The Dragon's Road [ 1x1]

The bunny sniffed at them again, before hopping off into the other side of the overgrown path. Quinn slipped her dagger back into it's sheath, still chuckling as she shook her head. "Says the man who started to retreat," she replied in a teasing tone. Truly, she'd been just as scared as him but she would ever admit that.

With a deep breath, Quinn glanced around at the growing shadows along the path. The daylight was beginning to fade on them, which would lead to more than rabbits wandering about looking for a snack. Tossing him a glance, she started walking again, pulling her cloak hood a little higher over her ears. " Anyways, how far is this Elmswood-er- worth, place and why did you flee from this murder?"
 
"I mean... you can never be too sure," he said in his defense, shrugging sheepishly as they got moving again. It wasn't until she started repeating herself that he remembered that she'd been questioning him. Right, she was still suspicious about him leaving the location of a dangerous crime. Maybe she just didn't get the idea of self preservation...?

"Half a day's walk. And... I mean, why wouldn't I leave? It's not like I live there, I'm just a traveler. And someone did... something to some poor drifter who'd been passing through. I wasn't about to risk being next!"
 
Quinn frowned at him as she listened to him for several reasons. One, the man seemed even more skittish than the bunny they had just passed. Two, even if he had just been passing through, his clothes indicated him to be far more than a simple traveler. Three, he mentioned it was half a day's walk to this southerly town, but already they were in to afternoon. They would be lucky to arrive before dark.

"Well, what made you think it wasn't a targeted killing, rather than some random murder?" he asked curiously. Murder of both kinds were common place in the wily Northlands and she had even witness a few herself. Mostly in drunken bar brawls, and a home invasion or two. All the more reason to leave the godforsaken frozen land behind.
 
She made some points though she was speaking as if he was the kind of man to take such risks, as if the fact that it'd been a traveler was the only reason he'd left when there'd been a murder. He gave her an utterly perplexed look as she tried to word her way around it before he just asked, "Does it even matter? Someone was killing people! There's no way in the world I'd just stick around after that."
 
Quinn snorted and shook her head. "It's a very good thing you didn't keep going toward the Northlands."
He would have been running for a very long time.

They kept going down the path as evening drew closer, pressing in with ever growing shadows and a new sort of chill. It wasn't until she wondered if they should stop and camp that a heavy wooden gate appeared among the trees attached to a large wall. A singular guard stood atop the wall with some segmented armor, a helm, and a 8ft spear.

"Halt an' identify yerselves!" He barked from above.

"We're just travelers looking for a place to rest!" She called back, her voice straining some.

"Well, yev come to the wrong place. Go back!"

Quinn grumbled and rolled her eyes. What was it with these people? "Look, there's nowhere to go! You'd send two people to cold deaths in the woods? A woman at that. The gods would have little mercy for such cruelty."

The guard shifted uneasily on his feet. "Pull down yer hood. Lemme see yer face."

With a long sigh, she pulled down her hood revealing fair features, pale skin, deep chesnut colored hair cropped to her shoulders and her amethyst colored eyes. The guard scanned her over and then his shoulders dropped. He couldn't leave a woman to the cold.

"Fine, come and stay, but be warned it may not be much safer in here than it is out there, miss."

"I'm sure I can handle it."

As the heavy gate began to open, she turned to Jeremiah, revealing a long grizzlied scar from her chin to her temple on the opposite side of her face. "Let's go," she smiled.
 
Foreboding. Maybe it was best that he didn't keep on going north. As they continued back towards town he found that they were in the situation of yet again finding each other in utter silence. Jeremiah may have considered speaking up and trying to make small talk but quite frankly the woman he was traveling with was rather imposing. She seemed a figure of few words to say the least. Of course they eventually reached village before it became proper night time, thank the gods, though there was a bit of a speed bump.

The guards were, of course, suspect of anyone coming at dusk after such grim business had occurred within their walls. Jeremiah was only too happy to let her do all the talking though he couldn't help but glance when she did finally pull down her hood. She wasn't what he'd expected. For such a grimly spoken woman with a clearly hard past she was pleasant on the eyes. Aside from perhaps her complexion she likely wouldn't stab out that much in these parts. When she looked to him he quickly took that back as she showed the sizeable scar across her face as he was taken aback for just a moment. "Of course," he said, trying not to stare as they walked into town.
 
She frowned at Jeremiah. His face had stayed calm, and collected but his eyes told her enough that her face, bothered him as it did many others. Not that she cared, it was her face after all and their fear was their problem. She mostly just wore the hood to be left alone about it.

Pulling cowl back into place against the cold, she wandered into the town. There was a open courtyard that split into streets lined with a few houses and shops. From here she could see that the town was more well-off from the ones she'd seen before, but it did have a certain tension in the air. What people were out in the street scurried past quickly, giving them a wide berth.

Quinn walked along until she stopped outside what looked like an inn. She didn't have any money for room and board but they could at least sit inside and get warm. She opened up the door and stepped inside to the place busy, but not overly crowded. Picking a table in the far corner, she sat down to rest her feet and invited Jeremiah to sit with her.
 
In Jeremiah this was the end of this particular encounter. His reasoning for having a traveling companion had been fairly selfish even if the need was mutual. They'd gotten to town without incident and he could see that she was likely off put by him. She was certainly braver and more bold when it was required while he wouldn't even step up at the thought of a threat. When they got to the inn it seemed likely to be goodbye. Which made it a surprise when she grabbed a table and urged him to come over. It took a moment of glancing around to realize it couldn't possibly mean anyone else before he hurried over, sliding into another seat at the table with a small, thankful smile.
 
Quinn let the silver haired man join her at the table and sat back into her seat, crossing one leg over the other. The room was full of rough looking characters, but she had seen far worse in the Northlands. Still, she had no idea what to expect from the Southerly people. It was an unknown the both bothered her and excited her. Luckily, she was in the company of a southerner, and he looked pleased enough to be sitting with her. Maybe he would answer some questions.
She pulled her hood down and looked him over with a measured smile. "So, you're a traveler from the south," she asked quietly, "I don't suppose you have any money for a room do you."
 
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