Aerith & Tifa (Tirith)

[The Painted Lady]

"Llyr!"
Sabela gasped as she scrambled to keep the both of them upright, wrapping an arm around his waist, the end of his bandage unravelling a little.
"Help... please..." she called out, distressed.

[Tifa Lockhart]

One of the other men sitting around the campfire responded immediately, getting to his feet and rushing over to lift his Commander's dead weight off of the Princess.
"If i may, your majesty..." The soldier began, his voice thick with a northerner accent, his 'R' rolling on his tongue. "You shoulda called for help sooner." He gave a bit of a smile as he braced Llyr's weight against his chest, letting the Princess finish her bandaging. "Shoulders are always bloody painful."

The man looked like he might be several years Llyr's senior, but the badge on his shoulder showed him to be just one of the regular palace guards rather than a full Knight like Llyr and a few others who sat by the fire. He looked like a northerner, his skin darkened by exposure to the sun, his hair black and his eyes blacker still. He was covered in scars and a number of is fingers were crooked, obviously from old breaks.

[The Painted Lady]

"Thank you," Sabela said softly, rebinding the last of the bandage and tying it off.
She still looked deeply concerned.
"Maybe we should lie him down somewhere comfortable..."

[Tifa Lockhart]

Another Knight had approached them as Sabela finished the bandaging. He carried with him a saddlebag from one of the horses.
"Thought you could use this to prop his head up." The Knight said, he was fairly young for a Knight, though perhaps a year or so older than Llyr. "It would help keep the wound clear of the dirt and prevent any pressure on it." The speaker himself sported a small wound wrapped in bandage on his forearm.

[The Painted Lady]

Sabela nodded.
"Thank you," she said again.
"I hope he'll be alright... I'd hate for him to fall ill because of me..."

[Tifa Lockhart]

"We looked into the poison on the blades." The rough northern soldier said, "It's just a plant extract that causes burning sensations in the wound. It isn't lethal."
"And Sir Llyr is as tough as a Brigandine Dragon." The Knight replied, sounding as if he was speaking from experience. "I bet five gold pieces he's up and moving tomorrow morning, early-like."
"I'll take that bet." The soldier replied, grinning, "But i reckon he needs one day afore he's back in action."
Then the men shook hands, sealing the wager.

[The Painted Lady]

Sabela produced a handkerchief, wiping Llyr's brow gently. She held onto his arm gently. Despite their reassurances, she wasn't keen to let him out of his sight.

[Tifa Lockhart]

While Sabela was occupied with Llyr, the soldier and the knight drifted off. They soon returned though. One had two blankets, and the other had a plate of food.
"You need to keep warm your majesty." The Knight said as he draped one blanket over the unconscious knight and then offered her the other. "Pretty sure the Hasnian King would have us drawn and quartered if you arrived ill." His voice suggested that he was not joking.

"And you need to eat." The soldier added, offering the Princess the plate he held.

[The Painted Lady]

"Thank you" Sabela said quietly, accepting the blanket and wrapping it around herself. She also took the food that the soldier offered to her, placing it on the ground in front of her.
Gently, she adjusted Llyr's blanket first, before beginning on her food.

[Tifa Lockhart]

Though the two men withdrew, their eyes remained on the Princess and their Knight Commander. Partly because they wanted to ensure their safety, but also because there was just something strange about their behaviour towards one another.
"Llyr used to sneak outta the barraks all the time." One of the Knight's whispered between mouthfuls of food, "Thought he had a drinking problem, but i dunno..."
"They HAVE been friends since childhood." One of the soldiers added.
"Don't mean nothin'!" Another one snorted.
"So what if there is something there?" The young knight who'd tended to the princess snapped, keeping his voice down so that Sabela would not overhear,"Both of them are doing their duty well enough, i say let the princess have a little love before she's sold into slavery to some foreign liegelord." His expression was dark, and despite the questionable content of his statement, all the men around the campfire seemed to agree with him.

[The Painted Lady]

Sabela picked at her food, oblivious to the chatter going on only a little way away from her. She glanced up to Llyr occasionally, hoping that the next time she'd look, he'd be awake and smiling at her. She sighed softly.

[Tifa Lockhart]

Llyr didn't stir at all that night, but slept peacefully where he lay. The other men all drifted off one by one at the fire after swapping stories, and by dawn the fire was dead, tiny wisps of smoke rising from the still glowing embers of the ash pit.

The sun wasn't long colouring the horizon when Llyr stirred, sitting up stiffly. His shoulder ached, though the pain was dull today. He noted that it was bandaged and clean, and it didn't take him long to find the perpetrator. Sabela lay sleeping beside him.
Fools should have taken her back to her carriage... Llyr thought angrily, A Princess does not sleep in the dirt.... and she might have caught her death of cold...
He got to his feet slowly, noting that his head still span a little with the motion. He walked a short way away from camp to the nearby brook. There was always running water near these rest spots created by the road guard. He knelt by the bank and splashed his face with the cool water, washing away the blood from the gash on his face, it looked much better now than it had the day before. Once he was content that he was clean, he head back to camp, fetching himself a new shirt from his saddle bags and donning it, preparing himself for departure.

[The Painted Lady]

Sabela placed a gentle hand on Llyr's uninjured shoulder. Apparently she had woken.
"Are you okay?" she asked, concern in her voice.
"You should be taking it easy..."

[Tifa Lockhart]

Llyr had been packing the last of his things into his saddlebags when Sabela touched him gently. He turned to face her for a moment, but said nothing. Instead he finished putting away his blanket first and then turned his complete attention to her.
"We don't have time for me to 'take it easy'." He said blandly, though his eyes told a different story to his voice, "We're still in the middle of bandit territory, and i'd rather not have another run in with the locals." He buckled up his saddlebag, "We're already a day behind, the cease fire between our Kingdom and Hasnia is shaky, if we're too late it might fall apart." He picked the packed bags up easy enough, but he seemed to struggle when trying to place them over the horse's back.
Muttering a curse he let his arms fall again, placing the bag back on the ground. He sighed and massaged his eyes with his fingertips, clenching and unclenching the hand on his injured arm, annoyed by the stiffness of the limb.
"They didn't hurt you, did they?" Llyr then asked, his voice shifting in temperament quite suddenly. His eyes flicked to where his men lay sleeping by the smoldering fire. Content they were asleep he reached forward and took hold of Sabela's hands, inspecting the red rings around her wrists with gentle fingers.

[The Painted Lady]

Sabela couldn't help but feel hurt at Llyr's tone, but then it all changed when he took hold of her hands and spoke to her tenderly.
"I... I forgot about them to be honest," she said a little breathlessly.
She looked to the bag on the ground.
"I can help..."