A Princess for Wintersfeast [Closed] - Printable Version
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RE: A Princess for Wintersfeast [Closed] - saronym - 05-30-2019
Ishara found herself swept along by her husband’s arm. They stalled near Julianna for more parting words. “It’s alright, dear.” She assured their charge and reached for her hand to give it a quick squeeze. “Take care with your words and keep out of sight until we can ensure no spies have followed you here. Whispers of pretty foreigners found in places where they do not belong travel fast.” Ishara offered a reminder of caution and bid her son a goodnight before allowing herself to be led from the room.
Eoghan could tell the stranger - Julianna, he had to remind himself he learned her name - was deflated, exhausted, frightened, and cold. “Come.” He said, his hand found her elbow to lead her. “I will take you back.”
They met his horse at the bottom of the manor stairs. A guardsman wrapped in fur over his leather armor handed reins over to Eoghan. Without offering his assistance this time, Eoghan grabbed Julianna by her waist and hoisted her atop the horse. When she found her place in the saddle, he mounted up behind her and set the horse in motion.
It was still snowing. The wind had picked up in the meantime and whistled between the homes that were nestled close together in the center of town. The snow blew in a near horizontal angle into their faces as they rode. Once they were outside of the relatively warmer township walls, it was worse. Eoghan bent forward to protect his face from the snow and pulled his heavy cloak with the fur mantel closer around him.
The figure in front of him on the saddle was shivering violently and seemed to suffer the cold much worse than he. He opened his cloak and brought his arms around her shoulders to fold her inside of his cloak and against his front.
“You haven’t a proper cloak.” His voice was a grumble as if he was scolding her. “The velvet is fine for a lining. But by itself…" He tsked, "you’ll freeze to death.”
As they rode, he went on to grumble less audibly about the parents of Princesses who send their pretty daughters to frozen places without proper clothing.
RE: A Princess for Wintersfeast [Closed] - megs - 05-31-2019
Julianna didn't protest when he led her forward with a hand on her arm. She was more than ready to leave, and therefore compliant. She did squeak in surprise when he took her around the waist and mounted her upon his horse with all too easily. Even with his injuries he tossed her around like she weighed nothing to him.
The cold and the snow had managed to get worse while they were inside. She didn't even know that were possible. And the Weatherfare's spoke as if this was not as bad as it would get. The princess would have given anything to be back home, lounging lazily on a sandy beach. She wouldn't have had to be so covered and bundled for all the good it did her. She missed the warm sun on her bare skin and the mild breeze that didn't soak her clothes and chill her to the bone.
The longer they rode, the less Julianna felt as if she had control over her trembling body. She was shivering from head to toe. She would have sworn she could feel ice building up in her lung with each painful breath. Julianna could barely hear Eoghan scolding her over the sound of her own chattering teeth as he wrapped her up in his cloak. This time, she wasn't shy about leaning into him. She had lost interest in playing the haughty princess game. His chest was warm and solid against her back. Taking his cloak in her hands she closed it over herself, tucking herself away until only her eyes peeked out of the heavy fabric. The furred mantle brushed against her face, but her numbed features didn't even feel a tickle. The fabric smelled like pine, and wood smoke and spices she didn't recognize.
"I didn't- I had no idea it could be this cold anywhere." Her words were likely lost to the wind, and the cloak and the chatter. She didn't have the benefit of being low and rumbling and so close to her ears. They twitched beneath the heavy hood she wore.
"I'm not sure I can get down on my own," she admitted to him when the reached the secluded cabin once more. He'd dismounted first, and she frowned down at him. She looked embarrassed more than disappointed. Green eyes avoided looking into grey ones. "I think my entire body has gone numb."
RE: A Princess for Wintersfeast [Closed] - saronym - 05-31-2019
Though most of her words were lost to the wind and the chattering of her teeth, Eoghan understood that she was complaining about the cold. “It will be colder, yet. Winter’s crest won’t be for another forty days. That is just the beginning of Winter.”
They fell silent for the remainder of the trip. Their bodies pressed together under his cloak and the heat rising from his horse’s body kept him well warm enough. For her, it seemed she could hardly bear it.
Indeed as he stood in the snow staring up at her after dismounting, she admitted she couldn’t move. A billow of white from his mouth marked his sigh. He reached up one last time to bring her down from the horse. This time, he cradled her to his chest and carried her into the home. Though he was injured, she was small and light. There was no evidence of strain or effort on his part in transferring her inside.
He shoved the door closed with his boot and brought her close to the fire that had burned down to small flame on one log. The rest of it was glowing embers. Eoghan set her down on a thick fur rug made from the hide of the grey and white bears that were native to Eskra. He pulled his hands from his gloves with his teeth and immediately felt the hood of her cloak.
“It’s soaked through.” He was scolding her. “Take it off. You’ll catch fever.” He set his gloves down on the floor in front of the fire to warm them as he moved around her to place more logs into the fireplace. Stoking the fire, sent a gush of radiant warmth into the home.
“You need proper furs. Leather gloves.” He was adding to the list of things she would need. Cloak. Furs. Gloves. “I’ll give you something to thicken your blood some.”
His boots scraped over the wood flooring as he moved around his home. He retrieved a leather wineskin and collected two carved horn cups. From the wineskin he poured a dark, slow moving viscous liquid. He shook and manipulated the wineskin to encourage the almost gelatinous liquid into the cups. He crouched down next to her by the fireplace and held both cups into the flames until his fingers began to sting from the heat.
When he offered her one of the cups, the liquid inside had become less viscous and now sloshed like wine. “Oak maple mead.” He drank from his own cup, showing her it was good. The liquid burned as it slid down his throat but immediately planted a seed of warmth inside his stomach.
RE: A Princess for Wintersfeast [Closed] - megs - 06-01-2019
Julianna was flush with embarrassment as he carried her inside the house. There was so much blood rushing to her face she was starting to feel her cheeks again. She felt like a doll, being carried by him so easily. Eoghan was such a large and imposing man, but he set her in front of the fire with a surprising gentleness. She mumbled a thank you, finally looking at his face for the brief moment it was near hers before he rose to his full height again.
His hand was a heavy weight on her head. "Your mother told me to leave it..." she started to argue, but he wore and expression as if to say the matter was not up for debate. He was right, however, and she did not want to get sick. Julianna pushed the hood back with shaking fingers. Unclasping the fabric made it tumble off her shoulders and into a heap at her back. Immediately, silver furred ears sprung upwards and shook off the moisture from the melted snow.
She pawed at her ears, looking too much like a grooming cat. Manipulating the tufts of fur with the backs of her hands, until they felt dry enough.
"My family will pay for whatever I need." She'd finally stopped vibrating enough to form a coherent sentence. She reached to take the strange drink from him. Bringing the horn to her face she sniffed the dark liquid. It smelled sweet and earthy. She sipped at it. "It's good," she said, sounding surprised. He was right, a warmth spread through her from the middle of her stomach.
They drank quietly for a few moments. "Is it always like this? Cold and snowing?"
RE: A Princess for Wintersfeast [Closed] - saronym - 06-02-2019
Crouching next to her by the fire, Eoghan found himself watching her ears some as she tasted the drink and spoke to him. Eoghan's smile was almost conspiratorial as she tasted the drink. Like he was sharing a juicy secret with her. In some ways, he was.
He laughed at her worried question over the weather. “I suppose you will have to stick around long enough to find out.”
He offered her the wine skin to refill her cup as she saw fit. “Your family does not need to pay for anything. We don’t let anyone, not even a foreigner, freeze for want of warm clothing or fire or shelter, here. Eskrans are proud and a bit insular, but you will find us charitable and protective of others. Especially in the long winter.”
He pushed himself up and disappeared into the bedroom. He made a noise as if he were straining and then reappeared carrying the ornate carved wooden trunk that had lay at the foot of the bed. He set it next to the rug and sat on a chair to begin rifling through.
He shifted aside a cheesecloth that held an array of spices and herbs his mother had stashed in there to keep the clothing from acquiring the stale smell of long-term storage. He lifted a dark grey cloak of rich, heavy material. The wispy fur of the hood and the mantle of the cloak was a mixture of brown and white. He brushed his hand over the fur and felt the lustrous mohair lining.
His father had instructed him to take some things he needed from home for his stay at the manor house. But the cloak he placed around Julianna’s shoulders. “Take this until we can have something proper fashioned for you. Try not to poke too many holes in it finding places for all those knives you see fit to carry.”
RE: A Princess for Wintersfeast [Closed] - megs - 06-03-2019
Staring into the fire, Julianna only nodded slowly when he mentioned sticking around. She didn't want to, necessarily, but she didn't know what was going to happen. When she looked up to see his eye level somewhere just above her head, her ears pinned down into her hair. Sweeping backwards towards the crown of her head. There was no hiding the silver fur in her black hair, but they were less obvious than they were standing straight up. "Not seen many southern women?" she asked, trying to sound playful as she sipped the mead, but it was obvious she was self-conscious. Her tail was still hidden away beneath her skirts.
Eoghan handed off the wineskin before he moved away and she set it next to her. The warmth from the mead was enveloping her quickly enough, that she knew the spirit was stronger than the fruity wines she enjoyed at home.
Her ears popped up again when he returned with the trunk. Curiosity getting the best of her and the moved more freely without the suppression of the hood. She leaned forward, peeking into the trunk as he searched through it. Sitting back again as he lifted a garment from inside.
The cloak engulfed her in the unfamiliar and spicy scent she had smelled on him as they road. It was heavy, and soft and dispersed any remaining chill that would have dared tried to reach her next to the fire. She pet the furry mantle, much that same way he had. She looked very much like a pleased cat, ears at attention, pupils dilated. Completely enamoured with the item. One ear fell lopsided and she looked up at him again, sheepish. No doubt he'd noticed many of her hidden weapons when carrying her inside. "I will take good care of it," she promised.
Her ears rotated again, this time to a sound coming from the front of the house. A quiet, scratching noise against the door. "Do you hear that?" she cocked her head at him. "There's something at the door?"
RE: A Princess for Wintersfeast [Closed] - saronym - 06-03-2019
Eoghan cocked his head and studied her modeling the cloak. It was ill-fitting, much too big for her. The fabric spilled around her in folds. But she looked cozy wrapped up in his cloak. The fur lining her shoulders attractively framed her jaw line. She pet the fur appreciatively and her pupils expanded with curiosity.
Eoghan was loathe to admit he was charmed by her display. His masculine pride was inspired by the vision of an alluring woman wrapped up in his own cloak.
“I have not seen any southern women.” He said finally answering her earlier question. “It’s mostly southern men. Merchants, sailors. Who come to port here. And I spend more time in the mountains than by the water, anyway.”
She was first to hear the scratching at the door. Eoghan turned his head when she pointed it out. A look of understanding washed over his face. “Yes. That’ll be Frostfang.” He pushed himself up from the chair, dumping the other clothing he’d pulled from the chest back into it with little regard for its arrangement.
When he pulled open the door, a flurry of snow blew in along with a furry four-legged figure that promptly meowed it’s greeting and began rubbing along Eoghan’s legs. The cat’s light brown fur was dusted with snowflakes that promptly began melting upon entrance into the warm home. Eoghan bent to greet the cat with a scratch under its chin. The purr was audible throughout the room.
As Eoghan returned to his chair, the cat followed him playfully batting at the ends of his cloak that reached the floor. The cat became curious then of Julianna and began investigating her with a kittenish curiosity.
RE: A Princess for Wintersfeast [Closed] - megs - 06-03-2019
"I'm not exactly inconspicuous." She lifted a hand, gesturing towards her ears. "It's why Lady Weatherfare insists I stay covered, but it's uncomfortable," she complained, her eyes sliding once more towards the dancing flames. She didn't know why she was saying so much to him. Perhaps it was the drink, or the small bit of kindness or the loneliness she had began to feel in the strange land. "I don't want to be confined." This time she glanced around the house, she felt as if she would be forced to stay within the walls of the secluded cabin.
Julianna stopped fiddling with the cloak. She continued to feel doll-like in his presence. First in his arms and now in the too-big garment. She pushed her fingers into the soft fur of the rug instead. Brushing her hand back and forth and watching the subtle color change of the small hairs at different angles. "I miss the water," she murmured, before finishing off the sweet and spicy mead.
Once again, she was surprised by him. He seemed content enough to listen to her whine for the time being. She wondered what he thought of her. Did he think her just a spoiled princess with no regard for the village that was putting themselves at risk for her. Julianna wanted to tell Eoghan that she did not want to run away from the problem. That she could have handled all of this herself. Would he believe her? Why did she even care?
Staring into the fire, lost in her own thoughts her tail appeared from her skirts. It flickered and tapped on the hardwood in in an anxious manner.
Julianna twisted curiously to watch as he went to investigate the door. "You...have a cat?" She asked as man and beast approached together. Granted, it was cat much larger than she had ever seen, but a cat nonetheless. Her ears rotated as the creature came closer to her. "Frostfang," she echoed. She held her fingers out to the kitten for him to sniff. He approved of her by turning and rubbing his body over her knuckles, so Julianna pet him in a smooth motion across his spine. "That seems like a very ferocious name for him." By which she meant: ill-fitting.
RE: A Princess for Wintersfeast [Closed] - saronym - 06-04-2019
Julianna’s complaints were not forgotten. They simply slipped into the background with the addition of Frostfang’s impish presence. Julianna seemed pleased by the cat’s sweet nature. Frostfang, as usual, was charmed by anything that non-aggressively acknowledged his presence.
When her tail made a little motion across the fur rug, Frostfang pounced on it. He batted it around with his paws and then rolled onto his back. He took the tail into his front paws and kicked at it with his back feet, purring while he played.
Eoghan returned to his chair and observed the display. He remembered the day he chose Frostfang from a litter of kittens still being raised. The mischievous kitten captured his attention and he insisted on having it despite being warned by his betrothed that the cat wasn’t ready for his purposes. She may have been right afterall, but Eoghan was attached to him already.
“I suppose his name says more about me than him.” Eoghan responded finally before making a noise to attract the cat’s attention. He made another sharp noise and waved his hand as if to shoo the animal from messing with Julianna’s tail.
They were still working on obedience.
“Listen.” Eoghan’s tone turned serious. “I apologize for my mother striking you. That was...rash of her.” He paused and reached for the wineskin to refill his own cup. “My father said there was an attempt on your life? I am sure my mother is strict with you out of caution. To keep you safe.”
He leaned back in his chair and gestured with his cup. “In here...it would be alright to go uncovered. Just don’t tell my mother I contradicted her. She wouldn’t like that.”
RE: A Princess for Wintersfeast [Closed] - megs - 06-06-2019
Julianna risked picking the kitten up. She twisted at the waist to reach behind and slide her hands beneath his belly. She was surprised to find that most of his apparent mass was actually fur, and he went totally limp in her grasp. Frostfang was so relaxed and nonplussed with her handling that he almost felt like he would melt between her fingers. Loud purring noises filled the brief silence. Eoghan began to speak, apologizing for his mother, as she crossed her legs and settled the kitten in her lap—belly side up for petting.
She kept her focus on Frostfang, scratching under his chin and pulling her fingers away playfully when he reached out to get her with his paws. The embarrassment she had suffered under Ishara's hand was returning, and she didn't want him to see the evidence on her face.
"Thank you," she said, more to acknowledge his attempt at kindness than anything else. She set Frostfang right-side up when he began to wiggle. He settled again into a comfortable looking loaf shape in her lap. Her ears fell flat. "It is an adjustment," she admitted. She was starting to feel foolish for the way she had commiserated to him earlier. "I will be fine." She didn't know if he needed any reassurance from her that he was free to leave, if he desired.
"Hopefully the threat will be dealt with and everything can return to normal for everyone."
RE: A Princess for Wintersfeast [Closed] - saronym - 06-08-2019
The two cats were fast friends. He left them to each other. Julianna's natural friendly way with Frostfang made the warm spot in his stomach from the mead grow warmer. Eoghan watched them interacting out of the tops of his eyes as he continued shifting through the trunk. He pushed some few articles clothing into a bag and closed the trunk again and let the latch fall loosely.
“Would you tell me about it?” Eoghan asked, his voice just barely audible over the crackling of the fire.
He shifted from the chair to the rug next to Julianna.
He lounged on his side facing her with his head resting on his elbow. He had brought his cup with him and titled his head back to take a gulp. He watched her over the rim of her glass. Her tanned skin had a pinkish glow now from the warmth of the fire and the drink. The ruddy glow to her skin would have looked cheerful on her if not for the melancholy in her eyes. It wasn't an expression of weakness but one of heavy-hearted resignation to her current fate.
“The attack on your life.” He clarified his earlier request. “What happened? Does your family know who did it?”
RE: A Princess for Wintersfeast [Closed] - megs - 06-10-2019
Julianna's ears rotated towards the sound of his voice, low and careful. As if he worried his request would be upsetting to her. She didn't answer immediately. Her ears pinned backwards as her hand made smooth motions over Frostfang's back. "There's not that much to tell," she prefaced, watching him as he moved down onto the rug with her. She sort of marveled at how quickly he made himself comfortable in the space with her.
"It's been a fortnight now, since it happened." She paused to refill her own cup. Taking a quick sip of the sweet liquid before clearing her throat. Frostfang chirruped, momentarily displeased that she had stopped touching him. His rumbling purrs took up again when she returned to petting. "There's an open market that I was visiting. There has been an insurgency uprising in the capital, and my brother's warned me against going, but I wasn't worried. I thought that I would be fine with a few of my personal guard." Another pause. Another sip. She glanced at Eoghan briefly, eyes quickly skirting away from him.
"It was a fruit vendor who attacked me," she laughed a little. Not because it had been particularly amusing, but because she remembered how surprised she had felt. "He drew a knife and stabbed me. Automatically, her free hand when to a spot on her ribs. A wound, still healing, hidden beneath her clothing.
"He didn't do a very good job of it though," she attempted to joke. Throwing her head back to finish the mead in her cup. She made a face, finding to much of the sweet drink at once difficult to swallow. "But I did not give him another chance to correct himself. I drew my own blade and slit his throat right then and there. Blood everywhere. Absolutely ruined a lovely harvest of kiwis..."
"Do you want to see?" She was pushing off the cloak and undoing the laces at her side before he answered. He was a warrior, she knew he would be interested in her scar with a grisly fascination. Julianna pulled apart the fabric over her ribs just enough to show off a strip of skin from below her arm to her hip. Though she had several scars that could be seen from the exposure, which one she meant was obvious. Just below her breast was the evidence of the attack. An angry look red line about three inches long between her ribs, clearly more recent than the others.
RE: A Princess for Wintersfeast [Closed] - saronym - 06-30-2019
Eoghan’s eyes narrowed and he frowned disapprovingly as her story unfolded. He growled at the reveal of the perpetrator filled with rage at the thought. He imagined his own sister, unsuspecting, being attacked by a merchant. “Dishonorable.”
He scooted slightly closer to her as she unlaced her dress. Instinctively curious to witness the permanent mark that was left on her body. The mark that changed her fate and brought her thousands of miles away to the frozen north.
He reached out and touched the mark with his index and middle fingers, carefully tracing that freshly closed on her side. The repairing skin had thickened and he could feel the raised ridge of it.
His fingers fell away from her side. “Why is there unrest? When will you be able to return home?”
RE: A Princess for Wintersfeast [Closed] - megs - 07-02-2019
Julianna did not watch as he inspected her injury. His touch was gentle, and suddenly intimate as she realized how sensitive her skin was in that particular area. She was blushing again, but she blamed it on the drink. She felt warmer now and she told herself it was also from the mead.
When he finished she put the dress back in order, nimble fingers working the laces and setting the fabric back into place. "I don't know when I'll be able to go home." She sighed, forlorn. Julianna set the drinking horn aside near the fireplace and moved Frostfang out of her lap. The kitten vocalized his complaints. Turning circles where she set him down on the rug and kneading into the fur. Julianna picked up the cloak he had loaned her again and pulled it back up over her head.
Wrapping the warm fabric around herself she laid down on her side, and drew her knees close to her chest. For the most part she was just two green eyes reflecting up at him through a small opening in the cloak. "Veridian is made up of five islands," she explained, raising her voice just enough to not be entirely muffled.The end of her statement was punctuated with a yawn. She could feel sleep creeping up behind her heavy eyelids. "There are some islanders that don't think all five islands should be ruled by one power. There is concern that resources are divided unfairly. Or that some islands benefit or suffer from favoritism. I know that isn't true though. My family works tirelessly to ensure that the people are getting what they need."
RE: A Princess for Wintersfeast [Closed] - saronym - 07-09-2019
Eoghan watched Frostfang make himself comfortable on the furred rug between them. Eoghan scratched behind the kitten's ears once he was settled. It set off a round of loud purring that Eoghan renewed with more scratches as Julianna talked.
A yawn claimed him. Eoghan tried to hide it behind his hand. He settled back on his side, using his own arm as a pillow. He laid face-to-face with Julianna, Frostfang between them, she continued speaking with intermittent yawns.
Conversation trailed off. The fire cracked and popped. Frostfang continued to purr. “I should get back.” Eoghan heard himself say, though he couldn‘t muster the will to rise from.the comfortable fireside rug. He was sure only Frostfang heard him. The cat lofted its head and peered at him before laying it back down in the curve of his own belly.
Julianna's eyes were closed and her breathing had become even and slow. Her lips slightly parted. Eoghan let his own lids fall closed and drifted into sleep.