oh the weather outside is frightful

[baemeric]

[ It’s freezing.

This is likely a redundant observation, at Starlight in Ishgard. It is the coldest time of year, and being out for the Temple Knights means they are far from any of the Congregation’s limited comforts. This would be reason enough for the uncomfortable surrounds without the additional complication of being effectively trapped in a cave. That is, however, where Aymeric is; the Temple Knights had not thought a few wyvern a sufficient threat to dispatch actual knights, handing the job off to squires as “training”, and though the tiny settlement that had been under threat is (hopefully) safe, the storm that has picked up has cut two of the squires off from their fellows and a route home both.

It could be worse. He could be trapped with one of the boys who makes sport of mocking him. Aymeric has to remind himself of that every time he looks at Estinien and feels a flare of concern that he’s going to humiliate himself. It takes quite a lot of reminding; they have agreed to take shelter until the storm passes, and now that Estinien has built a fire to keep the worst of the cold at bay and they’ve butchered the steinbock Aymeric took down with his bow before the snow outside got bad enough to be completely blinding, there’s little to do but wait for the haunch they’ve set over the fire to cook and think about their situation.

He can hardly be blamed. Everyone knows he’s a bastard, a poor replacement for the son the Borels couldn’t have naturally, and this would make him a prime target for the absolute worst anyone could offer if it weren’t for Estinien. Estinien who for some reason saw fit to take Aymeric under his wing, who defends him with a quick fist on the rare occasions that a withering glare isn’t enough. Even when Aymeric hit his growth spurt first and towered over his friend, Estinien had protected him with the ferocity of a mother dragon. And now they’re of a height it’s only worse, because Estinien has grown from a very pretty boy to a heart-wrenchingly handsome young man, and it’s all Aymeric can do not to stare open-mouthed at him. No, Estinien is handsome and kind to him, and Aymeric has been absolutely doomed from the outset.

He’s digging through his pack mostly to occupy himself, to give himself something other than his friend to look at, when he makes the discovery. A wineskin, full, tucked into his belongings just under the top layer of possessions – easily discovered. An attempt, no doubt, to get him into trouble. It gives him a small spike of pleasure to know that won’t be happening. Why, in this cold it’s almost medicinal. So he fishes it out, crosses back to the fire and settles himself down next to Estinien before passing the skin to him. ]

Happy Starlight.

Comments

[vindictae]

[ there was a time when estinien enjoyed starlight.

his family was always poor, but they had enough to put food on the table -- and his parents always found a way to make sure there were gifts from saint nyemia left by the hearth; clothes patched to be almost like new, carved wooden toys for the little ones, sweetmeats and baked treats. it was never much, but then, it hadn't needed to be for them to be happy.

but that was years ago, and now it's hardly a day to be marked.

indeed, he hadn't even realized the date until aymeric settles in beside him again and remarks on it, and his first acknowledgment is little more than a dismissive snort. if it were anyone else, estinien would have spurned the offer entirely; they are soldiers, not children, and there's little room for sentimentality when their lives are sworn to war.

but it's aymeric, and for some reason, estinien is inclined to protect that softness in him instead of trying to tear it away. so he takes the skin and takes a swig from it before he passes it back, making a low appreciative noise as the wine warms his blood and settles in his chest. ] Am I to believe Saint Nymeia lies waiting in caves?

[baemeric]

As likely here as anywhere else.

[ Estinien has never been one to tease Aymeric for his more bookish tendencies. So it's entirely possible he could prattle on about this history of Starlight; the origins in nothing more than knights like themselves (or rather, like they aim to be) looking after those who hadn't the means to look after themselves. That's something he knows sits close to Estinien's heart, regardless of later attachments of saints to the myth. But here and now, in the cold and the flickering firelight, he doesn't quite have it in him.

Instead he takes a long pull from the wineskin before he hands it back to Estinien, and leans forward to carefully turn the meat over the fire. ]

More likely to be someone trying to get me hauled up for an infraction, I'll admit. It's not quite in the Starlight spirit for me to be so pleased at how annoyed they'd be if they knew.