Of Billberries and Rent-a-rooms

Caen'ir twisted about the unfamiliar sheets of the Bastokan rent-a-room. Surprisingly enough, he had fallen asleep almost instantly after curling up on the bed. No sooner had he closed his eyes, the world being naught but darkness, he felt as though he were opening them. Black gave way to a world compromised of white, gray, brown and a dark green; snow gently falling from gray clouds that seemed to encompass the entire sky above him, through a slight cover of snow-covered leaves from ancient trees towering over him. Despite understanding this to most likely be a dream, he couldn't help but feel some joy at the familiar sight, and wished to lower his gaze to see what else lay about...and, yet, despite his desire, he felt he could not move. While he could see, he obviously held no control here. He was content to just continue watching for the time being, his (if it was, indeed, his eyes he was seeing out of) breath visible in the chill. However, it seemed that there were other plans, as he felt someone grab his arm and tug him along. Used to such treatment already, he instead decided to examine his companion through auburn hair that fell in front of his eyes, despite attempts to get it to stay out of the way.

The woman was a head taller than him, a bit on the stout side in build. Her pale blonde hair was bound tightly with a leather throng. She held herself in a disciplined manner, softly pulling Caen'ir (as he was fairly certain, by now, this was him) along with her, slowing her step so he could easily keep up. She glanced back at him, she had a matronly look about her and warm brown eyes. She shook her head in a mock-reproachful fashion, her voice reaching out calmly in the serenity around them.

"You were the one who was so interested in tagging along, you really oughtn't keep us waiting after we allowed you to join us."

"Sorry, Fiel'doras, I was just...distracted." Caen'ir found himself speaking the words without a thought, his face reddening slightly from embarrassment.

"It's alright, you only fell a bit behind, shouldn't take us more than a moment to catch up to the others...just be sure you don't fall back again, alright?" Fiel'doras let go of his arm as she saw him nod in response, and they continued along a scarcely-traveled path through a forest, snow lightly blanketing the ground and the leaves. There were a few smaller plants that managed to grow, despite the cold, flourishing in the pristine forest. They approached two figures crouching down and examining one such plant: A low-growing shrub with green leaves and clusters of purple berries growing on it. The two figures were a man and a woman, both obviously young. The young man shared the same disheveled auburn hair as Caen'ir, short in stature with a lean build, gray eyes that were focused on the plant and an impish grin on his face that seemed entirely natural for him. The young woman was just slightly shorter than the man next to her, black hair falling freely onto her shoulders. She seemed to be frowning at the man, her blue eyes displaying an annoyance as she began to speak.

"Don't. I mean it. You can't just eat something when you've not a clue what it is! It could be poisonous or something, and I'm NOT going to be held responsible if you drop dead from eating poisonous berries! So just cut it out and--" Before she could finish, the man tugged several berries off of the plant and popped them in his mouth defiantly, chewing them and swallowing them quickly to prevent any interruption from his female companion, a look of anger becoming quite evident on her face.

"Pfft, poisoned berries. Terli'ru, you're so paranoid and...crazy...you just...urk!" The young man clutched his stomach, seemingly in pain, falling to the ground unmoving, his eyes closed.

(( Longer than I thought it'd be, so going to post the rest later. Sorry for the shoddiness. D: ))