The tavern was filled to the brim with travelers intent on enjoying Nab's harvest festival. Locals mingled with the wayward souls, and laughter echoed off the walls. A maiden in long skirts and a low corset top played the fiddle while several people danced.
Mave's traveling companion - her husband, and Lord of her house - was at the bar, entertaining himself with a fair maiden. No doubt, she promised him a good night in exchange for a pocket full of coin. Mave almost hoped he would accept her offer. Then, she remembered the single bedroom up the stairs of the tavern, hardly big enough for two. Mave could not stomach a third, and she had no interest in watching those two dance.
The noise inside the tavern was enough to make Mave's head ring, and the smell of beer wafting through the air intoxicated her. Fresh air was what Mave needed. So, without a word to the aloof man at the bar, Mave stood from her seat. Once outside the door, Mave rested against the wooden walls. She made sure she was half visible from the window, knowing that once her husband's attention was free, he would come looking for her. And she wanted to be found. Lord knows that the streets of Nab were no place for a Lady to roam alone.
The dangers of Nab had been beaten into her from a young age. Whenever her father would come home from a trip to the city, he would go on for days about the nuisances at every corner. One always had to be weary of pickpockets, drunkards, and criminals in the city, he would say. Images of these vague threats swirled in her mind, but they were all cleared away the moment her eyes landed on a hooded woman approaching the tavern.
Mave could not see the woman's face from where she stood, but she was mesmerizing. If Mave could pay attention to anything - anyone - else, she would have seen that the eyes of the men and woman who filled the busy courtyard of the tavern all seemed to find themselves in the same enthralling snare. Their eyes drew to her like a month to a flame.
The woman pulled down her hood upon entering the courtyard, and did not seem to mind the stares that fell upon her body. Mave examined her thoroughly. She was tall, with a figure that unraveled in waves. The dark green dress adorned upon her chest and hips fit her like a glove, enveloping her curves. From atop her head, her hair flowed down past her tall cheek bones, her barren shoulders, all the way to her hips. In the darkness of the night, her hair appeared black. Yet, when she moved just slightly, the light of the lanterns bounced off her head, and her hair's waves gleamed with a deep, green hue.
There was a word that sat atop Mave's tongue - a word from tales of monsters - but it fell short just behind her teeth. Mave simply could not conjure it.
The woman looked around the courtyard with half moon eyes, hungry and calculated. When her gaze fell upon Mave, Mave could feel her heart leap. The woman undoubtedly caught her staring - an untoward gesture. Mave half expected her to turn up her nose and keep walking, but instead, the woman shifted her gait to meet Mave where she stood.
The woman did not speak. Mave swallowed her fears away, hoping to bury them somewhere far far away. This beautiful woman might have seen a friendly face, and wanted to ask for directions. Mave would disappoint her. She knew nothing of Nab or its maps.
"May I assist you?" Mave asked, cautiously, and a little surprised at the sound of her voice. Her tone was softer than usual, as if she were worried about waking a sleeping child. "I do not know much of this town, but my husband is just inside. I can fetch him for you, if you are in need of directions."
The woman smiled sweetly and said, "I know this town well enough."
"Oh," Mave said, at a loss for words. She was stuck, sinking into the depths of the woman's eyes. They were a brown so dark that they mirrored the rich soils of the forest. They were a brown so dark, one could almost mistake the iris for the pupil. They were a brown so dark, one could almost fall into them.
The woman seemed to be getting closer to Mave - so close that the long skirts of their dresses brushed up against each other.
With a strength Mave did not know she had, she peeled her eyes away from the woman's. This was a mistake, for the abashed Mave had only to look down to hide her blush, and upon doing so found her gaze falling prey to even more consuming sights. Mave's eyes explored the bow of the woman's lips, full and the color of winter berries. Her gaze continued its path, and found the nape of the woman's neck. A lantern, hung on the wall directly next to Mave's head, bounced its light off of the woman's defined collarbone. The top of her bosom overflowed the corset that caged it, and it rose and fell with each breath the woman took. Her hips bloomed from her waist like a flower in spring. The belt about her waist hung at the center of her skirt, coaxing the shape of her legs to peek through the velvet of her dress ever so slightly.
It had been a long time since Mave had eaten. Suddenly, her mouth felt wet with hunger. If only she had the words, she would have excused herself from the woman and demanded that her partner accompany her in the search for food. Yet, the words sat on her tongue, just before her teeth, much like the one word she could not recall anymore.
For in this moment, anticipation was a snake. If Mave moved herself even an inch, it might spring.
The woman reached out a finger to lift Mave's gaze back to meet her own.
"Let the light meet your face girl, I want to see you as you are," the woman said.
Mave's breath quickened, but still she said nothing. The woman's eyes had caught her again, and her body became a locked door. It was as if any control she had once had was gone.
"Tell me your name," The woman said, turning the key.
Nearly a moment ago, the mesmerized girl would have known better. Now, she answered immediately.
"I am Maverine of Esthben house, Mistress," Mave answered, in a soft tone.
The woman's eyes glittered at that. "You're the Lady of the house, then?"
Mave nodded.
"Where might your Lord be?" she asked.
Mave tried to peel her gaze from the woman before her, to point to her husband through the window with her eyes, but she remained fixed in place. Instead, her tongue told the woman all she needed to know: her husband was inside, oblivious.
The woman's smile deepened at that, her dark eyes growing hungrier. She leaned in closer towards Mave, and rested one finger on Mave's hip bone.
"You are a very lovely young woman," she said, "Your Lord should know better than to leave you unattended, lest you be stolen by a thief."
Mave's heartbeat quickened, and her breath hitched. The feel of the woman's finger through layers of dress sparked each nerve end. Finally, she found control of her voice.
"Am I to fear you? Are you the thief who might steal me away?" Mave asked.
"No," The woman replied, "I do not need to steal you. You want to come with me." The woman placed the whole of her hand on Mave's hip. She was gentle, but there was a greediness to the touch - almost as if she were about to wrap her warm around Mave and pull her closer. Mave would not have protested. Mave could not have protested.
So, she simply repeated, "I want to come with you."
The moment Mave spoke those words, they were true. She knew that wherever this woman went, Mave would follow. She would follow her until she was asked to stop.
The woman finally slid her hand around Mave's waist, pulled her in, and whispered, "Then, you shall follow me."
The feel of the woman's breath against her ear made Mave shiver as she repeated the woman once more, "I shall follow you."
The woman made her way out of the court yard, and down dark alleyways. Mave paid no mind to the route they took, or how dark the streets were. She seemed to pass by every obstacle on the road, without ever having to look. All she had to focus on was the woman before her.
The woman continued walking until the back alleyways led her to the main road that exited the city. Following that path, they walked past the city gates. Then, they walked for nearly half a mile, until they found the forest's edge.
Mave made it to the edge of the path, right where paved dirt met tall, unkept grass. If the dangers of the city had been beaten into Mave's head, then the dangers of the forest had been burned into her so deeply that they were burned into her psyche. A small part of Mave screamed at her to turn around.
