Campfire Conversations

As the pair traveled along the great road, day turned into night, and the weather turned for the worst yet again. Rain came pouring down drenching the pair, with only their cloaks shielding them from the rain. Konrad was miserable, he wet and shivering, and hoped they would soon find some shelter out of the rain. He looked over to Ushug, even siting on a horse she towered above him, and she did not seem the slightest bit bothered by the cold and wet weather, he almost began to miss the old abandoned inn.

Konrad and Ushug continued to make their way down the road, powering through the weather until Konrad insisted they find shelter, to which Ushug reluctantly agreed. To his luck, they found an old ruin in which to take shelter in, the two made their way into the ruin and out of the pouring rain. They dismounted and removed their cloaks, both thoroughly drenched, and left them to one side to dry. Whilst Ushug unloaded her bag from her horse, Konrad continued to shiver, still freezing from the wet and cold, though Ushug had showed little sympathy towards him.

'Unload your Horse, don't expect me to do it cause you got the shivers'

'Y-Y-Yes, j-j-just g-give me a-a m-moment'. Konrad wandered around in a vain attempt to warm himself up, Ushug reached into a bag and took out a black leather wine skin and gave it to Konrad. 'Drink, it'll warm you up', Konrad took a sip only to instantly spit it back out.

'UGH!, what is this!'

'Dwarven black spirit, good for keeping you warm, not so good for taste, drink up.' Konrad reluctantly took another sip, this time forcing it down his throat, the spirit felt like it was setting his insides ablaze and left a strong bitter aftertaste in his mouth, he pulled the lip of the wine skin from his mouth and began to cough heavily, and handed it back to Ushug, who took a swig from it, barely flinching to the strong spirit. After recovering from the spirit Konrad felt a lot warmer and ceased shivering, and immediately went about unloading his horse.

Whilst he unpacked Ushug went about building a fire, she had collected some sticks from a downed tree outside of the ruin and began assembling the fire. Once she had finished she went about attempted to light it, though to little success. Konrad could see that the Orcess was becoming increasingly annoyed as she continued to fail, he decided that he would go over and lend a helping hand. 'How are you doing?, would you like some help?'

Ushug paused briefly, 'No, unless you can find some completely dry wood.'

'Actually, yes. let me have ago and i can get this wood to dry' Konrad then got down in front of the unlit fire, placing his hand over the wet wood and tinder, then saying in a loud and clear tone 'Ignis!'. And right before both of them the fire had burst to life, Konrad looked up up at Ushug and briefly caught her look of surprise, before she averted his gaze and tended to the flame. After a few moments the fire was ready, and both sat down, in order to take in its warmth.

They sat opposed to each other, and had remained in silence. Konrad was slightly disappointing that Ushug had not inquired about his magical abilities, and wondered if he had embarrassed her. He kept himself busy by reading some of the books he kept with him, occasionally peaking over at Ushug, who had taken to passing time by drinking in silence. As he peaked over, Konrad grew evermore curious about her, it was rare to see an Orc female on her own, as they usually remained with their tribes and did not wander as it was common for Orc males to do. He decided he would try and find out more about her, and began formulating a plan on how he would go about it, as he did not want to piss her off as he had done back at the Inn.

Konrad closed his book and gently placed it down by his side, before leaning towards the fire to warm up his hands. Konrad then looked over to Ushug 'So, where you from?'

The Orcess looked back at him, 'The north.' she said.

'Ha, yes but, surely there's more to the north than just being called 'The north', surely there are place names?'

'Yes, there are. Though i doubt you'd have ever heard of any of em.'

She was clearly uninterested in making conversation with him, Konrad realized, but regardless, he continued his attempts.

'May i ask, why have you traveled this far from your home? Orcs don't usually travel outside of their own territory, especially alone.' The Orcess sat up and leaned forwards, he seemed to have finally caught her attention.

'Look, my business is my own, i don't pry in yours so you shouldn't pry in mine. I've noticed how you have spent the past few hours, your not the first human I've met and i know how much of a savage you think my kind is, so lets not pretend to be friends.'

'That is not in the slightest what i think!' retorted Konrad. 'I've met many non-humans in my time, and unlike many that i know i find them fascinating rather than something to be disgusted at. As we have met and will be traveling together for some time i thought we should get to know one another.'

There was a brief pause, Ushug remained seemingly unfazed from Konrad point of view. 'Well then, i shall leave you in peace then'. Konrad then leaned back from the fire and picked up his book to continue reading, annoyed and slightly disappointed.