When Fate Comes a'Knocking (Goblin)

[Zero]

Erthe hated himself for it, but as soon as those words left Primrose's lips his mind ventured to the night before and the effect she'd had on him. His face darkened immediately at the thought. "No, of course not, but can you blame me for taking advantage of how well you feed me while I can?"

He could have a big appetite, but rarely ate so well as he was right now. Of course his face did not stop darkening as he thought that it wasn't only food he apparently had an appetite for. The drow had thought his taste for affection had died twenty years ago, but apparently not entirely.

[GoblinFae]

"Says the skipper of breakfast," she parried back with mock affront. "It's only a pity I can't torture you as easily as Janus. You'd probably not even budge a smidgen if I tried to wrestle you like I do him."

Primrose sighed and shook her head, moments before aforementioned boy bulldozed into her side, nearly knocking her straight into Erthe's lap. "That'll teach you to mess with starving men, wench!" the boy cried as the pair wriggled about once more, this time with her trying to escape him, her laughter coming out in gasps as she fought for breath between being tickled in all her vulnerable places.

[Zero]

If Erthe's face had become darker with his blush, at the mention of her attempting to wrestle him to the ground the way she did Janus had the color drain right out of his face. Having her all over him like that would not help the predicament he found himself in at all.

He couldn't even protest, counter, or otherwise disagree with her about being wrestled with. Janus practically tackled her into his lap, and the pair of them began wiggling as they continued their little battle. The drow's breath actually hitched in his throat.

"Janus sit down." Erthe growled harshly as he tried to scoot himself away from them both.

[GoblinFae]

With a whoosh of air leaving her lungs, Primrose let out a surprised grunt as Janus immediately obeyed Erthe by plopping himself firmly on the noblewoman's torso, effectively pinning her in place as well.

"So can we eat now?" he asked, with a triumphant grin while his defeated foe worked at catching her breath beneath him docilely.

[Zero]

Well that didn't go entirely as planned. Erthe glowered at Janus, the both of them at his feet. The drow grabbed Janus by the shirt, lifting and pulling the boy off Primrose, and set him down beside him. "When I told you to sit I meant on the ground, not on her. As for if you can eat, you'll have to ask Ak'nen, as it seems he's the one that made breakfast."

[GoblinFae]

Ak'nen nodded his head gently at the mention of his name before quietly handing the voracious boy his own bowl. Janus took to it like a duck to water, wolfing down the food as if his very life depended on it and it would be his last.

Primrose gratefully sat up but remained where she was, brushing off dirt from her tunic before accepting her own bowl even as she moved to lean her back and side against Erthe's leg. "Thank you my prince!" she cheered with her head craned back to offer the drow a dazzling smile.

[Zero]

Erthe watched wordlessly as Janus was served and started attacking his breakfast like a starved jackal. He remained sitting stiffly as Primrose leaned her back against his leg as she accepted her bowl from Ak'nen. Her words and the radiant smile that she offered him had his face darkening a few shades as he turned his red eyes away. "I'm not a prince."

After last night the drow didn't have any desire to really speak with Ak'nen, and he was surprised when the elf readily offered him a bowl without prompting. He took it gratefully, staring down into it with a soft 'thank you' murmured. He'd complained of hunger, but now looking down at the food his mouth was a bit dry as he was once again struggling with the way those smiles affected him. Gods but he was a fool.

[GoblinFae]

Her smile did not falter but her her eyes did soften as he looked away from her and Primrose understood her silly antics were still something Erthe was not likely to have gotten accustomed to in their short time together.

She looked down at her own bowl of food, murmuring softly and somewhat defiantly into it without remembering the fact that three pairs of ears were keen enough to hear her especially given a certain drow's proximity to her when she whispered, "well you're a prince to me." With her head lowered though Primrose never caught the look of amusement nor the raised brows of Ak'nen as he glanced between the pair but otherwise kept his silence.

[Zero]

"You have an odd idea of what makes a prince, then." Erthe mumbled, giving Ak'nen an annoyed look, uncomfortable at the elf's clear amusement at his awkward relationship with the woman he was charged with protecting. The drow forced himself to tuck into his breakfast. He was hungry and the food was good enough, but it was still hard to keep an appetite with his tumultuous feelings.

[GoblinFae]

"I don't think so," she murmured with a bowed head as she all but played with her food. "A prince should be a man with a kind heart and a gentle soul, a man like you." Primrose sighed sadly, feeling like crying for being so silly and thoughtless to have caused him notable discomfort. "I'm sorry, Erthe."

[Zero]

Erthe wasn't sure if he should think Primrose naive or idealistic. As far as the drow knew most princes weren't exactly knights in shining armor, but then again, how many princes did he know? None. He sighed softly and stared down at her, he could tell she was upset...again. Gods, why did he have to be so good at making her upset and unhappy?

"Stop apologizing to me. It's fine. Let's just finish breakfast and get ready to leave." Although he was curious as to how she figured he was kind or gentle. As far as he was concerned he was hardly either of those things. Then again, she didn't really know him.

[GoblinFae]

Primrose nodded, playing with her food for a few moments before dragging herself to her feet and handing her plate of food to Janus to finish while she slunk off to prepare the horses in relative solitude. She mentally chastised herself for her continuous foolishness when it was blatantly obvious how uncomfortable she made Erthe, a slave who was just trying to do his job while dealing with a spoiled brat of a noblewoman and her equally spoiled servant boy. "Was a wonder Harkness liked me to begin with" she muttered under her breath to herself even as she heaved the heavy saddle onto Tucker's back and began to strap it firmly into place.

[Zero]

"From what I understand he really loved you." Erthe said quietly. His long ears weren't only for show, and her muttering didn't keep him from hearing her. After Primrose had gotten up he had likewise played with his food before finally giving up on his lost appetite.

He'd tried to stay away, but the drow was drawn to her, like a moth to a flame. Erthe didn't like to see her upset, but he didn't know how to not upset her. Crimson eyes regarded her tiredly. "I'm sorry that I keep upsetting you. I don't mean to."

[GoblinFae]

She buried her face in the saddle, her heart seeming to seize in her chest at the notion that Harkness had loved her. Primrose missed him desperately and to have a complete stranger understand something she was far too late in recognizing herself, hurt to her very bones.

When he approached her though and spoke again she shook her head firmly, turning to look at him in surprise. "It is not you who keeps upsetting me. Please do not take the blame for yourself my friend. I am," Primrose sighed as she fought back tears that tried to choke her.

"I am a foolish woman with ideals far too young for one of my age and maturity. It is I who keeps placing you in such uncomfortable and unthoughtful positions and I am truly sorry for the trouble I am causing you Erthe. You are trying your hardest to do your duty to my uncle and to take care of me and I have taken such improper familiarities with you. It is a wonder you have borne it with such grace and not complained despite how horrible I have been. I am ashamed of myself and I am truly sorry. I hope you can understand that and forgive me. I shouldn't even ask that of you. I've asked enough of you already," the noblewoman whispered, her gaze to the side as she attempted to draw away from him in another retreat.

[Zero]

"It isn't your uncle I care about." Erthe's brow furrowed, she was going to cry. Why did he have to make her cry? He wished he knew what to do. Everything he did seemed to be wrong. "Primrose, you're not the one wrong. You're just being yourself. Which is a good, sweet lady who shows a slave - someone considered less than worthless - more respect and humanity and kindness than he rightly deserves or knows how to respond to."

After all, since when had anyone wanted to be his friend? The drow could hardly remember. Lady Tara, and somewhat her grandmother, had been the nicest people to him in his life until he stumbled into Primrose's life. Even they had never called him a friend.

Not even his beloved Tara, whom his heart had spent many years aching for after being sold away from her, had ever referred to him as a friend.

[GoblinFae]

"Being myself doesn't make what I do right. I'm not allowed to be myself. My uncle does not like myself and I'm sure my betrothed will not either given who chose him for me. My situation is not much different than your own. Not that I wish to make light of what your life is, to demean it by making such a comparison. A slave is not permitted to be himself," Primrose looked up to look the Drow in the eye, "no matter how kind and open his heart is. It was you who told me slaves can't have friends. To be yourself could get you killed. To be myself could do the same. I don't want you hurt Erthe. Not because of me, not because I'm a wild child without reigns to hold her in place."

She pursed her lips tightly into a thin, pale line of displeasure. "Perhaps it's time for Prim to be proper after all."

[Zero]

"I think it is more different than you realize." Erthe could feel a shred of anger. Primrose might be a sweet woman, someone he could easily find himself liking, but she was spoiled and naive if she thought their situations were anything alike.

"So you shut yourself off, draw everything that makes you who you are inside and bury it deep, hide it from the world. Then what? The years crawl by, eating away at your soul until you can't even remember who you are anymore. Is there a real you? Or has the shell you've shown off the real you now? Life and the world corrodes you until all will to fight it has been stripped away and you can't even remember why life is worth living. Until one day you wake up and all you want is for it to stop. Forever. Until you long for your outside to be as dead as your inside already is." His voice was low, but rather than angry, his tone was so very...defeated.

Erthe knew, because his life was already like that. What reason did he have to keep living? None. Except to keep Primrose safe, as he had sworn to Jain he would do.

[GoblinFae]

Primrose frowned, her expression that of extreme pained displeasure. "And what would you have me do? I don't know how long you have been in my uncle's employ but in case you haven't noticed he is an extremely caustic and abusive individual. There is a reason I will not even live in the same country as him and it is because I have seen and felt his wrath. What makes you think any husband he chooses for me would be any different?"

She paused, her eyes reflecting the pain and fear of a child before she was able to burn it with flames of passion. "I have already lost someone I claim to have loved would you have me lose the rest? My silence, my closing myself off as you've put it protects not only my being from pain but also three very special individuals close to my heart from further heartache. They suffered the loss of my father, then my mother. They raised me and cared for me when they could. Would you have them suffer more by having their home taken from them? Their son? Their very lives?

"If I do not obey that is their fate if not much worse. My uncle will suffer nothing in his way, not even me. I either obey him or I lose all and still must play the part of his puppet. He has taken one life. I will not suffer him to take more. Consider me as foolish or pathetic as you will but I would rather rot my soul a thousand times over than let those I consider my own to suffer for me!" Tears streamed down her face but her eyes reflect anger instead of sadness. Anger at her situation, anger at her loss, anger at her necessary sacrifice.

[Zero]

Erthe couldn't do anything right. No matter how he tried, it always ended with Primrose angry or crying...or both.

There was still that nagging voice inside of him screaming that it didn't matter and that he shouldn't care. All he was to do was get the girl safely to his master. Her feelings and emotional well-being were not his responsibility, all that he need worry himself was her physical state. Alive and in condition to be received properly by her husband when they arrived. End of concern.

Why was that so difficult? The drow's heart had long since been hardened by a shell of indifference. Why couldn't he bring up that cold wall now?

Ak'nen made a small noise behind him and he turned to see that the elf and boy were already mounted and Uhi was nowhere to be seen. Probably scouting ahead. Erthe turned back to Tucker and smoothly climbed into the saddle before reaching down and pulling Primrose up behind him rather effortlessly, whether she liked it or not.

"We're not stopping today, if you get hungry eat your lunch in the saddle or not at all." His voice was gruff as he spurred the stallion to a quick walk. There had been quite enough delays. It was time they actually made a little progress for a change.

[GoblinFae]

Her attention immediately snapped to Ak'nen and Janus causing the boy to visibly flinch and press back into the elf behind him as if her very gaze could burn him. Her distraction was enough time for Erthe to yank her up on the horse behind him. But, it was his words that nearly earned him a swift and painful punch to the kidneys.

Primrose bit her cheek until it bled to keep from lashing out at either horse or rider. She mentally cursed the Drow for his stubbornness as well as herself for her pigheadedness. She was far too good at getting herself into such messes and nearly incapable of getting back out.

Awkwardly, the noblewoman attempted to adjust her positioning but with two people there really was not anywhere she could go, although she consoled her need for space by crossing her arms and glaring daggers in the back of Erthe's head for hours. Eventually though she began to doze and started to fall forward so that her forehead rested against his back.