The slap of water startled Rho causing her to sink a bit before she managed to steady her floating again. The pain in his voice was heavy and a certain level of betrayal was there as well. It seemed that the burden of being a knight was far harder than the stories always made it seem. They always showed the golden side of things and from the sound of things it was one of these tales that had spurred Hawkflesh into becoming a knight.

"I'm glad that good came of all the bad in the end." She offered sincerely with a smile, even if he probably couldn't see it as they were, while the currant floated her closer to him. "And I imagine that you did save lives and protect beautiful women from monsters. Perhaps it might just not have been as easily apparent as say rescuing a princess locked in a tower from her evil step mother who's a witch. Stories make the all the pieces easily seen. They're meant to teach something after all." At least that's what her mother always said.

She turned her head slightly to catch him in the corner of her eye. "If you find yourself enjoying Plumhollow. You could always choose to stay. I'm sure you could find something worthwhile to do here. Maybe not rescuing trapped princesses, but maybe a trapped cat or helping right a turned over cart. Not as exciting as being on the road, but sometimes the simple is enough."

Rho wasn't quite sure why she offered him a place here. He was near enough a stranger that she'd just met a few hours ago, but there was something in his calm in his presence even in the small moments of chaos of the evening. She really didn't expect him to take up the offer, but it was sincere.
 
It was such a lovely offer that it almost killed him. The chill of the water gave way to the ice cold feeling that crept into his belly because he knew what he had to say.
"I can't, please don't ask me why I just cannot stay past tonight."

The frustration of not being able to tell it, of not even understanding enough of what it was to be able to explain was torture.
Worse perhaps was the idea that it sounded like some excuse, that he might be on the run or something. How could he explain that he had to leave just so that she wouldn't be captured by the waking nightmare that followed him?

"Thank you though. It means a lot that there might be a place for me here."
It did and he only wished he could prove it somehow, words seemed an ill fit for his gratitude but it's not like he was flush with coin.

@Rhosyn Firth
 
"Well if that should ever change, just know as strong lad like yourself would be welcomed back. We'll just temper our drinking in the future." She said teasingly reaching out to poke him teasingly as they floated together. "Perhaps one day you can have the life you want, versus one required of you." She wasn't going to ask why he couldn't stay, but whatever it was certainly didn't sound like it was a life he really wanted, but one that was being forced upon him in one way or another. Like his life as a knight, full of killing when he wanted to be saving. Bah, she was growing sentimental from the drink and the lateness of the hour.

"We once had one of the tall folk stay here for a couple of months, before he moved on complaining about always having to look down for conversation." She said turning the conversation to something amusing so he didn't feel obligated to dwell on something that was clearly distressing. "He was quite the eater and didn't really enjoy all the vegetables that many beast-folk tend to prefer. I think that's why he really left. Grew tired of "eating like a rabbit" as he called it. Like that was offensive." She chuckled softly, while peaking an eye over at Hawkflesh to see if the silly story had cheered him up at all. She hadn't meant to make him feel regretful in anyway with her offer.
 
That day seemed very far away to Hawkflesh at that moment. He'd have a better chance to touch the red moon than be free of that place.
Rhosyn's poke snapped him out of his funk somewhat and in pure reflex he caught her small hand in his own, snatching it.
"Hmm, maybe."

Admitting to himself that it wasn't strictly IMPOSSIBLE took effort before he noticed that Rhosyn's hand was sorely cold and it occurred to him that she might catch cold.

Letting himself stand and letting Rhosyn's hand go again Hawkflesh found the bottom of the lake brought the water just under his elbows. They were not that far out or perhaps the lake was not that deep. Her story, the recollections of this other person she was in a way likening to himself was an odd experience and when he caught her looking at him he wore a slightly bemused expression.
"He sounds like a bigger fool than me."
Taking slow steady steps he began to travel towards her and brought his hands up under to lift her out of the water as he passed.
"Anyone would be to leave this place."
Speaking as if he was not in fact hoisting Rhosyn up in his arms he tread them both back towards the shore with more than a smirk on his face as he took this liberty with her size. He suspected the water in her clothes weighed more than she did even as it dripped and sloshed off her form as only the loosest part of her dress still clung to the waters surface.

@Rhosyn Firth
 
A hand grasp her own, warmer against the cool of the water. She didn't pull away. The sound of falling water had her glancing over again to find Hawkflesh standing. "Done with the lake already?" She questioned as she looked up at him where he stood over her.

"Better a Fool who realizes it than one that does not." She said over the sound of water as he waded over toward her. "Sometimes seeing the world could be beautiful, but more so if you have somewhere to return to in the end. A home."

A pair of arms reached under her, lifting her from the lake smoothly. She couldn't help the squeak that escaped her lips in surprise as he carried her out of the lake. "I can walk Hawkflesh!" She exclaimed while laughing.
 
He smiled back down at Rhosyn hair sticking to his face in thin wet strands.
"I know, I'm doing what knights ought to do and saving a beautiful maiden from catching cold."


Stepping out of the water in sloshing steps was never graceful but he kept himself steady enough to not loose grip.
Once on the shore he stopped but held off letting her down for a moment as he looked at her and fought with himself. Maybe he had been alone too long, maybe it was how earnestly she had offered him a place here or maybe it was the desperate sense that for once in decades he wanted to do something for himself even if it was never going to last more than a few moments but he squeezed her close to him then and brought her head close to his before planting a single kiss on her cold wet cheek.

"Thank you for today."
He'd remember it fondly, it would shine far brighter than even the fireworks that almost blinded his eyes earlier in his minds eye. It was a glimpse into something he had felt forgotten, had convinced himself was nothing more than a dream and sparked within him a yearning for it. For this, for a quiet life away from the worst of himself.

Iron resolve planted itself within him like the roots of a great tree.

He would be rid of this curse come hell or high water.

@Rhosyn Firth
 
"A beautiful maiden?" She let out a not so beautiful snort at that. "See you're living up to your knightly ways after all. Though I'm afraid I'm no princess." She said with a laugh as she wrapped her arms around his neck trusting him not to drop her. The air and wind a chill as he walked. She almost felt she was warmer in the water after all.

Once out of the water, he let her down, feet touching the ground lightly. Yet he didn't step away. He stared down and her and she up at hin as the moment hung between them. "We should go..." She started only to freeze in surprise as the elf leaned down to place a kiss on her cheek. She suddenly felt warm, where moments before she'd been shivering. "It really was nothing. I'm glad I could help you enjoy yourself." She had been glad, when he'd first sat down at her makeshift bar he'd been close enough to grumpy that she'd thought he was going to sit there and brood into his drinks and not say a single word.

Rho took his hand, her face still flush. "We should fo out on something dry before we actually catch our death." She said in a hurry as she pulled him along toward her cabin in the distance. It wasn't anything special and he'd just have to stoop through the doorway, but the ceilings should be high enough for him just to have to slouch a little.

On stepping up the porch, she pushed open the door revealing that the wooden structure had not been locked. Inside was a simple room with a few pieces furniture, some open shelves were plates and cup. Her limited cutlery kept in a extra cup. Her shoes, she kicked off near the door, and headed to throw and extra log into the stove so they warm off now.
 
Following and glad to be taken somewhere now that he was also starting to feel the cold he traipsed after Rhosyn, hastily gathered things bundled in his free arm. His boots clattered to the ground on the porch as he entered, hunched and still topless with dripping wet trousers.

"Ohhhh!"
He exclaimed with a shiver as the cold tried to resist leaving his body in that way it does only when it has seeped deep into you. The warmed air of the cabin could not yet penetrate the aura of chill that persisted around him.
In a series of deft motions he closed the door behind him with his foot while dodging the overhead lamps and roofbeams before silently adopting a crossed leg sit a polite distance from the stove and began to fold what dry clothes he had into a neat pile.

The size of the home was hardly surprising and made him think of that night with the Greenclaoks he'd spent curled up under a mighty tree stump.
Here though he felt less like an unwelcomed guest.

Rhosyn was deft at her work to make home for her guest, very quick.
He could tell that she lived alone, because people who didn't asked others to help them. Rhosyn was doing it all herself which he could appreciate the self reliance in but wondered if such things ended up adding to isolation.
Sharp eyes brought him back to the door which had not been locked, meaning she feared no ill will, a person of good standing in the community. Either that or a semi pariah.
Unmarried and all alone, practically raised another's child.

Small places could be cruel in quiet ways. They often left folk whom they saw as less than desirable to fade away rather than chase them out.

He could not decide which he thought was worse.
Lazily he wiped the water from his arm and flicked it into the fire listening to the sizzle, watching fresh flames rise from the log she dutifully placed on it.

"You have lovely home Rhosyn."

Gently he finished his folding and then in a swift motion opened up his cloak and wrapped it about himself. It was that or remove his trousers and he was not about to go that far.
"Please though,"
He could not help but have a bit of a slight huff of a laugh as he saw her set cups out for them even as her dress was still dripping onto the floor.
"A nightcap can wait until you've changed into something dryer I think. I promise I won't go anywhere."

He did however consider grabbing a towel and drying the floor a bit while she changed, least he could do after all. Especially since his own wet footprints seemed giant next to her own. Hard to tell who brought more water into the place, him or her.

@Rhosyn Firth
 
"Thank you. There was a bigger house at one point, but it was lost in a fire a few years ago. One day I'll rebuild, but there was no need for such a large space and Petra has his own little cabin now that he's grown." She pulled down two cups and filled the kettle with water from the bucket that she'd filled this morning.

"Don't worry, I'll go change in a moment. Just going to get the water onto the stove so it can start to warm." She assured him. "I wish that I had something that you could change into, but I'm afraid I don't have any extra clothes. I have some extra blankets if you'd like to use that to cover yourself so you can set your pants to dry." It was really the best that she had to offer.

She placed the kettle on the stove before she disappeared behind the singular door in the cabin. Shutting it softly in order to change into something not wet. Rho pulled on her nightgown and then wrapped up in her robe, tying the belt about her waist. With the wet gown in hand, she returned to hang up the fabric by the stove so it could dry. "If you'd like to get out of your wet clothes, there is a blanket laid out on my bed." She as she goes to the stove to pull off the now whistling kettle, putting a bit of coffee into a cloth filter, and sinking the ball into the water to let the coffee brew.
 
"You're a saint Rhosyn. Worthy of Erberts written histories."
The collected works were common in the West Coast but this far east Hawkflesh doubted they held much significance.

Standing he gave her a soft smile, one that looked odd against the sharpness of his features in the contrast of the firelight.
He stepped into the bedroom and after closing the door over he looked upon the blanket, plain but well made and in his looking a brief eternity passed in his mind that was coloured in the flavours of his own experiences.
An inherited trade.
An orphan found and raised.
A fire.
Living alone.

His mind spun the collected details into a story he did not like but had little trouble believing and for an ice cold instant his hand twitched as it sought his sword.

He had left it by the barn, at the foot of the ladder and had been without it for hours.
It might have been the longest time he'd been apart from it in sixty years.
"Heh, not tonight then."
He told himself as he removed his wet trousers and wrapped the blanket about his waist for what modesty it offered then he returned to the main room, hanging them next to Rhosyn's dress by the fire.

"Coffee?"
It has been a year or so since his last cup. Living rough gave so few opportunities and booze always found him first in the public houses. The smell seemed to mix with the wet in the air and clinging cold of moss from outside.

Compared to how Rhosyn looked he could not help but feel every bit the vagabond he was.
It made him smile again.
"What do you think?"
Arms out, hunched over he presented himself in his new look, hair wet and all.
"Too much?"

@Rhosyn Firth
 
"Of what now?" She asked a chuckle on her lips. Most have been some fancy elf thing of which she was not familiar. She didn't get an answer as he disappeared into her bedroom to change out of his wet trousers. While she busies herself with the coffee. Checking to see if it was done, a quick taste had her leaving the little ball of grounds in the pot for a bit longer. It wasn't quite strong enough really. It wasn't too long before her guest came back out, the blanket tied round his waist.

"Aye figured we could both do with something warm after our little dip into the lake." She said as she turned to him and leaned against the low counter, while the coffee kept brewing.

Rho let out a chuckle, hiding her smile behind her hand. "Cutting quite the dashing figure for sure." She teased, but by an large she figured being dry and warm was better than being wet and cold.

Turning back, she checked the pot and was satisfied this time. She fished out the ground tossing them into the basin she used to was her dishes. She'd empty the cloth of the grounds later. "How would you like your coffee? I have sugar and cream. Or a little something stronger?" She asked while pouring a little cream, a small spoonful of sugar, and a dash of amber liquid that could only really be whiskey. The whiskey would serve two fold in her mind, one addition warmth as the alcohol burned it's way through her system and two to help her feel tired as she didn't feel the least bit tired after their dive into the lake.
 
Chuckling as he sat Hawkflesh decided on a genteel pose, legs together and bent to the side, propped up by his arm. He did not bother covering himself just to display his manhood with an ungainly position.

"The strong stuff please and as much as you can spare."
Realising that he was in a most unlikely situation, undressed in a strangers home and offered a drink, he chuckled again.
"You're not trying to get me drunk again are you?"

The idea was preposterous, as if anyone needed to TRY to get him to drink. He knew full well that he'd drink moonshine from a dog bowel if he thought it would let him forget his troubles even for a minute.

Rhosyn by comparison looked so very cosy and well suited to herself. It reminded him of the lake, perhaps she wore this cottage like she wore her robe or perhaps she was simply someone who managed to look good in anything. They were the lucky ones, he thought.

"You'll need to pick through my pockets for payment Barkeep."
He added, relaxing into a lounge and propping his head up with his arm. Such small confines did not suit him, it made him feel like a horse in a chicken coup. Even now he felt if he reached out he might be able to cover the width of the room toe tip to fingernail with a stretch.

@Rhosyn Firth
 
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