Middle of the Night
I'm writing in the half light of dawn but I just have to get this down before I have to get up for the day and talk to the others.
Something wonderfully strange and unexpected happened last night, and I'm still not sure what to make of it.
Talking to him brought back all my memories of home, of what I have lost, and that made me cry.
I couldn't stop and I was afraid of waking the others so I snuck downstairs to avoid disturbing them. Ivar snores like a boar so there's no way I'd disturb him. Someone also needs to keep an eye on the fire so it's useful for many reasons.
I don't know how long I was sat there before I heard someone else moving around.
"I'm fine, Eilidh," I said, I wiped the tears away quickly so she wouldn't see when she reached me.
"I'm not your sister," a very male voice said. I turned to find our visiting lord stood in the doorway.
"Sorry, my lord," I said, jumping up from my seat, "I'll go if I'm disturbing you."
"It's fine," he said, holding a hand out to me, "can I join you?"
"Yeah, that's fine," I said, sitting back down. He sat down about as far from me as is physically possible.
"Can I ask why you are crying?" he asked, "or is that too forward?"
It really was, but I told him anyway. "I was meant to be getting married two days from now."
"Meant to?" he asked, "what happened?"
"He died," I said, by some miracle keeping my voice steady, "months ago now, in the first storm."
"I'm sorry," he said, but I continued on. '
"The worst bit now is that I don't know whether I'm saddest for loosing him or for loosing my chance to finally leave this place." I took a deep breath. "Sorry, that was a lot."
"It's fine," he said, "if you needed someone to talk to then I'm glad to help."
"Then thank you."
"Your welcome," he said, "now can I make a suggestion for a solution?"
"If you would like to."
"If what you want is your freedom from here," he said, colour starting to creep into his cheeks. "well, I do need to take a wife, and everyone says I won't live long anyway, so you wouldn't have to put up with me for long."
"Are you asking me to marry you?" I asked surprised.
"If you would like to."
"Then yes."
"Okay," he said, "then you should probably be off to bed. I don't want to talk to him about that tomorrow with you looking tired."
"Sounds like a plan," I replied. Then I went back up to my bed and fell asleep.
