A Wish and a Regret » Places

         "Take it, it's no big deal. Just an old cloak."

Abilene felt her smile widen ever slightly. To her, it was a big deal. The fact that he was kind enough to hand his cloak off to someone he didn't even know left her feeling as if he might be someone she could consider a friend.

Her expression changed slightly at his next comment, from confusion to slightly embarrassed understanding. "Fits you perfectly." She blushed slightly at the realization that it, in fact, did not. The back of the cloak trailed off behind her, as she was definitely a lot shorter than he was. He seemed to be laughing though, so she felt herself offer up a slight smile in turn.

"My name's Itan by the way. Come on, I've still got some extra coins left over. I'll buy you a drink and a bite to eat while you dry off next to the fire pit at the Inn. I'm not taking no for an answer, just a fair warning."

Abilene blinked, absorbing exactly what he was saying. She pulled the cloak slightly tighter around her shoulders, before shifting her weight. "That is very kind of you to offer, Itan." She let his name sit in her mind for a bit, feeling the foreignness of it on her tongue; to say the least, it was very different from the names of her Dryad relatives. Simpler, even. She paused as he rested his hand on her shoulder; a friendly gesture. "You've offered me so much. I'm not quite sure how I can pay your kindness back." Abilene furrowed her eyebrows, before glancing toward the trees, searching for something quite specific.

When she found what she was looking for, she moved slightly away from Itan, the back of the cloak trailing behind her. Crouching by the bark of the old maple tree, she plucked a few leaves from a plant growing all around the roots. "We thank our Mother and the Spirits for their sacrifice," she whispered for only the trees to hear, as she stood back up and turned back towards Itan.

Approaching him, she held out her hand in an offering, and in it the small leaves of the plant. "These are for you in return for your kindness." In her hand sat a dozen or so leaves of Jewelweed. "Crush them up, and put them on cuts, stings, or burns. But whatever you do, do not eat them." She smiled towards him, before finishing off her thought. "My name is Abilene, by the way..."