100th Ashan, 718: A long time after this!
"It's well posh here, innit?" Vega said, delight on her face as they walked arm in arm. It would be easy to consider that the pleasure she was feeling was because of the upper class nature of their surroundings, but that didn't concern or impress her in the slightest. No, the delight she felt was from the fact that they had wandered through Rharne all trial long, hand in hand and looking in shops, stopping for lunch and spending a whole trial just doing the sort of tourist thing and she had felt no pain, no twinges, nothing. She hadn't needed to stop and rest, there had been no attempts at hiding her winces from him because they hadn't existed. And there were a lot of steps. But it had been seven trials since they'd danced together at her cousins' weddings and for all that Arlo claimed he had two left feet, it had delighted her. "So, about this date what I am inviting you on," she said, suddenly. It was the last two trials of the season, she said, and the first of Ymiden. There'd be three nights, and there were things planned on each of those nights. There was a wine tasting followed by a dinner then dance on the first of their evenings there, then on the second there was a formal masked ball sort of affair. It was the third night which had intrigued her, though, and had been the reason for booking it. "Then, there's a dinner an' murder mystery. Apparently, it's a kind of thing where you pretend to be someone else an' they give you a role an' try an' solve the mystery." With a slight shrug she added, "An' there's an outdoor swimmin' pool an' an indoor one, too, hot baths an' stuff. It's near a woodlands, so we can go explorin' an' there's lots to do. If you wanna?" Now that she said it, she wondered whether it was, in fact, something else. "But if it sounded good when I couldn't walk but now it sounds right dull, that's a'right. I don't mind." She didn't, not in the slightest.
After all, she teased him with the colours swirling in her eyes as she looked at him. "It isn't a sweet shop. I mean, I'm jus' never livin' up to that, am I? Highlight of our love life that was. Most romantic you've ever been." Bumping her shoulder against his she was quiet for a moment and then added, "an' was the first time I'd laughed that hard in a long time. Since the Death Forged Rose." Come to think of it, she said, she hadn't been as mad as she got at Officer Flopsy in a long time either.
Slipping her arm around his waist, Vega hugged herself against him as they walked. She had spent quite a ridiculous amount of money, in her eyes, in Sarah's Silks and she'd enjoyed the trial of just wandering with him. It was probably time that they needed to start to think about heading back home - their campsite being where she meant when she said that, but then, as they walked past a notice board, Vega stopped suddenly dead in her tracks.
"Arlo," she said, and stepped over to the bulletin board; when she got there she reached up and ripped down a piece of parchment. Vega still didn't read particularly well or quickly, but she continued to practice as much as she could and she'd started reading the books he had, simply for something to practice with. "Look here," she said, with a frown on her face. "I know that name. Shavelle. Shavelle. Where 'ave I heard that before?"
Mister Shavelle wanted some people to accompany him on a journey through the stormlands on the morrow and Vega searched her brain trying to find the information. Shaking her head, she looked at Arlo. "Who is it?"
After all, she teased him with the colours swirling in her eyes as she looked at him. "It isn't a sweet shop. I mean, I'm jus' never livin' up to that, am I? Highlight of our love life that was. Most romantic you've ever been." Bumping her shoulder against his she was quiet for a moment and then added, "an' was the first time I'd laughed that hard in a long time. Since the Death Forged Rose." Come to think of it, she said, she hadn't been as mad as she got at Officer Flopsy in a long time either.
Slipping her arm around his waist, Vega hugged herself against him as they walked. She had spent quite a ridiculous amount of money, in her eyes, in Sarah's Silks and she'd enjoyed the trial of just wandering with him. It was probably time that they needed to start to think about heading back home - their campsite being where she meant when she said that, but then, as they walked past a notice board, Vega stopped suddenly dead in her tracks.
"Arlo," she said, and stepped over to the bulletin board; when she got there she reached up and ripped down a piece of parchment. Vega still didn't read particularly well or quickly, but she continued to practice as much as she could and she'd started reading the books he had, simply for something to practice with. "Look here," she said, with a frown on her face. "I know that name. Shavelle. Shavelle. Where 'ave I heard that before?"
Mister Shavelle wanted some people to accompany him on a journey through the stormlands on the morrow and Vega searched her brain trying to find the information. Shaking her head, she looked at Arlo. "Who is it?"