With a rustle of furs and fabric, Wil pushed through the low, sloping door and entered the Forochel igloo where his love lay asleep. Just as he left her hours before, unconscious with her head bound in a bandage. He sank down beside her on the mound of furs and began to finally relax for the night.
Stirring, Merys opened her eyes and turned her head to look beside her. She smiled and reached out a mittened hand to stroke down Wil's hair.
"Oh," Wil mumbled. "You are awake."
"Mm," Merys nodded, gently so as not to rattle her head. "Ja, I woke a little while ago. Though... I thought I should just keep resting." She raised her eyes to the frozen ceiling. "I see we moved."
"Yeah, we made it to the next village... just." Wil sighed a little, looking troubled as he said this.
Merys watched him quietly, turning her hand to brush softly down his bristly face. "What happened?"
"The company nearly left our wounded behind today," he frowned, but turned his face to kiss the hand that brushed it.
She frowned in thought, even as her hand flexed to caress his cheek. "The wounded... you mean me?"
"And Sefa, but Threland, Elvina and I had our wits about us and we got you to safety." He offers a small smile, but Merys seems uncomforted by the thought.
"But Knot would never leave m... us behind."
"He nearly did. He didn't have any control over the company today."
Sighing, Merys rolled on her side and nestled nearer to Wil. "I don't understand," she murmured into him. "Why is this going so badly?"
Wil sighed a little and put his arms around her. "Been too much fighting, more than Knot ever accounted for. We have too many wounded and too many hotheads now."
Merys nods into Wil's chest, wrapping around him. "We couldn't have expected all this, just to see some turtle." She couldn't help but release her tension in a chuckle that slowly grew into a full laugh.
Wil smiled and kissed her cheek. "The bay we are here for is just to the north of this snow house."
Leaning back, she smiled up at him. "So we're here? That foolish turtle is out there?"
"Course it isn't. Never was going to be there. But the bay seems to go for miles east and west. Think Knot will want to check both sides"
"Ah well, I suppose that would be too easy, for it to be right outside our door... waving a big flipper." She cracks up giggling again, flapping her mittened hand. "Never has such fuss been made over a turtle."
Wil chuckled a little at her impression of a turtle. "Well I, for one, just want to go home now, get you safe and well again."
She nodded and sighed with resignation. "I do too. I'd like to wake up in my nice warm bed and leave all this to stories."
"I sense a but in there," Wil said as he cuddled up close to her.
Kissing his forehead, she answered softly, "It took us so long to come up here. I do not see how getting home will be any faster."
"Well if it is just us two, we don't need to sit and wait for the others to make decisions." Wil smiled at her kiss and stroked her cheek with a gloved hand. She tilted her head into his hand, closing her eyes briefly at the contact.
"Can we really do such a journey on our own? With the bandits and everything else?"
"Smaller group also means less likely to attract attention. Might only have one arm, but my mind and blades are sharp."
"I suppose so, I just..." She sighed, looking up at the ceiling once more. "I don't want to leave til we've seen what Knot came for. I don't want to disappoint him. And I feel like he wanted me here."
Wil sighed as well. "There will be no turtle. Knot just wants a story to tell and I am fairly certain he wont want to tell this one."
"How do you know there won't be one?"
"Turtles like warm climates. They need warmth to keep them alive. Coming here is not logical."
Merys smirked. "When was anything about this trip logical?"
Wil smiled tiredly to Merys then said, "Well, if we stay, I make it at the very least three days til we search the whole bay, and assuming we don't stop for as long in Evendim or the Shire on the way back, another four."
"Once we've sought what Knot wants to find, I'll gladly return with just you."
"Probably be only a day or so difference on the return journey, to be honest. I wasn't expecting to reach this village today."
"Mm, when I woke up I did wonder where we had gotten off to." Sitting up, Merys looked ahead to the shrouded door. "Can we go look around?"
"You feel up to it?"
"Just a short walk. There's... something Knot always promised me for his journey. I want to see if it's here." She pushed up unsteadily onto her feet and stepped out through the door.
Wil followed her out, asking, "What is it?"
Looking straight up, a wide, childlike smile crossed Merys' face. Above them, colors danced and mingled, spreading their blanket of light over endless stars and then fading into the deep. Merys closed her eyes for a moment, as if she were soaking in the sight while the bitter wind whipped her face. Then she opened her eyes again and pointed up. "Strange stars," she said in nearly a whisper.
"Mmm, the sky has been like that since we got to this land," Wil said as he went closer to her, to make sure she was steady on her feet.
Merys leaned back, feeling a little of Wil's warmth through her cloak. "Streaks of light, and so many more stars than I see in Bree. Like a sunrise continually taunting the sky." Merys sighed contentedly. "Even if there's no turtle, at least I get to see this."
Wil put his arm around Merys and smiled properly for the first time in awhile. "Been so worried with this journey, haven't taken the time to appreciate the world we are in."
"Nei, it has been such a blur of fighting and running and... arguing." She began to well up frustration and backed deeper into Wil to let it melt away. Her eyes drifted down over the village and back up to the stars. "That, up there... that is what Knot talked of when I first met him. It's what made me want to come. Apart from trust in him. That I'd see wonders."
"I only came to be with you as you look to these wonders. Maybe share them with you." Wil turned to her and admired her looking up at the sky.
She smiled back at him as her hands slipped around his arm. Then her eyes turned heavenwards, to the twisting bands of light, watching them fade from violets to teals and greens. "It's like watching the sun on water."
"I don't think I will ever see the like of this again." He winced however, as she put her hand around his bad arm.
Merys cringed and lifted up her hands. "Sorry, sorry."
"It's alright, just a little tender from carrying you here." Bowing his head, Wil smiled and kissed her cheek
Merys smiled softly at his kiss, but then looked back at him with wonder. "You carried me here?"
"Mhm, had to. We had no way of transporting you, and we could not wake you."
Sighing, Merys watched some mist trail away from her face. "Sorry. One whack to the head and I'm useless for an entire day."
"That is both of us now. Me pushing myself to exhaustion and you getting conked on the head. Think we are even." Wil pressed his face next to hers, though her hood might block it. She nuzzled into the rough face, feeling it through the fabric.
"We are too dangerous to ourselves," Merys chuckled.
"Mm, well," Wil smiled. "When we get home, I say we just wait for my wounds to heal properly before I dash off to save you again."
Merys grinned and nodded her agreement. She then lay back her head against the safety of Wil's chest and the two took as much time as they dared to enjoy the strange Forochel stars.
