Sereina is laying in the bed, arms crossed behind her head, a dark frown on her face.
Samuel is curled up on his side, sleeping fitfully, occasionally mumbling incoherent things.
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Sereina exhaled loudly, eyes wide open in the dark night. She glances every so often at your back, frowning even more. The rushes through the bond earlier had her confused and angry for some reason and she couldn't get to sleep no matter how she tried.
Samuel tosses fitfully in his sleep, muttering to himself unintelligible sounds that seem to be denials. Suddenly he rolls off his side of the bed and lands on the floor with a loud thump and a discordant chiming of the bells in his braids. 'Light!' he curses through clenched teeth.
Sereina rolls her eyes and scoots to your side of the bed, peering over the side. 'Trouble sleeping?' she asks lightly, black shift absorbing what little light is around.
Samuel rolls over quickly at the unexpected voice, smacking his head loudly against one of the legs of the nightstand. Amidst the thunk of skull against wood and the rattle of bells on braids can be heard a muffled,'Ashes!' Slowly he looks around in the dark room towards the voice, hand moving to rub at the knot forming on his head. Through the bond the fog of sleep and pain and confusion can be felt to fade as he slowly asks,'You didn't push me, did you?'
Sereina snorts and lowers a hand down. 'Of course not. I can't perform any violence on you, remember?' she puts her hand on the bump, thumb feeling it. 'Hrm...you might have to have that checked out in the morning.'
Samuel flinches away from her touch says sheepishly,'Oh.. right.' He goes very quiet for a moment and then says softly, hesitantly,'Could you scoot over please so I can get back in bed?'
Sereina shrugs and moves her hand away, scooting back to her side of the bed. She folds her hands over her stomach, waiting for you to get in the bed.
Samuel crawls back in bed covering himself very quickly. Then he lays down on his left side, facing towards Sereina in the dark. He frowns and asks in a soft voice,'I didn't wake you up when I fell, did I?'
Sereina shakes her head, silent for a while. 'No, I've been up.' she says finally. 'I couldn't very well sleep with how your dreams seem to invade mine.'
Samuel lets out a soft sigh and says,'Supposedly, we'll get used to it after a while. That's what the other married men say, anyway.' His tone of voice sounds very doubtful.
Sereina chuckles softly, though her face and her attitude still reflect anger. 'Do they have a sister in their life as well?'
Samuel rolls over onto his back to peer up towards Sereina's face in the darkness. He lets out a loud sigh, a sound of frustration, exasperation and confusion all jumbled together. Then he mutters,'If I live to be a hundred, I will never understand women.'
Sereina crosses her arms. 'What is there to understand? If you love her, be with her.'
Samuel snorts softly and says,'But you don't mean it. I can feel that. Ashes! You seem angrier about her than you do about not being able to leave.' He shakes his head vigorously, setting off the bells again as he says,'And that is the part that I just can't understand.'
Sereina sighs loudly, one foot moving as it it'd be tapping the floor furiously if she were standing. 'Whether I mean it or not is not the point. The point is that you want to do something. Fine, do it. Be my bloody guest. Just don't use me as an excuse to keep everyone from knowing how the both of you feel for eachother.'
Samuel winces as if struck hard. Softly, he says,'Please, calm down.' He raises his hands and begins to rub at his temples as he adds in the same soft tone,'It does matter whether you mean it. I have done plenty to you already without subjecting you to that, as well. I just don't know why the way I feel about her makes you so angry.'
Sereina shakes her head. 'No, I won't calm down. I'm tired of pretending to be the good wife. Of course, I can't help it. But hey, whatever. And why should you care why I'm angry? I'm nothing but the mistake bond that you did because some little girl who just wanted to sleep in some broken down house decided to fight against you.' she got out of the bed.
Samuel lets out a noise that sounds almost like a growl, anger and irritation flaring through the bond. He sits up abruptly in the bed and leans back against the headboard. In an angry voice, he snaps out,'Get back in...' His teeth click audibly as he shuts his mouth and cuts off what he was going to say, guilt flowing through the bond sharply as he silently fumes.
Sereina turns around and crosses her arms. 'What? Get back in bed? Fine.' she sits down at the foot of the bed, legs crossed. 'I'll admit that I'm happy here. But I'll be damned if being happy means pretending to be something I'm not. I may not have been fed or well taken care of before, but at least I knew where I stood.' she flipped her head, loose hair falling over her shoulder angrily.
Samuel's teeth grind audibly as he struggles to control his emotions, emotions too jumbled to read through the bond. He breathes loudly through his nose, his hands clenched white-knuckled on the blanket for a long, tense moment. Finally, through clenched teeth, he spits out,'What do you want? Of what it is possible for me to do, tell me what you want?'
Sereina snorts. 'We both know what I want and I can't have it, so why should I ask?'
Samuel sighs very loudly and turns loose of the blanket. He snatches Saidin abruply and channels a thin thread of fire to light the lantern on the far wall of the cabin, then just as quickly pushes the One Power away. In the flickering light, he stares hard at Sereina and says again, very softly,'Tell me what you want. Not what you want that I have already told you I cannot do. No, tell me something you want that I can do.' His expression and tone of voice make it abundantly clear that he is not issuing a request, but an order.
Sereina purses her lips and frowns, trying to keep herself from answering. 'I....want you to send your sister away.' her jaw clicks hard together, and a small trickle of blood edges from the corner of her mouth where she bit herself.
Samuel lets out a sigh, seeming to deflate, as if that breath was the only thing holding him up. He nods slowly and looks to the cabin's lone window, studying the reflection of the lantern in the glass. In a suddenly tired voice, he says,'I think I knew you would say that. I still don't know why, though...' He pauses for a long moment, before adding,'Or if I even can.'
Sereina props her head in her chin, shrugging. 'You never ask why, so why should I say? And you can see what you can do, right? That is, if you're just not saying this to keep me quiet.' she snorts again, face breaking into a smirk. 'You'd think you had enough women trouble in your life with a wife, not to mention a sister who would loooove to get to know you better.'
Samuel shakes his head slightly, gaze still fixed on the window. With a tone of resignation, he says,'If I just wanted to keep you quiet, I would just order you to be quiet.' He shrugs and lets out a sigh before he continues,'I'm just a soldier. It is not my choice whether or not to keep her on the farm. She channeled against some Asha'man and will likely face the Lord Dragon's justice. So, she'll probably be gone soon. And I don't think she..' His voice cracks and he swallows hard before adding,'I think you are wrong about her wanting to know me better, now.'
Sereina shrugs. 'You and I both know if that were the case she'd denounce the both of us. Especially if it meant getting at me since I am the one who took you away in her eyes.'
Samuel turns to look at Sereina again, blue eyes glinting in the flickering light from the lantern. He frowns and says,'I do not think she would do that..' His voice trails off, face paling considerably. Panic flashes through the bond as he begins to shake his head in denial.
Sereina smirks. 'No? What makes you so sure? Has she said that she'd keep your secret? Does she think that you'll keep hers?' she chuckled ruthlessly. 'There's nothing like a woman scorned, so my mother said, and your Anibelle is definately a woman scorned.'
Samuel shakes his head back and forth vigorously, braids flailing about his head, jingling madly,'No. She woudln't do that.' He does not at all sound convinced and the bond echoes that lack of faith. Panic continuing to rise in his voice, he says,'She said she was sorry she came here and that she would leave as soon as they let her..'
Sereina sighs and stands up. 'If you say so, but I'm just alerting you to the danger. If you'll excuse me I'll start up a pot of tea. Would you like a cup? Might help you get back to sleep.'
Samuel blinks hard at Sereina as if caught completely off guard. He sputters out,'Wh-wh-what?' He glances quickly around the small cabin and then sighs. With a contrite nod, he says,'I'll get us a kettle tomorrow for the fireplace. No reason for you to have to walk halfway across the farm to get a cup of tea...' His gaze slowly focuses on Sereina again, very pointedly looking at only her face, and he asks in a suspicious tone,'You are not going to tell me why unless I order you to, are you?'
Sereina shakes her head. 'No. You don't need to know why anyway, unless you really want to see me angry all of the time.' She picked up her robe and slipped it over her shoulders, feet shuffling into her slippers.
Samuel mutters irritably under his breath and waits until Sereina's back is turned. As she busies herself with the slippers, Samuel sticks his tongue out at her back.
Sereina glances over her shoulder and smirks. 'I'll be back in ten minutes or so.' she says before opening the door and going out into the cool night.
Samuel frowns hard at the closed door for a long moment, then lets out a soft snort of disgust. Muttering under his breath he slides down in the bed and rolls over onto his side, facing the window of the cabin. He pulls the covers up over his head and tries, unsuccessfully, to go back to sleep.
Time passes, yadda yadda
Sereina steps into the room quietly and glances around before closing the door, setting down her tray upon the desk and pouring herself a cup of tea. She glances over at his side of the bed and shrugs, sitting at the desk and watching his back, not saying a word.
Samuel shifts uncomfortably under the gaze. After a moment, his voice comes muffled from the blankets,'Well, I guess it helps the act, anyway. No one would fight like we do and stay together if they weren't really married.'
Sereina laughs softly, sipping at the tea. 'I suppose.' she says distractedly, a flurry of emotions racing through the bond.
Samuel suddenly goes very still under the covers. Slowly he rolls over and peeks out from beneath the blanket. He peers curiously at Sereina for a long, long moment, a mixture of suspicion and panic flowing through the bond. After a long, silent moment of this he begins to shake his head in denial.
Sereina finishes up her tea and sits her cup on the tray, walking back to the bed and crawling in on her side. 'What are you shaking your head for now.' she says, exasperation crawling through the bond in thick waves.
Samuel's head turns to follow Sereina as she moves across the room and gets back in bed. For a long moment, he doesn't answer, just stares at her and chews on his bottom lip in thought. Finally, he shrugs and says,'Just thinking something that is too silly to even think of saying out loud.'
Sereina chuckles and shifts underneath the covers, turning to her side and sighing softly. 'If you say so,' she says, voice drifting off.
Samuel chews on his lower lip a bit more, then says softly, hesitantly,'If she were to leave, which is likely, she would probably distance herself from me as much as she possibly can. I am not sure why, but this is what you want.' He takes a deep breath and lets it out slowly before he goes on,'Now, supposing this happens and then I figure out how to unbond you... what would you want then?'
Sereina opens her mouth angrily then shuts it. 'I....I don't know what I would want.' she says finally.
Samuel frowns deeply and asks in a soft tone that is tinged with suspicion,'You do want me to unbond you.. don't you?'
Sereina snorts. 'Yes, but I am not allowed to speak of it and you know that.' she says, covering part of her head with the covers.
Samuel sighs softly and nods. He stares at the back of her head for a moment longer, then seizes Saidin. He leans up in bed just long enough to channel out the lantern, then pushes the Power away and lays back down. Very softly, he says in the darkness,'I wonder how it will be, to not feel you in the back of my head. Makes me wonder if I will miss you. Oh well, you'll be glad to be rid of me.'
Sereina sniffs, trying to keep calm. 'yeah...' she says faintly, burying herself even more in the blankets.
Samuel continues to stare at the back of Sereina's head, not really able to see, but staring anyway. Very softly, just barely loud enough to be heard over the breathing,'Sweet dreams, Sereina.. and I'm sorry.'
Sereina mumbles beneath the blankets, hunching even more. 'Night Samuel.' she says, sighing to herself.
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