Eleanor's night was spent delightfully next to a fire in the little village just outside the sewers. It wasn't exactly comfortable, as there were no spare rooms to take refuge in. The people were kind enough, however, giving her blankets and pillows that they could afford to let her borrow. For the first time, she had eaten a creature they called crawfish which was actually rather tasty. Then again, it was not her place to be picky. Sitting by herself and minding her own business was difficult when the people wandering by began to gossip about a large group of men passing by earlier. She could not help but eavesdrop trying to tell from their chatter how many had made it.
Milo suddenly whined and pawed at her leg, stretching out his snout to try and reach the food in her hand. She threw it to him reluctantly, almost forgetting there was more than just her mouth to feed. Luckily, the dog was smart enough to find his own food from time to time. But she figured the smell of roasted crawfish was too much for him to bear.
"Excuse me," Elle called to the women that had just past her. "You said a group of men came through here?"
"Thas' right," one said, several teeth missing from her decently pretty head.
"Could you tell how many were with them?"
"A good 'andful," the other nodded. "At least a dozen or so."
Eleanor nodded and turned to walk away.
"You know the lot?" said the one with all her teeth.
Elle hesitated. "I, um, bumped into them while I was traveling through the swamp. They looked rough. I wanted to make sure they all made it okay."
"Well if ya make it back to Bowerstone, put in a good word for me," the woman blushed. "'Pecifically with the blonde one. He was quite the cha'mer."
"Right, well, I will try," Eleanor rolled her eyes and thankfully managed to walk away.
She took her place back at the fire where Milo had kept her spot warm. She kicked a few rocks into the fire and poked at it blankly with a stick. Her faithful companion laid his head on her lap, looking up at her with concerned eyes.
"What?" she chided to him. "They all made it back just fine. There is nothing to worry about."
He let out a sigh.
"Don't do that," she shook her stick at him. "It's not like he's that wonderful, anyway. Men like him are a dime a dozen."
This time, it was Milo who rolled his eyes and adjusted his head to a more comfortable position to fall asleep. Eleanor stroked his head wondering how she got so lucky with a breed so intelligent. How was it even possible that this animal she called friend was able to sort her feelings before she had a chance to deny them? She thought about Ben looking her over at the fort. How it made her heart flutter. How she blushed under his gaze. And how she eventually took his subtle flirtations as a sort of compliment. It wasn't exactly what she was used to. Then again, maybe that was what she liked so much about it.
"He does have a way with words though," she murmured, only thinking quietly out loud to herself.