Spirits of the Earth

Tag @kleineklementine

Gardenia had always hated the traveling part of visiting her family in Adela. It took forever. Even the cushiest of carriages made things ache. The book she had with her was face down in her skirts on her lap, her money was in a bag around her wrist. Letting her head thump against the wooden carriage almost instantly the driver stopped the horses, mistaking it for something else. Oh great, now she had to insist that no, really, she was fine. No she didn't want anything.

The door opened and there was the driver.

"Miss?"

There would be no answer because all that left her mouth was a terrified shriek as an arrow plunged into his head. Oh no. No. No no nononono. Quickly she scooted across seat, pressing her back to the door on the other side, staring at the lifeless body hanging half inside the carriage. That man had been alive only a few minutes ago. The blood dribbled down his head and her fingers scratched at the door, only for that to open and a head to poke in.

"Hey! There's a girl!"

Panting, eyes squeezed shut, Gardenia scrambled over the dead body of the carriage driver, her foot getting stuck on the arrow and she let out a quiet panted breath before she tumbled out of the carriage. "Get her!" Gardenia began to run. Her skirts kicking up. Everything she had was in that carriage. Her life though, she had that now and she was't sure she would have kept it if she didn't simply run.

What had started as a boring trip was turning so much worse. Things like this didn't happen on boring nice days. The sun was in the sky. It wasn't too hot. Though her legs and lungs burned she didn't stop running. Though there were no foot steps behind her, she didn't look back, instead she ran as far and as fast as she could. The carriage was long gone and she was deep in the woods, just one peek.

Gardenia turned her head to look over her shoulder and then she stumbled, tumbling down a small hill before she finally stopped. Her breaths were mixed with sobs and she slowly rose to her feet, looking around before dropping to her knees in a flutter of skirts and leaves. There was no effort to quiet her sobs, if they found her now, so be it. She was too tired to run on.

"I want my dad." Was all she sobbed, her hands covering her face as she bent forward and seemed so small.

Soren had heard the sounds of the raid from a distance. Poor saps, he thought. From the sounds of it, there was a handful of raiders and the thought of, say, going and helping the poor hapless travelers didn't even occur to him. What was he supposed to do against a group of multiple bandits? Furthermore, it wasn't his fault if some underprepared sod was traveling through here without enough guards. What were they thinking? This stretch of Draconi Forest was famed for its bandits. If anyone was to blame for the sacking of the coach, he told himself, it was the travelers inside of it!

It all had nothing to do with him.

So Soren carried on through the forest, heading towards one of his stashed camps, and telling himself more how there was nothing he could done, wasn't his responsibility, and what idiots the travelers must have been in the first place when he heard another sound. The last sound he wanted to hear. One he couldn't just walk away from.

...Could he?

Heaving something between a sigh and a groan, Soren followed the sound of the girl's sobs (he thought it was a girl, anyway; it better be a girl! he didn't need to waste his time saving some wreck of a man sobbing in the forest!) until he spotted her collapsed amid the trees.

He paused for one moment, frowning to himself. She looked young and for a second he was thinking of another teenage girl. And how good of a job he'd done at helping her. But he pushed the thought aside, and took a step into the clearing.

"...Miss?"

The voice had her jerk and quickly she stood up and stumbled, skirts kicking up and again she had fallen. Taking deep breaths which quickly turned into hiccups she just stared at him eyes wide and waiting for him to strike her down. Gardenia turned to look at where she'd run from and shut her mouth, the hiccoughs making her shoulders jerk occasionally.

Still she stared before her mouth opened and instead of talking, she just bowled the poor man over. Distraught, the kind voice of the man, Gardenia simply reacted and the way she did was to wrap her arms around the stranger and press her face against his chest. Her cries quieted and she squeezed her eyes shut before she let him go, realizing what she'd done, taking a few steps back. "Please."

"Do you know how to get to Serendipity? Or the nearest town?" Her hands grabbed at his arms and she held on, feeling like if she let go she'd break into pieces and start sobbing. "Please. I'm scared. I'll pay you. I'll make it worth your while but please don't leave me here." Even now she was itching to still run away, but at least if the bandits decided to follow her they would have two targets this time.

Oh. Er. Soren stood there, arms limp, while the girl threw herself at him, sobbing and clutching onto him. Next time he was going to ignore the sounds of sobbing after a coach was attacked! He didn't need this. What was it with him finding wayward teenage girls in the woods? Well, he thought, he hadn't really found Pepper in the woods, but...

And that pang of guilt made him look a bit more sympathetically at this girl, and he even patted her on the back with one arm in the classic 'there there' motion.

"There there," he said lamely, verbally echoing his pats. He still had no idea what to do with a crying girl. Couldn't she just... stop? The idea that maybe the attack n the coach had been worse than he'd assumed hadn't even occurred to him yet. "Um, there there," he said again, patting her again.

Finally recovering from the initial surprise, Soren reminded himself that he was the 'adult' in this situation. And that he was confident and good-looking on top of that! So he took Gardenia from the shoulders and held her back a bit, gentle but firmly, so he could look her in the eye.

"Hey, you're okay now," he said with confident reassurance, smiling encouragingly. That's right, Soren, use your natural charm. "Of course I'm going to help you. We'll get you to safety, okay? Can you tell me what happened?"

Big odd eyes stared up into Soren's.

A hiccup and she nodded dumbly, she was okay. A deep breath and she blew it out slowly and promptly began to cry again, though less sobbing and more unstoppable tears. "The dri-driver." She took a deep breath and let it out again, though everything inside her was telling her to just curl up and cry.

"They shot him with..." she swallowed and looked away, squeezing her eyes shut for a moment, "An arrow. In the h-h-head." A nod and she closed her eyes again, "I... He was nice. He was just checking on me because I thumped and now..." Gardenia looked towards the trees where she'd run from and quickly turned to stare up at Soren.

There was some intense eye contact because looking anywhere else just made her cry again. "I just ran. I'm a coward but I ran. I can't fight. I can't..." Swallowing she grabbed his hand and began to walk, wanting to get farther away from the bandits. If they got their hands on her, she swallowed and straightened her shoulders. She was a lady. Not a whimpering idiot.

"I don't know if they chased me, I just... ran." Gardenia moved her hand to his forearm and held it, looking all sorts of kicked puppy. "please, if you can take me somewhere safe my father will reward you handsomely, I promise."

"Hey, hey, don't blame yourself," Soren said encouragingly, heroically keeping up all of this intense eye contact, keeping his own gaze level and reassuring. "You did nothing wrong and you are not a coward. I'm sure escaping to safety is exactly what your driver would have wanted you to do, okay?"

What he was thinking, though, was that he really hoped all these waterworks would stop soon. They just made him, eh, uncomfortable. These days, it seemed, teenage girls had a real knack for making Soren Levi feel awkward. And even as he thought these things, he berated himself. Here she was, just a girl, who'd gone through a terrible shock, lost someone who maybe she'd been close to, what did he know?, and forced to flee into the woods, lucky to escape the bandits... And what could he think? 'Ew, please stop crying. It's making me uncomfortable.' What a shmuck.

"Look, we're going to get you to a safe town, okay? From there you can send word to your family that you're all right and that you've been delayed and that you're in safe hands. I'm from these parts and I'm happy to guide you to the nearest village, okay?" Please stop crying, please stop crying. "We'll do that first, okay? And from there you can decide if you want to wait there for a family member to fetch you, or, if you like," because Soren had heard that bit about being 'handsomely rewarded!' (though how he'd manage such a long journey with another person without them seeing, well... he'd figure that out as he went along!), "I'll take you all the way to Serendipity. I have family there myself." Yeah, family who'd chase him out in disgust, but that was besides the point!

All the time, he'd kept a firm arm around Gardenia's shoulder. "I have a camp nearby. We can get some food there - few things are better comfort!" and who can cry when they're eating? "and rest before heading onto the next town. How does that sound? I'm Soren, by the way, Soren Levi. And I'll get you home safe."

Or, he figured, at least try. Probably.

A few shuddering breaths and she just listened and nodded. Her hands moved to her face to wipe away the tears and she took a few more deep breaths before steeling herself and just nodding again. Talking would be hiccups and watery and just no use. The arm around her shoulder was comforting and she leaned her head against his, closing her eyes briefly.

Gardenia didn't feel safe. The arm was comforting but at the back of her head the chance of him being a sneaky bandit were too high. There were two choices though. Go with this man or go out into the forest. If it had been closer to... She would have been fine. Could have run all night to get home. Or closer to home. It wasn't though, a few days left before that happened.

As it was, survival was key and this man was her best chance. Gently she bit her lip and, once again, simply nodded at his suggestion to eat. She wasn't hungry.

"Gardenia." It was quest, "Gardenia Silinrul." She was cautious of offering her last name, perhaps the idea of kidnapping her - which wouldn't be hard in this situation - would be a good one. If he had family in Serendipity he probably would have heard of her family. Maybe she could just be a cousin instead of the daughter. Maybe he'd see that she looked absolutely not Serenian at all and just smile at her.

"Thank you, Soren." It was quiet and she tucked herself closer, simply because he was warm and she was starting to shiver. "You're very kind for helping me... You could... You could have ignored me. So... Thank you." Still wasn't hungry though.

If Soren recognized her name as that of the heir to Jadenshire, he didn't show it. In fact, he didn't recognize it because he'd only been half listening once she'd stopped crying. He was far too busy being relieved that she'd stopped crying, and thinking he better be careful lest she start crying again! That would be the worst. Because if she started crying again, he was out of tricks to make her stop.

"Don't worry about that. I don't think anyone could have ignored someone alone and frightened in the forest," he said in his Reassuring Voice, but mostly because he didn't know what else to say. They walked on for awhile until they came to a little lean-to shelter built up against a giant old oak tree. It had the look of somewhere that was used often, but not regularly. Soren looked the tiniest bit embarrassed bringing her to it. Having spent his youth wealthy, he still wasn't entirely comfortable owning his transient life in the forest. Who lived in camps in the forest? Rejects, that's who.

And that, of course, was exactly what Soren was.

"Make yourself comfortable," he said with a self-conscious shrug and a slightly apologetic grin. "We can light a fire if you like. I don't think the bandits will leave the road," not when they had a coach, but he chose not to say that, "and maybe something warm to drink would help settle your nerves?"

[[Ugh, lame post. Sorry!]]

Gardenia was quite overwhelmed and just watched Soren as he went along. How was he so calm? Did this happen often? She swallowed and took a few deep breaths, running her hands down the front of her dress. The shoes she wore weren't made for walking and the clothing not for traveling. The purse around her wrist jingled when she smacked it against her dress and she just smiled at the kind man.

Make herself comfortable? Gardenia looked at the camp and quickly moved to sat down, tucking her skirts under her and shifting so her feet were off to the side. Numb was a good word for what she felt. She just wanted to go home. That was now a very long trip away. "I ... I could use something warm to drink." Though what exactly was there, she didn't know.

Did she want to know? No. She had to be polite. Nice and polite to the man who lived in the forest. "Do you live out here?" She motioned to the tent and plastered a (very false) polite smile on her face. Idle conversation would be nice. "It's... Very nice."

Soren set about building a small fire just outside the shelter. Close enough that it would warm the shelter, but not so close it would burn it down. As he worked, he glanced back at Gardenia and caught her face as she said, 'It's... very nice.' He actually gave a little laugh at that, throwing her a lopsided smile as he struck the flint to start the fire.

"No it isn't," he laughed, "but it's very polite of you to say so. I don't live here all the time, though," he told her with a little shrug. Despite the laugh, he knew from her clothes and bearing that she was used to a very different life. Like he had been, once. "But it's a nice place to have for when I'm passing through these parts." There, that was sufficiently ambiguous that he might actually seem like a normal person, who traveled a bit? He remembered bringing Pepper to a camp like this, and how earnestly she'd told him it was nice. And reflected for a moment that his life was more aligned to a street-rat orphan than a girl who clearly grew up in similar circumstances he had.

Well. So it goes. He just had to hope his curse didn't pop up to show why he lived out here in the woods.

Once the fire was lit, he reached Gardenia in the admittedly tightly-spaced shelter to grab an old, beat-up looking kettle. There was a stream not far away, but he looked at Gardenia and frowned doubtfully. "Look, there's a stream nearby. I'll just be a minute to get water. But if you want to come with me so you're not here alone, you're welcome to."

The laugh caught her off guard and she gave a lopsided smile back, looking in slight awe at how he lit the fire and nodded along with him while he spoke. This was his home, sort of, and she was intruding... Sort of. "I can appreciate a nice place to have when you're 'passing through these parts'." Gardenia swallowed and offered a beginning to be watery smile, "I'm glad you're here." And she was. Against all odds there was someone out here.

She had no idea what she'd have done if she was a home. Probably hope to survive until the full moon and then run as close to home as she could.

"I want to come!" She stood up quickly, on her feet in a flash and moved to follow him like a duckling.  Quickly behind him, her hand snapped out to grab his, simply because she craved the contact. "We can... We can talk.So, Soren." She swallowed as they walked to the stream and still, she held onto his hand or some part of him. Holding the back of his shirt, "Have you always lived in the forest?"

The stream wasn't far away, but Soren had expected Gardenia to want to come. He hadn't, however, expected her to take his hand in her own. He glanced down, feeling momentarily uncomfortable. Or self-concious. Or something. Who knew, feelings weren't really his specialty. He could have sworn he'd once been less apprehensive of harmless girls in the woods. But now everything was shadowed by his Big Screwup with Pepper. But his moment of unease passed, and he squeezed her hand reassuringly.

Only moments after he regained his composure, however, she hit him with that. Soren glanced down at her, looking just the tiniest bit surprised. And then he frowned. Soren liked to believe that, despite the reality of his life, he didn't look like someone who lived in the forest. After all, he was (by his approximation) good looking, his black hair was disheveled maybe, but not matted or long or scruffy, he wore normal and sometimes even flattering clothes, and by great pains even managed to shave semi-regularly. He had been a little slack on that. Did it show? Was he turning into the sort of person you'd look at and thing, 'Who is this crazy, long haired, scruffy, bearded, wild-eyed forest man who clearly lives in the forest?'

"Who said I always live in the forest?" he asked, trying valiantly to sound unbothered and maybe even jovial. But he failed and, realizing it, flashed a sheepish grin. Guilty as charged, it seemed. He rubbed the back of his neck, always his tell. "Uh, no. I haven't. But I don't strictly now, either. This is just one of the places I stay some times..."

Then thank the gods, they arrived at the stream and Soren could busy himself with filling the old dented kettle. "Might be some blueberries on those little bushes there," he told her while he cleaned out the kettle. Truth be told, he actually hadn't been to this camp in a bit and it was a little grimy. Plus it'd be good for her to be occupied, and good for him if she were more occupied with looking for berries than asking questions. "A bit early, but you might be lucky."

He realized 'lucky' was a poor choice of words as soon as he said it and frowned a little. Why was doing the right thing always so hard?

If there was a polite way to blush and feel awkward, Gardenia was doing it. Her hand flew to her mouth and she played with her lower lip. She started to speak but before she could get any words out he replied and she simply nodded. So he wasn't a total forest man. That meant he could understand some stuff. Or did that make things worse? Gardenia tried to smile and simply walked with him.

Gardenia looked over her shoulder to where he indicated these blueberries were and she meandered over to it. Giving it a long hard look. Sure she'd picked flowers before but never blueberries. Her fingers were plucking at the few ripe blueberries she could find and she paused when he said she was lucky. Tears clouded her eyes but she stayed quiet and resumed picking blueberries, lifting up her skirt and turning it into a make-shift basket.

So, silently she cried and picked blueberries before taking a deep heavy breath. Her wave of self-pity over she stood up and cleared her throat, "Do you think we'll still be traveling two nights from now?" The full moon. Should she warn him? Maybe... The day after tomorrow. If they weren't somewhere safe for her to just... Run away. She'd let him know. So that way when the girl he picked up turned into a furry beast he wouldn't be surprised.

Crap. Soren saw the tears streaming silently down her eyes. But she'd only just stopped crying! Unsure what to do, he decided to let her have a moment and pretend that he hadn't seen - and hoped that it was just a moment! He glanced nervously at her a few times while he cleaned and filled the kettle and while she collected berries. When he was done and stood up with the full kettle, he was greatly relieved that her tears had stopped.

"Two nights from now?" he repeated, thinking. Poor thing, he figured, was probably just eager to get back to somewhere safe feeling. Back to her family or wherever. And he would be happy to be rid of her sooner, too! Somehow this teenager was seriously cramping his style. Maybe he had no style when he was being nice. But he hadn't forgotten what she said earlier, and he wondered just how much more or less days of travel would impact just how much he was going to be paid for her safe arrival to her family.

Yeah, Soren, very nice.

"Well, it depends, I guess. On where you want to go. There are some small villages within one or two days from here, but there isn't much there and it might be hard from there to hire transport. To a bigger town," he gave a small shrug, "we might be able to make it in two nights." He gave her what he imagined to be a compassionate frown. "I can imagine you're eager to get back to your family after the scare tonight, though. It might be faster to go directly to them, or to a larger town where you can hire a coach."

Gardenia tried to smile and nodded at him, feeling bad in some manner simply because none of those reasons were why she wanted to get home soon. The guilt in her chest probably showed on her face and she took a deep breath. Of course she felt bad for the people in the carriage but... That was their job, right? Making sure she was safe? She looked down at the blueberries in her make-shift pouch and then back at Soren.

"I..." Gardenia straightened her shoulders, trying to look confident and like she was better than everyone else, "I would like to ... Go to a large town to hire a coach." There was a beat before the quiet "please" followed.  Taking a breath she shuffled her feet and made her way back to his camp, taking great pains to sit carefully so she didn't spill any of the food.

"I've never picked blueberries before," She commented idly, looking down at the pile in her lap and then offering the man a kind smile. "Where are you from?" Was that too heavy for idle conversation? Gardenia's experience with talking to normal people was very little and she

Soren watched the mix of emotions on Gardenia's face uneasily. He wasn't thinking that she looked guilty, even if that was what she was feeling, he was mostly just watching to make sure she wasn't going to burst into tears again. But it seemed like they were safe there for the moment.

He nodded when she announced, with straightened shoulders!, that she'd like to go to a larger town to hire a coach. Inwardly, he had to smile at her mannerisms a little. She was clearly a wealthy, or maybe even noble-born, girl unaccustomed, he thought, to being so helpless in her situation. Trying to act like she wasn't so helpless now. But it didn't last, and Soren just put a hand on her shoulder, reassuringly, as they headed back to the camp.

At the edge of the camp, a patch of wild mint was growing, and Soren carefully selected the better-looking leaves from it and added them to the water in the kettle. Not the fanciest of tea, but it would do.

"Well, blueberries only really grow in the forest," he responded while he picked mint leaves and set the kettle over the fire. "So if you haven't spent much time outdoors, I'm not surprised." He paused, though, to look up at her when she asked where he was from. Only for a moment, before fastening the kettle in place and sitting down next to the fire. "Near the border with Serendipity," he answered. Then he frowned inwardly realizing that, with where they were, if she wanted to get back to Serendipity... that was probably exactly the town he should take her to. But for the moment, he pushed that thought aside and looked back up at Gardenia, "What about you? I have to say, you look more Adelan than Serenian."

Gardenia sat as close to Soren as she could without invading his space, it wasn't too far away, close enough to touch him. Far enough away to not touch him accidentally. It worked for her, for now, and hopefully it worked for him. The look she gave him about blueberries growing in a forest got a bit of a look. It took a moment of internal conflict not to spit out a snotty retort about how she knew where they grew and what they were but she swallowed the remark and just quietly smiled at him.

"My mother was Adelan," was her quiet response. It didn't explain why she didn't look serenian at all in any way shape or form, but that was the only answer he was getting out of her for now. Pushing her black hair behind her ear she cupped her hands to pick up the blueberries and held them out to Soren, not really sure what he wanted done with them.

"What shall I do? Do we just eat them?" She frowned at her hands for a moment, "No chance of getting sick?"

Within touching distance actually was a little closer than Soren would have preferred. He had to consciously remind himself that there wasn't any harm in it, he wasn't doing anything wrong this time. He was doing the right thing! He was actually doing something good. And if he got paid in the end? Well, he'd be an idiot to turn away money, right? And if he got paid a lot, maybe he'd even go to Arca with it... See, good things all around. Man, he needed to calm down.

Thankfully his mental bumbling was interrupted by that look she gave him and Soren nearly had to laugh. Instead, he just gave her a lopsided smile. He grew up with four sisters, he knew that look well. "Nah, you can just eat them," he said, still smiling a little. The kettle whistled and he got back to his feet to carefully move it off the coals of the fire. Then he disappeared temporarily into the hut and reappeared with two clean-ish wooden cups. Crap. He should have brought these to the stream, too... Well, they were only a little dusty!

Still, blowing on them would be far too embarrassing. Especially in front of what was clearly a well-to-do young lady. So he poured just a little bit of tea in each, swirled it around, and dumped it out before refilling it again. Not perfect, but it'd have to do. And to think, he'd grown up drinking tea out of porcelain tea services! Well, that was a long time ago. He handed one of the mugs over to Gardenia, then sat back down, just a little bit further away from her than he'd been before.

Soren sat with the steaming mug, looking between the fire and the girl. She hadn't, he realized, actually answered where she was from. But he wouldn't pry. "I think we should head to Opal Run," he told her after a moment's silence. "It's a decent sized trading town. Lots of merchants going every which way, you should definitely be able to find someone there who can take you to wherever you need to go. It's near the border, so there should be people going to all parts of Serendipity. Plus it's beautiful. The river has a peculiar mineral content, and it shines and shimmers just like an opal and..."

Soren stopped, he suddenly heard the fondness with which he was speaking of the place. And felt a strange feeling... was it homesickness? He frowned to himself, and said hastily, "Well, I imagine you won't be interested in that after your ordeal. Sorry. It should take three days from here? Starting tomorrow. Maybe four, depending on how we go," he added, glancing at her very-much-not-designed-for-walking attire.

Gardenia popped a few blueberries into her mouth and chewed thoughtfully, enjoying the idle conversation with the strange forest man. Curiously she watched him clean some wooden mugs and she graciously accepted it, noticing that he'd sat farther away than before. Gardenia gave him a small smile and took a sip of her hot minty water. It was still better than nothing and she sat there quietly, looking over her cup at him while he spoke, her odd eyes watching his face.

His tone had her smiling, the way he spoke about this Opal Run. Another sip of her drink and she popped another blueberry into her mouth. "No!" She started, even throwing her hand out as if to grab the tail end of his sentence before he decided, no, she didn't want to hear it.

"I want to!" Gardenia smiled again, anything to take her mind off of what she saw. "Tell me. Is that your hometown? Opal Run? You speak fondly of it." She looked down at her cup, then down at the various bits and pieces of jewelry she wore, "I could go on for days about how beautiful Jadenshine is." Which, in her opinion, was the very best province in Serendipity.

The idea of being outside for three days filled her with dread.

She would worry about that then, there was little she could do to not turn. Shifting her weight she looked down at her own clothing, which was indeed very not make for walking. Gardenia moved her legs to take a better look at her shoes,  inappropriate for walking around in a forest indeed.

"Yeah, I guess it is, sort of," Soren answered awkwardly, unconsciously rubbing the back of his neck. "But I haven't been there for awhile." Awhile was an understatement. How many years had it been? Five? Six? Could it possibly be even seven? What would he do if someone recognized him? What would he do if he saw one of his siblings? Maybe he could just, get her to the gates of the city, then push her in. Was that such a crazy idea?

It is if you want to get paid, he told himself.

He watched as she also looked at the unsuitability of her clothing for the journey. Frowning thoughtfully, he set down his mug and got to his feet. "Hold on, let me see," he muttered and disappeared back into the hut. After the sounds of some shuffling and clattering, he reemerged with a clean-ish tunic, trousers, an old leather belt, and a pair of boots. "Here," he said, handing them over to Gardenia, "they'll be too big on you, of course, but probably better than what you're wearing now. You can belt the tunic and roll up the trousers. The boots are smaller, they might even fit you."

He left it at that. How could he explain that he'd stolen the boots when he'd been in wolf form and grossly misjudged their size? His wolf-brain didn't always think quite so practically on matters like that.

"If you want," he said with a shrug. He guessed a proper young lady wouldn't be so keen on the idea!

Gardenia had her face in her cup and she looked up at him surprised written on the top half of her face. Curious and a little confused she waited for him to return and stared at him, a little shocked and touched that he'd brought her out clothing. It was weird to accept clothing from a stranger but, she smiled at him brightly and took it after placing her mug down and scooping the blueberries from her skirt.

Perhaps they belonged to a lover? They were clearly mens clothes. Gardenia gave Soren a sideways glance while holding the clothing, actually taking in how he looked instead of how nice he'd been. Attractive, but as a High Lord's daughter she was always having young lords and good looking men parading around her, practically peacocking. Soren was nice and Gardenia appreciated that more than how he looked or how he was a strange forest man.

"Thank you," Gardenia looked down at the clothing, looked at him and then looked to were the stream had been. "I'm going to change into these." She held up the clothing and stood up, quickly walking to where they'd been, out of sight from the camp which meant Soren wasn't going to see more than he'd bargained for.

Carefully Gardenia undressed, placing her dress and shoes down carefully before looking around - there might be more strange forest men - and tugging the shirt on, pulling the trousers on, putting the belt on and finally slipping her feet into the boots. They were a little too big, but they were better than the tight heels she'd worn before. Frowning at the laces she stared for a moment. She'd never worn boots before and while she could tie bows, laces weren't for fancy bows.

Then she heard it.

A crack of a branch. Something so simple sent her heart racing.

Her head whipped up and before she was thinking she was running back to the camp, shoe laces untied and looking frantic. Her voice was a hissing whisper, "Soren. I heard something. I... Can... Can we go? Can we go now? They..." She looked back to where she'd run from and shuffled closer to him, "What if they followed me? What if they know who I am?" Gardenia's mind raced a million miles a minute, "What if they know what I am?"

"Whoa whoa whoa. Slow down! What are you talking about?"

Soren was startled by Gardenia's sudden reappearance. Especially the state she was in! And practically tripping over the untied boots. "What if 'who' find you? What do you mean - 'who you are, what you are'? Look at you, you already look like more of a nobody and less of a wealthy merchant's daughter or noble lady, if that's what you mean," he told her, giving her a reassuring smile.

That's when the lurking menace showed itself, eyes flashing green in the firelight from where it watched them between the branches, in the shadow of the forest.

"See, look," Soren insisted, placing a hand on her shoulder and pointing to the spying intruder. The red deer, a doe, flicked one of her ears lazily, watching them for another moment, then slowly turned her head and moved on. From the forest the sound of a few others could be heard. "Just a couple of deer. You're alright." He squeezed her shoulder, not entirely able to suppress a grin. "Going to be a long four days for you, huh?"

Gardenia was chewing on her lower lip so much it'd gone raw and red, the corner of it bleeding from just a bit too much pressure from her teeth. Her hands went to his arms and she held tightly, letting her head drop down while he tried to reassure her. A few shaky breaths and she looked down at herself. Soren was right, she did look like a nobody. Almost a bit like a young boy if it weren't for the bust. A few steady deep breaths she was still worried about the idea of attacker.

It was a deer.

His smile, which should have made her angry or feel ashamed only made to feel her better. "I... Maybe." Gardenia pressed her hands to her face, rubbing her palms to her eyes and taking a deep breath. "I... reacted. I wasn't thinking. I just heard a noise and... I ran somewhere safe." Which was Soren and as much as she assumed he didn't enjoy it, he was her only safe place at the moment. Gardenia looked over her shoulder, her dress and shoes were still by the river and she didn't want to go get them.

"How do I tie the shoes?" She looked down at the boots, her worries about being found and kidnapped momentarily alleviated. Onto a mundane topic.

"Don't worry about it," Soren assured her, still trying to suppress a grin as the rest of the deer passed the camp. "You had a big scare today. Of course you're still jumpy. That's only natural. Alright?" He squeezed her shoulder, trying to turn his grin into a reassuring smile.

But that effort was completely dashed when she asked him how to tie the boots. And his 'reassuring smile' was quickly replaced with a mildly amused, lopsided grin. She was softer than he would have thought! Didn't young ladies at least go riding anymore? "Here," he said, chuckling a little, though not unkindly. Extracting himself from her grip, he knelt down and pulled the boot laces tight, then slowly tied the boots so she could watch and see how it was done. "Piece of cake," he told her with a wink.

When Soren got back to his feet, he clapped Gardenia on the shoulder then trundled off to where she'd left her dress and shoes. Returning a moment later, he handed the folded garments over to the girl. "Why don't you try to get some sleep?" he suggested. He glanced over at the shelter. The relatively small shelter, then offered. "I'll stay out here." Then added with a knowing grin, "Keep my eyes open for any more killer deer."

The wink caught her off guard and she blushed. Gardenia opened her mouth to say thank you but no sound came out, instead she smiled and nodded. It was indeed a piece of cake. Then, the blush was gone and she was clapped on the shoulder, it threw her forward slightly  and she stared as he went away. Was he leaving her here? Gardenia reached out to grab his shirt to keep him here, but it was no good. He was gone.

Or just left to get her dress.

The look she gave him was surprise and she felt her chest grow tight. She hadn't even asked him and he went and... Gardenia hugged her dress to her chest and she took a deep breath, before she let it out in a soft sigh. Mentally exhausted she didn't hesitant at his suggestion of rest and gave him a polite bow. "Thank you Soren, I think I'll do that." His grin made her smile and she had the good graces to blush again and stick her tongue out at him about the killer deer.

Gardenia didn't hesitate to curl up in the shelter, tucking her dress under her head and curling up into a ball to take up as little space as possible and was asleep soon enough.

Soren just gave her a last reassuring smile for the night before she disappeared into the shelter to sleep. Telling get to have a good night or sleep well just didn't seem appropriate given her night's events.

Soren settled back down after banking the fire for the night. He stayed up for awhile, keeping a lookout for killer deer, but eventually he, too, fell asleep.

And the next morning, when she woke, Gardenia wouldn't find a strange forest man outside of the shelter. She'd find a great, black furred wolf.

Gardenia's eyes snapped open and she looked around, confused.

Then everything crashed in at once and she sat up and looked around quickly. Her dress was still where shed put it to use it as a pillow. She was wearing the pants and the boots and the shirt Soren had left her. Slowly she pressed her hands to her stomach, taking deep breaths before squeezing her eyes shut and finally leaving the shelter.

That wasn't Soren.

That was so very much not at all Soren.

Gardenia stared, terrified for a moment.

There was no blood though. A different kind of reason for her heart thumped through her chest and her hands trembled. There was no way. Of all the people she could have found, there was no way. Her mouth opened and she got into a stance, ready to run away just in case it wasn't what she thought it was, though a part of her hoped beyond all hopes. "Soren? Is..." She swallowed, feeling a little silly for talking to a wolf, "Is that you?"

The wolf snoozed contentedly, curled up where it lay, until the young noble lady emerged from the shelter. Then the wolf seemed just as startled as the girl realizing it was... a wolf! And probably shouldn't be. Like a frightened wild animal, it leapt to is paws, scurrying backwards away from the human intruder. It's hackles raised and it let out a low, defensive growl.

This wasn't all for show. When Soren changed, it wasn't only his body that changed. His mind became... wolfish, too. Not entirely a wolf, but not entirely a man, either.

However, the wolf paused - if only for a moment - when she addressed him as Soren. She knew. How could she know? Keeping this part of him hidden wasn't only a matter of embarrassment (though it was certainly also that), but of survival. In a superstitious country like Adela, people were liable to think a man who turned into a wolf wad cursed, or else possessed by demons. Maybe he was. Soren hadn't ruled either out. But something in Gardenias tone was different. That was why he paused.

But no. It was too risky. The wolf growled once more, then scampered away, disappearing into the forest.

Now what? Soren was getting a little better at controlling his changing, but he still couldn't really do it on command. And... oh no. His clothes. They must still be at the camp somewhere. Carefully, the wolf crept back, keeping to the undergrowth. There, maybe a meter and a half from the camp clearing were his things. He must have kicked them off. Keeping his belly to the ground, he slunk closer until he could grab the things in his jaw. Then scampered off again.

Once he was back in the forest, there was nothing to do but pace. Willing himself as hard as he could to become a man!

"No, don't run away!" Gardenia called, reaching out but the wolf was gone to fast and she stood there, looking concerned and still just a little bit happy. It didn't occur to her that maybe Soren as a puppy wasn't like Gardenia as a puppy.  Still, she wanted to help. Gardenia had a moment of fear before she looked up at the sky.

There was no full moon. So, he was the same, but... Not the same.

Taking a deep breath she sat on the ground, looking at the embers of dead fire. Maybe she should wait? Gardenia pushed her hands through her hair and the rustling caught her attention.

That Soren wolf was running away. With clothes.

Quietly she stood up and followed him, careful foot steps, slow movements. Finally when she got closer she got down to her knees and held out a hand. "Soren?" A normal would wouldn't be running around with clothes. "I know it's you. You don't have to be afraid of me."  She wiggled her fingers at him. Gardenia knew she enjoyed having her ears scratched, maybe he did too?

Gods, she was chasing after him?! What happened to the jumpy noble lady girl who was afraid of a deer? What was with all these teenage girls running into forests chasing after wolves?! Was this just something all girls went through that he never knew about? Like with horses or something?

But the wolf didn't stop long when Gardenia got down on her knees and stretched out a hand. The black-furred animal stopped only long enough to turn its sharp golden eyes towards her, and give out a short warning huff. Then it sprang back to its paws. This time the wolf didn't just run into the forest, but specifically dove into a dense undergrowth that Gardenia wouldn't be able to follow through. It hoped! Plus, she wouldn't really be willing to go that far from the camp, right?

Just in case she did try to keep following, the wolf turned, circling around until it was back at the stream, upstream of their camp. Here it stopped, looking back into the forest. Now what? His first instinct, of course, being the schmuck that he was, was to just abandon the whole endeavor. Sure, he might not get paid, but he also wouldn't end up burned at the stake when some innocent-looking girl claimed to be kidnapped by the wolf-man. It'd be too bad for Gardenia, but she wasn't his responsibility. It was unfortunately, but he hadn't been the one to raid her coach and kill her driver. Sure, he'd been willing to help her while it was advantageous to him, but...

But...

Well, maybe he would just keep tabs on her. That was easy to do as a wolf. Just, as long as it suited him, that was. She'd have to get herself to Opal Run or wherever or...

While the wolf was running through these options, perched tense on the edge of the stream, it was too focused on these human thoughts (always harder for the wolf to process) to notice the change about to happen. And, mid-excuse-making, Soren-the-wolf became Soren-the-man and, with his balance changed, Soren-the-man fell backwards into the stream. His clothes, at least, fell on the bank. He surfaced with a glum feeling. Knowing that, he couldn't really leave her.

Well... He was wet now. He'd say he'd gone to bathe. And just deny everything. Sure, why not? As long as he was consistent? She might think she was going crazy, but it'd just be the shock! Either way, that'd be her problem. Right? Ugh. Why couldn't he just leave her there?! Why was doing the 'right' thing always the worst?

So Soren, damp and shaking water from his hair with a casual hand, returned to the camp, 'surprised' to find Gardenia gone. He called out in an 'alarmed' voice, since he was very 'surprised.' "Gardenia? Gardenia?!"

Sure, this would definitely work.

Oh no.

Gardenia stood up quickly, her hand still out. Why was he running away? How could she tell him she understood what was going on if he kept running away? "Noooo, don't go under there!" A quiet sigh and she stared at the undergrowth. Should she follow? Everything in her compelled her to follow. So she tried. A few scratches later, Soren was gone and she sighed heavily. Shoulders slumped, a new scratch on her cheek she looked miserable.

Was he gone forever? "Soren?" She looked around a little bit more before she meandered back to camp, her head down and looking a little bit crestfallen. Her hand went to her cheek and she dabbed at the scratch, deep enough to draw blood. Another sigh and she looked up, frowning when she heard his voice. He could talk while he was a wolf?

And it was coming from camp.

Maybe if she... Gardenia started to sneak, taking slow careful steps, making sure to stay obscured by the trees. Finally, she was close enough and she jumped from the trees, wrapping her arms around Soren waist, since she had planned on catching whatever it was a little lower. "HA! I caught you! You can't run.... Now?" There was a man in her arms. Gardenia didn't let go, instead she stared up at him, confused. Wearing clothes. Well, not that wearing clothes was a bad thing, in fact she was glad he was wearing clothes.

"But... You were just..." Her cheeks took on a red tinge and she slowly removed her arms from him, taking a few steps back, looking around. "You... There was." She grew even more red, had that really been a wolf? She'd just went and chased a real wolf? " I..." Her mouth opened and closed and she noticed the wet hair. "I'm sorry. I... Was expecting something that... Wasn't a man."

Soren made an audible 'oof!' when Gardenia flung herself onto him. Then he just looked at her with bewildered confusion as she went on about how she'd 'caught him' and he 'couldn't run now!' as though he had no idea what she was talking about. As though he hadn't been there for everything she'd talked about!

"Are you... okay, Gardenia?" he asked, looking bemused and a little concerned. But then, as if to offset the embarrassment she clearly felt, he gave her a lopsided smile. "I won't pretend I've never had a woman call me a 'beast' before, but I hope I haven't already been so bad to you."

He gave a slightly awkward laugh, mussing his damp hair. "Sorry, I didn't mean to give you a scare. I just went to the stream to bathe. It's not far away, I should have heard if anything happened. But it sounds like maybe I was wrong," he said, frowning with concern. This was ridiculous, Soren. Pretending like he had no idea. But he was committed to it now. "Did something happen? You have a scratch," he pointed to the same place on his own cheek. "Everything okay?"

Surely he was playing with her. Gardenia's face fell and she looked absolutely crestfallen. Like some tiny spark of hope had been there, some glimmer of familiarity had been taken away. Though she masked it, her heart ached and she felt stupid for thinking that even for a few moments that wolf could have been Soren. That a complete stranger would be able to relate to her in a way that no one else ever could. "I'm okay I was just... I was mistaken," She offered him a small polite smile before turning her face away, still bright red with embarrassment.

Her hand went to to where he indicated, "There was a cute rabbit." She lied, looking in the general direction the wolf had gone. Maybe she could still catch it? Bring it home to be a pet. Her dad denied her nothing, surely he would let her have a lonely wolf for a pet. "I wanted to bring it home and tell it all sorts of secrets but it got away." Pulling her hand away from her cheek she looked at the small amount of blood. She wiped it on her pants because they weren't all that pretty anyway. "I tried to chase it but..." Gardenia shrugged, "Oh well."

Was everything okay? "Everything is fine, Soren, thank you." I only want you to be able to turn into a wolf, nothing huge. Gardenia cleared her throat and pressed her hands to her pants, smiling off to the side. "Do... We leave soon? Find food on the way?"

Soren could barely keep his neutral, ignorantly bemused countenance. Something about the way she was lying to him was, well, heartbreaking. It didn't make sense to him, though. She should look relieved that he wasn't some sort of wolf-man monster! Why did she seem so sad instead? Why was she lying about it? Did she believe his bluff? He couldn't even tell.

He was silent for a moment. Should he tell her? But... no. It was too risky. For both of them! he told himself. He she got scared by the wolf-man and ran away alone into the forest, who knew what would happen to her? It was much better for him to lie and keep her safe. Though he couldn't help but think that it didn't seem like she would run away. After all, she'd chased after the wolf, hadn't she?

No, he pushed the thought away.

"Tell all your secrets to a rabbit?" he asked, still wearing a vague grin that disgusted him now. How could he keep this up? He was the worst. "I guess they do have 'listening' ears."

He tried to give her a kind smile. An understanding smile? He wasn't sure. He just wanted her to stop looking so crestfallen. Best to turn her attention back to the task at hand! Everyone was always happier with a task. "There's a spot we can stop and eat a little way on. A nice trout run. We can combine breakfast and lunch if it's okay with you. I do actually have another camp between here and Opal Run, but we won't get there until tomorrow night. So we'll have to rough it tonight, I'm afraid. You ready to head out?"

The comment about a rabbit's ears got him an odd look from Gardenia until she remembered how big they were. How unintentional. She gave a small smile, entertained by the way he caught that and she just nodded. "Yeah. Their big listening ears." That was a good of an excuse as any. She'd only picked rabbits because those were way less dangerous than wolves.

If that wolf hadn't been Soren... How crazy would he think her if she told him she'd chased one? He'd probably leave her in the forest! Gardenia took a deep breath, her cheeks puffing out in the process before she blew all the air out in one great sigh. "I'm ready." She looked to her dress and shoes, frowning slightly, not really interested in taking those with her. Though... Gardenia moved to the shelter to get her little coin purse from the pile of clothes.

Reaching the front of her shirt she held it open and dropped the coin purse down. The overly large shirt was tucked into the pants and she was almost positive she'd notice it falling out of a pant leg. Gardenia returned, resting her hands on her hips and gave Soren a nod, "Okay. Now I'm ready." Her rubbed her hands together and looked around, not at all sure about what he wanted to bring with him, if anything.

"I'm okay with just going." A small smile, eager to get going now. Before, when she thought he was a wolf, a weight was off her shoulders, now, being as unsure as she was, not turning around him would be a good idea. "Tomorrow night?" Gardenia stared at him for a moment, giving a tally, though pausing to actually use her fingers. Today was one day, tonight was one night. There were three days before the full moon, which meant... On the night of the third day.

"I like trout!" Both ways, Gardenia having eaten her fair share in the middle of the night as her more furry self.

Soren was hoping that his relief didn't show. It seemed that, at least for now, she was really buying that he wasn't the wolf. He couldn't help but notice the change in her demeanor, though. Despite how fervently he wanted to not notice it. Well... it didn't really matter, right? As long as she was safe, as long as he could get paid in the end, that's all he really cared about, right? Of course it was. And, more importantly, he'd have a better chance of getting her where she was going safely by pretending to be a normal man! Of course! Keep her from running away.

Yes, that's what he'd tell himself.

So Soren just gave her a smile, then, when she was done, slipped into the shelter himself to fill a small rucksack with supplies. A hunting knife, some basic line and tackle for the trout, some flint and tinder, that sort of thing... And, just to be on the safe side, he scrounged around until he found a corked bottle full of some amber liquor. Better take that, too. You never knew.

Then he turned down the camp, and they could set off. Soren didn't strike up conversation as they went along. Normally he might, but his earlier awkwardness was tenfold now, after the wolf incident. To try to excuse his silence, he walked ahead a bit, as though he were forging the way. Of course, this wasn't really necessary as this part of the forest was fairly open. Still! He didn't know what else to do. As he promised, though, it didn't take much more than an hour to reach the trout run. The forest cleared a bit approaching the run; a swiftly moving stream consisting of steps and pools with crystal clear water.

Soren dropped his rucksack and looked back to Gardenia with a half-smile. "What job do you want - catching the fish, or gutting them?" His smile turned into a grin. As though he could expect a youn noble lady to do either! "Just kidding. But you think if I start a fire you can tend it?"

By the time they got to their supposed location Gardenia was exhausted. Face flushed, a light sweat. At least she wasn't in an awful sticky dress. Her hair was a mess and while she kept tucking it behind her ears it kept falling forward. The stream looked delicious and refreshing and it was tempting to just jump in. Still, that would make her clothes all wet and the only alternative was getting naked and she wasn't about to do that!

The question got her to stand ramrod straight and she just stared at Soren silently. "You want me to...." And then he was kidding and she visibly sagged, blowing out a breath to calm herself. She's barely handled a knife, let alone gutted something. She wasn't even sure what bits were supposed to come out! "I could tend to a fire."

Though part of her wanted to watch him fish. Perhaps talk. The silent treatment she'd gotten on the walk had her keeping as quiet as she could. He wasn't do this to be nice. He was doing this for money. Gardenia could understand that. Still, having a conversation would be nice. Swallowing she rubbed her hands against her legs and rolled up her sleeves the best she could so they wouldn't get dirty from any forest things she'd have to do. "When we finish, are we going to be off again?"

Gardenia's fears about further silent treatment would be alaid as Soren built the fire only a few crystal waters of the trout run. He hadn't been meaning to give her the silent treatment, per se. He just didn't know what to say to her! And not talking at all seemed to be Soren's best bet for not somehow lying to or deceiving someone. He didn't find the silence particularly comfortable, either, but he couldn't get the look of her face after he'd lied about not being the wolf out of his head.

"We can rest a bit if you still need to," Soren answered as he finished building the fire, "but it's probably better to keep going. Either way, we'll stop here for nearly an hour, between catching, cleaning, cooking, and of course eating the fish," he assured her with a smile. "Still need to put a decent amount of distance behind us today. But if it's too much for you," he said, not unkindly, as he drew the fishing line out of his rucksack, "we can go a bit slower. It'll make the journey a day longer or so, though."

After the fire was built, Gardenia took up a stick and went about occasionally poking at it. An hour would do fine. She smiled at Soren and absentmindedly bit at her lower lip, drawing it between her teeth and looking between him and the fire. And then her on fire stick. She blew that out quickly enough.  Curiously she watched him grab things from his bag and was about to agree to going a bit slower.

A whole day longer?

Gardenia looked back at the fire. "I'll ... Give it some thought." And so she went quiet and stared intently at the fire while Soren went and did his fish thing. The chances of turning too close to town were a thing if they were going the course they were. Did she want to be a monster so close to civilization? It would be easier to explain it to one person than a whole group of people who saw the strange antlered beast. She gave the fire a poke and sat and waited. Maybe taking a little longer would work.

That way there would be ample time for Soren to run away from her, but she'd still know the general direction of Opal Run. That could work, right? Gardenia could last for a day on her own, right? Maybe they could go slower. She'd tell him the evening of the full moon. And... That would give him a bit of time to run away. Another poke at the fire and she decided, her shoulders were squared and she looked much more sure of herself, even when she reached to touch the hot end of the stick, only to hiss and pop the burnt finger in her mouth. She plucked the finger from her mouth and gave her finger an accusatory look, "I don't know what I was expecting. That was fire."

Soren just nodded to Gardenia's decision that she'd think about whether to take more time or not. He watched her out of the corner of her eye as he let the line out into the water. He saw the way she chewed her lip and poked absent-mindedly at the fire. To Soren's eyes, he thought she seemed nervous about the idea of spending more time in the forest. That must be it, right? He couldn't quite tell, but what else would a young noble lady have to worry about? And after the 'killer deer' incident, it seemed she hadn't spent much time in the forest before. Why should she have?

He shot her a smile, though, when she burnt her finger on the fire. "Yeah, it has a tendency to do that," he said with a bit of a chuckle. Then, deciding a bit of chit-chat might put her at ease - and, truth be told, maybe him too - he looked back over his shoulder at her. "Tell me, Miss Gardenia, you don't spend much time out in the wilds, do you? I don't imagine many young ladies do, I suppose."

Gardenia had the good mind to look at Soren in slight shock and blush, her finger tip still in her mouth. The burn wasn't too bad, but it was there and she gave him a sheepish smile. His question had her tilting her head and she blinked at him, trying to think of a way to not lie but tell the truth at the same time. "I... Do." She pulled her hand away to look at it, finding her fingers very interesting!

"I try to spend at least a few hours outside in the forest each month." She smiled, placing her hands on her knees, "I practically require it!" There. That was the truth. "I don't do this though," she looked around, trying to indicate the whole camping thing, "I mostly just... Wander around." Another small smile and she poked at the fire again. "Do you enjoy living in the forest? It's... Nice out here." It was, she took a deep breath and closed her eyes before opening them and smiling at him. "You have a lovely home, Soren."

Soren gave a little snort at that. A beautiful home, indeed. The forest, of course, was beautiful, but 'home' might be a bit of a stretch. And the reality of life in the wild, however beautiful, was much less romantic than a young noble lady might imagine from the comfort of her plush bedroom. In fact, as a boy, Soren's head had been full of romantic visions of the nomadic peoples of the Sehra plains and the lives they lived on horseback under the great open skies. He couldn't believe it when a Duhjari man he met at the market could only speak of the harshness of the life, and told young Soren he should be happy to live comfortably in a comfortable home. He couldn't believe it then, but he did now.

"Well," he said, a little darkly, "it's not a 'home' that many would choose." It was an oblique comment, but hinted a little that it wasn't a home he had chosen. But the dark look passed from his countenance, and he flashed her a little smile. "As you can imagine, since you spend 'a few hours a month' in the forest, and never camping." He gave her a wink to show the comment was in good humor. "What do you do then? Paint landscapes? Write poetry about the plants and flowers and creatures that dwell therein? Or are you more studious... studying herbalism, perhaps?"

Gardenia had the good graces to blush. Her studies consisted of... Politics, now that she gave it some thought. Another poke at the fire and she looked away for a moment, her lips pursed. "I mostly just... Wander around." She took the stick out and simply stared at the burning wood. "Every few weeks I'm struck by wanderlust and if I don't go into a forest and run around I go absolutely crazy!" Which was partly true. The comment about his home wasn't lost on her and instead of giving him a sympathetic look she just stared off into space.  "Do you not like it out here?"

Soren had to laugh at that. He looked back over his shoulder at Gardenia. "I know I don't really know you, but I have to admit," he told her with a grin, "I have a hard time imagining you wandering around any forest 'going absolutely crazy.' You must mean in some manicured woods on some manor grounds, no doubt?" And with that, it was clear he was teasing her. Just a little. But really, here she was without even proper shoes, and she expected him to believe that she ran around 'going crazy?'

Of course, who knew when it came to teenage girls. Soren looked at her again, a bit more properly this time. As if looking for something he hadn't seen in her before.

Finally he turned back to the stream and gave a shrug. "Oh, I wouldn't say I don't like it here. It has its drawbacks, though. Have to keep your wits about you all the time, living off the land, especially in a wild forest like Draconi. I'd be lying if I said there weren't times I missed having a nice bed behind locked doors and a stocked kitchen."

As if on cue, the line went taut and Soren pulled a bright, rainbow-streaked trout from the river. He turned so Gardenia wouldn't have to see as he knocked its head against the rock then gutted the thing. Once it was done and washed out in the stream, he brought it over to the fire. From the bag he pulled out a split wooden stake that the fish could be spread across to roast over the fire. He motioned to hand the stake to Gardenia. "Think you can manage this? I'll see if I can't snag another."

"I'm talking about a real forest, Soren." She crossed her arms over her chest, the fire momentarily forgotten. How typical. Judging her simply because she was a lady. Sure she'd been nicely dressed and been wearing inappropriate shoes for running around in a forest, but she'd been traumatized! If she had been prepared to go out into the forest she'd... Well. Honestly, she only went into the forest to change.

So she'd probably have gotten undressed, tied the cloak around her shoulders and found some full-moon light. Soren didn't have to know that though, it was a little too intimate for their not intimate relationship of Guide and Damsel in Distress.

Her mouth opened to ask him why those were unavailable but he was distracted by fish and soon enough she flinched at the sound of fish being killed. She took it and blinked at it. This was new. She'd never cooked her own food before. Or Soren's food. Or just food in general. "I can... Manage." She held it close to the fire. Not in it. In it would make it burn, right? Gardenia didn't want to burn anything. What sort of housewife burned things.

"Why can't you... Have a real home?" She asked quietly, worried that it was a taboo question for him. "Why not have one in Opal Run? You said it was beautiful, didn't you?" And she turned the fish over, so that it would stay equally not burnt on all sides.

"Okay, okay," Soren chuckled and held up his hands in conciliation. "A real forest. Where you really 'go wild.' Probably full of real killer deer and everything." He grinned at her; his grin growing for a moment as he saw how 'comfortable' she looked with cooking. Well, it'd just be a short adventure for her. She'd survive, and soon Gardenia could go back to her 'real forest' and 'go crazy' in the comfort and safety of her home.

And he could, hopefully, make his way 'home' with a nice paycheck for his efforts. 'Home.' Soren's grin faded considering Gardenia's question. Why can't you have a real home?

Soren looked thoughtfully at Gardenia for a moment, deciding what version of the 'truth' he should tell. Finally, he gave a small shrug. "Payment for crimes of the past, I suppose,"  he answered noncommittally. "Bit of a family dust up. It's not a very gripping story, though - more petty than anything - so I'll spare you the details."

That was meant to preempt any follow-up questions Gardenia might have, and it was fairly obvious. And thankfully, another fish was caught on the line just then, so Soren could distract himself with reeling in and cleaning the fish. Eyeing the fish she was working on, he opted to cook his for himself, and so settled down to join her at the fire.

Gardenia wrinkled her nose at Soren and simply stuck out her tongue, resuming her attention to the fish. At the moment she was content. The full-moon wasn't happening yet. Yesterday was done. Right now was nice. It felt nice.

His dismissal of past event's had her clam up slightly and she looked away for a moment, frowning at her fish (and forgetting to turn it for a moment too long). It sent a familiar pang through her chest, the idea of family troubles. They'd never happened to her but what if they did. There was no doubt in her mind that her father loved her, but what if he decided he wanted a child that was part him in bloodline? Her expression turned dark and she ducked her head down, turning the fish.

"I'm not my father's real daughter." She looked at Soren, offering him a small smile, "my mother, after she married him, had an affair with someone." Gardenia looked away and pulled the fish out of the fire to examine it, trying to make light of the conversation, perhaps he would open up a little if he didn't think what he had to say was so awful? "My father looks very Serenian. Funny hair colours and everything, he has the most lovely eyes," a small smile and she looked down at herself, down at her tanned hands, her black as night hair. "I wonder why she did it." The last words were spoken aloud, but they were mostly for her.

Gardenia couldn't even begin to imagine experiencing a feeling so intense you go back on marriage vows.

And then a small piece of her fish caught on fire and she pulled it out to blow it off, holding it out and away. It should be done. Yeah, it was cooked quite well. Gardenia licked her fingers to pinch a piece off and to not get any bone and popped it in her mouth, chewing quietly. It tasted better than the fish at home did. "Thank you, Soren."

Soren looked up from his cooking fish. Gardenia's sudden admission took him by surprise. And off guard. Not just because it had come seemingly from nowhere, but because it struck a chord. 'I'm not my father's real daughter.' What had made her tell him that? Was 'family dust up' too obvious a euphemism? But he hadn't meant his own illegitimacy, and for a moment Soren felt a burn of shame thinking of his brother. 'Family dust up'... was he really that removed from it, that he could use such a casual phrase for what had happened?

No. He'd been so vague because he didn't want to scare the girl off. And he wasn't that Soren anymore. He hoped he wasn't.

"If your father loves you," he finally said out loud, "then you're his 'real' daughter, and I'm sure he'd hate to hear you say otherwise." He paused for a moment, watching her introspection now, then he opened up. A little. For, he told himself, her benefit. "We have one thing in common, though. I'm illegitimate, too. Other way around, though. But I can't say that my mother - my father's wife I mean, not my birth mother, whoever she was - was very happy about it." The understatement of the year, he thought. "The rest of my family even all look rather Serenian, for that matter. Trading family, moved into Adela when my grandfather was a boy. It's just me who has the swarthy gypsy look," he added with a little grin, hoping to lighten the mood.

The last thing he needed was to have her upset again!

Gardenia smiled at him and held the fish carefully, letting it cool from it's slightly previous on fire state of existence. Gently she bit her lip and while she listened she really wished for a far stranger thing in common. The chances of him being that wolf were growing slimmer and part of her was slowly growing more and more sad at the idea. The spark of a kindred spirit was so close she could almost taste it.

Still, the small bit of common ground was nice.

Even if it wasn't such a nice subject.

"I only..." Gardenia licked her lips, "I mean... By blood. If he were to marry and have a child of his own, I'd be as good as ..Well... Not his heir." And Gardenia couldn't really imagine that. She'd been learning all her life to take over his position, or at least do as well a job as she could, perhaps Arashaiyak would remain to help her as he'd done for her father. And her father's father. Gardenia got a distant look in her eyes while she wondered just how old he was. Which was something she'd never really considered before.

"I think you look nice." And then she popped some fish in her mouth and chewed while looking everywhere but not at Soren.

Soren had to laugh at that. "Yes, well, I think so, too," he said with a grin. "But not much like my siblings."

Then he turned his mind to what she'd said before. Already he was beginning to relax a little after the mishap that morning. A dangerous prospect. But he had to remind himself that he didn't have any other, ill intentions with this girl. He was just bringing her to a safe town, where she could return. He wasn't... it wasn't like the other time, this time. What was the harm, as long as he didn't reveal too much to her, of getting a little more familiar?

Famous last words, he thought, but shrugged it away for the moment.

"Aha, so you're an heiress," he said, with just the slightest tone of teasing in his voice. "Now I know I should ask for double, once we get you to safety," but however crass the comment was, he said it with a disarming grin. He didn't mean it. Well, maybe he did, but what did it matter? Of course, Soren didn't know just what kind of heir she meant, and he imagined in that moment that it was a monetary inheritance that she worried over. He wouldn't have guessed what she really meant! "And no siblings, then? But you don't worry that hopefully a long time from now, when your father passed, your claim to your inheritance would be challenged by a more distant family member who was related by blood? If you look as different as you claim, then it can't be too big of a secret, after all. If you had siblings, they might respect your claim more than some greedy second-cousin."

Gardenia had the good graces to blush, but she looked at him and smiled, looking away after a moment. She imagined if she had siblings, she wouldn't look much like them either. Opal haired and paled skin with rose cheeks. Another bit of fish was being chewed and she looked at him with a shocked but amused look on her face.

"You don't even know what you're going to get!" She ripped a bit of grass from the ground and tossed a few bits of it at him as punishment, though they drifted off not too soon after and most of them landed on her boot anyway. "I'm the only Silinrul left besides my father," She tilted her head, pausing for a moment to think of her fathers family. There were a few of them, though the closest was Adalia, whom she'd only met a handful of times when she was younger.

"There's only Adalia who he's related to closely," Gardenia smiled, "She's a mageknight. She looks just like my father, all... Opal hair and odd magic. I doubt she'd stake a claim for Jadenshine." She taped a fishy finger against her lip, which she quickly popped into her mouth to clean.  "She ran off with a forest man and didn't go home for months. It was quite the scandal. Father had to pull a few strings to keep her from being labeled as a military deserter." Gardenia nodded, still picking at the fish, "rescued the man from jail and everything, it was very romantic." And then Adalia came home alone, which wasn't so romantic.

Gardenia looked at Soren and cleared her throat, resuming to eat the fish. "Did I say thank you for the fish? Because, um... Thank you for catching the fish. It tastes better than what the cook makes at home."

"'Stake a claim to Jadenshire?'" That got his attention, and Soren looked at her, eyebrows raised, anew. So she wasn't the sort of heiress he'd imagined. Or even the sort of noble lady. She was a high noble lady of Serendipity! And Soren had to wonder how on earth she'd ended up traveling with only a driver! Surely she should have been sent with an entire detail of guards. "Well," he finally said after a moment, "now I know I should ask for triple."

He listened with an amused expression to the story of her closest relative. He couldn't help but catch the reference to a 'forest man' and wondered if she'd used the term on purpose. But their story was hardly romantic! And he had a hard time imagining Gardenia rescuing anyone from anything. And Soren was far too clever to ever need to be rescued from a prison; or he'd have rotted in one ages ago. Hence his current life as a 'forest man.'

"You know your family better than I do," he said with a shrug. "But you'd be surprised how this sort of thing can bring distance relations out of the woodwork. I hope it doesn't for you, though."

That, of course, had never been a problem for Soren; he had many siblings, and had never been set to inherit much more than a small trust, at any rate. But he'd been hired by such a distant relation once. A man of meager means who had the luck of being next in line to a rather wealthy merchant. Unfortunately, said merchant was, well, still living. Soren had been paid to take care of that. He didn't really like that kind of work, but, well, he couldn't be picky.

But it didn't seem like she wanted to keep up the line of conversation, so instead he only said simply, "Fresh fish always tastes better. Hard to get it fresher than this."

The talk of money again had her stick out her tongue at him, though she was smiling. His words were comforting and she smiled at him still, nodding and picking at her fish - which despite being burnt was still pretty good, thank you very much -  "The family would have done something about it already." And while they were still trying to set her father up with various wives, he was having none of it. Having neither the time nor the patience to deal with another potential wife.  She finished off her fish and smiled at him, looking towards the stream and then back at him.

"I'm sure we could have eaten it raw and still wiggling, that would be very fresh," for a moment she remembered how sweet and succulent wiggling raw fish was but then she remembered she wasn't going to be a puppy for a few more days and felt herself turn a little green. Gardenia looked up at the sky. Maybe she'd figure out some way to tell him before it happened. Or... Come back in the morning. No, then she'd be naked and that would be terribly awkward.

With her fish having been eaten she wiped her hands off on her pants and watched him. "You're very nice, Soren." Gardenia began, "Why are you alone out here? Doesn't it get... Lonely?"

"Tell me, Lady Gardenia, as I suppose you must be, do you read many novels?" Soren asked her with an amused smile. "Perhaps the epics of Lady Rosenthal?" Lady Rosenthal, of course, was one of the most celebrated novelists of the past century, famous for her romantic epics. Though what a wandering forest man knew of Lady Rosenthal, he didn't say. "Because I feel you're rather bent on casting me as a tragic character. I really am more of a wanderer than a 'forest man,' to use your words. I don't spend all my time in the forest, however beautiful it may be."

Despite his defensiveness, Soren didn't seem angry or offended. And his words were true. Though he couldn't control his changing, he could usually tell when it was coming on. And sometimes he spent days at a time in a town, working odd jobs and charming village ladies. Of course, he'd run into more than one close call doing that, but he still had his skin so far.

Then again, of course, his life was lonely. But he could hardly admit that to her. Or to anyone. He was more or less accustomed to it now - not that that he never was lonely - but it had been torturous in the beginning. Having grown up in a big family, even a contentious one, and a comfortable family at that, the solitary life in the wild had been unspeakably painful for the first year or so. And it had taken some time before he'd dared to go into villages other than to steal supplies by night. But now? Well. He supposed he did well enough by himself. Nobody's life was perfect.

"Of course," he added with a knowing, teasing grin, "I'm quite the fan of Lady Rosenthal, myself."

Busted.

Gardenia turned several shades of red. The reds complimented her eyes and she was quick to duck her head and look very interested at the grass at her feet. Her mouth opened and she gave him a look before she quickly shut it, "That... I... I didn't mean." Gardenia chewed on her lip, "I'm just..." Her hand went to her head and she scratched at it, tugging her hair after the fact and then simply played with the ends. "You're not tragic. It's just... Easier to relate to pretend people and if I can..." Then she paused and chewed on her lower lip.

"I didn't actually call you a forest man did I? I was thinking it, but I didn't mean to say it in case it might hurt your feelings." And still, she chewed on her lips and tried to shrink into herself, her shoulders hunching forward and her head snapped up so fast her hair flew back. "You're what?" No way he read those kinds of books. That was almost worse than him just knowing about the author, if he'd read her books then... "Oh... Dear. Well, it's... Those books or learning how to do ... Business things and those books are more fun!"

Soren laughed as he took his fish off the fire, pulling out the spine and bones. "Your face. You look like you couldn't ever believe that a 'forest man' - or maybe just any man - could possibly have read the novels of the esteemed Lady Rosenthal." He grinned at her flustered, flushed blushing. "But what can I say?" he said with a shrug, eyes still lit with amusement, "I have four sisters."

He left it there, as if that explained everything. Though the truth was that those books had been a guilty pleasure of his in his early adolescence.

"Don't worry, though, I don't think you did call me a 'forest man,' I was just borrowing the term from your story. But now I know you were thinking it."

Soren laughed again, then bit into his fish. Without realizing it, he seemed to have relaxed quite a bit. After he chewed, he shot her a curious, half-smirking look and asked, "What's your favorite one?"

Could she turn any darker? Gardenia pressed the back of her hand to her cheek and she could feel how flushed she was. It only got worse at his laugh and the more teasing and she wished she had a coat so that she could hide herself in it.  Or at least cover her face. It wouldn't have been so bad if he just knew about them, but he'd read them. Her odd eyes flicked up to meet his and she was still bright red, "I ... I'm an only child," was all she could say and it was lamely at that.

"This man was a real forest man! Not..." Gardenia stopped mid sentence, her mouth still open before she quickly shut up, before giving her words another thought "Not a gentleman who's circumstances have forced him to live off the land." Yeah, that sounded good. Nice and polite. Then she began to pick imaginary things off of her clothes and pull her hair off to one side to braid it and unbraid it and pull it apart.

"Well, there's one about a mage and a mordecai," Gardenia started enthusiastically, even giving a sigh as she looked up at the sky and smiled, remembering the romantic tale, " They're enemies but they were forced together for some reason or another," Who cared about that? That part wasn't romance," and they ended up in the mountains and they had to survive together because if one died so would the other and ... " Gardenia cleared her throat, "I enjoy the tales that has two people grow to love one another against all odds." 

Mostly because she didn't want to get into sharing body heat and ... Well.. That wasn't appropriate for a lady to parrot back out of a book.

'A gentleman whose circumstances have forced him to live off the land.' Soren had to try very hard not to laugh at that, since he was getting the feeling that she was clearly embarrassed enough based on all the shades of red her face was turning, but he grinned and the silent laughter showed in his eyes. "I think that, Lady Gardenia, is the nicest thing anyone's ever called me."

He continued eating the fish while she described her favorite of Lady Rosenthal's stories. "I read that one, but it wasn't my favorite," he admitted. "I mean, unless you're actually from Connlaoth, I guess, you can't really see a Mordecai as a 'hero.' I liked the ones with good heros. Like, umm...." he raked his memory; novels weren't something he had the occasion to talk about much anymore! "Like The Last Ride of the Dragon, did you read that? About the dashing Adelan dragon-rider who saves a Serenian noble lady," he told her with a wink, but only a teasing one. "They fall in love, naturally, but of course she's already engaged. But after the lady begs her father to call off her engagement and marry the Adelan, her father sets out ten impossible tasks for the dragon-rider, hoping one of them will kill him. I think," he paused, looking thoughtful for a moment, "well I think in the end, one of them does. But he was a good hero."

Soren finished his fish and looked at her suddenly serious. "Of course, if you tell anyone in town that I've read any of these books, I'll have to tell them that you're mad. Hallucinating killer deer and making up all sorts of wild stories!"

Soren grinned again, then got to his feet. He wanted to get more distance under their boots today, and they wouldn't achieve that by yakking about old novels all day. "Shall we?"

The nicest? "Well that's terribly sad," and it showed on her face. Her eyebrows were all drawn up and she looked at him not unlike a disappointed puppy. Gardenia kept her hands on her knees and she frowned slightly when he did not enjoy the book she'd read at least twice.

"I almost cried when he died," she admitted, pursing her lips, "how disappointing, all that work and she'll have to marry the person her father engaged her to anyway!" Something she wasn't looking forward to herself, but there was no handsome Adelan dragon-rider in her life to fight for her hand so... No use being grumpy about it. "I was so hoping they'd get to stay together, I put it down as soon as he was written out - how could that get any better!" Gardenia crossed her arms over her chest and looked and looked at him in surprise when he grew serious.

Then she smiled widely. "It will be our secret, Soren. Promise." And she followed him up with an unladylike sigh, loud and drawn out because she really didn't want to walk again, but she also really didn't want to be out in the forest for much longer. A little discomfort now for being out of the forest sooner.

"We shall," Another sigh and she pushed her hair over her shoulders, gave it a quick braid and rolled her eyes when it quickly fell loose. A glare at her black hair and she pushed it over her shoulders, having given up on keeping it from getting too tangled. "So that I have something to look forward to, are we walking until... "Gardenia paused, not quite knowing the word for... What they were going to be doing outside, but all she could come up with was walking until "Bed time?"

"You didn't finish it?" he asked her incredulously as they set off walking. He told himself he was just humoring her, but secretly he found himself enjoying reliving the books he'd read as a youth. A library, in fact, was something he missed. If he could hear how earnestly he was talking about these books - especially these books! - he would likely be very embarrassed. But now that they were talking about it, the rest of the story came back to him. "Then you missed the best part. Because she doesn't marry the man her father betrothed her to! After the dragon-rider dies, she finds his dragon and together they complete the rest of the tasks her father set out for the dragon-rider. Her last act of love for him. Then, when she completes the tasks... Oh, okay, I don't remember all the details... But by some magic or the other, who cares about that part, she gets whisked away to some faery kingdom. And her dragon rider is there waiting for her. I can't believe you didn't finish reading it!"

And then it hit him, and he looked at her suddenly, sheepishly. "Oh... Uh... Were you going to read it? I guess I've spoiled it now." He self-consciously rubbed the back of his neck. "Heh. Sorry."

But thankfully she asked then about how long they were going to walk. And Soren was unable to hide his surprise at the question. What... else would they do? He looked thoughtfully at her for a moment, then ahead into the forest. "Well," he answered after a moment, "I suppose if we're adding another day to the journey anyway," as they'd already agreed, "we can take a different route. Something better suited to a lady."

And with that, he altered their course a little, taking them more north-by-northwest than due north.

Gardenia smiled brightly and laughed, "Well, now that I know it has a happy ending I might finish it." There wouldn't be a lie said if that, sometimes when the book got sad, she'd skip ahead to see that it picked up and ended happy. It wasn't about the destination, it was about the journey! So, the walked and she wrung her hands together, looking up at the sky occasionally and sighing.

"Suited for a lady?" Gardenia huffed and hurried her pace to catch up with him better, "I'll have you know that I can walk well enough! Have I complained at all yet?" The question was honest, though sounded rhetorical.

Soren shot her a quick smile about the book. "Yeah," he said, "one of my sisters was the same. Except she'd have me read the books for her first and tell her if they were 'safe' to read or not."

His sister. Soren frowned to himself, thinking about Elena. He didn't talk about his family much. Almost never. Sure, they came up organically, but Soren found himself not really wanting to talk more about them now. Especially Elena.

He forced another smile and kind tone when he turned back to assure Gardenia, "No, you haven't been complaining per se. But I think you'll like this way better."

But after that he settled back into silence as he led them through the forest. After an hour or so, the ground of the forest started getting wetter and wetter, in places looking as though it might just suck you right in. Perhaps to explain this, Soren began telling her as they walked, "Ages ago, I honestly don't know how long, a faery race or something similar lived in this part of Draconi Forest. They were prosperous, but they were a ground-dwelling race; they didn't take much to the trees like some fey. And as you are probably starting to notice, the forest is nearly a wetland here - watch that spot, you might sink into the mud," he interrupted himself to warn her, then continued. "So they built a series of canals that could be navigated by wooden boats; easy to make in the forest like this. The canals are small and it's said that every faery had their own boat that they would punt around from place to place. Their city was rumored to be located in the forest here somewhere and was meant to be spectacular; canals instead of roads, with all the buildings facing the water as the faeries glided along in beautiful boats. I've never been able to find the city, I'm sad to admit, perhaps the forest swallowed it up long ago. But the canals," and here Soren really won on timing, because he pulled back the hanging branches of a willow to reveal a little punt boat, and the dark, calm waters of a narrow canal beyond it, "are still here. Though few use them.."

He shot her a smile, clearly a bit pleased with himself. "So, what do you think?"

Gardenia warmed at the idea of Soren doing something like that. It made her happy in a silly way, probably because it was something so simple but it was definitely something you'd remember someone doing for you forever. At his assurance that she had indeed not been complaining she gave a quiet sigh of relief. Most of her life consisted of not stirring up trouble. It made everyone elses life difficult and if their lives were difficult, so was hers.

While they walked Gardenia kept quiet. Though her head jolted up and she stared at his back when they walked, carefully avoiding the extra muddy spots, sometimes hopping from dry spot to dry spot. Of course, with her imagination she was taken in by the story, staring at his back while they walked. This place was odd, sure, but the idea of faery's always made her smile.

Finally she was close enough to hover behind him while he spoke and sure enough he pulled aside some willow branches. The smile on her face was bright and she gave a giggle, looking between him and the punt boat, pressing her hands to her hips she just look between him and the boat and grinned. "I think it's lovely." It was, it was right out of a...

Gardenia grinned wider and looked up at him, "That was a lovely tale, Soren. Though, I'm sad you haven't found the city, it's terribly sad that the forest ate it." Gently she rapped her knuckles against the willow's branches, a punishment of sorts for eating a whole city - naughty tree. "Did you find this place all by yourself or do smugglers use the boat?" The grin she shot him was wide and she lifted a single eyebrow up, giving him a questioning look.

"Are you oh-so-subtly asking me if I'm a smuggler?" Soren asked while he held the little punt boat steady for Gardenia to board, with a fake look of shocked offense. In truth, he did smuggle from time to time. But then again, he did just about any job when it presented itself. Almost any job, anyway. But he preferred to at least pretend that he didn't with Gardenia, even if she might suspect he was pretending. It was much nicer to be thought of as 'a gentleman forced to live in the forest due to his circumstances' than a smuggler. Producing a long pole from beside the willow, Soren pushed the boat out into the canal once Gardenia was seating and jumped on after her. Standing at the back of the boat and using the long pole, he began steering the low wooden punt down the canal. Because the relative stillness of the slowly flowing water, though in many places it was dark as night, it sometimes caught the light and acted as a near perfect mirror for the forest; so the trees above met watery trees below at the edge of land and water.

"It isn't a 'tale,' though, my lady," he said, teasing her a bit by addressing her as such. "I've not only read about it - though I have to admit that if the books included the name of the race, I've since forgotten it - but I've found some remnants of their society. But not their great city. Maybe the forest hasn't swallowed it completely yet... The canals are extensive, and some grown over; I haven't explored them all. Mapping and exploring the extent of the canals would be quite the adventure, though." For someone who didn't need to worry about earning money, anyway. Also, wolves don't steer boats too well. Mostly, though, Soren had never attempted the feat because, well, he didn't imagine himself up to it. If he imagined who would do such a thing, he thought of a well-learned and wealthy gentleman-explorer. Not a cursed vagabond.

"Oh dear me, I would never!" Gardenia put a hand to her chest and if there was such a thing as moving sarcastically, then she did it. Still, the smile on her face was bright and she stepped into the boat and sat down, a moment of worry when he didn't get it. Of course, relief was a thing when he jumped in and... Pushed them along with a stick. A long look at the bottom of the boat and she kept her expression neutral.

Then she took in the imagine and just looked around in awe. Sure, gardens were beautiful, but this was ... Breath taking. Such a simple thing. Just a forest and canals. "Well, Soren, it's lovely." A bright grin up at him and she leaned over to look at the water, before looking up at the trees and then back down at the water.

"This would be the perfect place to take someone if you had intentions," Gardenia waggled her eyebrows at Soren, looking around still. "I suggest you do that, Soren, when you find your Novel Someone you should bring them here," Her arms went out, gesturing to here. A look around the boat and she again, looked down at the water, briefly looking at her rippling reflection. A brief look up at him and she paused, "Don't tell them you read romance novels though, they'll think you took the idea from one."

[[Sorry for the super delayed response! I blame you, for distracting me! Also, if you're curious, the canals are based on a real place... Google Image "Spreewald" and you'll see what I mean! Nice place to go canoeing/kayaking an hour or so away from here! :D]]


Soren gave a little snort at her talk of 'intentions.' This girl sure lived in a fantasy land! As though he were a young nobleman who'd ever take a girl somewhere impressive with intentions. "I don't think raggedy Forest Men get to take pretty girls to impressive places to 'declare their intentions' to them," he remarked casually. He didn't, at least, sound offended. If anything, Soren was amused. "Not those kind of intentions, anyway!"

"But," he mused as he pushed the boat silently along, "I suppose if I did find a 'Novel Someone' like that, I wouldn't want it to be someone who I'd be embarrassed to admit that I had read romance novels to. As a much younger man, obviously. Well, boy. I mean," he laughed, "if I can admit it to a stranger who will be none other than a high lady of Serendipity, I hope I'd be able to admit it to Whoever."

Soren laughed again, shaking his head to himself. "You read too many novels," he finally said. He continued to push the boat along for a few moments before asking, to fill the silence as much as anything, "What about you? I imagine your parents arranged your marriage from your birth. Or have you had some romantic proposal of your own?"

Gardenia had the good graces to blush and look away.

Read too many novels.

Pish!

"I'm not a high lady," The 'yet' lingered in the air, "My father is High Lord though, I am simply Gardenia until then." Her arms crossed over her chest and she looked around with interest. This place was like from a book and it was that realization that yes, indeed, perhaps she did read too much. Head up in the clouds. Wanting to live out fantasies.

It was easy though, when for a night of the month you turned into a giant antlered beast. Gardenia puffed out her cheeks and blew out a long sigh giving Soren's back a long look when he asked her about her 'Novel Someone.' Gardenia blushed, looked down at her hands. Oh, she wasn't wearing her engagement ring. Must have forgotten it in the carriage.

Whooooops.

"It was a... Opportunist engagement. They want their son to be a high lord, my father needs a decent military strength to protect trade routes." Gardenia shrugged like it was no big deal, "I don't want to and neither does he, we've met once." Then her arms folded over her chest and she pouted, glaring ahead. Not wanting to think of her 'romantic proposal. "I guess that's my lot in life. I can read about people getting married for love and having babies outside of duty in my books"

"I doubt very much that you get many opportunities to be 'simply Gardenia.'"

Soren glanced over to Gardenia with a slight look of pity. It must be hard, he thought, for such an overly romantic soul - as he deemed her to be - to have her marriage arranged for the benefit of others. It'd be much better if she were the practical, pragmatic sort. Many wealthy young ladies he had known, not nobles but the daughters of wealthy merchants whose marriages sealed trade agreements, had been. He suddenly wondered if his younger sister were married by now, she must be, and if she'd married for love or business ties.

With that thought, Soren lapsed into silence, leaving Gardenia to her own thoughts. But the sound of birdsong and insects and frogs and the quiet gliding of the boat filled the forest, and Soren at least found it a comfortable silence. They traveled like that for some hours, until the sun began to cast long shadows through the forest and a thin mist began to drift between the trees.

"We should stop soon," Soren said plainly as he steered the boat towards a broad copse of birch trees. There was no shelter here, lean-to or otherwise, but the ground was dry and there was some evidence of past fires and brief habitation. He pulled the boat close near the shore, then threw one leg on to the ground, one still in the boat. "Here," he said, offering a hand to Gardenia to help her up and out of the boat.

What he didn't notice then was that, from the shadows and mist of the trees deeper in the forest, eyes watched them. Waiting for darkness to fall.

It irritated her on a few levels how well this man just... Knew.

Was she ever 'simply Gardenia'? Maybe. Once. A few times perhaps. Right now, maybe? The silence was welcome and she enjoyed it. At a few points she closed her eyes and simply listened, enjoying the sounds of nature. It was a comfortable quiet and she found herself unwilling to break the silence to ask silly questions or tease him about reading romance novels.

At a few points she'd recall the conversation, smile a bit and then look at Soren's back. Entertained.

Then, they were stopping and Gardenia found herself automatically reaching for his hand, accepting the help out of the boat and finally both feet were on land and she gave him a pleased bright smile. There was one or two days before the full moon, right? Everything would be fine tonight.

Taking a deep breath she looked around and carefully folded her hands at her front. There was nothing here and she found herself slightly confused. "So... Are we going to... Rest here?" She indicated to general area. Also unaware of the things that watched.

[[Blarg, sorry! I forgot it was my turn. D:]]

"Well, it's no posh hotel, I guess," Soren remarked with an awkward chuckle, glancing sidelong at Gardenia. "But wait until there's a fire and you've had some food. It'll get cheerier."

Maybe that was too optimistic! But Soren couldn't keep little shelters around everywhere in the forest.

"Here," he offered with a smile, "how about I start collecting wood and start a fire. And if you're willing, there should be some chanterelles mushrooms growing this time of year. The conditions are right here. You want to see if you can rustle some up?"

It'd keep her feeling productive and keep her mind off of the journey and the gloom of the forest. Little did Soren realize, however, that he was pointing her right in the direction of eyes that watched them from the gloom.