Midnight Blue

5 / Meeting

Rose could not find the yarrow anywhere. She began to panic slightly when she felt the blood from her cut run down her face. Little droplets landed on the counter in front of her and she hastily wiped them away. 

Footsteps behind her made her freeze. She waited for yelling and, when it didn't come, turned to glance over her shoulder. A young man stood in the doorway, watching as she lowered her hands from the cupboard she was looking in, jumping down from the counter she'd had to kneel on to see inside. 

She couldn't recognise him.

"Can I help you?" 

The stranger took a step forward before stepping back again. 

"I couldn't sleep. I thought maybe I might get something to eat. But if I'm interrupting something..." He turned to walk away and suddenly Rose realised how curt her words had been. 

"No!" She called out to stop him. "No, it's fine. I'll find something for you." 

The stager hesitated in the doorway, watching her carefully, before finally conceding. His footsteps echoed through the silence as he walked towards the long table and sat carefully on the edge of a bench. 

Rose turned, setting straight to work. She had only done it a few times before, but she knew how to find extra food at nighttime. The kitchen staff seemed to know exactly how much of everything they had in their stocks, so she had to be careful to take only minute bits of the things that could be forgotten. Her hands paused as she felt her stomach churn in hunger, knowing that she probably wouldn't be eating until the next morning. For a moment, she considered telling the stranger that she was sorry, that she couldn't give him anything. But the voice in her head reminded her not to be cruel and so, she closed her eyes, let out a quiet sigh and went back to work. 

The stranger didn't speak but Rose could feel his eyes on her. Every part of her screamed to turn around, to look at him, assess the danger she could be in. But the practical part of her (which was often drowned out by the louder impractical part) told her that she was perfectly fine. 

She finished his plate, a funny mixture of things, and finally allowed herself to look in his direction. "It's not much, but it should do." 

The stranger didn't reply for a moment but then, as if snapping out of a daze, nodded his head. "I'm sure it will be amazing, thank you." Rose noted how he spoke with a certain elegance, something in his manner that she couldn't quite place. 

He thanked her as she placed the plate down in front of him before gesturing towards the bench across from him. "Please, sit." Rose wasn't quite sure why, but she found herself obeying an an awkward, heavy silence settled between the pair.

"I haven't seen you before." Once her words were out, she wished she hadn't said them, cursing her own awkwardness.

The stranger just smirked. "No?" 

She shook her head sheepishly. "No. I've been...otherwise occupied these past few days." 

The stranger raised an eyebrow, staring at her with some mild intensity but not pushing her answer.

"Did you arrive with the King?" For a moment, he seemed to choke on his food.

"Technically." 

This time, it was Rose's turn not to push for more details and so, she turned her gaze downwards, tracing the patterns of the wooden table with her eyes. She grimaced when her stomach turned, letting out a loud rumble. 

"You're hungry." The stranger stated, a strange tone to his voice.

Rose just shrugged, looking up at him. She found herself lost for words. How does one reply in a situation like that?

"You should eat something." 

"I can wait until tomorrow." She tried to hide her hunger behind a smile but her stomach gave her away when it sounded once again. Her hand instinctively moved towards it, as if somehow she could settle the pain.

The stranger studied her for a moment or two, searching her expression as Rose often did to others. And then, he said the one thing she'd most hoped he wouldn't. "You're bleeding."