The following day...

We have been riding for a whole day with almost no rest. We passed a single village a few hours ago and restocked our food supplies. Soon we should reach Orsay and finally seek some accommodation. Thankfully, noone has made any of the complaints. Probably because we are all well used to long travels by now.

And there it is; after so long it feels like an oasis that we're offered here, a roof to protect us from the rain that's now beginning to pour heavily. The inn is rather small and poorly-built but it's something to start with. Besides, judging from the distance we are to cross until we reach our final destination, we ought to save our money wisely unless we wish to be left to stay in the forests.

It's only me, Porthos, Aramis and Rosette now since d'Artagnan is meeting us in the next village we're coming across, for we didn't wish to raise suspicion by travelling in a massive pack. It should not be that difficult finding rooms now either. We motion to enter but Rosette halts in her steps, stopping all of us as well.

I look at her suspiciously and open my mouth but Aramis speaks before I get the chance to. "Is there something wrong?" he furrows his eyebrows.

"And how exactly is it that we are planning to justify the presence of four men and a single woman, may I ask?" she turns to look at us who are staring dumbfounded.

We forgot to arrange the most important thing. Attracting the least bit of attention would be simply catastrophic and she is absolutely right.

"It crossed none of your minds. I am correct, aren't I?" she giggles.

"That is one way to put it." Porthos answers with a look of embarassment.

"What if we split? Two will stay here and the other two will continue. There's another inn in the city, not too far from here." Aramis suggests and we all nod.

"Fine, then. Rosette and I are staying here and you can seek the other inn. We'll meet first in the morning." I say but it comes off more as a statement rather than a suggestion as I intented it to be.

"And why is it that our pairings shall be like that?" Aramis jokes. "Do not get me wrong darling, but your snoring can quite ruin the moment." he turns to look at Porthos and Rosette bursts into laughter.

I only grin at his joke - not doing him the favor of laughing of course.

"Then I suppose it's time for us to leave if we want to get there dry. We'll meet again tomorrow." Porthos grabs the handle of his horse, making Aramis follow with a long face, yet I swear I could see the tiniest smirk play on his lips.

I arranged for two different rooms to spend the night here. The woman working down in the tavern I talked to stared at us quite intensely but I suppose that is expected. She must have thought we are a married couple in the beginning.

I left Rosette in her room to change and rest after we settled everything for tomorrow's plan but promised to bring her some food since I was heading back downstairs to get some myself.I am not sure what it is that happened. I do not remember much after going downstairs. There had been some patrons, that I can remember. A number of men eating and drinking and yelling. And then it is all just...darkeness. A blank space in my memory, yet so many questions to be answered.

I struggle to open my eyes, my lids heavy with exhaustion and as they flutter all I can see is some vague colors. I try again and now it's quite better. The sun is coming in from the small window and falling right on my face, blinding me. It feels like my head shall explode any moment now.

I blink furiously to try and focus on my environment, shifting on the bed I'm lying on to take a look at my surroundings. I close my eyes for a second to try and get up and when I open them again, she's there. She is smiling up to me from the floor where she's sitting, gazing at me.

She glances at me suspiciously a couple times and smiles at me with those beautiful dimples of hers that so many lads lose their mind to, but I do not say a word. Talking feels a tour de force at the moment. I do need answers, but perhaps not just yet. So she breaks the silence instead with her soothing voice.

"You are awake. I'm glad. If it weren't for your occasional snoring, I could have hardly been able to tell you were still breathing in the night." she giggles and moves a strand of hair falling in my eyes, allowing me a more clear sight of her. She is dressed but she must have not worked on her hair just yet as her wild curls are hanging loose, mesmerizing me a little with its shine and its unique tight ringlets.

There is a pregnant pause between us before I finally manage to collect my thoughts and speak, fighting the drowsiness away. "What happened? Why am I in your room?" my voice feels a little coarse, no wonder why...

"I got you drunk and lured you into my bedroom. Isn't it quite obvious?" she jokes and I let out a sleepy chuckle.

"You are far too sweet to do such thing. What really happened?" I joke back.

"You drunk that much that you can't even recall?" she caresses my face softly and sympathetically.

Drunk? The world flows around in my mind as I finally start to remember and collect the pieces of this puzzle...

I'm updating again tomorrow or on Thursday! Please share any feedback you may have! I appreciate it so much! I love writing about Athos so much. :)