The little village

"I do not see how it is any of your business as you don't own this eating house or the village." Mircea retorts and starts devouring her salmon.

The drunk man plops in the chair across her table. Rey's face appears torn between hurt and angry. It seems he wants to intervene and fight with him in Mircea's stead but he stops himself and stands in his place.

The drunk man laughs again loudly this time "Why are you hiding behind that little piece of cloth?" He leans ahead and stares into Mircea's hooded eyes.

"There is no sagacity in fighting with a drunk man." Mircea stands up pushing her plate away. She fishes some silver coins from her pocket and drops on the table. "I think this will be enough payment, Rey." 

"Why are you leaving, if anybody should leave then it is this bastard." Rey states scowling at the man. The guy simply looks pleased by the inconvenience he has caused everyone in the house.

"Get out." Rey roars, making the man amused further. 

Mircea knew his kind, they had nothing good to do with their lives therefore they drowned themselves in cheap alcohol and entertained themselves by agitating others. She wanted to punch hard his pleased expression off his face however she didn't want to cause anymore commotion and attract unnecessary attention to herself. It was better if she simply left this eating house and roamed the streets till sunrise. 

"Leave it Rey, I have to go anyway." Mircea prowls out when the drunk man jumps and yanks hard at the cloth she has wrapped around her face. She jerks the cloth sharply tugging his hand along with it. Mircea pulls the cloth out of his clutches and steps aside when he loses his balance.

The man falls face first with a big thud. "Bitch." He swears loudly, the couple sitting at the other end of the room gasps loudly. 

"If you do that again I will break your hand." Mircea strides out of the eating house once again withdrawing the cloth across her face. She sees Urban standing just outside the porch with hands in his coat. A lazy smile is spread warmly on his pale white face. 

Mircea staggers in her steps seeing his form. From his facial expressions she knows that he knows it is her inside the facade. 

Even so she strolls straight past him without second glancing. Urban turns around following her steps "Oh come on, I know it is you!" She keeps walking, this was one thing she had kept hidden for a long time. If this gets screwed up she would go insane. 

"Are you going to keep on ignoring me, Mircea?"

"Yes." Urban looks back at something, "That guy knows some colorful language." He says. Mircea turns around to see what he is talking about. The drunk guy is cussing gaudily at her nevertheless he ain't chasing after her. 

"He is a coward." Mircea states and resumes walking. Urban nods at her statement and runs behind her like a lost puppy.

"Where are we going? Because I, for once, know this path does not lead back to the palace or the village." 

"For someone who is visiting Slyve for the first time you certainly know many things." She glances up at him. He is wearing the same coat he was wearing at the ceremony. 

"Why are you here? Were you tailing me? Wait, that isn't possible." She came from the secret chamber and Urban hasn't been in her personal chambers. Moreover Urban doesn't know anything about the secret passages of the palace. 

So he either discovered this place on his own or tailed Mircea after she exited the passage. If the latter was the case she would have to seal off the passage. It wasn't that she didn't trust him, but she wasn't willing to take that big of a risk. 

"I came across this village when I was roaming the backgrounds of the palace. I come here every time I miss home. This village has a weird homey feel about it. Don't you think so?" He didn't ask her what she was doing here with the clothes she had donned. Mircea was alleviated by that. She let go of her anger. The night had been ruined; there was nothing she could do. 

Besides he hadn't tailed her so she still could use her secret passage. 

Mircea wanted to be alone but she didn't have the heart to tell Urban that so she gazed up at him and smiled. "This is a one time thing. But would you like to meet my friends?" She asks him.

"Now you acknowledge me?"

"Do you or do you not want to meet them?" 

"I don't see one reason why not." 

"Okay, come along."

"I was planning on it even if you were going to keep ignoring me." Mircea rolls her eyes at his response. 

"How do I know you didn't follow me here? And that you weren't bluffing earlier?" 

"You don't." Urban simply answers getting an queer look from Mircea. 

They both walk in silence for the next few minutes. Urban follows her closely, so every now and then they bump into each other. The wind picks up its speed forming a thin layer of mist. Mircea's thin tunic and pants does nothing to protect her from the wind. She rubs her hands together to support her body warmth. 

"Do you want to run?" She asks Urban 

"Are you that cold that you want to run?" 

"Do you read minds now?" 

"We witches have two organs called eyes, Mircea." He removes his velvety coat and hands it over to her. Mircea stares at his dark form, he is wearing a white see-through tunic underneath. The thin cloth is doing only so much to hide his masculinity from her. 

Urban pulls his coat over her shoulders. His body-warmth rushes over for a minuscule minute and then it is gone. After wearing his coat properly Mircea realizes his warmth is still there in his coat. She is intoxicated by his scent that is lingering on his coat. It smells like ice and wood, she inhales deeply when he looks away from her. 

When he gazes at her back she declares "This was unnecessary you know. I can handle a little wind." 

"I don't think you know but I have seen you handle frost so you don't have to tell me how strong you are. I simply like seeing this better." Urban studies her from head to toe. Mircea doesn't say anything.

"Let's go." He says walking two steps in front of her. 

"Yeah, let's go." Mircea falls in step with him. 

"So where do your friends live?" 

"They live in a small forest. We will get there if we keep walking down this path for 20 minutes." 

"Okay." 

An awkward silence falls over them. Mircea peeks at him, he is concentrating on the road ahead. It is hard for her not to stare at his chest, she can see his little chest hair escaping the deep cut of his tunic. His pants are thick unlike the white tunic.

"Aren't you cold?" Mircea's voice is smooth. 

"No, I'm used to the cold. I'm a witch, remember, we live in frost." 

"Yeah, ofcourse, I remember. Now that I think of it, I have never seen you do any sort of magic around me." 

"Your people have ordered me not to do it." 

"Ah yes. Right." 

The awkward silence falls again. Mircea tries to come up with a topic. She cannot handle this silence anymore. They bump into each other again when the path grows narrow. They have left the village and their people behind. The trees are rising higher as they stroll in further.

Mircea picks up her pace a little to avoid bumping into Urban. He lets her walk in front of him, even though her small legs make it hard for him to walk correctly. 

"Mircea?" Urban whispers. Mircea stops to turn around and look at him when Urban's one leg tangles around another making him lose his balance. He holds Mircea to gain his balance except she loses her balance too. 

Urban wraps his hands around Mircea before they both fall. He collapses on her, making her scream. "I'm sorry." He murmurs in her hair. "Yey havy." She mumbles something "What? I didn't get it." He lifts his upper body looking down at her. 

"You are heavy!" Mircea roars, hitting him in the chest. Urban's one hand shakes and he drops on her again. "Goddess help me." He whispers.

Urban untangles himself from her and stands straight. Mircea tries to stand but fails "What happened, are you okay?" He looks down at her. 

"Here" Urban lifts his hand low for her to take. Mircea grips his hand hard. "I think I somehow managed to twist my left leg." She states. 

He pulls her up "Do you want me to carry you?" He politely offers

"What? No." Mircea shakes her head. Even so she leans on him for support. 

"Let's find a place for you to sit. I will take a look at it and see what we can do, okay?" 

"Yes, okay." 

Urban slowly puts an arm around her waist to support her. She leans into him further enjoying the warmth oozing off of him. He tightens his grip around her waist as they walk further down the forest path. This time the silence is not awkward.