Taking a Break

[stelmarisa]

Lotte blushed fiercely as Iorwerth complimented the fabric and her features, putting the cloth down carefully. "Well, thank you." She smiled shyly, flattered by his descriptions. She took up her needle again as he carried on speaking, continuing to hem the fabric absent-mindedly.

"That sounds like a lovely way to spend the evening." She glanced up at him, smiling warmly, before her eyes flicked downwards again. "I would love for you to talk to me whilst I work. So tell me, how was your day?"

[GoblinFae]

Iorwerth choked on his own saliva and sputtered and coughed for several minutes before being able to settle. "My day?" he repeated. A nervous braying chuckle escaped him, painting his cheeks red in embarrassment. "Well, it certainly has been an interesting one."

His eyes followed the steady motions of needle through fabric as he told of her his day. He told her everything, or rather everything in a slightly modified version. "Markets days are wonderful business days for bards. All the children with their parents who just want to keep them quiet so they can sell their wares, make wonderful customers. Unfortunately, Ylli is such a clumsy beast. As much as I love him, I seriously considered-" Iorwerth trailed off and shook his head in frustration.

"Anyway, he knocked over a fruit vendor's cart and got me into a barrel of trouble. Here I am with this cart of damaged fruit and of course no one is buying. It was not looking good, I'll tell you that. In the end it worked out though. I did what I do best and used my profession to assist another man in his. Then, afterwards I moseyed my way over her to see the prettiest little dancer I have ever had the pleasure of knowing. And what about you dearest? What have you been up to today?"

[stelmarisa]

Lotte smiled knowingly as she listened to Iorwerth's tale, her skilled hands working on her fabric as he talked. As he finished speaking she stayed quiet for a minute, marking out the pattern onto the silk with a pencil. Finished, she looked up to meet his eyes.

"Yes, I heard there was a fruit-selling bard in the market-place today." She grinned. "I thought he sounded familiar, when I heard the stories... I should have known for sure that it would be you. I'm not surprised that your singing helped you out. As for my day..."

She put down the fabric thoughtfully, and picked up her scissors. "I had an interesting day. I went to the marketplace to buy this, and just as I did, I saw a centaur! I was so excited, I thought it was my old friend Nessus..." she drifted off, and frowned. "I haven't seen him for so long, but when I tried to go over and speak to him, I got lost in the crowd. Then I got distracted, because Lord Cardon appeared, and asked me to accompany him home."

"Funny thing is, I think I saw the fruit cart fall over, but I was hurried away before I could see - otherwise I might have seen you!" She laughed.

[GoblinFae]

"Though-thought he sounded familiar!" Iorwerth sputtered in jest. "Are you saying in the two days that you have spent in my glowing presence I have become that predictable? Oh dear, this, this we must remedy." He sighed and shook his head sadly.

He stopped though as he listened to her retell her day. The more she talked though the hotter the room began to feel to him as he broke out into a nervous sweat. "A centaur?" he repeated, his voice cracking slightly. Iorwerth laughed at the sound but became more distressed as he sounded like he was braying instead of chuckling. Clapping a hand over his mouth he turned bright red in embarrassment.

'Heavens above, I'm making a right ass of myself! How do I always manage to do this? Nessus? Never heard of him. At least that's a blessing in and of itself. She thought I was someone else. I'm going to need to be more careful in the future. That was too close last time. Plus the fruit cart. She could have seen me as the centaur then too. I am such a fool!'

"Lord Cardon? I'm afraid I don't know who that is. How did you meet him? I thought you said that you hadn't met any nobles to have you dance for. Did something change in the last few days?"

[stelmarisa]

"Yes, a centaur." Lotte spoke smoothly, tactfully glossing over Iorwerth's embarassment. "I met Nessus when I was only young, and he lived in the city. We became good friends, but then he moved away." A hint of sadness touched her voice as she remembered the other man.

"He used to carry me on his back when he was in centaur form... so I suppose I wasn't entirely truthful when I said I'd never ridden a horse before," she laughed.

"As for Lord Cardon..." the smile vanished from her lips as her thoughts turned to her new acquaintance. "Yes, I met him two days ago, and he came again last night. The first night, we met entirely by accident, but last night he asked for me specifically." There was a note of hesitant pride in her voice, but it was dampened slightly. "I think he might see me again."

[GoblinFae]

Iorwerth gulped slightly and then tried to cover it up by clearing his throat. "Centaur form? Are you saying he could switch his form between centaur and other things?" His hands fluttered nervously in his lap, rubbing up and down his thighs. 'Heavens! He's just like me. Oh, this bode well. No siree it most certainly does not bode well I tell you!'

He blushed further as she spoke of the gentlemen seeking her affections. It made him both nervous and joyful. He worried at what this man would do to her. Iorwerth knew he was just using her but, that this was also her occupation. On the other hand, she too wished to use the nobleman. In his mind he could see it as nothing other than a win-win situation. Yet, deep down in his heart he could not help feel sickened by it all.

"Well, seems your dream may come true after all. Better rest up those dancer's feet. Wouldn't want them to be all worn out before the main event. I just wish I could see you in your shining moment." He smiled brightly at her, meaning every word even though he still felt a bit off about some of it. 'We all have choices to make. Some are wrong, some are hard, but they are all of them ours to make. I have no right to take that from her.'

[stelmarisa]

Thinking of her old friend, Lotte missed the signs of Iorwerth's embarassment. She smiled as she spoke, her mind far away. "Yes, he was normally in the form of centaur, but he could transform into a human, at will. I don't know much about the process, because he would never let me see the transformation. He-" she broke off and giggled here, blushing girlishly. "Whenever he became human he would always appear naked. So he would always hide away until he had dressed himself again."

The laughter died on her lips as Iorwerth brought the conversation back to the lord.

"Well, who knows when - or if - he will require my company." Her mouth twisted into a little pout as she thought. "As for a shining moment... I don't think he will see it like that, I think perhaps these men don't appreciate the skill of a dancer." She paused. "Not that I mean I am very skilled, of course, but for those who are."

[GoblinFae]

"Ah yes, well that must have been embarrassing for him," he chuckled back, a sense of glee filling him at that pretty piece of knowledge. 'I'm a better centaur! I have better control over my form.' his mind cheered. Iorwerth could have done a dance in place if propriety and his audience had not won him over into stillness.

His features became serious once more as she talked of the nobleman. Without thought a broad and muscled arm reached out and tugged Lotte snug against his side. "Never doubt yourself. I have seen you dance and I judge you to be very skilled, little Lotte. Or would you doubt the word of this world traveler? If he does not see you then he is a fool and all the better that you do not waste your time on him. Your time will come. This I promise you.

"So," he raised a hand under her chin and brushed a finger at the corners of her lips, "chin up and smile. There will be no pouting on this cent-centurion's watch." He gave her a gentle squeeze and a featherlight kiss to the top of her head before letting her go and shifting away slightly. "I am very glad I have made such a beautiful and talented friend. You cannot believe how immature and silly the rest of my friends are," Iorwerth jested, rolling his eyes and huffing.

[Stelmarisa]

"Yes, I'm sure they are," she smiled, her spirits buoyed up by Iorwerth's kind words. "Do they also appear out of thin air, complete with horse, and suddenly come into your life? I might've had big plans that have been interrupted by you and Ylli," she teased, not meaning a word of it. "Watching me dance... making me miss you... thinking of you at the market. It's very inconvenient, you know." She winked.

Putting her sewing to one side, she shifted further onto the bed and tucked her feet up to be more comfortable. She caught at Iorwerth's hand, in an attempt to pull him around to face her. "Tell me about your friends, Iorwerth. What are they like? You must have met so many interesting people on your travels."

[GoblinFae]

Despite knowing that she was teasing him, Iorwerth still managed to blush deeply. It took all he had not to say the words that flooded his mind as warmth flooded his heart. 'She said she missed me. She said she was thinking of me. She is only jesting. She thought you were her friend. She never even saw you, no use getting all worried over it, old boy,' he tried to persuade himself. But his heart was not fooled that it was not actual worry but perhaps something else that made it beat so fast and warm his cheeks so.

He drifted back from his thoughts, allowing his much larger hand to squeeze her own in turn. "My friends," he repeated in great surprise though, "you want to know about my friends? Well," the great man shuffled nervously on the bed, feeling so much smaller than he actually was.

It was true he certainly had met a great number of interesting people on his travels. But, so few of them would truly classify as friends. They were the people whose lives touched his own and walked on to follow their own paths while the single moments of their meetings with the bard were immortalized in song and tale. Few of them met Iorwerth again, even fewer were ever the same upon their second meeting as years often passed in between.

"My friends usually are uh," Iorwerth hung his head to stare down at their joined hands as he fought to admit the truth, "are uh usually children." He nodded his head and smiled wistfully. "They grow up and move on with their lives but there really is much to tell. Youth is youth, they are all innocent and sweet and little dears just all children are and, well that's about it."

[Stelmarisa]

((I forgot how ADORABLE Iorwerth is!))

"Of course I do," Lotte answered sweetly to his first question and waited patiently for the reply. She quietly watched his face, seeing the shadows of thoughts flicker across his expression in the quiet that followed. She wondered what he was thinking about - was he perhaps trying to remember the details of such a large number of friends? She could easily imagine that he had met hundreds of people throughout a travelling life. Or perhaps he had few that he could call friends, and was trying to decide who fit that title? She could certainly empathise, if that was the case. The life of a prostitute did not lend itself to close friendships, exactly.

"Children?" she asked, a note of surprise in her voice. It hadn't been an answer that she had expected, and yet it made a certain amount of sense. Iorwerth, with his sweetly innocent demeanour, probably did feel more comfortable around children than more cynical adults, she reasoned.
"That's nice," she nodded slowly. "I can see why you'd like that. Although I've got to admit, I don't know any children. I haven't since I was one myself... and then I didn't exactly have many playmates my own age," she admitted, a tinge of pink on her cheeks.

[GoblinFae]

"Perhaps if you have time in your very busy schedule, you could join me during one of my story-tellings. I'm sure my little friends would adore meeting the sweet woman that has taken such good care of their larger, clumsy friend," he offered, his eyes dancing with mirth.

Iorwerth sighed then and shook his head. "Although you best be careful around tiny Annis, I do believe she will be quite put out to find another woman in my life. She has quite the crush on me you know. You've got some very serious competition," he informed her, trying not to laugh.