A Fisherman Among Merchants

[Relairah]

Aithne stepped out of the tub, wringing out her thick curls as best
she could. She sighed, watching as the ends still dripped into the
tub, flicked them behind her shoulder and began to dry off. She had
already decided she wasn't going to walk out there in a towel, and
she blushed at the thought. She glanced at her clothes, her green
dress still smelling of fish. She couldn't wash it here - and it would
take too long to dry even if she could. She could wear her petticoat,
and that would have to do. At least it smelled better than the dress.
She slipped it on easily, grabbing her other clothes in her arms and
stepping out. Compared to the heat that had gathered in the
bathroom, the room was a bit cool but she said nothing of it.

She glanced at Gareth, reading on the bed and smiled slightly. She
scolded herself for assuming that he was unable to read and write,
for she had met a few fishermen before in her life and most of them
had been able to do so. She pushed aside such thoughts from her
mind, moving toward the opposite wall, kneeling down and folding
her dress before lying it beside the wall, placing her cloak and shoes
next to it. Placing her hand on her knee, she rose once again,
feeling quite refreshed.

She moved toward Gareth, pausing as she stood before him. "Uhm,
what book are you reading?" she asked, curious. She turned from
him, waiting patiently on his answer and looked out the window. It
was nearly dark - she had been in the bathroom a good bit of time.
She watched the snow that fell heavily down, glad that she had
agreed to go here instead of trudging home. "Thanks again," she
muttered, watching a few people below that tried to get in different
places, silently wishing them good luck. Her thoughts suddenly
turned back toward her family, and she silently prayed that they
were all doing alright. She hoped they weren't worrying about her.

She sighed gently, her breath fogging up the window. She grinned
to herself, beginning to doodle before the fog would fade away,
successfully drawing a cloud. She remembered when she had been
a lot younger, back across the seas, with her sister. She
remembered when they had used to play in the snow, making snow
angels, having snowball fights, and then coming inside to her
mother's hot cocoa. They would drink it while staring out the
window - much like this, breathing on the glass and drawing figures.
She pushed her memories aside, attention coming back to where
she was now.

[Aveilthé]

"No idea," he replied, turning back to the front cover. "Doesn't
have a title. It's just a leatherback book. Thick n' heavy."

He couldn't help but to watch her form as she drew back to him.
"So... what now?" he questioned that moment, drumming his
fingers against the book. "Think we ought to turn in? Dunno what
tomorrow'll bring, some said it'll turn nice in the morning."

[Relairah]

"I see..." she felt like asking further questions about the book, but
stopped. She turned away from the window, facing Gareth. She
nodded slowly, "Yea, probably. I hope it does turn nice tomorrow..."
she trailed off, not wanting to finish what she was going to say as it
sounded a bit pessimistic. She felt bad slightly, that Gareth should
sleep on the floor, but she supposed there wasn't really any other
options, unless she were to sleep on the floor and he the bed. Her
cloak would be enough for her she was sure - but she said nothing
about it. It was up to him. So, she sat down on the bed, still feeling
a bit awkward about this whole thing.

[/color][/center]

[Aveilthé]

"Right. Well then, I think I'll take a nightcap... good-night," he said
quickly, taking off his long brown jacket and placing it on the floor
a few feet away from the bed. He then flopped on the floor upon
his jacket with a grunt. He sniffed loudly, and instantly realized
how much he smelled of fish. Being a man, he cared less of how
he smelled. It was actually not so bad. His mind started
racing however when his thoughts dissolved into another image
of Aithne, but no matter how hard he tried, he couldn't push her
out of his mind. Grumbling to himself, he squirmed some before
he got into fetal position to warm himself.

[Relairah]

Aithne looked at him and nodded, "Okay, good night." She changed
her position, crawling toward the head of the bed and rolling back
the rather old blankets, getting under them. They warmed her and
she felt comfortable and pleased. She lay on her side, staring at the
wall across the room.

"Uhm, if you get cold at all, you could use my cloak... I guess it's not
all that much but its better than nothing. I could get it for you
if you wanted... its just next to the wall by the door."

She figured he might be comfortable and didn't want to move. She
had slept on the floor before, and it wasn't easy to find a
comfortable spot... though once it was found it was annoying to try
and find it again. Besides, she had listened to him squirm on the
floor a little bit before it had quieted considerably. The main sound
now was that of the wind that ripped through the air outside. She
could easily find her comfort again - she had the bed. She hoped he
would sleep well, being on the cold hard floor.

[Aveilthé]

"Right, thanks," said he. There was a shuffle, and a sound of
pattering footsteps, and soon Gareth was back on the floor
wearing Aithne's cloak over him. It seemed to do him no
justice, for it was mighty cold in the room despite the fireplace
having hot burning coals in them. Sitting up, he put a piece
of log into the fire. Soon the fire was moderately heated up.

Thus the night passed on, but Gareth was still awake. Rolling
around, tossing and turning; he was very cold. After a moment,
he sat up with a grunt. The fireplace was once again low,
only the coals glowing orange and red. He crawled over to toss
more wood in, but he found that there was no more wood.

"Crap."

He crawled back to his pitiful bed, once again trying to fall asleep,
but sleep never came. Aggitated, he crawled clumsily to
Aithne. "Err... Aithne. Aithne, wake up."

[Relairah]

Aithne continued to lie there after Gareth had gotten the cloak for
himself, sort of glad she hadn't had to move in the end. She stared
at the wall, her thoughts on Gareth, though she didn't know why.
Yet, as she did so, she began to drift into a sleep, and she didn't
even realize she had actually fallen asleep and was now dreaming.
She dreamt of her family, back home, her dreams slipping from one
to the next. Her dreams were constantly changing, some were
good, some were bad, some were making her as though she were
going to cry in her sleep, yet of all of them, suddenly she had a
dream Gareth was disturbing her from having a good time playing
with her sister, and she angrily told him to stop, in her sleep.

Eyes slowly opened, looking around. 'Oh yea... I'm sleeping in an
inn...' she thought to herself. Yet she realized the reason for her
dream, and hazel eyes looked sleepily up at Gareth. He looked tired,
cold, and a bit frustrated. She suddenly sat up, wide awake.
"Gareth, what's going on?" she asked, wondering for only a moment
why he'd woken her - yet realizing he probably hadn't gotten any
sleep. She bit her lip, "Anything I can help with? You haven't gotten
any sleep have you? Uhm..." she paused, looking down at her warm
blankets, then back at Gareth. "Do you wanna trade?"

She could understand if he did, and anyway, she had no idea how
much further it would be till dawn. She should give him at least a
little sleep before the next day. She was sure she could handle
sleeping on the floor for a while, her cloak would keep her warm
enough - being as it was more her size than poor Gareth's. She
waited his response, worried though she didn't show the fact she
was a bit agitated about being woken up. She never had been the
type to wake up all happy and ready to go.

[Aveilthé]

Gareth felt his forehead getting hot. "Well I dunno... that's not
necessarily, I mean... ya don't have to sleep on the floor. It's...
a bit awkward, don't take it the wrong way, but it's frigid and
we're out of firewood, but..." he was afraid to finish the sentence.
He hoped that Aithne would catch on.

[Relairah]

"No, no... it's..." she stopped, her cheeks turning as red as possible.
She glanced past him at the fire that was burning quite low and in
desperate need of wood, though they had none. She met his gaze,
biting her lip. "I understand..." she murmured slowly, not really sure
if she could get any redder. Despite the extremely cold room, she
was as hot as possible, and she wondered if the sweat she felt was
actually visible or not. She had a fear that what he was proposing
would be even more awkward than her sleeping on the floor -
which she didn't really want to do, but wouldn't mind if it came down
to it. This could easily be taken the wrong way by anyone, but she
could understand. She sighed, clutching the blankets for a moment,
before slowly nodding. "As long as you're sure I can't sleep on the
floor. I can deal with it, yanno."

[Aveilthé]

"It would be warmer for us both," he replied, "it's too cold and
that blizzard's gettin' worse, you hear the storm?" Indeed,
the blizzard outside was giving the world hell.

"So if we're together under one blanket... well, it would be warmer,"
he said again.

[Relairah]

She glanced toward the window, not being able to really see out it
much as it was covered by frost. But she could hear the winds
whipping about outside. It didn't help that they were right close to
the sea where the storm would be worse, and more dangerous.
"Yea, one of us would be likely to freeze... we don't need any trips
to the hospital." She grinned slightly at that comment, trying to
lighten the uneasy mood of the room. She sighed, "You want the
wall side or the outside?" She didn't really care, either way she
would be warm and comfortable, and that was all she asked for. As
long as he didn't try anything, she wouldn't say anything. Besides,
she was in an inn. If he did, she could scream bloody murder - not
that she would unless it were necessary. She was over-confident
she could handle herself.

[Aveilthé]

"Right," said he, crawling in top speed into the covers. He
apparently failed to reply to her question, but it wasn't
necessarily needed. "Well, 'night, sorry to bother ya," he
murmered, pulling the blanket up to his chin as he faced
away from her. "Ya got plenty of covers?" he asked softly
into the dark.

[Relairah]

She scooted over, sighing slightly to herself. "So much for who gets
what side," she muttered under her breath, staring at the ceiling
before her hazel eyes began to droop. She definitely had a lot less
blanket, but that could be expected. He was considerably larger
than her anyway. "Who cares? If you're hogging them too much I'll
just go get my cloak," she answered, "but yes, I do. Don't worry
about me, just sleep."

She had to admit it was warmer, but she was mostly concerned with
sleeping at this point. Yet, for some reason, she couldn't get back to
sleep. It was probably a few more hours until morning. She usually
woke up before dawn as it was, and her body probably though that
it was time to get up. She had gone to sleep a bit earlier than usual
as well.

She turned over on her side once again facing the wall, as if staring
at it long enough would put her to sleep. Indeed, it did. She let out
a gentle sigh before drifting off to slumber, feeling this had been the
oddest night for her in a while. She figured she should get as much
sleep as possible before morning, being only hours away, and
anyway, she was curious for what tomorrow would bring her.

[Aveilthé]

"Ahh, fine, here ya go then," he muttered, letting her have a few
of the covers. "I'm not that fat. Just more broad-shouldered than
your lanky ones," he s[removed]ed.

There was a long, silent pause. "With these covers, s'still cold.
Eh... Aithne?"

[Relairah]

"Yea, that's a good point. But like I said, it doesn't really matter.
Thanks anyway..." her fingers curled slightly about the few extra
covers she had received. She ignored the rather long silent, pause,
beginning to wonder if he were asleep yet or not before he spoke
again. She sighed faintly, her words a more of a murmur than
spoken clearly. "Not really, if you're cold just take them all. I can live.
Just get some sleep, you need it, Gareth..."

She let her eyes slip open once more, hazel gaze meeting the wall.
She turned, letting her eyes fall on Gareth's form. "Honestly, I can
live for a few hours without a blanket. I recently was on a ship so
for me this is more than enough. Just sleep. Besides, you don't
wanna be grouchy when we get up do you?" she asked with a
slight, teasing grin. She stared up at the ceiling again. To her, he
seemed as though he couldn't get to sleep, but she kept her
thoughts to herself, hoping he'd be able to get to sleep for at least
a little while.

She cast a brief glance at him once again, then back at the ceiling.
"Hmm? What, Gareth?" She wondered what sort of thing he wanted
to ask her... or tell her. The more she thought about it the more her
heart raced in her chest, and she couldn't understand why. Her
cheeks were growing more red at the thought of her heart racing, at
least to her, for no apparent reason. She placed her hand to her
chest under the covers, trying to calm herself. She patiently waited
for what he was going to say, hoping that it would relieve her of her
thoughts and her worry... if it was worry. If he had fallen asleep
before saying it, she would be relieved in a way, that he could get
some sleep, and then again... it would probably keep her up and
she supposed she might or might not ask him in the morning. Still...
she faintly murmured, "What is it?"