Chapter 21: A/N I do not own Merlin. Choppy beginning, who am I kidding, choppy chapter! writer's block :/ Whenever I read rain pattering down, I always think of Bambi. Little April Shower was always one of my favorite songs as a child, guess it stayed with me till now. Slight nudity.
The two began the trek towards Camelot with the afternoon sun beating down on them. The way back was slow, tedious. With Owaine's bad ankle and Cassie's bare feet, they traveled in four hours what they normally would have in one. Cassie was silent the entire time, too confused about anything to try and make sense. Owaine just wanted answers, this girl was getting more mysterious by the hour.
"I need rest, let's find shelter." he said, noticing the small girl beginning to limp.
"Okay. Over there on those logs." Cassie agreed.
They made their way over and sat down, taking a sip from the water skin before Cassie got up to refill it at the stream they were following.
"Let me see your ankle." Cassie said, unbandaging Owaine's foot to check it.
It really wasn't ideal for them to be traveling with his sprained ankle, all it would do was worsen the sprain with all the moving, especially since the bandages were made of the material from a dress. Cassie gently probed the swollen ankle, tested the range of motion and noted the extensive bruising.
"If we don't properly wrap your foot, we'll be in trouble, Owaine." Cassie said with a tearful expression. 'It's like she's warring with herself' Owaine thought worriedly.
"What's wrong, lambkin?"
"I'm afraid." Cassie replied softly, deflating.
"Why? The Druid? She's far. We'll never have to see her again, I promise you culver." he said with as much sincerity as he could muster.
"I can't reconcile what I saw in Hispania, with what I saw with that girl. The druids I know are barbaric monsters, bloodthirsty nightmares. But that girl seemed so… scared and haunted. The complete difference about them." she evaded, not quite finding the words, and not willing to tell him the complete truth. She saw his reaction at magic and was afraid he would break her heart..
"The King has declared them evil, dangerous. I've never seen one before now, Gaius would know more. You should talk to him."
"I can't. He knows what I saw, I told him about my family. What the monsters did, and I told the King about Mistovij in his presence, if Gaius didn't say anything, he doesn't care." she said glumly.
"Or he doesn't know." Owaine countered softly.
"I have to find a better way to bandage your it unwrapped while we walk could hurt it more." Cassie said to change the subject.
"Use the cloak," he said, unclasping it and handing it to her.
"Owaine, I can't." Cassie shook her head.
"I have more, use it for a bandage and for your feet. I can always get more cloaks, Cassie, you have only two feet."
"Okay." Cassie said hesitantly.
She set about cutting up the cloak as evenly as possible with her dagger. Once she got enough to wrap his food properly, she re-wrapped it and used the previous material lo maske socks for herself.
"Cassie," he said with a disapproving look, "Use the cloak, it's thicker and warmer."
"I'm fine, Owaine. The dress is all right."
"I'm afraid I must insist, can't have you freezing a toe off." Owaine joked in an attempt to get her to open up.
"Okay, you're just lucky I have small feet. Or else you'd have nothing left to warm your back." Cassie replied jokingly, wanting things to go back to normal, back to before Freya showed up. Cassie quickly made socks, well coverings, for her feet and the two got back up and continued the trek.
"The sun is already pretty low, we should start looking for somewhere to spend the night." Cassie observed.
"Okay." Owaine agreed.
They walked on for about thirty more minutes, eyes peeled for any jutting rock or caves, when the rain began once again. Drip, drip, drop. Drip, drip, drop.
"Told you we shouldn't have used your cloak for socks! You're going to get soaked to the bone!" Cassie cried, looking around frantically for some shelter. She spotted an outcropping of rock about thirty paces to the left and led Owaine there. They crouched beneath the rock while the rain beat down against it.
"It's not very protective, but at least our backs will stay dry." Cassie said. "Ish" Cassie amended looking over to Owaine's exposed back looking around the corner.
"I think I see a cave just there. Let's make a run for it." Owiaine said, still looking around the corner.
"You think you can run?" Cassie asked incredulously.
"Hop very fast, then." Owaine replied with a lopsided grin.
"Let's just go, without running." Cassie said with a look that said 'don't even think about it.'
They briskly walked around the corner, Cassie holding Owaine's cloak over their heads as best she could.
"Ugh! This cloak's dripping!" Cassie exclaimed in disgust.
"Just lay it out here, it'll be fine."
"Okay. We need firewood before they become too wet." Cassie said, and quickly left to gather it.
She rounded the corner and whispered a spell for the twigs to fly to her, eyes glowing. Part of her was scared that she would get caught, but the part that didn't want to freeze was greater.
"That was quick!"
"Yeah, I grabbed an armful and ran back. Let's just hope they're not too wet." she said, finding stones and arranging them in a circle to light the fire. After some ten unsuccessful tries, Cassie gave up and looked dejectedly out the cave.
"Leave it. We'll try again in a bit."
"Okay." Cassie said, "I suppose we should just stay here for the rest of the night. It'll be too dark for us to travel once the rain subsides."
"Do we have anything to eat?" Owaine asked bashfully as his stomach gave one big grumble.
"Here. I was keeping it for morning, but sounds like you need it now." Cassie said after laughing
"Thanks."Owaine said after breaking the sandwich in half.
"I'm right, you have it."
"If you say so." Owaine mumbled with a mouthful of sandwich, to which Cassie gave a tinkling laugh.
"You're going to get sick, that shirt is drenched! Take it off, Owaine." Cassie said, eyeing the shirt distastefully.
"O-ay" he said, taking his shirt off. '¡Qué fuerte qué es! Solo quiero acercarme y acaricia-'
"What?" Owaine asked, snapping Cassie out of her daydreams.
"Nothing." she replied too quickly, a blush creeping up her neck.
"I don't believe you. Tell me what you're really thinking." Owaine said with a roguish smile as he handed her the shirt to lay out. Cassie gave him her cloak to help keep warm.
"Oh, don't play puck with me. I see you in the morning." Cassie says, making the knight look startled and embarrassed.
"What exactly do you see?"
"Somethings are best left to the imagination, Owaine." Cassie replies impishly lifting her eyebrows at him, the prurient look he gave her in return made her flush deeply.
They stayed there looking into each other's eyes without a word, neither wanting to break the trance the other evoked in them, shirt long forgotten in her hands. A gust of wind brought the pouring rain into the cave, dowsing Cassie and breaking the moment in the process.
"Come here, You're soaked!" Owaine said worriedly.
"Great. What'll I do now." she complained.
"Take it off and lay it to dry." Owaine said, dead serious.
"I'm not undressing in front of you!"
"You already have, Cassie." he reminded her.
They had a few moments' standoff, until Cassie shivered hard, teeth clattering.
"Fine, but keep your eyes closed!" she said, portraying that should he peek, there will be serious consequences with her tone of voice.
She undressed as quickly as she could, both dress and slip, and laid the dress out beside the shirt and the slip by the cloak. She ran quickly to huddle under the cloak next to Owaine, pulling her knees up to her.
"Can I open my eyes now?" Owaine asked, turning his head in her direction when he felt her warm body next to his.
"Fine!" Cassie agreed, knowing she wouldn't win if she tried to argue.
"I won't look, you know. I respect you too much." Owaine said somberly. "Although,that doesn't mean I'm not dying to see you." he added, causing the petit girl to roll her eyes at him and sigh.
"Let's just stay under the cloak until they're drier." Cassie said. When Owaine went to open his mouth Cassie said, "and no flippant comments from you."
"All right, as long as there's no puckish comments from you." Owaine agreed with a smile, knowing perfectly well that it would last all of three seconds.
"Oh, this is gonna be interesting." Cassie said with narrowed eyes.
They bantered back and forth for the next couple hours before Cassie decided to see if the clothes were dry enough. Cassie evaded any talk of fear and magic. She hated lying to him, hated that she had magic because it meant they might never truly be together. They would never truly know each other.
"Close your eyes, I've to check the clothes."
"Or I could go?" Owaine offered.
"Good idea, wish I'd thought of it myself." Cassie said. The cloak's dry enough, so's my shirt, but your dresses aren't. Here, wear my shirt at least." Owaine said, giving her the shirt and turning around.
"Thanks." Cassie accepted, with a shy smile before slipping it on. "It's light enough for me to see if I can find something to eat. I'll be back." She said grabbing the cloak and clasping it around her shoulders. The shirt was rather large and fell to around her mid-thighs, but she felt more comfortable with the cloak.
"It should be the other way around, I should be the one taking care of you." Owaine said, wishing he didn't have his stupid ankle wrapped.
"Some other time, Owaine. For now it's me." Cassie said softly, knowing how he felt about it.
It took her the better part of an hour, but she was able to fashion a crude bow and sharpen a twig for an arrow and shot a hare. She gathered some more firewood, hoping it would catch. When she got back she found Owaine trying to light the fire.
"A feast!" She said, holding up the hare for Owaine to see.
"A feat is more like it. It's bloody hard to spot one during the night." Owaine saiad approvingly. "You were taking so long I was starting to get worried. But I see why you took so long." he said, pointing towards the bow.
"I figured we might have better luck with it than my dagger." Cassie explained, shrugging her small shoulders. "Are my clothes dry yet?"
"No, they're still pretty wet. Here, I'll skin and gut it." Owaine said, holding out his hand for the hare and the dagger.
They cooked the hare with Cassie regaling Owaine from stories of when she was traveling north from Reccopolis. What she saw, how long it took her to figure out how to hunt, everything from that time. When they finished with the food, wrapped the hare in some cloth that came with the sandwiches and stored it in the saddle bag, it began to rain again.
"Does it alway rain so much in the winter?"
"You'd be surprised." Owaine said with a grin as a gust of wind brought rain into the cave.
"My clothes got wet again!" Cassie cried in indignation.
'Let's move them further into the cave and go to sleep, they'll be dry by morning."
"Not if there's no fire." Cassie said glaring at the rain that doused the fire.
"Come on, Cass. Let's just hope for the best."
"Okay," Cassie said as they got comfortable under her cloak.
It wasn't as big as Owaine's would have been, but it did the job. They nestled closer to each other on their sides, Cassie laying her head on his outstretched arm, Owain using his cloak as a pillow. He draped his arm over her waist pulling her ever closer to him until he could feel her heartbeat. Cassie fought back her blush, knowing he would tease her about it, and held the hand on her stomach with her right, his other hand in her left.
They lay like that in companionable silence, listening to the other breath, counting the heartbeats as a way to lull themselves to sleep. Their warm bodies flush against each other, keeping it warm under the heavy cloak. Cassie fell asleep first, dreaming about lying in bed with Owaine that morning that felt like so long ago.
When Owaine was sure the small blonde had fallen asleep, he whispered against her hair, "What are you hiding, Cassie? Why won't you tell me?" Not expecting an answer he just kissed her hair and closed his eyes, trying to sleep.
Some time later, Cassie stirred, the coldness from the earth making it difficult to sleep through the night.
"Owaine?" she said softly, making sure he's not awake.
Unbeknownst to her, he was awake, wondering if she would tell him what he couldn't tell her. 'Tell me you love me. Give me your heart so I can give you mine.'
When she thought he was truly asleep, she let go of Owaine's hand hesitatingly.
'¿Si lo hago? No quiero que nos enfermemos, no quiero el frío. Pero si puedo?' she held her hand up, thinking it through before she decided to do it. She raised her hand decisively, and whispered, "Forbærn."
Post-chapter A/N: AH cliffie. So, will Owaine find out about her magic yet, or won't he? Leave your reviews with the guesses!