him what was wrong. She stopped herself however when she saw his other hand on the hilt of his sword. Apparently he'd caught wind of something he didn't like, so Aislinn let him step ahead of her when he softly said, "Just stay right there." He moved past her following those words and she took in a breath, scanning the area with her eyes quietly while Cullen stopped about five feet ahead of her.
She wished she knew what it was he might've detected, but whatever it was remained a secret to her. Perhaps he just had a gut feeling because she was starting to feel very iffy about the situation herself. Something just wasn't right about it, like someone might've been watching them both from the darkness, and it sent a chill through her that wasn't related to the cold weather. As soon as she'd had the thought, she heard a sound as if air was being cut at a sharp and face pace, just as sharp and fast as the pain that suddenly struck her in the left shoulder. The force of the unknown blow knocked her back about two feet at very most, into a tree standing just behind her which stopped her from going any farther.
Aislinn wanted to fall over afterwards, but as she stumbled, something held her into place painfully. She couldn't even imagine in that moment as she'd let a second cry of pain out - the first she hadn't even heard - what was holding her up, but she tried to steady herself. Time seemed to be standing still however, and she felt as if her mind was stuck in one place on the pain she felt. She had to force herself to look and see.
Finally she realized the source, her silver eyes focusing on the arrow sticking out of her shoulder, pinning her to the trunk of the tree behind her, and she steadied herself as best as she could despite the pain shooting through her arm and up into her neck, blood trailing down the inside of her robe and finally to her palm, dripping across her fingertips and into the snow and dirt below her boots. She'd been pinned somewhat high as well, having to stand on the balls of her feet to stop the pain from being so intense, and she wasn't exactly sure how she was managing to do it.
She barely even heard Cullen speaking as he'd reached her, though she sensed he was there, breathing heavily as she turned her gaze toward him while he looked away from her and back out into the distance again. For a few brief moments, she was expecting another arrow to strike her down now that she was no longer a free moving target, and she exhaled and scanned the trees with wide eyes to try to detect any threats she could before they struck and take it out from where she was currently being pinned.
She didn't even realize that her fists were currently flaming as if readying to take a distant target down. Still, maybe it was the grace of the Maker, but that final blow never came.
The direction from which she'd been hit and pinned was telling, but Cullen couldn't just leave Aislinn where she was, especially when he heard more noise following the shot of the arrow, as if someone was trying to get away, and quickly as well. Instead, he turned around to face her and sheathed his blade. As soon as Aislinn had let her cry of pain out after the arrow had hit, he'd tugged the weapon free because he knew something was out there, he just hadn't been able to discern what precisely.
Now he knew it was someone armed with a bow, and that someone had shot from the same direction as the Teryn's men's camp was in.
He'd have to deal with them later, however. For now, he focused on Aislinn, and the task ahead of him of getting her unpinned from the tree so that she could heal herself. But he would deal with them. There was no question in that.
