09-21-06 1

Characters involved: Harper, Rois, & Lacrene.

RW Abbey: Great Hall

Hum-hum-hum. The fire is roaring, the wind is gently whispering around the Great Hall, and... all is well. Harper, for his own part, is fully enjoying the quietude. He is seated in an arm chair before the fire, and he has his foot propped up on a cushion. And his foot is... bandaged? Hum. And there are a pair of crutches next to his chair. The plot thickens. Anyway! The bucky fellow is reading, and looks to be quite engrossed in his book.

Rois steps into Great Hall from the stairway and glances around. Spotting a familiar face, she moves towards the fire and seats herself in one of the plush chairs there, nearby Harper. She offers a cheeful, "Hello there!" before she notices the hare's propped up, bandaged foot. "Oh goodness, your poor footpaw! Is that from the other night? Was it really that bad?"

Harper's ears twitch and his lips twitch upward in a very small grin as Harper slowly closes his book and looks up. He settles back in his chair, looking from Rois' concerned face to his foot. It's kind of endearing, really. He finally relents, with a shake of his head. "... Nah. Ain't bad at all. Just broke my toe, s'all. Yer healers are awful particular 'bout how they care of folks 'round here."

The mousemaid before you seems to be quite average, though the gentle smile usually upon her face may hint that she could have a brighter than normal disposition. Her tawny brown fur is well groomed and soft, with no unusual markings. Hazel eyes peer out from a kind face. She is wearing a plain, brown linen dress, over which she usually has tied a cream colored apron. She appears to be perhaps 10 seasons old, but can, at times, seem a bit older.

"Well, it's Redwall," Rois shrugs with a smile, "They have to keep up their reputation, no?" She gives a little laugh, then shakes her head, all joking aside, looking slightly concerned again. "I can't believe you broke your toe... And you were walking on it and everything, that probably only made it worse... Well, did you at least get out of pot duty?"

Harper's lips part in honest surprise at Rois' continued concerned. He then just... can't help it. He laughs, and shakes his head. "This ain't nothin', miss. I'd be trainin' on a broken toe if I was still back at the mountain...." But he shrugs, then, and shakes his head once more. "But nah. Didn't have to do pots duty. They told me to take it easy fer the next few days - cut my chores by half. So, y'know - don't worry." Pause, an inclination of his head toward the mouse. "How're you?"

Rois smiles. "Well, at least you're getting a break from some of your work out of that flour fiasco. I'm sorry if I seemed too concerned and nosey about it, it's just I don't like to see anybeast hurt." Then, she gives a slight shrug at his question, the smile growing a tad smaller on her face as she looks towards the fire. "How am I? Okay, I guess."

At her apology, Harper almost /immediately/ shakes his head, smiling again. "No - I don't mind. I'm just not used t' so much concern. It's appreciated," he attempts to reassure. But then, she looks away. His own smile falters briefly, and his brow furrows. "Are you sure? Everythin's all right?"

Rois scrunches up her face a bit as if not quite sure how to answer the question. "Well, yes, everything's all right. I'm just sort of... frustrated. I've been thinking a lot the past couple days about exactly what I want to do with my life. I don't know if you already know this, but I don't live here at the Abbey. I'm just staying here for a bit, while I decide where to go." She doesn't _really_ seem to be making exact sense, although it's not surprising, as she now seems a tad flustered explaining her change of mood.

... Hm. Harper's brow remains furrowed, now with faint concern. He tucks his book between his thigh and the chair cushion, sitting up a bit more as attentive beasts tend to do. "... Well, as I'm sure ya know, yer more than welcome to stay here for as long as you wish." That said, he considers her predicament for a moment before adding, "Have you thought of anywhere you'd /like/ t' go?"

"Well..." Rois hesitates. "Not exactly. That's my problem. I don't know if there is anywhere that I'd like to go. I mean," the mousemaid adds quickly, "I love Redwall, I really do. Everybeast here is so friendly... But the thing is, my whole life I've lived in Mossflower. And with nothing tying me here, I have to wonder if there is some place else that I really _should_ be. I don't want to stay here at Redwall for the rest of my life merely because I've always lived in Mossflower." She gives a sigh, then makes an attempt at a cheery smile as she looks at Harper. "Well, like you said, I can stay here as long as I want, so I don't know what I'm fretting about anyways. I have plenty of time to decide what I want to do."

Harper considers Rois' words for a long and thoughtful moment. His head is lowered to his lap, where his paws are clasped. It is after a few seconds longer that he nods - an understanding nod. "... Ya know, when I first came t' Redwall a season ago, I'd never been more'n a few hour's walk from m'home. I came from a small fishin' village 'n' I always figured I'd die there, too. Then I came here, 'n'... it was nice just to have something different fer once. I don't know that I want t' stay /here/ for the rest of my life, either, but fer now I'm all right. You /should/ go somewhere, even if it's not forever... just to see what it's like."

"But _where_?" Rois questions. "If I don't know what's out there, how can I choose to go anywhere? I know that wherever I end up now may not be where I stay... But I just... I just can't get started." She glances back at the fire, a rather embarrassed look apparent on her face. "I mean... Anyplace I would go outside of Mossflower, it would take some traveling to get there. Me, I don't know the first thing about that. I'd probably trip over my own two footpaws the first couple steps I took." "

Harper's lips twitch. Eeeever so slightly. He rests his chin in his paw, again, one finger-tip curling around to rest over his lips in thought and also in an attempt to make his smile not quite as obvious. Wouldn't do for her to think he's laughing at her. "... Well. Y'know. /I/ could teach ya about traveling."

"Learning about it is one thing, actually doing it is another." Does Rois sound a bit defensive? Perhaps. "You could teach me, and so could just about every other beast I've met in the Abbey so far. I seem to be an anomaly. Most everybeast I've met since I came to Redwall has done at least some traveling, and a lot of them younger than me!" She gives an exasperated sounding sigh. "I didn't feel so bad about it, before finding out I'm the only one in all of Mossflower that hasn't stepped foot into any other part of the world."

Ooh. Defensive. Harp's ears perk and then twitch back. "... Well, the offer's there if ya want it. You could learn all ya'd need to know just right 'round the abbey, fer whenever you wanted to go somewhere else." He shrugs slightly, trying to look as disarming as possible.

Sounding a little more mild, now, Rois glances at Harper with a small, perhaps slightly apologetic, smile. "Thanks. I didn't mean to snap at you like that. It's just... well, it's rather embarrassing not knowing anything about something that seems to be the norm for so many beasts." Her face seems to genuinely brighten up a bit now, her smile brightens as well. "I did spend some time in the library today, looking at a few maps. I'm afraid much of it didn't make very much sense to me, but it's a start, right?"

Harper dips his head in another quick nod. "Yeah. It's a good start. I mean. If ya can't read a map, yer kinda lost." And... ha. It only hits him afterward that that was kind of a bad joke, even though he didn't mean it as one. His lips twitch and he shakes his head at himself. "Well. You know what I mean."

Rois gives a little laugh, nodding. "Well, that's for sure. Guess it's a good thing I decided to start there, trying to read maps, _before_ I go and get myself lost." The mousemaid sinks down further into her comfortable chair with a sigh and a searching look on her face, as if thinking of what to say next... Perhaps to steer the conversation away from her lack of certain skills. "So... um... You said before, when I was helping you with the flour, that you'd been a recruit in the Long Patrol. Why did you leave there to come to Redwall?"

Harper knows a subject change when he sees one, buuuuuuuuuut. He seems willing enough to talk about himself. "Well, I originally came t' Redwall through a youth exchange program Redwall 'n' Sala had set up. Some of our recruits came here 'n' some of yer novices went there. We ended up havin' t' head home aftah we got some bad news, but... aftah gettin' back there, 'n' bein' there for a while, I just kinda realized... it wasn't home fer me, anymore. So I decided t' come back here, finish out the novice program, maybe start up a little farm, here." He shrugs, then, and smiles.

Smile shows on Lacrene's face as she regconizes her old friends." Hello! Rois, Harper!"

Rois nods after Harper finishes speaking. "You're lucky you got to sample a bit of the two worlds before deciding where to stay. I imagine life in the Long Patrol is a lot different than life as a Redwall novice." She and Harper are sitting in chairs near the fire, and as Lacrene enters the great hall and greets them, Rois looks over towards her. "Oh, hi there. How are you doing lately?"

Once he's finished speaking, Lacrene's entrance draws Harper's attention. He looks around from where he sits by the fire, a bandaged footpaw propped up on cushions. He offers a grin and a wave. "Lacrene, right? How're y-" But then Rois has asked the question, so he holds mum for the second, looking between the two.

Lacrene says, "Well, I'm fine, I think I will get used to Redwall."

Rois gestures towards one of the comfortable, plush looking chairs by the fire where herself and Harper are already sitting. "Why don't you have a seat, Lacrene?"

Harper pulls himself up a bit so that he's sitting a little straighter, nodding as well as he gestures to one of the free seats. "Aye. Have a seat."

Lacrene moves herself to the chair, sits down, and sighs."What a comfortable feeling! those dormitary beds would have to be softer than they are."

Upon the mention of the word 'beds,' Rois can't help but yawn, covering her mouth with a paw as she does so. "I have to admit, I'm getting rather tired... I think I'm going to head upstairs now." She gets to her footpaws from the chair, and looking at Harper says, "Thanks for listening to me, and trying to give me some advice about what to do... Again, I'm sorry that I snapped at you before." She starts to head for the stairs, but turns back with, "Oh, I hope your foot feels better! Goodnight!" Before heading up the staircase.