(unedited)
"The bannocks should last a day or two between the two of you, and the cheese will keep for a week," Mrs. Fitz spoke, walking down the steps with Claire in front and Roselyn behind her as they gathered all they needed for the trip on the wagon.
"You've been too kind, Mrs. Fitzgibbons," Claire mused, Roselyn patting the smaller lady on the head gratefully - earning a confused expression in return. Roselyn shrugged, giving a meek smile to the older lady who had seen her scars the other day yet never judged.
"We can't thank you enough," Claire continued, a smile beaming onto her face, holding onto the basket that Mrs. Fitz had given them only moments before on the crook of her elbow. "Think nothing o' it, Lass."
"Safe journeys to ye," Mrs. Fitz wished, holding each girl by their cheek carefully. Roselyn nodded in appreciation, her blue eyes softening at the care that swirled in the other lady's brown orbs.
Roselyn was the first to move away, her white hair flowing in the slight breeze and over her face as she turned around and she wished that she was just seeing things through her hair, frowning.
"Please don't tell me I can see the old, grouchy bald man we talked to the other day and it's just a figment of my cruel imagination," she said to Claire, who turned as well to get into the back of the cart.
She reached up and pushed it out of her way, her face dropped in disappointment seeing the familiar bearded man on the side of the wagon. "I suppose my imagination isn't so cruel, and it's my reality instead," she mumbled, raising an eyebrow at the man who just smirked at her comments.
"Colum wishes to see ye both."
Dougal heaved himself off of the side of the wooden cart and walked past the two women who glanced at him with confusion. "Why?"
The bald man paused, taking it upon himself to make eye contact with Claire as he scuffed his shoes on the ground as he halted. "It doesna matter why."
Roselyn caught sight of Claire's nervous fiddle of her finger and stepped closer to her friend automatically. "Alright," Claire agreed on the behalf of the two of them, walking forward to follow after the taller man.
"We will be back shortly," Rose informed the driver, who nodded at the unique appearance of the woman and went back to brushing the horse at the front that would be carrying everything along the way.
They were lead along the pathway of the castle, going deeper in the castle that Roselyn recognised was the same hallway that Claire had stopped Roselyn from following her and her husband, Frank back in the future.
Claire must've realised too, as she stopped walking, tensing up in alarm - her head jutting upwards. Roselyn's eyebrows furrowed in concern, knowing what it was like to have flashbacks - guaranteed her's wasn't about running through a historical castle, but it wasn't pleasant.
Especially if the people you miss were in them.
Dougal turned around, noticing that he wasn't being followed by either of them and stood in question as the dark-haired, older woman stood in distraught and the other stood at her side - hands close to touching the other but not quite as if afraid to touch her whilst in such a state.
"Is something wrong?"
Roselyn's blue gaze snapped to Dougal's form and glared - chewing on the inside of her cheek. "No," Claire said, breaking the tense atmosphere that had been created between the three of them.
Dougal opened the door to the chamber Roselyn never got to see back in their supposed time and stepped in front of Claire who was currently massaging her own hands in a sense of comfort before pushing past the Scottish man who was definitely not in the good books with Roselyn for many reasons.
Roselyn was the first to hit the bottom of the stairs, surprised to have seen the trinkets here and there and touched one of the many vials that rested next to the window. Claire coming down seconds after pulled her away from that corner and in the direction of where Dougal gestured.
There stood Colum as he waddled out of the corner into the light of the sun coming through the window. "Good day to ye, Mrs. Beauchamp and Miss. Amara."
"Good day."
"You have no connections with Clan Beaton, have ye?"
Roselyn stood off to the side as the man spoke directly to Claire. "The Beatons? No."
"The healers of Clan Beaton are famous through the highlands. We had one here, until he caught a fever which carried him off within the week. Davie Beaton was his name."
Roselyn scrunched up her hands in the dress she wore - looking on the cracks in the ceiling as the two conversed without her. "This was his surgery, he called it."
"Really?"
"I understand you have quite some skill as a healer yourself," Colum prodded, and this made Roselyn tense up in suspicion. She knew he didn't drag them down here, in a 'surgery' and ask about Claire's talent for healing out of nowhere.
"It's an interest of mine, yes," Claire admitted, Roselyn pushing herself closer to Claire who was flicking through the book with a warning look at her friend - who picked up on the growing blue hue around Roselyn's eyes.
"You know the uses of these potions and things?"
Roselyn gritted her teeth as Claire fell into the trap of Colum, agreeing with the man that she had known some. "Thank you for showing us this nice area and all, but we have somewhere to be," Roselyn piped out, straining her voice to remain calm and collected.
"Seeing as we have not had a healer since Davie passed, I want you to pick up where he left off," Colum continued, finally taking the conversation where he wanted it to be. "But we're leaving," Roselyn stated, her voice dropping a little to get the message across.
"No, you," he said, pointing to Roselyn, "are going. She is staying." Roselyn's eyes narrowed immediately, shaking her head.
"No, I'm not leaving. I'm staying with Claire."
"What did Dougal say to you? Did one of his thugs make up lies about me?" Claire questioned, demanding answers.
"My brother has his own counsel on you. This is my decision, and Miss. Amara is also willing to stay in one of the many rooms in the castle since she will not leave you."
"Then why am I staying?" Claire questioned, alarmed that their trip was going to be cancelled to go back home to their current time, and Roselyn's mouth twitched in annoyance.
"Because it is my pleasure that you do so."
"Because you think I'm a spy. Surely you don't believe that, and at least let Roselyn leave."
Roselyn's stature positioned itself heavily on the floor, her mind set as she refused to move a single budge from behind Claire to show that she was definitely not going to be the one leaving without Claire.
Colum walked up to face Claire, his face close to the younger woman and Roselyn moved on her own accord and stared between the two to make sure that Colum didn't do anything rash - he may be the leader of the Clan, but that wouldn't have stopped Roselyn from trying to raise hell to protect her best friend.
"I believe you have secrets, Claire. Both of you. Now maybe they're the kind of secrets that every woman hides, which pose no threat to me, Leoch, or to Clan Mackenzie. But until I know for sure, you will remain here, as my guest."
He turned swiftly, and walked as fast as his demented legs allowed him to up the stairs, only pausing by Claire's words and only to answer before leaving the dungeon with Dougal holding the door open at the top.
"You mean as your prisoner, don't you?"
"Only if you try to leave."
Roselyn glared at the spot that Colum was just in, clenching her hands into fists.
"Roselyn, you can leave. Do not stay here for me," Claire muttered, and the white-haired figure only shook her head in displeasure. "Nope, I'm staying right here," she said stubbornly, pointing to the floor.
"I co-"
Roselyn's eyes widened in shock - surprise and hurt flickering across her face before it disappeared into her still shining blue eyes as her jaw clenched. She never would have thought that Claire would dare try and mutter those words again after the first time.
"Don't you dare," Roselyn muttered, her voice eerily low as she pushed herself off of the table and glaring at her friend who looked on with a sad look on her face - obviously shocked by her own actions.
"You do not have the right to tell me what to do, even using something that I have trauma with to get me to do your bidding if you don't like what I have decided. This is my decision, Claire. It is mine, and mine alone."
Without a second thought, Roselyn barrelled up the stairs of the cellar and slammed the door shut with as much as she could with the outdated doors - the sound not as loud as she would've thought it would be and leaving Claire in the middle of the Surgery.
They were both now trapped in Castle Leoch - one willing to stay for the other and one unwilling and crying at the bottom of the castle.