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A Simple Misunderstanding . . . [Bloodkiss and ChaosLord29]

She laughed, her smile warm and inviting, wth just hint of sarcasm. "You plan to watch me through the night, like a child?" She shrugged, shaking her head in amusement. "I do not require someone to keep me safe, but it would be nice to have company for a night. My home is currently in shambles, and it will be difficult for me to repair it in my condition." She wasn't sure what kind of man he was, but he seemed trustworthy enough.
 
Allister frowned, having heard only heard 'company for the night' used less than reputably, thought he was sure this was not her attention. He nodded, noncommittally before saying, "I have some gear for sleeping with my horse, but it is only enough for one, and hardly fit for a woman's comforts." He meant no offense by the term, only that he thought she would not prefer them, no matter the state of her cottage. The idea of a woman living alone, let alone so deep in the woods and far from fellow company was still quite alien to him, and while he thought his duty was clear, he was not nearly so sure about what the chivalrous course of action in terms of interacting with her would be, given that she was no type of woman he was used to dealing with.
 
She laughed once more. "If you had not noticed, I am no duchess." She turned and leaned on the wolf for support. "Do not fear. I will clean up my cottage and you may feel free to sleep as far away from the witch as you'd like. I can fend for myself." She began to head toward her home, only slightly favoring her leg. Pausing for a moment, she glanced over her shoulder with a wide grin, full of good humor and amusement. "Oh, and don't worry. I won't cast a spell on you. And I'll be sure not to dance naked by the moonlight tonight."
 
Allister cleared his throat and was about to reply to the witch comment, saying that he meant no offense, and he would be glad to help her clean up the cabin to make it suitable for sleeping when his jaw dropped. He had never given much credence to such notions dismissing them as silly superstitions. He was not much more convinced that she was actually threatening him, but it was hardly the sort of thing he expected a woman of any standing or position to joke about. He raised his hand, opened his mouth to reply, found nothing to say, and then shut his mouth and his eyes, taking a deep breath. "That was hardly my . . . concern." he started with, "I'm certain that . . . " Truth be told he wasn't certain of anything at this particular moment, and even as he thought the word blush, his cheeks went as red as his hair.
 
"Don't look so frightened. I was kIdding. Mostly. I only dance in the moonlight at the solstice. And that's a few fortnights away still." She laughed, turning and heading for her cabin. "A little help would be nice. It's hard to sweep with only one leg to stand on. And I'm not sure how you feel, but walking on broken glass isn't something I enjoy."
 
Allister narrowed his eyes, and his feet seemed to move of their own accord as he followed her into the cabin, deciding the only thing that could offset the impropriety of the situation was to at least be proper in assisting her to clean up the cabin. He entered the ruined building, his thick leather boots crunching on the broken glass and pottery as he pulled off his gloves and set aside his helmet, making a quick survey of the room, trying to keep his eyes off of Caoimhe. Much to his chagrin, the image of her dancing naked in the moonlight was a bit to vivid for his liking. Clearing his throat, he set his hammer down just outside the door and moved to remove his sword and hilt, setting them next to the hammer. "I hope you don't mind if I remove my armor?" He asked, hoping to change the subject, though only partially successful.
 
"Not at all." She skirted the remains of a shattered jar of rosemary leaves, the wolf leading her to her small bed in the corner of the room. She sat down and righted what furniture she could from her seat, the wolf tending to things out of her reach. She glanced up at Allister, her green eyes piercingly intelligent for a woman, especially one so young. She smiled when he removed his helmet. "Your hair is quite red. Even more so than mine. That is odd. But it suits you well."
 
Allister couldn't help but blush at that comment as well, as his nearly unnaturally red hair had been a point of some soreness in his childhood and as a squire. It was joked that his hair matched the heraldry of his mentor perhaps too well, and her comment on it certainly did nothing to help set him at ease. Clearing his throat, he turned towards her, his jaw a bit set, "Thank you." He managed to say, "I would dare say the color suits you a bit better than it does me." He said, smiling glad to have a more natural subject to speak on. Removing his greaves and gauntlets first, he now unbuckled his chestplate and arranged them around his weapons. It was odd that she disturbed him as much as she did, he reflected. He had rarely had trouble speaking with women of the towns or even in the courts of lords and nobles, and had even garnered something of a reputation amongst them for a silver tongue.
 
She chuckled. "I think that's a matter of opinion. My father used to tease me about it. My moyher and father were both fair haired and dark skinned. I was the odd child. Pale skin and red-gold hair, touched by something at birth. My father swore it was the work of the devil, being a good christian man himself. Mother was pagan, and had quite a different take on it. Unfortunately that was the cause of her downfall." She frowned for a moment, her eyes focused somewhere else, on a time and place from long ago. Her eyes refocusing on her cottage, she shrugged away from the memories of her long-dead mother. "Well, it will be dark soon. We'd best hurry to get this place decent." She stared at the floor, picking through the broken glass and gathering the herbs and flowers she could salvage.
 
Allister was certainly surprised by this revelation, having never given much thought for what such a woman's childhood would be like. The diversity of her parents was a complexity he had not anticipated or would have guessed, and as he went about the cabin with his gloves, sweeping up shattered glass and pottery. He didn't want to unintentionally disorganize or destroy her collections of odds and ends. His thoughts turned to his own parents, and what could only be described as a charmed and perhaps even a little sheltered childhood.

With his armor taken off, along with the leather padding beneath, he was now dressed only in a simple tunic and breeches, tied with leather in the front. The mess was significant but soon he and the wolf had straightened up what could be salvaged and Allister had piled the broken wood in the fireplace. Regarding the wolf again he almost brushed by it several times and found it difficult to think of the creature as a wolf and not a large domestic dog.
 
Caoimhe smiled, patting the bed beside her. The wolf padded over and leapt up onto the bed, resting his large head on her uninjured leg. She nodded her thanks to Allister and glanced around her home. "Thank you. I never would have gotten it this clean by myself." Her eyes trailed him up and down quickly, discreetly sizing him up. Glancing out the window, she noticed the stars were now visible. "I'm going to make some tea. Would you like some?"
 
Allister looked up from his work as she made the offer, once again feeling a bit of apprehension, caught as he was between his natural wariness and propriety. He could not possibly refuse such a kind gesture, and it did sound very much refreshing, but if her intentions were less than benevolent, it would be simplicity to slip him some drug or poison. She was injured, and possibly drained from her battle with the demon and a poison would be just the thing to dispatch him in his sleep. He decided though that it would be better to make a show of good faith. It would go a long way towards showing trust, and the more he learned the more he felt she was not the culprit behind the maladies.
 
She sensed his apprehension and could not bite back a soft laugh. "I will not give you a potion or a poison, good sir. You have my word." She stood and slowly made her way toward the fireplace, grabbing the poker and using it to swing out the hanging cauldron. It was rather small, and she lifted it off of the hook it hung from with ease. She whistled for the wolf and he came quickly, his tail swishing lazily. "Would you go fill this with water, please?" She passed a kettle to him, and it seemed ridiculously small hanging between his large jaws. He hurried off to fill it with no hesitation. He seemed to trust the knight now, or was at least more comfortable leaving his mistress alone with him. Caoimhe smiled, glad that the wolf had calmed down. She turned to her shelf of jars, or what was left of them, and pulled several down, tugging out this herb and that, tossing them into a small bowl. A pinch of rosemary, a sprig of lavender, just a tiny bit of jasmine, and several other dried herbs, whole and crushed. The wolf returned just in time, and she set the kettle to boiling.
 
Allister was all the more intrigued as Caoimhe busied herself as naturally as a housewife about her kitchen, her companion running errands like a small child might, and found himself smiling softly, shaking his head at the preposterous situation he had found himself in. Here he was, having sought out a witch only to find a demon, and now being made tea by his original quarry as they discussed their childhoods and how they might seek out the true culprit behind the woes of the surrounding area. He stood to his feet restlessly, never having felt accustomed to just sitting while others busied themselves. "I should go and tend to my horse, but I'm afraid he might be spooked by . . . " He paused, regarding the wolf, "Does he not have a name?" He asked her, feeling that pronouns and vague titles were inappropriate now having seen the animal behave like a loyal and favored companion.
 
She smiled over her shoulder as she poured the herbs into the boiling kettle to steep for a moment. "His name is Midnight." After stirring the tea she stood up and brushed off her skirt. "Tend to your horse. Midnight will stay here. Would you like your tea first?"
 
Allister nodded first to Caoimhe, then after pausing a moment, to Midnight. "I will take mine second, I would not have you wait until after I have returned." He then ducked out of the cabin, feeling a bit grateful to be outside in the open night air, surprised at how stuffy the cabin had begun to feel, not entirely due to the atmosphere. Out in the night air he hurried his way back through the forest, finding the dappled gray charger just where he had left him. Patting the loyal mount on the snout he led him towards the cabin, thoughts flurrying about in his mind. "Seems being a knight of the realm is not so easy a task as one might guess." He said, and his horse whinnied in response.

He smiled but on his way back to the cabin, stopped at the tree line, looking at the ashen remains of the demon accusingly. Something about them still seemed . . . wrong, and the plant life where they had fallen was already looking wilted and brown. As the moon came out from behind a cloud however, the light caught a glint in the corner of his vision and he moved over to the ashen pile and leaning over it, he say a small lump among the fine ash. Reaching out, he took up the small clump and wiped it off, revealing a hard stone beneath that upon further examination, revealed itself to be a faceted ruby as large as the first digit of his thumb! Holding it up to the light, the gem almost seemed to have a light all it's own, and after tethering his horse outside the cabin, he entered, holding the ruby in his palm and looking up expectantly to Caoimhe. "What would you make of this?" He asked.
 
Caoimhe glanced over her shoulder, pouring two mugs of tea. She picked up the stone mugs and turned toward Allister, slowly making her way over, favoring her injured leg more now as the night wore on and exhaustion tugged at her. She narrowed her eyes at the object, searching for some signifigance. She found none, and shrugged, holding one of the mugs out to Allister. "It's quite a large gem. Where did you find it? It must be worth a king's ransom." She was sure there was some reason he'd asked her about it, but she'd never seen it before. Midnight padded over to the knight, sniffing at the odd stone. He recoiled, snorting in disgust and pawing at his face to rid his nose of the stench.
 
Allister was surprised by the wolf's reaction, as he felt no such revulsion to the stone. Quite the contrary, it seemed to have some special significance and he was certain it was important to his quest. "I found it amongst the remains of the demon, in the ashes." He replied, nonchalantly still examining the gem in his hand, holding it betwixt his forefinger and thumb, turning it to catch the light at different angles.
 
Caoimhe cocked an eyebrow, confused. Midnight padded back over to her side, rubbing his face against her hand. She patted him on the head before moving to Allister's side and examining the gem. She ran the tip of her finger along it's surface, intrigued. "Why would it be there?" Taking a sip of her tea, she went back to the bed and sat down.
 
Allister shrugged in response, and finally put the gem away in a pocket in his tunic. "You're best guess is sure to be better than mine, but in the end it's just another matter that can wait until tomorrow." Allister moved over to the stove top and poured himself a mug of tea, and upon taking the warm cup in his hands realized just how tired he was. He pulled up an unbroken chair and leaned forward into the back, holding the tea before him and taking along pull at the mug, still piping hot but not so much as to scald his tongue.
 
Caoimhe sighed, sitting her mug on the small bedside table and stretching out across the bed. "I'm sorry. I know this is improper, but I need to lie down. I feel faint." She hadn't slept for two days, and then the demon had attacked and drained what little energy she'd had left. "It's been quite an interesting evening, and my head aches something fierce."
 
Allister rose from his chair as she stretched out, his thoughts far from any propriety as she laid out upon the bed, setting down her mug. He approached the side of the bed, "Are you sure you are all right?" he asked, concerned, kneeling down beside the bed, setting aside his tea as well. He was suddenly aware of how warm the gem felt in his pocket, even though it was separated by the cloth of his tunic, and he wiped his brow, then rolled up the sleeves of his tunic. "It may be more than simple overexertion, the demon did bite you after all."
 
She leaned up on her elbows, glancing down at her leg. "My leg feels fine. A little sore, but it's my head that hurts." Midnight stood beside the bed, and now he was pawing at her pillow and growling to get their attention. She gawked at a rather large blood stain on her pillow, and reached to the back of her head only to find her hair matted with dried blood. Gasping, she glanced at Allister, shocked that she could have overlooked such an injury.
 
Allister's eyes went wide and he acted immediately, on instinct. He tore off his tunic and ripped off one of the sleeves, dousing dropping it in the recently boiled water and wringing it out without thought to the scalding steam which engulfed his hands. He dropped beside her bed and began to wrap the bandage around her head where the blood was thickest, pushing her hair aside and applying pressure to the wound. "Now, that was careless of us." He said, pushing her gently back down onto the pillow at her shoulder, fingertips stained with her blood. "I'd hate to think what would have happened if you'd gone to sleep with such a wound."
 
She was caught off guard by his actions, and surprised by his speed and efficiency. After he finished and laid her back again she took a deep, shuddering breath. Tapping her fingers against her stomach in an attempt to release some of her nervous energy, she stared at him gratefully. She'd had no idea that she'd so carelessly overlooked such a serious injury, and she didn't want to think about what could have happened. "Th-thank you." She swallowed the lump that had formed in her throat, her eyes drifting closed against the ache in her head.
 
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