Night on the Wayside (Cefia/Derick)

[Derick]

Derick pulled in a deep breath, feeling the cool crisp air lightly sting his throat and his lungs as the breath entered his body. He sighed softly with contentment as he exhaled, much had happened over the last few days. He had gone from being a grunt soldier facing execution to an unrestricted mercenary over the span of a few days...A shifting noise startled him out of his revelry--but it was only the horse trotting by to get some water out of the stream they had camped by. It was fortunate that the horse was such a smart animal, seeing as neither he nor Cefia--Cefia!

In a moment of panic, Derick scurried through the tall grass and the trees back toward the camp where he had left Cefia about an hour ago. He had meant to check up on her but...he had gotten lost in thought. Stupid, ignorant, she could be dead... he was already mentally berating himself as he broke into the clearing. "Cefia!?"

[Cefia]

Cefia struggled with her wounds. It was hardly helping with all the agitation she was giving it. After their brief escape from the general vicinity, it has become difficult to find Clair. She hardly thought she needed to stay much longer with the ragtag army. It would be better if she went her own ways now. The problem was the boy, he needed somewhere to go. She wasn't about to desert a lone boy out here or perhaps it was her kinder side thinking as such.

"Cefia!?" Derick's voice caught her off guard. She was practically peeling off the cloth on her wound and the surprise cause her to jolt as to agitate it. She clenched her jaws but said nothing for a few moments. When she felt that she would scream at the young man, she finally replied.

"Here," she said, waving a bloody hand to indicate to her location.

[Derick]

After a few agonizing moments, Derick relaxed as he heard Cefia's voice call out flatly. He spotted the bloody hand and froze, what is going on? He unwisely hesitated for a few seconds before stepping further into their campsite. She was situated by the fire, evidently in the middle of examining her wound. He instantly felt as though he should just turn around and try again later, but his purpose pushed him on.

"I'm sorry!" he spoke quietly, approaching her and squatting down to make eye contact. Despite his efforts, his gaze lingered towards her wound, "...I meant to check up on you earlier but..." his eyes snapped back to hers, he realized he had been staring at her wound and blushed faintly, fixating his gaze on the ground as he lamely finished his sentence, "...got lost in thought..."

[Cefia]

"That's alright bucko," Cefia replied with a smile hiding her pain. Just because she could take hits doesn't mean they didn't hurt. It was best not to look weak at the moment. She was still quite lucky though, the pack on the horse carried some pretty strong alcohol. With the bottle she could clean the wound before applying some better bandages.

"Just gotta clist th' wound thats all," she said, dropping some alcohol into the wound. It hurt like hell but she took it in with a quiet demeanor.

"Anythin' on yer mind?" she asked, taking out some cleaned bandages she found in the horse's bags. It was lucky for her to find them but unlucky considering all the trouble she went through with the wound in the first place.

[Derick]

Derick relaxed a little bit as Cefia smiled at him. He really needed to knock off whatever he was doing...At least she had found supplies to treat her wound. Derick felt a burden fall of his shoulders as she set about cleaning it. He stretched a little bit before sitting down, his back to the fire. The last few days had been fast-paced, with the chance to remove his armor few and far between, it was a nice change to just wear some of his underarmor gear...he only regretted not having any regular clothing.

"Anythin' on yer mind?"

Derick regarded her, she was definitely older than him, which may be part of the reason why he struggled to relate to her. "How old are you?" he spoke way too quickly, sort of blurting it out. It was an awkward question to ask a lady, but after that display, he was on a roll anyway.

[Cefia]

Cefia began to really think about it. She hadn't paid too much attention to her age. If she had stayed with her parents she would probably be a mother by now. However with the busy life as a pirate, everyday was practically full of party. She had to manually count and relate from her memory to be sure. Another downside with living your life to its fullest is each day might be your last.

"Twenty-five," she finally said with a grimace. It sounded old to her and if she was back in her old life she would be ridiculed for being single. She didn't mind answering the boy. Truth be told she was proud to be so old while still being a pirate. Even though she wasn't born into the sea, for someone to come into such a life from a secure position, she did pretty well for herself!

"You?" she asked with a grin, erasing her original displeasure.

[Derick]

Derick's eyebrows rose slightly in response at her response. He had her pegged in her low 20's, but he had always been a bad guesser. He noticed her reluctance and had to surpress a smile. Being 17, he was already a little familiar with the paradox between wanting to grow older and actually being older. "You?" she asked, a sardonic smile forming on her face.

Derick smiled in response, not in a cheeky or mocking way, but in slight embarrassment. "I'm 17." He had been the youngest of his recruiting class. His young age, combined with his natural tendency to behave respectfully around those elder than him, added up to being respectful and polite with almost everyone he met. His age showed on his body as well. Although he was stout, he was still relatively short, 5' 8", and had yet to fully grow.

He jumped out of his thoughts, directing his attention back to Cefia. "I haven't had the chance to ask you about the pirate accent...What's your story?" Derick's tone betrayed his yearning interest.

[Cefia]

Cefia wasn't really asked about her accent, perhaps it was due to the fact that she had been with pirates until recently. The war had affected them all even those that live outside the rules. She didn't want to leave Derick questioning forever though.

"It is really quite simple," she began, taking a gulp from the her spirit. She could sure use it and there was plenty left after application.

"Not many pirates appreciate eloquent words, speeches or debates. When you live alongside them, it ends with you learning a new way of speech," she said, losing the accent for the duration of her explanation.

[Derick]

Derick's mouth dropped open as Cefia began to talk. Being in the military, he had received a decent education, so he could follow her words well enough but..."W-wait...so..." Derick's hands were up in front of him, as if trying to slow the speed of this revelation. "You're not...but you are...uhm..." He bit his lip lightly, unsure of what he was even trying to say. "...what are you?" It was a poorly worded question, but it was the best Derick could manage.

[Cefia]

"A pirate by heart!" Cefia remarked, flexing her right arm. She had muscles but it wasn't completely prominent like men will get. What she said was true and to the point. She never really considered herself a stiff neck like her parents. She found herself better relating to the rough pirates she had always stood beside. Although some of them can be real perverts but thats where her strength came in.

"I was born to a well-to-do merchant couple, trained as a wordsmith and thrived upon negotiations. Wealth was a main focus of my life and I will not deny its influence in my decisions," she continued before looking back at Derick.

"This would be a short narrative of my beginnings as I have no doubt with my current language I might end up rambling with many unnecessary words."

[Derick]

Derick nodded slowly, the shock was wearing off and he was beginning to adjust to Cefia's new vocabulary. Her dialect made a lot more sense with the merchant background, but her life as a pirate intrigued him still. "So why choose life as a pira--" "'Ello there!"

An unfamiliar voice cut Derick off. It was a male voice higher than his own, he turned in the direction of the voice. There were two men, both dressed in semi-fine traveling clothes. The speaker appeared to be leading the two men, and they both had heavy packs on their backs. Flustered, Derick looked over at Cefia, wordlessly communicating that he wasn't going to respond.

[Cefia]

Speak of the devil! Just when she mentions her origins merchants happen to appear. Now it felt as though she needs to prove herself. Luckily her travels had made her far more level headed. It would be best to see what they wanted.

"Excuse me sir and mam, I can't help but notice your fine horse there. You see, my brother and we have been travelling for far too long. The roads nowadays are peppered with brigands and I was hoping to perhaps purchase that fine steed," the taller of the two man said. The other one noticed looked around, noticing her steel axe off to the side.

"Perhaps we could also purchase some escorts," the brother inquired. Cefia actually perked up a bit at this idea.

"Where are you heading?" she asked with a questioning look. The two men looked at one another, riddled with surprise. Perhaps they haven't had any luck until recently. She looked at Derick as if to encourage him to speak up.

[Derick]

The two men looked at each other apprehensively, Derick observed that they seemed to be bracing themselves. "...The Western Isles," the shorter of the two merchants replied. Derick frowned, even in Bern, the Western Isles had a negative reputation. Getting there would require travel by boat, something Derick had never done before. This was complicated by the fact that Derick had no clue where they even were. "The Western Isles?..." Derick responded with deliberate uncertainty, he had no idea what he was doing when it came to negotiations, but intuition told him to approach this cautiously.

"We would handle any expenses that occur along the way, of course," the taller merchant added a little too quickly. It seemed to Derick that this was where their offer got rejected the most. "I would have to speak with my partner about this," Derick replied, he glanced over at Cefia after saying this. He was speaking the truth, back-tracking through Etruria would prove near impossible at this point, that left...Nabata. Derick nearly shuddered, his knowledge of Nabata amounted to mere myths, but the myths alone were enough to tell him Nabata was not traveler-friendly. Bearing this in mind, he stood and offered his hand to Cefia, wordlessly indicating they should get out of the merchant's earshot.

[Cefia]

Cefia shrugged by the way the merchants came it seemed as though they would be passing through enemy territory again. It didn't sound like a pleasant idea at all. There are other ways to get back to the Western Isles of course.

"I understand but I do not believe it would be the most beneficial action for us to help, I do not mind selling you the horse," Cefia replied, indicating to the beast. She despised riding it, even though it was perfectly necessary in their case. They let out a sigh and offered a meager amount for the horse. Cefia felt bad for them but she wasn't charity. Soon enough they launched into a full out barter war.

[Derick]

Derick bowed out of the conversation again, watching in sheer admiration as the merchants and Cefia began haggling with gusto. By the time discussions neared closing, the moon had traveled quite some distance across the sky, and Derick guessed there were only a few hours of night left. Cefia had an iron will, she unflinchingly challenged the merchant's offers, and nearly reduced the shorter man to tears near the end of their discussion.

"Alright! Have it you way!" The taller merchant counted out a sizeable amount of coins, slipped them into a pouch and offered it to Cefia. He almost seemed to be pleading her to just take it so they could leave, the horse nearly forgotten.