How holy, how serene

[Anonymous]

They had been travelling for at least three days straight without proper rest. At this point, it seemed like the stars in the night sky were mocking her, if anything.
 
It had been Ash's idea really, she had been the one who wanted to pick up their pace. After checking their location on the map and realizing that La'marri was nearby, she had wanted to get there as soon as possible. She had never been there – to the laidback village, the sanctuary for mages and simple scholars alike – but she was sure that someone might be able to hear out their quest once they arrived there. Hell, even if there were no souls who wanted to hear them out, at the very least, they could sleep in a clean bed, for once, and eat a hearty meal at a tavern. Small pleasures like being amongst a crowd of other people, or being in a town where you might just be able to fit in, were things she had given up as soon as she became a Martyr. Sometimes, just wanted to sit back and take a breather.

But she had overdone it, as usual. Like always, she overestimated herself and her strength, and had convinced Mykhen that if they didn't stop for a rest for a while, that they'd be able to get to La'marri faster. She had grinned back then, and had decided that such a feat could be totally manageable, but after three days of taking only catnaps under trees and even sleeping while standing up, they were no closer to La'marri than they could've been if they had only slept regularly in between. Ashara clutched her stomach, hearing it rumble as she continued on, wondering how long she could go on like that. She laughed a little, looking up at Mykhen, who was travelling ahead of her.

"Mykhen... I dunno... how long I can keep going like this..." Ash admitted. Despite everything, though, Mykhen seemed fine. She laughed again, delirious from lack of sleep. "You should carry me, Mykhen! I don't weigh that much... do I?" She poked her tummy as she said it – ever since she had left Baile, she had lost some weight – it was easy to do, when you were travelling and eating whatever the forest provided you.

At this point, Ashara was seriously debating on stopping and setting up camp, but like hell if she had the energy to. In the distance, however, she... thought she saw what looked like a small hut, or cottage, or something, with the lights still on inside. Ash's eyes lit up, and suddenly, she had a burst of energy. "Mykhen, look!" she cried, and rushed towards it, ahead of her partner, lingering outside the house. "Someone's gotta be inside! You think they'll let us in, just for the night?" Her stomach let out another rumble, and Ash went to knock at the door, but stepped back, hiding behind Mykhen. "You knock. ...I'll be right behind you!" Yet again, her stomach grumbled. Man, for her sake, she hoped whoever was inside was a good samaritan!

[Anonymous]

Mykhen was always OK with any of Ash's insane plans to make things go by faster. Because, well, when the other whined, it was hilarious. To think the martyr didn't know how to pace herself. And being a human, she had less of a tolerance than Mykhen. Though, Ash was always trying to go to the full extent of Mykhen's capabilities.

Though, wanting to get to La'Marri without a moment to rest was even strange to her, and she could tell Ash was getting weak so she was going ahead a little. But the whiny voice came and Mykhen stopped, turning to look at her with her hands on her hips. Mykhen was in her element. The night. Her pale blue skin radiated with the stars and her eyes had a strange glow. Even her long white hair seemed more alive. "Ashara.... what am I going to do with you~?" She laughed.

The night elf walked over to Ash and grabbed onto the small framed girl. For a martyr, she was so much smaller than Mykhen who was a sentinel. This was crazy. This girl had to do this mission and she couldn't even go three days without a full night's sleep.

But, luckily for them, there was a house near by, and they walked over to it. Mykhen almost gasped when Ash went to knock, but alas... Ash wasn't brave enough for that. So she adjusted that spear on her back to make it less ominous and took a gloved hand to the wood. Knocking three times before she looked back to Ash. "You're such a baby."

[Anonymous]

The sharp knocking jerked Anja awake, her eyes blinking blearily at the dark room. What on earth...? Sitting up, she rubbed her eyes, trying to adjust them to the darkness, her hair a writhing mass around her head.

Slipping out of bed, Anja carefully lit a candle and padded softly for the door, adrenaline chasing away any lingering traces of sleep. Almost no one traveled through these woods, she wasn't really near where the men from the village harvested trees and there weren't many merchants or travelers that came this way.

She didn't open the door, instead just leaned against it, trying to hear as she called out, "Hello? Who are you?"

[Anonymous]

The Martyr stuck out her tongue at Mykhen. "Baby? Me? Never!" She placed a hand on her hip, pretending to be annoyed. "It's just... you gotta be careful about these things, right?" She nodded, justifying herself. "What if whoever's inside was sleepy and gets all grumpy after being waken up..."

Ash peeked out from behind Mykhen's shoulder, grinning. Awesome, someone was home! Whoever was home held a neutral tone to their voice, thankfully, and didn't seem grumpy about possibly being woken up at this time of night. The redhead bounced on her tippy-toes, smiling. "Just two travellers! We were on our way to La'marri, but I underestimated how long it would take to get there... Do you think we could stay for the night?"

Back in Baile, everyone had been family to each other, everyone believed in being charitable for the sake of being charitable. While travelling away from her home, the Martyr had realized that not everyone outside of na Talún was as kind as her family was back home, but she could hope, couldn't she?

[Anonymous]

She reached out and was two seconds from latching her fingers onto that tongue when Ash slapped it back in before she spoke. So she let her hand freeze inches from Ash's lips as the martyr spoke. "Ash.. anyone who is sleeping will be grumpy when they wake up. Though I would imagine you would be a little more.... gutsy with such a task under your belt. Don't you think?"

The elf shook her head and let her insanely long hair sway close to the ground. Though she turned to the door to knock.. Soon greeted by a tousled up woman. Mykhen tucked some hair behind her ear and then crossed her arms under her chest. Her weight shifting to one foot as Ash spoke.

"Sorry to intrude. We've been walking for three days and haven't gotten proper rest. And we would appreciate it." She added in, looking back to Ash, then to Anja.

[Anonymous]

Not really what Anja had been expecting. Raking a hand through her hair, Anja opened the door slightly, studying the two woman a moment before she gave a sigh and held the door open, "Alright. Come on in. There...isn't a lot of room, but you are welcome to my floor."

Yawning, she stepped back to let them enter, "What are your names? I'm Anja." While they might be awful people going to murder her for money, she doubted it. And honestly, was far to sleepy to care much at the moment.

[Anonymous]

Damn, Mykhen had a point – no matter how nice someone was, they'd definitely be grumpy if they had just been woken up! Ash's eyes widened at the thought, suddenly nervous, hiding behind Mykhen again. "D-Don't say things like that, Mykhen!" She darted her eyes around, waiting for the door to open nervously. "There may be a lot of things I can deal with in this world, but grumpy people aren't one of them!"

When the woman opened the door, Ashara sucked in her breath, awaiting her answer, and let out a sigh of relief when she said they could stay. As soon as the woman said 'come on in' Ashara let out a squeal of glee. "See, Mykhen! She's not grumpy at all~!" the Martyr exclaimed in triumph. Before entering, Ash placed a hand over her heart, looking back toward the woman.

"You have my eternal gratitude, miss!" she acknowledged, her mahogany brown eyes wide with honesty.  "I don't know what I would've done if I had to keep going... Although, I'm sure Mykhen would've been fine either way." She grinned over at Mykhen – it wasn't fair how strong she was, really, but Ash was damned lucky to have her.

She waltzed in the woman's house, taking a look around, almost not hearing her question. She didn't get to see the inside of houses of ordinary folk, of people who weren't Talún druids, so it was always a little exciting, when she got to see some new scenery. Eventually, she did snap back to reality, realizing she had been rude.

"Oh! I'm Ashara – Ashara Rann, at your service." She bowed a little – the red phoniex feather in her hair almost slipped out as she did so. As she adjusted the pin, she eased back over to Mykhen's side – it was an unconscious motion; she always felt safer next to her. "And this is my Sp –" she started, but then remembered – non-druids wouldn't know what a Spirit Bond was. Right, right. "...my partner!" And that could be taken out of context, she knew. "But Mykhen can introduce herself, right?" She turned to Mykhen, smiling innocently, not realizing that she had already done it for her.

[Anonymous]

She stepped into the house and looked around slowly, her hands coming up to the straps that held a special holster to her back that her lance was able to snap into. Though she had to stop and turn to look at Ash, her eyes widening a moment, then she reached out and shook her shoulder just as Ash snapped out of it.

But, she gave the martyr time to talk before chuckling and turning to Anja, bowing at the waist with a hand held over her chest. "I'm Mykhenleigh Fallon. Mykhen for short. Thank you for letting us impose on you during our journey." She then straightened up. "Please pardon Ashara, she's a bit of a talker when you let her have her way. But she's a sweet heart if you can get her to calm down for a moment." She teased.

[Anonymous]

Oh my. There was a lot of talking and Anja was not awake enough for this. She just nodded, already having forgotten their names in that blur in talking, "Uh...yes. Nice to meet you. It sounds like you have some energy still left over."

She gave a small laugh, then glanced back at her simple home. It was simple and one large room, with a bed and chest shoved to one side, a table with a few chairs and a kitchen area. Books and papers filled most of the space, an organized chaos, with a large, locked heavy looking door off to the side.

"Um, I don't really have much space to offer, but you are welcome to my floor. By the hearth is quite warm."

[Anonymous]

Was she really that much of a talker? Ash hadn't noticed it, but whenever she was in the presence of new company, she did tend to be more talkative than before, even if she was dead tired after travelling for so long. She grinned sheepishly at Mykhen's description of her, rubbing the back of her neck idly. "I don't talk that much..." was her quiet, good-natured rebuttal, but she laughed all the same. The Martyr had been worried before; knocking on someone's door and expecting good charity from them was a risk outside of Baile – not everyone was hospital out here in the 'real world' – not everyone respected that delicate balance between nature and man. But to come across someone who did, someone who could open their doors to a strange – it gave Ashara some hope.

She didn't have a bed or anything, but to be honest, Ash hadn't expected one. "No problem! Any space you have to offer is greatly appreciated! The floor will work fine~" she assured with a nod. If by the hearth was warm, like she said, then that'd be perfect. She was used to the chilly night air than ran its way through the forests and woods, but she would be lying if she claimed to never have thoughts of curling up comfortably in some warm, secure place.

Tentatively, she made her way over to the hearth, not wanting to disturb any of the various books or papers that could be found around the room. Curious, she sat down near the hearth, her eyes lighting up. "Mykhen, she was right! It really is warm here!" she exclaimed, grateful to have a warm place to stay, even if it was on the floor. She looked to Anja, tossing her an easy smile. "We're probably forever in your debt for this! This is much better than staying out in that cold." She would've been fine with staying outside normally, but after running herself ragged, she was glad to have a warm place to rest her head.

[Anonymous]

Mykhen smiled sheepishly to Anja. "Sorry to be so noisy this late at night, especially after having woken you up. You may return to sleep. We wont disturb you any further." Though, a mere minute after she had said that, Ash was going off to the hearth and telling her about how warm it was. Mykhen sighed and walked over to her. "Yes. Warm. Now, let's be quiet."

She took her spear off her back and propped it against the wall. Then she sat down in the corner by the hearth where the heat was still reaching her, then looked to Ash. "Come here." she said softly and patted her lap.

She was used to Ash sleeping on her lately. And, being a night elf, she was used to uncomfortable positions and actually found most of them comfortable. So, to make things more tolerable for Ash was easier for her. Though, regardless of being comfortable or uncomfortable, Mykhen would give her clothes to help Ash. Anything to make her journey easier. Plus, it was her job.

[Anonymous]

When the quieter one patted her lap, Anja quickly turned away. There was an intimacy between those two that she felt like she was intruding on. Love like that must be nice. Moving back to her bed, Anja settled back against her bed, facing the wall to give them a little privacy.

"Good night. If you like, you are welcome to stay for breakfast tomorrow."

As it was, she just wanted to get back to sleep. She was going to feel this is the morning.

[Anonymous]

It really was a miracle, Ashara thought, to run into someone who was so readily kind to them. And to think, she was even offering them breakfast in the morning! Her face lit up at the offer, but remembered Mykhen's words – it was late, and it'd do everyone a favor if she remembered to be quiet. So she grinned at the offer, nodding her head eagerly. "Thanks~ We'll definitely be sure to stay for breakfast!" Her voice was a hushed, excited whisper – a big improvement from her previous tone.

She looked toward Mykhen, who patted her lap, motioning for Ash to come closer. That was Mykhen for you – always considerate, forever a pillar for her to lean on when Ash was beginning to wonder if she'd be able to keep going. "O-Okay~" she obliged softly, sitting on Mykhen's lap, resting her head on her partner's shoulder. She had grown too used to sleeping on Mykhen nowadays – ironically, she was more comfortable than any sleeping blanket or pillow. Ash let her eyes close, snuggling closer to her partner.  

When they were like this, it was the closest Ash ever was to Mykhen, and she'd savor the gesture for all it was worth. "'Night, Mykhen~" she mumbled, gently wrapping her arms around her partner. When she was awake and alert, she would've been too flustered at their closeness, would've been too concerned with keeping her secret bottled up to be this close. But by the hearth, it was okay, wasn't it – to sleep by her side so comfortably? She hoped so – and hoped even more so that Mykhen could've feel how her fast her heart beat when she was by her side.

[Anonymous]

She took Ash into her arms and shifted a bit to become a bit more comfortable before she watched as Ash drifted off to sleep. Hoping she would fall asleep soon. But, it wasn't long, and Mykhen finally let herself slip off to sleep. But not for too long.

When morning rolled around and the light started to shine through the windows, Mykhen opened her eyes and looked around the home slowly before down to Ash. Carefully she slipped out from under Ash and laid her on the floor. Making sure she didn't stir her before she got up and stretched. Adjusting her clothes and looking over to Anja, who was still asleep as well.

Feeling rested, Mykhen walked over to the door and slipped outside. Going for a brisk morning jog to get her blood pumping, then she found her way back to the house and sat outside on the roof and watching the sun rise.

[Anonymous]

The door opening woke Anja up, having been sleeping lightly, brain alert for any changes with strangers in her home. Sitting up, she rubbed her eyes and noticed that the elven one was gone, leaving the talkative one still sleeping by the hearth.

Slipping out of bed, she started to boil some water, building the fire up. Might as well get some coffee and breakfast going and see what the people wanted.