"Rinh!"
The Warrior of Light has hardly entered the buiding when Haurchefant all but vaults over his desk to meet her, lifting her off her feet in an embrace.
"'Tis good to see you well, my friend," he continues, setting her down, his hands shifting to her shoulders. "You are well, I hope?"
Glancing around at the surrounding company, she forces a smile and says, "As well as can be expected."
Her eyes land on Alphinaud, whose gaze is fixed firmly on his lap. She wonders if he has even noticed her arrival, which could only have been moments after his own. He has enough on his mind, and it would not do to addle him with her own thoughts—which have been plaguing her the whole way to safety, to the point where her mind is threatening to burst if she does not sort through them. She leans in and says in a low voice, "Perhaps we could speak somewhere more isolated?"
Haurchefant nods and, uttering a silent command to Corentiaux to keep an eye on the erstwhile commander of the Crystal Braves, leads Rinh out the door and up to the floor above.
"I do hope this is not too isolated," he says, opening the door and tentatively motioning her in to what seems to be a set of quarters for the camp's commander.
Unbothered, Rinh strides in and finds herself a seat on the couch. When her friend has joined her, she begins recounting her experience at the banquet and beyond. The politics of the whole fiasco are still congealing—she is new to these large-scale societies, after all. How could she be expected to untangle the web she has only just found herself snared in? Of more interest to her at the moment is her colleagues' safety. Yda and Papalymo had been caught behind a gate, unable to do aught but fight their way out. Y'shtola seemed to have a plan, but she and Thancred never caught up with them after dealing with the cohort of pursuers, which Rinh had to admit did not bode well. And Minfilia...
"Hydaelyn finally broke her silence." She looks up, realizing her gaze has drifted during the course of her retelling, and recenters it on her friend. "She spoke to Minfilia, told her to stay behind. She would not lead one of her chosen astray. She would not abandon her, would she?"
Of course she does not expect Haurchefant to have an answer, nor can she deny the pang in her soul that tells her the truth. She closes her eyes. Her soul...so dull and empty right now. How did she live like this just months ago, before Hydaelyn's blessing found her? ...and before it left her. Of course she would abandon her chosen.
Before her thoughts can travel further than she would like, she stands up and grabs a blanket. "Mayhap we could go outside?"
The air is even colder now that it is nighttime, but with the thick woolen blanket draped across the two of them, they manage to find a resting place on the camp's walls before they have frozen solid. Her eyes float upwards to find the moon, ever a centering sight, though an oft neglected one in her newly indoor and diurnal life. She fills her heart with a silent prayer to Menphina, hoping that her beloved guardian deity does not begrudge her recent relationship with the Mothercrystal taking up more of her time.
She hardly notices as her friend's arm floats around her shoulders—whether for warmth or affection, she is too distracted to determine—and it is largely without thought that she leans into him. His armor is cold, but so is everything in this Twelve-forsaken region, and so it does not jar her focus. She is not sure how long she and her companion spend in silence, but once the comforting glow of the moon has settled her scrambled senses, she allows herself to turn her eyes upon the Elezen beside her, and his eyes fall on her in turn. There is something there in his gaze—something that has ever been there, but only now, in the sight of Menphina, the moon and the lover, does she realize what it is.
One thing she had not expected when she began her adventuring career in earnest was the way people would look to her. The hero worship. Now, she would be the first to admit that when she arrived in Gridania to start a new life, she fantasized here and there about making a name for herself, maybe even earning a song or two. But her career had taken off stronger than she had anticipated, and so had others' reactions to her. She mostly tries to ignore it or brush it off.
What she sees now, however, is different. And to a certain extent, it is welcome—certainly more welcome than the alternative. And as he hesitantly leans down in the hopes of finding her lips, she considers it. Haurchefant has been a steadfast ally-turned-friend ever since their first meeting. He has always offered her refuge from the cold. He is the one who briefed her on Ishgardian politics and helped unravel her thoughts over drinks after her encounter with Shiva. And here he is now, welcoming this woman accused of regicide into his midst without question. She already knows he is someone she can open her heart to.
She admits to herself, too, that she craves the grounding comfort that a lovers kiss would bring—if indeed a lover he is to be. With her emotions so scattered and aetherial, such an encounter would serve to hold her to the present. Unfortunately, that is an equally good reason not to indulge at the moment. She would have their first of such experiences be less utilitarian in nature.
She leans back an ilm with an apologetic smile and shakes her head. "Pray ask me again another time, when things have begun to settle down."
Gracious as ever, though with a hint of blush in his cheeks that may not be from the wind, Haurchefant returns the smile. "As you wish."
Rinh is not sure when she falls asleep, nor how Haurchefant manages to get her all the way inside without disturbing her. When she awakes some bells later, she finds herself back in the commander's quarters in a firm but surprisingly cozy Ishgardian bed, and it takes her a moment to find her friend, snoring softly from the couch, wrapped in the blanket they took outside.
