Spirits of the Earth

OOC: This thread is for @Moonie

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If there is one thing that can be said about sleeping in your grave, is that it is normally very quiet and serene when you awake. Every time she had awoken after death, this was true, as Lady Averella always had a sense of peace, which was the opposite of the struggle, the gasping of exhausted breath when she was undergoing another dieing spell when her body turned back to bone, wraps and dust. But this time was different. She awoke in the same, quiet calmness and darkness as usual, as she always kept her sarcophagus shut during her time of death sleep (or so she had come to call it), but as she began to stretch out her limbs leisurely, groaning lightly, sweetly in contentment to feel her limbs alive again (and not half or partial bones, but full, real, heated skin and limbs), she gave a small sigh of satisfaction before moving to press the lid open when she found the it wouldn't budge.

Blinking, she gave it another try, thinking she just might not have had her full strength about her, but as she grunted and pushed and pressed, the silly thing just would not open. At first, she simply stared at it, confused, not quite sure what to make of it. The lid always came open, then after a few more good pushes, she began to realize the severity of this plight and panic over took her.  Someone, or something had happened to her coffin! And here she was, trapped inside! Beating her fists upon the lid, she was about to scream out when she heard noises from the other side. Her mouth fell closed, but remained, open as she curiously tried to listen to what was going on.

Voices. Yes, she heard voices. Distinctively male voices, and as she pressed her face up against the coffin lid in hopes to hear better of what was going on, she then heard shouting.
"We've been spotted! Arm yourselves men! They look like royal guards from Jadenshine!"

She could hear the drawing of steel, the roar of men and the sudden rocking of her sarcophagus. Shrieking, she felt herself slammed uneasily to one side, before she was tipped forward, bobbing to the other end and came crashing down uncomfortably into her own feet.  It hurt, she had stubbed her toe, and she couldn't begin to fathom what on earth was going on outside of her coffin. Was there some sort of war!? Was she somehow taken hostage in the middle of some great battle!? But how on earth was this possible? She had hidden her coffin away in the most hard to find of places, and in one she was sure was safe- but she hardly had time to think more on it when she heard a splash- then water all around her- she could hear it bubbling and threatening to swallow her coffin whole.

She gasped, and tried clawing at the coffin lid, but felt the weight of the water pushing down. They were trying to drown her! And here she was, back alive again in her coffin and was now fated to waste away at the bottom of some sort of river or sea! Oh! How cruel fate could be!
Just as she was beginning to tear up over the matter, a sharp jerk had her coffin lurching upwards and with such a force she smacked the side of her temple off the side of the coffin and went still, never knowing that the thieves that had stolen her coffin had aimed to sell it (and the mummified corpse inside) for money. They had sealed it shut, but on their way trying to discretely ship the goods out of the serendipity river lands, the bandits had fallen into some sort of trouble- and little did they know how big their trouble really was.

If Sir Robert Thorne had learned anything about retirement in the last few months it was this: Retirement is fucking boring as hell.

All things considered it was probably too late to change his mind; especially since he wasn't sure if he had made the right decision or not. Trying to go back could just push him even further from doing what was best – for everyone.

What he did know was wallowing in self-pity at his sister's home was definitely not the right thing. It wasn't in him to spend his days drinking himself stupid and his nights fucking whores. Although he supposed that would be considered a fairly ideal way to live out one's days by many men of any age, let alone one as young as him.

Robb was still in his prime, after all.

Since he had left his brothers and sisters of The Order, things had basically gone from bad to worse. His family had welcomed him back, but his childhood home wasn't really home any longer. The walls were the same, but his sister was so much older, and her children were half grown themselves – the place was both familiar and alien all at the same time and Robb found it impossible to find any peace of mind or heart in that place.

No matter his family's good intentions.

During his years of service as a knight of the realm and instrument of The Order of the Moon Robb had travelled across the kingdom many times, but always with a mission, a purpose, and a goal. Exploring the lands of his home country was an entirely different experience from the perspective of just another worn-out drifter searching for some meaning to it all.

That was how he found himself riding aimlessly along the roads of Serendipity on the back of a fifteen year old buckskin gilding – a horse with a personality as bland as applesauce – at just the right moment to witness the local royal guard enact a raid on what he could only assume was a ship belonging to smugglers and thieves. A sight that immediately set his heart pounding with a familiar rush of adrenaline and the desire to act – he was a knight, punishing criminals and protecting citizens was practically what he was born to do.

This wasn't Moonspear, though, and those were Jadenshine soldiers.

He shouldn't interfere.

It wasn't as if he was close enough to even make a difference. The guards would clean up that rabble before he could even prove helpful.

Robb still couldn't help but watch the conflict with a morbid thrill of longing. This was probably what helped him spot something sliding overboard, crashing into the water. None of the guards seemed to even notice that something had escaped. Maybe one of the thieves had pushed it into the river in hopes of reclaiming it eventually if they survived and escaped.

Whatever it was, it was probably contraband that should be turned in to the local authorities – depending on what it was. Given the shape he suspected an elongated crate of some sort. It was hard to really tell from this distance.

Turning off the road he urged his horse down closer to the riverbank before climbing down and hurriedly shrugging off his coat and boots. The current was going to bring the box right to him, and it should be fairly light while in the water no matter what it was made of or what hidden treasure was inside; as long as it wasn't taking on a lot of water.

Gods be good that wasn't the case or else it would simply sink and would likely never be recovered.

Robb waded into the water up to his waist before diving forward and swimming towards the strange box while fighting the current. Soon the coffin was close enough for it to be apparent exactly what it was. He might have thought it strange, but smugglers could have filled it with anything – there didn't have to be a corpse inside. He really hoped there wasn't. All this trouble for a damn dead body would really be annoying.

Or just very ironic.

Once he reached the sarcophagus and grabbed it, Robb realized that something so large was rather unwieldy when attempting to tow it back to shore. Draping the upper half of his body over it and using his feet to slowly kick them back to shore was really the only way without thinking it through ahead of time.

"Fucking hell, I'm getting to old for this bullshit."

When things calmed down (at least more than before) , the woman began to stir. She winced when she touched her head, now very tender with pain. But the darkness was most unwelcoming, and when she tried to open the lid again she recalled her plight.

Fear struck her and the same panicked feeling as before lit through her veins. She was to die here, trapped for who knows how long in this coffin, to rot and rerot over and over again.

That was until she heard a noise, a distinctively male voice and her heart leaped. A way out! Using all of her strength, she began to bang on the coffin lid, shouting, "Help, sir! Please! Please! I want out!"

Robb had barely touched the coffin when he nearly had a heart attack. With a shout he let go of it completely when something began banging on the lid, staring at it slack-jawed as it began floating away from him slightly. For a moment he honestly wasn't sure what the hell had just happened. The knight had figured the crooks had filled the thing with trinkets or gold as the best case scenario, and at the worst he thought there would just be a shriveled up corpse inside.

Nobody could expect something alive to be sealed up in a coffin!

Shaking his head Robb redoubled his efforts, grabbing hold of the ornamental burial box and trying to pry it open with his hands. The lid wouldn't budge, of course. What kind of sick fucks would seal a living girl inside a coffin? Of course he assumed the thieves had put her there.

"Just hold on, don't panic. I'll get you out, but the lid's stuck." He wondered how long she'd been stuck in there. What if she was running out of air? Well screaming would use up her air that much faster. He pulled at the lid again, but he couldn't break the seal with his bare hands. Those slimy bastards, he wondered if they were getting a kick out of listening to her slowly dying from suffocation.

He reached one hand behind him and pulled out the knife from his belt, using as much force as he could with the awkward situation of remaining afloat while clinging to the coffin, Robb jabbed the blade into the seal and used the greater leverage to crack the lid open.

Of course that immediately let water begin leaking into the now unsealed container, but he really didn't care if the coffin sank to the bottom of the river. As long as he was able to get the woman out!

The lock cracked, but became stuck, remain just partially open as waters began to pour into the coffin, weighting it down. Gasping, Averella flailed within.

"Oh, Goodness! Please! The lid.." she coughed, taking in water. "The key is-" but then the coffin dipped suddenly, taking in too much water and too fast on one side and lurched from her rescuer's grip.

"Fuck!" The coffin was wrenched right out of his fingers, which admittedly smarted a bit, but he was more concerned about the fact that it was quickly sinking under water with a woman still trapped inside it.

Did she say something about a key?

How long could someone hold their breath for anyway? Robb wasn't sure he'd be able to just find a key while holding his breath under water before the person he was trying to save drowned. Gods be damned, it would be his fault too, wouldn't it?

"Hell no, not again." Didn't matter that he didn't know this girl, he was not letting her die because he failed to do the right thing. Again.

Robb launched himself at the deathtrap. It wasn't easy to regain a grip on the coffin, it was almost impossible to keep it from submerging completely as it filled with water, if it went under he'd be going with it. "What key?!"

Getting a good hold of his knife again he jammed it into the lock again. If he wrenched hard enough maybe he could completely break the lock.

Who needed a key when brute strength could save the day? It seemed his desperation and sheer will power were enough to snap the lock clean from the coffin's lid, sending it sailing into the ever faster moving waters. By then,t he coffin spun about, the force enough to slam the side of the coffin into her rescuer before the poor trapped girl could shout, "Watch out!" And even if she could have forewarned him, the blow against the other human was enough to reclose the lid on the coffin and re-trap the girl inside to a nearly flooded hull, which she was floundering around in uselessly.

A triumphant shout would have been in order as the lock flew off the lid, but instead Robb could only grunt in pain as the current twisted the coffin about again, nearly knocking the breath clean out of him. The impact was jarring enough to cause him to once again lose his grip, the river pulling the girl out of his reach as the lid snapped shut.

At least there wasn't a lock on it anymore, that was a rather cold comfort as he watched the water pull both coffin and girl under the surface.

Taking a deep breath, Robb dove under - it was difficult to see but he fumbled until he found the coffin again. First he tried to once again drag it upwards, but soon realized he'd never get the filled thing floating again. It took several precious seconds for him to be able to pry the lid open once again, bubbles of air escaping as he used his body to block the lid from closing while he reached for Averella.

She was all but swallowed inside, the lid, no longer locked but trapping her down with water now as it began to sink like a ball of lead. Frantically she tried, pushing, hammering and throwing herself at the lid. And then it opened, and the water rushed out, along with her- but something caught her, and she caught it, as the woman clung to his arm, black hair a wild river of curls all around her, being pulled by the current as her deeply tanned body was slowly being bared to the world as the very waters they fought against seemed to be tearing off all her clothes.

Robb felt her clinging to him, though it was hard to see between being swallowed by the river and the very dark hair that was swirling around in the current. Luckily he really didn't need to see clearly just then. His arm wrapped around her, pulling the woman against him as he kicked upwards, dragging them both towards safety. Although only having one arm free for swimming did make it a little harder.

When he wrapped his arm around her she curled herself in close, clinging desperately but just trying to keep out of his way. It wasn't until the pair broke the surface did she realize how good fresh air tasted. Her eyes fluttered open as she turned to finally look at the man who saved her, and for just but a moment, her mind was caught in her throat.

When they managed to break the surface all Robb could do was gulp for breath, filling his burning lungs with sweet, sweet air. His deep chocolate hair was nearly black as it clung to his face, having been pulled from the tie that would usually be holding it back. Once his breath was caught he turned his dark brown eyes onto the small woman clinging to him and felt relief flood him that she seemed to be perfectly fine - all things considered!

He was rather struck by the large, green eyes staring back at him. They were a lovely hue peering out from a beautiful, youthful face. Her expression was kind of hard for him to decipher, but almost self-consciously he turned his head away from the poor woman, wondering if maybe his scar was intimidating. It wasn't as if he didn't know he was a little grizzled and rough around the edges.

If they weren't still treading water and he wasn't so tired, Robb might have been able to summon up even more outrage for people that had locked and sealed a living beauty inside a damned casket.

Except he was pretty worn out, this had been a rather delightful misadventure so far, but he was more than ready to just have it be over. Keeping one arm snugly wrapped around her, Robb fought with the current to begin hauling them towards the riverbank. He couldn't see the ship that had been the start of this entire affair, or his horse either. They'd probably been dragged much farther downstream than he'd originally anticipated.

If the scar was an aversion, she took no real note of it- at least not at first. She was a rather timid thing, especially around men, and considering she found herself in the arms of a rather good looking man, she couldn't have helped but gawk. But she had noted the scar, and felt a pang of pity lump in her heart, but she remained quiet as he swam them both to shore.

She wasn't entirely certain she could have managed making it back there by herself, and as they neared the bank she turned away from him to give him a rather bashful, but sweet, "Thank you... for, for saving me."

She knew she'd drown other wise and although death was nothing knew to her, she didn't think drowning would be a fun way to go. At least with her other, deathly condition, she had little choice and though it was invasive and as uncomfortable as one could imagine, at least it was something she could ready herself, mentally, for.

It wasn'tuntilt he waters grew shallow did she try to touch the ground, only to find herself gasping and clutching at whatever limp shreds of her mummy wrappings hadn't been swept away by the river to make herself at least somewhat decent.

But she was decidedly too late in her actions, for she barely was able to catch a fist full of the decaying, water logged strands.

Whether Robb's scar was an aversion or not was really all in the eyes of the beholder. Some people found it made him more intimidating - some ladies thought it added a little something to his rugged appeal. He really wasn't sure which category his current company fell into, but given all they'd both been through just now, he really wasn't too worried about finding out.

As long as they both made it safely back to dry land.

"You can thank me when we're actually out of the water." Robb huffed a soft laugh. He wasn't sure he was really expecting any thanks, when he'd went into the river he'd certainly not been expecting what he was fishing out was a living, breathing woman.

Finally they reached the shallows, and he stumbled upon the loose river stones beneath his bare feet. Until now Robb hadn't even noticed that the woman he'd been holding against him was naked. With the immediate danger past it became pretty damn hard not to notice. It was extremely ungentlemanly to stare at a bare woman, but for a moment he couldn't help himself as he took a step back from her.

She wasn't even close to the first naked girl he'd laid his eyes on, but he'd uncouthly have admitted she was one of the lovelier ones. Even if they both looked a tiny bit like drowned rats at the moment.

Robb cleared his throat and turned around abruptly, very rude to stare at a naked lady, no matter the situation. His shirt was soaked through, of course, but he peeled it off hastily and gently thrust it out behind him. It would engulf such a petite little woman, but that was a good thing in this instance - she'd be covered up quite a bit!

"I'm sorry, miss. I don't have anything dry on hand, but this will at least keep you decent until you've got something more appropriate to put on."

Her face was scarlet, despite her darker skin. And she was more than grateful when the soggy shirt was offered.

"Oh by the suns, thank you," she went on, swiftly pulling the shirt around her to get it to fit as best as possible. She had to hug it close, not feeling up for the challenge of all of it's buttons and ties and peered over at him bashfully once she was decent.

"Do you have a name?" she asked quietly, sweetly. "I keep... thanking you," she went on, tucking some dark strands of her hair behind an ear. "I'd like to know the name of the man who saved me. That way I can thank you properly, name and all."

Robb kept his back turned to her, forcing himself to stare straight ahead and ignore the temptation to peek. Even hearing her soft, sweet voice question his name didn't turn him around - just in case! "Sir Robert Thorne, miss. You don't have to keep thanking me, though. Any decent man would have done the same."

Robb had an entirely new problem now that they were out of the water. What did he do with her? It seemed irresponsible to just leave her there alone, but what did he do instead? "Did those men kidnap you? Where are you from?"

She seemed distinctly foreign to him, he was pretty sure she was not from Serendipity. If anything, he'd say she reminded him more of the Essyrni women he'd known. Except for the height, he thought people from Essyrn were usually tall.

"Sir Robert Thorne..." she mused over the name before gasping. "Oh! Are you a knight?"

Such an idea, and how excited she was over this idea, could easily be heard in her voice. Even still, the excitement managed to carry over to his other questions, as she moved closer, placing a small hand on his bicep.

"Kidnap? What do you mean?" she had no idea what had happened to her to say the least, she knew she just woke up from her death sleep and poof, was in the crazy coffin sinking incident.

Thank the gods that she was decently covered, because when her gasp reached his ears Robb's instinctive reaction was to whip his head around to see what was wrong. Apprehension turned into confusion as she became excited, asking if he was a knight. Maybe knights were uncommon where she was from - he admittedly didn't know a great deal about other countries. Just very basic history lessons from many, many years ago.

And rumors or hearsay.

There was also the possibility that he was totally wrong and she was actually from Serendipity. Maybe she was born here but had a parent or grandparent from farther south.

"Yes, miss...ah...I haven't gotten your name yet, but yes. A knight of Moonspear and formerly of The Order of the Moon." Robb turned towards her when she placed a hand on his arm, looking down at her and tilting his head. "Well the Jadenshine royal guards attacked a smuggler's vessel - that coffin was tipped into the river by the criminals. I had no idea there was a person inside, and I assumed they kidnapped you."

So much information had come at her at once that she was immediately over whelmed, and gasping at each detail. She clung to his arm, eyes wide.
"So you are saying someone took my coffin?" Her eyes remained very wide as she retained all of this. "Smugglers.. from.. from where, you think? Oh my.. I wonder if they took my other things.."

She was quickly frowning, face full of worry as she wrung out her hands and still...
Had yet to give back her name.

"Do you know which way they have gone? Oh.. they must be upriver, far up river by now.."s he went on, beginning to pace, and moving as ifs he were about ready to sprint clean after her would be captives.

Robb didn't really know what she meant by them taking her coffin, but he really didn't want to try figuring it out right now. She seemed like she was half working herself up to hysterics to him. Well, given she'd been trapped inside a casket and nearly drowned in a river he could maybe sympathize just a little.

More importantly the little lady looked ready to bolt after the criminals, and he couldn't just have that. She'd get herself killed and he'd just put a lot of effort into saving her life.

His large hands quickly wrapped around her upper arms, pulling her to face him as he leaned down to look her in the eye - she was quite a tiny thing! "Just calm down. Yes, they're probably a few miles upriver, but I'm telling you the Jadenshine royal guard was fighting them. It doesn't matter where they're from, they're probably dead now. If they had stolen your things, then the guard will have confiscated them. I'm sure if you can prove ownership we can get your belongings back and then we can worry about getting you home safe and sound. Okay?"

Averella blinked, needing to strain to look up at him. "Oh?" He was a rather tall man. "So.. so you can help me get my things back?" she asked, feeling a little awkward about the whole ordeal, and still very anxious. "Thank you I.." she blushed and dropped her gaze. "Here I am, prattling off about my things when you just risked your life for me." She looked up at him again, a bit sheepish.

"I'm sure they're important things." Robb shrugged his shoulders and pulled his hands away from her with a gesture back the way they'd just come. "But neither of us will be getting our things back if we don't get moving."

Barefoot and bare-chested, he wasn't exactly looking very knightly. He wasn't even going to think about how she looked. Dripping wet with his drenched shirt clinging to her form - not exactly appropriate or proper attire for any woman. At the very least he could get a dry shirt on her and his coat wrapped about her when they found his horse.

Robb placed a hand gently on her back and gently pushed her towards the road, which ran close to the river for miles and miles. "Come along, miss. It's going to be a long walk."

Averella sighed and moved along at his insistence.
"I suppose things can't get any worse," she went on, raking a hand through her mess of wet, black curls. "But a long walk might do me some good." She tried to stay optimistic. "It feels like forever since I've had a chance to stretch my legs." And as she walked, she made some soft noises as she stretched her arms out above her head.

Feeling the sunlight filter through the trees, she paused a moment to smile and let it's warmth dance across her face.
"It also feels like ages since I've felt or seen the sun." And she moved a hand forward, as if trying to let the sun's rays rest on her palms.

Gods but he hated that phrase, because no matter how many times you said it, and no matter how bad things seemed, life seemed determined to prove just how much worse it could really be. Robb sighed softly, reaching a hand up to push his hair back out of his face.

"You must have been a captive for a long time, the way you talk." He scowled heavily as he walked, trying to imagine being a prisoner. She couldn't have been kept out of the sun that long, not with that rich bronze glow to her skin, but he supposed if he was kept locked up even a few hours would have seemed an eternity - she'd probably been captive for much longer.

"So you still haven't told me your name or where you're from. It would be nice to have something to call you other than just 'miss' and to know just how far you are from home." It would be nice to know just how far he'd have to send her to see her safely returned to where she belonged.

She had a happy bounce to her step, even a real glow about her. But as she noticed the man's scowl, she paused to turn to him curiously, but then closed her lips, thinking better than to ask. He seemed to be in a soured mood about it.

When he changed the subject, she was relieved- but only momentarily.
"My name? Oh!" Heavens, how could she have forgotten to tell him that? "Oh it's Ah.." she paused, hesitating a moment before rushing out, "Averella, but if it's too long ah, you can shorten it if you'd like."

Others had. She wasn't sure if she hated it or not. The name was just a name, after all. It wasn't even her birth name anyway.

"And I'm from.." Again, she hesitated, trying to think of how truthful she ought to be. "Er, well, my home is rather far away. At least that is to say the home where I was born. I've lived in a lot of places you see, in one location or another, many homes actually.." she went on, thinking it over with a tap to her chin. "Although I can't say I've been there in a while.. or there..."
The locations, naturally, were inside her head as she thought it over out loud.

Robb didn't stop walking, but he glanced back and down at her. He wondered why she had hesitated to give her name and outright skirted around where she was from. Maybe she was a runaway and didn't want to be found. If that was the case he wouldn't have a lot of luck helping her get home safely, but at the very least he could make sure she was clothed properly and as safe as he could manage before leaving her.

"Averella is a pretty name, and not one I've heard before." Well, it was true. "I'm from Moonspear myself. It's a lovely province, if you've never been. We're not all that far from it. Jadenshine is one of our neighboring provinces. I was on my way home when I saw you go into the river." All also true.

Mainly he thought it was going to be a long, boring walk if they didn't talk, and he hoped it would serve as a calming distraction. The last thing Robb needed was for Averella to worry and panic about whatever it was she was missing.

She let him explain things to her. She knew the lands well enough (after all, she was an age even she could disbelieve), but smiled none the less. However, talking about how he had come upon her made her gasp.

"Oh! Forgive me! I had.. had not realized but oh... You mustn't fuss over me! I'd feel just awful to keep you from your family!"

"Well I can't simply leave you without even any proper clothing, Miss Averella. What would my family think of me if I did such a thing? Besides, my sister can wait, she doesn't even know I'm coming. I doubt she would make much of a fuss even if she did." Robb shrugged his shoulders, going home wasn't exactly a grand affair for him. While he loved his siblings, and from some blood obligation they cared for him too, none of them were what you would call particularly close.

"Oh, but I-" She floundered some before growing quiet, and casting her gaze downward to where fidgety fingers fussed over the hem of his wet shirt barely clothing her. "You're being so kind to me. I just wish I had the means to repay you."

Her things...
If all of her things had been taken... they were priceless; and worthless to some. However, she did have some currency she had taken care to hide among her things. No doubt that was all gone, too. She couldn't imagine someone simply stealing her coffin but leaving her other trinkets behind. And at the reminder, she wilted a bit more.

A cold breeze caused her to shiver, refocusing her attention on how uncomfortable it was to be clothed in such a way, and wet with such winds picking up. Though it seemed, as she glanced towards the horizon, there might be rain in their future. It even smelled of it- a scent that always tickled her.

Rain meant many things in the desert. Hope, death....
But out here, in this much more open world, full of much more vivacious life....
Rain meant a whole other wonder to Averella.

"You can repay me by letting me make sure that you're safe and not in danger when we part ways. For my own peace of mind and guilt-free conscience that I did all that I could to help a young woman in trouble." Robb hadn't jumped into the river to be a hero, he didn't want to be a hero, and he didn't consider what he'd done all that heroic. Averella hadn't even existed to him before he heard her pounding away inside that coffin begging to be let out.

Helping her was just the right and noble thing to do.

The breeze affected him in much the same way it did her, causing a chilled shudder to go through him. They were both soaked through and through. He glanced up at the skyline and scowled at the gathering thunderheads far off in the distance. Well, it wasn't unusual for their to be storms and rain in the riverlands during this season. Didn't make it less annoying.

"After we gather up my things we should find a place to weather the rain. We're both wet and cold, an inn with a warm fireplace and hot food sounds pretty damn good to me right now." Maybe a long, hot bath too to soak out any and all chill.

"Oh! That sounds heavenly!" she gushed. "I'd do just about anything for a warm bed, clothes and meal right about now." And her stomach emphasized the point by rumbling loudly. "It's.. been a while since I've had anything to eat," she went on, hasty and sheepish as she tucked dark hair from her face.

Just about anything, huh? Lucky for her Robb wasn't a perverted scoundrel that was expecting or demanding things for his efforts. The whole situation was quite fortuitous for her all things considered. While obviously taken by those criminals, she seemed unharmed and the man to discover and rescue her was one of upstanding morals.

"Well we'll work on getting all three of those taken care of for you, Miss Averella. I'm sure we can even manage a bath. I know I'm looking forward to one. A dip in cold river water is hardly cleansing next to a hot tub with a good bar of soap and some oils." Well, he wasn't much for fragrant bath oils, but he knew a lot of women enjoyed the oils and lotions and all manner of pampering bathing rituals he wasn't going to pretend to understand.

She could have moaned.
"Oh, yes, a bath." It was hard to contain her excitement. It felt like eons, and as she moved, she stretched a little, her back and arms cracking softly as she sighed. Another rush of wind, however, reminded her about the ever darkening skies, and she saw a flicker of lightning on the horizon.

"The storm seems to be moving in fast." The winds were even picking up even more.

Moving in fast...the crack of thunder made Robb aware of another problem. He left his horse next to the river unattended with all his possessions. His horse. A type of animal not exactly heralded for it's bravery when confronted with loud noises and flashing lights. It would be terrible to get back to that place and find the dumb beast had bolted away from the storm.

"Yeah, it is. Look, just keep following the road in this direction. I'm going to run ahead and try to grab my horse before he gets spooked by the weather. I'll come back for you. I promise." Robb didn't really wait for her to agree before taking off at a quick jog, he needed to get his things - his clothing, money, and swords were attached to that damn horse. He didn't want to go home in nothing but his pants. Would be far too difficult to explain to his sister.

"Oh! Uh oh..." she blinked, and stood there, watching him run off. "Al... alright." She shifted awkwardly, looking at the road, then back to his form. He said keep moving right? Well, she supposed she should do just that, and nervously continued on her way, eyes going up towards the skies as they grew darker and darker.

Another low, powerful breeze rushed in and forced her to stop and cling to the wet shirt- the weather actually able to lift the little shirt up higher on her thighs than she felt comfortable with and soon her fists were keeping it locked down.

She hadn't made it that far along the path when the skies opened up, and soon she was caught in a heavy downpour and found herself rushing beneath the closest tree- which just happened to be a scraggily pine tree with barely enough limbs to keep the heavy rains off-
and as the rains persisted, the winds grew stronger, blowing in rains from all directions and soon, she felt small pieces of hail bounce off the ground and nick at her feet.

It was only then she realized her poor rescuer was still out there in this and she held her breath and looked out into the rain, but it was pouring so heavily, she could barely see past the tree she huddled beneath. But all she could think about was the poor man and his horse.

Was he okay? Was his horse okay? Were they staying out of this rain and hail? She rested a hand against the bark of the tree, and bit into her lower lip. She contemplated trying to look for him, but what good would it do in rain like this?

Robb felt bad for leaving her there, he really did, but he couldn't do much good for her if his money ran off, now could he? They'd been carried farther downriver than he'd expected when he first dove into the water, but not as far as he'd actually feared.

It was a relief when he came around a bend in the road and the old buckskin came into view. The horse began tossing his head as soon as he saw him. He could hear the frightful wickers coming from the animal and a sheen of frothy sweat was coating the poor gelding. Obviously the storm was terrifying the poor beast, but he'd stayed where he was left, waiting on his master.

The storm was coming faster than he thought, though, and the first drizzles of rain began coming down even as he hurriedly shoved his feet into his boots. He pulled a shirt from one of his bags and tugged it on, then threw his coat over Dune's head and used it to shield both the horse and himself from a little of the stinging rain. The coat was somewhat water repellent, but wouldn't be a real match for a downpour like this.

It took a little coaxing, but he was able to get Dune back onto the road and walked the horse as quickly as he could back the way he'd come. With the rain falling as heavily as it was, and the hail beginning he felt even worse about having left the poor girl by herself.

Dune began to fight him a little, the horse breathing heavily and jerking his head anytime thunder rolled across the sky. Hopefully she'd taken shelter under something - anything.

That's what Robb was forced to do. He guided his frightened beast under some trees to give a little protection from the hail, at the very least. Until that stopped he would just have to wait and hope for the best while gently petting and talking to Dune to calm him.

After a time, the hail stopped and the rain let up to a gentle mist. The ground continued to breath out fog, making it too difficult for her to see much of anything-
but as she scanned her surroundings, she thought she heard a noise- and was that a silhouette? It looked like a man and a horse- hopefully it was that and not some sort of a beast.


She wanted a moment, and when it seemed well enough that it was a horse and man, and hopefully her man, she wasted little time before dashing out from beneath her little pine tree and over towards the copse the pair had been hiding under, and was relieved when she saw it was infact her rescuer and horse.

She smiled brightly and stepped beneath the trees near to him, but far enough away to give his uneasy horse some room.

"Oh, I thought the hail might have separated us for good!" she went on, but smiled and smiled,j ust happy to see things were still turning out for the better. "I see you've got your horse." she was glad. She'd have felt even more terrible had his horse taken off with all his things!

Under normal circumstances Robb would have simply tried to enjoy the fury of nature - there was something violently beautiful about storms - but this time he was impatient and annoyed with the delay. Worry tugged at him. Sure, he had only barely met Averella, but he felt a little responsible for making sure she was okay after whatever ordeals she'd been through that had ended with her nearly drowning in the river. Maybe if he'd never jumped in the river it would be different, but since he had there was a sense of duty to finish what he started.

When the storm quieted he shook out his coat. It wasn't soaked through, thankfully. He'd been about to put it on and get started back out to look for Averella, when he was startled by the very woman that had been tormenting his mind ever since he'd first heard her desperate cries for help.

"I promised I would come back for you." Robb said simply, looking down at her radiant smile. She really was a gorgeous woman, and though he was no stranger to pretty young ladies giving him smiles and looks, Averella's smile made him feel different. He beckoned her over with a slight, reassuring smile. "Yeah, come meet Dune, he's an old fleabag, but he's gentle and loyal enough."

"Dune?" her eyes widened, smile still bright. "Oh, like a sand dune?" She leaned forward, enchanted by the horse as she moved to pet it's long nose. "What a handsome name."

"Yeah, like a sand dune." Robb nodded, stroking the horse's neck affectionately, despite his disparaging words about the animal, he did like the horse. Dune's primary color was not unlike pale sand, and being a buckskin his stockings, mane, and tail were black. The horse nuzzled into Averella's petting hand, obviously much calmer now that the hail and thunder had faded away. "I think he likes you."

Giving him a final pat, Robb focused on going through his saddlebags. They were waterproofed leather, and so everything inside was still quite dry. He pulled yet another shirt from within, this one thicker and simpler than the one wrapped around her now. It would simply be pulled over the head.

"Here, this will be dry and warmer. I know my coat will be way too big, but you can put that on too." He tried to hand her both the shirt and coat. "I'll, uh, turn around."

"Oh! Thank you!" she accepted the clothing graciously and once he turned around, she was quick to unbutton her soggy shirt and set it along the horse's saddle. A few grunts later, she was mostly dressed, and as she pulled the jacket over her shoulders, she gave a gasp as she lost her footing, and  fell into him suddenly with a squeak.

Even behaving himself, Robb had already briefly seen the body hidden beneath his soaked shirt and found it impossible not to conjure the image as he waited patiently for her to change clothing. His ears and face heated a little, from both shame and desire. It didn't matter how fine Averella was, she was off-limits.

The knight sort of chanted the mantra in his head to banish any impure thoughts about the beautiful and mysterious coffin girl.

As she fell against him, Robb turned quickly, arms reaching out to gently hold her against him. Better she have fallen against him than have fallen all the way into the mud. He looked down at her with concern. "You okay?"

"Y-yes.. oh my!" she went on, clinging to him for support until she loosened her grip on him when she felt more stable. Shaking her head, she sighed with some relief and looked up Robb.
"Thank you... but I feel so foolish, it's as if I've never put clothing on before! Though can't say," she went on thoughtfully. "That I've had to get dressed in a man's clothing."

Robb let his hands fall away from her as Averella steadied herself, giving a single soft huff of amusement at her assessment. "We'll get you more proper clothes as soon as possible. I'm sure you'll be a lot more comfortable when you've got something to wear that doesn't belong to a strange man."

He stepped away from her and dug back into his bags, pulling out a simple ivory comb before offering it to her a little sheepishly. "I know we're going to an inn, but my sister always feels better when her hair's neat. I thought it might make you feel better to too."

"Yes, I do believe I would. But oh, don't think I'm not grateful!" she blushed again. "But it would be nice to find my things..." She gave a sigh at that.

Then he offered her the comb and her eyes lit up, and she took it graciously. "Oh, thank you! Thank you!" she went on, bowing gratefully, if not a bit over exaggeratedly, before she moved to sit on a nearby fallen log and began to take the comb to her hair.

It was a long, unruly mess, and she winced more than a few times to get through the thick knots in it, but soon it was beginning to shine and look like the silky sort of hair a princess might possess. She fisted an eye of her hair and worked through it, each layer that got brushed out being released from her hold and tumbling down off her shoulders and some moving to rest delicately along her back.

It was a process t be sure, but once she was done, she beamed at him.
"I do feel a lot better. Thank you for helping me again." And she bowed forward, offering the comb back to him in the palms of both her hands.

"We'll find your things." He reassured her. It would just take a little time, and luck. Before he worried about her lost belongings Robb wanted to find that inn. Food, warmth, and general comfort were far more important and much higher on his list of priorities at that moment.

He was surprised at her bowing to him over a simple little comb, but he couldn't keep from smiling. She was so...grateful and appreciative of every small thing.

Trying not to be a bother, he began tending to Dune, getting out a horse brush and giving him a quick run over while subtly watching Averella over the animal's back. Her hair was a bit of a mess, but as she brushed it out, slowly working out the knots and tangles, Robb could tell just how thick, beautiful, and dark the raven strands were. His hands itched just thinking about how silky it would be sliding through his fingers.

Yeah, he was going to have to do something about this pent up tension before going home. His sister didn't suffer foolish behavior like pestering maids.

Robb eventually gave up pretending to be busy or focused on Dune, instead moving over to join her on the log, although he kept a bit of distance between them and did his best not to actively watch her brush her hair. Finally she finished and when he reached for the comb he let his fingertips brush against her upturned palms, lingering over the contact for a few moments before pulling away and clearing his throat.

"You're welcome. I guess we should get going, before it decides to rain some more or something."

"Ah, yes!" she went on, a bit too loudly. "Or hail! Oh! It has been ages since I've seen such weather!" she exclaimed. She peered over at Dune and smiled. "I see he got a nice brushing too!" And she approached the horse with a bit of skip to her gait. "He looks so handsome. Oh! And to think all of your good looks are wasted on us!" She giggled and patted the horse's nose. "But I'm sure you're fine with that. You're a fine horse, a good companion, I'll bet. I hope the rain didn't scare you too badly. Sometimes the thunder scares me too," she went on, stroking the horse's soft neck. "It can be a bit too loud sometimes, huh? Don't worry, thunder can't hurt us. "

"It isn't all that uncommon weather to me." Robb mused softly, standing as he watched her skip over to their furry companion who quite happily accepted the gentle pets to his nose and neck, ears perked forward as he listened to Averella with seeming rapt attention. The gelding gently nuzzled her cheek with his nose.

Robb rolled his eyes, but a slight smirk tugged at one corner of his mouth. Dune was docile enough, but he supposed he couldn't blame the fleabag for eating up attention from someone like her. Gods, was he jealous of a horse? Bah, it hadn't been that long since he'd had someone fawning over him! He scowled slightly as he tried to think of the last pretty girl he'd actually bothered to pay any mind to and he couldn't remember her name, or her face for that matter. She had nice tits, though...

"He won't look so handsome when he's covered in mud to his belly. Come on, you can ride him if you like." It was only the gentlemanly thing to do - offering to let the lady ride. He took Dune by the reins and lead him out from under the trees so that he could be mounted, he wickered softly and flicked his tail. Robb could have swore he was prancing and showing off.

Her eyes went large.
"Really? I can ride him? Take the reins?" she held her breath, leaning up on her tip toes in anticipation as she held on affectionately to Robb's arm.

"Sure you can, just don't let him run off and leave me." Robb didn't doubt the ungrateful beast would dump him for the pretty girl with the soft, sweet voice and gentle petting hands. Animals.

The knight knelt next to Dune and cupped his hands together to form a platform so that Averella could actually reach to climb up into the saddle. She was kind of tiny he doubted she'd make it without a mounting block of some kind. "Up you go then."

With eyes like stars, she graciously accepted his help and up she went, onto the saddle with her legs draped over to one side like any noble lady might. But she looked as if she were quite at home on the saddle, and with gentle confidence, took the reins.

"Oh, but I wouldn't leave you here alone! Why don't you ride with me?" she patted the saddle behind her. "It wouldn't be fair to make you walk, Sir Robb."

Robb stood slowly, observing Averella carefully - she looked comfortable in the saddle, which was good. She rode side saddle like a lady, which made him even more curious about where exactly she was from and just who she really was.

"Are you sure, Miss Averella? I wouldn't want to crowd you or make you uncomfortable." They would be quite close if they both rode. Having such a supple feminine body pressed against him didn't seem like the best idea. Especially since he was already struggling with his attraction to her. It wasn't his fault she was stunningly beautiful, but keeping control of his actions was.

"Uncomfortable?" she made a face, then shook her head, smiling brightly. "No, no, I insist!" she gave the saddle a light pat while Dune danced where he stood. "See? Even Dune is getting antsy. And he won't mind. He is.." she went on, smiling over at him as she scratched at Dune's mane. "After all, your horse."

"Alright, we'll ride together." Well, if she was insisting...

Robb heaved himself up behind her, not exactly with the grace she'd exhibited, but he was obviously a seasoned rider himself. Once he got up, though, he found himself faced with another dilemma as he wasn't exactly sure what to do with his hands! Did he hold on to her? Normally he wouldn't complain about having a gorgeous lady in his arms but this wasn't exactly the normal circumstances.

Smiling brightly, she clutched the reins and said, "Does Dune like to run?" Her eyes sparkled as she gave the horse a gentle kick- they were going to find out!

"Well er-" Robb didn't really get to finish that thought. The kick caused Dune to toss his head and bolt forward down the road. He had to throw his arms around Averella and lean forward to avoid being thrown backwards off the now sprinting horse.

Averella let out a sharp cry, not expecting the horse's enthusiasm, but once they broke out from the trees and onto a more beaten path, she felt the wind tickle her skin and soon, she was laughing.

"Oh, Mother of the Sun! It's been ages since I've been on a horse run!" she shouted happily.

"Has it been ages since you've done everything?" Robb asked, only partially joking. She seemed to say that it had been ages every time she talked about anything at all.

Now that they were moving at a steady gallop he felt more secure on the saddle, but he kept his arms around her waist, reaching in front of her to also grip the saddle tightly. He didn't want either of them to fall, and it had the added bonus of being an excuse to hold her closer to him.

Averella laughed, a pretty sound.
"Oh, it sure feels like it!" The wind through her hair, the power of the horse galloping beneath her body, and the man's arms around her was just so thrilling....
She glanced back at him briefly, still all smiles. "I'm sorry if it bores you. I bet you run with Dune every day!"

If he did, Dune didn't seem to mind, and as she looked ahead, she almost missed the low branch as she gasped.
"Duck!" Since it was too late to steer the running horse away from it.

"Nothing about you has been boring, Ave-" Robb jerked his head up when she shouted that simple word, he'd been so focused on her - the way she felt against him, the way her hair whipped behind her as the wind caught it, the sound of her laughter, the radiance of her smile, and the beauty of her excitement...

The last thing he managed to do, was thankfully let go of Averella so he wouldn't accidentally take her with him. Robb wasn't really aware of where he really got struck. One moment he was behind her and the next he was flat on his back in the middle of the muddy road, staring up at the sky without really seeing it. He had no idea if Dune had stopped his mad gallop or if Averella was still safely in the saddle.

All he was really sure of was that he couldn't quite catch his breath, the fall had knocked the wind from him, and pain blossomed all through his body while white lights flashed behind his eyes.

She felt the tree collide with him and cringed. Her knuckles grew white as she pulled hard on the reins and Dune stopped abruptly, crying in alarm. She turned around, slowly rising up to peer back towards where she had run from and saw Robb's strewn form.

She let out a shriek and dropped off the horse.

"Sir Robb, Sir Robb!" she shouted, rushing to his form and dropping down to her knees. "Oh, goodness... Are you alright?" she asked, leaning over him and attempted to cradle him gentle as she looked down at his face. "Oh! You're bleeding!"

Was someone calling his name? It sounded strange, muffled and distant, as if his head were submerged and the voice was travelling through water. The light was too bright, and suddenly a raven-haired angel was leaning over him, still speaking. Oh right, he'd been knocked out of the saddle.

Robb realized he must have struck his head in the fall, but Averella's voice became clearer as his senses slowly returned to him. He gave a pained groan even at the slight movements caused by her cradling gesture.

"Am I?" His voice was a raspy gasp, eyes flickering around still somewhat disoriented.

"Oh, yes! Yes you are!" she went on, pointing at his forehead. "Oh, dear! I would have hoped you'd have ducked!" And wincing, she moved to press a hand over his wound, and certainly he'd feel the burning sting of her sweaty palm as she did so, not flinching in the slightest that she was touching his fresh blood, but then again, she was so focused on the poor man's wound nothing else in the moment matter.

"You should stay still, let yourself rest, the wound to clot," she went on, saying things more to herself as if repeating a check list on how she ought to deal with an injured patient.

"What duck?" Robb asked, turning his head as if looking for something, but giving another grunt of pain at the stiffness that sent little shocks of pain down his back. Speaking of his back, it was going to be massively bruised. Aside from the abrasion to his forehead, he probably had a minor neck injury, and almost certainly a concussion.

Laying back, he seemed to give up the search for the "duck", blinking up at her instead. Robb was obviously still very confused and dazed, because he opened his mouth and this is what came out: "You're the pretty girl from the box?"

"Duck? Duck..." she looked confused, then realized, "Oh! Not a duck, but to duck, duck, you know like, drop your head," and she showed him in an animated gesture of what she meant, whcih dropped her face lower to his as she blinked and froze at his comment.

"Oh, from the box- well yes... " she nodded enthusiastically. "I'm the pretty girl from the.." she paused to realize what he said and blushed. "From the box..."

Robb really wasn't following the duck thing, if the way his brow furrowed was any indication. Although his eyes widened slightly as her head came closer. His entire vision was pretty much filled by her face by this point, it was the only thing he could managed to focus on. His eyelids began to droop as his dark brown eyes became a little glassy.

"Oh good, I thought I might be dead." Because that totally made sense to him.

At his wordage she yelped.
"Dead!? Oh! Oh.." she whimpered worriedly. "Why would you think you died? Oh! Oh.. you could have broken your neck.." she gasped, drawing a hand to her lips. "Your neck.. you haven't broken it have you!?" And she froze, afraid to move, in case it moved him and made his potential broken neck, worse!

If Robb had broken his neck he would either already be dead or on his way to death, but despite any pain and stiffness, he didn't think he'd actually broken anything. Not that thinking was very high on his functions at the moment.

Case in point, it didn't occur to him that reassuring her that his neck was intact never crossed his mind, but explaining why he was dead seemed so much more appropriate. "Yeah, dead. Did you know that you've got a beautiful golden halo?" The sun was to her back, and in his addled state it really did look like she was bathed in a halo of light. "I thought you only saw angels when you were dead..."

Another confused scowl. "And you're the pretty girl from the box?"

She instantly went white, and retracted her hands from him.
"Dead? N-no," she shook her head, very exaggeratedly. "You're very much alive and oh.. but yes, yes I am the girl from the box- but it's more of a coffin really, sarcophagus if you want to be precise..." she shook her head again and moved to place her hands upon his cheeks.

"Oh, your eyes... they pupils are so small.." She gave a fearful shake of her head again. "How are you feeling? Does your head hurt? Does your back hurt? Is your neck stiff? And by halos.. are you seeing specks of light? And what sort of light.." She moved to touch his forehead, inspecting his wound again.

"We'll need to dress your wound," she went on with a little pout.

Robb's eyes became glazed and unfocused as she started trying to explain that the box was not really a box. The feel of her hands on his cheeks caused his eyes to flutter lightly, but he did his best to actually keep looking up at her as Averella bombarded him with a multitude of questions he found himself struggling to follow, let alone answer.

"It hurts everywhere." Not entirely an overstatement. "But I'm already dressed..."

Laying there in the mud, his eyes closed lightly as he struggled with a sudden wave of overwhelming sleepiness. All he wanted to do was go to sleep, or at the very least rest his eyes for a little bit. Everything kept spinning and it was hard to focus. He didn't want to try, he just wanted to sleep.

"Sir Robb!" Her heart was beating frantic. "Sir Robb... please! Don't close your eyes! Falling asleep after such a fall... It could be dangerous!" And she moved to shake him lightly, not wanting to hurt him any further than she might already have done.

The pulse of her heart probably paled in comparison to the throbbing within his skull, but the shaking did force his eyes to pop open. Robb groaned again and reached a hand up, gripping her shoulder gently to try to help him as he attempted to heave himself into a sitting position.

An action that his entire body protested and that set his head spinning. "Gotta get up...got to move..."

"Yes! Just like this!" But seeing how he was still lethargic, she bit her lip and positioned herself in a way she could toss his arm over her shoulders as she peered up into his face.
"Here, let me help you. Standing might help reorient you. And water... let's get you a drink, keep you hydrated, okay?"

Robb let his arm drape across her shoulders easily enough. It wasn't as if he could really protest the help just then. All he could really do was nod his head numbly and do as he was told. Struggling to his feet wasn't quite as bad as he'd feared, but he did have to lean a little against Averella for support.

"Ugh." He groaned in frustration as his head throbbed painfully. "It feels like I got hit with a battering ram."

"Oh... well, you did... Well, not a battering ram, but a low lying tree branch." She winced at the recollection. "And I'm so sorry about it. I don't know how we could have gotten so distracted..."

"Not your fault." He mumbled gruffly. Even if he knew exactly what had been distracting him had been her, it still wasn't Averella's fault. Robb should have more sense than to let himself forget to watch where he was going while on horseback - he wasn't some young, green squire.

"Even still, I feel awful." She shook her head. "I feel as if I'm just bringing you bad luck."
Some did view the walking dead as a very bad sign, after all! Though technically, she was alive, or so it seemed.

"My string of bad luck didn't start with you. Believe me." No, not in the slightest. Although Robb thought calling it bad luck might just be an attempt to shrug off his own responsibility of what had happened. It wasn't bad luck, it was just incompetence, but he didn't want to think about it.

She frowned at his reply and placed a hand on his shoulder.
"I'm sorry. I know how it feels to live with a long string of bad luck."

"Given how we met, I can believe it." A person would have to have pretty bad luck to end up trapped inside a coffin and floating down a river. "Hopefully the bad luck is almost out for both of us."

Each passing moment was clearing the fog from his head. "There's a water skin tied to the saddle. Let's get me patched up and find that inn. I don't know about you, but after the day I've had I could really use a drink."

Giving an enthusiastic nod, she agreed, "Oh, yes! Despite nearly drowning in the river, I'm thirsty as well!"

Thankfully Dune was a well-trained horse. When Averella had dismounted the beast had remained where she'd left him, watching the pair of them with his ears forward in interest. Robb refocused on the animal and hobbled towards him with her help. He pulled the waterskin from the saddle and popped it open to take a small sip, grimacing slightly as he offered it to his companion.

"Drink as much as you want, then I can use it to clean up this cut." He was rapidly regaining his senses but wasn't sure just what stupid things he might have said while dazed.

Before she could take a sip, her eyes went large.
"Oh!" she pressed the waterskin to his hand. "If you need it please! Take it first!"

"We're still near the river if I need water for cleaning. You said you were thirsty. It'll be a little longer before we can wet our lips with something a little more satisfying." He gently pushed the skin back towards her. "Please drink a little."

The young woman stood there like a timid rabbit. But after a moment of staring, and well, pouting, she obliged, and took a few dainty sips- just enough to quench her thirst. Then bashfully, she handed back the waterskin. He'd note she purposely left just enough for him to more sips than she, but she wasn't going to mention that. She at least did as he had asked.

Studying his face, she asked softly, "Is there anything I can do to help?" Her eyes lit up a moment. "Oh, I know! I could refill the waterskin?" Then again, leaving his side already might not do well for them both. Then again, she felt so dredfully unhelpful she wished she could do more.

"Here.. why don't I help you? I mean, wouldn't it be easier for me to clean your cut since I can see it more clearly?"

Robb sighed, but didn't comment on the stubbornness of women. At least she took a couple sips. He didn't want her dehydrating. Not that she'd gotten enough water from those tiny sips to make much of a difference. At least her throat wouldn't be super dry.

"You can refill the skin if you want, it would be good to keep it full." Even if they were going to stop at an inn, they wouldn't be there for too long. Maybe a night, especially if the weather looked bad.

He was already pulling out a kerchief that he could use to wipe the blood from his injury when she offered to help. Robb could do it himself, it wouldn't be the first time he patched himself up after getting hurt, although perhaps the most embarrassing injury in a long while. Still, she did have a point, he couldn't see a cut on his head, only knew it was there from pain and the feeling of blood.

"Yeah, let's sit down and you can take a look if you want." He was far too tall for her to be able to reach his head very well while standing. Plus he still felt a bit dizzy. There was a large rock nearby and he walked over to sit, leaving just enough room to join him.

She followed him like a little duckling, but did not take a seat beside him. As he could observe, he was easily far taller than she, and so she took to standing and frowning as she chewed over his wound.
"It might require a stitch or two, just to keep the skin together. Other wise, you'll have a pocked scar, rather than a jagged stitched one, though I suppose it won't make too big of a difference, though the thinner the scar, the easier it is to fade-" she rambled. It'd be a shame to mare his face. He seemed to be pretty good at avoiding any scars on his face, from what she could observe and oh..
her eyes dropped suddenly as she realized she might have been looking at him for too long and well, he did look rather nice. Nice enough it made her ears grow hot.

Luckily for her, he wasn't really paying that much attention. Considering she was tending to his wound it would make sense that she was looking at him.

"Can you do stitches?" Robb didn't particularly care about collecting scars one way or another. Some liked to show them off. He only really cared about the wound healing properly and quickly. It wasn't exactly the plan to bash open his head, after all!

A quick glance up had him noticing that she seemed just a bit flustered, at least to him. Damn was she a pretty little thing, wasn't she? "Everything okay?"

she blushed and shook her head.
"I can try if youve got a needle and thread." Although she's done it before, and many times over the course of her lives, she still lacked the confidence to say so.

"I think I do. Let me check." Robb stood to go look in his bags, but swayed sharply when he rose to his feet. The sudden motion made him lightheaded and he very nearly fell over. Instead he found himself grabbing onto the nearest thing to steady himself - which just so happened to be her.

She saw the sway too late and squeaked as the pair went down. Though it hurt, and the ground bit at her thin clothes and skin, she was more worried about him.
"Oh! Are you okay?!"

A pained grunt escaped him as they hit the ground. He just barely managed to keep his full weight from falling on her. Poor girl would probably have been squished to death! They had kind of landed in this awkward position with him practically laying on top of her. He pushed himself up a little, but was still over her.

Ugh.

Robb couldn't do anything smoothly right now, could he? A pang of guilt hit him as she asked about him, so obviously worried about him when he knew it couldn't have felt good having him land on her. "Yeah, are you? I'm so sorry."

If his clumsiness seemed unusual to her, she had no way to know. TO her, clumsiness was apparently second nature. Perhaps it was something she was rubbing off on him? But she had more important things to worry about, and frowned up at him as she shook her head.
"I.. I'll be alright. It was just a fall." And at least they didn't have too far to go, as opposed to when he hit his head and toppled off the horse... She moved just a little, little pebbles dropping off her small wounds as she tried to look him over.
"Oh, it looks like your wound is bleeding even more!" And she moved to rip a tiny piece of clothe from her dress and lifted a hand to apply the dress fragment and some pressure to it while hoping it would clot.

"I wonder if this road is cursed," she murmured, thinking back to all of their bad luck thus far. But then she shook it off. "Or perhaps it's just a strange blessing." It did, after all, bring her to him- and had he not showed up...
Well, she'd be dead. Again. And death by drowning was never a fun way to go.

"Kia be praised for that." Clumsiness wasn't that typical for him. Not that he was super graceful, but he was a warrior and at least generally...steady. The head injury still had him more off balance than he'd thought. At least she wasn't hurt badly. It had been a pretty terrible day so far, hadn't it? River rescue, storm, falling from Dune, and now nearly crushing the pretty and mysterious coffin lady.

Robb winced slightly as she ripped her dress and pressed the cloth to his head. It stung just a little, but her touch was so gentle. Well, things could be worse. At least there was a gorgeous woman trying to tend to him.

"I don't know much about curses and blessings, but it has been a weird day." Suddenly it struck him that they were still sprawled on the ground where they'd fallen, and his body was half laying on Averella and half hovering over her. His skin flushed as he realized that it was definitely an awkward and inappropriate position!

"Oh, uh...I should get up." Robb muttered sheepishly, entire body heating as it really sunk in that he was all pressed against a beautiful woman. He didn't pull away immediately though, because she still had the cloth pressed to his head.

She let out a squeal and grabbed onto his arm.
"W-wait! Your wound!" And she held him still with one arm, the other one pressing still to his wound. She shook her head. "You.. you shouldn't move so hastily! It's already bled out more than we should let it!"

Well her grabbing onto him was definitely enough to make him pause. If he tried to sit up he'd probably just pull her with him - and hurt himself again.

"What if I move very slowly? I have to be heavy." Plus what if someone happened along the road and saw them like this?

She shook her head.
"It won't take but a moment," and she checked the wound, but her cringe verified it had still yet to clot. She pressed a little firmer. "And you don't weigh that much I.."
ANd she went quiet, only then realizing just how close they were, and their position. And just how close HER face was to his. She turned away with a blush.
"We.. we should just tend to one thing at a time."
Because even she wasn't fairing too well over this awkward position, but.. but she did have a sense of duty to fulfill and she most certainly did not want anymore harm to come to him. She owed him so much!

After a moment, she peeked up, to check the wound.
"It's.. still bleeding but not quite as rushed."
She sighed and moved delicately beneath him, slipping her legs out, one at a time, while keeping one hand on his head, the other to steady herself until she was just about free of him.

"There.. you should be able to sit up more properly now." She went on, and moved her hand away from the wound while she examined it.
"We should clean it up now before I attempt to stitch it." It wouldn't do any good to knit in some small pebbles and dirt from their fall.

You could see the exact moment their position really clicked for her. Robb had to bite back another groan. Just the way he wanted things to go with a lovely girl who was fussing over him. Well, it wouldn't be proper for him have made any attempts to woo her to begin with, what with the very vulnerable position he'd found her in. It still didn't feel good to be making such a mess of everything, although she was certainly taking things very well.

"Right. One thing at a time..." He forced himself to try to relax. His entire body felt tense, and being so close to her didn't help at all.

She was right about it not taking long, and when she began trying to slip out from under him he did his best to help. Although her wiggling had him biting the inside of his cheek to keep his mind off her and on pain. When she gave him the clear to move, Robb slowly rolled himself into a sitting position, bringing one hand up to hold his head, which had begun throbbing again.

"I think I'm just going to stay sitting for now. If you check the saddlebags there should be a small sewing kit in the bottom of one. I'm sorry that you're having to take care of me. I was supposed to take care of you." He shrugged a shoulder helplessly and cleared his throat, looking away.

"Oh, please!" she went on, taking his hair gently, sincerely. "You are anything but an inconvenience! Honestly! I owe you one of my lives! Please.." she bowed her head and moved to stand. "Just wait here." She tucked some hair behind an ear. "At the bottom of a saddle bag? .. Right.. I shouldn't be long!" And she turned from him, approaching Dune, cooing to the horse some and petting his long nose before moving towards the saddle bag facing towards Robb first, and began to fish through it with purpose.

One of her lives? Robb tried to ponder over that curious phrase, but his head hurt too much to think too hard on anything. For all he knew she'd simply misspoke or meant something perfectly logical and reasonable and his damaged brain was just misunderstanding it.

Dune tossed his head lightly as she cooed and petted, obviously enjoying the attention.

He watched her digging through his belongings, not really worried about it. There wasn't anything for her to stumble upon that was too unusual. A couple books, the comb, extra clothing, a small coin pouch, and at the very bottom, buried half-forgotten, the sewing kit.

What he did like was simply watching her.

"When we get to the inn I am going to make all this trouble up to you. Not just for me, I mean what you've been through. Hopefully we'll get your stuff back, and then I can at least help you get started on your way home." Yeah, helping her get home after rescuing her was the right thing to do, for sure.

When she found the kit her eyes lit up as she waved it up triumphantly. She was all smiles as she returned to his side and shook her head at his ideas of repayment.
"If you and I keep up the notion we owe one another each time we help, we'd be in debt to each other forever." She gave him a lopsided grin as she knelt beside him, lifting up a freshly threaded needle. But then she gave a little pout as she examined his wound.

"This won't feel very nice when I start. But.." she drew in a breath, exhaling softly. "I'll try to be gentle and quick about it, okay?"

"Most knights I know wouldn't complain too much about being indebted to a pretty and kind young lady for any amount of time." Robb chuckled jokingly, although the action made him grimace as it hurt his head. Laughing wasn't super pleasant just then. Most things weren't.

"I'm sure I've had worse. Just do your best, it doesn't have to be pretty." It would have been nice if he kept some liquor in his bags.

"Do you have any alcohol? If so, it might not be bad to use some to clean out the wound with it. It does a much cleaner job than water, burning out any irritants and infections."

"Unfortunately not, guess I'll just have to grit my teeth and bare it. I'm sure it'll be fine. We can clean it again with alcohol once we've reached town." He really wished he'd looked where he was going - they'd be sitting in a warm room eating some hot soup and drinking good ale by now.

she gave him a small little, apologetic smile as she nodded.
"Very well then." She drew in a breath, and sighed. "Now.. just try to hold as still as you can." And she moved to jab the pin in to make the first stitch, fingers gentle to hold the skin together tight as she could as she pulled the thread through, time and again. It was a little hard for her to do so, even kneeling, since he was so tall, but she made no complaints until the stitches were done, and she tied off the end and gently blew across the stitches.

Then she blushed as she realized what she was doing.
"I er.. was hoping that might help it if it were still stinging."
She dropped her gaze and folded up the needle.
"I'll.. go put these back in the saddle bags." And she moved to stand, observing her work.
"Does it feel well enough?" she hoped it'd do. But as she studied it, she paused a moment and covered her lips to hide a small smile. She had made a small bow tie when tying it up, rather than just a simple knot and well.....

"Here.. let me fix that I... I should have secured the stitches with something better than a bow."

Aside from some wincing and grimacing, he managed not to move or complain too much as the needle pierced his skin repeatedly. At least it was a relatively small wound compared to some others he'd had, but it was very unfortunately placed. Head and face wounds were always the worst.

Again he couldn't help but notice how very gentle her hands were as they worked. He closed his eyes as she blew across the wound. A half smile crept onto his face as she apologized for it. He opened his eyes, watching her fold up the needle back into the kit. "Thank you, it felt nice, and it feels fine, for what it is."

When she mentioned it was tied in a bow with a smile, he reached a hand up to gingerly feel at the stitches with a chuckle. "Can't complain about your handiwork."

She blushed more when her fingers accidentally brushed across his. She retracted them, but suggested, "Here.. why don't I make a more secure knot so all of my work wasn't wasted and we're back to me trying again."

His fingers twitched a little when hers brushed against them, but he calmly removed his hand, letting it fall back to his lap. She needed to see and feel the stitches to work. Her blushing wasn't helping with his struggle to remain gentlemanly.

"Yes, right. Thank you." Why did there have to be so much sexual tension eating him up? Robb really didn't think it had been that long!

Averella gave a triumphant little noise when the knot was done well.
"Ah, there! Good and solid!" she went on, about to give it a pat, but sheepishly retracted her hand.
She kept her eyes averted, but only until she asked, "How is your head? Is it throbbing in pain?" she gave him a sympathetic look, but mostly concentrating on the swollen lump where she just stitched.
"I can't say you'd feel too comfortable after all this."

"There's some throbbing, but nothing I can't handle. I'm sure it will feel a lot better after a good night's rest." Speaking of rest, they needed to go if they were ever going to get there. Plus moving would help distract him from his relentless attraction to her.

With a groan he slowly and carefully heaved himself back to his feet. This time he made sure he was steady before he tried moving further. He gave a soft whistle and Dune walked over to him, bumping against him with his nose. "Good boy." Robb mumbled, stroking the gelding's face gently as he looked back to Averella. "Let's try this again, but more slowly this time."

"Shall I walk? I could keep beside you and Dune," she went on, smiling pleasantly at her offer.

"Me ride while the lady walks? I don't think so, but why don't I ride in front this time?" Yeah, might be better if he controlled the reins! He pulled himself into the saddle much less gracefully than usual, then reached down and offered her a hand to climb up behind him.

She gave him a small smile and nodded, obliging as she took his hand and moved in to snuggle up behind him. She needed to keep her arms around him after all, which made her realize the width of him. Not that he was wide in a bad way, but he was certainly an armful to her and had a well toned body easily felt through his clothes.

He let her settle into the saddle behind him, hitching his breath slightly as she snuggled close to his back. At least she was behind him this time. Having her pressed against his front had been causing considerable problems and had ended with him on his back - and not in a good way. His muscles flexed quite unconsciously as he adjusted himself in the saddle a little.

"Alright, hang on tight, but I'm keeping it at a quick walk. No more branches for us." He tried to say with a bit of humor as he nudged Dune lightly. They moved at a light trot, finally back on track to head into town.

It wasn't a far trip, but each second was something of a trial. The movements were enough to make his head continue to hurt, almost enough for him to forget the woman pressed close against him, causing him to remain just a little to warm for comfort. First chance he got, maybe it would be good to find a decent whore. Or just a super friendly barmaid.

He was obviously pent up.

Dune pulled to a stop outside the stables of a somewhat large and well-known inn. Robb had stayed there before, it was a nice, clean establishment. Mostly people of his own social standing, hard-working men and women from families with enough money to be wealthy, but no titles to be considered nobility.

"We're here." Robb dismounted and lifted his hands up to help her down as well. "We'll get something to eat and drink, then if you're still worried you can check my head again. Sound like a plan?"

Averella blushed as she smiled at him.
"I think you're forgetting I can check your forehead each time I look at you."
And look at him she did, until she realized she might be staring for too long as she dropped her gaze.
"Shall we go inside?" And she also added, "I can go tie up Dune in the stables." She didn't own a horse herself (that would be a difficult feat in itself) but she knew how to handle a horse well enough as she moved to help gather his reins.

"Yeah, but not up close. You might need to clean it with alcohol, remember?" Not that he was going to worry about it too much. Some rest and time would heal it right up. Although how badly it might scar was still to be seen. If he let her tend to it there might be less damage and faster healing.

His hands were still on the reins and he didn't relinquish them to her, which meant that their hands touched again. He sucked in a breath and looked down at her. "Er...I can do it. You don't have to worry. I promise I'm okay." Of course he thought she was offering because she was worried about his head. All she'd done so far seemed to be worry over him.

"Oh.. well I..." she blushed and relinquished her hands, which fidgeted at her sides. "Should I take some of your things, then?" She wanted to help. It was the least she could do! She hadn't any money, or anything, really, to help pay for lodging, food or any of the help he had offered her. "Please." her eyes were imploring. "I do owe you a great debt."

"You don't owe me anything. I didn't do it for you to owe me, and you did stitch my head up." Of course his head had only gotten busted because of her, but that was far beyond the point.

Robb sighed heavily, knowing that she wasn't going to let it go so easily by now. He wished those blushes weren't so fucking adorable, though. It was hard to be firm when every little sign of rosy cheeks made him want to give in to whatever it was she wanted. God he was a sucker for a pretty face, wasn't he?

Eh, he was only human. And male.

"Alright, alright." He unbuckled the saddle bags and handed the lighter one to her, as well as a small coin purse. "Here, you can carry this in for me, go ahead in and ask for two meals and find us a quiet table to eat at. I'll only be a minute."

Her eyes were starry as she nodded and happily entered the inn. To be of some use made her feel like anything but the burden she believed herself to be, and politely ordered them some food. She wasn't sure what to order, so she just went with whatever was the day's special.

The place was busy enough,b ut there were at least two tables to choose from and she chose one nearest the door. It'd be easiest for him to find her stationed there, rather than the more secluded table in the back near the cozy fire.

The table beside her, however, was full of a bunch of men, fresh from the road and happily eating their meat. They were also nudging one another and happy to see a pretty woman sitting closeby, but minded themselves, lest she had a husband who was more behemoth than themselves. They were simple men, hard working men, and not here for any sort of trouble. And besides, there was a small family on the other side of them with two kids who kept pulling their food apart and playing with it on thet able rather than eating.

Yes, even to someone like Averella, the atmosphere was quite lovely and quaint here, and she took her time to admire the simple decore. It wasn't much, but it was still charming.

Robb actually watched her, all the way until he saw she was safely inside before turning and leading Dune into the stables. A young man, more a boy, greeted him and took the reins as he offered him a silver coin. He slung the other saddle bag over his shoulder and hurried inside where it would be warm and relaxing. Plus he didn't want to leave his beautiful companion on her own for too long. She seemed to have a knack for misfortune - what with the river and all.

A small amount of tension left him as soon as he pushed open the door and stepped into the inviting common room. A quick scan of the tables and he stepped over to join Averella, setting the bag on the ground and settling heavily into his chair.

"Dune'll be all settled. Did you -" He was going to ask about food, but a buxom blonde brought out a tray with two steaming bowls of chowder along with fresh buttered rolls. She set a serving in front of each of them before tucking the empty tray under one arm. "Well as I live and breathe, if it isn't Sir Thorne. It's been a few moons since I've seen you heading through this way. Will you be staying long? But oh!"

Behaving quite familiarly, the server leaned forward, reaching out a hand to push a little of his hair out of the way gently to get a good look at his fresh gash. "Oh my, what trouble have you been in this time? Protecting the good simple folk from villainous monsters? I hadn't heard of any trouble nearby."

She only just seemed to even really notice Averella, which made her straighten hastily. "Oh, and you've brought a friend this time?"

Robb managed to look both annoyed and embarrassed. "Not very long, Jezha. We'll be needing two rooms for the night, and it would be nice if a hot bath could be ready for each of us shortly after we've finished eating. That will be all."

Looking just a little put out, Jezha pouted as she turned and left them to dine in peace. He almost felt a little bad for brushing her off. Almost.

Although all things considered maybe he shouldn't have been so dismissive. Well, if he still felt antsy and tense later he could always track her down and apologize for being so brisk with her. Jezha was a nice enough girl, a little pushy, but an excellent body.

Averella was all smiles.
"I didn't know you were familiar with anyone from around here. Should we ask her to join us?"

"No, we definitely shouldn't ask her to join us." Now Robb really looked embarrassed, and a tiny bit uncomfortable. He picked up his roll and began tearing it up to drop the pieces into his bowl for soaking. "This town sits on a crossroads, a reasonably big one. I've been through many times over the years and I always stay here. It's clean and comfortable - and affordable."

Not that he couldn't afford better, but he'd rather not.

"Jezha has been working here almost as many years as I've been passing through. I've told her stories from my travels most of the time, and she's always had a bit of a soft spot for me, I think." More than a soft spot, he'd wager, but there was a girl you visited for a good time and then girls you were serious about. Jezha was not a girl he could or would be serious about. "It would probably be a bit...weird, for her to join us. Plus she's working."

And he didn't want a girl with her kind of antics at the table with them. Averella had a manner about her that seemed both innocent and high bred.

"Oh." She seemed disheartened, but she understood that work was work.
"She seems really nice." And she moved to copy how he was eating, studying how he broke his bread then placed it in his soup to soak. "Do you have a favorite meal here? I didn't know what to get, so I ordered us the special."

"Yes, she is very nice, I suppose." He picked up his spoon and stirred the contents of his bowl for a moment. "This is fine. They always serve good things here, warm and filling." And fresh.

Some places gave you nearly stale slop.

Robb took a bite of his chowder, it was chicken and corn, creamy and hearty. He made a soft sound of pleasure at the taste. God he was hungry and tired. If he weren't covered in mud and a bit of blood he'd have probably ate as quick as he could and go straight to bed. As it was he couldn't lay down in the clean sheets like this.

Averella did the same, expression brightening at the hearty taste of the soup.
"Oh, this is very good. I can't recall the last time I ate something like this."
At least soup this nice and thick, and tasty. Most soup she'd come across during any stays at taverns or the like, were very watered down and offered a muted taste, if any at all.

"You say that a lot, you know. That you can't remember the last time you did something, or tasted something." It was very curious. A lot of things about her made him curious. Where did she come from? Before the river, that is. And why was she so taken with such simple things as some soup and galloping on horseback?

An obviously well bred lady like her should be used to even better food and doing whatever she liked - such as riding whenever she felt like. Robb thought it might not be the best time to really press for answers, though.

"At any rate, I'm glad you like it. We'll both feel better with full bellies." That was for sure, and he didn't waste any time making it so, eating enthusiastically.

"Oh, but it's true! I can't say I have the best memory," she went on, sheepishly. "But I've traveled enough to know good soup when I taste it."

"I've done a bit of traveling, but mostly in Serendipity. If you ever need to know the best places to stay while in this country I could probably keep you in a decent inn every night." Some places were nicer than others, but he could always find a clean and safe place to spend the night if he needed to.

She smiled warmly.
"I'll keep that in mind. I've been to most every place, really, and it would be a nice change of pace to run into someone I know to travel with."

"Travelling with someone would be safer, too." Bad things could happen to a woman alone on the road. How he had come to be with her in this inn was a rather effective point. "Among other benefits."

Like having company. He'd traveled everywhere alone. It was okay, but having someone to talk to from time to time was nice.

Her expression brightened as she agreed.
"I always wanted to travel with another! To have a companion to share experiences with." But she fidgeted when she added, "N-not that I need one."
Yes.. She had to remind herself her... Delicate situation (or curse, for the lack of a better word), simply made things a bit too complicated for that.

"Not trying to imply you need one." Although really, he did think it would be better and safer for her to not be alone - didn't have to be him along for the ride. "Just saying that I could point out good places to stay while you're on the road."

And he had literally nothing better to do. Sure, he'd been on his way home, but that really wasn't that enticing of a prospect. His sister was going to start lecturing him from the moment he arrived until the moment he was either driven insane or did everything exactly the way she wanted. As the oldest, she had taken on the mantle of bossing around her little brothers very well, at least.

Her gaze was kept to her feet as she nodded. She felt so awkward, but when he went on so casually to mention he'd help..
She looked up, brighter once again.

"Oh! That would so wonderful of you!"

"I really feel like I'm not deserving that praise."  Robb wasn't a bad man, but he didn't think he was a particularly good one. Even offering to help stemmed from his own selfish motives of avoiding going home and getting to stay near a very pretty woman he had less than pure thoughts regarding - even if he was trying to be on good behavior.

"Oh, but why?" she asked, truthfully concerned for him as she leaned nearer, her food forgotten. "You've been nothing but wonderful to me."

"Wonderful feels like a bit of an overstatement. I've just been trying to be a decent person." He shrugged his shoulders a bit and pretended to be extremely interested in his supper. Kind of hard to tell a woman that he kept thinking about her naked! Plus he didn't want to talk about how much of a shitty person he could really be at times. Robb was under no illusions that he was a saint!

Her smile grew, as did her enthusiasm. She even scooted closer.
"Oh, but I think you're more than that!" Her smile was reassuring, at least to her as she looked at him, adoringly. "You.. you did save my life," she added quietly, then raised her brows. Did he honestly not see the honor behind this?
"I could have died today."
Not that she hadn't died many times before but...
The consequences, she knew, could have fallen back to him....
and he could't of known her.. condition.

Mortals.. she knew how he thought, for even as long as she had been stuck this way...
still clung to those values, those thoughts... Even knowing she'd come back. Death...
It was a scary thought. Who knew...
One day, she might not just.. wake up, back to the world.. like this, and finally be returned to the bugs in the dirt.

It wasn't that he didn't think saving a life was a good and honorable thing to do - it definitely was. He just didn't think it made up for all the not as honorable or good things he had done in his life. Like wooing women he used for his own gratification but would never marry or even give the emotional care and support they deserved.

"Well, for what it's worth, I'm glad you didn't die today." Robb responded, trying not to look down at her with too much ungentlemanly interest. It was really hard not to. She was beautiful and sweet and delicate - just the kind of woman he would like disrobing and deflowering.

"Your supper is going to get cold." He reminded, trying to change the subject.

"Oh!" her attention went back to her plate. "Yes.." she blushed, tucking some dakr hair aside. "It would be a real sin to let this food grow cold." And she returned to eating, letting herself indulge in that, at least for a little bit, until she grew distracted again.
"Do you cook?" she asked, before wiping off a little bit of soup from her chin.

"Me? Not really, no." Robb was a little caught off guard by the question, if he was being honest. "I mean, I can boil water and sear a piece of meat enough not to make myself sick, but I couldn't make something that you'd actually want to eat for more than keeping from going hungry."

Her face fell and she suddenly found herself covering her mouth to cover her sudden laugh.
"Oh, I-" but another laugh escaped and soon she found herself jerking back in her chair, turning away and shaking her head, trying to shake back the laughs before she calmly wiped back her laughing tears.  she was still smiling, but sheepish now as she peered back at him.
"I.. I'm sorry I just.. I wasn't expect that kind of response."

Well that wasn't exactly the reaction that he was expecting. Robb arched a brow at her questioningly, a frown furrowing his features. What was so funny about him not being able to cook? Most of the men he had fought alongside all his life didn't cook!

Plus she was drawing a few looks from other people, considering their conversation had been very reasonably quiet up until then.

"What is that so funny? Most of the men I know can't cook worth a spit." He tried to poke at his soup with his spoon, but it was a highly unsatisfactory action. "Well what about you then? Are you an amazing cook or something?"

"Oh.. I... what?" she was taken back a bit. "Me? Oh, I.." she blushed and looked away, biting at her lower lip, chewing. She then shook her head to look at him before she shrugged, smiling. "I just.. I know simple things.. but most are.." she nervously stroked at her dark hair, shrugging again, "Essyrni so.. well, it's hard to ruin something with so many spices in it." She bit her lip again, cheeks dimpling, trying to keep back her smile but it was... difficult.

So why was his answer so funny?

Robb was genuinely perplexed by this phenomena!

"Essyrni...well I thought you looked like you might be from there." Plus her enthusiasm for his horse's name. Yup, just like a sand dune. "You know, I've been there a few times. Years and years ago, though."

His mother, and now his sister, traded for Essyrni silks.

She gasped, leaning closer.
"Really?"

"My mother took me on her business trips a few times, before I began my training. I was very young, so I don't remember it very well. Her grandfather was Essyrni too, so I guess I have a little desert blood in me." Robb had never met the man, and his mother had never lived in Essyrn, but he had at least heard enough of his family history to know that much. He felt a small pang of sadness at the thought of his mother.

"Oh.. before... training?" she asked, ever curious, still leaning closer, pausing over another bite of food.

"Yes, training. I became a squire when I was twelve, so that I could eventually become a knight. My father was a knight and for as long as I can remember that was what I wanted to be. I wanted to be just like him." Well, at least he'd managed the knight part.

"Oh!" Now her cheeks were rosy. "So you're a knight!" she exclaimed. "Oh, I should have known it by how noble you were to save me from the river!" And by now, just about everyone was looking over at their table as she gushed.

His tanned skin flushed a few shades darker as he shrank comically in his chair a bit as everyone turned their eyes on the pair. Praise was the last thing he wanted, but it didn't seem to matter as Averella gushed over him in such a way.

A few short years ago he'd have lapped that kind of attention right up. Robb would have used it to get lovely common girls to lift their skirts for him. Simple country girls could be persuaded so easily by a dashing knight with a few impressive scars and more than a few exaggerated battle stories. Honestly they were the very tactics that he'd used on Jezha several years prior, and the girl had eagerly spread herself for him at every opportunity since.

He felt like such an asshole.

Mostly because he saw Jezha approaching their table with murder in her eyes. Robb had really done her wrong all this time. He never should have fucked her that first pass through.

Jezha had a tray with two mugs of ale when she reached them, dutifully she placed one in front of Averella, trying to force a smile because she was working and they were technically customers, but the venom and jealousy on her face was obvious. In far too sweet a voice, Jezha chimed up, "Your baths will be ready very soon. Sir Thorne, I apologize, but I thought I heard you ask for two rooms. Shall I tell them only one is necessary?"

Averella was oblivious to the woman's gnawing jealousy. But she didn't notice the others were beginning to stare and sheepishly sank near to the table. But before she could apologize, she found herself taken back by Jazha's suggestion.

"Oh no!" she was quick to confirm. "He had said two." But then she pouted,.. realizing as she looked between the pair, "Do you not have two available?" She looked worriedly towards Robb.

Robb didn't know whether to glare or to look sheepish. Yeah, he thought that Jezha had a reason to be angry at him - being cool and brisk with her, and bringing in another girl on top of that, but seriously, she was taking it a little far to publicly try to start a row with him.

"There's two rooms, and you heard very well that I wanted two. Don't start with me right now, I've had a long day and she's never done anything to you." He growled the words quietly.

It would be hard not to drag even more attention to themselves, even speaking in low tones.

"Well if you're asking for two rooms she ain't done anything to you either, eh? Well when you're laying lonely in your room later tonight don't you come crying to me, you hear?" With that she turned and stormed all in a huff.

Robb just scrubbed tiredly at his face. "Gods preserve me...women are going to kill me yet."

Averella looked fretfully between the pair as Jezha stormed off.
"Oh... did I.. did I do.. or say something to make her upset?" she pouted. "Shall I apologize?" Although truthfully, she didn't understand what for.

"No, definitely not." The last thing Robb wanted was for Averella approaching a pissy Jezha. All he needed was for that blonde bitch to go trying to tell her how bad he was and how he'd taken advantage of her for years - all true, but not information he really wanted delivered in such a way.

"Don't worry about her, she's just...it's complicated." Complicated, and likely to get him slapped before he managed to leave. Well, this was probably not going to be the best place in town anymore.

He stood up, no longer interested in food and offered her his hand. All the looks were too much now and he just wanted to get out of there. Bath, then bed. First thing in the morning they could go try to get her stuff and be out of town as soon as possible. "Let me show you to where the baths are located."

She saw his hand, then the left over food. But even she too, wasn't hungry enough to finish as she nodded quietly and obeyed. She kept near him as they walked, and timidly had to ask, "Did I do something wrong?" she was certain something had happened. And she didn't like not knowing or seeing others upset if she could avoid it!

"No, you didn't do anything wrong. I did, and I'm sorry if she takes some of it out on you." She didn't deserve that. Hell, he hadn't done anything with her! Not that he didn't want to, but that wasn't really the point. "Just...try to avoid her. I'm sure it'll be fine, and I'll try to talk to her later."

He stopped down a long all on the first floor and gently knocked on one of the doors. A young woman opened it with a polite smile. "Ah yes, the bath is ready for the lady, Sir Thorne. You're all set across the hall. I trust you don't need anything else? Fires have been started in your rooms and the beds have been turned down, so they will be ready as soon as you're done. The last two on the left side of the third floor hall."

"That's all, thanks." Robb watched the woman leave and gestured towards the still open door. Three large tubs made up the room, but only one was filled with steaming water. "Take as much time as you need."

She bowed graciously, thanking him more than once before finally stepping away, timidly, towards the open bathing house door.
"I.. suppose I'll see you later at our rooms?"
She was only now realizing she felt a bit anxious to be separated from him. But could anyone blame her? She had almost been kidnapped, drowned.. or even worse, just down by the river only just a few hours earlier. she hesitated by the door, nervous and doing her best to try to hide it.

"If you're done before me you can head up to the third floor, take the last room on the left. I'll be in the one right beside you, if you need anything." More than likely he'd be done first and would probably just wait in the hall for her to finish so he could walk her up to her room. It was the gentlemanly thing to do.

He turned to the men's bathing house door, pushing it open and pausing, turning to look at her as she hesitated. "Are you alright? I'll be just across the hall, Averella. I promise you're safe here."

She paused, feeling small, as she watched him step away. But when he paused to inquire, she blushed and felt even more sheepish. She dropped her gaze bashfully, hugging the towel she had been given and simply nodded.
"Oh.. it's nothing I just.. I'll see you when we're through."
And she cast him just one small look before disappearing behind the women's bathing house door.

"Yeah, when we're done." Robb closed the door behind him and leaned back against it for a few moments, just trying to center himself. He shouldn't have brought Averella here, but he hadn't been thinking that Jezha would go getting super jealous. It wasn't like anything between them had ever been serious.

He knew he wasn't the only schmuck that Jezha fooled around with.

It kind of pissed him off that she was acting like she was. He'd never lead her on to think that she was more than a good time during his brief visits.

Robb tried to shrug it off as best he could, undressing and climbing into his tub with a sigh at how warm the water was. It felt great. His entire body was stiff and sore still. The water was filthy in no time, what with all the blood and mud. He cleaned himself up quickly and then dried off and redressed.

He had barely opened the door when it happened. Honestly, Robb was a little surprised she could hit him that hard. His cheek stung and he blinked, head spinning a little. Of course his earlier fall could have also had something to do with how impactful the slap really was.

"You're a real sonofabitch you know that? How could you go bringing another one of your whores here? I mean, it's one thing to know about them, but this is my place! This is where I get you." Jezha had angry tears in her eyes as she looked at him accusingly. Not that Robb didn't think he deserved it.

"Averella is not a whore." He hissed, lowering his voice. She was still in the bath right there! "I saved her from drowning in the river. I'm helping her because she needed help. Fuck Jezha, I am not sleeping with her. Don't you fucking take any of this out on her."

"Oh, that's obvious. There wouldn't be two rooms if you were, but you want to. I can see it. That's why you were so mean to me earlier. Can't have your next little wench seeing you flirting with me. That would hurt your chances, wouldn't it? Well I am going to warn her that you're a silver-tongued snake that will take advantage of her the second she lets you!" Of course Jezha's voice wasn't exactly trying to hide their conversation.

It was always hard to get comfortable in a place she wasn't familiar, but after a time, she just let the hot waters soothe her until they turned warm. And she must've almost fallen asleep, because the voices roused her.
"Robb?" she asked, groggily sitting up before realizing, no one else was around- but the voices came from outside the room. She paused a moment, hesitating before stepping out of the bath. Wrapping herself in a towel, she went about trying off her hair when she heard it again- but the voices grew louder.

"Robb?" he must not have heard her, then agian the voices were so loud..
And one was definitely his but the other...

Jezha.
And she froze by the door as the whole dialogue sunk in.

"You. Are. Crazy." Robb snarled at her, more than a little annoyed at this point. "There is nothing for you to be jealous about! I am not sleeping with her and I seriously doubt I ever will. Gods damn you, Jezha. Averella isn't like you. She's just a sweet little lady who got herself in trouble and I just so happened to be in the right place at the right time. First thing in the morning I'm helping her get her things, and then she's probably going home - without me."

Fuck but the second slap hurt even worse.

"So that's it, then. I'm a whore and she isn't. Girls like her don't deserve assholes like you, but girls like me do?" Jezha gave a little half scream, one of those ones women sometimes did when they were so mad they couldn't contain it.

"Fuck I didn't say that! Stop putting words into my mouth, you psychotic cunt. And stop slapping me!" Slap.

Each slap made her flinch and she kept wondering if she should intervene..
but the conversation was only escalating, and she had no idea what to say to that. She flushed at the ideas behind it all and at the last slap, it slapped her to her senses as she dropped her towel with a gasp and..
literally tripped over her own two feet, fell into the door and knocking it open- only to have it swing open with the naked girl, half clinging to her towel.... and then the door hitting Jezha clean and hard against her ass from where she was half bent over, after having given Robb his last good slap.

The events kind of happened in slow motion, and boy was it a disaster. Averella was naked in the hall, clinging to her towel and the door, which had just hit Jezha. The impact had made her shriek and pushed her against him. Robb hurriedly stumbled back, trying to get away from her until he hit the wall and his and Jezha's legs got tangled up, sending them both crashing to the floor.

He let out a pained groan, Jezha had landed on top of him, stunned. Although that didn't last very long, she screamed again and punched him in the chest as hard as she could before scrambling off him.

"I hate you!" She yelled at him before turning to sneer at Averella. "I hope he does screw you, and then when you're not good enough for him he'll just find another pretty, dumb, gullible girl to use."

With those final bitter words she stomped off. Robb tried to pull himself off the floor, but he was definitely not looking at Averella. Partly because she wasn't dressed at all, and partly because he really felt like an ass.

Averella winced, and held her breath until long after Jehza had left. And then swiftly enough, she hooked the towel around her to be modest, so she could quickly move to Robb's side and ask, "Are you alright?" genuine concern touched her voice.

Robb recoiled slightly from her, raising an arm almost defensively. Although he didn't really expect another assault, especially not from her, but he didn't want to touch her either. He'd had enough dirty thoughts about the mysterious beautiful girl with the dark, dark hair.

Jezha was right, he was the worst.

"I'm fine. I think I deserved it." Totally true, he did deserve it, even if Jezha was acting crazy, well, he had definitely used her. He just hadn't thought that he'd been misleading in his commitment to her! Which, of course, was no commitment at all.

"Oh, but you haven't! Truly!" she went on, taking his arm suddenly and coaxing him to stand. "No one deserves to come to any physical harm." But as she tried to urge him to stnad, her towel nearly spilled away and she was struggling to help him and keep her own self modest. Sheepishly, she hung onto her towel while she hung her head and added, softly, "Perhaps you should apologize to her... She seemed... really hurt."

Robb dragged himself up off the floor at her urging, blushing in shame as he kept his eyes far away from her body - which she was struggling to keep covered properly. That really did not help with the fact that it was so true - he was a damn scoundrel and definitely wanted to look at her.

He couldn't help it!

It made him hate himself a little.

"Yeah, probably." Well, apologizing couldn't hurt more than his pride or ego. Although he didn't think Jezha was really hurt so much as angry that he didn't want her.

He accidentally glanced down at her barely modest body and flushed again, turning his head away sharply. With everything else he didn't notice that his stitches had been a little damaged and a few drops of blood were welling up from the wound.

"You should get dressed, Averella. I should go to my room, I guess..." Robb really wasn't sure what he should really do.

He may not have noticed. But she sure did.
With a gasp, she leaned up and took one hand to his shoulder to bend him down so she could get a better look, eyes almost going crossed.

"You're bleeding."

"Am I?" He tentatively reached a hand up, fingers brushing at the wound and coming away with a small smear of blood. "Guess I scraped against the wall or something when I fell over."

Robb shrugged a little, trying to pull away from her again. "It can wait for a few minutes while you dress, really, it's nothing."

Blushing, she retracted herself and,clutched onto her towel.
"Oh! You're right I.." She took a step back.   "Ill go get dressed." And numbly disappeared back into the bathing room to fetch her,clothes.

As soon as she disappeared Robb thought about doing the same. Gods knew he certainly wanted to disappear just then. Jezha had made him feel about three inches tall.

So much for being a brave and honorable knight.

That was always a joke. Knights were no more brave or honorable than any soldier from what he had seen, experienced, or been.

Robb made up his mind pretty quick, heading down the hall and up to the third floor. He took the second to last room on the left, leaving the very last one for Averella. At least she had a good bed for the night, it was the least he could do. His things were piled by the door and a bottle of rum was on the nightstand.

Even when she was pissed at him, Jezha knew how to set things up for him. There was also a glass, but with a night like this he seriously doubted he needed it. No, it was definitely a straight from the bottle kind of night.

She was quick to get dressed (no sense keeping her hero waiting!) and made her way back to her room as quiet and unobtrusive as she could. But after getting settled in, she felt she ought to check on poor Robb, and moved to stand before his door before knocking on it three times.

"Robb? It's.. It's Averella," she spoke softly through the door. "I just wanted to make sure you were alright."

It had only been a couple minutes since he'd arrived in the room, but Robb had stripped off his dirty clothes and pulled on a fresher pair of breeches. Taking a bath only to stay in dirty clothes didn't do a lot of good, did it?

Averella didn't really have any clothes, clean or otherwise. She could practically use one of his shirts as a long dress, though. It was better than nothing for now. Hopefully she had some clothing in all those belongings they needed to get back. If not he supposed he could figure something else out. A seamstress could probably put together a couple simply dresses quick enough.

"I'm fine." Robb called back, lounging back against the wall behind his bed in nothing but his breeches as he sipped rum straight from the bottle. "You can come in, if you want."

His head had stopped bleeding again, thankfully. He'd bled enough for one day.

Timidly she cracked open the door and peeked inside. She flushed a little, averting her gaze to see him shirtless- but it wasn't like she hadn't seen men naked (or near naked) before. She was from Essyrn, after all. It was just the fact he looked.. pretty nice that way and it made her feel uneasy.

"Oh, I didn't mean to disturb you! I just wanted to check on your wound and to make sure you were alright."

A sarcastic retort was right there, on the tip of his tongue, but Robb bit it back. Averella had been through a lot that day, and had been nothing but sweet and kind to him. She didn't deserve having his foul mood taken out on her.

He sighed and glanced at her, admiring her blush, really.

"You're not disturbing me. Come have a look if you're that worried about it." Robb gestured to the unused glass sitting on the little table next to him. "Drink?"

She was thirsty and accepted whatever it was. She'd had alcohol before, so she wasn't too concerned about it. But what she was concerned was his wound. She moved to sit beside him, eyes glued to it.
"Could you lean down so I can get a better look at it? It seems like it's doing well." Which was a relief, but she might as well check to make sure.

Robb poured the glass about half full and offered it to her before taking another drink. It took the edge off of his hurt pride. And he supposed his aching body too, but that was a second thought. He bent down at her request, which really made him lean close to her.

"I'm sorry." He muttered as she looked him over. "About...that. Downstairs. Not exactly my best moment. That girl...I've known her a good while now. She and I, well, we've fooled around for years, but it has never been serious. You know? I'm surprised she got so jealous. Gods I'm an asshole, aren't I? I'm just sorry you had to see and hear it all."

It was hard to properly check on his wound, what with him being so close and well, the conversation at hand. But she tried her best to be fully concentrated on it as she gave a smile, awkward smile in return.

"Don't worry about it. We all have our faults."
She had enough of her own to worry about as it was. She couldn't hold his against himself, not after all he had done for her. That alone spoke volumes of his character and well..
The unfortunate thing she knew about men was that they were vulnerable creatures to sexual habits.

She was probably looking too long at his clotted wound by now and gave a nod.
"I think you'll live. The wound seems to be clotting." Then she suggested, "Would you like me to clean it and put fresh bandaging over it?" It would help, after all, to prevent it from ripping or scratching open as it healed.

He didn't know why he'd felt the need to try to explain himself to her. It wasn't like his womanizing had any real baring on her. Robb found himself caring what she thought, though. No idea why, but he did. She was so kind to him he could barely stand it.

"Faults..." Oh Gods, Averella didn't know the half of it. Maybe he just wanted to find reasons to hate himself more than he already did. Which was a lot.

He reached a hand up to feel at the wound, grimacing softly as he did. "Whatever you feel is best."

"Oh!" her hand moved to his and gently removed it from the wound. "You shouldn't touch it." She went on with a shake of her head. "Here.. do you have something clean I could use? For bandaging?"

He let his hand fall away at her touch, frowning softly. There was some childish part of him that wanted to poke and prod and touch his injury. Why? Who the hell knew, but she asked him to stop, so he did. At least he'd not mess with it while she was watching.

"There's probably something in my bag, hang on." Robb set the bottle down slowly and got up, rummaging through his bags for a few moments before producing a silk handkerchief. He sat on the floor next to the bed and laid the piece of cloth next to her leg. It would be easier for her to reach him if he was down here. "You can use some of the rum to clean it, I guess."

Nodding, she took a bit of the clothe, ripped off just a small piece and dipped it into the rum he had poured for her. Once it was soaked, she moved to press it over the wound, and after letting it settle over it, she removed it and blew over it gently.
"Hopefully it doesn't sting as bad as before." She lowered her hand. "How does it feel?"

Robb managed to only grit his teeth and hiss a little bit as the alcohol touched his wound. It did still sting. Not like before, but it wasn't pleasant. He took another drink of rum before answering. "It feels fine. Thank you, for trying to take care of me. I don't deserve it, but yeah..."

"Please don't degrade yourself. You're not an awful person," she told him, holding onto the wraps.

"You just don't know me well enough." Robb sighed, cradling the bottle to his chest tightly as he stared down at his lap unhappily. "You are a very sweet, beautiful person. I feel like you should be in a manor somewhere being taken care of by your family. Not stuck mucking about an inn with the likes me."

Averella frowned and lowered her hands, eyes searching for his.
"Don't say that. Awful men don't save another's life."

"No, but they take lives. I killed my best friend. It was my order and it was the wrong one, and now he's dead. That's why I'm on my way home. I'm a disgrace." Robb took another large drink from the bottle. He wished that he could forget about all that, but he felt vulnerable and miserable. It was probably the injury. And the alcohol.

Averella's heart fell at his confession. Her eyes were even tearing up.
"Oh, by the Gods names, I'm.. I'm so sorry to hear that I... I had no idea."

"I'm sorry, Averella. I'm just dumping all my problems on you when you've got enough of your own. I-I don't want you to feel sorry for me. Every bad thing that hits me is my own fault." Robb was not going shrug off his personal responsibility in all his issues.

He'd made a bad call and people had died because of it. Jezha had every right to be angry at him, he'd been fooling around with her for years with no intention of giving her anything substantial in a relationship or even friendship.

She shook her head.
"Please, don't apologize." She placed a reassuring hand on his shoulder. "We all make mistakes. Even big ones we'd rather not confess. The fact you know it was wrong now and your guilt will be what you bear."

"Still don't know why I'm telling you." Sweet and kindly as Averella was, she was practically a stranger to him. Perhaps he should have been confessing to a spiritual leader of some kind. Someone with authority on the gods or something. Despite his involvement in The Order of the Moon, Robb didn't think of himself as particularly religious man.

Averella went quiet, thinking over his words.
"Maybe you needed to get it off your chest.. just needed someone to speak to," she told him softly. "Sometimes we just need someone to listen to us because the noises of the world can become so consuming if we don't take it from our shoulders we feel as if it might suffocate us beneath it's weight."

"Talking to people can be hard..." He couldn't imagine opening up to his sister about his feelings. That woman was all business and numbers and practicality. "I'm on my way home, but I don't want to go. My sister, I love her, but she insists that if I am leaving the Order I must marry a suitable woman, join her in the family business, and produce heirs to claim their share of everything once I'm gone. I have only ever been a knight. I'm not a family man. I'm not a father."

Fathers were responsible and stable, they loved and took care of their children. To Robb that seemed far more terrifying a prospect than any unholy monster he had faced as a knight!

Ah. He was of well standing, not just a night. She knew far too well what he meant, and just looked at him sympathetically.
"Yes, talking can be hard."
She knew it better than most. She had to be careful of her words, of what she knew, what she said...
"When you go home... can't you just tell them you desire another life? Surely they would understand if you'd never want to marry. It's your life..."
the idea of which she wished she could have believed all those millenia ago when she got herself into... well... this. This endless cycling existence of life and death....
The only thing she could be thankful for of it was that right now..
She was no where near the death end, unless unfortunate circumstances made that come far sooner than it was calculated.

Robb gave a short, barking, humorless laugh. Then he drank. He was definitely going to polish off the whole bottle tonight, morning full of regret be damned.

"You've never met my sister. Even as a knight, remaining unmarried and childless was something she scowled at every chance she got, reminding me that marriage and children were part of my duty as a member of our family. Or of any family. Have to keep the lines going and business in the family, you know." He sighed heavily and let his head fall back, staring up at the ceiling with his head next to her leg. It wasn't like having a wife would be the worst thing ever, but it would if his sister picked out a horrible bride.

Robb was pretty sure she would pick someone he couldn't stand.

Averella thought over his predicament and placed a hand gently upon his shoulder.
"Marriages aren't all that bad," she said softly. "There are a lot of nice people out there... You might be surprised. Maybe you'll find marriage will be the best thing that's happened to you."
Sure, love sounded like a fairy tale but...
why not? Why couldn't he have a good life? A good wife? A good anything he wanted?

"Marriage doesn't have to be bad, but it will be if I'm pushed into it with a girl I don't even like. My sister isn't going to let me just marry anyone I feel like." Like Jezha, even if Robb loved her, which he didn't, she'd never have been a good enough wife for him in his sister's eyes. None of the girls he fooled around with would be. The girls that were good enough to be wife material also weren't the type to fool around before marriage.

Robb frowned a little, thinking about Averella. "Didn't you say you were Essyrni? I thought girls your age had already been married off by their families."

At that, she went quiet. She hadn't expected the questions to come back her way. She had been so concerned with consoling him that her mind went numb. And though she had countless years to think of an excuse, nothing was coming to her.

How could she explain she kinda died before that; and her initial intended passed well before she had even come to age. No one had been lined up after him, and her family used her as a bargaining chip to keep other families appealed enough.....
But naturally, it just kept her closer to her brother who was, just a little bit obsessed with death and well....

She supposed she was foolish to have gotten herself mixed up in her brother's secrets. He didn't even know she had fallen into the same curse as she and she, in fact, had no idea if he were even walking around the earth like herself.
It was too much to consider, and before she could respond, she bumped over his bottle of alcohol and gasped as she nearly fell over to catch it.

The silence dragged on and Robb wondered if maybe he'd made a mistake asking the question. It was probably a sore subject. Had she been widowed? That would be horrible and he'd definitely feel bad for making her think of a late husband. He didn't consider that she might not have been married - or at least promised to someone.

Averella was gorgeous and sweet, some man had to want her badly.

His wondering thoughts were cut off when the bottle was tipped and he reacted without thinking. Although he wasn't sure if he was trying to catch the rum, or the tumbling girl at first. The movement had their heads coming together as his arms kept her from falling to the floor. It was a jarring impact, and he bit off a yelp of pain.

"Are you okay?" He asked breathlessly, not really even thinking about how close their faces still were.

Now in the man's arm, she froze. But everything else grew hot, red clean to her ears as she stared at him with eyes like saucers.

The alcohol may have been slowing his reactions just a little bit. For a moment, all he could do was stare back at her, blinking his eyes slowly when she didn't respond. She felt really nice in his arms like that, pressed against his chest.

Oh right, he didn't have a shirt on.

"I'm sorry, but...you were falling." Robb didn't have the presence of mind to actually try to help her back onto the bed where she'd been sitting, instead easing her to the floor with him.

"Yes.. well, I er.. I'm fine," she finally stammered, heart beating so fast as she remained on the floor. "It was just clumsy of me," she turned her head away, tucking some strands of hair behind her ear as she felt her blush. "I should be the one apologizing." And oh... "And thanking you." she added, peering at him sheepishly. "You did manage to catch me before I.. before I fell. I could have hurt myself had you not been so quick."

"It wouldn't have been a very far fall." It was doubtful that she'd have gotten too hurt from hitting the floor from the bed. Catching her had been instinctual. Honestly he'd kind of gotten fixated on the motion of her hand tucking her hair behind her ear, and the way her skin flushed. She was always blushing, wasn't she? That was his fault.

Robb wasn't really sure he felt all that bad about it. At least he knew that he had some effect on her, good or bad. "You're gorgeous and kind of mysterious, you know that? I've been trying to figure you out since the moment I pulled you out of the river."

Averella had prepared herself or a lot of conversations in her days and had, many times, needed to go over many conversations she hadn't planned for as well-
She found herself in one of those such unplanned conversations as she was only able to stare at Robb with her mouth open, not unlike that of a fish. But when the heat was now tingling in her ears, she dropped her gaze and shifted uncomfortably.

"Yes.. well, it's not everyday you find a woman inside a coffin not entirely dress."
Right. The shreds of her mummy wraps hadn't exactly been too concealing. Her face was definitely hot pink by now.

"Definitely not an everyday thing, no." Probably more like a once in a lifetime thing. "I'm sorry for making you uncomfortable. I didn't mean to."

"I.." her face was still burning. "I'm sorry for putting you into a position like this." She kept her eyes averted, form stiff but wilted. "I should go to my own room. Let you rest. We've had a long day." She moved to stand.

Her own room.

Let him rest.

Robb grimaced a little, reaching for her hand to stop her from leaving. His hold was light, so she could have pulled away pretty easily if she wanted. "Don't go. I'm just going to sit here and drink if you leave. Talk to me or something, please."

Turning, She noted the sincerity in his expression and paused with his hand over hers.
"Don't you wish to rest?" She asked softly.

"My mind's not exactly in a restive state. Just...stay for a little longer. I'll try not to be a nuisance or make you uncomfortable, I promise." Mostly he didn't feel like being alone. His mind was racked with guilt and the booze wasn't actually helping with that, just making things more fuzzy and harder to deal with.

She looked at him sympathetically .
"Then come sit with me on the bed." She gave a gentle tug to his hand.

At least she agreed to stay. Robb half crawled back onto the bed, sitting with his back against the headboard. "What's Essyrn really like? I've only been there a couple times as a child."

"Essyrn?" She smiled at his query. "It feels.. much different than most of the northern continents. It's always hot, and markets are always outdoors. And the people I feel, have a generally different outlook on life. But that is because of the will of Hakeshna, and the god of the Essyrni people have been shaped by her. It's like in Connlaoth, the devotion is to Ansgar and his principles, so the whole kingdom there was created around him. But it's not just religious differences, there is also the fact Essyrn is a desert, which is massively different than a kingdom like Connlaoth or even Hyoite to the North. There aren't seasons so seasonal activities generally don't exist, and the coldest it gets is at night, which tends to keep most people indoors at those hours."

"I remember the heat. Sorta." Honestly his memories were pretty fuzzy. He'd been younger than ten when he'd been there, and only for a few days at a time. Essyrn was part of his lineage, maybe he should go back for another visit. Could be fun and interesting to explore another part of the world for a little while, and would be an excuse to postpone any marriage. "Do you miss it?"

"I...er.. Yes, and No." She frowned. She didn't miss the desert, but the time. Too much time had past and those were times she couldn't go back to. She shook her head and looked at her lap.
"It's.. complicated. Right now it doesn't matter much where I go." But perhaps... No, going back to Essyrn brought too many hopes that, over the many years she had been around, were crushed every time she tried to find any clues to the curse upon her, or even the history of her family. They had been all but erased and that, in itself, was embarrassing. Not all of it just.. certain parts. Like the fact she wasn't dead. Or what had lead her to this not quite dead state of being.

Didn't matter where she went? Robb frowned softly, he was staring down at his lap, not looking at her as that only got him in trouble, at least it seemed that way. He'd hoped to at least get Averella started on her way home where she'd be safe, but that didn't seem like a concrete option. "So you don't really have anywhere to go? Will you...be alright?"

"Oh!" She didn't think too much into his questioning. But she smiled anyway. "Yes, of course. I've.. lived somewhat of a nomadic life style. It's.. difficult to explain, but things just work better when I stick to a particular method of travel." Sure she had a 'home', so to speak, where she hid away what remained of her previous life (coffin included) but it seemed like she had more or less lost that now to the river. The very thought made her frown as she fidgeted where she sat. She hadn't thought about it. She'd rather have liked to keep that. She wondered if she could ever find it again. Perhaps in the morning she'd look into a map maker, see where the river went to and scout the area it might have ended up. Hopefully it wouldn't get destroyed, but that coffin had lasted her quite a number of generations. It was made out of pretty solid stuff, and she had always taken such good care of it. Oh, to think she just let it go!

Robb remained quiet for a few moments, mulling over what she said. He also had lived very nomadic the past many years. Always traveling from one duty to the next, ever hunting and attempting to stamp out unnatural evils in Moonspear and all of Serendipity.

"Don't you get lonely?" He finally asked. It wasn't something he usually thought about. While he traveled often, usually it had been in the company of his fellow Order agents. The past months of wandering home alone had been some of the most unbearably lonesome he'd ever known. Further compounding that isolated feeling was his understanding that it was his own fault.

At least he did have a family to return to, even if he loathed the idea of some of the responsibilities that would come with integrating back into it.

She blinked at his question.
"I suppose so."
Being as old as she was... she went through pretty much any emotion imaginable. The only one that was the most rare was anger, as that took a lot to boil through the surface. But an even temper didn't mean loneliness never happened.

"I suppose a lot," she then added, frowning. "I do miss my family but..." How could she describe they were all dead? And for quite sometime...
She wasn't still mourning but.. she supposed you always would miss them.

"I can't relaly see them. Well, not anymore."
She probably sounded strange. She wished she had a better way to put it but if she mentioned her family had all passed, she didn't want him to sympathize. She had, after all, several hundreds of years to deal with it.

She obviously didn't want to talk about her reasons, and it sure wasn't his place to pry. Averella didn't owe him a thing, as far as Robb was concerned.

"I'm sorry that you can't seem them, and that you've been lonely. It's a terrible feeling." Whatever happened to make her unable to see them - be it death or banishment or whatever else - she didn't seem to be overly emotional about it. Robb couldn't see her as being an emotional detached or cold person, so he assumed it had been a long time ago.

Shaking his head and leaning forward, he reached out to take her hand gently. "After we get your stuff back in the morning, why don't we stay together for a little while? I'll go wherever you want."

His hand on hers and his proposal made her gape, and there her cheeks went, flushing pink again.
"Oh, but I don't want to inconvenience you any further!" Really, she didn't! Wouldn't his family miss him? Then again.. it didn't seem much like he would miss them.

"It's really not an inconvenience." Robb said earnestly, looking at her flushing cheeks and unable to fully suppress the heat that it sent through him. Gods she was a beautiful woman. It made him feel bad for even thinking it. Such sweet ladies were not for him to covet. "Please, let me follow where you lead for a while. Keeping you safe, even for a short time, will make me feel better."

For the longest moment she had no idea how to respond to that. He might as well have asked her to marry him! That's about where her mind was going, malfunctioning at it's highest point. Eventually she shook her head.

"But I'd still feel like an inconvenience," she pressed. "Not that you are!" she added quickly, resting her hand assuredly over his. "But you were heading home and I'd only feel I'd be a distraction."

"I don't mind a distraction. It's not safe for a young woman alone on the road." Robb had just saved her from bandits, hadn't he? What if there was no one there next time to help her? "If we part ways I will worry for you. Near strangers we may be, but you have been sweet to me and I would hate to see you come to harm if I could stop it by just being with you."

He had a point, but did he have to word it in such a way. She dropped her gaze.

"I.. I suppose it wouldn't hurt. For a little while."

Robb had no idea what he was saying wrong, but he could sort of see that he was making her uncomfortable again. Why did he have to be such a screw up at everything?

"It's...okay. If you don't want me to hang around any longer than necessary. I get it. I'm sorry for asking, or being pushy about it, I guess." He pulled his hands away and ran his fingers through his hair with a tired sigh. "I'm terrible company."

Seeing his reaction made her feel even guiltier about her reply. She shook her head and looked at him,imploringly.
"No, it's not that. Please understand. I... I'm just not used to traveling with anyone else and I honestly feel like I'd be the burden."

"It's just traveling, right? How could you be a burden?" They'd just be going places, walking or riding down the roads to wherever she needed to go. Aside from his presence deterring most petty thieves, he wouldn't even be doing much aside from not going home. Unless they ran into some not so petty thieves, but as a knight it was his duty to put a stop to men like that anyway.

He had a point. But it still didn't mean she didn't feel like an inconvenience. After all, had they never met, he'd be well off and on his way home. Though, she supposed it didn't appear as an inconvenience at all towards him as she peered at him curiously.

"I suppose you're right. And it might be nice to have someone to help me sort through my things."
Whatever was left of them. Now she worried.

"I'll do my best to not be a bother." Robb said, attempting to be a little teasing, although he wasn't really joking. He couldn't understand why she thought herself to be such a trouble. To him, she was a pleasant breath of fresh air on an otherwise lonely and miserable trip. And a very convenient excuse to avoid home and marriage just a little longer.

She fidgeted, curling a piece of hair around one finger.
"When do you think we'd go to see about my things?"

"First thing in the morning." Robb had been drinking and his head was not in great shape. Waiting until morning by this point seemed like the best option.

"Oh... I suppose that makes sense. Then they'll be daylight and we can see." she gave a soft, almost nervous laugh, but was still smiling. "I suppose I'm only asking since I'm anxious. But anyone would be. Especially after how things all came about. I don't suppose many can say they've lost all their belongings to thieves dropping them in rivers."

"Don't worry about it, Averella. The guards will have gotten it all, I'm sure. We'll get it back from them in the morning." He shrugged his shoulders, looking at her sheepishly. "I'm sorry, you're probably tired. Just...ignore me. Go get some rest. It'll all be better in the morning."

She nodded, smiling and wishing she felt more reassured. Truth of it was, now she was more anxious than before, and kept nervously fidgeting, like idly picking at her finger nails, or chewing on her lower lip.

But as he went to apologize, she was quick to shake her head.
"Oh, I wouldn't just leave you if you feel you need the company!" she insisted. But it was getting late... Even still, as she studied his face, she pouted and felt the need to ask, "Are you sure you're alright?"

"As alright as I'm going to be. Really, it's late. You should be resting. Tomorrow is going to be a busy day." Robb gave her what he hoped was a reassuring smile and not a grimace. He felt like utter garbage for a number of reasons, but she didn't need to fret over him all night.

She hesitated, for longer than she felt was appropriate. And she couldn't quite drag her feet to leave, something.... some feeling begging her to stay.
She enjoyed his company and thought back to their conversations of loneliness. It was true. She hadn't realized just how much she has been starved for attention, for kinship, in her life but to have someone offer it so...
And for it, she was hesitant to leave.

She stared at the drink. She wasn't much if a drinker, as Averella was an easy drunk. But she knew what the drags on the bottle meant,  and she knew Robb had initially requested her to stay...

But she ought to go. He told her to. The day would be long...

Funny how she didn't feel ready to leave his side,  even if it was to just leave to her own bed.

But he had to be exhausted after today's ordeal, a sobering reminder of how their meeting came to be.

She swallowed and awkwardly bowed her head and released a small, but empty laugh.

",You're right. And my being here is keeping you from resting." She eyed him as she rose before turning to face the door, but she paused as she opened it and smiled at him.

"Sleep well."
And she closed the door behind her.

"You too." Robb said quietly as he watched her close the door as she left.

He had been the one insisting on her going to rest, but Robb didn't follow his own advice. Instead he continued drinking until his head was good and fuzzy, only eventually passing out after finishing the bottle.

Tomorrow's hangover was a problem for future Robb. Present Robb was happy to leave it for future him to deal with.

Wouldn't be the first time, or the last.

It took sometime for sleep to claim her, her rest fitful when it did. She eventually fell asleep and slept like the dead, her face half buried into her pillow, mouth persed open, creating a small puddle of drool. Her hair was in a tangle,  her make shift 'dress' falling off one shoulder and the bed sheets wound around one leg while the other was fully exposed, down to her bare feet.

Daylight spilled onto her form in golden stripes from the slats of the latched closed wooden shudders. She'd look like a sleeping beauty, if she, perhaps new how to tap into her actual beauty and press that into the will of her sleep.

As it were.. she slept like the dead, seemed not a sound no stirring could wake her. Oh. And she snored. A bit loudly.