I heard four light foot scuffs, followed by a thud, as someone climbed down from the loft and skipped the last step on the ladder. Probably one of the women headed for the backhouse. But a moment later I heard Honey's voice whisper, "Cob?"
"What is it?" I asked unwillingly.
She turned towards my voice, and I heard her approach in the darkness. Some little moonlight leaked in at a badly-shuttered window. I picked out her shape in the darkness. "Over here," I told her when she hesitated, and saw her startle at how close my voice was. She groped her way to my corner, and then hesitantly sat down in the straw beside me.
"I daren't go back to sleep," she explained. "Nightmares."
"I know how that is," I told her, surprised at how much sympathy I felt. "When if you close your eyes, you tumble right back into them."
"Exactly," she said, and fell silent, waiting.
But I had nothing more to say, and so sat silent in the darkness.
"What kind of nightmares do you have?" she asked me quietly.
"Bad ones." I said drily. I had no wish to summon them by speaking of them.
"I dream Forged ones are chasing me, but my legs have turned to water and I cannot run. But I keep trying and trying as they come closer and closer."
"Uhm." I agreed. Better than dreaming of being beaten and beaten and beaten... I reined my mind away from that.
"It's a lonely thing, to wake up in the night and be afraid."
I think she wants to mate with you. Will they accept you so easily?
"What?" I asked, startled, but it was the girl who replied, not Nighteyes.
"I said, it's lonely to awake at night and be afraid. One longs for a way to feel safe. Protected."
"I know of nothing that can stand between a person and the dreams that come at night," I said stiffly. Abruptly I wanted her to go away.
"Sometimes a little gentleness can," she said softly. She reached over and patted my hand. Without intending to, I snatched it away.
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