From The Ashes

37

Waking up to silence still was a strange experience. As yet each morning, or each time she had woken from sleep, there was always noise which greeted Alassëa's ears. This time there was nothing. The stillness caused her to open her eyes with caution. The only thing which greeted her was an empty space beside her. With a frown she turned over quietly and looked to the dying fire. The rich bright flames previously, were now dwindling away to nothing in the hearth. Even though the fire was slowly going out, it still provided some warmth. Even as she laid looking at the small flames which struggled to keep going, Alassëa could feel the comforting warmth radiating off of it.

Turning her head back to the side, she looked at the empty space beside her. A frown slowly crept onto her face again, only to disappear as she heard movement from elsewhere in the room. Lifting her head up she looked to the window. Standing with his hands in his trouser pockets, and leaning against the wall next to the window, and looking out of it was Bard. He had opened the shutters slightly and was looking distantly at the night which was beyond the room. It was still night, even from where she laid Alassëa could still see the silver light of the moon.

Taking his hands out of his pockets, Bard wrapped the blue shirt more around himself and quietly sighed. He seemed to be in a world of his own, so he was slightly oblivious to the sounds of her shifting behind him. The only time he didn't seem oblivious to the sounds of movement was when a hand tentatively got placed on his shoulder. Turning slowly, he looked down at Alassëa, she looked from the night before her to him. She gave the slightest of shivers, she had rushed and grasped onto any piece of nearby clothing and tugged it on. It just so happened to be one of Bard's shirts, though a comfortable piece of clothing, it was rather big on her, and she had to keep pulling the neckline up and away from her shoulder and righting it. It wasn't protecting her much from the cold night air which was creeping through the open window.

"Can't sleep?" She offered a small smile as an arm got placed around her shoulders. She wrapped her arms around him, and leaned her head against his chest. She shut her eyes and took some comfort in the sound of his steady heartbeat.

"I can't help but not feel at ease." He said slowly while leaning his chin on the top of her head and looking around the room.

Alassëa frowned and moved back, she looked to him. "You think you still need to fight. You don't. Well and truly the fighting has ended, Bard. You can relax, be at peace in knowing that you and everyone else have successfully defended the city, and now at long last; we can live in contentment." She said and then pointed a finger at him. "Adrenaline, that's your problem."

"Or I'm overtired, choose your pick." He stated while she rolled her eyes and flippantly waved a hand at him. Clearly this was her retort to being contradicted. "What are you doing awake?"

Alassëa looked lost for a moment. Naturally her own question would get shot back at her. With a sigh she ran a hand through her short hair and shrugged. "I just woke up." Bard raised an eyebrow at this, "I just woke up to nothing." Alassëa's eyes grew distant then, she zoned out and got lost in her thoughts before coming back to reality and looking up at him. "It was so silent, I wondered what had happened...I thought everyone had disappeared or something, and you...you weren't beside me, so that worried me greatly."

"I hadn't gone far," he wished to point out quite rightly.

Alassëa smiled and shook her head. "It's just me being silly. So used to noise and chaos suddenly being confronted with silence...something which most people seek all the time to relax in, just threw me." She explained honestly while managing to get free of his arms. Turning slowly she walked back to the fire. Sitting slowly down, she pulled at the hem of the shirt, it only just came to mid-thigh, so when she sat it hoisted up more, much to her annoyance. With a despondent look she glanced up as Bard finally shut the window and moved over to her side.