However can I repay you? (Atten: Carnhain)

[TaeaDawn]

Life had been many things to Jatasha Danica. Kind was not one of them. At the young age of 17, she had lived most of her life in the Perfumed Quarter in Illian, more of it on the streets than off ever since her father had become a fervent believer in brinking away his woes. What life had given, it had taken back from her with a vengeance. A loving mother had been taked away when she was too young. Had she been smarter she might have realized earlier who had killed her, but she was still the sort that wanted to see the good in people. Especially in a father who claimed to adore and love the two women in his life. But with her mother gone, life still had more things to settle. Her face for one. She was beautiful and she wasn't the sort to deny it. Her looks had put her on the streets and had won her coin when she had needed it. But looks had made her targets to attacks also. The sort you didn't walk away from very well.

 

She'd survived the streets of Illian only to fight her way cross every trail she ran. In the end she had fallen back on the only trade she knew and had probably saved herself more trouble that she had ever thought she could encounter by being a willing participant.

 

It wasn't always so simple though, she thought as she looked at the man beside her. Two hours ago she had been riding out of Baerlon and had been attacked when she had been in a deserted area. She wasn't sure what they'd have done to her if this man hadn't shown up. The parts they had described were bad enough. She shievered at the thought and pulled the blanket up around her shoulders tighter.

 

After saving her from the roughs, this man had taken the lead and she had simply followed, letting him direct them away and falling in line when he decided to stop for the night. He built a fire though he didn't seem to be cold. It was her, she knew, the shock of what had happened. She knew bruises were blossoming on her arms where they had held her. Thank the light he had got there before the bruises could find their way anywhere else.

 

Gray eyes regarded him as she played with a strand of long blond hair that had fallen into her face. The strange thing was, she still didn't know his name, or him hers. "It be a funny thing," she said in a slightly rough voice. "to be saved and feeling safe when I do no know your name. I be Jatasha Danica. And I thank you for protecting me from those men."

 

((Forgive me for butchering her accent but I had to give it a try :P Helpful hints would be appreciated in PM form for my Illian accent and it's future improvement :P))

 

[Guest Estel]

Silence reined save for the crunch of his boots and Fire’s hooves. Carnhain hadn’t spoken a word to the strange woman since telling her she would be safe now and to follow him. She hadn’t made any attempts at talk to him and he wasn’t about to instigate any conversations. His skill with women, despite his good looks, were next to nil. In the Band there was little chance of finding time- or women for that matter- to flirt with. With Lavena, he had spent the better part of his time with her blushing and she had ended up with Kedyn. Miria, well, they had their- to put it mildly- disagreements. Kiarma... The thought of trying to flirt with the touchy infantry woman brought on a chuckle. Besides them, Drea was the only other woman he was in contact with and she was his superior. No, Carnhain could not talk to women. On duty was one thing as he could treat them the same as the men but off duty... He left that to Kedyn.

 

The fact that he had saved her from rape also put him in a rather awkward situation. It was a thing few men really wanted to talk- or at least to or in front of a woman.

 

So the two trodded on in silence. The gentlemanly thing to do would have been to offer her his horse, but being both uneducated in the way of manners and too nervous to talk to her, he instead led Black Fire by the reins as she followed.

 

Roughly two hours after the incident he stopped to prepare camp in a small hollow he knew of off the road, hidden by trees and undergrowth. Noticing that she was shivering, he went about fetching kindling and firewood. As he set about lighting it, he regarded her from behind the safety of their fire-to-be.

 

She too was blonde, though her hair held a red tinge while his was closer to gold. Where her eyes were grey, his were a shade bluer. Though it was difficult to tell from his position, he judged her only slightly shorter than he. Overall it was rather alarming the number of similarities he could draw between her and himself. It was that comparison that drove him to look deeper into her grey eyes and take in her gaunt cheeks. ‘I’ll be damned if she isn’t exactly like I was before the Band! Blood and ashes, she’d be about the same age too!’ Pity rose within him as he remembered his own past. ‘I wonder what she went through to earn that look in her eye- besides tonight, that is.’ Unfortunately, he was still too nervous to act on his curiousity.

“It be a funny thing, to be saved and feeling safe when I do no know your name. I be Jatasha Danica. And I thank you for protecting me from those men.â€

 

Already a blush former on Carnhain’s pale cheeks. “Don’t worry a... It’s noth... You’re welcome.†By this point he was bright crimson. Hoping the light had faded enough to hide the physical evidence of his embarrassment, he stuck out his hand as if to shake hers. “I am Lieutenant Carnhain Stromblade.â€

 

Like some ingrained instinct, his eyes slid from her face to her low-cut dress. When he realized what he was doing, his eyes shot up, mortified at his own actions. His blush deepened to the colour of his coat and he dropped his hand a muttered an apology, stumbling over his words so many times it took almost a minute to get it out.

 

He suddenly had the overwhelming desire to melt into the shadows as Kedyn or any of the other Scouts could. ‘Way to go, goat-brain!’ Dropping his eyes from her face to the ground, he took in his own attire, which only added to his mortification.

 

His black breeches definitely bordered on too tight, showing off well-toned legs, bottom and... other things. Luckily, he had actually worn a shirt and coat today rather than going bare-backed as was his custom. However, his sleeve had been torn during his scuffle with the would-be gang-rapists and there was a large blood stain down the front of his coat from his nosebleed that was only partially hidden by the colour of his coat. His shoulder-length hair was matted in places with blood and only half of it remained tied back while his face too was covered in blood.

 

All he could think at that moment was of how much he wished he were Kedyn.

 

ooc: sorry for the rambling post, tried to give a good description of him. As for the accent, looks pretty good to me. I've never written an Illian accent, though if you want help, you could try poking James as his CoL char, Con Stavros, is an Illianer.

[TaeaDawn]

Carnhain Stromblade. A name she would remember for some time, she was sure. Jatasha didn't believe that the Creator put a hand out to help random people but she thought perhaps she had been blessed this night. It wasn't just that he had saved her from bandits, but the way he watched her, uncertain and embarrased. She had been saved on more than one occasion in her life to find herself in a worse bind with her 'savior'. Tonight was different though and she wondered about the man that would save a woman and could barely meet her eyes later.

 

"It be a pleasure to meet you." She said, remembering her manners well. "I do wonder where you be headed." She said as she settled the blanket around her shoulders to show the maximum cleavage and still keep herself warm. She shivered slightly still, but that could be useful if she needed it. he certiany seemed chivalrous enough to wrap an arm around a cold girl's shoulders if asked. "I be travelling and I would no be lieing if I said I would enjoy the company." She gave him a flirtatious smile then. She was coming across too strong she knew, her shock playing across her nerves making her as adept as a young girl on her first days in the street, but perhaps his embarassment would make up for her own lack of subtlety.

 

[Guest Estel]

Despite his best intentions, the young man’s eyes kept sliding south of the woman’s face. The combination of her flirtatious manner and exposed bosom were more than enough to keep his face a perpetual shade of crimson and feeling more than a little awkward.

 

When she shivered, even Carnhain couldn’t help but shrug out of his filthy coat and give it to her. However, taking one look at its state of disrepair, he winced and muttered something along the lines of ‘I’ve a blanket on my horse.’ So he retreated behind the safety of Black Fire and untied the fastenings that held his blanket roll behind his saddle. Unrolling it, he handed it to her and moved away quickly, putting the fire between them. Why did women make him this nervous?

 

“Where am I going?†he repeated thickly. “I’m going back to the Band.†‘She doesn’t know what that is stupid.’ “Uh... The Band of the Ref Hand. My employer. We’re set up in a fortress in the Two Rivers area. They’re an army. I’m a Lieutenant in the cavalry there...†he cut off with the realization he was prattling. With yet another blush, looked away from her, his greyish-blue eyes falling on a nasty cut on his shoulder. ‘So that’s why it’s sore.’ He had just figured it had been a shallow one. But this needed stitching.

 

He almost whimpered as he glanced back at the blonde-haired woman staring at him from across the fire. “I... uh... hope you don’t mind, I... well... I... have a cut on my arm that needs tending.†Still blushing furiously, he turned around- as if being unable to see her would make him invisible- and began removing his shirt.

 

Though not nearly as good as a medic, he had stitched the odd wound and had a needle, thread and bandages in his saddlebags. He retrieved these and in moments was cleaning and closing the wound, refusing to look at Jatasha.

[TaeaDawn]

Street medicine was the only thing she had ever come to rely upon from the girls in ther Perfumes Quarters. When things got rough you could always turn to one of the girls to help you out. Light knew she couldn't turn to her father and none of the others had anyone else they would want to turn to either. She had seen her fair share of wounds and had them too. It seemed only fair that she should help repair the wound that he had received because of her.

 

She carefully set the blanket down, still surprised at the way he had given it and practically run from her. She stood up and softly walked around the fire to stand before him. She didn't speak but touched his hand with hers, taking the needle from him. It was bad enough to have to be stitched up without having to do it yourself. She gave him a warm smile to give him a little comfort, amused to see just how often he could blush.

 

She laid a hand on his bare skin to begin the stitching. It always surprised her to realize the warmth of the human body. There was something different when she took coin for touch, it made things colder and less personal. The act of touching someone else's flesh without the requisite coin was almost always something moving to her. She pushed the feeling down though to complete what he had started, working as quickly and as diligently as she could to help him recover from the help he had given her.

 

[Guest Estel]

Carnhain didn’t cringe when she came near, but it was something close. His mind screamed at him to get away before he made a bigger fool of himself, meanwhile his pride told him to hold his ground lest he be a coward in her eyes- which of course was already foolish as she could hardly call a man who fought off three thugs to save her a coward.

 

Yet when she touched him, the nervous, young man couldn’t repress a shudder- not one of revulsion, but something more akin to its opposite. Though he had never felt anything close to love, never known any family but his fellow soldiers in the Band, despite the fact that he had never known anything about women; he couldn’t help but feel a strange warmth at her touch.

 

Jatasha stitched the wound far better and far gentler than he could ever manage and as she moved away he muttered a quiet ‘Thank you.’ and blushed hard as ever. Then he stood, stretching the stitched arm to work some feeling back into it. Her eyes were on him and he self-consciously positioned his arms to hide his long, thick scar. Though he could flaunt it all he wanted around the Citadel, when women were around... well it was the same story as with everything else when women were around him.

 

From Black Fire’s saddlebags he pulled a clean shirt, a loaf of bread, some hard cheese, dried meat and a waterskin. The shirt he pulled over his head and he split the food with Jatasha before once again putting the fire between them.

 

However, the sudden silence that followed was far worse than the sound of her voice and after swallowing half his chunk of bread, Carnhain couldn’t help but do his best at starting a conversation.

 

“How’d you end up in Baerlon?†‘If that’s not blunt, I’m not sure what is.’

“Er... Your accent marks you from Illian.â€

[TaeaDawn]

Jatasha was more than a little curious about the man that had rescued her. He had just barreled into the middle of things, but now here in the safety he had given her, he seemed to sense more danger than he had with the men.

 

She smiled at his question. "Just travelling around." She said with a small laugh. She watched his face and decided to take a chance. She got up and moved to sit close to him. Not close enough to touch, but not so far that she couldn't see him clearly. The scar she'd seen before had intrigued her and now she wanted to know more about the man with her.

 

"I suppose it do be my Mother's blood in me, making me travel as I do. Or maybe it just be that I was in no good place and needed to get away." She smiled from under her lashes. He woudln't get the full effect without more light, but firelight added it's own touch to such movements.

 

[Guest Estel]

He had been nervous enough with a fire between them and now that mere inches separated him from her, his nerves multiplied ten-fold. His fingers played in the dirt and he watched it, needing the distraction. Sweat rolled down tanned skin, leaving a salty taste on his tongue as he constantly licked his lips.

 

When Carnhain finally looked over at her, he stared a moment before hastily turning his gaze back to his fingers. She was certainly beautiful. Damnit, by now Kedyn would have her laughing a snuggling on his arm. Unfortunately, thoughts of what he’d like to do if he had the courage only heated his face more.

 

“Your... Your mother’s blood?†he stumbled.

[TaeaDawn]

"Yes, my mother's blood. She did be one of the wanders people, the Tuatha'an." Jatasha said as she watching his fingers, idly aware that his nervousness was getting worse and worse. She had the feeling if she leaned over and touched him at that moment he'd skitter across to the other side of the fire.

 

"She did fall in love with my father and left the Way of the Leaf. It did be the worst mistake of her life for he was a dark man, but she was young and knew nothing of the world in those days. She did pay for her mistake, may the creator shelter her. I did be thinking to meet up with some of the Traveling people someday, but.." she sighed. "Though she taught me the ways, I no have lived by it and I do no think I could." She gave him a sad smile. "It is a nice dream though..."

 

[Guest Estel]

Carnhain’s eyes popped out of his tanned face when she mentioned the Tuatha’an. ‘What are the chances?’ It took the better part of his limited self-control not to interrupt her before she was done speaking.

 

“Your mother was one of the Tuatha’an!†His outburst came right on the heels of her comment and was so filled with excitement and surprise that it was nearly a shout. Which of course came as a shock in the stillness of the night. “Sorry,†he mumbled, accompanying it with yet another blush “it’s just that my parents were of the Travelling People.†Though he laughed when he mentioned his parents, there was a definite note of sadness and bitterness that could not be hidden by his usually light-hearted manner.

 

His life had begun tragically and even now he could not seem to escape heart-wrenching events. Again he asked the Creator why he couldn’t have had a life more like Kedyn’s.

[TaeaDawn]

She looked at him for a moment, the tone of his voice speaking volumes about loss, though the didn't know why or how. On instinct, she moved quickly and knelt before him, taking his hands in her own.

 

"If your family do be Tuatha'an, how do you come to live like this?" She asked him. "How do you live by the sword?"

 

Though she was certain her mother had left off many of the things she would need to know if she ever did meet the Tuatha'an, she would sure she could learn quick enough not to offend. There was no way Carnhain's violent life was a part of that. Had he ever lived by the Way of the Leaf? She found it odd to think he ever had, though his voice had the same tone hers did when she spoke of it at times. The wistful yearnings of a dream you knew could not come to pass.

 

[Guest Estel]

With the memory of the past hanging over him, he forgot to blush when Jatasha moved closer to him, going so far as to take his hands. The shadows of the past were enough to drive a man insane, the long scar down his body proved that.

 

“How do I live by the sword? It’s a long story and I’d rather not go into details.†There was no need to tell her that he had murdered a man. “I was kidnapped as an infant by a man who kept me as a slave in his inn. Eventually I escaped and I ended up in the Band.†he shrugged. That had been his life before the Band, it was incredible to think that he had risen so far since then.

 

“I live by the sword because it is the only thing I know. The Band offered me a profession and a chance to rise above. It’s given me the only family I’ve ever known.â€

[TaeaDawn]

Jatasha nodded, though she didn't move from her spot in front of him, his hands still clasped in hers. "So you no have known the Way either." She said, her voice somewhat sad that he had never experienced it either. To know that he had been taken from his parents was enough to understand his pain. She had been a slave in her own way, though it was her father that put her into bondage so that he could drink himself into oblivion. She knew family, but not in the way Carnhain talked of it. Except in memories of her Mother, the memories she guarded closely to her heart.

 

"They must be good people, to give you something so special. It do be good to know that you have found a home when you were taken from your own."

 

[Guest Estel]

“They are good people.†he said quietly. Fondness entered his voice, it was an emotion rarely displayed by him. “For the first time in my life I have a brother, who still thinks of me as such even after all that I’ve done. I have an uncle, who took me as his own son. I have friends and even those who look up to me. I command men, and train them, I even counsel them. Who would have thought it of a worthless inn slave?

 

“And yet...†‘And yet you’ve nearly destroyed all of that. You nearly killed your brother three times, technically you should have been thrown out of the Band long ago!’ Carnhain’s sigh was almost tear-filled. He let the sentence hang between them, unable and unwilling to finish.

[TaeaDawn]

She didn't understand this man, Jatasha thought as she looked up at Carnhain. He spoke of these people with as much emotion as she had seen from yet, but there was still pain. She didn't understand why, but he was hurting. This man who had rescused her was hurting and she had caused it.

 

She thought he might run, she thought he might jump away, but what if he needed the comfort and accpeted it instead? He deserved comfort for what he had done for her. "You aren't worthless." she said in a quiet voice. "If you hadn't been there tonight what would have happened to me?" She asked. Taking a chance, she leaned forward, pulling his arms around her and embraced him, tight enough to comfort but not so tight that she would upset him. She hoped. "I needed you tonight and you were there for me. That isn't worthless. It's noble."

 

[Guest Estel]

His first reaction was to escape when she wrapped her arms around him. He had always pushed other people away and especially since first discovering his dark secret. Never in his life, before the Band, had he had any sort of emotional attachment and it had scarred him. All those years of misery and loneliness had produced a man who doubted his own ability to love, to let people close. Kedyn and Rowul were the only ones who had succeeded in breaking through to him, they had taught him to love.

 

And suddenly this woman had her arms around him. He felt awkward and scared, yet at the same time the part of him that had been crying for comfort, for compassion, for friendship, for someone who cared finally went quiet for just a moment.

 

When that inner need stopped crying, Carnhain started. Tears leaked down his cheeks and though he was ashamed, he could not stop them.

[TaeaDawn]

There were so many things that could have happened and when she felt the small shudder against her, she pulled him closer, relieved that she had finally done something right for this man that had saved her from more than a few bruises, and perhaps a much worse fate. Light knew she had seen bad things in her life, but in moments like this, when she could help someone else, it made her forget those things.

 

Her hands moved across his back in slow comforting circles. She didn't try to offer words of comfort or false platitudes. She didn't know the cause of his pain nor did she know him well enough to know what would stop it. Instead she simply held him as tightly as he needed.

 

[Guest Estel]

It was strange to be able to simply cry and be held, never in his memory could he remember such a time. His entire childhood his tears had been met with harsh laughter, cold words and a kick to his gut but now that he was a grown man suddenly his tears were being met with comfort and understanding? It didn’t make sense. She should be scolding him for wearing his heart on his sleeve and laughing at his weakness!

 

Yet despite how ironic this all was he would have been deeply hurt had she pulled away and done what anyone else would have. For the first time in his life he was receiving the comfort he had craved- and was finding that he still craved it now that he had grown- as a boy and it was irresistible. He could not have torn himself away from her arms had he wanted to.

 

A long while passed yet in comparison to the length of time he had spent craving it, it was only a short while that he experienced what most children took for granted; a woman figure. He had stopped crying some time ago but had been loathe to break the silence for fear of chasing her away. Finally he felt he had to say or do something.

 

Carnhain turned his head up to her as best he could without really detaching himself from her arms. “Thank you. I... I’ve never really...” he trailed off, not knowing how to say what he was trying to communicate. Instead, he hesitantly raised his face towards hers, ignoring the voices of fear and shyness, and kissed her.

[TaeaDawn]

In the whole bizarre night, it was the strangest thing. She was a whore, a woman with no experience caring for others. Her own memories of a mother, though cherished, had stopped when she had been 12 to be replaced with the cruel brutality of the streets of Illian. Her arms wrapped tightly around a man normally meant coin in her pocket and nothing more. Tonight however, this beautiful man with the oddly unrealizing quality, had managed to bring out an unexpected protectiveness.

 

As he looked up at her and stammered over his words, her hand came up lightly to caress his face. When he leaned towards her and kissed her, it was a shock to her but one she simply accepted. She wanted to sooth away the demons for this one, no matter what it took. Her arms went back around him, holding him as tightly as she dared, kissing him back with as much promise as she felt she could make to him.

 

[Guest Estel]

It was odd that he had waited so long for this, only to have it happen with a woman he barely knew beyond what had been said in their brief, awkward conversation. Yet despite that, she awoke in him something he had never felt before. Never before had his skin burned as it did now when she touched him and never before had his body reacted as it did now. It was as if his mind and his body were two separate entities, locked in a battle for who would command him. His body was winning.

 

She should have pushed him off her; forced him to stop what his body was doing. Instead, it seemed, to what was left of his coherent mind, that she invited him, egging him on. So he got braver. He kissed her harder, more passionately and his hands roamed her body. Still she did not reject him.

 

At some point, all coherent thought drifted away to be burned in the fire of his passion.

 

ooc: hmm...wasn't expecting that when we started this thread..

anyways, do we want to just do the morning after thing with Carnhain taking her to the Band?