Luna's eyes fluttered open her bright blue eyes seemed to glow in the low light of the cabin. She sat up. Her body ached. She shivered at the cold of the air as the blankets and furs that covered her fell into her lap. It was cold on this side of the RichTy. She pulled the blankets up and looked around the one room of the cabin. Thorn was curled up with Quinn on one of the rugs next to the stone fireplace. The little light in the cabin was from the dieing embers of the fire from the night before. And from the little slit of light that came in over the door. Luna noticed some cloths on the one table in the room and picked them up. They had obviously been Thorn's but he had tailored them to fit her. She put them on, they were big but comfortable, and climbed out of the bed. The fabric felt odd on the weakly healed wounds that covered her body but it felt better than the cold air. It occurred to her that her fever must have broken in the night. She stood on her own for the first time in almost a week and moved to the door, longing for fresh air.
The sudden light in the cabin woke Quinn he looked up and saw Luna pass through the door. he sat up making Thorn's arm flop to the ground. Quinn quickly moved to the door before Luna closed it all the way and slipped out into the early morning sun.
Thorn lay sprawled on the floor snoring.
The smell of cooking bacon roused Thorn to consciousness. He sat up quickly and took in everything in his little one room cabin. Luna sat on the floor next to the fireplace tending the cooking bacon. Quinn lay next to her waging his tail eager for bacon.
"Your alive... I mean, your up... I mean, good morning." Luna smiled and Thorn's heart skipped a beat. It had been a long time sense he had seen something so beautiful.
"I hope you do not mind. I was hungry and found the bacon and eggs and some bread so I thought I would make some breakfast."
"No, no, not at all I'm sorry I slept in for so long." Thorn stood the rest of the way up and found nature call. "If you will pardon me for a moment." Luna smiled and laughed as Thorn dashed through the door to the privy.
"He is an odd one." Luna said to Quinn patting the dog on the head. Thorn came back in much calmer than her had left. He sat down next to the dog and started over again.
"So I'm assuming that you are feeling better?"
"Yes, indeed. Thank you," She said. "And I never got a chance to thank you for saving me from the MalAla the other day. And from exposure. And from the fever. I suppose I own you a great deal."
"No, to be honest I have not had so much excitement in years." Thorn did not really know why he had said that, he had not enjoyed a moment of life sense he set eyes on this woman... but it had been exciting. "MalAla, is that what those things were."
"Oh, yes, you have probably never seen them. The term MalAla roughly means 'Twisted Men.' I wish that I could have stayed conscious to see you fight them they are notoriously hard to kill." Luna's smile seemed to brighten the cabin. "To see a man kill two of them with little more than a scratch would have been a site."
Thorn wished he could explain that it had not really been his skills that had killed the two MalAla. His body had not seemed to truly be in his control. He had simply done the only things he could do at the time. It had felt so natural but at the same time he had not felt like himself. Thorn wished he could explain this but he did not know how. He really did not want to tell this woman that a part of him regretted killing those men. So all he said was; "It was nothing really."
The room was silent for a moment while all three of them wolfed down their breakfast. Luna had been hungry and Luna and Quinn just ate like that.
"So, what are you doing out here all by yourself being chased by MalAla?" Thorn meant the question to be slightly humorous. Luna did not laugh.
"I'm going to meet somebody." Luna said focused on soaking up the last of the egg with a bit of bread.
"Oh, who?" Thorn asked and immediately regretted it. He did not really want to know anything about people who's meeting would try to be stopped by the likes of MalAla.
"Not really meet but find. I'm looking for somebody." Thorn did not push it further and the meal concluded in silence. Just a Thorn moved to the door, Luna asked a question of her own. "Thorn, what did you do with bodies?"
"I buried them... in separate graves of appropriate depth." Thorn was not sure why he had added that last part.
"Good, they were men, even if their souls had been twisted beyond recognition, they were still men." It felt as if Luna were speaking Thorn's thoughts out loud. It was as if she were twisting a dagger in his heart. Thorn closed the door and started chopping wood with that ax that he had used to kill a man.
