An untimely arrival

[Caitrin de Archer]

Rouland had polished his wine off and was now incredibly bored. His friend had given him amusement for sometime but it couldn’t last because the man was far too occupied with his wife to give Rouland any real humour. That was the problem with these gatherings, everyone came in pairs. He looked around the dancers, expecting to see his niece amongst the proceedings. He was perturbed to find that wasn’t the case, instead, he couldn’t see her at all. The corner of his mouth twitched and the first thing he wondered was that perhaps she had left the feast because of that silly man. Then again, she would have dragged him out with her, and her cloak was still in the seat she had first taken up.
Taking another goblet of wine, because clearly that would help, he engaged a young blonde serving girl who bobbed her head to him,

“Have you seen my niece, the Lady Caitrin?” He asked quickly and the girl looked hesitantly round her, as if wanting someone else to deliver the news, “Are you deaf girl?” He asked and she shook her head defiantly,

“I saw her leave the hall earlier, but further than that I cannot say.” Rouland didn’t like this, he hadn’t sensed Caitrin had any particular feelings for Griflet but even Rouland could be wrong sometimes. The last thing he needed was her making a fool of herself in the hub of society. He tore out of the room, determined to find Caitrin and demand an explanation.

...

Caitrin couldn’t feel the cold air in the gardens anymore. The combination of Griflet holding her close to him and the fact she had become lost in his kisses meant that shivering was the last thing on her mind. Caitrin couldn’t describe what she was feeling, it was a mixture of happiness and a need for Griflet; a need for his touch. As Griflet pressed his body against hers, her mind stopped working, everything she was feeling was just for him which was an odd experience for Caitrin. She had never let herself become this emotional over a man, she had never let herself get this involved. Caitrin wasn’t going to pretend she had embraced many noblemen like this, because she hadn’t, but this felt special and unique. It probably wasn’t, but the important thing was that she felt it was, and she was experiencing it with Griflet.

She grinned against his lips after he spoke and stroked a few strands of hair from his face and purred, “You know I'm amazing, no what was the word you used? Fantastic." Then, as he sunk his lips into hers she felt his warm hands stroking up and down her sides. She broke off their kiss unintentionally, concentrating on his touch and how it felt. Her body broke out in a shudder wherever he touched and it just intensified her feelings that she wanted this; she wanted him.

As he looked down at her, Caitrin felt that for one of the first times since they had met, she was looking at Griflet genuinely. His smug grin had been banished from his face, and now was more like her own smile; full of joy, excitement and probably a twinge of lust. She beamed as he spoke, glad he was in agreement with her, and not wishing he had stayed inside in the cold with that stupid brunette woman. She didn’t kiss him again, she didn’t feel like she had to. Instead, she took a hand and stroked his face gently, his cheek felt cold and it was a reminder that they were still stood outside in the pitch black and the cold. She carried on regardless and ran her fingers through his hair, “I wonder how many women you would have run after, in the dead of night, to a freezing garden.” She gave a small laugh as her hand came to rest on the back of his neck and it was now she gave him a short peck on the lips, lingering for longer than she should before drawing away. Although his lips were entwined with the cold night air, they still felt warm and inviting to Caitrin. She watched him for a few moments, content with just being in his embrace.

“I wasn’t aware this is how you treated men you despised niece.” Caitrin jumped massively and spun around, even through the dark she could see her Uncle, lazily leaning against the entrance to the gardens with a signature goblet of wine at his finger tips. Rouland stepped forwards, realising how cold the night air really was but ignored it for a moment, “I must congratulate you Griflet.” He laughed, not bothering with formalities, he'd seen enough of his and Caitrin's embrace to know it wasn't needed. He took, in a glug of wine and gestured to Caitrin with the goblet, “She hasn’t chased you off yet.”
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[Griff Aubert]

Griff rolled his eyes, still smiling. “That’s the last time I pay you a compliment if you’re going to behave like this.” So much for him being the one with the massive ego.

At her comment, he looked off into the distance, furrowing his brow and pressing his lips together as if trying to remember just how many women he had run after, in the dead of night, to a freezing garden. There had to be at least one. He’d fallen into a freezing river whilst running after a woman, but that didn’t count and he probably shouldn’t mention that in front of Caitrin. It would probably ruin the moment. “Do you know I think you’re the first, but then any other woman would’ve jumped on me in the forest.” His cocky grin was back and turned out to be quite hard to maintain when she was kissing him again, but he struggled through. He was good at cocky, even when his mind was occupied with other things; at the moment his mind was very occupied with other things. Or at least it was.

Griff copied Caitrin’s actions of jumping back, and almost losing his balance in the process which would have been horribly embarrassing but hopefully neither Caitrin nor Rouland noticed so it was probably all good. He had known enough fathers to know that they shouldn’t be around when he was trying to seduce their daughters, and even though Rouland was Caitrin’s uncle he was pretty sure he could cause him quite a lot of pain. Like most sane people, he didn’t particularly like pain so he made sure to keep his distance and told his legs that they should be well prepared for running.

Despite Rouland’s laugh Griff was still uneasy. Normally fathers – or uncles, whatever – were not quite so cheerful when he was around, and he was therefore quite unsure how to react. For all he knew Rouland could be genuinely amused, or he could be about to punch Griff in the face. Either way, he was feeling quite uncomfortable. And Rouland was drinking. Brilliant. Well. He couldn’t really see this ending well, so he opted for blind denial and reminded his legs that they’d better be ready otherwise they might end up broken. “Erm, funny thing actually. You see Cait here ran off and erm...well I was worried for her safety, being the gentleman that I am,” the hand gestures probably weren’t helping, but they were going to continue anyway, “well, I had to make sure she was alright and well...” he laughed nervously, “So how are you enjoying yourself? I see you’ve got some wine, there, good, good thing wine. I’m sure you wouldn’t want to spill it so I’m just going to,” he clicked his fingers and pointed to the entrance of the hall, “go back inside and...not be here...”

[Rouland de Archer]

Rouland was glad, smugly so, that his entrance had received the reaction he had wanted it to. He had to confess he had expected a bigger reaction from Griflet, as he knew Caitrin would not be overtly fazed by his presence, but that would have to do for now. After all, the boy had nearly fallen over. The distance was allowing Griflet too much freedom and Rouland smirked, stepping towards the pair. Despite both of them flying from their embrace at his words, they were still close enough for him to keep one eye on each as he stopped before them. This was a first for Rouland, he had never caught his niece at anything like this. For all he knew, there could have been many instances of this, but as Rouland never came to dances he had never caught her at it. Perhaps he would enjoy functions like this more if it involved men squirming under his presence as he was expecting Griflet was doing right now.

His goblet felt heavy in his hand so he drained some of the liquid, catching his niece rolling her eyes at him. She of course knew full well that he was merely amused by the situation, but Griflet did not so he decided to have some fun and toy with the boy, after all, it would be rude to pass up an opportunity such as this again. Caitrin didn’t even try to speak, she didn’t really need to, anyway, Griflet got there first. At his second pause Rouland pursed his lips together and gave a hearty laugh and interrupted him.

“Caitrin did not tell me you fancied yourself as some sort of physician as well? Forgive me, but I have not heard of a technique which involves checking someone’s health through their lips.” He put more emphasis than was really needed on his last word and flashed Caitrin a grin before drinking again. What made this situation more amusing, in Rouland’s eyes, was the fact that Griiflet had been so well spoken and sure of himself in the Great hall and was now reduced to nothing more than a babbling mess. He could see Caitrin was mildly amused as well as she was watching him with her eyes raised, one hand nervously fiddling with her belt, the other at her side.

As he set off into a babble, both Caitrin and Rouland looked at each other before looking back to Griflet. Rouland was probably enjoying himself more now than he had in months. He had Griflet exactly where he wanted him, so he was hardly going to let the fun just slip through his fingers was he? Caitrin, for her part, was uneasy that Griflet was so quick to leave, she stepped back towards him at his last words and put a hand on his shoulder, giving him a quick, knowing smile and would have spoken but her Uncle got there first.

“You cannot enjoy a function without wine,” Rouland replied quickly. It was one of the things Rouland was famous for, he did enjoy his drink but was seldom seen past the stage of tipsy which usually puzzled most people. Caitrin smirked at her Uncle, but she was sure Griflet had not seen her as his eyes were set between the door and her Uncle. “Leave?” Rouland repeated, half laughing and putting his weight to one side, “Why would you want to leave? Were you not out here to check if my niece was alright?” He asked him, one eye brow raised as he drained the last of his cup, “Why should my bring here change that?” He cocked his head to one side confidently, it was safe to say he was enjoying himself. He stepped up to Griflet, they were at about the same height so it was easy to maintain his air of arrogance at having the upper hand in the situation. “And anyway, who says I have finished with you both yet?”

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[Griff Aubert]

Griff had been wrong when he thought he couldn’t feel any more uncomfortable. Very, very wrong. He still couldn’t tell whether Rouland was just messing with him, or if there was going to be physical violence involved, so he was trying to be on his best behaviour and not come out with some very unhelpful comment about how he was in fact finding her body temperature through her lips as that had been proved as a prime body temperature finding out spot, or something like that, he hadn’t got that far in his explanation.

He clapped his hands together and grinned nervously. It wasn’t rare that Griff got nervous, but when he did it was horribly obvious and usually horribly embarrassing. “Yes, well...it’s a new field...the erm, the lip thing. But she’s fine, hurray...” he put his arms up, hands in fists, celebrating Caitrin’s apparent well-being, why he did that he didn’t know, but it had felt like a good thing to do at the time. In hindsight it really wasn’t. “So, isn’t that...good.” He really, really wanted to run away now. He was quite sure that he couldn’t possibly make a bigger fool out of himself – something that was definitely a rarity and not at all to his liking, where had his cool, casual and cocky self gone? It seemed to Griff that he had been abandoned and was now reduced to babbling like a fool, at least it was coherent, or he thought it was coherent; he wasn’t really paying attention to what he was saying.

Why was Rouland still talking to him? Surely he’d been made to suffer enough. He was quite certain that Rouland was more interested in humiliating Griff than attacking him, so at least that was something. But then he didn’t much care for being humiliated either. He tried to compose himself so he gave himself a mental slap (something he was always doing in Caitrin’s company, it seems), cleared his throat and told himself quite firmly that he was going to stop being an idiot. “Well, as you can see,” for some reason he was presenting Caitrin to Rouland with almost jazz-hand gestures. He didn’t know why. “she’s quite well, so my services are no longer required.” He tried to walk away again but was stopped by Rouland’s words. Clearly his humiliation was far from being over. Wonderful.

[Caitrin de Archer]

Caitrin kept looking back to her Uncle and to Griflet. She knew her Uncle would be loving every moment of his speeches. He often liked to have the upper hand which is why she and he clashed so much; their personalities were much alike. For her part, Caitrin was amused by Griflet’s sudden change in personality. Not once since meeting him had he been like this, not even when she had denied him in the forest, but now under her Uncle’s glare he was squirming, and Caitrin had to stop herself laughing. She was nervous of course, nervous at what her Uncle would say. He would probably take her home before shouting though, he would hardly do it publically. He had to embarrass Griflet publically because he had no other option, but no, his harsh words would come to her later, followed by a letter to her beloved father about how she had finally found a suitor.

Caitrin had kept quiet so far, she knew her Uncle was toying with Griflet but she found his reaction intriguing. This was a man who so far had an answer for everything, but instead was falling over his words and resembled nothing more than a blushing fool at the moment. She cocked her head back, one hand resting more casually at her side and she stepped towards Griflet. Her Uncle went to reply to him, considering Griflet’s reply to him,

“Pity, if I had known such a technique at your age perhaps women would have been easier to come by.” He shrugged and took another swig of wine, smacking his lips against the taste and swirling the cup, watching inside it before he continued, “Do you think I’m a complete idiot?” He asked now, staring up at the man, letting him know he knew exactly what his intentions were out here with his niece. Although he was glad that Caitrin had finally allowed herself to venture out into the world of suitors, he did not like how it had been done.

Caitrin slipped her fingers through one of Griflet’s hands, just letting him know she was there. She wasn’t quite sure what he was feeling because he certainly wasn’t acting himself. She breathed out slowly but didn’t move any closer to Griflet but waited for him to address her Uncle; it was not her place to chip into the conversation, not yet anyway.

Rouland stepped in front of Griflet as he went to leave, he wasn’t going to allow some boy to just walk away from him. He was Rouland de Archer and he decided when the conversation was over. Caitrin, behind Griflet, bit her lip out of nervousness, she had never encountered her Uncle in this situation and though she knew he was a bit angry, she didn’t know how angry he was or where that could lead them. Rouland held his hand out in a stopping gesture to Griflet and raised an eye brow at him,

“If you are that intent on leaving then go ahead.” He swept his cloak out of the way and gave the man free passage from the gardens. He leaned into him now, talking straight into his ear so that Caitrin could no longer hear them, “But if your intentions are as honourable as you babble then surely you aren’t just going to turn your back on her without bidding goodnight.” Rouland found by the end of his words he was angry, but family ties were something and although Caitrin was irritated he hardly wanted her to be miserable. After all, if she was annoyed after tonight it only meant a headache for Rouland for the next week, “For I and Caitrin are leaving now.”

[Griff Aubert]

Griff wasn’t sure whether or not he should laugh at Rouland’s comment. He opted for not as it was a reaction that would probably result in less pain and hopefully less embarrassment. He was becoming more confident that he wasn’t going to be punched in the face, but even so, he was going to take the risk.

At Rouland’s next words he swallowed and tried to stop looking so bloody scared because it really wasn’t an attractive feature, and he wasn’t supposed to be scared. He was supposed to be cocky and confident and inappropriate. Such things were rather difficult in front of Rouland however. He scratched his neck, one of those annoying habits he had that let people know he was nervous. He cleared his throat again, because if he hadn’t his voice would probably have been cracked and squeaky and that certainly wouldn’t have helped. “No, my lord. I do not take you for an idiot at all.” He really shouldn’t be so proud of himself for managing to speak coherently, but he was.

And then Caitrin held his hand, and everything felt alright again. He squeezed her hand, appreciating the gesture; although small it was managing to make him feel a hell of a lot better given the situation. He looked at her briefly, flashing her a smile, to let her know just how much she was appreciated right now, before looking back at Rouland and hoping the situation would instantly get better. It sort of did, in a way, but not before Griff was made as uncomfortable as humanly possible as Rouland spoke in his ear. But they were leaving, and as much as he didn’t want Caitrin to leave he really really didn’t want to be near Rouland anymore.

He waited until Rouland declared that he and Caitrin were leaving before acting on the man’s words. He nodded courteously in acknowledgement of his words and then turned to Caitrin. He was probably taking quite the risk in being so open and intimate with Caitrin in front of Rouland, but for some reason he found himself not caring just at the moment. He was still holding her hand so he kept it, bowed and kissed her hand, squeezing it again. “My lady, I hope I have the pleasure of your company soon.”

He turned to Rouland, not particularly looking forward to conversing with him, but it was a necessary evil if he was to escape the man’s presence. “My lord,” he bowed, lower than he had done to Caitrin, “It was certainly a pleasure meeting you.”

[Caitrin de Archer]

Caitrin decided, there and then, she would never let Griflet forget this little gathering outside. He was squirming under Roulands gaze and Caitrin couldn’t really help but be amused by it. If Griflet was worried her Uncle would do little more than spit words at him then he was a fool because anyone who knew Rouland knew him, and violence never went hand in hand. He was too worried of ruining his looks and his clothes. She felt a bit sorry for Griflet as he looked half terrified at her Uncle’s words. It annoyed Caitrin that Griflet was leaving, she really didn’t want him to leave. Then again, she didn’t want her Uncle to keep Griflet squirming in his stare so it was probably for the best. Anyway, she supposed that their next meeting would not be long off, as they were defiantly leaving on better terms than last time they had bid each other good bye. Caitrin smiled at Griflet as he kissed her hand. Dutifully as he released his and she swept into a courtesy, “I hope so too my Lord.” She leant up to him, past his ear and whispered, “Come and visit me soon.”

Rouland nodded stiffly at Griflet’s words, bowing his head to the man, he would remember his manners at least and grinned,

“It was certainly... interesting.” Griflet left them both in the gardens alone and Rouland turned to Caitrin, a wide grin running across his face and Caitrin folded her arms,

“There was no need for that Uncle.” Rouland smirked, and finished off his wine, setting the goblet down in the gardens,

“There was every need niece,” he waved her protest away and Caitrin folded her arms, irritated by him and began to walk towards the Great Hall, “Where are you going?” Caitrin spun around and raised her eye brows at her Uncle,

“My cloak is still in the Great Hall, I will retrieve it and then meet you by the horses.” She went to go but Rouland held her back,

“I do not think so niece, I will retrieve your cloak, you will ready the horses.” She pulled her hand from his grasp and bobbed her head to him and walked off in the direction of the stables, leaving Rouland feeling incredibly smug, and sure he could manage another quick goblet before he had to leave.