Speak plainly

FLASHFORWARD SCENE: IC time is evening October 25

The Chetwood(#27687RVnFof)

The trees of the Chetwood rise up above and around you. Here, getting lost is a serious concern, but to the north, the trees seem to be pressed closer together. The lower branches of ancient pines are tangled together, so that finding a path is very difficult in any direction. Few sounds escape from the trees, perhaps the animals that call the Chetwood home favor the less densely wooded areas to the south.

Contents:

Thari

Obvious exits:

North and South

[Thari(#31038)]

The Chetwood is thick here, possibly because the trees are not quite as old as elsewhere. Still, the pines are thick, branches tangling together. It has become cold enough that insects have fallen silent, a promise of the winter soon coming.

This is no doubt the reason for the hearty fire. Thari is camped in a small clearing, just large enough for herself, a wagon, and her pony. She is sleeping now on the ground, rolled up in her cloak so only her nose shows, just at the edge of the light of a warm and crackling fire.

[Frarin] The hearty fire may ward away the unwelcome cold, but it attracts the eyes of the living in return. The insects that have grown quiet are replaced with the usual rustling of the leave in the night, but there is something else as well, a disturbing noise that is not of the Chetwood\'s making. At first it is very distant, only an odd culmination of the noise of displaced leaves and stones, then it sharpens into a distinct sound. The clop of hooves.

They come to a halt of a sudden, then with a still distant shout, swiftly pick up again. A crashing in the undergrowth sounds for a time before a short figure darker than the shadows comes into the light of the fire. \"It is! It\'s her, over here!\"

The figure steps forward. It is Hal son of Halim, Master Defender of the Black Axes, clad all in red and leading behind him a pony. He carries a small lantern in one hand. \"Thari,\" he calls across the fire, abruptly ignoring her slumber with the relief in his voice. Behind him, the undergrowth continues to shake as another comes behind the warder.

[Thari(#31038)]

At first there is no reaction from the woman as the distant hoofbeats sound, but as the crashing of the undergrowth draws nearer, Thari snorts and startles with one particular snap of a twig. She reaches for her axe, pulling it in front of her before her eyes even open.

But open her eyes do. Her head lifts as she looks around, just as the warder is touched by the light of her fire. \"Oh, Hal, it\'s you.\" She yawns, drops her axe, and rubs at her face. \"Good evening,\" she bids kindly, though in a grumbling, sleepy voice. \"What can I do for you?\"

[Frarin] The healer\'s kind, casual tone is not matched by the warder, for Hal\'s brows rise and his eyes widen at her polite question. \"What can you do for me? Thari, we\'ve been looking for you for two days now!\" Coming further into the light, it is now evident that the soldier speaks true, for his yellow pony is laden with goods for multiple nights in the wild. \"You\'ve been gone over a week now, cousin, did you not think there were some concerned for your well-being? Gone a week and without companion?\"

\"And a hip barely mended.\" The last is not Hal\'s statement. It is a familiar deep rumble that issues from the darkness behind the warder and is followed by the head of a grey pony. Atop the ever-loyal Barim is none other than Frarin son of Forli. But if there is relief within the silver merchant akin to Hal\'s own, it is not immediately evident. He carries no lantern, but the light of the fire etches horribly drawn shadows beneath his eyes and mouth and, as his short words imply, he looks none too pleased.

Indeed, despite his outward composure, Frarin appears downright furious within.

[Thari(#31038)]

Thari rolls to a sitting position, and there is obviously some pain in that motion, for she does it gingerly, leaning away from the left even when done. There is another yawn, another rub at the face. Her cheek is sleep-creased.

\"I told the lads I\'d be just outside of Bree, and here I am. Bree, mind you, where the chief worry is whether there will be enough mushrooms to go round supper? I told them I\'d be back, and I\'ve only been gone for a few days. Why would anyone be worried?\" She speaks to Hal, but her glance flicks once to Frarin. That glance lingers for a lengthening stretch of time, before at last wrenching back to look up at Hal instead.

[Frarin] \"A few days?\" Hal repeats with a snort, though there is a relieved half-smile spreading beneath his beard. \"Thari, it\'s been more than a week! You said you were collecting herbs, and the Chetwood is only a day\'s walk away from the town. No one really considered how much time you had been gone until Frarin here came looking for you.\"

At that, Frarin grunts irritably and brings his mount to a halt. He leans forward painfully and Hal comes quickly to the silversmith\'s side. Gently gripping Frarin beneath the arms, the warder helps him down from the grey pony. Then Frarin\'s condition becomes more obvious, for he wears no chain mail beneath his heavy cloak and, though his war hammer hangs at his side, he walks with the support of two sturdy walking sticks looped about each wrist with a length of twine.

\"Hal,\" the silver merchant says meaningfully, giving a tipped glance at the warder. But it is not to discourage his friend\'s aid, for Hal nods as if understanding. He takes up Barim\'s reins and begins to lead the two ponies away from the fire. \"Well, I\'m glad you\'re alright, Thari,\" the warder says kindly with a nod. \"The ponies haven\'t rested since dusk though, I\'ll leave you and Frarin for a moment and see about watering the poor beasts.\"

[Thari(#31038)]

\"Well then, everyone was more sensible than Frarin,\" Thari answers Hal in clipped tones, \"For I\'ve been just fine.\"

But in the next moment Frarin dismounts and Thari gasps. \"Frarin! Look at you!\" She struggles to her feet painfully and begins to limp hard toward him. \"What are you doing riding in your condition?\" she scolds as Hal leads the ponies away. \"Sit down, lie down! Oh, what if you\'ve hurt yourself again?\"

[Frarin] Hal says nothing in return to Thari\'s comment about Frarin\'s sensibility, for soon he swallowed by the darkness. Frarin, on the other hand, sends a glare the way of the healer as she begins to limp towards him. He hunches forward on his two supports, but does not move towards Thari. Nothing is said initially to the healer, but he meaningfully refuses to move as if to seat himself. A deep, angry frown turns down the corners of his mouth, but he is silent until Hal is out of hearing. Then...

\"My condition?\" he rumbles incredulously, not raising his voice, but speaking abruptly. \"/My/ condition? At least I had the good sense to bring a companion. And at least I did not come out here to spend a week gathering herbs or whatever such nonsense, with winter approaching and in a wood known to be home to a troll.\"

He snorts angrily, waving the healer away from assisting him and shaking a walking stick at her. \"How you can stand there and berate me without your head hung in shame, I do not know. How you can scold me for riding out in my condition in search of a missing loved one when you rode out in the same condition to gather /herbs/, I do not know!\"

[Thari(#31038)]

\"I was not in your same condition!\" Thari denies heatedly while stopping for a moment to rest, balancing mostly on her right leg. \"I have been careful and taking care of myself! And I had to....\" Slowly her words die off. She stands there, opening and closing her mouth once or twice, blinking quickly, looking rather confused, or perhaps stunned.

[Frarin] \"No you weren\'t, you were probably worse off when you left a week ago!\" Frarin growls angrily, still not moving from the point where he had dismounted. \"My arm and ribs were broken, yes, but such injuries mend quickly and need time only to restrengthen. But the hip, that is a different matter entirely. That injury is the same for us both. By Mahal, Thari, you of all people should have known better!\"

The silversmith\'s voice does rise slightly at the last comment, and his brows press together, breaking the stony anger. \"Taking care of yourself or no, /anything/ could have happened out here. Gone for a week and no companion? What on earth were you thinking? And you blame me for twice now coming to look for you, hoh!\"

One of his supports digs angrily into the ground, stabbing the earth with a vengence as the irritation returns. \"What?\" he queries impatiently. \"/What?/ What could you possibly have had to do? Durin, Thari, you can barely walk yourself. What possible need could you have for herbs when you can barely care for yourself? What folly!\"

[Thari(#31038)]

Thari blinks once or twice more and then continues walking toward him Her steps on her left leg are very short and ginger, but she reaches for him. \"Sit down now, Frarin, and I\'ll do the same,\" she says briskly, almost kindly. The ire has left her voice. \"I wanted a bit of time alone with some hard work. I\'m sure you can understand that.\"

[Frarin] The glare remains on Frarin\'s face, but he sucks in a steadying breath, reining in his anger. He does not take her reached out hand, but he does reluctantly dig his supports into the ground and gingerly push his right leg up and forward, dragging the left behind. Carefully hobbling and applying only minimal weight to the left leg, Frarin comes closer to the fire and Thari, aiming for a downed log.

Gripping the two walking sticks with practised use, the silver merchant lowers himself slowly but successfully to the log. He still frowns as he expels a breath, but he shakes his head, looking at the ground. \"Yes, I can understand it,\" he concedes, tone conciliatory but still hard. \"That is the pride of our people. But it does not make it right. It was foolish pride.\"

Heaving another heavy sigh, Frarin then looks up. He looks angry no longer, though still scolding, but he unloops the stick around his left wrist and gestures Thari to seat herself on the log as well. \"Come, sit, Thari. I am sorry we startled you from sleep.\"

[Thari(#31038)]

Thari follows him, nearly hovers over him with a hand in the air behind him. \"It was not pride!\" she disagrees firmly. She puts a hand on the log once he is settled and slowly lowers herself down. The log, perhaps it could be noticed, looks as if it were recently chopped down, the ends shorn by axe-marks.

\"Well, actually, yes, it was entirely pride,\" she says suddenly. \"I wasn\'t about to sit there and wait for word from you. What would you have done?\" Her eyes reflect the flicker of the fire.

[Frarin] At the healer\'s denial, Frarin glances at her scoldingly, knowingly, and nods with confirmed expectation, though not satisfaction, when she reneges of the denial. As she continues, however, he casts his gaze down with a stubborn frown, absently digging one of his walking sticks into the earth before him. At her question, he does not immediately look up, though his lips are pressed tight together. Then up come the dark eyes, reflecting the same light as Thari\'s.

\"I do not know,\" he says simply with a grunt. No uncertaintly is there in his words, only a simple confident sense of having no answer, and a refusal to let that revelation rock him. Still frowning with a hard look in his eyes, Frarin fixes the healer with a steady stare. \"But I came looking for you three days ago, to speak my mind as I promised, only to discover you had been a week gone. I am sorry if I was harsh, but there it is.\"

\"I was worried some evil had befallen you. Before you knew my feelings.\" Again there is no sense of uncertainty or vulnerability as Frarin speaks. Unlike before, the silver merchant seems now to know his mind very well.

[Thari(#31038)]

Thari lifts her head. Her eyes raise from the fire to his face-- indeed, she watches his eyes now. Her lips part once, a word dying on them before spoken, and then her mouth closes again. She simply waits in silence for him to continue. Perhaps her breathing quickens a little.

[Frarin] Frarin falls silent after his last, but he drops his gaze as Thari says nothing in return and he realises she waits for him to continue. Almost as if her silence is a response unto itself, he nods as he looks to the ground. \"Yes, I know my feelings now. I know my mind once again, as best that I can.\"

The dark eyes are raised again and Frarin looks at Thari with an unhappy grimace, though his expression is sure. \"But you will not find it favourable, I fear. If it is not what you hoped for, I am sorry. I lay no blame if it not enough for you, it is understandable.\"

[Thari(#31038)]

Thari\'s brows draw together and lift in confusion. \"What?\" she asks. Her hand reaches up and she buries her fist in her beard. \"What do you mean, Frarin? Speak plainly.\"

[Frarin] Stealing himself with a heavy sigh, Frarin fixes her with an unwavering stare and...speaks as plainly as he can. \"I return your feelings, Thari.\" He pauses a moment after, not smiling or even allowing his frown fade, but regarding the healer for some sense of her reaction. But the hesitation lasts only a second, then the silver merchant\'s gaze drops again and he shakes his head as if to discount his previous statement.

\"But not as you wish, surely not as you wish. It took forcing such thoughts upon me for me to realise that, without my being aware of it, my feelings towards you had changed. And I still hold that I am ill-suited for such feelings. Even as I am aware of it now, still it troubles me to speak of it aloud, to utter words like \'love\' or \'feelings\'.\" And indeed, there is a catch in the back of his throat as he speaks both words. \"Surely you cannot be content with such a sentiment. It is not as it should be.\"

\"But it is more than that,\" he continues, still unwavering in his speech, but again absently staring at the ground instead of the healer. \"One who returns such sentiment should do so...\" he grapples for a moment, searching for some word. \"...fully. Should be unable to live without the other. But when I consider my own...attachment, I know that I could be content, as I have always been, to continue as I always have. I can only say that, with you, I am more than content. But...\" he looks up now, stony and determined. \"That cannot be good enough for you.\"

[Thari(#31038)]

Thari\'s breath catches at his confession. Her lips part. Her eyes widen-- but he goes on.

Now the newborn expression of joy on her face falls and, for a moment, she looks sad. She glances to the fire again and releases her beard to rub at her brow. \"Oh, Frarin, you\'ll be the death of me,\" she sighs. \"You say aye and nay in the same breath. I need a moment to think, to work out what you\'re talking about.\"

[Frarin] Frarin grunts and nods, frowning as he continues to dig the end of his support into the ground. His left hand fingers drum upon his extended left leg, but he looks to the fire instead of the dwarf at his side. Several times his lips press together, then part, then press together again. Then, after some moments in silence, he glances up.

\"I can leave you and see where Hal has gotten to,\" he says, low. Taking up the second walking stick previously set aside, he begins to loop it around his left wrist again. Perhaps he considers that there is little for Thari to think on, that he has been perfectly clear in his words, for nothing else does he seem able to say in response to the healer, as if having expected another reaction.

[Thari(#31038)]

\"Don\'t go!\" Thari cries out at once. Her hand flies out to touch Frarin\'s wrist. \"Oh, don\'t go!\"

Then, in the next breath, she has leaned toward him. Both arms she flings around his neck and her face she buries in the crook of his shoulder and the side of his throat.

[Frarin] If Frarin had not expected Thari\'s previous reaction, then surely her next undoubtedly throws him off. He is nearly bowled over backwards as she flings her arms about him, as much by his own surprise as by the pressure of her head against his shoulder. But he does not roll back over the log, though he does not seem to immediately know how to react.

For a moment, walking supports still hanging from his wrists, Frarin\'s arms hover in the air, hands unclasped. He frowns, eyes darting to the fire and around the little camp. Then, lips pressing together, he clears his throat and slowly, without a word, his left arm gingerly wraps about the healer\'s shoulders. Not comfortably, but experimentally, perhaps to see if the touch is shirked off. The unwavering sureness is gone, however. Any further actions seem beyond the silver merchant for the moment.

[Thari(#31038)]

Thari\'s hold on him is trembling-tight, fingers pinching the cloth of his cloak. \"Do you love me, Frarin?\" she asks him intently, her eyes still shielded against his shoulder. \"Tell me this first and then I\'ll try to sort out the rest.\"

She takes a deep breath. \"For oh, I do love you so much. It started out small for me and has grown to this wild, greedy thing now.\"

[Frarin] Frarin\'s dark gaze is almost glassy as he watches the fire and listens to Thari. He frowns still as if so many responses run like chaos through his mind, but then the glassiness fades and clears. His chin pokes out a little, beard tugging a little where it is trapped beneath Thari\'s hold.

Quietly, his familiar rumble sounds slightly louder than the crackle of the fire, his answer very simple and almost catching in the back of his throat. \"Yes.\"

Thari pulls back her head, her hands, and strokes her palms outwards on his shoulders restlessly as if to smooth the cloth there. She nods her head quickly several times, taking a deep breath through her nose. \"And do you suppose it is a little bit like how I feel, then, Frarin?\" she asks, voice catching.

Thari\'s restless hands lift again and one settles gingerly against the side of the silversmith\'s face, thumb stroking his cheek once before stopping. For the first time her eyes lift to his. \"Even though you do not want your life to change-- as I don\'t want mine to change? Do your wits leave you when you think of me, or anything like that?\"

[Frarin] Frarin does not move as Thari looks up at last and restlessly smooths the wrinkles of his cloak. He does not move even when her hand goes to his cheek, though he sucks in a breath. \"No I, well, I...\" he falters in one rumbling breath, steadying himself and drawing his thoughts together. \"No I do not want my life to change. But for my wits, I do not...do not know. I went away and thought of never speaking to you again, of never watching for your face in the thick of battle again, of never hearing your scolding again. And...I felt sickened. I did not want to sleep or eat.\"

His left hand rises to close around the healer\'s hand upon his cheek. \"If that is your feeling, then yes, I share it. But that is surely not. I...It cannot be enough to simply be moved by the thought of your absence.\"

[Thari(#31038)]

For a moment, there is hurt in Thari\'s eyes, but it weakens and mingles with something else. \"Can it not?\" she asks wondering, as if curious. Her thumb strokes his cheek again to lie close now to one of his fingers. \"For that is how the realization came to me, and you see how it is for me now.\"

[Frarin] Frarin, his eyes having been downcast, looks up at Thari\'s question. And such a strange mixture of emotions there lingers in his gaze as well. There is a sense of the resigned determination still, and now also the relief long due at having found the healer unhurt after two days of hunting. But also there is hope keen, not buried behind the stony facade as usual, not a mere lingering emotion, but true and genuine. Hope inspired by those three wondering words.

\"Can it?\" he echoes gruffly, the abscence of the \'not\' belying that kindled hope. \"I could not...I...I had not thought to hope you might accept what I have said. But if by your words you mean just that, then yes, perhaps with time...my mind might change yet more.\"

[Thari(#31038)]

\"I hope so, for I can\'t acc--\" Thari\'s words aburptly cut off at a sound from the forest. Her hands drop away from him and she pulls back. Away she glances, then back to him, face now flushing. \"We should go to sleep,\" she says firmly. \"A good night of sleep would do the both of us good, and in the morning things might be clearer.\"

She stands gingerly, turns-- then suddenly turns back and leans over to kiss his brow so lightly. And away she pulls a second time to walk quickly around the fire, to where she was sleeping before.

[Frarin] Frarin\'s mouth opens in question as Thari cuts off abruptly and stands. His face begins to fall, but then suddenly the healer is turning back and leaning over him and a kiss is planted ever so lightly upon his brow. His lips part again, but she quickly moves away this time, returning to the opposite side of the fire. For a time he sits in silence, blinking every now and again between deep, steady breaths.

A moment longer and then he shifts, digging the walking sticks into the ground and lowering himself so that his head rests against the log behind him. Still in silence he lies there, gazing up at the towering trees above, and beyond, the inky night sky.

Then, for just a moment, Frarin\'s eyes flicker towards the fire and to Thari behind it. And before his eyelids slide shut and deepened breathing indicates slumber, he shares a small smile with himself.