After nightfall

[Ziad]

Ziad gave a small chuckle. He could have given her a perfect, flawless account of what she had been talking about ... or rather ... rambling for the last few minutes for not only had he been playing close attention but also was he far less drunk than she was. A bit tipsy, maybe, but nothing that could not be suppressed. Still, he pretended to be on the same level as her there.

"I dunno..." he said, making sure there was just the right amount of slur in his voice. "butanyways... mylady has had her fill methinks. If you let me, I shall carry her to her well deserved rest. I´m a gentleman after all and all that." He raised his glass as if to toast to her, indicating a small bow of his head.

[Kriss]

Kriss was trying to listen to his words but her eyelids were becoming heavier and heavier. Eventually, she did not even answer to him. Her head limply fell on her arms, on the table.

[Ziad]

Ziad had been watching her carefully. It was not too difficult to keep up a show of being slightly tipsy, because that was what he was by now, but his mind was far more alert than hers. He smirked wrily when she passed out (at least he guessed that this was what had just happened), then got to his feet and walked around to where she was sitting, scooping her up in his arms. "Looks like someone had a little too much of that wine." he said, the trace of a chuckle in his voice. "we better get you somewhere where you can sleep that away."

[Kriss]

Not necessarily aware of in whose arms she was, Kriss felt that someone was carrying her. Instinctively she put her hands around his nape and place her head comfortably on his shoulder. Carefree as a child she was sleeping in Ziad's arms, letting him take her wherever he wished. But his destination seemed to be quite obvious. Kriss' bedroom.

[Kahlan]

Two hours had passed since Kriss had gone to join Ziad for the dinner, or maybe more, Kahlan couldn't remember. She was still in the Archer's room, keeping an eye on Aniel.
At the beginning, she was simply watching him playing with two little animals in wood, but she knew she couldn't stay like that for long, or she would quickly get bored. after a while, she sat on the floor, in front of Aniel, and took a little ball in her hand. Aniel had a lot of toys around him, but he was playing with two of them only, ignoring the others. With one animal in each hand, he was making them walk, fight against each other, but without really having fun.
"You have a lot of cute toys, here. Would you like to show them to me?" Kahlan proposed, to distract him a little.
But Aniel didn't even looked up from his two toys. A little desperate, Kahlan looked around her, trying to find another idea. She suddenly stood up, and she grabbed two wooden toys, a doll and a wolf. She put them at one meter from Aniel, the wolf in front of the doll, and then she returned to the little boy. She took another toy and said.
"Oh no! A young damsel is in distress. The bad wolf is about to kill her. Mister Knight here wants to save her but he's too far from the lady. He can't reach her in time! What can he do?"
Kahlan stopped talking and looked at Aniel. He was now looking at the doll and the wolf.
After a few seconds, he let his toys and disappeared under the bed. Kahlan leaned her head to see him when he reappeared with a little wooden horse in his hand. He took the knight from Kahlan's hand, he put it on the horse, and made the animal run toward the lady in distress. Kahlan smiled and joined Aniel as he reached the toys.
They played like this for a while. Then she gave him a quick bath, and began to tell him a story. but Aniel quickly fell asleep on Kriss's bed. That's when the young woman realized he must have been very late. Now that Aniel was sleeping, there was no reason to stay in this room any longer. So she slowly took him in her arms and carried him to his own room.
She put Aniel on his bed and went to close the door when she heard the sound of footsteps on the stairs. Thinking it was Kriss, Kahlan stepped outside the room, but she suddenly backed down when she recognized the outfit of Ziad. She kept the door half-opened to observe him when she noticed that Kriss was in his arms. The Archer was still awake but seemed very tired.
Before Kahlan could do anything, the guard had disappeared in Kriss's room.

[Ziad]

Ziad was completely unaware of the other woman watching him. There was mild noise drifting up from down the tavern and that was what he was mostly focused on. There were still guests there, it wasn´t that late yet. Which was good, because when he wanted to have a look around, he might need some diversion.

He shouldered the door open without setting Kriss down and then carefully set her down on her bed. She was sleeping soundly and he chuckled slightly to himself when he noticed she smelled of wine. So much for keeping up with the tough image she had tried to make him believe in, he thought. He did not undress her but merely pulled off her boots, careful not to wake her and then half draped the blanket over her. She didn´t even stir. Still he waited a moment, ready to have an excuse at the ready should she awake. Only when she didn´t after even a long moment, he turned around to have a look at the room.

There was some furniture around, no doubt it contained her clothes and personal things. He felt a bit shabby doing this but his instincts told him there was something off about her. And even though he knew his superior would not approve of him using wine as a means to investigate, it still gave him possibilities he might not have had otherwise. She was a feisty one, she kept evading him with those strange flirtations whenever he caught her in a somewhat strange situation. Something was wrong, he knew it. He just had to find proof.

He did not put much attention to her clothes, that felt personal and he made sure not to scuffle through them or bring disorder but leave them the way he had found them. What roused his interest was something that he found in the biggest wardrobe: A bow and - wrapped into a piece of cloth, a couple of arrows. He pulled one out to have a closer look and brought it over to the light to see whether his first guess was true. It was. The arrow was crusted in dried blood, no longer red but brownish. He scowled. What reason did she have for that? He immediately dismissed the idea that she might have gone hunting. For if that was the reason, why hide the arrows? Unless she was a poacher that was. He considered that option for a moment.

[Kriss]

Kriss completely lost the contact with the reality. Her thoughts seemed to be wrapped in sleep but on the other hand they were trying to catch the fragments of what was happening around her. Movements, sounds, touch. Her minds were trying to pull it all into one picture but in her state could not be the reflection of the real facts. It was the picture which her minds deeply wanted to create.
Someone had been carrying her in his arms and put her to bed. She had felt the touch of someone's hands, man's hand, a sensitive gesture. Only one name could come to her right now...

"Shaigan...?" her unsure voice asked in her sleep but she did not wait for the answer, "You...you have no idea what...what happend..." she stopped nervously clutching a blanket.

[Ziad]

When she spoke, Ziad froze instantly, still holding one of the arrows. Only after a second or two he understood she had been talking in her sleep. Shaigan...this sounded like a name, even though one different from names he knew. Maybe she was dreaming of someone she had known...

Slowly, Ziad turned around, wondering if he could and should press his luck like that. Glancing at her, he slowly slid the arrow back into the quiver, careful to make things look as if nothing had changed, then he closed the wardrobe and walked over to her, crouching next to her bed. If she woke up now or as a result of this, he could easily say he had just placed her down.

"What happened?" he asked, his voice low.

[Kriss]

Suspended on the edge of a dream and the two realities, this true and the one created by her drunk witty minds, Kriss could not know what she was really doing. The feeling that he was with her, that long-hidden and missed by her, that feeling was stronger than anything. She was sure she was talking with Shaigan. She was sure that it is him who was sitting on their common bed.
Her overshadowed by the wine subconscious wanted it to be the true so much that no objective aspects could change it.

"Ohh... Shaigan..." She put her hand on his arm and stroked him then take it back, still with closed eyes. "Don't worry... you...you don't need to worry about that...as always…I...I took care of everything.... Leave... leave her to me... I think she can... she can be usefull..."

[Ziad]

Ziad narrowed his eyes slightly and slowly placed the arrows back where he had found them, careful not to move much to not disturb her sleep. She was either dreaming something that made absolutely no sense... or this was something else entirely. As one said, drunks and children always speak the truth, the guard mused.

"Useful?" he asked, his voice no louder than before, somewhat soothing even. "how so?"

[Kriss]

Still completely convinced that she was talking to Shaigan, Kriss started to explain. "Use your brain, Shaigan..." She twisted her lips in indignation "A dozen of armed men wouldn't chase a peasant around the forest....besides just look at her...her..."She yawned "Look at her jewelry. Trust me. Something..." She yawned again "Something tells me that this...this Kahlan can be useful..."
She pulled the blanket over her shoulders, "You should take some sleep, too, my dear captain."

[Ziad]

Ziad froze, his eyes narrowing before he withdrew his arm from her slowly. Kahlan. He remembered that being the name of the dark haired stranger, the woman that had been with her. Now that for sure was interesting. And not only that, also something else. The forest? Well, it was of course possible that this was just drunk sleep talk, but he would still make a detour around the forest. Now would be a good moment. He slowly got to his feet, careful notto wake her.

[Kriss]

Completely oblivious to what she had just done nor of the further consequences of this, Kriss deeply fell asleep. Like a child after the whole day long of playing. But for sure even in a deep dream she could not find the answer of how was he going to use her words.