Droullin sits in the brightest corner of the tavern, which isn't very bright at all, with her nose in her versebook. The tavern's services never serve to give her much relief, but she finds the atmosphere calming. The lively murmur of voices helps take her mind off of less pleasant things. She's just returned from the weald, so she is intimately acquainted with less pleasant things.
The thump of a tankard hitting the table in front of her jerks her attention away from her reading. Droullin looks up only reluctantly.
Piercing dark eyes meet her gaze. They are overshadowed by serious black brows and underscored by smears of blue paint. Droullin recognizes Vitalis, a hellion who arrived here a few weeks ago. They do not know each other. Droullin wonders what has brought the warrior to her table now.
Vitalis answers her unspoken question by sinking into the chair to her left and saying, "You look lonely."
Droullin does not reach for the drink. "I prefer the company of my book," she replies pointedly. She has no quarrel with the hellion, but she is wary of her intentions. Droullin has had much practice repelling the advances of interested parties. She has to.
But Vitalis does not make an advance. She simply asks, "What are you reading?"
Droullin tips her tome into the light to show her its cover, but Vitalis's night-dark eyes flicker blankly to the runes and back without recognition.
"I don't know how to read," she admits.
Droullin almost says upon instinct, I'll teach you, but then she remembers their situation and the uncertain future that it entails, and she instead opens the tome to one of her favorite passages and reads it aloud.
A pause follows her recitation. Then Vitalis asks, "You find strength in these words?"
She sounds doubtful, and Droullin bristles. "Yes," she says defensively. She eyes the other woman, taking in her wild braided hair, her multitude of scars, the heretical bird-skull amulet around her neck, and challenges, "From where do you draw your strength?"
"Within," answers Vitalis simply. She holds Droullin's gaze with those burning eyes, and the vestal gets an idea of what she means.
She might have spoken again, but in the next moment Vitalis is drawn away to participate in a drunken brawl, and Droullin is left alone with her book and her drink. Looking down at it contemplatively, she begins to wonder whether she was truthful in saying that she prefers its company after all.
…