A Little Night Music

[Luna Heiler & Ayer]

Luna breathed in the cool night air. It was moist and rich and felt good filling her lungs. There was a wind in the darkeness, whistling through the branches in the hammock of trees high above her, a few Stars filtering through the dense foliage, shining brightly in isolation. Luna strolled through the forest on this perticular night, unable to sleep. Luna ignored the thunder she heard in the distance Amd continued to walk, it seemed like such a nice night. She was barefoot, having simply jumped out of bed and sliding her leggings on under her night shirt before traipsing out the door And running through the village until she reached the forest. She was taking a route through the forest she hadn't taken in awhile, it wound deeper into the heart of the woods where the trees grow close. She looked up at the sky, and saw even less stars in the sky now than she had a few minutes ago. There were alot of clouds this evening. 

Luna became so lost in her own thoughts that she didn't notice when the thunder grew nearer and the din became louder. Sure she heard it, but she didn't take notice of it. When Lunas mind finally snapped back into reality, she felt light droplets of water plink against her face. It wasn't a big deal, just a little sprinkle. So Luna kept walking. But within 10 minutes it had gone from a light sprinkle to steady sheets of rain, beating down on the forest. Then the lightning came. It came in great claps and with every flash, the rain seemed to increase untill Luna was being pelted hard with huge drops of water. It didn't take long for all her clothes and her hair to be soaked.  Lunas eyes darted around unsure of what to do. She was lost at night in the forest. It was wet. There was lightning. She was alone. It was loud. And Luna didn't like it. This was an unfamiliar part of the woods to her, and she couldn't remember which direction she had come from. Luna had never been one to be Afraid of thunderstorms, but this jarred her a little. In the confusing surrounding of the storm she had no sense of direction, or sense at all really. She started running. Just trying to get somewhere. 

Luna dodged throughout the close-growing trees as she attempted to reach a destination. Anywhere, anyone, anything. Well, exept for the young man who called himself ghost. He could be out there now, lurking watching her. Lusting after her blood. Strategizing the best time to strike and kill. Luna pushed the thoughts out of her head and tried to focus on the task at hand. Luna quickened her pace as the lighting and thunder roared through the forest, claps and bangs one right after the other. She didn't know what she was doing, but one second she was running through the trees, and the next her small, bare foot caught on a large rock at the crest of a hill. Her body fell over the rock onto the incline of the hill. And her body flipped over mid-fall. But her foot remained lodged under the big stone. Luna let out a blood curdling scream of agony. Tendrils of pain shot repeatedly up her leg and into her back. The pain was incredible. she reached up, straining against the pain and the difficulty entailed in lifting ones own weight up and incline, but she managed to reach the rock with her fingers and with the help of adrenaline, she tugged the rock loose.

 Luna tumbled and slid down the muddy slope. the pain only increased when she had freed it from it's trapped state wedged under the large rock. the mud was wet and slippery and luna slid through the dirty sludge easily. When she reached the bottom of the hill her back struck against a tree. She winced at the pain. She moaned. There was mud ground into her clothes and hair, on tye way down, her leggings jad caught on a rock amd torn. Her whole body hurt. She had to get up, but she didnt see how she could. She tried to look at her ankle but the storm around her made it impossible. When a bolt of lightning struck, she saw it for a split second. It was lopped over the wrong way and swollen up huge and she had a few cuts where the stone had scratched the skin Amd torn it. She had to get out of here. A carniverous dragon would eat her in this state, and she sure didn't want that. She started the try and crawl. It didn't work very well, she stopped after not too long. Next to her she felt a stout stick. She could use this to support herself. She put the stick upright and then heaved her weight up and supported her weight on the wooden stick. She tried to take a step forward with it, and was successful, she didn't get far, but it was a step. 

It was hard to keep control of the wooden crutch because the ground was wet and slippery. But Luna managed. She hobbled along in the raging storm, still very much unaware of her surroundings. Her foot dragged uselessly behind her. While she had been on the ground she had felt it and she discovered that her foot was dislocated. A relatively easy fix, although it would cause her alot of pain. She pressed on for what seemed like forever, often times falling and having to get up once again. Luna was exausted, she didn't know where she was going, and then she ran into something. She tried to grab around what felt sort of like a tree so she could stay on her feet, but she just slid down it. A crack of lightning revealed that it was ice. Ice? She looked over and saw a clearing with a little house in it. What luck! She had stumbled [literally] upon curtis' house. Luna had lost her crutch when she fell, so she as quickly as possible crawled over and rapped at the door. She wad tired and hungry and covered completely in mud, she was wet, uncomfortable, Amd she was in extreme pain. Luna sat on the wet muddy ground in her ripped leggings and She despratly hoped Curtis would hear her knock.

[fric2626]

Curtis couldn't sleep, The Rain was keeping him up the entire time. He wasn't sure why he couldn't sleep, He slept through even worse storms then this back in Red Rock. Curtis walked over to Slity, He was laying on the floor staring at the fire as if thinking about somthing for a long time. He patted his head and looked around, Silvia could be hiding. Not many place's a dragon could hide in his house, He walked into the other room and looked around Silvia wasn't in there either. He walked back into the main room and looked on the other side of his bed, He saw the tip of a little white tail sticking out from the bottom of his bed. He put his hand down and poked it, Silvia shot out from the other side and ran into Slity. Curtis laughed and looked at Silvia, "Well, Duh." He got off his bed and walked over to Silvia petting her.

Curtis sat there by the fire with his dragons and listened to the rain outside, It was picking up and the lighting seemed like it was growing in light, The Thunder was growing in power and letting off louder booms. Curtis closed his eyes and listened around the room beyond the rain, and thunder hitting around the house. It was quiet, The fire crackled in it's place and let off smoke to outside. Curtis got up from his postion and grabbed a peice of wood from beside the door and threw it into the fire and it caught ablaze in no time and started to burn. Curtis listened again and thought he heard a knock at his door. He got up slowly and walked to the door. He put his hand on the handle of the door, He opened the door and saw Luna on the ground. She was covered in mud, Clothes were torn. Curtis' eyes widend when he saw Luna. "What happened?!" Curtis walked to Luna and picked her up and brought her inside and by the fire. Even Slity's expression was like Curtis', His eyes were widdend and Silvia ust sat there and looked at Luna. "Well? What happened to you."

[Luna Heiler & Ayer]

Luna could have cried tears of joy when Curtis answered the door and picked her up on the spot and carried her inside. She felt bad, she didn't Like when he had to see her like this, dirty, tired and in pain. But right now, if her face wasn't muddy, she would have kissed him. Curtis gently set her down near the fireplace and asked her what had happened. Luna gave a short account of her misadventures of the night. He listened intently and was quiet while she spoke. "and this happened" Luna said, motioning to her foot. When she finished, she looked herself over. She was a complete mess. Torn, wet, muddy clothes and an injured ankle Amd mussed, dirty hair. She tried to wipe some of the sludge off her face with the sleeve of her shirt, but only made it worse. Luna looked down to examine her hurt ankle better. It was swollen and red and was lopped over the wrong way, hanging limply. Luna was in alot of pain because of the violent fall that injured her ankle. she was going to have to tell Curtis how to set the bone, it was dislocated. As soon As it was put back in place it would feel a little better. But Luna didn't have any remedies here, and she knew she needed thyme something fierce to get her out of this shocked state, And there were other things she wished she had too. She looked up at Curtis who was watching her carefully. Luna shivered, even with the fire, Luna was freezing cold and her soaked night-shirt and leggings weren't helping, they were not going to dry anytime soon with all the water and mud on them, it was still dripping off onto the floor. If she stayed like this, with the wet clothes on, she would surely catch cold, her lips were already turning a color of purple, but she didnt know what to do.

[fric2626]

Curtis nodded his head as he listened to Luna tell her story to him. Not the best of luck she could of had, But if there's thunder in the distance. It would be the best thing to turn around and head back to the town as quick as possible. Curtis looked at Luna, "Here.. Let's get you cleaned up and then Ill take care of your ankle." Curtis walked over and grabbed afew blankets, He looked around and grabbed a pail of warm water that was sitting near the fire. He took it over to Luna and place's a clean cloth down so she could wipe her face off and anything else. "When your done cleaning yourself off, If there's any extra clothing you have on that you don't need. It would be smart to take it off before you catch yourself sick." Curtis walked over and grabbed the blankets he had set on his bed and carried them over to Luna, He put them down. "Use as many as you need." He looked over at Luna's foot, "Now. You mind telling me how to get your foot back into place?" He sat there and waited for Luna to tell him how to put her foot back into place. As he did, He walked over and grabbed another log or two and threw them onto the fire. The entire home got warmer only seconds after he did that. He looked over at Luna and waited for her. Curtis raised an eyebrow. "Hmm. One second." He walked over and grabbed one of his shirts. He walked back to Luna and handed it to her. "If you need this."

[Luna Heiler & Ayer]

Luna gratefully took the shirt Curtis held out for her.  She set by her side, the opposite side than the pail of water. "thanks" Luna said. She tried to ignore the throbbing pain in her foot and leg as she started to clean herself up. First she mopped up her face and hands and got the mud off her hair and ran her fingers through it. Then she took off her shirt Amd set the wet, dirty fabric aside. She she shivered as the cold air washed over her clammy, cold body. She readjusted the cloth wrapped around her chest before taking the clean cloth Amd dipping it in the warm water. She ran the warm cloth over her skin. It felt really good. She washed the water over her back and shoulders and stomach, clensing her body of the grime and taking the traces of blood from the few scratches she had on her back and stomach off of her skin. She glanced over at Curtis and saw him watching her, a little smile twitching at the edge of his mouth. "what?" Luna asked with a little smile. She used the edge of a blanket to dry her off a little before taking the shirt Curtis had given to her. She brought the bundle of cloth to her face and breathed in. It smelled like Curtis- like the forest and ice and woodsmoke, she liked it.  She slipped the garment over her head. The cloth was loose on her, but it covered her. She pulled it down around her small waist Amd smoothed the fabric over the front of herself. Then carefully, Luna pulled off her tattered gray leggings, she went slow as the slid the cloth around her hurt ankle, not wanting to cause herself any more pain than she was in. She put the leggings with her wet shirt. she washed off her legs before drying them down. At least she wasn't going to catch cold now. Now she needed to deal with her foot. Luna moitoned for Curtis to come closer. When he did, Luna began to show him, on her uninjured foot, how he was to set her ankle. She slowly demonstrated Amd gave verbal Instructions on how to hold the leg in place, straiten the foot and align it, then pull and slide the joint into the socket. Once he showed her on her uninjured foot how he was going to do it, and Luna finding his motions correct, she gently picked up her hurt foot and set it in his lap. With one hand he gripped her leg, with the other, he held her limp foot frontward. This was going to hurt. When he tugged her foot out, Luna screamed. The pain was terrible. Once he had realigned her ankle and let go, all Luna could do was gasp in excruciation.

[fric2626]

Curtis did as Luna told him to do. When he popped the ankle back into place and let his hands go and looked over at Luna. "Better now?" Curtis got up and grabbed Luna's wet clothing, He walked to the fire and layed them infront of the fire, Just far enough not to catch fire if the flame decided to take a little trip and jump out of the fireplace. Then again, her cloths were pretty wet and muddy, So it would alot more flames to make it catch fire in a snap. Curtis looked over at Slity, He was watching Luna closely. Mabye he was just curious on what had happend just now, Or mabye he just wanted to stare at her blankly. Who knows, But Silvia was dead like a rock, Laying on the ground in an unmoving motion. Curtis didn't worry becuase he could see her little chest move up and down from the intake of air and exhale of it, And then repeat it again, And again, And again. Curtis looked outside one of the small windows and saw the lightning and rain coming down hard. He looked at Luna, "You were lucky that you got here you know." Curtis walked over to Luna and sat down against her and looked at her.

[Luna Heiler & Ayer]

Luna nodded in reply to Curtis. "yah, thank you, by the way." she said warily in a quiet tone. Sh was very thankful she had made it here. Wether it be a fluke, an accident or just pure fate, it didn't matter to her. She looked over at Curtis. She gave him a small smile. She kissed his forehead and took a small lock of his hair and wound it Rythmacly around her finger. Luna felt the dark strands as they twirled around her finger. She did this for awhile before letting go and letting the hair fall back on to curtis' head. The excruciating pain in her ankle was starting to ebb. The hurt didn't leave her completely, but at least she was on the road to recovery. When she got home she could put some herbs on Ot and it would be good as new in no time at all. But she woulnt be going home any time soon. Untill the morning at least, by the sound of it. She listened to the heavy rain as it pounded on the roof and ran down the sides. The thunder rumbled and the lightning cracked and illuminated the sky for flashes at a time. Luna wasn't afraid of storms. In fact, she liked the rain. But with her current condition and it being night, in a storm like this there was nowhere she would rather be. " I love you" Luna whispered to Curtis, saying the words like she meant it, because she did, with every fiber of her being.

Luna yawned wide Amd rubbed her eyes. She hadn't realized how tired she was until just now, when a wave of exhaustion crashed over her spirit. Luna glanced over at Curtis to see if her was showing signs of drowsiness as well.

[fric2626]

Curtis closed his eyes for a moment and smiled at Luna. "I love you too Luna." He looked at her and lightly kissed her. He looked around the room; It was Quiet, Silent, Even Deathly sounding. It only stayed that way until the Loud crack of thunder was pounded through the sky. Curtis Loved the Rain, Thunder and escpecially lighting. Even though for this, He has never seen snow. Down in Red Rock the weather was odder, It seemed to be warm year round, But go anywhere north or south and it got colder depending on what season the region was in. Curtis listened to the thunder ring out every once in awhile, It became less frequent so that ment the major part of the storm was probably starting to leave the area, It was still pouring very hard. Curtis started to look abit tired, Yes. Curtis shut his eyes and listened, "You tired.." He yawned abit and opened his eyes back up looking at Luna.

Silvia started to move abit in her dream. Slity woke up looking at Silvia moving up against him, If there was anywhere Silvia LOVED to sleep it was up against Slity. Curtis didn't know why she did that, Mabye it was just somthing she felt like doing but either way she slept well there.

[Luna Heiler & Ayer]

"yea, I'm really tired, Curtis" Luna said truthfully. Tonight had started out as a seemingly sleepless night, now she was exhausted. She hoped Curtis wouldn't mind if she spent the night here. It didn't seem feesable to go home tonight, what with the rain and her ankle so she didn't see any other option. She felt bad that she had pretty much force this on him, but there really wasn't anything she could do about it. She would make it up to him sometime, somehow. He had been so generous, instantly bringing her in and then letting her clean up and letting her borrow his clothing and fixing her ankle, and not complaining once.  He was too good for her, and she knew it. He deserved someone better than her. Yet, he had managed to stay with her, Amd she would never let go of him. 

She watched curtis' eyes wander over to his dragons. They were sleeping close to each other. Silvia was getting big, if Curtis was planning on releasing her, he would have to do it soon. It would be a sad day for all of them when it came silvia's time to leave and live life on her own. Perhaps she would fly back to red rock, or maybe she would stay on berk. Either way, Luna had a feeling they would cross paths with the young white fear again. 

Curtis brought his eyes back to Luna Amd she looked at him. Their eyes met And Luna smiled at curtis. She saw drowsiness in his eyes, which was proably the same case with her, she was really sleepy. Also, Luna didn't want Curtis not to get a good sleep and be all grumpy tomorrow, she knew how he turned out without a night's rest because of being kept up by something. She sure didn't want to be the cause of it, or the one he took it out on. Unfortuanatly, she had been caught between a rock and a hard place with him and his thoughtless anger before. Luckily most of the animosity had been aimed at someone else, but she still felt the burn of his anger upon her. "we should both get some sleep" Luna said gently. 

[fric2626]

Curtis nodded his head abit and got up. "One second." He walked over to his bed and grabbed two pilllows from the head of it and walked back to Luna handing her one. Curtis placed the other one down and laid down with his head on it. Curtis thought for a moment and got up again and walked over to the peices of wood. He grabbed four peices and walked back throwing them onto the fire so they can burn for the rest of the night that is still yet to come upon the island. He walked back to the pillow and layed down again and put his head upon it again. Curtis looked at Luna for a moment before dosing off. "Night..." Curtis fell asleep and pretty much stayed asleep for the entire night that was to come along.

Outside the winds had died down to a much calmer state then they once were in. The rain that was pouring down from the skys had slowly came to a very light mist, The thunder in the sky had been silenced as if it were not to speek another word. The lighting in the sky followed with the Thunder and disappered to act if it was never there. The night was calm, and screne. Any damage that had happened during the storm would clear out by the afternoon tommorow. It could of been worse then what it was.

[Luna Heiler & Ayer]

Luna gratefully took the pillow from Curtis when he handed it to her. She set it on the ground and laid back with her head resting on the soft pillow. She watches as Curtis put some wood on the fire before coming back and laying down himself. She had his pillow sat a few feet away, maybe 2 arm's lengths from her. He watched her watching him for a minute before he shut his tired eyes and Caught some well-deserving sleep. Luna followed him into slumber as she closed her eyes and breathed deeply. And Luna slept soundly.

Luna awoke suddenly. It was still dark out, she should still be asleep, she hasn't been asleep that long. She rolled over again Amd tried to go to sleep, but she was too cold. Despite the fire, which was dying, Luna chilly- she was on the floor wearing only a long shirt with no blanket Amd wet hair. She shivered and goosebumps ran up her arms and legs and back. She rubbed herself. She turned over again and her eyes layed on Curtis, who was lying on his back with his eyes closed sleeping like a rock. Luna hesitated before Crawling awkwardly, because of her injured ankle, over to Curtis. She silently slid over the floor to where he lay sleeping. She lay down on her side next to him Amd pressed her body up against his. She slowly lifted her arm and set it softly across his chest and gently took his hand. When she set her head on his chest, Curtis began mumbling and muttering something Amd started to stir. "ssssh, ssssh. Hush. It's just me. It's just Luna. Just stay, Curtis." Luna whispered to him. She planted a kiss on curtis' cheek and When he was still again, Luna set her head on his chest and closed her eyes. This was warmer. The warmth of his body spread to hers and the the two slept soundly, cuddled close in the dark.

[fric2626]

The night went on and on. The light mist had stopped before the sun came up. The clouds had started to break away in diffrent directions. The sun started to let down its rays upon the island. Curtis woke up and saw Luna against him, He smiled but he felt the room dead cold. He looked at the fire, He needed to get more wood onto the fire before it was completly dead. Curtis tried to gently move Luna off him so she didn't wake up when he moved. He lightly put her head down on the pillow and got up quietly and walked over to the pile of wood that sat by the doorway. He grabbed afew peices and walked back quietly to the fire and put them in. There was still enough heat to start the wood back up again and a fire started once again from it's colder, More dormant sleep.

Curtis looked back at Luna she was still sleeping, But it didn't look like she was sleeping very heavy. Curtis walked over to Silvia who was awake, She layed there looking at Curtis, He kenlt down to her and patted her head. He walked back across the room and grabbed abit of meat for Silvia to have. He placed the meat down infront of her and she got up and stretched like a cat would as if they were just waking up from a dead sleep and moved towards the meat and then started to eat it. Curtis looked back at Luna and smiled.

[Luna Heiler & Ayer]

Luna slept soundly through the night after she had moved over next to Curtis. And Luna dreamed when she slept that night. She dreamt of many things, almost as if it had been a collage of thoughts and feelings, a compilation of her actions and deeds throughout the day. The type of thing where you could remember emotions from the dream, but not necessarily the things that took place, but she could remember some details, but if she were to say them aloud, they would fade into oblivion, never to be thought again. Amd when Lunas eyes fluttered open, all she could remember was a sense of foreboding and a sweep of love from the dream. For a moment luna did not recal her location, but when she pushed her hair away from her eyes,she saw and Remembered that she had spent the night at curtis' house. But Curtis wasn't beside her anymore. She looked around the room quickly, looking for him. When her eyes found him. She smiled and propped herself up and sat up. She looked at Curtis and saw him sitting halfway across the room. The space was warmer now, Curtis must have stoked the flames when he awoke because the flames were burning brightly and radiating heat and providing warmth for the pair and the dragons.
 

Luna listened, she didn't hear the howling wind of pounding rain or the crack and boom of constant thunder and lightning. She looked out the small window set in the wall and saw light streaming through it. The storm had receded and left behind it a glorious day. Hopefully they wouldn't have a storm that violent for a while, and Luna would never be so foolhardy as to make brash decisions like the ones that had landed her in this situation.  


She saw Curtis smiling at her and she smiled back before saying " come help me up, I'm not sure how stable my ankle is yet." as she rubbed her foot and ankle, trying to soothe the pain still throbbing through her nerves. It wAs much less severe than it had been the night before, but it still hurt, she needed some herbs for it badly. She would treat it when she got home. 

[fric2626]

Curtis walked over to Luna and knelt down, He placed his arm around her and lightly helped her up onto her feet. "So, Feel any better?" He looked down at her foot and watched to see if she was good on it now then she was yesterday. Curtis let his helping support go and stood beside Luna incase she needed his help again with anything. Curtis started to run thoughts through his head, He tried to remember what he dreamt about the following night. It was odd that when he woke up he didn't remember any dreams he had just had, But anytime later that day he would be able to remember it very easily and with a great amount of detail. Mabye it was just somthing that needed to run a lap or two around his mind during the day before he would be able to recall what he had dreamt about. Somthing's he would be able to remember what he dreamt about when he woke up; but most of the time it was what he was first thinking. Curtis shook his head to snap out of the thinking and looked at Luna again. "If you need me too Ill fly you back, Cause less travel." Curtis smiled at Luna and awaited for her response.

[Luna Heiler & Ayer]

Luna tried to helped pull herself to her feet, but Curtis managed on his own with her. He held her for a second while she's steadied herself and Tried to stand on her feet by herself. She was a little unbalanced for the moment when he let go of her, but she could stand. She took a step. She could walk. She had a limp and it was a little painful, bit she would be fine by day after tomorrow after she got home and could treat it. She looked down at the foot to give it a quick look-over. It looked fine but it felt bad still. Her mind wandered away for a second.

Luna looked up when Curtis began to speak. He offered to fly her home, which was proabaly a good idea. She nodded "yah, if you could I think that would be good, Curtis" She smiled at him. She laughed as she relized she was still wearing curtis' shirt. "let me put my own clothes on first." she said. Luna hobbled over to where she could see Curtis had put her shirt and leggings for the night. She felt them, they were nice and dry. She would have to wear them despite that they were so filthy and ripped, but she couldnt very well go anywhere in just curtis' shirt. So she pulled her grey, ripped leggings on. Then she pulled the shirt Curtis had let her use off and held it between her knees while she pulled her own mud-caked shirt over her head. She took curtis' shirt and walked unevenly over to him with it and handed it to him. "thanks for this" Luna said as he took it. she smiled.