"Most certainly! After all, I've lost some weight, so he shouldn't have any problems. We'll just have to make sure that he doesn't taste any...I have enough trouble riding as it is, without having to deal with a drunken horse." The girl laughed, and drained another mug of ale, before glancing at her friend. "I know I havn't been very clear about what happened to get me up to Kendal. I'm...it's just not that easy to talk about. And there hasn't been nearly enough ale to let me get through it. However, I think that sitting here we should be all right in that respect. ...If you'd be willing to keep me company that long, that is..." The serving girl came by the table again, carrying two full mugs of ale, and Chan smiled at her in thanks before pushing one of them towards her friend. "Reguardless...drink up!"

An image of what a drunken horse looks like flashes through her mind causing her to giggle. She listened as Chand said about needing to be drunk to talk about her trip north...would Cara keep her company as long as it took? "Friends forever remember and if it takes a year or a life time for you to spill the story, then so be it...I will be here for you, in the mean time we can get drunk and have a good time" To prove her point she lifted the mug of ale that was pushed her way and drained it dry. As the serving girl arrived with another round Cara handed her the coins from her money pouch. Prehaps Chand would start to feel better if she talked about the trip north and to Cara going broke to ensure that Chand was able to speak about it...was well worth it.

Chand smiled her thanks at her friend, "I don't think it will take a year...Unless of course you just think I talk that much." She grinned. There had been times when a word or two turned into, 5 or 10...or more... Taking another drink, she continued. "Thank you for saying that. And thank you for coming for me. I was worried that no one would. I like Kendal and all, but...it's not home." The girl looked down at the table and traced the grain of the wood with her finger. "It's not so much that the trip was so awful itself, though it wasn't very fun. ... It's just... Have you ever thought that you were strong enough to take anything...only to find that you just hadn't been pushed enough?"

“Yes” she said simply, when she had left home full of life and so sure of her self that nothing could touch her. Her step brother had paid the price; images of his horrid death slipped into her mind, Cara shoved them back behind their wall. She took a long draw on her ale “we have to be pushed like that Chand…to learn and grow stronger...to be able to cope with the next push”

The girl considered her friend's words carefully, "Maybe. I don't know. ...Maybe I just haven't gotten to the learning part yet. I know that I'm not stronger yet, since I can barely stand to ride Staf all day like we have been doing." Chand stared into her mug at the liquid remaining. "Well, I don't know if what you say is true, but I hope so. That would mean that something good was coming out of this..." She drained her mug for a final bit of alchol to dull the edge of the memories, and began her tale. "Well, you know that I was in Bristol, right? I was the 2nd Lt. in the SAS there. I doubt that I still am...I deserted my post after all. Anyway, I was out riding a sort of patrol. Well...riding is kind of a loose term. Staf and I were fighting about who was in the lead, and Lace..." Her voice trailed off for a moment, before she gathered herself and went on. "Lace was her usual mischievious self. She was riding with us, but she didn't want to sit still at all, so I was having as much trouble with her as with Staf. I was riding through the woods, trying desperately not to run into the trees, or low hanging branches that Staf liked to ride under, when I saw a girl lying on the ground ahead of me. She looked like she might be hurt, so I pulled up beside her and got down...Uh well...I kind of fell down. Dismounting was still not the best, and Staf didn't want me to get off so was being onery. I thought he was anyway. So I got off, and went to check on the girl. Lace started scolding me, and I just ignored her, trying to see if the girl was alright. That's when they attacked me..."

Fortunately for everyone, the serving girl had brought over another mug before Chand got to this part of her story. Had someone come up just then...well...it wouldn't have been pretty, and probably would have resulted in being thrown out of the tavern. The girl grabbed up the new mug fiercely and took a drink.

Cara listened quietly as Chandrea's story unfolded...Lace...Cara had asked about Lace once and not received a reply so she had done what she had been doing from the start...waiting...waiting for Chand to feel able to talk.

She smiled at the serving girl but inwardly groaned at the interruption, she now had to wait for Chand to continue...Cara hoped she would but it had taken so long for Chand to want to talk, that she had not wanted anything to interrupt her. Quietly she took the new mug and took a drink waiting for the serving girl to move off "the ale has a pleasant taste here...would you agree?" she hoped asking Chand a question would start her talking again.

She turned back to her friend with a slight smile. "It is indeed. Just what the doctor ordered, Jah's truth! Kit as much as ordered me to drink some." The girl shook her head. If only she could combine both places into one big town. She knew she was leaving a piece of her heart in the far north, even as they traveled towards her home.

Shaking her head slightly to toss away the meloncholy thoughts, Chand glanced at Cara. Her friend was trying so hard to be patient, something that Chandrea appreciated very much. "Well, I was attacked. There were five men. They just seemed to appear from nowhere. I tried to draw my sword, but I've never been very good with it, and they soon disarmed me. I grabbed up a long branch and used it as a staff then. Staf was fighting too. I never knew he could do that, but he bucked and kicked and wouldn't let them get near enough to catch his reins. Lace...My brave young cat...she jumped off of the saddle into the face of one of the men. She scratched his face, before..."

Chandrea took a long drink of ale, and continued in a curiously emotionless voice, "Before the man pulled her off his face and threw her to the ground. She didn't move after that. One of them managed to catch ahold of Staf and wrestle him into standing still, and the others proceeded to hack away at my branch until there wasn't much left. Then, while I was focusing on the two in front of me, one of them must have hit me with something because I passed out. By the time I woke up, we were already a ways away...well, at least far enough away from Bristol that I didn't recognize the woods around us. They had tied me, and laid me on the ground around the fire. There were several men, including the one with the scratched face, and a few other women and girls scattered around. When they saw I was awake, the scratched man came over to me. 'See what ya stupid cat done? Ruint ma face!' Before I could reply, he kicked me in the stomach. 'Ya cat shoudn'ta done 'at ta me.' They were having some kind of stew for supper, and the same man came over with some for me. 'Ya be hungry, huh? Here.' He put the bowl on the ground in front of me, but my hands were tied so I couldn't reach it. He smiled and walked away. One of the women crept over soon after that, freezing still whenever one of the men looked in her direction. Finally she made it to me. I thought she was going to feed me the stew, or untie my hands or something, but she just picked up the bowl and ate it herself. The way she was eating looked like she hadn't eaten anything in weeks, but I knew she had just had a bowl full with the others. When she finished it, she set the bowl down in front of me again, and scurried back to the others. When the man came back to check on me, he saw the empty bowl and smiled. 'Enjoyed that did ya?' I argued that I hadn't eaten it, and he got angry. 'I put it down fo' ya and ya didn eat it? Who did, the ghost?' He turned back to the others 'Our newcomer wants anotha helpin'. Whata we do 'bout that?' The men laughed as some of the women and girls came over and began to kick me. They each kicked me at least once before the man told them that I'd learned my lesson. 'Round here we share. Evrybody gets their share and no mor'.' That was the first such lesson they taught me."

The girl rubbed her stomach just thinking about those days she had spent without food. Abruptly changing the subject, she looked at her friend, "I'm hungry. You want anything?" Chandrea called the serving girl over and asked for some thick stew with bread, and looked at Cara expectantly.

She was shocked that her friend had gone through that, it sounded like a nightmare to Cara. Poor lace…Brave and protective to the end. She grimaced at the images of Chand being tied and kicked like a dog. First lesson? Jah...there were more?

Quote:

"I'm hungry. You want anything?"

“Yes thank you” honestly she was not really hungry now, her appetite having fled but she was not going to pass up finally being able to eat something other than the dull meagre fare they ate on the road.