* 50 * 7/22/12
Bishop sat with one leg on the chair in front of him, trying to ignore to throbbing pain in his back.
He had made it back to his room okay, what with it being a short trip, but he still felt raw, and the impact had knocked his shoulder out. He contemplated what he was going to do about his injury for a bit longer, then set his leg back on the ground. He reached behind him and placed both hands on his armor, lifting it up slowly to peel it off his tender wound. As it came off, taking a bit of skin with it, he winced, but soon enough, it was off. Bishop swore, as now the lack of pressure on the wound made it sorely ache.
Casting his cloak to the side, he sat bare-chested with his right arm propped up on the table, facing his bed.
Damned paladin can't take a joke.
To his surprise, he then heard a knock on the door.
"Bishop?" he heard Lily whisper from the other side.
Why is she whispering? he thought, almost amused.
He sighed and got to his feet, walking over to the door to let her in. He grabbed the door handle, and had half a mind to cover himself up before opening it. Not for his own sake, but for hers; he wasn't sure how she'd react.
In the next moment, she stood before him, her hand still raised in knocking position. She took one look down at his bare chest and immediately her eyes shot back up to his.
"Can I come in? I don't want to wake these guys," she explained, pointing to the drunk bartender and his friends all gathered by the fire. Some of them sounded to be snoring.
"Go ahead," said he, rolling his eyes at the drunkards.
She let herself in and Bishop closed the door, his amber eyes questioning her.
"I couldn't sleep," she started. "How's your back? That can't have felt good."
"There's a dent, that's for sure."
"Can I take a look?"
"Guess so." Bishop went back to sitting at the table, facing a bit to the right this time and putting space between him and the back of the seat so she could see his wound.
"Oh, Bishop," she said with a sigh as she looked over the wound. "There's a rather large part of you dedicated to pissing Casavir off, isn't there?"
Bishop smirked humorously. "Yeah, you could say that."
"I've never seen him act out like that before," Lily pondered thoughtfully, taking a good look at the intricacies of his injury. There was a large bruise on his shoulder just where it met his chest. Most of the damage had been confined to his back, but thankfully far off to the side instead of directly to his spine. "Mind if I bandage you up?"
"All right."
She took out some potions and bandages from her pack and unrolled one of the latter. She then began wrapping it around his torso as he kept his arms held on the table.
"Don't you need some of those yourself?" Bishop asked.
"Huh?" returned Lily.
"I knocked you on the ground earlier tonight. That probably hurt you way more than when you did it to me."
"Oh, right. I haven't seen the result," she said dismissively. She hadn't forgotten, but her back also didn't seem to be throbbing in pain, so the damage couldn't have been that bad.
"You should, before you sleep on it."
There! Lily thought. The bandage was in place. She couldn't wrap up his shoulder without making him a cheap sling, though, and Bishop would probably rather be killed than wear one of those. She offered him a potion, but he declined.
As soon as she released the bandages, Lily stood straight, and Bishop slapped his hand against the center of her back. She gave a cry.
"See? Something's there."
"Yes...Bishop...thank you..." she mustered between clenched teeth. He had hit Lily right where the rock had carved into her back when he tripped her.
"No problem. Better to find out now than later," the ranger said, completely unapologetic. He was even grinning.
"I didn't feel it, so I didn't notice until now."
"Walking isn't that arduous a task, ladyship."
"I thank you for reminding me that getting hit in a recent wound is." She laughed, which was better release than hitting him upside the head like she wanted to.
"If that hurt, then you need to get it looked at."
"By whom? You?"
She watched as a snide smirk developed on his face. "I wouldn't mind," Bishop said.
"Hah. You're going to have to try harder than that, Bishop."
"A shame. So maybe I shouldn't tell you I've already seen what there is to see there."
Lily blinked, shaking her head in disbelief. "You're such a liar."
Bishop made a face, as if she was stupid. "You were wearing a white shirt when you dove backward into the stream, you idiot."
Lily was silent, her eyes wide. He was right.
They both started laughing.
"Oh, wow, that's embarrassing," Lily said with a flush, holding her stomach.
"The water level wasn't high enough to show me everything. But from what I did see...not bad."
"I'm so glad they have your approval." It was the elf's turn to roll her eyes.
Lily was an enigma, Bishop thought. Not once since she had come in had she tried to win his favor by ogling his bare chest or offering to give him a massage in manipulative exchange for payment. His only previous experience with an elf girl's tendencies was with Malin, and she wasn't even a full elf. The two weren't very similar. Malin was wilderness-smart but clumsy, and acted too impulsively to serve as an adequate ally, attracting attention where it was wholly undesired. Lily, on the other hand, was reasonable, but whimsical. She was also completely unpredictable – both socially and in battle – a difficult trait to fight against, which made her more than capable of carrying out tactical formations without accidentally giving them away first. He couldn't say the same about Malin.
Bishop suddenly found himself wondering about Lily's romantic history. As soon as these thoughts encrouached upon his mind, he tried to put them away, but before he was successful, he had latched onto one in particular. Lily was from West Harbor. Most of the inhabitants of West Harbor had burned to a crisp, or fallen fighting. If she did have a former flame…he was probably dead by now.
But she's never said anything about it.
"How old are you, anyway?" Bishop ventured.
Lily guffawed. He has the audacity to ask? she thought, rather amused. But she found she actually didn't mind.
She gave an airy look to the ceiling. "I've lived through almost 104 seasons," she regaled majestically.
Bishop sighed and had a blank look on his face for a few seconds. Then, he looked surprised. "26? And an elf? That's hard to believe."
Lily shrugged. "You caught me in my younger years. Congratulations." She give a little, mock clap, but was grinning. "I'd ask you, but I think I already know."
"Please."
"Is that a challenge? Just watch me. 27."
Bishop's eyebrows shot up. "Not quite." But she was awfully close.
"28?"
"Bingo." He wondered how she had guessed, but he didn't ask. "So, if you haven't quite lived through 104 seasons, you either haven't turned 26, or you just did."
"The former. I'm a youngin'." She paused. "How old is Malin?"
Bishop chuckled at the question. "Older than you. 39."
"I suppose for us elves it's not that much older. Heck, Elanee is easily a-hundred-something. But I'm not sure how it works for half-elves. I'm so used to working in human years that I'm all mixed up."
"You can sit down, you know." Bishop commented suddenly. Lily had been standing during this entire discussion.
"Hah." She plopped on top of the table, kicking her feet back and forth now and then.
"I'd like to go back to that waterfall sometime. It was nice, being out there with the animals and nature."
Bishop agreed, but saw a problem. "Next time, the paladin will probably try to kill me." Nonetheless, he smirked, a sparkle of challenge reaching his eyes.
"It's not your fault, and he'll have to go through me first. Even if it was him trying to protect me, he didn't even let anyone explain before he charged you like that. It wasn't his place."
Bishop looked up at her, but she wasn't focused on him. He hadn't expected to hear such words from her. He had always thought she endorsed the paladin's every move as righteous, but he had apparently been wrong.
Then she looked at him again. "Will you go with me once more after things here cool off and I go outside again?"
The ranger was taken off guard. That was a very direct and personal request. "Don't think you could survive otherwise," he joked.
"So you'll come? Thank you, Bishop!" She jumped down from the table and threw her arms around his neck, being careful not to squeeze him too tightly. "It was a lot of fun!" she enthused. He put a hand on her back, kneading her bruise, and she winced.
"Ow!" she said, drawing herself back away.
"You jump on people a lot, elf."
"I don't. I hug the people I can have meaningful conversations with."
Bishop was curious as to how much her statement implied. For some reason, however, he couldn't bring himself to ask her to clarify, even though his curiosity burned him.
"You're right, though; I did get a little carried away. Sorry," she said, grinning. "I'm just excited; that was fun. And different."
Her playful grin held his attention in that moment. Noticing he was staring, though, he scolded himself, irritated with his lapse into nonsensical behavior. He refocused and downplayed the topic with: "Think you can handle bringing your bag the next time?"
"Yeah, that was silly of me. I got so caught up in the moment, trying to be adventurous. I ended up being pretty stupid." Lily laughed. Bishop was glad he hadn't stepped on her toes too much with his last comment. He watched as she pulled one of the other chairs perpendicularly to his right side and sat down.
"So, did old Daeghun show you how to make fancy meals yourself, or do you always conveniently leave that part to other, lesser people?"
Lily was so used to his marked rudeness that she wasn't even taking offense anymore. "I never really cared for dolled-up dishes. I don't mind them, but it's mostly the same nutrients anyway, so it doesn't really matter how it's served."
"Didn't care too much for the regal presentation back home myself. It was all just meat to me."
"You seem rather knowledgeable about harbormen. Were you born near the swamp?"
"Yeah. Filthy place. Wasn't originally a swamp, but it sure turned into one pretty quick." Bishop shook his head, the expression on his face exceedingly unkind. "Got as far away as possible as soon as I could." There was a faraway look now etched into his strong features, but what was bothering him was left unrevealed. Lily didn't press him.
But she didn't have to. "It was called Redfallow's Watch. Such a noble name for such a foul place." He began tapping his fingers on the table in front of him. "I hated it."
"'Was'?" She sounded really interested.
Bishop clamped his mouth shut, realizing he had said far, far too much already. His expression suddenly turned intensely hostile. "You know, you're really stupid for not looking at that wound yet." His tone sounded far more accusatory than he had intended, but how could he help it? His major slip up was something he'd be regretting for quite some time, he could already tell.
Lily furrowed a brow and suddenly looked exasperated, closing her eyes and taking a deep breath. This bothered Bishop; he hadn't seen her do that before. After a second or two, though, she seemed to resolve whatever internal conflict she was having. "All right," she said simply, standing up, walking out the door, and closing it behind her, a little harder than she probably intended to.
The ranger's lip twitched, but he stayed put.
