Lady of Nyv

Ona stood, mouth unattractively agape, for many moments after Dar had posed his question.

“Are you sure you’re ready?” She asked in a concerned tone.

Dar nodded confidently. “I am, M’Lady.”

“Alright then. Weapons on the ground. We fight without them for now.”

Dar looked at her skeptically, but relinquished his weapons nonetheless. It took Dar a matter of seconds to disarm himself, whereas Ona kept finding weapons she hadn’t known to have owned!

After a shockingly long amount of time and many exasperated sighs from Dar, Ona was ready. They met a few metres from where they had left their weapons, and stood face to face.

“Make your move.” Ona said with a wink.

Dar lunged for her, his actions nearly invisible in the scarcely lit forest. Ona reacted at the last second, reaching out and catching him by the waist, flipping him over her head. Dar landed on his back with a loud groan.

Ona laughed, “Still think you’re up for this?”

In response, Dar kicked Ona behind her knees. She fell into the deep snow, and Dar pounced on her before she could stand again. She struggled against his weight as he pressed her wrists to the ground on either side of her thin frame. With her last ounce of strength, Ona kicked wildly with her legs, forcing Dar off balance. He released her wrists and she quickly took advantage of his loss of focus, pinning him underneath her.

Ona looked down at Dar through her hair. He was helplessly pinned beneath her, unable to move even an inch.

“Do you surrender?” She asked him, being sure to draw the words out.

“Yes.” He squeaked, not meeting her eyes.

“I’m sorry, I couldn’t quite hear that.”

“I surrender!”

Ona stood up and lowered a hand to help Dar up. He took her hand gratefully, stood, and dusted himself off.

“I can take the next watch if you’d like to sleep.” Dar offered.

Ona raised her eyebrows uncertainly, “Are you sure?”

“Positive.” He assured her, stifling a yawn.

Ona shook her head, holding in her laughter, and walked over to where the other men were fast asleep.

She chose a place near the fire to keep warm. She did not feel much like being near Dom tonight.

As she lay on her back in the snow, which was strangely familiar to her, she glanced upward at the stars. She thought of how small and insignificant she truly was and how large the world had suddenly become. All her life she had known of other kingdoms, other traditions, other lifestyles, but never in her wildest dreams did she ever believe she would ever get to visit those places- meet those people and live those lifestyles. She never imagined she would ever be more than a pitiful peasant girl- not even after she had been adopted into Raf’s family.

She sighed loudly, wishing for sleep to come for her. Unfortunately, she suspected t’would be her first of many sleepless nights. It was better that way though, she thought. Her men would be able to sleep, and she would be able to conduct the night watch.

She closed her eyes in an effort to bore herself to sleep, when she saw his face. Ser. She opened her eyes, sitting up quickly. She knew it had been just her mind playing tricks on her, but she could feel him. He was so close. She bit her lip to keep from shedding tears. Even in darkness she was afraid of seeming weak. No one else would know, she knew that; but she would know, and that was worse than the entire North knowing.

The image of Ser faded as quickly as it had come about, but the feeling of his presence lingered. Ona tried to convince herself that t’was simply her way of attempting to deal with this loss, but deep down she knew that there was something that wasn’t quite right about this vision.

She thought back to her days at Castle Nyv, attempting to appease her obviously saddened inner self. She closed her eyes cautiously, and allowed familiar sights to pour into her mind.

She envisioned the large stone walls that protected Castle Nyv, as well as the iron gate and the guards posted on either side of it. Ona took care to remember every minor detail of their armour, right down to their eye colour.

Part of her knew it was better to forget that the North even existed, especially if she was to succeed in her mission, but she did not want to let the memories go- they were all she had.

A single tear trickled down her cheek as the realization finally hit her- she was alone. She had given up her life in the North to travel to an unknown kingdom- where she could very well be slaughtered. She could not believe how stupid she had been to have taken an opportunity such as this. She shook her head, frustrated with herself.

She heard the snow crunching behind her, and she turned her head to see who dared approach her whilst she was trying to sleep.

As her eyes adjusted, she realized that t’was only Kol. When he was standing above her, he reached a hand down to help her up. She took it gratefully, once again forgetting that she had injured her hand. She grabbed onto Kol`s outstretched hand with her wounded one and bit her tongue to stifle a scream.

Kol helped her up easily, carefully watching her as her eyes watered with pain. Without a word, he led her to the edge of the small clearing. They climbed a tree, which was where Kol had been sleeping, and sat relatively close to the top. They spoke in hushed voices, careful not to wake the other men.

“How is your hand?”

“It’s fine.” Ona said, not meeting his eyes.

“I don’t believe you.” Kol said, gently pushing her chin upward so she had no choice but to meet his eyes.

Ona sighed exasperatedly “Alright.” She admitted, “It hurts like hell. I wish I could cut it off.”

Kol chuckled at her response. “Maybe this will ease your pain?”

Kol placed his remaining hand gently on the side of Ona’s face, cradling her cheek, as he leaned in and planted a gentle, feather-light kiss on her lips.

Ona remained frozen even after their kiss. She wasn’t sure how to feel about this event, nor was she sure how to react.

“I apologize,” Kol whispered, lowering his gaze.

Ona sensed his embarrassment. “Whatever for?”

“I should have asked your permission first.”

“I didn’t mind. Truly.” Ona said, gently placing her hand on top of his. “We must keep this quiet.” She continued, “We can’t have the Members treating us any differently.”

Kol nodded solemnly in agreement, and Ona could see the sadness in his eyes. It felt like a knife had been forced into her chest as she watched Kol’s eyes become engulfed in sadness. She wanted nothing more than to make him happy, but circumstances weren’t right for such a situation. Mayhaps if they had met sooner, she would be able to make him happy, but she was engaged. T’wasn’t right. She had risked their luck enough with just one kiss.

“I must sleep now.” Ona muttered.

She climbed down the tree and returned to her place by the fire. She was contented by the sight of the imprint that her body had left in the snow, and returned to it eagerly.

She was surprisingly tired now, yet her body would not allow her to sleep. Her mind remained alert and aware of her surroundings, yet her body was immobile. T’was as if her body was asleep, yet her mind was annoyingly awake.

She remained in this state until sunrise.