Stubbornness Can Only Get You So Far

[Caitrin de Archer]

Caitrin looked around her, and was finally starting to come to terms with the fact that she was lost. It wasn’t something she wanted to admit of course, but she had been walking round in this godforsaken wood for hours now, and she was sure she had passed the same spot at least three times. Of course the longer she stayed in the woods, the more agitated and stressed she became. She needed to get back onto the road, except she had no idea what direction that was in. Every time she heard a noise she panicked, and spun around, and now she felt paranoid, and uncomfortable. It had rained that afternoon, and she had been unable to find shelter in time, so her dress was now sticking uncomfortably to her skin; it hadn’t dried at all and her hem line was completely ruined with a mixture of mud, ripped threads and rain water. All in all, she looked and felt like a complete mess. Her cheeks were tear stained; her cheek almost red raw with the amount of times she had rubbed it with her forearm.

Running off from Richard had seemed like such a good idea at the time, she wasn’t even sure he had it in him to get her back home anyway, so she had probably been right to leave. She would be fine as soon as she found the road; she was sure of that. Caitrin looked up, that was much easier said rather than done. She couldn’t see anything but trees, and night was setting in around her. Caitrin grabbed onto the nearest tree, nearly slipping on a piece of loose earth. She cried out a little before steadying herself, only now realising how exhausted she was. Though she felt like she hadn’t made much progress today, she still had walked a great deal. Caitrin pressed her lips together, and coughed loudly; she was still sobbing, though she hardly noticed that she was, it had become somewhat normal for her state of mind at the moment.

Again she slipped, only this time she didn’t get up. Her dress was now completely ruined; it was mostly drenched in mud, and she didn’t even have the energy to try and fix it. Caitrin couldn’t imagine what she looked like, neither did she want to. She sobbed silently; the tears rolling down her cheeks. She was tired, irritated and she looked like she’d been dragged through every hedge in Albion. It was not raining anymore, but that wasn’t much comfort to her now. Caitrin felt desperate, and rubbed her eyes with her sleeve once more. She stood, and managed to make it a few more steps before setting herself down on a patch of ground which was a little drier. Her head shot up as she heard someone in the distance, “Hello?” she called, aware she was virtually unarmed, well, she would not hesitate to use her magic if she had to now, not given the circumstances, “Who’s there?”

[Richard de Calys]

Richard smiled to himself. He'd heard a noise just out of sight and had hoped it was Caitrin, but now that he'd just heard her voice it was a certainty. He stopped smiling rather suddenly. That sort of thing wouldn't do. Part of him was still annoyed that she'd wandered off by herself and he'd had to go and look for her. While he'd been searching he hadn't really being paying attention to where he was so there was a very likely chance that they were now even further from Camelot. Well wasn't that just brilliant? The girl was certainly more trouble than she was worth, and he so wanted to just leave her to it, but he'd already got this far and he wasn't about to give up his money.

“Who do you think?” He asked, not bothering to try to sound less annoyed, as he approached her. For some reason she was just sitting on the ground. Had she really given up so easily? He'd expected a little more fight, but no, she was just sitting on some grass. He pressed his lips together, giving her a quizzical look. “Are you planning on getting up?”

If she was trying some stupid game again she could stop that right now. Richard wasn't in the mood for her stubbornness. He was still tired and still in quite a lot of pain – both of which were her fault – and just wanted to not be in the damn woods any more. What he certainly didn't want was to waste his time trying to persuade her to stop being childish and actually be useful, although he couldn't help but think her compliance was not going to easily given.