Here's Chapter 3!
Don't forget to read the first two chapters if you've not read them yet. :P
The man was just standing there, watching Rose as she stomped her way around the lake, heading towards him quickly. From her stance, and the stiff way that she walked, he could tell that she was quite angry, indeed. He looked around, thinking he might want to look for a route of escape. If there was one thing he couldn’t manage, it was a woman’s fury, especially when it was directed at him. Deciding to be a man about it, he dug his feet into the ground so that he wouldn’t end up fleeing, watching her approach with a nervous smile. When she finally had made her way across the lake to him, she planted her hands on her hips and looked up at him, a chastising frown on her face. “So, you think it’s a good idea to watch women while they think they’re alone, do you,” she asked him haughtily, her sapphire eyes flashing with the passion of her anger.
The man’s green eyes widened a bit at the accusation, shaking his head a bit as he held his hands out in the universal ‘surrender’ signal, hoping she wouldn’t decide to slap him, not that he didn’t deserve it. “O-of course not, miss,” he cried out. “I meant no harm at all,” he insisted. “I simply heard your laughter, and I came to investigate. That’s all.”
She scoffed at the tall, broad man’s excuse, rolling her eyes heavenward. God save her from men, she thought to herself before she met his eyes once more. “If it were mere curiosity, you wouldn’t have been watching me for however long you’ve been watching me,” she said to him, straightening up a bit more so she seemed taller than she actually was, wanting to intimidate him as much as possible.
“Well, I-I-I, well,” he let out a sigh. “You’re right, of course,” he said, bowing his head humbly, apologetically. “I didn’t mean to spy on you like I did, miss,” he said, his voice sounding morose. Whether it was from being caught, or from being truly sorry, Rose couldn’t be sure. She was leaning towards the choice of him being truly sorry, though.
She let out a sigh, eyeing him a bit less harshly as she watched him deflate in front of her. “If you didn’t mean to spy on me, then why did you,” she asked him, a bit more gently. She couldn’t stay too angry with this man. He truly seemed sorry, and she sensed no maliciousness in his warm brown eyes.
The man shrugged helplessly at her question, trying to form his reasons into watching her into coherent thoughts, so he could vocalize them to her. After a few moments of deliberation, he spoke. “You see, when I heard your laughter, I came here to see who the sound was coming from. When I saw you, I started to turn and go about my business, but it looked like you were having such fun. I admit, I wanted to watch, but just to watch you playing with your horse, I swear,” he said. After a rueful sigh, and a half-smile, he continued his explanation of why he watched her for so long. “I don’t remember the last time that I’ve seen someone acting so carefree, so happy just to be alive. When you stopped playing, I almost left, but I just felt this impulse to continue watching you. It’s not because I’m a lecher, or anything of the sort. It’s because, well, you just looked so at ease, so content. It intrigued me. I just sat here, wondering what made you seem like that. That’s the truth of it, I swear.”
Rose stood there as he gave her his explanation, listening to him diplomatically. After he finished speaking, he looked into her eyes. She saw no signs of having spoken fallacy on his face, so she nodded lightly in acceptance and offered him a bit of a smile, assuring him that she wasn’t going to box his ears until they bled. “Very well, sir,” she said to him. “I see no reason to continue to be insulted by your actions, so I forgive you.” She paused for a moment before extending her hand for a handshake of greeting. “My name is Rose, by the way.”
The man looked at her hand for a moment in total confusion. She was actually going to continue speaking to him, now that they had cleared up the misunderstanding? That type of friendliness was rare in this part of the kingdom. With a mental shrug, he took smaller hand into his large, work-roughened one to give it a friendly shake. “My name is Cieus. It’s, um, a pleasure to meet you?” He was still wary. He’d known women who pretended to be forgiving, but in their mind, the gears were grinding, thinking of a perfect revenge.
The smile that widened on Rose’s face belied any hints at treacherous thoughts, though, causing him to relax visibly. “It’s good to meet you, Cieus,” she said to him amicably as she disengaged the handshake gently, wanting him to feel at ease now that she knew that he wasn’t a bad man. As they stood there, making their introductions, she tried to examine him in a discreet manner. He was a tall, broad man, standing at least a head and a half higher than she. It was dark, so she couldn’t make out too many of his features. If she wanted to get a closer look at him, she’d have to do so by the light of a fire or by the light of day. Giving up on the endeavor of taking in his appearance for now, she smiled again. “I assume your camp is nearby?”
“Yes,” he said, nodding as he gave a positive answer. Pointing towards a copse of trees, he glanced over that way. “I’ve set up camp just behind those elms,” he said to her. After a few moments pause, he decided to go out on a limb. “I was just about to make supper, if you’d wish to dine with me,” he enquired invitingly, thinking it would be quite nice to have some company. “It’s a simple fare, consisting of naught but fish, but it will be filling.”
Rose pondered his invitation for a moment, before nodding a bit. “That would be nice, thank you,” she said to him. She was quite hungry, and it was a bit late for her to catch a few fish for herself. Plus, it would be nice to actually talk to someone when it wasn’t concerning business transactions for once.
Cieus smiled when she accepted his invitation to dine with him, as glad for the prospect of company as she was. “Right, then,” he exclaimed in a voice that was much happier than it had been moments before. “I’ll just get the fire set up, and we can be having a feast of fish in no time.” He turned and began to walk towards his own encampment, assuming that Rose would follow close behind. His assumption was correct, for she started after him, walking quickly for a few steps so that she could catch up with him. Once they closed the short distance to his camp, he extended a hand to his bedroll. “Sit, please. Make yourself comfortable, Miss Rose.”
Rose did as he had requested, sitting down on the ground as she watched him dig around in his pack for his flint. Once found, he went over to the stack of wood that had been prepared for the campfire before he’d been distracted. After a few unsuccessful attempts at starting the fire, one of the sparks caught the kindling, and after he blew on it a few times, a fire slowly began to form. Leaning back on his haunches, he watched and waited for the fire to grow enough to be able to cook on. The fish had already been cleaned, so all that was required was for them to be cooked. As the flames consumed their fuel, Cieus grabbed the sticks that he’d prepared to use to cook the fish with. After sticking their meals on the sticks, he put the fish near the fire to cook and moved to sit beside Rose, remaining a respectable distance away. “Why are you travelling out here all on your own,” he asked, breaking the silence as he glanced over at her.
“Oh, I’ve always travelled on my own,” she said to him as she stared into the fire, watching the orange flames dancing against the firewood, devouring the fuel greedily. “Ever since my mother died, that’s what I’ve done. I’ve explored the world.” She shrugged a bit, as though her wanderlust was the most common thing in the world.
He just stared at her for a few moments, not understanding why anyone would make the conscious choice to have a rambler’s life. He especially wondered why someone as delicate as this young woman would make the decision to become a wanderer. “You don’t have anything anchoring you to one place,” he asked her after a few moments.
Rose shook her head a little at his question and turned her face towards him, a smile on her face. “No, nothing. I sort of like my life this way. It might be a bit lonely at times, but I get to see and experience so much. It’s better than just sitting at home, waiting for things to happen. I figure I’ve got quite a few years left to live. If I ever get tired of my ways right now, I can always settle down and form a life for myself in a town somewhere.”
“I suppose I can understand that,” he said, before standing up to check the fish. He picked one up off of the fire and examined it, poking it a bit with his finger. He winced and shook his hand a little before gathering the other sticks with the fish on them and going back over to Rose. He sat down before he handed her fish to her with a smile. “Dinner is served, milady,” he said to her, trying to sound cheerful, but failing to do so. After they’d been eating in silence for a few moments, Cieus spoke once more. “Is there anywhere in particular that you’re going to right now,” he asked curiously.
Rose finished chewing a bite of fish that she’d taken and swallowed before she responded to his question. “Yes. I’ve got this map to these ruins that are only a day or two from here,” she said. “I’m planning on going there, taking in the sights for awhile, and then moving on. I didn’t think it would take as long as it has, though. I’ve been travelling towards the ruins for ten days now.”
He found himself staring at her again, immediately finding that quite odd. “So, you’re travelling to a place that you’ve never seen before, a place that’s going to take nearly two weeks to get there. Then, once you get there, all you’re going to do is look around?” He blinked a bit in confusion, shaking his head in bewilderment.
“Well, yes,” Rose said, feeling a bit affronted. “It’s what I do. I know there are other reasons to travel great distances, but my reasons are to simply see new things. Is that really so odd?”
Cieus thought about this for a moment, before laughing a bit, shaking his head. “No, I don’t suppose it really is all that odd. People travel for more bizarre reasons, I’m sure. Really, what’s the point of travelling if you don’t see places you’ve never seen before, right?”
“Right,” she said to him, nodding in agreement. They fell silent once more, Cieus becoming engrossed in the fish that he was now devouring, the swiftness in which he was eating showing how hungry he was. While he was shoveling food into his mouth, Rose took this opportunity to examine him covertly in the firelight. She couldn’t quite tell what his skin tone or eye color was like, since the shadows cast by their surroundings cast darkness on them, making them both look grayish-black in color. His facial features could be made out, though. He had a straight, aristocratic nose, though, one that looked neither too big nor too small. His cheekbones were high and sharply angled, his jawline sculpted to perfection. All in all, his face gave the impression that he was a man of regal birth. The only thing that belied that impression was the long scar that could be seen running from the corner of his eye, down to his mid-cheek.
Cieus cast Rose a sideways glance when he felt her staring at him, causing her to look away quickly and shove a bit of fish into her mouth, making an explanation impossible. The moment passed, and he looked back down at the remainder of his meal before continuing eating in silence. He was finished eating before her, but remained silent until she was done with her meal. “So,” he said after she’d taken her last bite, “you’re going to some ruins, right?”
Rose nodded a bit as she swallowed, before answering him formally. “Yes, I am,” she said simply, not knowing what else to say since they’d already talked about her destination.
“Would you like to have some company on the remainder of your journey,” he asked, trying to act nonchalant about it. He’d been to a few ruins in his time, and from his experience, there was usually some sort of monster wandering the crumbling buildings. He didn’t like the idea of her being caught off-guard and never getting to do anything else.
She arched her brow slightly when he asked for an invitation to travel with her, thrown off guard by the requested. After remaining silent for a few moments, pondering his question, she finally spoke. “Well, I don’t see why not,” she said cheerfully, offering him a smile.
He had tensed when he had posed the question to her, and when she said yes, he relaxed visibly, letting out a relieved sigh. “Great! We can meet here tomorrow when you’re ready,” he said to her. He paused for a moment before speaking once more. “I’m getting really tired now, so I think I’d like to get some sleep.”
Rose looked up at him for a moment, before she realized that he was asking her to leave. She found that a bit odd, after asking her if he could travel with her, but she chalked it up to just being really tired. “Oh, right. Of course.” She stood up and stretched a bit before throwing her sticks away from the campsite. “I’ll see you tomorrow, then, Cieus,” she said to him with a smile.
He nodded a bit, looking up at her. “Do you want me to walk you back to your camp,” he asked her. It was pretty dark out there now, and he didn’t want her to end up tripping and hurting herself, or being attacked by a nocturnal predator.
She shook her head a bit when he made the offer to escort her back to the place that she’d set her camp up at. “No, no. That’s fine. I can take a stroll in the dark all on my own,” she said, the last part in a teasing tone. She smiled at him before giving him a wave, turning so that she could make her way back to her own camp.
“Stay safe,” he called after her as she walked away. “Have a good night, Rose. It was nice meeting you!” He waved back before he started to get his bed ready for sleep, a bit of a smile curving across his lips as he thought about how nice she was. Once he was lying down, he let out a sigh and stared up at the stars, his hands under his head. As he slowly let his eyes drift closed, he wondered what sort of place she was going to be taking them to. He hoped it was benign and non-threatening as it sounded, but somehow, he doubted it. Trouble always seemed to have a way of finding him. That was his last thought before he fell into his ever-restless sleep.
The man was just standing there, watching Rose as she stomped her way around the lake, heading towards him quickly. From her stance, and the stiff way that she walked, he could tell that she was quite angry, indeed. He looked around, thinking he might want to look for a route of escape. If there was one thing he couldn’t manage, it was a woman’s fury, especially when it was directed at him. Deciding to be a man about it, he dug his feet into the ground so that he wouldn’t end up fleeing, watching her approach with a nervous smile. When she finally had made her way across the lake to him, she planted her hands on her hips and looked up at him, a chastising frown on her face. “So, you think it’s a good idea to watch women while they think they’re alone, do you,” she asked him haughtily, her sapphire eyes flashing with the passion of her anger.
The man’s green eyes widened a bit at the accusation, shaking his head a bit as he held his hands out in the universal ‘surrender’ signal, hoping she wouldn’t decide to slap him, not that he didn’t deserve it. “O-of course not, miss,” he cried out. “I meant no harm at all,” he insisted. “I simply heard your laughter, and I came to investigate. That’s all.”
She scoffed at the tall, broad man’s excuse, rolling her eyes heavenward. God save her from men, she thought to herself before she met his eyes once more. “If it were mere curiosity, you wouldn’t have been watching me for however long you’ve been watching me,” she said to him, straightening up a bit more so she seemed taller than she actually was, wanting to intimidate him as much as possible.
“Well, I-I-I, well,” he let out a sigh. “You’re right, of course,” he said, bowing his head humbly, apologetically. “I didn’t mean to spy on you like I did, miss,” he said, his voice sounding morose. Whether it was from being caught, or from being truly sorry, Rose couldn’t be sure. She was leaning towards the choice of him being truly sorry, though.
She let out a sigh, eyeing him a bit less harshly as she watched him deflate in front of her. “If you didn’t mean to spy on me, then why did you,” she asked him, a bit more gently. She couldn’t stay too angry with this man. He truly seemed sorry, and she sensed no maliciousness in his warm brown eyes.
The man shrugged helplessly at her question, trying to form his reasons into watching her into coherent thoughts, so he could vocalize them to her. After a few moments of deliberation, he spoke. “You see, when I heard your laughter, I came here to see who the sound was coming from. When I saw you, I started to turn and go about my business, but it looked like you were having such fun. I admit, I wanted to watch, but just to watch you playing with your horse, I swear,” he said. After a rueful sigh, and a half-smile, he continued his explanation of why he watched her for so long. “I don’t remember the last time that I’ve seen someone acting so carefree, so happy just to be alive. When you stopped playing, I almost left, but I just felt this impulse to continue watching you. It’s not because I’m a lecher, or anything of the sort. It’s because, well, you just looked so at ease, so content. It intrigued me. I just sat here, wondering what made you seem like that. That’s the truth of it, I swear.”
Rose stood there as he gave her his explanation, listening to him diplomatically. After he finished speaking, he looked into her eyes. She saw no signs of having spoken fallacy on his face, so she nodded lightly in acceptance and offered him a bit of a smile, assuring him that she wasn’t going to box his ears until they bled. “Very well, sir,” she said to him. “I see no reason to continue to be insulted by your actions, so I forgive you.” She paused for a moment before extending her hand for a handshake of greeting. “My name is Rose, by the way.”
The man looked at her hand for a moment in total confusion. She was actually going to continue speaking to him, now that they had cleared up the misunderstanding? That type of friendliness was rare in this part of the kingdom. With a mental shrug, he took smaller hand into his large, work-roughened one to give it a friendly shake. “My name is Cieus. It’s, um, a pleasure to meet you?” He was still wary. He’d known women who pretended to be forgiving, but in their mind, the gears were grinding, thinking of a perfect revenge.
The smile that widened on Rose’s face belied any hints at treacherous thoughts, though, causing him to relax visibly. “It’s good to meet you, Cieus,” she said to him amicably as she disengaged the handshake gently, wanting him to feel at ease now that she knew that he wasn’t a bad man. As they stood there, making their introductions, she tried to examine him in a discreet manner. He was a tall, broad man, standing at least a head and a half higher than she. It was dark, so she couldn’t make out too many of his features. If she wanted to get a closer look at him, she’d have to do so by the light of a fire or by the light of day. Giving up on the endeavor of taking in his appearance for now, she smiled again. “I assume your camp is nearby?”
“Yes,” he said, nodding as he gave a positive answer. Pointing towards a copse of trees, he glanced over that way. “I’ve set up camp just behind those elms,” he said to her. After a few moments pause, he decided to go out on a limb. “I was just about to make supper, if you’d wish to dine with me,” he enquired invitingly, thinking it would be quite nice to have some company. “It’s a simple fare, consisting of naught but fish, but it will be filling.”
Rose pondered his invitation for a moment, before nodding a bit. “That would be nice, thank you,” she said to him. She was quite hungry, and it was a bit late for her to catch a few fish for herself. Plus, it would be nice to actually talk to someone when it wasn’t concerning business transactions for once.
Cieus smiled when she accepted his invitation to dine with him, as glad for the prospect of company as she was. “Right, then,” he exclaimed in a voice that was much happier than it had been moments before. “I’ll just get the fire set up, and we can be having a feast of fish in no time.” He turned and began to walk towards his own encampment, assuming that Rose would follow close behind. His assumption was correct, for she started after him, walking quickly for a few steps so that she could catch up with him. Once they closed the short distance to his camp, he extended a hand to his bedroll. “Sit, please. Make yourself comfortable, Miss Rose.”
Rose did as he had requested, sitting down on the ground as she watched him dig around in his pack for his flint. Once found, he went over to the stack of wood that had been prepared for the campfire before he’d been distracted. After a few unsuccessful attempts at starting the fire, one of the sparks caught the kindling, and after he blew on it a few times, a fire slowly began to form. Leaning back on his haunches, he watched and waited for the fire to grow enough to be able to cook on. The fish had already been cleaned, so all that was required was for them to be cooked. As the flames consumed their fuel, Cieus grabbed the sticks that he’d prepared to use to cook the fish with. After sticking their meals on the sticks, he put the fish near the fire to cook and moved to sit beside Rose, remaining a respectable distance away. “Why are you travelling out here all on your own,” he asked, breaking the silence as he glanced over at her.
“Oh, I’ve always travelled on my own,” she said to him as she stared into the fire, watching the orange flames dancing against the firewood, devouring the fuel greedily. “Ever since my mother died, that’s what I’ve done. I’ve explored the world.” She shrugged a bit, as though her wanderlust was the most common thing in the world.
He just stared at her for a few moments, not understanding why anyone would make the conscious choice to have a rambler’s life. He especially wondered why someone as delicate as this young woman would make the decision to become a wanderer. “You don’t have anything anchoring you to one place,” he asked her after a few moments.
Rose shook her head a little at his question and turned her face towards him, a smile on her face. “No, nothing. I sort of like my life this way. It might be a bit lonely at times, but I get to see and experience so much. It’s better than just sitting at home, waiting for things to happen. I figure I’ve got quite a few years left to live. If I ever get tired of my ways right now, I can always settle down and form a life for myself in a town somewhere.”
“I suppose I can understand that,” he said, before standing up to check the fish. He picked one up off of the fire and examined it, poking it a bit with his finger. He winced and shook his hand a little before gathering the other sticks with the fish on them and going back over to Rose. He sat down before he handed her fish to her with a smile. “Dinner is served, milady,” he said to her, trying to sound cheerful, but failing to do so. After they’d been eating in silence for a few moments, Cieus spoke once more. “Is there anywhere in particular that you’re going to right now,” he asked curiously.
Rose finished chewing a bite of fish that she’d taken and swallowed before she responded to his question. “Yes. I’ve got this map to these ruins that are only a day or two from here,” she said. “I’m planning on going there, taking in the sights for awhile, and then moving on. I didn’t think it would take as long as it has, though. I’ve been travelling towards the ruins for ten days now.”
He found himself staring at her again, immediately finding that quite odd. “So, you’re travelling to a place that you’ve never seen before, a place that’s going to take nearly two weeks to get there. Then, once you get there, all you’re going to do is look around?” He blinked a bit in confusion, shaking his head in bewilderment.
“Well, yes,” Rose said, feeling a bit affronted. “It’s what I do. I know there are other reasons to travel great distances, but my reasons are to simply see new things. Is that really so odd?”
Cieus thought about this for a moment, before laughing a bit, shaking his head. “No, I don’t suppose it really is all that odd. People travel for more bizarre reasons, I’m sure. Really, what’s the point of travelling if you don’t see places you’ve never seen before, right?”
“Right,” she said to him, nodding in agreement. They fell silent once more, Cieus becoming engrossed in the fish that he was now devouring, the swiftness in which he was eating showing how hungry he was. While he was shoveling food into his mouth, Rose took this opportunity to examine him covertly in the firelight. She couldn’t quite tell what his skin tone or eye color was like, since the shadows cast by their surroundings cast darkness on them, making them both look grayish-black in color. His facial features could be made out, though. He had a straight, aristocratic nose, though, one that looked neither too big nor too small. His cheekbones were high and sharply angled, his jawline sculpted to perfection. All in all, his face gave the impression that he was a man of regal birth. The only thing that belied that impression was the long scar that could be seen running from the corner of his eye, down to his mid-cheek.
Cieus cast Rose a sideways glance when he felt her staring at him, causing her to look away quickly and shove a bit of fish into her mouth, making an explanation impossible. The moment passed, and he looked back down at the remainder of his meal before continuing eating in silence. He was finished eating before her, but remained silent until she was done with her meal. “So,” he said after she’d taken her last bite, “you’re going to some ruins, right?”
Rose nodded a bit as she swallowed, before answering him formally. “Yes, I am,” she said simply, not knowing what else to say since they’d already talked about her destination.
“Would you like to have some company on the remainder of your journey,” he asked, trying to act nonchalant about it. He’d been to a few ruins in his time, and from his experience, there was usually some sort of monster wandering the crumbling buildings. He didn’t like the idea of her being caught off-guard and never getting to do anything else.
She arched her brow slightly when he asked for an invitation to travel with her, thrown off guard by the requested. After remaining silent for a few moments, pondering his question, she finally spoke. “Well, I don’t see why not,” she said cheerfully, offering him a smile.
He had tensed when he had posed the question to her, and when she said yes, he relaxed visibly, letting out a relieved sigh. “Great! We can meet here tomorrow when you’re ready,” he said to her. He paused for a moment before speaking once more. “I’m getting really tired now, so I think I’d like to get some sleep.”
Rose looked up at him for a moment, before she realized that he was asking her to leave. She found that a bit odd, after asking her if he could travel with her, but she chalked it up to just being really tired. “Oh, right. Of course.” She stood up and stretched a bit before throwing her sticks away from the campsite. “I’ll see you tomorrow, then, Cieus,” she said to him with a smile.
He nodded a bit, looking up at her. “Do you want me to walk you back to your camp,” he asked her. It was pretty dark out there now, and he didn’t want her to end up tripping and hurting herself, or being attacked by a nocturnal predator.
She shook her head a bit when he made the offer to escort her back to the place that she’d set her camp up at. “No, no. That’s fine. I can take a stroll in the dark all on my own,” she said, the last part in a teasing tone. She smiled at him before giving him a wave, turning so that she could make her way back to her own camp.
“Stay safe,” he called after her as she walked away. “Have a good night, Rose. It was nice meeting you!” He waved back before he started to get his bed ready for sleep, a bit of a smile curving across his lips as he thought about how nice she was. Once he was lying down, he let out a sigh and stared up at the stars, his hands under his head. As he slowly let his eyes drift closed, he wondered what sort of place she was going to be taking them to. He hoped it was benign and non-threatening as it sounded, but somehow, he doubted it. Trouble always seemed to have a way of finding him. That was his last thought before he fell into his ever-restless sleep.