To talk or not to talk

Breelands Weather

The early morning autumn air is cool but pleasant around you. The day sky still dumps copious amounts of rain down upon you.

Infirmary

The Infirmary is an area of clean floorboards and white walls. Not a speck of dust or dirt can be found here. Three beds are available for patient\'s use, each one with a small trunk at its foot for the patient\'s personal items and a place where a medical chart can be hung. Between the three beds, two curtains have been hung on poles creating a sense of privacy for each invalid, yet allowing the healer\'s an easy view in. A cabinet with bottles, pouches and scrolls can be seen toward the back of the room. A small chair rests beside it. A set of wooden shelves holds a wash basin, towels and extra blankets. The single window in the infirmary looks out over the front rose garden.

Contents:

Torebras

Obvious exits:

Curtain to Main Room

[Frarin] Morning is only recently come to Bree and pale tendrils of light have only just begun to stretch across the sky outside the town\'s Healing House. This lends a soft yellowy glow to the pristine infirmary, bathing the white walls in morning light and bidding the few remaining patients into wakefulness.

And few they are, for it is now nearly a month since the influx of wounded dwarves descended upon the Healing House. Only one additional cot remains beside the usual three beds and the house\'s last invalids are those with internal injuries or injuries that prevent walking.

One of these is Frarin the silver merchant. He sits propped up in the bed nearest the door, a pile of pillows stacked behind him to push him into a comfortable position. His left arm is no longer bound, but the fingers are still dappled with bruises and move only slowly. His left leg, however, remains held in a sling, the hip bulged out with bandages. The dwarf looks to have only recently woken, for though there is a piece of parchment and a quill across his lap, he gives them no heed, allowing his dark eyes to drift absently towards the solitary window lending light to the small room.

[Torebras(#25187)] A breath of cool air follows the opening of the outer door the mustiness of leaves mingles with the fresh scent of rain. In between the stamp of feet on the mat, muffled fragments of conversations can be heard: \"... a good morning to you too, Mrs Applecheeks ... leave tomorrow, I\'ll see what I can do ... oh quite, quite. Now if you\'ll excuse me, I would appreciate a few quiet words with our visitors.\"

The speaker has clearly not waited for an answer, for the next instant the curtain to the infirmary is pushed back and a rotund hobbit-sized figure enters. Torebras Bywater looks slightly damp round the edges, though he has already shed his outdoor cloak. His feathered hat is held between his hands as he shakes the water from it. His gaze darts swiftly round the room, then settles on that nearest bedridden figure. \"Ah ... good morning, Master Dwarf!\" he proclaims cheerily.

Thari has connected.

[Thari(#31038)]

Nearer to the window no the bed next to Frarin\'s is, of course, another dwarf. Thari\'s left leg is also in a sling, but this one is sleeping, face turned toward Frarin, hair muzzy from the night.

Cool air brushes through the room and lifts small hairs on Thari\'s brow. Grey eyes sleepily open.

[Frarin] Frarin\'s eyes screw shut and open again and he rubs his good hand across them to rid himself of the morning sleepiness. After a moment, his hand strays towards the forgotten quill, just as a glance is given to the sleeping Thari. He frowns as he takes up the pen and begins to uncap a pewter inkwell on the table beside him, but a disturbance in the main room brings his gaze around. The inkwell is snapped shut as the dwarf watches the curtain.

Then it is pulled aside and there stands a familiar figure. The dripping little feather cap is enough to identify the town\'s mayor, if not the cheerful greeting. Frarin fixes Torebras with a mildly surprised look, brows going up as he beholds the hobbit. \"Good morning indeed,\" the dwarf rumbles after a moment. \"Mayor Torebras, braving the rain again?\"

[Torebras(#25187)] Mild surprise registers in Torebras\' brown eyes for a moment, though it quickly fades - after all, he is the Mayor. Shouldn\'t everyone know him? \"We\'ve met?\" he ventures, looking slightly red-cheeked, and fiddles with his hat. \"Do forgive me, my memory\'s a little hazy what with all the events of late. The fair, and that terrible fire, and then business preparations, and ... well, you know.\" He waves his hand airily, sprinkling a few drops of water across the room. \"Perhaps you can help me? I was looking for a particular dwarf.\" He peers at Frarin\'s companions.

[Thari(#31038)]

Thari squeezes eyes shut in a hard blink. When opened again, they rest on Frarin-- apparently an unacceptable sight for their owner, for soon Thari\'s gaze flinches away, to the ceiling, and then down toward Torebras.

Thari\'s throat is cleared. \"Mm? Which dwarf?\" is asked in a sleep-roughened voice. The dwarven healer\'s head lifts.

[Frarin] Unaware just yet of Thari\'s awakening, Frarin continues to look to the hobbit mayor as Torebras speaks. A half-smile creeps into the dwarf\'s beard, but it is weak amusement at best, for his eyes are still tired, as if itching for a yawn. \"Yes, we\'ve met,\" he says, nodding gently. \"Frarin son of Forli. I was he that sought to pay a few Breelanders for the earthen works on the east side of the town. And I was one of those you met in the Chetwood, just before my company sent back a contingent of wounded.\"

Frarin\'s mouth opens to respond to Torebras\' second question, concerning a particular dwarf, but then Thari speaks. All amusement vanishes from the silver merchant\'s face and, though he does not look around at the dwarf healer behind him, his head does flick just barely to the right. He rubs a hand across his eyes again, retraining his concentration on the mayor. \"Yes, ah, which dwarf do you seek, Mayor? We are few here now, most have removed to the Pony.\"

[Torebras(#25187)] Torebras\' gaze pauses on the newly woken figure. \"I didn\'t mean to wake you, Master,\" he apologizes with a little bob of his head. \"I was looking for a Master Fr-\"

He stops, blinking, as Frarin speaks, and turns his bright eyes on the silver merchant instead. \"Why, then it is you I seek!\" he exclaims heartily, beaming at the poor fellow before him. \"A young lad gave me this,\" he sticks a hand in his waistcoat pocket and holds up a tiny gold earring, \"he said you\'d sent it. I\'m afraid I don\'t quite understand ...\" He lets the sentence trail off tactfully, then mumbles, staring at his furry toes, \"It was .. ah, a few weeks back. Other things put it clean out of my head.\"

[Thari(#31038)]

Thari frowns deeply while looking at Torebras. There\'s a brief nod, then away the head turns so that this dwarf might look out the window. The healer\'s hands pass over eyes as if to rub them.

[Frarin] Frarin still does not look around as Torebras apologetically addresses Thari, though the mayor might notice the silver merchant\'s eyes stray again to the side. But he blinks and clears his throat as the hobbit explains his reason for seeking him out, and he tips back his head slightly, brows rising once more. \"Ah yes, the young lad. I do not even know his name. He has had it in his posession for most of the summer, I believe, though I am glad to see he has finally delivered it. I meant to inquire after it once I could walk.\"

Shifting slightly, Frarin\'s glance at last darts back to his right, briefly fixing Thari with a hard observance. But then the glance is gone and he looking again at Torebras. \"You don\'t understand?\" he says, frowning. \"How so? Did the lad tell you why I sent it to you?\"

[Torebras(#25187)] His own curly head bowed, Torebras is blissfully unaware of both Thari\'s frown and Frarin\'s averted gaze. \"The Smithson lad. He still has a lot to learn about manners, unfortunately.\" He pulls a face, then glances up, gaze focussing first on the earring and then Frarin himself. \"Tell me why you sent it? He didn\'t say a word!\"

He snorts loudly, and then his gaze shifts back to Thari. \"I trust the accommodation has been to your liking?\" he enquires conversationally. \"We\'re always happy to have guests like yourselves.\" Rich ones, one surmises.

[Thari(#31038)]

\"Fine. Mm.\" Thari\'s throat is cleared and the dwarf lifts up on elbows to squint at the hobbit. Grey eyes never stray toward Frarin. \"The healers haven\'t done a bad job and are fairly good at following my instructions when I give \'em.\"

[Frarin] \"Well, that is to be expected, I suppose,\" Frarin says with a small frown. \"Eager for a few coins to run errands, but that does not always translate to good service.\" His tone does not suggest any ill-will towards the scamp, however, only an absent strain of musing. His gaze having dropped slightly, it comes back up now as Torebras inquires after the dwarves\' comfort, but the merchant glances again towards Thari when he realises that is where the question is directed. Frarin sucks in a quick, quiet breath as he unwittingly looks towards the second dwarf.

Then he looks back to the mayor, completely forgoing an answer to the hobbit\'s question. \"Well then,\" the silver merchant continues, nodding at the earring. \"Let\'s see, I found that...oh, several months ago. June, I believe. It was at the foot of a tree near Staddle. When we first met, actually, when you came to inquire after Thane Ovor, who was camping at Staddle at the time.\"

[Torebras(#25187)] At Thari\'s mention of instructions, Torebras looks quite taken aback. \"I see,\" he murmurs at last. Clearly, he doesn\'t.

Industriously, he turns back to Frarin, nodding as he listens to the words, and lifting the earring a little so he can peer at it once more. \"It came from Staddle?\" His forehead starts to crease. \"It\'s very fine work, I can\'t think who might have dropped it. We\'re plain, simple folk, we Breefolk, don\'t go in much for fancy ornaments.\" His ornate silver waistcoat buttons gleam in the morning sun, as though giving the lie to his words.

[Thari(#31038)]

Thari gives a nod to Torebras at his answer and continues frowning at the hobbit, but nothing more is said right now.

[Frarin] Frarin too eyes the earring as Torebras holds it up for inspection. Indeed, the silver merchant seems to behold the little gold piece with perhaps too much attention, as if making an effort to pretend there is nothing much else in the room that could be more fascinating. \"Near Staddle, at the very outskirts,\" he corrects, still looking the earring over. \"Not far from the road though, so it might have been a passing traveller.\"

Again Frarin\'s eyes flicker to the side, but again it is a movement only the mayor he faces might see, if Torebras would care. \"It is not dwarf-make, I think,\" he continues. \"At the least, none of our company have reported missing anything similar. If you cannot find an owner for it, I do not want it back.\" Unsaid but perhaps suggested is that the silversmith does not /need/ such a trinket. \"Give it back to that scamp, even. He could go on oggling at it, I do not doubt.\"

[Torebras(#25187)] \"Hmm.\" Torebras turns the earring this way and that, so that the daylight illuminates it. \"Could it have been made by the hand of the Fair Folk?\" he muses. Now, there would be a prize. Then he shrugs, and slips it back into his waistcoat pocket. \"No matter. Perhaps it was merely a passing traveller. I\'ll hold on to it for a while, put out the word ... Then, should noone claim it, I suppose that youngster can have the finder\'s right - if you really insist.\" He purses his lips.

Only now, the subject of the earring resolved to his satisfaction, does he seem to notice Thari\'s silence. \"Forgive me, master. You must be tired,\" he mumbles in the direction of her frown.

[Thari(#31038)]

\"I am tired,\" Thari answers in a brisk tone, then reaches out a hand toward the Mayor. \"May I look at the earring? I\'ve some experience in appraising gold and gemstones.\"

It is Frarin\'s turn to fall into silence this time, as if Torebras is having a conversation with two different people rather than three people talking together. He neither frowns nor smiles as he looks to Thari. Indeed, his face is thoroughly expressionless, almost forced so, as he faces the healer full on. It is not a glance this time, for his gaze lingers on the other dwarf longer than that, but his face does noticeably brighten as he looks back at Torebras, brows rising as Thari asks for an inspection of the earring.

[Torebras(#25187)] Torebras hesitates noticeably at Thari\'s request, but eventually he pulls the earring back out of his pocket. \"Of course. There you are.\" He patters over to her bedside and holds the gleaming gold in his outstretched hand. Focussed as he is on the touselled-looking head before him, he completely fails to notice Frarin\'s Look boring into his back.

[Thari(#31038)]

Thari accepts the earring and lifts it toward the window, where it sparkles in the light. Grey eyes narrow. The dwarf\'s thumb goes over the earring. \"Gold, not pure enough to be soft. Definately not dwarven make.\" Thari sits further up to offer the earring back toward Torebras, grunting at moving so far. \"I doubt that\'ll help you any.\"

Frarin\'s glance is not returned, possibly not even noticed.

[Frarin] Frarin does not look a second time at Thari, focusing on Torebras even as the other dwarf looks the earring over. His jaw does tighten ever so slightly as Thari repeats his judgment of the trinket not being dwarven in origin, but otherwise he seems to make an effort to appear casual. It is almost successful, save that his face is wooden, forced into normality.

\"I have heard rumours that a trading party is going to the Shire, is that right?\" Frarin asks. \"It might belong to someone there. There are several wealthy gentlehobbit families, if I recall. If the party has not yet departed, they might take the earring along. Though I don\'t suppose many hobbits of the Shire would pass this way if they could help it.\"

[Torebras(#25187)] Torebras\' face falls at Thari\'s \'not pure\', but he covers it quickly, reaching out to take the earring back. \"I see. Well, one never knows. Thank you, Master Dwarf.\" He essays a little bow as he tucks the find safely away in his waistcoat.

He gazes absently toward Frarin as the dwarf begins to speak. \"I really don\'t think a Shire- what?\" His gaze snaps sharply into focus, and the beginnings of a frown tighten his brow. \"I hope you are not insinuating that the Shirefolk might find fault in our most estimable town? Even if they can be rather provincial ...\" The words trail off in a sniff.

[Thari(#31038)]

\"You are quite welcome,\" Thari rumbles. And then, as the Mayor begins to talk to Frarin, this dwarf falls silent again, furthering the impression that the hobbit can have a conversation with one dwarf or another, but not both at once.

Thari\'s head gingerly lowers to the pillow again and eyes briefly shut.

[Frarin] \"No indeed,\" Frarin replies politely, but without any apparent urgency to be correctly understood. \"Bree is a most estimable town, and I have always enjoyed my time here. I meant only that, as you say, the Shire hobbit tend to prefer their own land to any other.\" He glances again at Thari as the healer\'s eyes close, then back to Torebras.

\"How long will the trade party be gone?\" Frarin continues, as much to fill the semi-awkward silence between the two dwarves. \"Some of our own company are coming with, I believe.\"

[Torebras(#25187)] Torebras\' round face remains suspicious, though he does deign to answer Frarin\'s first words with a stiff nod. \"How long will they be gone? I really couldn\'t say. As long as it takes folk to conclude their business. A few weeks, I\'d imagine. They\'ll be leaving tomorrow.\" One eyebrow lifts at Frarin\'s final statement but he responds with a polite, \"Really? I\'m sure the travellers will be glad to have stout-hearted folk like yourself along, and not just young dreamers like my brother.\"

[Thari(#31038)]

\"I\'m glad they\'re going, too,\" Thari says. Apparently the healer is not trying to sleep, for again the grey eyes open. Thari pulls up another pillow and stuffs it under the first to lift higher. \"Better than just sitting around waiting for us to heal up.\"

[Torebras(#25187)] Torebras wheels to regard Thari. \"Sitting waiting,\" he echoes. \"Why, Master Dwarf, I hope you aren\'t bored by your stay here?\" He blinks, suddenly solicitous. \"Is there anything I can do to remedy that? As Bree\'s Mayor, the concerns of all its residents are mine!\" he declares, sweeping his hat-holding arm out in a grand gesture. Just as well it\'s dried off.

[Thari(#31038)]

Thari actually gives a little laugh with an inclination of the head. \"Oh, Master Hobbit, I think anyone confined to a bed for weeks would become a bit bored. What is your name again? I am Thari, at your service and your family\'s.\"

[Frarin] Having rested in silence for a time with only a nod to Torebras, Frarin speaks up again. His eyes come up from his lap, where they have settled for a bit, and he says quietly, \"It is no fault of yours or anyone else\'s, Master Hobbit. The healers here have been more than accommodating, but yes, it can be tedious when one is not permitted to move about. As...my companion has said.\" The last catches for a second, as if the silver merchant had not intended to say it originally and, having stumbled upon it, recovers as best as possible. But he seems to have nothing else to say, for silence descends over him again. Absently, he takes up the quill upon his lap.

[Torebras(#25187)] \"And Torebras Bywater at yours,\" the hobbit responds swiftly, with an awkward little bow in Thari\'s direction. As Frarin speaks he turns on his heel and offers him a bob too.

\"Well, we really must see if we can alleviate the boredom. Perhaps some light reading matter might help - the Bywaters are masters of the written word. Why, my own father has written a very fine history of our town! I will undertake to find you something.\" He beams happily upon both Dwarves. \"Not this morning however, for I fear I have other appointments.\" Indeed, at the very mention of \'other appointments\' he starts fingering his hat.

[Thari(#31038)]

All of a sudden Thari\'s eyebrows bunch together and a hard glance is cast aside upon Frarin. The healer stops breathing for just a moment and looks back to Torebras again. \"I thank you for your consideration, Master Bywater,\" says the dwarf in growling, clipped words.

Frarin does not look at Thari, but then, there is not much need to, given the growl that rumbles forth from the healer dwarf. The silver merchant\'s own brows come together as well, but he forces a halfway polite smile, staring very pointedly NOT at the other dwarf beside him. \"Indeed, another day, Mayor Torebras. That would be most appreciated. But we, I...you should not be kept from your duties. I do not doubt you have much to attend to.\"

He clears his throat and offers the hobbit a courteous nod.

[Torebras(#25187)] \"Not a problem, Master Thari, I assure you,\" Torebras responds rather breathlessly, his voice rising to a near-squeak at the sound of that growl. \"And I do indeed, Master Frarin.\" He bobs again, like a frightened sparrow. \"Now, if you\'ll excuse me, I really must be going. Good morning!\" With that he does an about turn, ducks through the curtain and trots off at high speed, still clutching his hat in his hand.

[Thari(#31038)]

\"Good day to you.\" Thari bids the hobbit as he departs. There is a moment of strained silence in the infirmary. The other patients have been removed to get sunshine or to take breakfast at a table, and as she looks around, she can discover that they are horribly, agonizingly alone.

Suddenly the tension snaps. Or, rather, Thari does. \"Why do you have to go on and treating me like I\'ve done something to insult you?\" she demands. \"I\"ve done nothing to you and I\'ve ever done my best to be kind and considerate and to leave you alone as much as possible!\"

[Frarin] Indeed the silence is filled with almost tangible tension. It seems almost deafening. Frarin quietly clears his throat, still holding the little quill in his right hand, and bends forward as if to start writing. But the quill hovers, noticeably devoid of ink. Then Thari snaps and her growl fills the silence in a manner perhaps worse than the absence of noise. A deep frown creases Frarin\'s face and his grip tightens on the quill, though his eyes remain for a time on the parchment across his lap.

\"What?\" the silver merchant replies at last, muttering loudly, forcefully, eyes narrowing. \"/I\'m/ acting like I\'ve been insulted? When you won\'t even look at me? I didn\'t ask for you to avoid me, I didn\'t ask for you to leave me alone. I would rather have talked, if you must know!\"

[Thari(#31038)]

\"What?\" Thari\'s voice mixes surprise with tension. She actually turns to look at the silversmith, eyes wide, and by the time she speaks again it is only shock in her voice. \"You would have? Why?\"

[Frarin] \"Because I do not like to leave things unsaid,\" Frarin responds quickly, snappishly. \"I know my own mind, usually. And if something troubles it, then I think it dishonest to leave it unsaid if something can be done to remedy that trouble.\" He is growling now also, defensive, but also speaking as if to convince Thari of his point as well.

\"Would you rather never speak again? We have another winter at least to spend together, Thari. Did you intend to avoid me all that time, hm?\"

[Thari(#31038)]

\"Of course I did!\" Thari throws back just as quick. She leans up on one elbow, turned toward his bed. \"I would make you uncomfortable, and you would make me-- well! You can\'t imagine what is happening to me.\" Her voice weakens for a moment. She frowns hard and blinks quickly. \"I am only being sensible!\"

[Frarin] \"That\'s not sensible!\" Frarin retorts with the same quickness, his voice rising in pitch, though remaining low in volumn to avoid unwanted ears. \"And if you think I am uncomfortable yelling at you, then you know nothing of what I have felt the past three days, when you have said nothing at all.\"

Propped up as he is, the silver merchant does not need to lean upon an elbow to face the other full on. He glares at her, brows stitched together as he waves an impatient finger at her. \"And you think I cannot imagine what is happening to you? I said I did not return your feeling, Thari. I did not say I was heartless.\"

You paged Thari with \'Oh yeah, before I forget. Were we gonna post these scenes to erebor-rp? I figured I\'d ask, since it\'s Thari putting herself out. :P\'.

[Thari(#31038)]

Thari continues blinking quickly. Her eyes flinch away to study a bit of the wall over Frarin\'s shoulder. \"So you are saying it is better to be yelling at me? I don\'t understand one thing that you are saying! If you are saying that you\'d rather have me be-- be /pleading/?!\" She shakes her head, voice incredulous. \"I have pride and I have courtesy!\"

[Frarin] Frarin tosses up his right hand, then settles it over his eyes with a heavy sigh, rubbing at his closed eyelids. Then, teeth clenched and eyes screwed shut, he speaks very softly and very quickly. \"What on earth in our history would lead you to believe I would rather you plead?\" The eyes snap open and the hand drops and Frarin looks at Thari with exasperation.

\"By /Durin/, Thari. By Durin and Mahal! I hate this, don\'t you understand? I can\'t just, just leave things as they have been the last three days. I want you to understand why.\"

[Thari(#31038)]

\"I only guessed that because I have no idea what you\'re talking about!\" For a moment, there is a pleading note in Thari\'s voice. She combs her fingers roughly through the end of her shortened beard.

\"What do you want me to understand? What?\" The anger and sorrow both are in her voice and she blinks quickly. \"What is there to understand? I am sorry that I have f-felt things,\" her voice cracks, \"that you don\'t like, but it wasn\'t by my choice! Never did I choose this, Frarin!\"

[Frarin] \"I\'m not /blaming/ you, Thari,\" Frarin says, his words slowing at last as he shakes his head and sighs again. \"I\'m not blaming you. Please calm down, I did not wish to upset you again. But I can no more sit and stew upon what you said than you could sit and stew upon your feelings. I just...\" His voice drifts off as he grapples for the desired words, teeth again clenching and lips parting in silent frustration.

\"I just want...you...to understand. To understand that I did not say what I did before out of...repulsion or anything else so cruel. And I will not pretend you can so easily revoke your feelings by logic. But would you at least hear me out? Then decide whether you never wish to speak to me again. And then I will not argue the point.\"

[Thari(#31038)]

Thari\'s eyes are wide as she studies him for a moment, and then they pinch shut, her hand going to her mouth. \"I never thought you were being cruel! I thought I was-- was-- discourteous and presumptuous.\"

She drops her head to her pillow again, mouth still deeply frowning, lips thin. She covers her eyes with a hand. \"Fine, tell me what you need to.\"

[Frarin] Frarin now gently shakes his head, the snappish, testy words gone as Thari\'s eyes widen. But to that he says nothing, only giving another shake of his head. \"I have...next to no experience in this area,\" he begins quietly as Thari finally bids him speak. \"But I know at least enough to know that, no matter what I might say, it is likely only time will dissuade you from your...feelings for me. Still, I feel honour-bound to speak.\"

Continuing, he rumbles, \"I said three days ago that I was too old for you and I say it again. You may think it does not matter, but it does, Thari. I have long lived the life I am accustomed to, have long been without a witness to it. If that changed now, you would have only eighty years of companionship, and another fifty without. And if you wanted beardlings to fill those long fifty years, well, I would be dead long before they reached even a hundred years of age.\"

Heaving a great huff of air, Frarin swallows, collects his thoughts, and plows on. \"But more than that, my nature is ill-suited to such a life. I am as stern as my father once was, and moody, and deal with personal matters far less sensibly than matters of war or business. A husband should be caring and loving, and should not shy away from such things as I do.\"

[Thari(#31038)]

Thari begins to shake her head as she speaks, eyes still covered, and continues it, refuting with this silent gesture his quiet words even as they are spoken. \"It doesn\'t matter!\" she says in a stressed voice when he is done.

Her hands drop her eyes are on his beard and not his face. \"I am telling you that there is nothing you could say that I have not already considered, and if you would understand how long I have been fighting this, you would know that it doesn\'t matter! If you felt about me as I f..f..\" Her voice weakens.

She tugs her beard and takes a breath. \"You would know that it doesn\'t matter. The only thing that really matters is that you, you, you don\'t.\" Another fortifying breath, and she whispers, \"Don\'t love me. So don\'t explain. Because nothing matters.\"

[Frarin] Frarin\'s gaze drifts slowly down from Thari\'s face, then drops entirely to settle upon his lap. He frowns, not out of frustration this time, but in sadness. His eyes crinkle and his breathing becomes irregular, the dark gaze darting about the blankets before him. Still without the strength to lift his face to Thari, the silver merchant says very quietly, his voice cracking, \"And...and you could no longer accept me as a friend?\" Sorrow, great sorrow, there is behind the rumbled words.

[Thari(#31038)]

Thari makes a small noise in her throat, a sad little sound, but her words come out as if impatient. \"I don\'t know, Frarin! Perhaps I only need a little time?\"

Her eyes lift to Frarin\'s face at last just as he looks away. \"I cannot spend my years trotting along beside you with you thinking that I\'m just begging for a bit of attention! I am Balur\'s child! I am Khazad and must be proud and strong!\"

[Frarin] The healer\'s eyes may lift, but Frarin\'s do not. His eyes are almost glassy as he continues to inspect the intricate details of the off-white sheets that cover him. His frown remains in place, but he also begins now to shake his head, slowly, thoughtfully. \"You are proud. And strong,\" he says, voice catching again. \"And you do not beg, nor have you, nor do I ever think you have.\"

\"And if avoiding me, even if it means not speaking while we are in the same room, if that will help you, if you really think it would...Then...do so.\"

[Thari(#31038)]

\"It\'s not just that it will help me, Frarin,\" Thari sighs then, shoulders dropping. \"I think that it will help you, too. And I am tired, and I dream of the battles. We both deserve rest, do you not think?\"

Her voice becomes kind, her gaze softens while she looks at him. \"I will leave you alone and you will be able to think of other things and find peace.\"

[Frarin] Still Frarin does not look up. Who knows what he thinks about Thari\'s bid for rest or her kind words, for he says absolutely nothing and his face does not change. He frowns still and the same glassy gaze peers at his blankets from beyond narrowed eyes. He does not see the healer\'s softening gaze. Only the that same unhappy, half-sad, half-angry expression remains plastered across his face.

Then, clearing his throat, Frarin sinks into his bed, biting back the pain as he slumps into a lying position. As if irritated and silently complying with Thari\'s wishes, Frarin takes his \"rest\". He cannot turn onto his side, but silently he twists his upper body to the left and away from Thari. He may be left alone, but if he is at peace, he does not say so.

[Thari(#31038)]

\"Frarin...\" Thari sighs. \"Don\'t be cross with me. I... Well, nevermind I suppose.\" She lies back and covers her eyes with her hand.