This moment would be bizarrely comical were the circumstances slightly different. It's not often that you can see a dog-girl being chased by a big, fluffy, pink bunny. Of course, the blood splattering along its face and neck tend to do much to kill the humor of it and turn it more into something out of a nightmare.
"Ahhhh!" Rosy wails as she high-tails it towards the others. "It's meaner than a rat!"
The rabbit actually howls as it chases Rosy. It gets closer with each bound. In a few seconds it's sure to overtake her. Frothy, bloody, drool flies from the rabbit's mouth as it pursues!
"I did try to warn you!" Hannah calls back, tightening her grip on her sword. "Are you okay?"
Given the small distance between them, Souhait and Tristan decide it's too late to get between the rabbit and Rosy. The knightsteed tries to trample the troll-rabbit instead.
"Ahhhh!" is the dog-girl's reply.
Minstrel Sam stares at the scene, holding his lute less like a musical instrument and more like a club. "Looks like you done got us a biggun, Rosy!" he yelps, bracing for impact.
As Tristan and Souhait bear down on the rabbit, its mere inches from Rosy's back. It leaps into the air, jaws spread wide as it aims to take a huge bite out of the back of the doglin's neck ... and that's when Souhait's chest slams into the rabbit. It goes flying and soon enough there is a series of sickening crunches as the knightsteed runs over it.
Hannah starts closing in now, calling out to Tristan, "Well done, but that may not stop it for long! Remember its ears?"
"Ahhh!" Rosy yells again, although over the near miss by the rabbit or Souhait is up for debate. She doesn't stop running though.
Given the crunching sounds continue after the knightsteed is long past its body, Hannah may well be right! A mutilated blob of pink fur and flesh rolls upright. It writhes and contorts as its body fills back out and limbs re-align themselves.
As soon as he's charged over it, Souhait tries to slow and turn around. Tristan doesn't have to fight with momentum to twist on the knightsteed's back, and he turns to face backwards to see what's happened to the rabbit. He tries to get a fix on it with his bow, although it's a tough shot indeed with the horse still moving.
Trying to shoot a person on horseback is hard enough. Trying to shoot a rabbit is even harder. The arrow flies and lands nowhere near the mound of bloody flesh. IT's half-skinned head turns to glare at the knight and snaps its jaws menacingly.
"It'll inconvenience it," Sam points out. He wades up, winding up to smack it down again.
Tristan shakes his head. With one hand he slings the bow over his shoulder after the shot goes wild, and with the other he grabs for the saddlebag with the firebombs in it.
"Whydoesn'titDIE?!" Rosy asks, curving around and keeping behind Sam now.
Seeing that her prediction has come true, Hannah decides to take a different tack. As she and the Princess draw closer, she actually sheathes her rapier and pulls out her heavy hunting and skinning knife, instead. A few yards away from the rabbit, she suddenly swings her legs around to sit somewhat sidesaddle, urging the Knightsteed to go a little slower. As they're almost on top of the thing, she jumps from the saddle, hoping to land near the rabbit with her knife reared back for a swing at a limb!
The minstrel calls to Rosy, "It's a troll! That's what they like to do, get things cut off and -- BWOOONG -- watch their limbs grow back!" The loud musical bonging noise is that of his lute's body colliding with the rabbit's head.
Peaches whinnies and tenses her haunches in case she needs to rear up and smash down with her hooves.
"So.. do we have to eat it?" Rosy asks, still keeping some distance.
Hannah lands ... only to find her footing wasn't as good as she hoped! Her feet come out from under her and she lands hard on her butt in the tall grass. The be-luted lapine's head slams down into the grown less than a foot away from Hannah. Its eyes rotate completely around, then focus on Hannah."
Well, that was embarrasing, but at least I have time to recover! Hannah rolls to her feet and retrieves her knife which has stuck temporarily in the ground. After Sam's hit, she takes stock of where the demon-rabbit is and tries for another swing.
A few more gurgles and snapping sounds and the bloody, pink, rabbit is back on its feet and less than five feet from Hannah. It growls darkly and leaps towards her!
The old faerie draws back after his swing. "Ooh, he's a lively one!" he exclaims, dismayed that his punishing strike had no effect.
Souhait gets turned around from his charge, at about the same time that Tristan decides the others are too close to the melee for a firebomb to be a good idea, even if the vegetation around didn't look disturbingly flammable. Souhait charges toward the trollbit, this time planning to stop when he gets to it rather than run over it. Tristan shouts, "Hannah!"
Sensing her mistress' distress, Princess Peach-Blossom slams down on the rabbit-monster's skull with a delicate looking hoof. There's a crack and a squish, and the Knightsteed looks in disgust at the mess on her beautiful hoof! She shakes it about and then tries to rub it clean on the grass.
Sam whispers to Rosy, while trying to figure out if there's anywhere he can hit it, "It would go really well in a stew pot, wouldn't it? Never have to hunt rabbit meat again."
For the moment, the troll-rabbit is now motionless. Those close, though, can already see that its head (which most of is currently missing), is already starting to grow back.
"Thanks, Princess!" Hannah shouts, finally getting the idea that nothing she's doing is going to work too well. She looks away at Tristan. "Ready to try a bomb now? I'll get out of the way!"
Tristan nods to Hannah as Souhait brakes to a halt. But he's readying the flamethrower rather than a firebomb, and sliding down from the back of his knightsteed.
Hannah pulls herself back into the Princess' saddle, then offers Sam a hand up?
"Grrrk!" goes the mutilated rabbit as it pushes itself upright. The top of its head has reformed ... but its lower jaw is currently missing. It tries to growl at Hannah ... and ends up just kissing a fine mist of blood. It, of course, lands all over the Princess' just cleaned hoof.
The female Knightsteed nearly staggers from the gory spray, but does manage to back away without upsetting her riders. She looks a bit green around the nostrils though.
Hannah urges the Knightsteed out of the way so that Tristan has a clear shot with the flamethrower. "Time to retreat, Rosy!" she calls as she goes.
The old faerie winces. "There's just something wrong about a headless rabbit foaming blood at the-- er, neck," he complains as it sprays blood. He catches sight of the flamethrower and pulls back.
"Way ahead of you!" Rosy calls, nearly to the river now.
Tristan lands on his feet, points the nozzle of the flamethrower at the pink trollbit, and tries to fire it once everyone else is clear of the immediate vicinity.
After a few seconds of fiddling, the bizarre device surges out a gout of flame at the mutilated rabbit. The flame hits true covering its left side in a bloom of fire. The rabbit shrieks, a tone shrill enough to nearly shatter glass. It flops to its side and rolls around frantically, trying to snuff out the flame. One thing becomes immediately obvious; wherever the fire it, it quit regenerating... Charred and bubbled flesh remains that way.
"Are you sure we aren't going to have to eat it?" Rosy calls from the path. "Shouldn't you try to skin it first?"
The old minstrel sniffs at the air, curious if cooked troll rabbit smells more like rabbit or troll.
"Keep going, Tristan! You're doing great!" Hannah calls, relieved that something seems to be working against it!
Troll. It definitely smells like troll. Or maybe Sam's own socks when he hasn't washed them for a couple weeks. It's a tossup, really.
Tristan grits his teeth and aims again, trying to get the rest of the damned creature.
Sam wrinkles his nose. "I wouldn't try eating this beastie, but maybe someone back in town'd consider it a delicacy, Rosy."
Unfortunately for Tristan, he has to get up close to it for the flames to hit this time. So he gets greeted with an up close view of its flesh bubbling and burning away and a horrific stench, to boot. The screaming of the creature continues for nearly a minute before it goes quiet and still. Little remains of the rabbit's body save some shriveled and charred chunks with bones sticking out of them. Thankfully, they're not twitching.
Tristan looks grim and ashen by the time he finishes off the unholy thing. He releases the nozzle on the flamethrower and puts it over his shoulder, then draws his sword to poke gingerly at the remains.
Hannah leaves Sam with the Princess and makes her way carefully over to Tristan, coughing and waving smoke from her face. "Effective but - ugh, the smell!" she comments, making a face.
It sure looks dead.
Peaches whinnies miserably, covered in sticky, stinky troll blood. Rosy runs up to the Knightsteed, and stares up at Sam with big eyes. "Pet me!" she demands.
"I think we're all going to need a bath in the river tonight, the Knightsteeds included," Hannah says gently, seeing the look on Tristan's face. "Are...are you all right?"
Minstrel Sam pats Rosy, then flips his lute over and starts up a song. "o/ Ohhhh, I knew a troll rabbit once, it sure didn't like me. / It was cute and pink and full of bounce, with a grin full of teeth... o/"
"I'd like to build a proper fire pit and burn it to ash." Tristan stares at the remains. "And scatter the ashes. Not that I'm paranoid, mind you. You don't think that's going to far, do you, m'lady?" He looks up at her, and his expression softens a bit, looking more normal. "Also, in case I didn't need a bath before .... ugh."
"Aaahh!" Rosy howls again. "Stop saying that WORD!"
The old faerie suggests, "We could bring it back to town... And give it to the innkeeper. Sort of like bread starter, except for stew."
Hannah shakes her head and replies, just as gently as before, "Not at all. I'd even help you to build the fire-pit." Then, over her shoulder to Sam, she calls, "Not sure I want to carry the smelly carcass across the Wild Lands, Sam!"
Tristan looks appalled. "I wouldn't feed that to a goblin. I wouldn't feed that to the Destroyer."
"What do you think, Rosy? Tasty or yucky?" Minstrel Sam is mostly asking for rhetoric's sake and morbid curiousity however, as he's started gathering rocks to make a fire pit.
"I want to bury it!" Rosy exclaims.
Minstrel Sam pauses. "Aged incinerated troll meat." He scrunches up his face. "Okay, fire pit it is."
Hannah lays a hand briefly on the knight's arm before wandering off a few paces to look for some rocks for the fire-pit, as well.
The fey knight gives Hannah a wan smile and gets out the little camp shovel to dig the pit while Hannah and Sam gather rocks for it.
It takes a little while to dig the pit, but there's certainly no question of them making camp by this fire. They stay just close enough to it to make sure the fire doesn't get out control. And well downwind of it. Tristan goes to stir the ashes occassionally to make sure the whole thing burns to nothing, then scatters what's left to the wind after it's finally incinerated.
Hannah steps forward briefly to solemnize the proceedings with just two sentences. "And here lies yet another reason why I hate trolls. Their smell is awful." Then she retreats to join the others.
The fire pit is soon enough left behind as the group resumes their long journey towards the woods ahead and the mountains beyond. Night is beginning to fall as they reach the edge of the forest. The rising moon casts the tall, snowy, mountains beyond it in silhouette. The air here is crisp and cool.. The smell is earthy and damp. The familiar sounds of woodland nightlife greet them. They can even hear the sound of a flowing river somewhere inside.
"We're almost there!" Rosy barks. "The Sacred Shrine of Sass P'Rilla!"
Tristan asks, "And almost to a river, too. Right?" He asked the doglin to guide them to a river after they finished burning the troll's corpse.
"Getting dark, I'll see about setting up camp while you and Hannah get washed up," Minstrel Sam volunteers. "I can wait to take my bath 'til the morning. Didn't get splashed anywhere nearly as bad."
"Yeah, it's got a pool and stuff, being a Sacred Grove and all that," Rosy notes, tail wagging.
Hannah looks at her own troll-bunny-blood-stained clothes and sighs, "And not a moment too soon. I am in serious need of a good wash!"
Peaches nickers in shared sentiment.
The old bard pauses warily. "Wait, the water is sacred? Does it do something to people who swim in it? Or are there priests around who get upset about a little bodily ablution?"
Tristan looks relieved by Rosy's statement. He nods in sympathy to Hannah. "You may go first, m'lady. Of course," he offers, while they go to scout the area.
"Well, the shaman uses the water to make his soaps," Rosy notes. "And he hasn't been struck by lightning or anything. So if Krug can use it for washing I suppose anyone can. It smells nice."
Sam nods wisely. "Yes, you can go first, Hannah."
Hannah looks at the knight for just a moment with that sort of small, sly smile that only a woman can have. "I have to wash alone? More's the pity," she remarks softly, then forges on ahead as if nothing just happened.
Tristan has that poleaxed look that men are afflicted with. He searches for some kind of reply and utterly fails to produce anything beyond a reddened face. As Hannah nonchalantly turns away, he puts a hand against his face and shakes his head, smiling wryly.
The trip through the woods is ... disturbingly normal. Unlike the last woods, no pixies pursue them and try to raid their hair ... and no trees wear goofy smiles. The grove is about an hour's walk into the woods, but with each step the sound of flowing water grows louder. Ahead the trees part to encircle a grove that glows in a soft welcoming light. When the group steps into the grove ... they quickly learn the source of the light, thousands of lightning bugs flit about, illuminating the gentle green landscape in their bright dance. There are two sources of water here. First; ahead is a deep pool that steams softly in the cool air. Beyond that by about a dozen yards is the flowing river that they heard during their walk. Near the pool is a giant old tree with sprawling roots. Crumbling altars of stone circle it at regular intervals. Each appears to be equipped with ... a tap? And at closer inspection small pipes run from the backs of the alters and disappear into the roots of the tree.
Tristan inspects the pipework, puzzled and intrigued. "It's an artificial pool?"
Rosy dashes forward, spins around until she manages to grab her own tail, and then barks three times with her eyes closed. "We're here!" she announces. "We can camp her safely tonight and none of the dire pigs will come and eat our toes."
Sam inspects the piping curiously.
Hannah is momentarily distracted from looking around her in awe. "Dare I ask what a dire pig is, and why it prefers to eat toes?"
That gets Tristan's attention again. "Could you brief us on the dire pigs, please, Rosy?"
"Direly delicious?" Sam guesses.
The pipes are old and seem to be embedded into the roots. They connect to the taps at the altars. Upon closer inspection Sam can see that there are shelves in the lower part of the alter and old ceramic mugs rest upon them.
"They're pigs in the woods," Rosy says, sounding ominous as she lowers her voice. "And they're dire..."
"They will try to trick you too!" the doglin continues, looking about to see if anyone is listening beyond the grove. "The one in the brick house is the worst."
Sam gives Hannah a look.
"The pigs...live in houses?" Hannah asks, looking confused.
"The ... pig, in the brick house. There isn't a straw house and a wooden house too, is there?" Tristan asks.
The bard mutters, "This seems vaguely familiar."
"You've escaped them before?" Rosy asks, looking astonished at Tristan. "Wow! There must be a lot more to you than just great hair!"
Peaches nickers and taps her (soiled) hoof on the ground, as if asking to get on with the important stuff: washing the gunk off of her!
Sam whispers to Hannah, "This seems oddly convenient as a campsite."
After trying (and failing) to hide her grin, Hannah goes over to one of the altars and sees if she can figure out how to make the water pour from it. It's either that or leading the Princess directly into the large pool.
"You have to use a mug!" Rosy warns Hannah.
Tristan has another one of those 'I have no response for this' moments. "I've heard of their like. Is there a wolf about too?"
Hannah looks at Rosy now. "How do you mean? Can you show me?"
After Hannah turns one of the taps it burbles loudly, but instead of water coming out ... a caramel colored liquid pours forth and splatters on the ground at her feet. It leaves behind a lot of foam.
"No, they ate him," the doglin replies, producing a leather drinking mug for Hannah. "See, you have to hold it at the proper angle, right, or the head just goes crazy," she explains, holding the mug in place and triggering the tap again.
"Beer?" Tristan sniffs at the air.
"Don't be silly," Rosy chides the tall elf. "You can't get beer from a tree!"
Sam perks up and tries it.
Hannah takes a nearby mug and fills it with some of the liquid before turning off the tap. She sniffs it cautiously.
It smells like ... root beer.
"Ah. Of course not. But these dire pigs won't attack this grove? Why not?" Tristan asks Rosy.
Minstrel Sam grins and chugs some. "Ah! I've missed this stuff."
"Sass P'Rilla never drank alcohol," Rosy notes, with a loud sniff.
Hannah drinks what's in her mug and smiles. "Very nice. I should've known, with the name of the grove and all."
"Anyway.. you don't want to wash your horsies with it," Rosy says. "Or let them drink any! It gives them horrible wind!"
"Urrp!" Sam wipes foam off his lips with a grin.
Peaches looks hurt at that, as she was eyeing the root beer and licking her lips a bit.
Souhait disdains the root beer (probably spoiled anyway) and sniffs at the pool of water instead.
The pool smells slightly of lavender and is gently warm to the touch.
Hannah puts her mug down and starts taking soap and a few other items from the Princess' saddle bags. "Time to get you cleaned up before I take my bath," she says, nodding at the pool.
"Tents don't seem really necessary," Sam observes, looking around. "How about a fire pit? Is there one about, or should I get one going to cook dinner?"
Souhait gives Tristan a pointed look, and the fey knight goes to remove his tack. He doesn't completely give up on getting information from Rosy, though. "Why did you say the dire pigs aren't going to bother us tonight? Do they avoid this place for some reason?" he asks the doglin.
"Use the offerings altar," Rosy suggests, pointing the bowl-shaped depression set into one of the stones.
Sam muses. "Convenient!"
"Oh, they're afraid of this place, because of Sass's Famous Rib Cookout Massacre," Rosy says, tail wagging a mile a minute.
"I think they still say prayers against the Dark Baster and the Hickory Sauceman," Rosy adds, in a lower tone, as if speaking names that are best not overheard.
"... I see. Perhaps now would be a good time for barbecue, Sam," Tristan suggests.
Once she has out what she needs, Hannah takes the tack off Peaches and leads her down to the pool. Then she starts sluicing water over the mare and sudsing her up with some soap.
Souhait doesn't solicit Tristan's help in bathing: he splashes in by himself and dunks his head.
Peaches sighs in relief. Finally, a worthy bath. I shall set my palace here in time, she comments to Souhait.
Minstrel Sam points out (regretfully) to Tristan, "First, no barbecue sauce, second, no pig to barbecue."
Hannah smiles at the mare's obvious attitude of relief and goes back to washing her, paying particular attention to her bloodied hooves.
You are my favorite, Peaches implies by giving the top of Hannah's head a nuzzle. Although you smell of troll.
"I've got an inflatable pig!" Rosy offers Sam.
"Do I want to know why?" Sam says with a grin.
"I don't think that will cook well. I'm sure whatever you can manage will be wonderful, Sam. I appreciate you doing the cooking for us," Tristan tells the minstrel, as he arranges the horses tack into a tidy pile.
Hannah laughs when the Knightsteed nuzzles her hair, then splashes a little water on her nose, teasingly.
The minstrel chuckles. "Well, let's see what we've got here." He starts digging into the supplies.
"How many times do you run into a situation where you realize; hey, I could really use a pig right now!" Rosy remarks. "So, I took a pig skin and a bunch of rat bladders..."
Minstrel Sam counts. "Zero."
Princess snorts a bit, and wanting to show that she can be playful, tries to push Hannah into the pool with her head.
"Hey! Hey! Shiny!" Rosy barks, interrupting her explanation of the finer points of fake pig making. She points helpfully at the bit of metal buckle showing through a pile of old leaves near one of the altars.
The old bard goes to inspect Rosy's find. "Ah? Looks like someone left their pack behind." Out of ancient reflexes difficult to break, he riffles through it.
Hannah looks up and notices the shiny thing, too - just before she is shoved into the water by Peaches! With a great splash, she goes down in the shallow end on her butt, for the second time today!
The mare whickers in something approximating laughter. Knightsteeds are slightly better at laughing than regular horses.
The pack is made of leather with an inscribed 'F' on the front. Inside are several pages of what looks like notes, though the writing is backwards. Several samples of various rocks with obvious signs of ore in them are also contained within the back ... and even what looks like a sketchbook and some drawing coal.
The splash gets Tristan's attention away from Sam's find. "M'lady? Are you all right?" He moves to help her to her feet.
"Is there sausage?" Rosy asks Sam, leaning against his back to look over his shoulder. "Magic sausage?"
Hannah looks startled for a moment...then laughs uproariously and splooshes a huge two-handfuls of water into the mare's face! To Sam, she calls, "Anything of interest there?" She takes Tristan's offered hand and replies, "Yah, I'm fine. The Princess is just toying with me, is all."
Sam's eyebrows go up. Hmm. "Well, nothing that can be used to cook dinner, but you'll want to look it over after," he advises Rosy and Hannah. He picks up the pack and sets it over by the others, then gets back to work. Let's see... Ah yes. This should go well.
Souhait sneaks up behind Tristan, gives Hannah a "don't tell" look, then shifts his head to knock the knight into the water.
Princess Peaches wades into the pool to finish washing, and tries to splash Souhait with her tail.
Hannah winks at Souhait over Tristan's shoulder and just waits...
Sploosh. Tristan staggers and manages to release Hannah's hand before he topples sideways. He climbs to his feet, dripping, and glares at Souhait, then Peaches. "You're a bad influence," he scolds her with mock seriousness.
"Boy, soft-skins sure like to get wet a lot," Rosy comments to Sam. Apparently she doesn't consider the bard's skin to quite as delicate as Tristan or Hannah's.
Peaches whickers innocently, and then snaps her teeth and gives Tristan a you'd better behave in here look, like any good chaperone.
Hannah starts lauging again, then splooshes another two handfuls of water on Tristan! "Then I guess I'll be the bad influence on you?" she teases.
Eight shish-kebabs of some unnamed meat interspersed with vegetables are soon roasting over the 'offering bowl', and some kind of dough is being baked on a flat rock set atop the ashes. Sam takes several mugs of 'root beer' and boils it down, tossing in some hot-looking spices, to make a sauce. "Oh, it's not the getting wet part, it's the teasing," he explains to Rosy.
Tristan starts, blinking at Hannah. Souhait dips his head into the water and shoves with his muzzle to splash the knight some more. He laughs, ducking backwards. "I am outnumbered! I can see I have no hope of escape from the bath I so richly deserve." He ducks down, dousing his head -- then whips back up in an arc, long hair streaming water out from it to splash Hannah and Souhait back.
"Teasing? You mean getting knots out of that long long long silky hair?" Rosy asks, and looks back at Tristan. "It's like he's got a Knightsteed's tail on his head! I want to try and swing from it."
Sam stirs the sauce pot to keep it from caramelizing. "I don't think he'd approve of his hair being used as a swing set," he says with a chuckle.
"I bet I could make a really good rope from it too," Rosy goes on. "You could probably capture a magical whassname with a rope made from elf-hair! Or I could use it as a really neat belt.."
Hannah yikes and giggles like the younger, more carefree girl she used to be. "Ahhh, a sneak-attack when I least expected it!" she laments, wiping water from her eyes. She even looks more relaxed now, as sopping wet as she is.
Sam says with a wink, "I think he'd much prefer to keep his hair on his head, Rosy, and decorative rather than functional."
"Do you need any soap or stuff?" Rosy calls to the crowded pool. "Should I string up a clothesline?"
"Right, no using his hair for a clothesline either," the old fairie says automatically.
"I've got one made from ratgut," Rosy tells Sam, patting one of her many bulging pockets.
Tristan smiles at Hannah, watching her for a moment. Then he looks to one side. "No, I should get out and let the lady Hannah have her turn," the knight answers Rosy. "She may want some. I'll wait on the far side of the tree, m'lady."
Sam sniffs at the sauce. "Needs a little more zing," he mutters, adding in some more crushed red peppers.
When Sam doesn't move from where he's cooking in view of the pool, Tristan coughs and gives the minstrel a pointed look.
"He's giving you a pointy look," Rosy tells Sam, in case he hadn't noticed.
Hannah finally gets to her feet and splashes her way out of the pool. "I'll rinse you off one more time before I have my own bath," she tells the Princess. When she sees Tristan attempting to leave, she thinks quickly and adds, "Or we could simply put Peaches and Souhait together to form a wall between us. That and the size of this pool may be enough to suit modestly. Since someone here thinks she needs to be the chaperone, anyway." At this, she arches an eyebrow at the mare.
With an exasperated whuffle, Peaches climbs out of the pool, shakes herself dry, and plants her bulk between the bard and Hannah.
"This sauce isn't going to cook itself," Sam says with asperity.
"Hey! Hey!" Rosy says, hopping to her feet. "I could blindfold you both, how's that?"
"Then we wouldn't be able to see to wash ourselves," Hannah replies, smiling.
"Oh! Well.. I could shout directions!" the doglin offers as backup.
Hannah just shakes her head at rosy, still smiling.
Souhait emerges from the pool with dignity, and helps Peaches in making a modesty wall for Hannah, between her and the bard. Tristan calls from the other side of the tree. "I can wait, m'lady." He sounds like he's smiling. "I'm sure we've time enough to take turns."
"Aren't you like a pair anyway?" Rosy asks. "What's the big deal? You don't have any embarrassing birthmarks do you? Because there's usually a contest every full moon for that back in Greedle."
The minstrel turns the shish kebabs so they'll cook evenly and tender. "It's okay, that's part of the courtship ritual," he whispers to Rosy. "Just leave them alone and they'll work it out."
"I'm glad I'm not part of the court then," Rosy says, turning back to watch Sam. "I like tummy rubs though. Those are GREAT!"
"Roll over then and I'll rub your tummy," Sam says with a laugh. He can use his other hand to stir, at least.
Hannah sighs, loudly and dramatically. "Spoilsport!" she calls, but she's grinning. Then she goes about slipping off her own clothes while the horses stand as her privacy barrier.
The doglin rolls onto her back, and makes sure her feet aren't facing anything fragile. "Not to high now, I figured out what that means when the last goblin tried to do it. Or too low!"
Tristan has the look of someone who really, really wants to peek. He sits on the ground behind the tree, legs stretched in front of him, arms folded across his chest, and waits. Determinedly.
Rub rub rub. Sam seems amused by Rosy's advice.
"OooOOOooo!" Rosy croons happily, her legs kicking out every so often.
Once the girl's clothes are off and put into a pile for washing later, she takes out her own, separate cake of soap, a small bottle of hair-washing potion, and a clean change of clothes. Then she wades into the water until she's deep enough in for it to come up to the base of her neck. "Mmmm, nice and waaaaarm," she breathes, contentedly.
Minstrel Sam checks the bread, then moves it to a hotter part of the fire so the crust will develop nicely. "Why don't you go and give Tristan some cmopany?" he whispers to Rosy, giving her one more tummy rub.
Tristan tries to think of something to distract himself with. "What was that Rosy found earlier, Sam?"
Having her fill of belly-rubs, Rosy hops up and takes Sam's advice. She goes and sits right in Tristan's lap. "Hi! So you're a knight?"
"Oh, some papers, looks like the guy we're looking for was through this way," Sam calls back offhandedly.
"Yes, I am. Of House April." Tristan offers a smile to Rosy, then raises his voice to call to Sam, "That's good news! But why would he leave it behind?"
"Even during the day?" Rosy asks, and then looks past Tristan at Hannah. Her eyes go wide, and she exclaims, "Oh no, Hannah's all swollen up! Did she get stung by something?"
Minstrel Sam shrugs at Tristan's question. "Got me there, pal."
"Yes, even -- what?" Tristan half-turns and starts to rise, though not coming out from behind the tree yet. "M'lady, are you all right?"
The girl hears what Rosy is saying and tries very hard not to laugh! Instead, an odd choking noise comes from her throat and she splashes frantically around in her mirth. What this sounds like from Tristan's vantage point, she can only guess...
"She's choking!" Rosy says next. "Maybe the fireflies.. stung her? And she's all swollen and her throat must be closing up!"
Hearing the choking sounds, Tristan gives up on modesty in favor of pragamitism and darts out from behind the tree. "Hannah!" He splashes through the pool towards her.
This, of course, prompts even more choking noises from the pool.
"I'll get the first aid!" Rosy declares, running for her pack. "You've got to rub an ointment onto her until the swellings go down!"
Peaches nickers at the charging, splashing knight.
"Tristan..." Hannah manages to gasp through her silent laughter. "This way..."
The fey knight seizes Hannah's shoulders to pull her upright and her face out of the water, peering at her. "M'lady, what is it?" Heeding Rosy's advice, he starts to take her in his arms to pull her from the pool.
Sam appears not at all concerned with this - well, he's focused on his cooking. Yeah, the shish kebabs are gonna taste great with this root beer chili sauce. He takes the saucepan off, since it's condensed enough, and moves the bread over to cool off as well.
Tail wagging, Rosy rummages through her back until she finds a jar of greasy looking ointment. "Here it is! Rendered rat fat! Great for bee-stings!" she declares and trots to the pool with it held out before her.
Instead of letting him take her from the pool, Hannah holds onto the knight firmly and drags him down into the water with her, so that she is not exposed too much. "Gotcha," she murmurs into his ear, smiling hugely.
"Hey! Hey! Don't drown!" Rosy calls from the edge of the pool, waving the jar. "Ointment!"
Peaches just looks at Souhait to see if he thinks they should intervene.
Confused for a moment, Tristan starts to pull against Hanhah's resistance, until her remark registers with his brain. His face flushes and he stops moving. Instead, he stands in the water, very aware that he's inches away from a beautiful naked fey maiden. "You," he breathes back in her ear, low and a little hoarse, "are the very devil." He pulls his head back to look into her eyes, then bends to kiss her.
"Ahhh!" Rosy yells, running back to Sam. "She's infected Tristan! He's turning red! He'll start swelling up too now!"
Minstrel Sam waves a shish kebab to Rosy. "Food's on," he stage-whispers to draw her attention away from the couple.
"But.. ooh, it's food ON A STICK!" Rosy says, successfully distracted.
The old bard drizzles sauce on it and hands the shish kebab to the doglin. "Here, see what you think of this, eh?"
Rosy gamely tries to lick the sauce off first before figuring out how to eat the kabob. "Are you married Mister Sam?" she asks the bard adoringly.
Sam grins. "Once, she divorced me right away when she sobered up the next morning."
"I start howling at things after one beer," Rosy admits, and looks back to the pool to see if the others are dead yet, and if so, wondering if she and Sam inherit the Knightsteeds.
Sam drizzles sauce on another shish kebab, and passes over a piece of flatbread to Rosy. In some parts of the country, they call 'em 'hush puppies'.
Tristan only sees the sparkle in those golden eyes of Hannah's for a moment before she turns her face upward and presses her lips to his. Her kiss is gentle but warm and lingering. When she's finally through, she whispers, "Only when the situation requires it, Tristan."
The fey knight doesn't have an answer for that one, either. Instead, he cups a hand beneath her chin and lifts her fact to kiss Hannah again. Then he wraps his free arm around her back and pulls her tight against the lenght of his body, quite ignoring the impropriety, the knightsteeds, the minstrel, and the doglin alike.
Bread is always a special treat for the doglin, and she gobbles it down happily. "Mmmmfh.. Hannah looks okay now, 'cept for the swelling," she comments after swallowing. "Can't tell if Tristan is okay though. Should I tell Hannah to take his clothes off and check for any swelling on him too?" she asks Sam.
Sam nearly chokes on his bread laughing. "No, no, they'll be fine, just leave them alone," he says. "Lemme tell you, courting fae get very irritable if they feel they're being watched too closely, so just concentrate on your food. Here, have another kebab."
"Okay!" Rosy agrees, easily accepting more food. She then blinks and says, "Oh no! It's not really swelling at all! She's only got two instead of six so I guess they just need to be bigger! Do you think Tristan will think I'm stupid now?"
Sam makes a note to himself. Hush puppies need a little less water and a little more flour.
Hannah leans into the man quite willingly and returns his own kiss with just a touch more heat this time. When he is done, she puts her head on his chest and sighs once more in contentment. "I didn't mean to hurt you earlier, Tristan," she says softly, out of the blue. Then she repeats it twice again, just to make sure that he believes this.
Tristan closes his eyes, swallowing as Hannah speaks. His fingers tense against her bare side, then shift higher, to her shoulder. But he doesn't actually let her go. "You're the only woman I've ever cared for, my lady. Hannah," he says, very softly.
Souhait shifts around until he's blocking Rosy's view, too.
Sam munches on his kebab. Then a thought occurs to him. "Hey, Rosy, you know that pack you found? Do you smell a trail from the guy who left it behind?"
"Ooo, I could try," Rosy Nose says, still working on her kebab. "But if it really was Prince Feezle, he probably washed up here before leaving. All the food and elf smells right now make it hard to say."
"No rush, the trail's probably pretty cold by now," Sam agrees. "But can you smell the paper? I'm betting he still had at least one, maybe two journals with him, even if he left these behind."
"Oh, hey, that's clever!" Rosy says. "I don't think he'd wash his stuff. You are rilly rilly smart, Sam."
Hannah buries her face in the wet folds of Tristan's shirt for a minute, trying to think of the best way to explain herself. At last, she says, "I know that now, but after all the rumors I'd heard earlier...and when I saw you dancing with the Lady from House August at the ball, I didn't relaize it then." She laughs softly at herself and adds, "You would think, with all the training I've had to look past the obvious, I would've questioned what I was seeing and hearing. I apologize to you for not doing that."
"Well, paper doesn't really have much of a smell to start with," Sam says modestly. "But here, looks like he was taking samples of rocks, and drawing things with this coal. So he may have stopped here and there to take notes."
Tristan puts a finger to Hannah's lips. "Shhh. It's all right. I forgive you. I .... " He shakes his head, coming back to himself. "I'm sorry, this is terribly inappropriate of me. I should let you finish your bath." His hand starts to fall away from her, but instead of turning away, he stops to kiss her again.
Hannah returns this last kiss with as much heat as she dares before reluctantly letting him go. "Thank you," is all she can say to Tristan's forgiveness, but she looks as if a great weight has suddenly lifted off her shoulders.