Ale. Ale tasted good. Numair took another swig, motioning for the innkeeper to refill his cup. Across from him Daine frowned, a muddy curl springing loose from her headscarf and flopping into her eyes. He longed to reach out and brush it back from her face. Maybe drinking hadn't been such a good idea after all. His frown mirrored hers.

His body ached from the last three weeks. They had been on the move, never staying in one village more than forty-eight hours before getting a distress call from another. The immortal attacks were relentless. Each time they had stopped at an inn there hadn't been a bed available, or there had only been one room. They hadn't slept in a bed in days. He had adamantly refused to linger in inns with only one bed available, even when Daine had begged, stating she would sleep in the stable. There were too many enemies around for him to let her out of his sight for so long, but he didn't trust himself to sleep in the same bed as her. His body might ache from hours on horseback, and nights on the hard ground, but it ached more from want of her. If he allowed himself to crawl into bed with her, he knew he wouldn't be able to hold back.

They had traipsed into this particular establishment an hour past sundown. Daine had been caked in mud from a battle with centaurs, and had looked like she would murder him if he refused the one room the innkeeper had stated was available. He hadn't seen that look on her face since he had forced her into that frilly pink frock in Dunlath. The inn keeper apologized profusely for not having a second room. A knight had just taken the second to last one, though the innkeep looked somewhat less than thrilled about this.

Numair had looked at her then, tiny and covered in wet earth, and known there would be no refusing her. His body didn't want to. He knew he would take her up that flight of stairs and draw her a bath, and then he knew he would draw her out of it and into bed. He was tired of holding back. He was tired of spending every night missing her, even when she was only three feet away across the campfire. He was going to give in. He wasn't strong enough for this. He was half terrified and half thrilled as he paid the man for his last room.

They had skipped the staircase that led to the sleeping quarters and stepped into the small dining hall, hoping to obtain some form of sustenance before crashing. Who knew how long they would get to be here anyway?

And then they saw her. The redhead was hard to miss, albeit she didn't take up much room at the empty table in the corner.

"Alanna!" Daine's smile had almost stifled his disappointment. Almost. "I'll just stay in her quarters then," she whispered to him as she walked towards the champion. Numair had taken a steadying breath, trying to mask the dejection he was sure was written all over his face...and then he had ordered an ale.

Now here they sat, Numair on his third flagon, and sure that Alanna had seen the glare he had directed her way more than once. He ate in silence, listening to his companions exchange news, his mood darkening. Daine slid her chair back, legs screeching across the floor. "Well, I'm for bed. I need to wash this road off me, and then I am going to sleep for as long as you will let me." She said glancing at Numair, and giving a hesitant smile. "It's been a fair long day," she told Alanna.

"I'll see you up there in a few," the redhead said.

"Goodnight magelet," Numair whispered, trying to keep the note of longing out of his voice as he watched her head toward the staircase. Alanna shot him a puzzled look that told him he hadn't been successful. He didn't look back at her until Daine's feet disappeared at the top of the landing.

"You going to tell me why you were glaring daggers at me, or am I going to have to guess?" Alanna's lips twisted in a smirk, and Numair glared at her again. He raised his hand to signal the kitchen maid to bring him another draught. "Oh, I guess it's love then," Alanna laughed, though she had the decency to bite her lip and stifle it when his glare turned into a full-on glower. "I'm not sure why love has you looking so distraught though." She tilted her head, and Numair looked away from her, eyes traveling back to the stairwell where Daine had just disappeared.

"Maybe it's better if we don't call it love..." He grunted. Alanna rolled her eyes.

"Are we equivocating things now?" She sighed. "Or are you just drunk?"

Numair grimaced. "I'm not drunk." His lips twisted. "I'm just..." he trailed off.

"We both know what you are," Alanna cut him off. "You are just dancing around the inevitable conversation." She leaned forward, having to actually lift her elbows up to place them onto the table. He was struck by how small she was. He often forgot that the formidable knight didn't quite reach five-foot five.

He blinked. "Anything I say is just going to make things even more complicated" he whispered.

"Well, you better start by saying something Numair, because whether you do or you don't, things are going to change." Her eyes clouded over with sympathy. "Anyone who sees you two together already knows. It isn't like you are fooling anyone but Daine. Don't you think it is time you and her are on equal footing?"

He leaned forward, rubbing his palm across his face, then taking another swig of ale. "That's the problem isn't it?" he said wryly. "Our footing isn't equal at all. I am much older than her Alanna, a powerful mage," she made a face, but he ignored her. "I was her teacher for so long, I'm still her mentor..." He glanced back towards the stairwell. "I don't want her to feel like she has to return my affection."

"Bullshit." Alanna took a swig from her own glass, slamming the mug down on the oak table with more force than her tiny body should have allowed. She looked up apologetically, and her purple eyes softened. "If we are being honest Numair, has it ever really been platonic?" She reached her hand across the table when he flinched, grasping at his. "Or are you telling me you would use a word of power for just anybody?" Her voice was soft, but it cut through his intoxicated mind like a blade.

He looked down at his empty mug. So, she knew his secret then. She knew the depths of his depravity. She recognized fact that he had loved her even back then, in that wretched valley. "I didn't mean to Alanna," his voice came out in a choked whisper. He couldn't look at her.

She patted his hand sympathetically. "I know Numair. Sometimes these things can't be helped." She leaned back in her chair again. "But it doesn't matter how it happened...or when it happened. It's done, and now you have to decide what you are going to do about it."

Numair shook his head. "I know we can't stay like this," he reached over taking her mug and swallowing a swig of her ale. The knight scowled at him. "But I don't want to move forward. I don't want to lose this Alanna." His hands shook, and he set the ale down before he further shamed himself by spilling the brown liquid down his front. "She's my best friend. I want to...I want to go up there. I want to hold her. I want to wake up with her next to me. I want to tell her I love her more than anything. I want her to understand I would do anything for her. I want to make her mine..." his gaze deviated to the staircase yet again. "But I don't want to lose my best friend." A tear rolled off his chin, landing in the ale, and rippling. "I can live like this Alanna... but I can't live without her."

"George said as much," Alanna whispered. Her lips settled into a frown. "I hate it how that dratted rogue is always right." She blew out a long exhale of air. "Maybe you're right" she said, standing. "Maybe this is as good as your relationship will get," she walked over and placed a hand on his shoulder. Her purple gaze was level with his own, even though he remained sitting. "Maybe if you move forward you will lose what the two of you have..." the hand on his shoulder squeezed. "But maybe you won't."

She ambled towards the stairs, turning before she ducked through the archway. "Some advice though Numair," he looked up from his mug to see her staring intently at him. "Don't try so hard to keep her...that you end up losing her in the process."

With that she walked away, vanishing up the stairs after Daine.