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“You’re doing what after the wedding?” Dakoral stared at Shenette, shocked. Karathael had been trying to get the two most important people in her life to get along, but it was off to a rocky start.
Shenette repeated herself slowly, wondering what was so startling about it. “I’m following the river road to Telgar Weyr. Once I’m there, I’ll find a dragonrider to between me over to Harper Hall.”
“No, you’re not. Not unless you’re a complete idiot,” Dakoral replied, folding his arms and leaning back to make himself appear larger. He was easily two hands taller than Shenette and muscled from turns of working in the smithy. He didn’t need to try to intimidate her. And yet it didn’t work - she had been surrounded by large, muscular men her entire life.
She snorted. Not only was the blonde wildly independent, but she couldn’t stand to have her intelligence questioned. “Excuse me? I’m a grown woman. I do as I please,” she scolded him. “I certainly don’t answer to you, Apprentice Dakoral.” Shenette leaned forward, her bright blue eyes flashing up at him in challenge.
“Are you a sharding wherrybrain? Because-” he asked, stepping even closer. Karathael squeezed her hands together. What she had thought of as an innocent conversation starter was quickly snowballing downhill.
“Hey! Hey hey hey!” Karathael stepped between the two, putting her hands out to keep them apart. “Dak, Shenette is right - she’s an adult, and you can’t forbid her from anything. How about, instead, you tell us why you think she should stay?” The blonde stuck her nose in the air. Karathael was on her side.
“I don’t care if she stays. I’m saying she can’t travel on the river road by herself,” he replied, gesturing at Shenette. “It’s fucking dangerous,” he muttered, not looking either of them in the eye. “There are all sorts of unsavories on the road who’d gladly take advantage of a woman traveling alone. Especially a… young, pretty one. She’d be easy prey.” Karathael took a step back, hoping the tension had passed.
“I can take care of myself.” Shenette crossed her arms. The smith may have a point, but she’d never admit it now. Not only had he questioned her intelligence, but he was talking like she was a defenseless child.
“Bullshit,” Dakoral replied, folding his arms as well. In this moment, their stubborn poses looked like a distorted reflection of each other. Neither one was willing to budge.
“I’m not afraid of some stupid bandits,” Shenette declared, throwing her shoulders back and flipping her hair over her shoulders.
“Fine, then. Prove it.” Before she could react, Dakoral had knocked Shenette flat on her back and had one knee pinning her to the dirt. He grabbed both of her hands and held them over her head, giving her a cocky smirk that she wanted to wipe off of his face.
“Let me go!” Shenette yelled, flabbergasted. “You can’t just do that! I wasn’t ready!” She struggled and kicked, but he held firm with an annoyingly small amount of effort.
Dakoral refused to release her until she stopped and he was sure his point was made. “Easy prey.” Then he stood, wiped his hands on his pants, and offered her a hand up.
Shenette smacked his hand away and stood up on her own, shaking the dust out of her skirt before turning her gaze toward Karathael. “You saw that. The man is a brute.” They both stared at her, waiting for her to say something.
“He, uh… made his point, though. Maybe someone could go with you?” Karathael suggested diplomatically.
“We’ll go with her,” Dakoral offered, surprising both women. “It’ll take three days to walk to Telgar Weyr, and three for us to walk back. Fandarel said tradition is to take a sevenday off right after a wedding. So Shenette can get to the Weyr, and no one has to travel alone. That good with you, Sweetling?”
“Yeah! It’ll be a great adventure to kick off our marriage,” Karathael answered with a big smile.
“You think I want to spend three days with you? I’d rather take the bandits.”
“Aww, come on. He just wants to make sure you get there safely,” Karathael said, grinning convincingly at her friend.
“You want to make sure that I get there safely. He probably wants to make sure I leave.” Shenette rolled her eyes, still suffering from her bruised dignity.
“I also want to go on an adventure with you before you become some famous harper. Please?”
“Fine,” Shenette conceded. “But if you ever let him do that again, I’ll break into your house and let a wild wherry inside with a bag full of prunes. Got it?”
“Next turn is going to be great! A wedding and an adventure!” Karathael bounced excitedly on the balls of her feet, but the smith just nodded. Shenette couldn’t help but smile at her friend’s excitement.
“You’re lucky I like you,” Dakoral told his fiancee, half-joking.
“Same.”