My Darling Orange

[On the Road between Brewbury and ____]

The sun was hot. It always seemed to be hot. For Daerinnid, even the steady heat of the sun was nothing compared to the steady sobbing of Neesa.

On and on and on she cried, Daerinnid standing bewildered beside her. He had tried to ask her why she was crying, but none of her garbled messages made sense, and her misinterpreted attempts only caused her to cry more. Then Daerinnid had tried to comfort her, but with no idea as to what he was supposed to be comforting her about, his efforts were in vain.

So finally Daerinnid decided to let her cry it off. After the recent events in her life it was no surprise that Neesa had reached her breaking point. Women were just weaker that way, he reasoned.

It seemed as though Neesa's sobs were dying down, so Daerinnid took a chance in walking over to her. "Neesa?" he said quietly, his voice a combination of calm and concern. The façade was so perfect that Daerinnid had to suppress his own urge to laugh at himself. "Neesa, darling?"

Darling. He nearly choked on the word, forcing it through his lips and out onto the open air. If anything, this sort of sweet talk would coax Neesa back onto her horse and they could get going. Daerinnid had the nagging suspicion that they would not make it to the safety of an inn at this pace, and he did not relish the thought of dealing with Neesa outside, where her fear of the Te'nakh'nor would be greatest.

"Bwah wah hah!" Neesa cried as she sensed Daerinnid's approach.

"Neesa, honey?" The words were so loving that Daerinnid had to turn away to regain his composure. "Okay, I can do this," he whispered to himself, turning back. "Neesa, s-sweetheart?"

"Gwaah!"

"Neesa, darling, please calm down."

"Wah shoo Hi?" Why should I?

"We need to get moving, we wouldn't want to get caught by--"

No. He would not mention the Te'nakh'nor. He had to keep the conversation positive. Hoping she had not heard what he had been about to say, he tried again. "Now, now, there's no need to be upset. I'm here for you."

"Wah, willy?" Wha-- really?

"Yes," confirmed Daerinnid, his body frozen as a corpse. Neesa had turned to look at him, her face hideously red and swollen. Can't do this, Daerinnid thought to himself. He had no choice. He would have to. Steeling his nerves, Daerinnid took one step forward, then another, until he was standing at Neesa's side. He lowered himself to the ground, trying to avoid any areas that looked dampened or moist with tears.

Once again Neesa's sobs had subsided into a bubbling incoherence of whimpers and moans. "There, that's better," soothed Daerinnid. He had intended to make some loving gesture towards her, perhaps smooth down her hair, but he was having enough trouble keeping his hastily eaten meal down as he looked at her face.

"Oh, Deawh," she yelped, clutching at him. Instantly, Daerinnid went stiff as a rod. Her tears were on his clothing, he was sure of it, and that puffy red face was buried into his shirt. Rolling his eyes skyward, Daerinnid mouthed a silent prayer to any sympathetic deity. He suspected this was the gods' way of punishing him for destroying her life, but it could not have been such a spectacular life in the first place, so it was probably a good thing for Neesa that Daerinnid had "rescued" her.

Daerinnid brought one of his hands up and placed it on Neesa's head. If he pretended she was a dog he could do it. Her teary face was simply a dog's wet nose, and her hair was dog fur. There was nothing too terrible about petting a dog. Daerinnid hated dogs, but a dog was better in this situation. He ran the flat of his palm down her head quickly and repeated the motion.

"Deawh? Yooh haawen me."

It took Daerinnid a minute. Daer, you hurtin' me. "Sorry," he said instantly, trying to be more gentle. It was hard. Every inch of his body told him to run away from this pitiful creature. "Neesa, do you think you're ready to go now?" he asked hopefully. Face still buried in his chest, she nodded a bit and pulled away, wiping her tears with the faded blue sleeve of her dress sleeve.

At long last, Daerinnid's mind sang, I am free! He hurried to his feet and extended his hand to help her up. Finally, they could go!

---

"Nasssy luh' we hasss."

"Aye, shur 'tis a' tha'."

"Getsum visssta's sssoon."

"May so, may no."

"I'sssno'in'… Sssoon…"

The two shadowy figured turned to watch the procession of two horses that headed steadily for them in the dimming light.

"I'sssno."