Like a Moonbeam There You Were

chapter 2: if you've got visions of the past

"I don't suppose you've ever been to Caed Nua?" Noora rubbed her upper lip with an idle finger as she frowned down at the map.

"No," Edér turned his head towards her, eyebrows raised. He rested his back against Adine's bulk, scratching the bear behind the ears as she let out a low rumble of contentment. Edér felt... comfortable, Noora had come to find, like a friend long parted rather than new, filling the long walks with easy chatter and pointing out every woodland animal on the way. "Can't say I make a habit of crawlin' round old ruins." His sunburned face crinkled up into a grin. "'Least, not before I met you."

"Hah!" Durance barked out an ugly laugh, and gave one of coneys roasting over the fire an impatient prod with the tip of his staff. Noora made a mental note not to eat that one. "Best you watch yourself, Eothasian, or she'll have you running at her whim like only a woman knows how!"

The two of them steadfastly ignored him.

"Hey, Aloth!" Edér called out across the fire. "You know anything about Caed Nua?"

"Pardon?" Aloth, nose-deep in his grimoire, looked up for what must have been the first time since they'd set down camp. He had the grace, at least, to give an embarrassed cough. "Oh... yes. No, I'm afraid I know very little about the place." His thumb rubbed at the corner of a page, smoothing down a dog-ear. "But if there is a Watcher there, I'm sure his expertise will prove invaluable with your predicament, Noora." His smile to her was small but encouraging, and she returned it readily. She liked Aloth, even if he did turn green about the gills when she tried to show him how to field-dress a hare. He was often quiet, even reticent at times, but he was polite and thoughtful, and the first since the bîaŵac to offer her his friendship, and that counted for more than she could say.

"I suppose we'll find out when we get there." She sighed and rolled up the map, tucking it carefully into a belt pouch.

Durance grunted.

"Would get there a lot faster, Watcher, if you stopped taking on burdens from every poor sod with a problem along the way."

"Anyway," Noora continued, pointedly not looking at him. "I promised Aufra I'd speak with the herbalist down in Anslög's Compass, so we may head that way first."

"Sure, why not?" Edér fished his pipe out from his pack, tapping it a couple times against his bracer. "Could use a day at the beach. Reckon they have seals out there? Heard tell they're like some kinda big sea dogs."

Aloth's face crumpled into a mischievous grin, the same one he wore in spurts days ago, taunting drunks before the Black Hound. He ambled over from his spot by the fire and gave Noora a playful nudge in the ribs.

"'Twill be a right fine sight, watchin him swim all round in circles chasin the puir beasties." His eyes glimmered.

"You never know," Noora snickered, despite herself. "He might find an animal friend of his own and stop hogging mine!"

Adine gave a sleepy moan of complaint, and Edér chuckled.

"Ain't my fault if I have a way with the ladies." He lit his pipe with a wink, stretching out against the bear's furry back. "Gotta say, I like this side of you, Aloth. Get your head out of them books some."

"It is good to see you feeling more relaxed around us." Noora smiled at Aloth, gave him a friendly box on the arm, like she'd done with her brother a hundred times before. It was more more awkward, hesitant, doing that to someone not family, but there was still something comfortingly familiar about it.