“ unexpected guest “ And suddenly Key appeared again.
Send me “ unexpected guest “ for my muse ( receiver’s ) to find your muse ( sender’s ) asleep in mine’s bed, injured and exhausted, after having broken into my muse’s home.
In the evening the harbour was drowning in waves of red sunlight- it had been a hot day, summer was yet not gone and the heat had washed over Booty Bay sticky and uncomfortable until every breath was heavy and every move was exhausting. Now- finally, eventually, thanks then Light!- a fresh breeze was traveling from the by the eveninglight dyed red water into the town that made breathing easier. Still in the buildings it was still warm and the air was so heavy it felt as if it could be drunk like syrup when Mar made her way up the stairs to the small chamber she had rented for the time she was working in the harbour town.
At this hour the corridor was empty, long shadow drew lines like drawn with cole over the uneven wooden planks until to the last room of the corridor that was her chamber.
The door to her chamber , skewed and wiered and one end bigger than the other yet of a height just perfect for the short halforc, stood only ajar in its frame.
From one moment to another the Halforcs freckled ears jolted up as if she was a alerted deer and she grabbed for the hilt of the axe in her belt, every single one of her muscles tensed and ready to react to a attack.
Mar knew the door should be locked.
Mar knew she had locked the door.
Mar always locked the door.
Slowly, quietly Mar creeped forward, her hand around the axe, slightly leaned forward like a carnivore and the flecks of red light shimmering on the wooden boards beneath. There was nothing of Mar that would be worth stealing- the little money she had she had always with her with the golden ring of the worth of a proper burial in her left ear as a last resort and her hauberk, shield, spear and axe also always in her hand the only thing that could be of worth would be her clothes- her skrautklæði: the red dress with the coat, cloak and pelt, the long tunic with the deep blue trousers that had been so expensive to dye- to steal and sell. Therefor the person who had broken into her chamber was not there to steal soemthing from her, but they were there to meet her and as they had not seeked her out on her workplace it was probably suppose to be a attack.
Of course , she could now just turn around and seek out the Innkeeper so they could call the townguards and get rid of the intruder.
Of course, she could just wait there in the corridor for the intruder to suprise and confront them as soon as they stepped out of her chamber and see her waiting for them.
Of course, she could do all that as this would be the two smartest options.
Of course, she could do all that as this would be the two smartest options, but the innkeeper would laugh at her face and telling her to handle her own buisness since their other patrons did not wantd to guards in the inn.
Of course, she could do all that as this would be the two smartest options, but even when she had the suprise effect on her side on the corridor, the thought of someone going through her belongings, as worthless as they were, made her restless and impatient like a hungry wolf.
Instead she moved forward and then, quietly, soundless, almost gently opned the door wider with the head of her axe.
The chamber was small with a low ceiling and just one small, askew window that she never managed to completly close as much as she pulled on the window and through which red dots of eveninglight fell through on the uneven, wooden floor. There was only a chest in one corner to store her belongings, a wooden bowl, soap and a can of water for washing herself set on top of it, and a bed filled with hay under pelts and thick, woolen blankets.
The chest was untouched, the lock on it was still closed and in fact everything in the chamber was untouched beside the bed, which was in fact instead of neatly made untidy, messy and occupied.
The bed was too small for him, so he had had to curl up like a kitten with the too short blankets layn over him and his blue hoofs hanging over the end of the bed. Streaks of straw had slided from under the blankets up to him and poked like golden strains out of his hair and somwhen in the time he had lay in the bed, her pillow had fallen out of the bed so now he was hugging a heap of hay that poked in his bearded cheek.
Without her wanting to the Halforc let go of a breath she did not knew she had been holding.
A moment later her shoulders relaxed, the grasp around the hilt of her axe eased and she took a deep a little trembling breath, shaking off the alertness like a too heavy cloak as she walked over to the small bed. Flecks of eveningred danced like splinters of coloured glass over the wooden floor, the bed and the pitiful heap of clothes and blankets that was Keynelis when Mar reached out for him, but stopped inches before his shoulder and then pulled her small hand back to cross her arms behind her back.
"...you are aware, Sir Keynelis, that this is not even my home but that I had rented this chamber?", clearing her throat a little too stiff and loud to appear natural the Halforc knelt down beside the bed so she would be able to see in the others eyes, her gloved hands folded on the edge of the bed but carefully to not touch him, not without his premission. A worried frown drew a long line like a scar between her thick eyebrows and she asked a little gentler, a little more quiet, a little less stern: "Are you alright?"
[ @toomany-elves | @keynelis ]
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