Companions
a The Conjurer Princess story
by Ren
Lylene nudged open the rickety wooden door, and walked into the unexpectedly small room, dropping her belongings on the floor. Weiland followed suit.
"I told you that you should've taken one of these...or at least let me make you one for today," Lylene gestured to the strange, synthetic coverall she wore over her clothes. Water droplets beaded along the outside, and dripped off, leaving her dry.
Weiland, still dripping in the doorway, glared at her. Even after all they'd been through, he was still mistrustful of her powers. When she had learned the name of her sister's kidnapper, she had given up everything to find her. After seeking out the wizard, Harkta, and working day and night for him like his slave, she had received the power to duplicate objects temporarily. Of course, with that came the consequences: she become old. Fortunately, she was able to transfer years to anyone she touched, and gradually had shed her years until she was once again a young woman.
Lylene glanced at her mercenary companion, and on noticing his glare, looked away. By the time she turned around again, the door was blowing shut in the wind, and Weiland was gone. She sighed, and went about putting her things away.
By the time Weiland had returned, thoroughly drenched to the bone, Lylene was asleep. She had decided to take the floor, instead of taking the risk of facing Weiland and arguing with him if he came back in one of his moods. She had also decided that he could take first watch, since he had left so suddenly, though it was not at all unusual for him to leave without saying anything.
Slowly he began to remove his weapons, pulling knives out of who-knew-where and placing them on the floor. Lylene stirred, and opened her eyes in time to see him pull his shirt over his head. Her heart fluttered, and she silently berated herself for weakening like that. Not until she noticed him shivering did she decide to speak.
"You're back," was all she said.
He glanced at her, as if having known she was awake, and simply gave her a look that said What did you expect?
She shrugged at his unasked question, and quietly pointed out the obvious.
"You're shivering."
This time it was he who looked away. Stunned, she stared at him. Only one other time since she'd met him had he every avoided her eyes; they had been trying to escape the Lord Theron's castle, and he had been teaching her to use a crossbow.
"Here, pull it up closer, like this," he had said, putting his arms around her to steady the weapon. He had stepped away, eyes averted, as she herself uncomfortably lowered her eyes.
She snapped back to reality in time to hear him mutter a short,
"I'm fine."
Deciding not to press the issue, she rolled over and said nothing more.
The next morning, Lylene awoke groggily to an unfamiliar sound.
"H-nxxt!"
She looked over to the bed, and saw Weiland sitting on the edge, both shirt and weapons back on, his hand to his face. His eyes were closed, so he did not see her watching him. His breathing became shallow once more, and he quickly pinched the end of his nose.
"H-nxxt! H-mpft! H-pfft!"
Lylene winced and the harsh, contained sound, and realized that this was the first time she'd ever heard him sneeze. This was also the most vulnerable she'd ever seen him.
"Good morning," she said, feeling guilty for spying on him.
Startled, he lost his concentration on the last, lingering sneeze, and had to settle for burying his face in the crook of his arm.
"Heh-ISHT!"
"Bless you," she said quietly. As expected, he scowled at her, and got up to leave.
"Where are you going?" she questioned.
He muttered something about her always having to know everyone else's business and strode out the door, slamming it behind him. She stared at the door a moment, then got up and prepared to go out and look for job prospects.
After a long day in town, Lylene gathered up her papers that she had received and began walking back to their lodging. As she walked, she quickly glanced through the pile at the job offers.
Dragon taken up residence in town, outlaws raided nearby village, local virgins kidnapped for sacrifice, the usual, she thought. Of course, she'd have to talk it over with Weiland before she accepted any of the offers. She reached the small, wooden room and placed the papers on the table in the corner. She then gathered up her blanket and prepared herself for a long night's watch.
She was having a difficult time staying awake, when she heard someone coughing harshly from outside. The door creaked open and she identified the culprit: Weiland. He looked over and saw her sitting on the floor. "Why are you awake?" he asked, looking surprised to see her for the second time that day.
"I...well I'd take first watch, and let you get some sleep," she answered uncertainly, purposely leaving out the bit about him looking incredibly tired.
He snorted and walked over to the bed, beginning to remove his numerous weapons once again. He had just removed his last knife, when his movements slowed, and he brought his arm up to his face. "H-scht! H-sch't! H-ISHT!" He didn't bother trying to squelch out the sound this time, she was awake anyway this time.
"Bless you," she told him.
He ignored her and removed his shirt.
"Are you sick?" she asked innocently. This time he glared at her, but held his tongue as he broke into harsh fit of coughing. Quietly she got up and sat on the bed next to him, tentatively placing her hand on his back. He didn't seem to notice until the coughing stopped, when he looked over at her.
All at once he seemed to notice their close proximity, and moved away. It was not like Weiland to make idle movements, so she knew he must be uncomfortable with their situation. "You're sick." This time is was not a question.
She knew he wanted so badly to retort something despicable, but his body had other ideas. His eyes closed slowly, and his breath hitched.
"H-ISHT! Heh...H-CSHT!" He was sounding worse by the minute.
To his chagrin, he also started shivering, and as hard as he might try, could not stop. He silently cursed himself for being brought down by such an insignificant thing as a head cold. He had faced much worse conditions than this, after all, why must he suddenly come down sick? And why was he suddenly so tired?
While he was angrily arguing with himself, he felt something being dropped over his shoulders. He turned to see Lylene placing her blanket upon his back, and returning once again to her lookout on the floor.
"Heh-SHT!"
"Bless you," she said quietly.
He hesitated. "Thank you," he said finally.
She turned in surprise, and saw him climbing into the bed. It was very unlike Weiland to show any side of weakness, and she knew he must be very sick if he had stooped to thanking her. Noticing that he was still shivering, despite the blanket, she offered,
"I could make you another one if you'd like. Blanket, I mean."
She didn't expect him to say yes, and he didn't. He did, however, seem to consider it for a moment, before his suspicions kicked in and he refused.
She nodded, silently cursing his stubbornness. Then an idea popped into her head. They had bedded together before, when it had been too cold for either one to take to the floor. Of course, they had still kept their distance. Now was not the time for that, she reasoned.
Despite his silent protest, and ignoring the look of indignation upon his face, and got up and settled herself in the bed, positioning herself so that she was leaning against the wall, Weiland against her. Gathering her courage, she pulled up the blanket and wrapped her arms around him.
Though Lylene was almost as uncomfortable as Weiland was with their situation, she knew that this was the best thing to do, and remained where she was. Weiland, she noticed, had still not said anything. Suddenly, she felt him tremble, and he released three powerful sneezes in quick succession.
"H-ISHT! Heh-ISSH! H-CHSSH!"
"Bless you."
As she felt his shivering stop, she smiled to herself.
"You know, you don't have to always be so tough...let yourself relax for once." She knew that implying weakness on his part was territory not treaded upon, but these were not the usual circumstances. Fortunately, he simply glared at her.
Eventually, she felt him relax, and upon realizing that he had fallen asleep, let herself drift off into sleep alongside her companion.
Story, Characters etc....belong to Vivian Vande Velde. This is for my own enjoyment, I am making no profit from this, and so on, and so on...
Feedback-Sure...but be nice please! This is my first fic! Just a short one tho (I've been more or less a lurker here, and decided that if I am reading all the great work that the rest of you do, the least I could do was TRY to write a fic...sorry that it's from an unfamiliar fandom!)