Black Eyes To Blue

- 1 -

With a shout Mardston bolted upright. Gulping for air, he wiped the sweat off his forehead. Putting his head back he let out a deep breath let the warm tropical air flow over his face and unslashed neck. Taking a moment of solace that his nightmare was just another nightmare, that the real thing was over, and that he was as far away from the cold as he could get. "Pretty bad dream huh?". Startled, he let out another shout, and leapt out of bed. Reaching for the knife that would have been on his belt, if he was actually wearing his pants at that particular moment, he scanned the room looking for the source of that voice.

The room of the inn was exactly as he remembered leaving it the day before, aside from a few key differences. The chair to the desk was knocked over, the desk itself was all askew and was completely cleaned off, all of its normal contents having all been spread over the floor. Besides that, all he could see all of his clothes spread everywhere as usual, and unusually what looked like an extra set. An extra set that almost certainly belonged to the young Elven woman sitting cross legged on the straw bed, with an amused look on her face. Gesturing at her nightgown she said, "Sorry for being a bit overdressed, I got a bit bored waiting for you to finish your little episode, so I went and got you a pitcher of cold water from the cellar. Hope that makes up for the lack of the show I normally would be giving you right about now!"

Mardston was silent for a long involuntary moment. The mention of cold water turned the groggy morning fog into what it really was, a tremendous pounding headache. When he finally regained enough control over his mind he managed to stammer, "Why is there a fuckin' Elf in my bed?"

Before collapsing back down onto the straw and covering his eyes with his hands, in a vain attempt to shield his eyes from the piercing rays of the early dawn.

"Oh wow, that's a new one. Genuinely haven't heard that one before. Normally is 'Who are you'? Or 'What's your name'? Haven't had anyone's opening line just go straight to racist before. Sheesh. Better add that one to the list and then cross it off!" She stated dryly. Her amused look evolving into a full on smirk, followed by her adjusting her position on the bed to face him more evenly. Saying in undeniably mocking tone, "Aww you hurt my feelings... Aren't you going to apologize to little 'ole me? You're making me sad."

Peeking through his fingers he looks up to see her staring down at him, a bit closer than she had to be, her face puckered up in a fake pout. Mardston stammered for a moment, trying to find his words, before closing up his fingers and stating mechanically and insincerely, "I am sorry I called you a fucking Elf. I just have previous bad experiences with Elves that leads me to a mutual distrust between me and the rest of your race. I am sure you are a wonderful person. Whatever happened that resulted in you being here now was fun while it lasted. Now I would like it if you could gather your things and we can part ways. There. Happy?"

"Wow. Just wow!" Barking out a sharp laugh, she continued. "That is the biggest pile of shit I have ever heard. I can tell that you are trying really really hard to scare me off, trying to be the biggest asshole you possibly can. So I don't learn your precious little secrets!"

Leaning in closer, she purrs softly into his ear. "Which is a real shame, because I already know them all...!".

This was the wrong thing to say. The moment the words left her lips, she could see him tense up slightly, as if getting readying himself to lash out. The young woman didn't even flinch, if anything her resolve seemed to fortify.

"For instance. I know for a fact that you always had a thing for Elves, specifically ones with the long snow white hair." Taking a dramatic pause to give a little wink and brush her hair back over her shoulder, she continued, "So, me essentially! Oh, and that you have always felt that way, long before your drunk brain decided to follow through with last night by justifying it as 'slaying' one of the enemy as revenge for what happened in Wrentset Grove. Not your most Chivalrous thought, that one. I really am disappointed. I mean seriously? You were thinking 'slay'? Eww. Gross. Though I guess jokes on me, I am here the next day after all."