𝖊𝖒𝖇𝖔𝖑𝖉𝖊𝖓 |𝖛| 𝖌𝖎𝖛𝖊 (𝖘𝖔𝖒𝖊𝖔𝖓𝖊) 𝖙𝖍𝖊 𝖈𝖔𝖚𝖗𝖆𝖌𝖊 𝖔𝖗 𝖈𝖔𝖓𝖋𝖎𝖉𝖊𝖓𝖈𝖊 𝖙𝖔 𝖉𝖔 𝖘𝖔𝖒𝖊𝖙𝖍𝖎𝖓𝖌 𝖔𝖗 𝖙𝖔 𝖇𝖊𝖍𝖆𝖛𝖊 𝖎𝖓 𝖆 𝖈𝖊𝖗𝖙𝖆𝖎𝖓 𝖜𝖆𝖞
The bed was comfortable. Warm. Rhish almost didn't want to get up. The castle was starting to get a bit colder. And since they lived in the forest, the trees somehow made it get colder quicker. It was almost like they lived in their own world.
As she moved to the bathroom her door suddenly opens, "Hello, lass."
Her head turns back and finds Ovag. He leans against the doorframe with a smirk on his lips, "Morning, Ovag. What has you entering my door without knocking?"
He smiles, "I was wondering if you wanted to take my normal route with me today and scope out the lines of the forest, seeing as you haven't seen it yet."
Rhish thinks about it, "Okay. Give me an hour?"
Ovag winks her way and shuts the door behind him, leaving her there to continue on with her routine.
Shaking her head at the man's antics, she grabs the bucket off of the wall and fills it with water. Heading over to the fireplace, which was still barely lit, she adds more fuel to the flame and sets the water over it. It didn't take too long for it to heat up enough. In the meantime, she looked over some of the documents Peskol gave her the night before.
It wasn't much work, just documents to inform her about some of the kingdom's history. Her eyes trailed along the third paper as she hears the slight bubbling of the water on the fireplace. Picking it up isn't much effort, but it is to keep it from burning her. Dumping the boiling water into the bathtub, she fills two more buckets of room temperature water and puts it in.
As she disrobes, she puts a hand in to feel the temperature. Luckily it was warm but no longer boiling. Happily, the woman settles into the water and starts to wash.
After finishing washing, she lets her body fall back onto one side of the tub. Sighing, she flinches when a knock hits against the door of her room.
Cursing she yells out, "Who is it?"
"It's me. I'm just dropping something off from Peskol."
Rhish groans, "Just put it on my desk, Gozaydg."
On the other side of the wall, the leader enters the room and heads towards her desk. His ears pick up the noise of moving water, "Are you bathing?"
She laughs, "That's why I asked you just to leave it on my desk."
The man's eyes widen, but he sets the papers down, "What do you need with these documents anyway?"
The woman stands in the tub and lets the water fall off of her for a minute before grabbing her towel off of the ledge, "Peskol wanted me to read them. It helps to know more about Stretos seeing as I am working within it."
He nods to himself, "He couldn't tell you himself?"
Drying her hair, she starts to pull her undergarments on as she speaks, "He's a busy man. Said he was too busy following after you to have a full history lesson with me."
The man laughs and finally lets the papers fall onto the desk. His eyes trail the room for a moment. They first settle on the wardrobe, which was currently open. A few shirts hang from the bar across the top. There are three larger shelves along the left side with pants in the bottom two and more shirts in the top one. Two drawers are below that across the wardrobe. They're closed so he can't see what's in it but he assumes it's things he's not supposed to see.
Two more shelves sit below the drawers with two pairs of boots in each. One tall black pair and another tall brown pair are shoved into the first drawer while two pairs of lower black boots are in the other. A small shelf sits at the bottom of the large area where her shirts are hung up at. On further inspection, her gauntlets and knee armor sit there.
He looks around and can't see the rest of her armor but he assumes it is in the closet off to the side. It'd be rude to open it, so he left it closed. Her bed wasn't made, not that his ever was either. There was a chest at the end of the bed and a small blanket laid over it. He was tempted to take a seat but he stood at the door instead.
Before he spoke again a soft tapping echoed in the room towards him. His head turns around and his eyes dart down to meet her eyes. Her clothing was on, but she didn't wear shoes and she was currently drying her hair with the towel.
She gives him a small smile, "How nice of you...you stayed."
Before he retorts she's walking past him over to the wardrobe. Opening one of the drawers, she pulls socks out and heads back to her bed just before grabbing her black boots.
Sitting on the edge of her bed, she puts the socks on moments before slipping her boots onto her feet. Then she starts to lace them, "May I ask why you're here?"
He stalls for a moment then chuckles, "I was wondering if you would help me but clearly you were on your way to do something."
Groaning, she stands up, "Could it wait? I promised Ovag I'd go on a small trip with him this morning."
He nods, "Yeah, it's not that important. Come and find me in my office later then."
Rhishs stands up and gives him a small smile, "I will then."
Gozaydg is the first to go to the door and opens it, "I'll see you later then, woman."
Laughing, she pushes him out of the room before closing it. He noticed she now had her sword around her hips, "Goodbye." He chuckles again and walks down the opposite hallway as she heads outside to find Ovag.
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"Took you long enough," the man retorts as she walks up to him.
Rhish rolls her eyes, "It took me a good while to find you, Ovag. You didn't exactly tell me where to meet you. I just asked around."
"Oh?"
She smirks, "Yeah, I asked people if there was a large idiot walking around. They didn't even need context and sent me to you."
The man groans playfully, "You're lucky I like you enough not to punch you for that."
"I'd love to see if you could catch me," she points to his stomach, "Doesn't that weigh you down?"
He's silent for a moment then suddenly breaks out into laughter, "Aye, lass, I cannot deny I enjoy a good meal. That doesn't mean I can't send you into the dirt."
A small smile forms on her face as they get up onto their horses, "Trust me, Ovag," she looks at his face, "I'm fully aware."
With a simple hand motion, they're heading forward towards the forest. People wave to the two of them as they maneuver through the kingdom. It warms her heart in an odd way. She's read the books and heard the stories about how evil some kings are to their people. Everyone here seems to genuinely enjoy being here. Not once has she seen signs of poverty or violence (without reason).
"Do you do this regularly?"
Ovag tilts his head before turning it towards her, "It's either Togui, Gozaydg, or I. We all take turns. The leader doesn't do it as often as he has other responsibilities."
"Togui?"
The man nods, "Ah, yes, he's the general below me now. I control the whole army and he lives and talks with them a little more personally than I do. A good man. And an even better fighter."
Rhish almost wants to laugh. He had to have been going easy on her then. There's no way he was doing his best. She didn't doubt her skills but she didn't exactly think she was that good either.
"Why do you ask?"
"Oh," she stutters slightly, "I met him the other day actually."
Ovag smiles, "Did you? When?"
"I was training on the field early in the morning. I, uh, wouldn't have spared with him if I realized he was the general or something."
The larger warrior laughs, "If he asked you he deemed you worthy enough to spar. Nothing to be ashamed of, lass. Here a title is only a title. It just tells you what you have to do, not how you're allowed to treat people."
Rhish smiles, "I wish other places thought the same as you all."
He gives a sad smile in return, "Come on, I'll show you my favorite outpost."
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As the man walked, he seemed to be measuring his steps to be in tune with the borders of the tiled floor. One, two, next tile. One, two, next tile. A constant pattern he forced his feet to keep up with. It reminded him of Rhish briefly. She was smaller. Much smaller. Two steps for him was four for her.
Watching her walk beside him usually brought the sudden feeling of laughter from inside him. He wasn't sure as to why. Was it the fact she is that small or is it the fact she has to keep up with his long strides? He couldn't decide. Hell, maybe it was both.
"Should I be worried you keep staring off into space?"
Gozaydg snaps back to the present, "Of course not, Peskol. I'm just thinking."
"Thinking? Ah, such a scary word. Wars happen that way, you know?" A playful tone laces the counselor's words.
The leader scoffs, "I'm fully aware of that, my friend. We wouldn't be here otherwise."
Peskol smiles and falls back into the silence minus the echoing noises of their boots against the hardwood floor.
"May I ask what you were thinking about?"
"Rhish."
He says it before he even thinks about it. The counselor doesn't laugh nor does he snicker silently, "What about her?"
"She's small."
Then he laughs, "You think? It's almost as if we're completely different species, Goz."
The man groans, "I'm aware of that."
"Oh, don't get so mad about it, old friend. It's okay to be curious. There are many aspects of her I find interesting."
He's almost hesitant to ask, "That entails?"
Peskol sighs, "Her scars for instance. She has many of them. And while she's been here for over a moon cycle, we still have no information on how she got into her condition to even be placed in our lands."
He had thought about that. Often too. The leader doesn't even remember bringing it up. Unless you count the first time they met and she instantly turned that conversation down. Not that he blamed her. Her condition made him weary, maybe talking about it would resurface the wounds.
"Besides, she seems content now."
The leader couldn't deny that. Over time the sadness in her eyes has dwindled. There's always a moment he'll catch himself looking at her to see a tint of something in her eyes. When Marcello is around it disappears. Then when Kabatia comes up and startles her it leaves. Even when Ovag is making a terrible joke, that sadness is gone.
"Think about it, Gozaydg. She'll tell us--if she ever does--when she's ready."
Nodding, the leader gives him a small smile, "I know."
"Do you?" The counselor challenges.
Gozaydg turns to the man and raises an eyebrow. Peskol only looks up to him with a smirk, "Let's get going. You have things to do."
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"What makes you like it so much?" Rhish's voice cuts through the thick silence. Ovag looks at the post, then the men stationed and shrugs, "Just something about it, really. I was stationed here a lot when I was young and starting."
"Ah, sentimental value then."
Ovag chuckles and waves for her to follow him. Not paying attention, she hits into his side when he stops abruptly. His hand lands on her shoulder while the other points to a very small light in the distance, "The end of the forest."
"Really?"
"Yeah."
"You sound sad about it."
The warrior smiles slightly, "The humans are over there."
"I know," she sighs, "I used to live there."
Ovag nods, "Not good people."
She agrees, "Not so much, I'm afraid."
The man looks at it for a long moment, "It's not anger you feel, is it?"
He hesitates. Not something she's ever seen in him before, "No. No, it's not."
Then it's her turn to hesitate, "May I ask?"
Ovag smiles her way and steps away. He starts to head back towards the horses. By the time he reaches his horse he notices she's not following, "You coming, lass?"
"Depends," she walks a few steps forward, "Are you going to tell me what's wrong?"
The man groans, "You sound like my mother."
"Should I take that as a compliment?"
The brief anger he felt disappears, "It is."
Rhish moves up to stand by him. His shoulders ease slightly as he looks down to her, "Are you going to tell me?"
He looks at her and then ends up sighing, "Yeah," he looks at the guards, "But not here."
They both hop up onto the horses and start a small trot away. She doesn't bring it up right away, waiting for him to start the conversation.
"Once upon a time I lived outside of this forest."
"Really?"
He nods, "Once before, those humans weren't there. I was young seeing as I'm not much older than you are. But one time I was a child playing in the real world, not stuck in this forest."
The woman listens to him intently, "Don't get me wrong, I love it here. I've made so many friends and memories here that I would never give up. Sometimes," he sighs, "Sometimes I wished we could be out there among everyone else."
Rhish sighs sadly, "It's a beautiful dream, Ovag."
"But you and I both know," she continues, "That humans aren't always the best of people when it comes to acceptance."
Ovag's eyes tilt from the forest to her. That sadness is back on her face. He says nothing about it. He's sure he's conveying the same. They continue the journey in silence.