[h3]Come With Me...[/h3]

[i]With Leidenschaft as Janus Kressimir

And [@Stormflyx] as Joy...[/i]

With the hall and kitchen clear of cobwebs, and the hearth fire busy warming the keep, Joy had set to find a place to freshen up with clean clothes and a wash; to run a comb through her hair.

Far less showy than her tavern clothing. Just a simple, loose linen shirt in an off-white shade, casually buttoned and tucked into comfortably fitted bottoms in an earthen shade. Bruno's gifted boots had been lovely, but getting comfortable in a new place meant getting comfortable again, and so she padded around barefoot through the halls as she explored. Even the gravel and loose stones outside didn't bother the woman. The grass was wonderful too, kissed still with cool dew from the morning.

She was searching for a friendly face.

Instincts brought her to the stable, and there she found the man's impressive horse, relaxing and making a meal of the hay that had been set down for him. As she approached, she was quiet on her feet, and her posture non-threatening. With a soft coo she lifted a hand to his velvet-soft nose. Surprisingly, the horse was open to her touch. "You're resting your feet too, hmm?" she spoke quietly before running her fingers under his chin to scratch him. "Where did your dad go to now?" she asked, as if Vodevic could understand and answer. He had very obviously been in here, and not long ago, too.

"You're just a big, beautiful sweetheart, aren't you?" Joy continued with a smile, reaching into her pocket and retrieving a ball of sugar that had hardened together. She let it sit on the flat of her palm and held it up for the draft horse, who took it happily and crunched it down. "Don't you go telling on me for that. That's between you and me..."

“That’s the first time I’ve seen him docile in a bit.” Janus’ voice came from behind her, his easy smile as he watched the two. He had Vodevic’s saddle in his arms, laden with his supplies and his horse’s, ready for a journey to wherever Janus had chosen to take them. Wherever it was, it was away from all of this talk of waging a hopeless war. “You’re set on staying, aren’t you?”

His unusually quiet footfall startled her, either that or she had been so focused on the horse she’d missed him altogether. Joy flashed him a quick smile, stepping back from Vodevic to let Janus work. She picked to sit atop a barrel at their side. “Not like I have a choice, is it?” she replied with a shrug. “Safer to be here than… Anywhere else for me.”

Janus stepped forward and set Vodevic’s saddle next to the horse, who looked at it and then went back to feeding. Janus sighed, brushing off his shirt and looking to Joy, observing her face and the subtle drop of her features as she spoke. He pursed his lips, “You don’t know that.” He said, “If you stay here, it’ll be fighting and war, and loss.”

Janus said, too much sincerity in his eyes for anyone to doubt he knew about those things intimately, “Come with me. This can’t be happening everywhere.”

“You asking me to run away with you?” Joy responded quickly, tilting her head as her hands held the rim of the barrel. She let that comment hang in the air before she sighed it away. “I can’t do that. Where can we even go?” She asked, her expression softening. “You heard what Solomon said,” as soon as the words left her lips, she knew they would prickle him. The conversation at Bruno’s hut had been tense. Very tense. 

The nord bit down on her lip and glanced at the floor, the strewn hay and dirt. “I can’t come with you. Couldn't live with it if I turned away from people who need me.”

Janus frowned, sitting down on the saddle at his feet, “I’ve heard words like that before, Joy. Believe you me, they’re convincing, but it’s a fool’s task.” Janus pleaded, shaking his head and looking away from Joy, “Anvil. White-Gold, there’d be so much more for you there than anywhere in High Rock now.”

“Leave it to the Legion Men, leave it to Solomon. We’re wanderers, we were nothing but travelers before this, not soldiers.” Janus said, throwing his arms out at his side, “I’m tired of fighting other men’s wars. I’m not doing it again.”

He stood then, picking the saddle up and placing it on Vodevic’s back, the steed huffing in soft complaint, “I can’t.”

“I know. I know you are,” she said softly. She’d seen as much in his eyes. They had so much hard truth in them there was little room for anything else. Janus wasn’t lying to her, and all that was missing for her was the story of how he’d reached that point -- not that she really intended to go digging for it. “It takes more than soldiers to win a war, Janus.

I [i]am[/i] a wanderer,” a smile crept over her lips. “We’re both wanderers. But…. don’t we need a road to be able to wander on?” Joy knew that he was set in his ways, she could feel that something had happened to him on his road. “I want there to still be people to meet on the road, places to go, the freedom to do it… We wouldn’t have met if we didn’t have the freedom to travel the road now, would we?” Her feet touched the ground again as she slid off the barrel and walked to his side. 

“You don’t want to fight?” she asked, a steel grit in her eyes all of a sudden. “Then why’d you throw yourself in front of that… that [i]thing[/i]?” Even to picture it again gave her a sickly lump in her throat that didn’t want to budge.

He looked at Joy, his sorry gaze on her own as he felt her search his soul. She was right, after all, about why he had leapt to action so readily to defend the others. He pried his eyes away from hers and went to work strapping and buckling the saddle. “Just think on it, Joy.” He said, voice resigned to a pitiful whisper, pleading with her, “I won’t be here much longer. I don’t want to see you lose your life for any of this.”

He yanked the last strap and Vodevic grunted, glancing at Janus as the man turned to Joy, feeling himself fighting the urge to stay, that righteous pull of the fight. The cause. He gave Joy his easy smile, “Maybe I’ll stay for a little. Share a drink in peace. That much I’ll promise you.”

“I’m not planning on dying, Janus,” she remarked with a twitch of a smile. “But I’ll be damned if I don’t fight in whatever way I can for the people who need me to. Some people didn’t even get that chance to, afterall.” Her hand found its way to Vodevic, and she stroked his chest, watching the Imperial before her. “[i]You[/i] made sure that I had the chance—” she paused, turning her head as she caught a breath that was heavy in her chest. 

After a moment, she steadied herself enough to catch Janus’ eye again. “You’re staying the night. You need real sleep in a good bed, a hot meal.” Then she touched his arm, rubbing her thumb against him. “If you still feel the same way come morning… Well, I’ll… I’ll even send you off with a hot breakfast too, but I’m not letting you leave today. You saved my life. I owe you this much, at least.”

Janus opened his mouth to say something until Joy had put a hand on his arm, the gentle rubbing of her thumb making the skin tingle. He shut his lips and looked into Joy’s eyes, so innocent and yet so unshakable in her conviction. Eyes he hadn’t seen since some time. He gave her a nod, “Fine.” He said, smiling voice gentle, “Since you’re so convincing.”

Her countenance changed after that, and she placed a hand on her hip, lending to a more assertive stance and she looked at Janus with a serious stare. “Don’t go trying to sneak out either,” her eyebrows raised, but the slight smirk that she couldn’t quite hide betrayed any kind of real attitude she was trying to show. “I mean it.” She was glad she’d swayed him, for now at least. 

He chuckled, his smile widening a hair, “Well,” he sighed, “I’d best pick a room.”

He turned to Vodevic, the old and trusty warhorse standing there with his hay like an old man who couldn’t be bothered to do anything else. “Looks like you’re getting some rest, friend.”

The horse did not reply. Janus looked Joy up and down in her stance, “Wouldn’t want to cross you. Come on, pick me out a cell.” He joked.

Joy’s composure changed, and quickly she straightened up again, putting on a coy smile before tucking her hair back behind her ears. “Well now Sir,” she began, putting on some kind of pompous air and grace in her speech. “Is it a room with a view that you seek? Perhaps a quieter place to retire away from the rabble each evening?” She began to step around him playfully, looking him up and down with a raised brow and a hand tucked under her chin. “Any amenities that you desire in this… [i]cell[/i] of yours?” Her brief exploration of the place gave her an almost fair enough knowledge of the layout by now. 

“I’d like a room with amenities, close to the armory, perhaps.” He nodded, pretending to consider things and stroking his lengthening beard, “Something with a lock, keep the serfs at bay while I get my beauty sleep, yes.”

“Alright, armory room it is,” Joy responded, nodding along with his words. “I’ll have it made up for you. With the good bedding too. Who knows, if Sir gets comfortable enough, he might extend his stay at the [i]Grand Keep of Ken Muhyr[/i]…” Her eyes sparkled with her grin, and she held her hands behind her back. “So I’d best go get to that, then.”

“I’ll follow,” Janus smiled to her, at ease with her being the Joy he’d met and not the tired mess they all were on the trek here, “Lady needs a companion.”

She was tired. Exhausted in fact, and the questions she had for the state of the world had gone unanswered so far. Joy was almost too afraid to ask them, the bard didn’t know enough about anything to figure it out for herself. All that she wanted was to make sure everyone could relax for the night, even if it was just one. If she could do that, things wouldn’t feel so dark, and the next day wouldn’t be so terrifyingly consuming.

Those feelings remained hidden behind her mask of a smile for now, “I can allow that.”