| A Prized Return |
| Summary: | Cherise awakens a bit paranoid and Aleister is there to soothe her. |
| Date: | 5/6/2012 |
| Related Logs: | Laying Waste to Bandits Afoot and all bandit related logs |
| Players: |
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| Guest Room, Crane's Crossing |
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| Just a room |
| Tue Jun 05, 289 |
It had been a long and teary eyed night after Cherise's reunion with her closest kin. She barely allowed Aerick out of her arms though once she had finally slept her wine laced dreams carried her well into the next evening. A sudden whimper coming from her bed had ripped the bruised faced blonde from her slumber, instantly sitting upwards while the rapid beating of her heard hastened her breaths. "Aerick!" Still caught in her dream haze both her hands begin frantically searching the bed linens around her.
Since Cherise's return from the bandits, Aleister hadn't really left her side, even as she slept. A chair had been brought near to the bed and that is where he resides at this time. When she bolts upright in the bed and calls for their son, he's leaning forward a touch to murmer, "Shh, it's alright Cherise. Aerick is with the Septa. He woke up and she took him so that he didn't wake you."
Wild eyed and panicked, she is soon soothed by Aleister's gestures. At first her husband is met with confused eyes before recognition dawns on her and Cherise attempts to regulate her own breaths. "He is alright?" She raised a hand, fingers combed through the blonde bed of messy hair and not for primping one's self. Of course he was alright. Safe in the Septa's arms and not with her.
A hand lifts to settle on her thigh, with the fabric of the blanket between them and at her words, Aleister is giving a nod of his head, "He's fine. Just woke up and needed a little bit of a walk." A faint smile crosses his lips before he's then murmering, "And you're fine as well, my love. Back at the Crane's Crossing Inn, surrounding by dozens of Charlton Knights and Armsmen."
Cherise had drawn her eyes to a close for a few moments, separating her present from the horrid dream just moments ago. His touch had helped, aiding the slow release of all tension that had stiffened her frame. As soon as she could relax the woman's frame shifted, leaning out of her bed and instantly capturing her husband within her arms. Her face buried against his neck as she sniffed. The threat of tears was there but she was able to keep the dam from breaking. "No words could ever be so treasured."
When she leans out of the bed in that fashion, to capture him in her arms, Aleister is lifting his own to wrap around her and hold her gently to him, "And in future, my love, you will go no where without my own guards present with you." A pause is taken and a slight brush of his lips against her hair, "I will not have you stolen away again. I promise."
The light sounds of sobbing were for hope those words would prove true. Having been stolen away from those closest Cherise was clutching onto this moment desperately, squeezing her grasp against her husband's shoulders and neck. She agreed with his decree by nodding her head. She may not go anywhere at all given the past few days. "They were killed." A softened voice tells him, hinting to a tone of mourning from the ones she had been assigned before. "They just… killed them all."
Aleister continues to hold her, offering a soft, soothing sound of, "Shh," and "It'll be alright." When she makes mention of the other guards and their death, there's a very slight nod of his head and a frown that she wouldn't see, "I know. I heard. Don't think about it, Cherise. I'll see that such a thing never happens again."
With such assurances she could not bring herself to doubt him. Her memory was a touch cloudy from last night, her arrival after leaving the picnic site with Ser Jac leading her horse while on foot. They made it here, evidently by her presence within the Inn's suite. Greeted by silence or had they been kneeling? Had they seen her face and mud ridden flesh and clothing. None of these flashes of memory could form a solid enough recollection. "You had called in your men?" She asked with no desire to pull herself away from Aleister.
"I did. The men and I took to looking to the North and around to the east, while the others searched the immediate area of where you all were having your picnic. I thought it … prudent, to have my own men present and searching for you, my dear." A hand gentles along her back, offering a soothing touch that travels up and down.
Normally she may pick apart his actions for not meeting the lady's expectations. Instead she remains holding him, nodding against his neck. "I appreciate your efforts my husband." They had to be for her as she refused to think otherwise. "I wish you had, found us." Particularly herself. "I wish you could have the pleasure of executing justice on those bastard men." She tells him now with now feeling comfortable enough to raise her head and pull herself upright. Just a little away from him. The bluish black bruise had colored one side of her face, across the cheek bone and her upper lip had been cut. The result of just being herself. Dull blue eyes stared as his. Reddened, sleep deprived and just everything opposite of her normally lovely features. "My guard." She swallowed, her eyebrows had wrinkled closer to together. "My late guard. Will you see that if he has family they are provided for? A few years if needed?"
"I wish I had been the one to have found you, my dear, as well. For if I had, those men would have paid for their lives, immediately and upon the spot that they stood." When she begins to pull back, Aleister is once more taking in those bruised features before leaning in to press a very light kiss to her bruised cheek before he's leaning back again. "Yes, I will see that the guard's family is provided for, for a time. They deserve that much, for the duty that he provided."
She doesn't even know if the man had a family. All these months assigned to her well being while away from Hollyholt she had never even thought to ask. The sudden realization of it draws a frown to appear on the lady's face, inconsequently just as Aleister bestowed cautious affections upon her bruised cheek. "And Darra." The handmaiden who was always at her side, not here. "She deserves…" Something. Not a relieve of duty that is for certain.
Listening to that, Aleister gives another nod of his head and the soft hint of a smile crosses his lips, "Do not worry, Cherise. I will see it done. For now, you should simply settle your thoughts to yourself and not to others. I will see them taken care of, as is necessary. I promise you that."
Comforted once more by his words, she captured the sides of Aleister's cheeks in her hands and tugged to his face as she leaned closer. The kiss was brief but no less urgent. "Thank you." She murmured, granting him another gesture of affection before withdrawing her form and seeking the bed again. For slumber or for relaxation as it mattered not.
When she captures his cheeks in her hands and pulls him for that kiss, Aleister is returning it in kind, not seeking to deepen it at this moment, but quite content to return it. Once she's pulled back and then resettled herself on the bed, he's lifting from his spot on the chair and moving to settle down beside her, though he's sitting and not laying, "How are you feeling?"
Too many feelings coursed through her and some she would not give the pleasure of naming. "Grateful." To be 'home'. Cherise answers him as she shifts beneath the layers of linen. "Hungry, thirsty and extremely exhausted." Even though she had slept through the entire day and well into evening. She rolled onto her side while tucking a pillow beneath her head. In this manner her frame had faced Aleister's.
"I suppose I can understand that," comes the soft reply from Aleister and when the rest comes to be offered, he's nodding his head once again, "Would you like me to have some food and drink sent up, so that you can eat before you sleep again?" The shift of her body has him moving a hand to her arm, fingers lightly moving against it now.
Yes. "No." She declines while his touch draws her eyes to close for a few moments. "Do not leave, please." Cherise asked. "Would you tell me something uplifting?" A story, a song, anything to keep some dark thoughts from creeping back into her mind.
A soft chuckle escapes past Aleister's lips as he gives a shake of his head, "Don't worry, my love, I don't plan on taking my leave anytime soon." At the mention of something uplifting, he pauses for a moment. That's not his speciality, at all, and after a moment he's offering, "In just about a week, we will take our leave of this inn, forever. You will be settled in a keep of your own, with your own bed, in our room."
She should have known better than to ask for such from him. "A week?" Both eyes are lazily focused on him. "Will Danae be allowed to stay with us? I do not wish that she remain in some tent like a commoner. She deserves better lodging if only for a short while."
The smile remains upon Aleister's lips as he gives a quick nod of his head in his wife's direction, "Yes, Danae will be able to come and stay with us at Highfield, my love. She will have a room and we will be able to accomodate her guards and servants as well."
Pleased by this Cherise stares to their hands touching while the two of them have been granted some privacy without attendees hovering around. With so many men present in the Inn she had no reason for worry when it came to relocating to their new home. "How is our cousin, Alys?" She had yet to see the woman.
They've indeed been granted privacy, no doubt in part by Aleister indicating that they are not to disturbed, and there are few who would dare cross that line. The mention of Alys draws a faint chuckle and a slight shrug of his shoulders before he's offering, "Couldn't tell you. She was spending some time in the Mire, though I know she has recently returned. I haven't run across her since she has, though."
The swamps. A brief look of disgust had flashed upon Cherise's features coupled with the desire for another hot and rose fragrant bath. "The Naylands are lords of the Mire are they not?" She asked while in thought. "Do you think she has become close with them?"
A quick nod and a soft, "They are," comes to be offered before Aleister is giving another soft chuckle, "I would think she has, if she was a guest of theirs at the Mire. But the Lord Riordan Nayland knows her brother and by proxy, her. So it is safe to assume they are at least friendly, in a fashion."
"That is pleasant." She returns while drawing one of the linens over her shoulder. "I think I would like that wine now." A little sleep aid to usher in hopefully better dreams.
