Chapter 8
Saeola made sure to stay near the front of the group, keeping herself as distant from Faelar as possible. She walked silently, trying not to limp. She was grateful now that they would be sleeping in doors. The ranger loved sleeping outside, of course, but it was nice to have a roof over your head sometimes.
They reached Cemai's cabin a little after darkness completely fell. After a brief but heartfelt reunion with his wife and young daughter, Cemai introduced the adventurers and ushered them inside.
The house was warm and cozy, a fire cracking in the stove warming the small living space. Saeola sighed at the warmth compared to the cold now settling outside due to the absence of the sun. She moved further in and greeted Cemai's wife and daughter with polite words and gestures.
The human woman welcomed her and the others inside, before fussing over Saeola's claw wound, ushering the young ranger into a chair while she fetched bandages.
"Cozy. Reminds me o' my ferst 'ome," Faelar scanned the modest cabin, "Dat is... if I could even really remember my ferst 'ome." Serosa'ruth chuckled at the rogue's jest.
Saeola chuckled softly and probably would have protested the woman's care had she not been so persistent. So she did as told, sitting and awaiting care. She glanced over a Faelar when he spoke. Her expression tittered between trying hard not to care and trying hard to care, which was a bit odd. Then Ionnia, Cemai's wife, came rushing back in with the bandages.
"It doesn't look too bad, but just to be safe I'll wrap them," She said with a kind smile.
"Thanks," Saeola replied softly, turning her attention to her and away from Faelar.
"You seem like a city-dweller from your... profession and accent, Faelar," Serosa'ruth quipped, "So why would a cabin remind you of an old home?"
"Well-" Before he could explain, his stomach rumbled loudly. Turning to his hosts, the thief put a hand to his stomach, "Sooo... got anything to eat?" He asked with a grin accompanied by a large growl from his stomach.
Ionnia chuckled, but did not look up from her work of bandaging Saeola's injured ankle. "Of course! I'll get you something in just a moment... Done!" She stood from her kneeling position and smiled at the female half-elf before turning away, heading into the small cooking space. "Hmm, there should be something... Honey, we've got to have something here, right?"
"There should still be some deer meat left over from yesterday evening," Cemai replied, looking up from playing with his daughter, "I believe it's out in the cellar. Hold on, I'll go get it." The woodcutter excused himself and walked out the door to retrieve the food. While he left, Faelar crouched down to come face-to-face with Cemai's daughter.
"'Ello there, lil' one," he smiled genuinely, "'Does yer stomach talk to ya when ya get hungry, too?"
Myha giggled, tugging lightly on Faelar's goatee, "Silly 'venturer," she smiled, "Stomachs don't talk!" Faelar sat down and crossed his legs, picking up the young child and placing her on his thigh.
"Sure dey do!" He grinned, "Righ' now mine's sayin', 'Feed me! Feeeed Meeeeeeee!" He emphasized his statement by tickling the little human every time he said "Feed me." Myha squealed a short fit of giggles, squirming when the rouge tickled her stomach.
Saeola leaned back in her chair, merely content on sitting here watching the flames flicker in the stove. She glanced over briefly at Faelar and the young girl, smiling at the sight before turning back to stare into the fire. Her face appeared pensive.
Serosa'ruth crouched down next to the ranger, "Lost in thought?" He asked, keeping his voice just loud enough to be heard over Faelar and Myha's antics.
Saeola blinked and glanced over at Serosa'ruth. She then smiled faintly and turned her eyes back to the stove. "More or less, yeah. I'm probably just tired."
Serosa'ruth patted her on the shoulder, his blue eyes hinting at a smile, "Well, it's been one insane day. You should probably go right to bed after we all eat something."
Saeola chuckled and nodded. "Most defiantly I will. Ah... any idea where we go from here?"
Serosa'ruth shrugged, "I was thinking of heading back south/southwest, towards the Sword Coast... maybe see what's going on in Waterdeep or Baldur's Gate and the areas surrounding them."
"Mm... That sounds like a good idea to me."
The druid gave her another pat on the shoulder, standing back up as Cemai returned with meat, "Well, we'll discuss it more with Ky'itae and Faelar tomorrow morning. For now, we get to relax for a while." He left to go offer help cooking their meal. Faelar sat down where the druid had just left, Myha on his shoulders, tugging on his raven black locks.
"Feelin' better, dove?" He asked, chuckling when Myha began flicking at all six of his ring earrings at once.
Saeola watched the druid leave, glanced briefly to Faelar before her eyes flickered back to the stove with a small smile caressing her lips. "Yes, thanks. There's no more pain."
"Well, dat's good --ah! Myha, no tuggin' on da spike earrings!" The rogue winced as his earlobes were briefly stretched before the human girl let go. "Revenge!" he declared, reaching around his head to tickle Myha from behind.
Saeola turned to watch them, finding herself laughing at their games. Myha giggled in delight and squirmed to get away from the tickle bug -- also known as Faelar's hand.
"You sure you want to keep that cloak on in here? Aren't you hot in it?" Cemai asked Serosa'ruth as the druid helped him place the meat over the fire.
"No, I'm quite fine as I am now." The elven male insisted. Cemai raised his eyebrows, but pushed the druid no further.
Saeola then stood, stretching her arms over her head lazily and glancing over to Cemai and Serosa'ruth. "Can I help you with anything?" She called to them.
"No, I think we've got it," Cemai answered, insuring the meat was fully impaled on the rotating stick, "All we really have to do is wait." He turned to see his daughter rough housing with Faelar and laughed, "Looks like she's already grown attached to you, rogue."
"What better playmate for a child than an overgrown kid?" Ky'itae quipped with a laugh to which Faelar grinned widely.
Saeola, still standing near the chair with one hand on its back, chuckled and glanced back to them. "At least he's picking on someone else for a change."
Faelar puffed his chest out in false indignity, "I don't 'pick on' dove, I jus' play." His statement ended awkwardly as a giggling Myha stretched his cheeks by pulling on the insides of his lips. "'Ey! Eheh on heh ips!"
Saeola couldn't help but laugh at this. Myha was so cute and Faelar looked so ridiculous that she just had to find it funny. Anyone would.
Somehow the mouth tugging turned into a mock wrestling match. In moments, Faelar lay on his back, Myha sitting on his chest, thus "pinning" the rogue in victory before he commenced tickling her again. Saeola sat back down in her chair, amused to merely watch this game of theirs.
The other cabin inhabitants did the same, glad to have an amusing reprieve from their exhausting and trialing day. Faelar finally pulled Myha off of him when Ionnia announced that the food was ready. "All righ'! Food!"
Saeola sighed softly and headed toward the smell. "Finally..."
Cemai offered Serosa'ruth a plate after serving the food, "Here you are, Serosa'ruth." The druid thanked the man, taking the plate.
"If you don't mind, I'm going to eat outside." The male elf said, starting towards the door. Cemai raised an eyebrow, but relented.
"If you want, go ahead." He replied, "...Strange druids..."
"Does our sword-wielding nature lover eva take dat mask off, or 'as 'e learned ta eat wit it on?" Faelar jokingly asked, helping himself to a larger piece of meat.
Saeola watched Serosa'ruth with an expressionless face as she gathered food for herself, politely taking only the amount she needed to fill her stomach. A good question... The answer seemed to be "no." At least, not while they were around. "Yes, I'd like to know that as well."
"You two are quite a pair of nosy half-elves." Ky'itae half-teased, poking Saeola lightly in the arm with her fork.
"Hey, I have a right to be curious," Saeola chuckled, waving the fork away with her own. "I've never seen his face, even after traveling with him a while. Have you?"
Ky'itae chewed on a piece of meat before grinning mischievously, "That's for me to know and for you to continue pondering." Saeola gave her a flat look before beginning to eat herself, pondering it even though she didn't mean to.
"'Ow 'eavy a sleeper izze?" Faelar questioned, already half finished with his food.
"Serosa'ruth?" Ky'itae asked in clarification, to which Faelar nodded, "Why...?" The elven woman raised her brown eyebrow in suspicion.
"You plan to remove his cloak while he sleeps?" Saeola chuckled after she had swallowed her bite.
"Naw, dat would be too 'ard to nick da whole thin' off." The rogue retorted, gulping down a glass of water, "Ah! Feels good to 'ave food in me stomach again!"
Saeola decided she didn't want to know. It was his funeral. She finished her meal shortly after they had and finished off her own glass of water. "It does," She agreed. "And now sleep."
"Sleep would be good." Ky'itae agreed, rising from the table, "I'll go get Sero." The elf fighter walked outside while Faelar picked up her plate and utensils, attempting to balance them in his hands while Myha tried to swing from his forearms. Saeola took her own dishes, chuckling at the sight as she placed them near the sink. She then stretched and moved away, eager for rest.
"It's all right with you to share a room, isn't it? I'm afraid this place isn't that big for all of you," Ionnia asked the ranger.
"Of course."
Cemai picked up Myha from Faelar's arm, holding the child against his chest, "Well, we can convert the extra space in the storage for into a sleeping area for two of them. The others will have to stay in the living room." Noting the reentrance of the two elves, he added, "You guys should probably decide who you want to 'bunk' with soon."
Saeola raised her hand halfway. "I'd rather bunk with the other female of the group..." There was no way in the nine hells she was sleeping in the same room as Faelar and she didn't know Serosa'ruth as well. In truth, Ky'itae was the only one she had really bonded with yet... sort of.
Ky'itae blinked, and shrugged, "Fine with me..."
"If I can sleep by the windows, I don't care who's my bunkmate." Serosa'ruth added. Faelar grinned, slapping the druid on the back.
"Looks like yer rooming wit me, den, boss!"
Saeola patted Serosa'ruth on the shoulder. "Sorry." But she knew he probably didn't mind as much as she would have.
The swordsman shrugged nonchalantly, "Nindel zhah dro."
Saeola wasn't sure what that meant, but the way he had said it made her believe it was a "Whatever" type of comment. She gave a mighty yawn. "Well... good night, then."
"I'll take the men to the storage room, then. There's a fairly large window in the back." Cemai motioned for the two elven-blooded males to follow.
Serosa'ruth grabbed the scruff of Faelar's shirt and pulled the rogue along. "C'mon, Sir Pranks-a-lot, let's let the womenfolk set up for the night."
Saeola felt both relieved and strangely disappointed to see Faelar leave. "At least now I can sleep without him waking me up with his teasing every so often," She sighed.
"Assuming he doesn't sneak in during the night to pester you." Ky'itae grinned, helping their hostess set up a few makeshift beds.
"I would trust Serosa'ruth not to let him..." Then again, she probably should have known better. She moved over to help the other two with the beds as well.
"Actually, I have a feeling Faelar's probably gonna let curiosity get him into trouble right where he is now." The moon elf laughed, pulling a sheet over her own floor bed.
Saeola glanced at her curiously. "He'd be stupid enough to try pulling Serosa'ruth's cloak off?"
"Oh, I don't think he's gonna try to yank the whole thing off. Even for him, I'd imagine that'd be difficult." Ky'itae winked at the ranger. "My guess is that he'll just go for the cloth mask covering the lower half of Sero's face. In all honesty, I have no idea why he wears the mask part. There's nothing wrong with the bottom half of his face." The fighter suddenly froze at her slip-up.
Saeola stopped folding out the sheets for her soon-to-be bed and glanced up at Ky'itae. "So," She said slowly, straightening. "You HAVE seen his face. You know exactly why he keeps himself hidden, don't you?" She should have suspected this, she figured. After all, they had been traveling together for awhile. It wasn't her place to ask, really, but she never really was one to stay in her place.
Ky'itae stuck her tongue out at the half-elf, "Oh no, I don't have to say anything."
Saeola huffed and went back to her work. "I know, but that doesn't stop me from trying."
"Maybe one day, ranger. You have to earn his deepest and total trust... Not something he just hands out. Patience, that's all I can tell you." Ky'itae wagged her finger at her younger companion.
"Yeah, yeah..."
"Well, g'night." Ky'itae settled into her sheets, pulling her sword close to her -- just in case.
Saeola chuckled softly. "G'night." She crawled underneath the covers of her own bed and fell asleep as soon as her head hit the pillow.
- - -
Serosa'ruth had long since drifted off, it seemed. Unlike the others, he sat upright on his bed, leaning against the cabin wall, his head lowered, leaving dark shadows on his face from his hood.
Faelar hung from the ceiling's rafters, slowly and silently lowering himself on some spare rope he'd found. He held in his breath as his hand closed in on Serosa'ruth's cloth mask...
"Curiosity killed the cat," Serosa'ruth spoke from under his cloak, startling Faelar enough to send him stumbling to the floor, "And it can kill the rogue if he's not careful." The druid opened a glowing-red eye at the half-elf. Faelar sat up, rubbing his neck and grinning sheepishly.
"Con't blame a bloke for trying, eh?"
"Actually, I can." Serosa'ruth flicked the thief's brown nose, "Get back to your side of the room."
"Eheh... right, Boss." Faelar scurried off while Serosa'ruth chuckled lowly to himself.
- - -
Serosa'ruth roused the party barely after dawn the next morning. "Come, we'd best be moving on." The druid urged, lightly shaking Saeola's shoulder.
Saeola muttered something and stirred, opening her green eye halfway to blink at him. "Too early..." She mumbled and rolled over, back to the druid.
"This is an hour later than I usually wake. Get moving." When Saeola still refused to stir, the druid yanked her blankets off, pulled the ranger up, and hefted her over his shoulder. It was an odd sight to behold, seeing as Saeola was about three inches taller than the elf that now held her. "Ky'itae, get her things together. I've already spoken with Cemai. Let's go."
"Right." Already wide-awake, dressed, and ready, the moon elf gathered up the ranger's belongings with some aid from Faelar.
Saeola yelped, now wide awake herself, and squirmed in his grasp in shock. "HEY!" She screeched, embarrassed as she pounded a fist half-heartedly on his back. "Splashing water on my face wouldn't worked too, ya know!"
"But not as effective or as quick." The druid replied calmly. Faelar was too busy holding his sides from laughter to comment.
Saeola shot Faelar a deadly glare, a lit flush of embarrassment tainting her cheeks. "You're all so damn funny..." She grumbled sarcastically under her breath.
Serosa'ruth jerked his arm, shaking the ranger briefly, "And you could use some of that humor." He waved to Cemai as he passed the front door, "Thanks for your hospitality."
"Least I could do, druid." The woodcutter smiled, "Remember, if you're ever in the area again, you're welcome to another meal and board if you ever need it."
"We'll keep that in mind. Goodbye!"
"A sense of humor at my own expense!" Saeola cried, voice fading from the family's ears as the group left. "I 'oughta hurt you for this!"
"My, they sure were... um... lively," Ionnia chuckled nervously.
"I guess that's one way to describe it," Cemai chuckled, picking up their young daughter, who wanted to follow.
- - -
"See, dat's whot I told 'er yesterday. She needs to lighten up." Faelar grinned, tapping Saeola on the nose, moving his fingers quickly when she attempted to bite him.
"But at my own expense!" Saeola cried, flailing like an idiot.
"What expense? You won't be losing much." Ky'itae pointed out with a smile.
Saeola stopped and dropped her arms, glaring and pouting at the same time. "This is unfair, it's three against one."
"We know." Serosa'ruth laughed, "Now, do you want to get dressed, or am I going to have to carry you in your under tunic all the way from here to Yartar?"
"I choose clothing, please..."
"Good. My shoulder was starting to stiffen." Serosa'ruth set the ranger on the ground before Ky'itae tossed Saeola's clothes over to her. The ranger caught them, muttered something and disappeared behind some trees and thick brush to dress.
Faelar raised a thick black eyebrow. "...Why'd she do dat? She was already covered up wit da under-tunic..."
"We women are strange creatures, Faelar." Ky'itae giggled, her eyes twinkling in amusement.
Saeola felt the desire to shout, "Because I fucking can!" but decided she had embarrassed herself enough for the day and bit her tongue. She finished changing and stepped out, making a few last adjustments on the clasp of her cloak. "All right, let's start walking. We have a long way to go." This is going to be one painful trip...
"Indeed. Let's be off." Serosa'ruth waved his companions onward in front of the rising sun.