You Owe Me a Son

I'm a lady.

Hal smiled to himself for a moment, taking a second to remove the feed bag. "Rain...." Setting the feed bag down he turned his attention towards Blaire. The smirk on her lips held his attention, usually his glances were fleeting but this time his attention remained on her this time.  "Rain it is...." The smile on his lips was genuine for the first time as he moved to step past her. Where he would usually take lengths to keep some distance this time he did not, allowing his fingers to graze against her's momentarily.

"You didn't eat this morning. Maybe it's time we didn't sit in silence.....The liquor here is a bit better than what you've been drinking at home." His fingers lingered for a moment longer gazing at her from the corner of his eyes before he stepped away and made his way towards the barn doors. "The hors....Rain will be fine here for the night"

With that he hefted his belt out of the back of the cart and made his way out into the sunset on the street. There was a cooler breeze and the dimming sun was a pleasant contrast to the weather that morning. The inn was on the other side of the town.

The inn was dimly lit by beeswax candles, the tables were packed but thankfully there was a table free to the left hand side of the room. The wax had dripped onto the table top forming a pool of yellow on dark oak. The scrape of chairs against the floor and laughter filled the air. Not something Hal would want to sit in every day but there was a happy smile on his face as he sank into the hard wooden chair.

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Blaire felt her chest tighten as his rough fingers glided against hers, she pretended not to notice but a month of no physical touch from another human weakened her defences. She wanted to pull her arm away from his reach, but the warmth was soothing and her body had won over her mind. "T-that would be nice" she managed to smile and pulled away from him to pet Rain once more before they left.

They walked slowly towards the inn, both of them taking in their surroundings and the orange glow the sun left around them. It was finally peaceful, just enough noise to keep her mind at ease and a new landscape to admire.

She almost skipped to the entrance of the inn, excited to taste some proper wine and ale compared to what they had brewing in the back of their cupboard. Blaire made her way inside and examined every inch of the small room with wide eyes. She had been involved with the war for a long time, even before she was fighting it had effected her home life and she hadn't manage to explore all the normalities of life. People were sat talking, laughing, eating and drinking without a worry in the world, it seemed perfect.

"You know, we wouldn't have to sit in silence if you had just said something..." She mumbled while taking a seat on the sturdy wooden chair. "It's been a month and you still haven't done what you wedded me for, we could just get this all over with. I can give you what you want and we can go our separate ways" she spoke as if it was simple, but she knew it was far from it.

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Hal sat in silence for a few moments following her statement, tempted to withdraw the effort he had put in that day, to take a step back and go back to their silence. He decided against it. He left the table abruptly and returned with a wooden jug of wine and a metal tankard of ale along with two wooden cups. "You're right we could just be done with it. You'd carry a child for 9 moons, then feed it for a following year then you could go. I'm sure by that point you won't have formed any attachment to the child at all..." He offered, sarcasm laced with his words as he poured himself a cup of ale.

"Even if you could walk away after that, the child would grow up without a mother and one day search for you no doubt...If it's as stubborn as you it certainly will." That comment brought a smile to his lips. "If it's a boy what example would I be setting if his conception was forced. If it's a girl how could I look at her and not worry she fall into such a situation herself." His eyes were fixed on the wooden cup in front of him before he took a slow mouthful. Replacing the cup on the table in front of him.