Kept awake

Breelands Weather

The late night winter air is cold and dry around you. Snow piles on the ground around your feet. The moon is above the horizon and in its new phase.

Third Floor Hallway: North Wing

This wing appears to be a little bit nicer, perhaps a little bit better kept than the one directly below. Possibly it is not used as often, but the floor here seems to be mostly free of scuffmarks, and the wood seems to shine a little more brightly. A trip down the hallway shows doors set at intervals along both the north and south side, all bearing numbers between 20 and 27. The south side of the corridor boasts only three rooms instead of four about halfway down, a large window overlooks the innyard three storeys down. At the far west end of the north wing, another connecting hallway adjoins. Sconces set into the wall at both ends and the middle of the hallway have been lit to allow passersby plenty of illumination during the night.

Contents:

Thari

Obvious exits:

Connecting Hallway and Downstairs

[Frarin] It is very late at this hour in Bree, or very early. It is that rare space of hours at the Pony when it is both too late for even the staunchest socialites to be remaining in the common room and too early for the first inklings of breakfast and wakefulness to have begun. The inn is quiet, snug and dark as a blanket of fresh snow piles at its doorstep and windows.

Behind the door of room 22, a low fire is still smouldering in the hearth. It throws a dim glow about the small room, illuminating the plain scrubbed walls and floorboards and the dark blotch of shadow that is a thin carpet. In one corner of the room stands a pile of parcels and wrapped goods, while nearby there is a chair with various weather-beaten raiment hung over it. The room\'s bed, long as if for a man, stands in the opposite corner, with a small table and candle beside.

Frarin it is who slumbers in this room tonight. Or does he? The silver merchant lies upon his back and his hands are clasped together upon his chest, and his beard has been unbraided and lies unadorned over the blankets. But the low glow of the fire in the nearby hearth shines also upon the glimmer of his dark eyes, which are open, even at this late, or early, hour.

[Thari(#31038)]

Outside of the room, floorboards creak, but quietly, and nearer this sound comes. Finally it ceases near Frarin\'s door.

There is a long, long pause. Perhaps the walker has gone away? But then, a gentle, hesitant tapping on the door, as if soft fingertips are laid there.

[Frarin] A stirring from the bed indicates that the creak has not gone unheard by Frarin, but even as he lifts his head in the darkness, perhaps wondering at the sound\'s pause outside his door, a soft tapping comes into the room. The silver merchant waits a second more, wondering, propped up upon an elbow, but then the blankets are drawn back and his legs swung over the bed.

Nearby boots are found and they make a dull thump as Frarin pads across the room and retrieves a brand from the smoulder fire. With a candle lit, he quietly makes for the door. A second later, the doorknob rattles and the merchant\'s face, covered in shadow and illuminated only by the barest light of the candle, appears in the sliver of the doorway.

[Thari(#31038)]

The door opens to another light. There is Thari, head down, looking up at him perhaps a bit sheepishly, an candlestick in her hand. Her lips part, then close again without a sound. She glances down the hall, then back up at him. Her hand lifts instead, and her fingers spell in silence. \"Forgive me-- you were sleeping?\" She shakes her head.

[Frarin] Frarin\'s lips part and he blinks sleepily as Thari greets his vision, question and concern entering his gaze. His eyes narrow and his brows bunch as her fingers move in the bare light, but he shakes his head and gives a quick, assuring \"No\", though the reply is blemished by the scratchiness of a voice in the middle of the night. \"Come in,\" he says, moving back from the doorway.

The silver merchant is clad only in simple sleep-wear, a pair of woolen grey trousers and a plain white shirt, and part of his straggly brown beard is still caught over one shoulder. But he steps back and opens the door wider, waving for Thari to enter if she wishes to.

[Thari(#31038)]

Thari steps through, completely dressed save for the boots, and sets her candle upon his table. Her hair is braided in a style that dwarven women sometimes use to keep it at night, something she has rarely done on this trip. She waits for the door to shut, standing in stocking feet in the middle of the room and rubbing at her face.

When it is shut, she speaks low, her own voice rough. \"I couldn\'t sleep.\" Her hands drop and she looks to him, the shadows arranging on her pleading and defiant face. \"I know I shouldn\'t come to your room, but I wanted to see you so much. I can\'t stop thinking.\"

[Frarin] When the door is shut, Frarin turns around, beholding Thari with the same concerned expression. He moves towards the hearth and takes up the iron poker there, stirring the fire into renewed life so as to bring some warmth to the chill of the little room. That done, he comes to the bed and sets his candle beside Thari\'s before seating himself.

\"No no, that\'s fine,\" he says, still perplexed slightly. He pats the bed beside him, inviting the healer to sit. \"I wasn\'t asleep in any case.\"

[Thari(#31038)]

Thari watches him do all this and then moves to sit behind him. The bed is high enough that her feet do not touch the floor.

She folds her hands together in her lap, fingers tight, then tilts her head to lean it against his shoulder. \"I think if I had made different choices Norli would not have died,\" she says tersely. \"Thane Zinbar was asking me about it and I think perhaps he\'s right.\"

[Frarin] As Thari seats herself, Frarin instinctively reaches for her and is wrapping his arm about her shoulder as she leans towards him when the healer gives her blunt confession. With a grunt of surprise, Frarin\'s brows come sharply together and the light of the fire and candles only illuminate the dark look upon his face. He holds Thari away by her shoulder, twisting his head so as to look her full in the face.

\"What?\" he says as if perplexed, and very slightly indignant. \"What has Thane Ovor said of it? Going into the Chetwood alone was no wise decision certainly, but you can hardly hold yourself accountable for murder, dear Thari.\"

[Thari(#31038)]

Thari\'s head lifts again, her eyes dark with the night as she watches his face. \"That\'s only the half of it, and I know it, but that\'s not what he said. He said I ought to bear some responsibility for his drinking-- and I know not all, he knows it too.\" Her head shakes as a hand goes to her face again, eyes down. \"The Thane said I ought to have mentioned something to Norli\'s friends when he started drinking, but I didn\'t want to shame him and make things worse. I spoke with Norli myself about it, which of course didn\'t help at all, and I didn\'t even think of him when I went into the Chetwood, though I ought to have.\" Words just tumble from her mouth, one after another.

[Frarin] The indignation grows in Frarin\'s dark eyes, as if such accusations had been laid at his own feet. But equal with the growing ire is the growing perplexion, for the merchant\'s brows are fair knit together now as he watches Thari in the half-light. \"Ought to bear responsibility for his drinking?\" he says, clearly not understanding. \"Ought to have mention something to his friends? Why would the Thane assume such responsibilities for you? Were you friends with Norli? I did not understand you two to be on any particularly warm terms. Am I misunderstanding you?\"

[Thari(#31038)]

Thari\'s chin lifts, her eyes on his face, but she stutters a little. \"He.. he was trying to court me, Frarin, all of the way from the Mountain, I think, though he didn\'t make his intentions plain until last winter in Rivendell, where I turned him away. He could not change my mind so he started to drink strong elven wine.\" Her hands clench together over her stomach.

[Frarin] \"Oh,\" says Frarin simply, looking suddenly to the fire at this revelation, though after a moment he hugs her closer. \"Oh I see. Yes, I had heard Norli might have had an interest in a woman at some point. But I do not much care for the rumours of others...and assumed it was someone who remained at the mountain.\" He draws a breath, absently bringing the caught portion of his beard down from his shoulder as he thinks.

And yet, the surprise of Thari\'s confession abates Frarin\'s indignation only a short time. The memory of it seems to return to him, quite quickly in fact, given what might be considered the awkwardness of the healer\'s disclosure. \"Still,\" he says defensively, \"that is no reason to lay the blame for his death upon you. Is that what the Thane has claimed against you? Then he is grown bitter with the lack of progress in finding Norli\'s true killer. Norli was a grown dwarf, and should have had the sense to turn away from the drink in both his disappointment and in his searching for you in the Chetwood. And even then, it is neither you nor he who bears the blame, but he who struck Norli from behind. None other.\"

[Thari(#31038)]

\"No.\" Thari\'s arm creeps behind Frarin to curl around him as he holds her tighter. \"He did say that it was Norli\'s own fault for his poor sense, but that I ought to bear some responsibility for his drinking, too.\"

Her head rests against his shoulder again, and her other hand rests upon his chest hidden beneath the beard. \"It is a hard thing to think about a life that might have been saved had I made different choices.\"

[Frarin] Frarin reaches his free hand up to grasp the back of Thari\'s upon his chest, but he seems in no mood now remedy the healer\'s previous concerns about his lack of sentimentality. Or perhaps he does, though perhaps in a manner different than she had meant. He gives a shake of his head, twisting again to have a look at her face. \"Don\'t, Thari, don\'t you dare think like that. If you bear such a responsibility, then the vinter and the brewer who created the wine he drank are as much to blame.\"

\"It is ridiculous, Thari,\" says Frarin, squeezing her hand. \"What responsibility do you bear for his drinking? That you could not force yourself to accept his advances? I have been lectured already about the \'proper\' behaviour of a dwarf in such a position and if the lady is not willing, then there is an end to it. That you did not speak to his friends of his habits? If they be friends indeed, then they should have noticed his drinking at the first. I do not see how you are possibly to blame.\"

[Thari(#31038)]

\"Ah.\" Thari curls her hand around his fingertips and gives a half-smile. \"I had not thought of it like this. You see? This is why I wanted to come to you, my sensible Frarin.\" Her brows lift. \"Someone has given you a lecture about being improper? When you have been the proper one all along?\"

[Frarin] At last Frarin smiles as well, leaning his head against Thari\'s upon his shoulder as she seems to find comfort in his words. \"Yes, I will ever be yours when you need me, Thari. Ever.\" But the momentary peace is broken as the healer registers his rapidly spoken confession of a moment before. Frarin clears his throat, shaking his head as if to brush off Thari\'s worry.

\"What does it matter? It is not as if such a lecture was not expected,\" he says, too casually, noticeably omitting any mention of his lecturer\'s identity. \"And in any case, I care little for what is said of me by others. I made sure your own honour was held intact and that was the end of it. Do not fret upon it.\"

[Thari(#31038)]

But Thari pulls back just a little to look at his face. \"Someone has said you were less than honorable?\" she says, demands really. \"Who? What did they say? What did I do to make them think this of you?\"

[Frarin] \"No no, of course not,\" says Frarin, not meeting her gaze as he tries to brush the issue off for a second time. \"Well, I mean, not as such. And it was of little consequence, in any case.\" But it seems even the sullen silver merchant cannot maintain his matter-of-fact facade in the face of Thari\'s demanding tone. He drops his gaze and gives a soft sigh. \"It was Braldor, your Thane. I met him in the common room this morning last.\"

\"And it was nothing you did,\" he assures her. He pauses now, hesitating to elaborate upon the conversation. \"He has of course heard of our courtship, and I suspect of my proposal as well. He deemed it necessary to inform me that there are proper ways of going about things like this, according to the traditions of our people.\" Another pause, a clearing of the throat as Frarin stares at the fire, decidedly not at Thari. \"And /I/ deemed it necessary to inform him that I did not agree with some of the ways of our people...\"

[Thari(#31038)]

\"What did he say we ought to be doing?\" Thari asks curiously. Her hands creep up and her arms wrap around his neck instead, watching his profile as he watches the fire. \"That Braldor, lovely lad of course, is two years younger than me.\"

[Frarin] As Thari wraps her arms around Frarin\'s neck, he still fails to look at her, running instead his freed hand throw his hair. \"Which makes him fifty-five years younger than me,\" he says absently, still watching the fire. \"And he said nothing of what /we/ ought to be doing. His words were entirely for me, Thari, and I would have it no other way. It is your honour at stake, as I said before.\"

He draws a breath and frowns, as if mulling over whether to say something further or not. Then his gaze drops to his lap. \"He said, ever so subtly, that a man would be none too pleased if his--\" Frarin fair spits the words \"--/treasure/ were taken without his knowing. I know he is your Thane, Thari, and I did not seek to disrespect him, for your sake. But I made myself very clear in informing him that I thought you no treasure, no mere object to be done with at will. I do not think he approved, just the same.\"

[Thari(#31038)]

\"You are not taking me without my father\'s good will, so it is a moot point.\" Thari pulls his head closer to kiss his cheek, perhaps improperly, and then slips off of the bed, stepping away, smiling. \"You are precious to me, Frarin, and perhaps this is only what he meant. I am precious to my family and if we are to marry then we will be our own family and I won\'t be with them as much.\"

[Frarin] With a half-smile, Frarin allows himself to be kissed upon the cheek, and before Thari stands, returns the gesture. He smiles again, though there is some other thought not far buried in his expression. But he says nothing on it. \"Very well, Thari,\" he says, rising with her and accompanying her to the door. \"Good night, my love. Sleep in peace now, you bear no blame to be grieved over.\"

And as she departs, he gently closes the door behind her. He is silent in thought awhile longer, standing with his back to the door. But then he crosses the room, shedding his boots and climbing beneath his blanket again. With a sigh, he blows out his solitary candle and once again the room is plunged into darkness.