PSL- In which there are horses and, just barely, time enough.

[gavesugar]

The Wisemen are in consultation - where, Sheila knows not, but while they consult Ash has little to do but sit around and bask in his victory.

And she'll be damned if he's going to bask with Arthur's serving wenches.

It's her idea that they go riding, somewhere close enough to the castle that they shouldn't bump into any straggling but well-armed skeletons and far enough away that they may enjoy each other in privacy.

She is the envy of some, the baleful regret of others, as she combs the mane of her mare and waits for him to find her in the stables. He is something of a late riser, but she knows he will arrive.

Late or no.

Comments

[thisismyboomstick]

"I'm not leaving right away."

He can't stay forever, though at times like these it's hard to remember the reasons why.

[gavesugar]

"La," she says, between small bites of cheese and bread which could only be described as ladylike.

Sheila looks away at the idea. It's hard for her to clearly describe it all to him. It's as if her entire life had been scribbled in black and white, then suddenly burst into color when he arrived. Her life has been passive, a corset constructed to hold her in and still. She'd never known longing before the day she saw him - he'd unlocked her from her cage.

"But someday I must waken to a morning without thee."

And to the knowledge that he doesn't want her.

She gets it. It's over.

She releases the cheese, her fingers spreading out upon her extended knee, white and still.

[thisismyboomstick]

He sighs.

"It's not that I want to leave you..."

They've had this discussion before, it seems.

[gavesugar]

"Oh?"

She fixes him with this look. He probably remembers it well, because the last time he saw it she was throwing a rock at him.

"Is it not still'pillow talk'?

He doesn't 'belong there'. She can't forget that he said that - won't forget it - as much as it seems to weigh her to the earth every time she recalls it.

[thisismyboomstick]

Dammit.

"No... No, it's not."

And okay, maybe he's a little scared of what would happen if he stayed, but wouldn't anyone be?

[gavesugar]

"And...tho I do trust thee in some matters...how am I to trust thee in this one?"

She sounds prissy for a reason.

[thisismyboomstick]

I don't know," he admits, picking at one of the cakes. He's looking anywhere but at her, until he tells himself to man up and look her in the eyes.

"I guess I'm just askin' you to believe me."

[gavesugar]

Sheila holds his gaze calmly, before reaching out to pluck the cake from beneath his fingers.

"Ye do not love me."

He told her he did - but it's very possible he thought she was Linda.

[thisismyboomstick]

He knows who she is. He might be a complete idiot when it comes to his emotions, but he knew who he was talking to.

"You sound so sure."

He shakes his head, leaning a little closer.

"You know you're not the reason I'm leaving, right?"

[gavesugar]

"Ye made it quite clear." She imitates his voice, then, badly, "so long."

She breaks away, stares at the sweet grass waving in the distance. "Aye, I am not. But whatever I may be, 'tis not enough to make thee stay."

[thisismyboomstick]

He sighs. "You know I can't stay. I don't belong here."

Not that it's not very tempting. It's not like there's much left for him back home.

[gavesugar]

"And what if I doth not belong, either." She shifts her gaze to his face, the intensity of her words evident yet laced with hope.

[thisismyboomstick]

"Would you come with me if I asked?"

[gavesugar]

"Mayhaps," she says to her knees. "Would ye make safe passage to me to this new world."

Sheila has never known love. Not before Ash touched her. The possibility of what he brings is so new, so frightening.

[thisismyboomstick]

"Would you be willing to leave everything behind?"

He has no sense of medieval propriety, so he's unaware of just exactly what she would be leaving behind.

"Pretty sure people here want you to stay."

[gavesugar]

There isn't much propriety left in the situation; he just barely avoided a hanging himself, little does he know. Ladies do not give themselves away as she has.

"I am Arthur's poor relation," she says. "The ladies of the court know me well enough, but we are not bosom chums. Who will miss me?"

She picks up a pear and rubs it between her fingers thoughtfully. "Have I told thee of my mother?"

[thisismyboomstick]

He hasn't been around long enough to pick up on the social issues of the time. In his eyes, she's pretty damn royal.

"No." He shakes his head, idly picking up more bits of food.

[gavesugar]

She is, honestly. The second cousin to the king. Not that that matters because ladyparts.

"Perhaps ye may have noticed that Sheila is not a common name of the land. She was a Gaeol lady, from the isle to our neighboring north. When her family contracted her to marry my father, she left her homecastle at three to learn the language, to become a servile lady of the former queen's court. She wert forced to adapt. I would do like the same." She looks at him evenly. "For love."

[thisismyboomstick]

He sighs. "You talk to the wiseman about this?"

He's the one dealing with the whole time travel thing, after all.

[gavesugar]

"Mayhap," she says pertly. She's a smart cookie, for all of her so-called primitiveness. "What wouldst thee do to have me with thee?"

Suspicion. She can't help it.

[thisismyboomstick]

If she really wants to try to fit in in his time, he'd definitely rather go than stay here. Watching everyone around you die from stuff that's easily curable or preventable in your own time just doesn't have a lot of appeal for him.

"I think I'd like that. Depending on what the wise guy cooks up."

Possibly literally. It's hard to tell what the old guy's talking about sometimes.

[gavesugar]

That's only one of the reasons Sheila's excited by the prospect of the future. That and the relative safety from big winged things is decreased by all of the cement.

"Truly?"

She needs his sincerity.

[thisismyboomstick]

"If he can find a way for me to bring you along without destroying history or whatever, yeah. Sure."

[gavesugar]

She leans into his shoulder. "What place hath I in the scheme of things? What grandness?"

[thisismyboomstick]

"You never know."

He wraps an arm around her, holding her close.

"Some of us think you're pretty special."