☼ continued from here ☼
it was hard for darinean to not start dragging the manmer along ( though, he probably didn't have the strength to forcefully pull him along anyway ). instead, he'd rub over his back and gently push him to keep going. they had to hurry; darinean himself started to freeze and feel his limbs stiffen.
when he noticed the faint, distant glow of the campfire, relief washed over the young vigilant. thank stendarr they'd be able to rest soon.
" come on, we almost made it. ",
once they were close enough to the camp, darinean gasped when the stranger suddenly rushed to the fire... but darinean followed him right away.
of course the other vigilants were on high alert instantly; weapons in hand and ready to strike down the stranger-- until they saw their own kind hurry right after him, then standing beside him.
darinean put a hand on the manmer's back, holding up his other palm defensively to signalize that the man next to him was no threat.
" please-- i can explain. "
the other vigilants seemed suspicious, but they trusted darinean and thus sheathed their weapons and dissolved their spells. darinean began weaving their little story, explaining how he'd discovered the man naked, alone and almost freezing to death. he allowed his ally to explain himself as well and tell about his unfortunate run-in with bandits who had taken everything from him.
the story seemed satisfactory to the vigilants, to a point where they even felt pity for the man and offered him food and clothing. as long as one wasn't ( openly ) affiliated with the daedra, they were truly kind people.
once the stranger was settled on a bedroll with clothes, most vigilants, except for two that stayed up to stand guard, went back to sleep-- except for darinean, who wanted to make sure his guest was doing fine. he approached the bedroll with a bowl of stew in his hands, then sat down beside the man and held out the bowl for him.
" here. sister soreke made it. ",
he said, but then tensed up a bit. darinean looked away and subconsciously pulled his brows together.
" um… i mean, you don't know her, but she is an excellent cook. uhh… "
quickly, darinean shook his head and looked back at the manmer beside him.
" a-anyway. how are you feeling? you almost incinerated yourself earlier with how eager you were to get to the fire. "
