BUT WHERE'S YOUR HEART? ; RICHARD

[Alegra Silvertongue]

Her brows shot up in annoyance. "Would you be fine if you were two inches long and boneless, and abruptly smashed into a wall of steel?" she demanded to know. She actually knew very little about the matter herself, not ever having needed to since she wasn't married and her mother being too absentminded to really mention it. In fact, she wasn't even certain how one would know if they miscarried, though she had a vague recollection of when it had happened to her own mother - but that had been a decade or longer ago, and she had been shooed away from the scene before she really knew what was happening, anyway. All she truly knew was that it had made her quite sick for while - but sick in what way and how long it had been before she got sick were a mystery to her, so on this front she really had no ability to say one way or the other.

She smirked a little, though her face was hidden from view since she was still over his bloody shoulder, when he hinted that she may be lying to begin with. Smart man, she thought, though she wasn't going to abandon her case just because he'd called her out on the possibility of its falseness. "You're questioning whether or not I am?" she asked incredulously, which was not entirely forced. She'd known many people to think that someone was lying when they said they weren't pregnant, but never one to question a woman who said she was - and a man, no less! She was rather dumbfounded by it, to say the least, and supposed he must have a lot of confidence to issue such a statement. "I haven't lied yet," she reminded him, "why would this be the first one?"

She supposed she was safe on that note, at least, unless he happened to have a midwife for a mother or something; there was no way he would know more about it than she did, even as little as she knew, so it would be impossible for him to truly call her lie. She was certain that there was a period of time where there was no visible evidence at all, which was a good thing, considering that a lack thereof would be a dead give away on her small frame.

When he touched her to the ground, she felt the steam rising within her head again. "Cute," she snapped at him, thrashing a bit to try to free herself, though she knew it was essentially hopeless. Her physical prowess lied in sword fighting; she had little actual strength to speak of, though at the moment she'd have traded a lifetime of sword skills to be able to punch this egoistic knight hard enough to send him staggering. If he wasn't wearing armor, she could have at least placed a well-maneuvered kick, but he seemed to have all of the advantages here - a fact she was not fond of in the least. Once more, she considered her tear-related plan, but decided to give it just a little while longer and see what happened, not to mention that she was curious as to what he would do when (and if) he actually got her onto the horse. Unless he had rope to tie her with, she wondered how he planned to keep her on it.

She yelped once again when he shifted her to the more traditional method of carrying a woman, her eyes briefly narrowing nearly to slits. He was treating her like a toy! She had to get heavy at some point, didn't she? He couldn't carry her around forever - she hoped. However, she did find this to be a better position, as it gave her much better access and allowed him to see her face - which was currently occupied glowering daggers at him, as if she hoped the force of it would bring him to his knees. "You clearly have no regard for free will," she hissed.

[richard]

The lady proved a very logical point. Indeed, if he were two inches long, would he have been okay? Most likely not... And the fact that he was unsure if she was really pregnant or not didn't help either. If she was indeed, then he would be truly sorry. However, seeing as he was unsure of it, he didn't know how to respond to this matter. Should he be worried and inquire further? Or should he let it drop? He didn't think he had hurt the baby, but thinking and knowing were two totally different things. He was a guy, and he had no clue about childbirth at all. He had never seen it, had never watched his mother deliver his younger sister, and never planned to watch childbirth unless he had to... or the child was his own. And the last was entirely up to the midwife and the carrier of that child, of course. "Well... if I hurt the child, I am entirely sorry. But that is over now, and I can't change what I did."

Her incredulous tone made him ponder a few more moments, but he decided not to give up his case. He still doubted whether or not she was lying. If she thought she was telling the truth because of certain symptoms, it could also turn out to be a mistake, just happen to be some kind of flu. Which wouldn't be good, of course, if it had pregnancy-related symptoms... "Not entirely questioning as... stating my believes," he responded. "If I was questioning, I would inquire as to how you got pregnant, if the father knew, if you've been having morning sickness, and so on."

Yes, if he recalled correctly, when his mother was pregnant with his sister, she had frequently gotten sick in the morning, felt more exhausted then usual, craved certain foods, and was entirely in an unpleasant mood... Maybe this girl was pregnant like she insisted... She seemed moody enough. Though she wasn't very large, she didn't appear pregnant. Of course, even with his slightly curious look, he wouldn't voice these things aloud. Carrying her or no, the woman didn't seem like the kind of person that you would want to say these to. Women just seemed to be like that, and he knew that you shouldn't bring up things like size, mood swings, or even age, if you valued all of your body parts.

He knew that she didn't like his little playfulness either, As her response of "Cute," suggested. He retained his steady hold on her as she thrashed. "Steady, now. We wouldn't want to have to tell Drake about this little... mishap, would we?" Or more so... he wouldn't want to tell the man how he was carrying his sister around... He wasn't sure if the Knight would be amused, or angry at him. This was, after all, his sister, he would have to feel defensive of her, right? This thought made him wonder if he was being rather... unreasonable, perhaps? Careless? Uncharacteristically... abhorrent?

All these thoughts flew from his mind, however, when he changed his hold on her to a more casual and usual one of carrying women. She was glowering at him -- as expected, of course -- and it brought a small smile to his face as he looked up, as if he didn't notice her look in any way at all. He took another step forward, than a few more, wondering how, and if, she would resist this new position. " 'No regard for free will?' " he asked, his smile fleeing and being replaced with a small frown. "Is this what you call that? I assure you, milady, that I have much regard for free will. If it pleases you, when we return to Camelot, you may hit me for any 'insolence' I may have shown this day."

[Alegra Silvertongue]

Well, so much for throwing him into a panic of apologies - he seemed to have maintained his composure perfectly, and it irked her to no end. That was her baby he'd just smashed! Or, well... it could have been. She was pretending it was. Same difference when it came to how she should react, right? Her response was actually a lack thereof, she simply stared at him in utter incredulity, speechless. The nerve of some people - and a knight, no less!

"Stating your beliefs?" she echoed with an arched brow, and then declared, "They are the same. You speak it as a statement when mentally you're questioning the authenticity of my own statement." She shook her head in annoyance. "It's not clever to reword something for your own benefit when the receiving party is more than intelligent enough to detect it - and if you comment on my intellect, so help me..." She left the threat open ended, completely disregarding the hypocrisy of what she'd said. She'd reworded things to suit her benefit loads of times, probably had even as they were speaking - but she was peeved and that was irrelevant. Besides, she did it better, anyway.

There were almost visible ears perking forward from her head when she heard his next sentence, just before her eyes narrowed like a cat who had found a mouse. So he wanted to avoid being on bad terms with her brother, did he? Well, that was certainly something she could use against him, at least in the hopes that he was more afraid of a bad report by her than he was of him finding out he'd "left" her in the forest - as if she wasn't capable of managing on her own! Really! And her brother would no doubt agree with him to begin with after he'd laughed himself silly for a few hours, but Richard didn't have to know that - not if she ever wanted to be put on the bloody ground again. "That depends," she responded coyly, "on how it progresses. It's hardly knightly to go carting around unwilling women."

Alegra shook her head, rolling her eyes. "Freewill is not subjective to the person allowing it," she said flatly. "If you truly respected my freewill and ability to make and follow through with my own decisions, you would put me down and let me go about things on my own. Rescuing a damsel in distress doesn't count for any points when the damsel is not only not in distress, but also adverse to help." She tossed her hair - a great feat, considering her current position. "You've saved me from the atrocious bugs that otherwise would surely have eaten my poor feminine self alive, but your duty ended there. You're only continuing to be a bastard."

[richard]

"Ah, of course, milday, you prove an excellent point," he declared, looking forward the whole time, almost as if he didn't want to look into her eyes. In reality, he moreso didn't want to show her the mirth that was evident in his own. Yes, he found this amusing, more so than he would openly admit. But still amusing. Who would have thought that he would have come across such a feisty young woman in the forest? The Forest of Balor, nonetheless, and all alone? "Yet you can hardly blame me. A strange young lady, all alone in the forest, without so much as a care to bring her own horse? Should I trust all such people?" It was an indirect way of living up to her silent threat. He wasn't so much questioning her intelligence as questioning the common sense of coming to this forest. Either way. . .

He should have figured that she would use this as bait against him, he told himself. And surely that was what she planned, as some form of blackmail. Her coy words hinted at it, that she would tell her brother if he didn't listen to her. Well, she may be a noble, but so was he. There wouldn't be too much trouble if he failed to pay her heed, right? Yet, she also proved another valid point -- it was hardly knightly to carry around such unwilling women. "If I let you down, however, you wouldn't use the horse, now would you?" he asked, arching an eyebrow. While un-knightly to "cart" around women, it was also unknightly to allow a woman to walk back to Camelot on foot when there was an available horse. At least, that's how he saw it.

However, when she continued to speak, his curiousity at this woman only grew. Many women, even nobles, wouldn't openly speak in such a way. Yet, she didn't seem to care. He looked at her, a single statement showing in his brown eyes: Such a mysterious woman. He wasn't sure if he respected that, or if he should be shocked. No, he surely did respect it, she exercised her belief of free will just by her words alone. She was indeed an interesting noble. Perhaps he should show her some more respect, rather than forcing her to do what she was unwilling to do. With this respect clearly in mind, he gently placed her down and drew out his sword, placing it's tip down into the soft dirt and kneeling, his hands folded atop it and his head bowed.

"Milady Alegra, please forgive this humble knight," he said, the whole while wondering how she would react. "For he only had your best interest at heart. Please, allow me to escort you home -- in your way."

[Alegra Silvertongue]

She stared up at him, mouth agape, for several seconds before she finally blustered, "Strange young lady? Strange? Forgive me, I was unaware that fighting when I was being attacked by spiders and not appreciated being so unceremoniously hoisted off my feet without so much as my permission was strange!" She shook her head incredulously, her face the very picture of indignation. And men wondered why she didn't like them! "You don't need to trust me. In fact, you probably shouldn't. And not trusting me is just an even better reason to leave me out here to tend to my own affairs."

She arched a brow. "Quite right," she agreed dryly, "I wouldn't use the horse. I walked myself into this forest, so why shouldn't I walk myself out?" It made sense in her mind, but then, she didn't have the same sense of honor he had; he was a male dealing with a female in a very masculine world, whereas she was the female being dealt with. It made for very different perspectives.

When she found herself being put on the ground - much more gently than when she was picked up off of it - she felt her brows shoot up in shock. Not that she was complaining, as this was what she'd been trying to achieve the entire time, but she hadn't honestly believed she would get anywhere with it; from what she'd been able to tell thus far, he'd been barely swayed at all by her protests and insults. When he put knelt before his embedded sword, however, she began to suspect he was mocking her, and that was far from appreciated. But even so, she resolved to listen to whatever speech he was going to make.

Humble knight. She snorted, positive now that this was all just a joke, but when he continued on, she began to reconsider her stance on it. First of all, he'd said "your way," which was a keyword when dealing with Alegra; she was really quite fond of getting her way, after all. A mix of pride, arrogance, temper - the whole deal, really. And second, he had requested permission to escort her home rather than announced that he would, and that made all of the difference to her. "You may," she announced, pleased as a peacock. The temper was still there, bubbling under the surface if for no other reason except that she was unwilling to completely adhere to so attractive a man, but it was subdued for now. If this was going to happen under her own jurisdiction, perhaps it wouldn't be so bad to spend a bit more time with him.