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Folwren · 04-05-2006, 03:06 PM

The question was a simple starter for conversation, and Athwen sighed inwardly as she consciously kept tears from coming to her eyes. She looked up and glanced towards the horizon, biting her tongue for fear of saying anything and not being able to finish. She was aware of Fion glancing up at her and before she could quite get a hold on her feelings, he guessed the answer to his own question.

‘Oh, I’m sorry!’ She looked back at him quickly. ‘I didn’t know. . .I’m so sorry!’ Athwen tried to smile, she really did, but she couldn’t. Instead she just shook her head.

‘It’s alright,’ she told him gently. He looked back at her. Something else had to be brought up. The easiest thing that came she used. ‘How old are you, Fion?’ It was partly out of curiosity, that much was true. She hadn’t asked anyone their age and she had begun to wonder if she was so much younger than the others as she had first thought.

‘Seventeen. I’ll be eighteen come spring-time. You?’

‘Just turned sixteen,’ Athwen admitted. She leaned back on her hands and considered him. ‘You look older than seventeen. My - I mean, a friend of mine from back there was seventeen.’ A short pause. ‘I’m really sorry about what happened to you,’ she said. ‘I don’t know if anyone’s made any proper apologies, but we were all very frightened when we thought Easterlings were coming. You can imagine what we thought when Incana and Vaenosa came galloping back to camp saying they’d seen two riders who might be enemies. We were too hasty and clumsy to look before we shot, though, I guess,’ she said, lowering her eyes. ‘It could have been worse, though, you know. At least it wasn’t an arrow.’

Now that was clumsy. Her eyebrows went up in surprise at her own words and she didn’t look back up at him. Apologizing was one thing, explanation and making mild excuses for the actions was, too, but saying that ‘it could have been worse’ and therefore assuming that he ‘shouldn’t take it so hard’ was absolutely another thing.

‘You have every right, no doubt, to be rather put out,’ she hastened to say. ‘But you will forgive us, I hope.’

04-05-2006, 03:06 PM	#279
Folwren Messenger of Hope Join Date: Jun 2005 Location: In a tiny, insignificant little town in one of the many States. Posts: 5,122	The question was a simple starter for conversation, and Athwen sighed inwardly as she consciously kept tears from coming to her eyes. She looked up and glanced towards the horizon, biting her tongue for fear of saying anything and not being able to finish. She was aware of Fion glancing up at her and before she could quite get a hold on her feelings, he guessed the answer to his own question. ‘Oh, I’m sorry!’ She looked back at him quickly. ‘I didn’t know. . .I’m so sorry!’ Athwen tried to smile, she really did, but she couldn’t. Instead she just shook her head. ‘It’s alright,’ she told him gently. He looked back at her. Something else had to be brought up. The easiest thing that came she used. ‘How old are you, Fion?’ It was partly out of curiosity, that much was true. She hadn’t asked anyone their age and she had begun to wonder if she was so much younger than the others as she had first thought. ‘Seventeen. I’ll be eighteen come spring-time. You?’ ‘Just turned sixteen,’ Athwen admitted. She leaned back on her hands and considered him. ‘You look older than seventeen. My - I mean, a friend of mine from back there was seventeen.’ A short pause. ‘I’m really sorry about what happened to you,’ she said. ‘I don’t know if anyone’s made any proper apologies, but we were all very frightened when we thought Easterlings were coming. You can imagine what we thought when Incana and Vaenosa came galloping back to camp saying they’d seen two riders who might be enemies. We were too hasty and clumsy to look before we shot, though, I guess,’ she said, lowering her eyes. ‘It could have been worse, though, you know. At least it wasn’t an arrow.’ Now that was clumsy. Her eyebrows went up in surprise at her own words and she didn’t look back up at him. Apologizing was one thing, explanation and making mild excuses for the actions was, too, but saying that ‘it could have been worse’ and therefore assuming that he ‘shouldn’t take it so hard’ was absolutely another thing. ‘You have every right, no doubt, to be rather put out,’ she hastened to say. ‘But you will forgive us, I hope.’