Oh, good! I'll read it and work on a post of my own and then put it here.
--------------------------------------
Okay, here is my post. Pio or Child, please put it onto Dorran's post.
-- Folwren
-----------------------
POST PLACED ~*~ Pio
Athwen lay in the dark, her eyes blinking wearily in the fire light. But she couldn’t sleep, for all the tiredness in the world. She sighed and tried to get comfortable, turning her back to the flickering flames. It was impossible, she knew. Try as she might, keeping her eyes closed, and lying very still, she just couldn’t entice sleep to come and take her. It didn’t. It positively refused and soothing slumber was kept out at bay, as though waiting for a particular wave to b ring it in.
With another sigh, she sat up, letting the blankets fall away. She shivered suddenly as the outer air caught her on unawares and she reached out her hand as she stood up to pick up one of the blankets. She turned her back to the campfire and as she walked away, she wrapped the blanket around her head and shoulders, her hands grasping it about her throat securely. She left ring of firelight and looked about for Dorran. She knew he had taken first watch and she didn’t want to be alone. To him she went and when she reached him, she said nothing, but slowly sat down on a large fallen tree near him.
Dorran saw her and rose to his feet, taking in his hand a cup. As he drew near she looked up at him.
‘Can’t sleep?’ he queried. Athwen shook her head. He extended the cup towards her and she stuck one hand out from beneath the folds of her blanket to take it. ‘Neither can I. I figured I might as well take the first watch rather than lie in my blankets and toss.’ There was a pause. Athwen was looking at her tea and was unaware that Dorran stood considering her. ‘I really did mean it,’ he said softly in a moment. ‘I have some idea of what you’re feeling. When I was little. . .’
With bowed head, Athwen listened to Dorran’s own story. He told her about the attack on his village when he was just a boy. He had seen it. . .and he had been just a child. Tears brimmed in her eyes to overflowing and when her dark lashes fell, the drops broke free and ran like little rivers down her cold and pale cheeks.
‘So I do have some idea what you're feeling. . .the bad pictures running through your head and the times when you wonder why everyone else died when you're still here alive. Anyways, I'm sorry, terribly sorry for what happened. If we had only gotten there sooner, maybe. . .But it's no good thinking like that. We all do what we can and learn to live with the rest. But that learning to live, it'll take time, lots of time. It will get better, though, after a while. I can promise you that.’
Athwen lifted her head and looked up at him. He was trying to give her hope. . .hope of the future, and he was also offering her strength. And somehow, she felt she was receiving it. He knew, and that was enough.
‘Dorran,’ she said after he had finished and had stood in silence for a moment. ‘You were just a child then, weren’t you? How did you get away from the Easterling’s plantation? And did your parents live?’ She wanted to know. Did he come out of his hardships quite as alone as she had? How had he learned to live, even in time? To her eyes, her future looked bleak. She would be with these companions until they reached Edoras, and then what? Where would she go next?