Endearing Davt Brat

Dru couldn't help but smile as she walked through the woods, on her way "home".
Somehow, Dav had taken her dark mood and turned it mostly around. Perhaps he simply specialized in changing moods, as it was normally the other way around.
But never had he brought on such dark, terrible thoughts as the night before had brought her.

Yet somehow, when he found her amongst those ruins, then sat and spoke with her, the thoughts slowly faded. Not that they were gone. She felt they would never leave until she triumphed over those who caused them.

She did not even truly know why she opened up to him about any of her thoughts. But it happened somehow, and yet...he did not seem to see her as any weaker for it. He spoke of her scars, her ability and inability. He was honest. Yet, part of that honesty was that she shouldn't fear what others thought of her scars. That he believed she would one day see herself as a Lady, above others. Not in simply title, but virtue as well. He had called her fierce..but in a way that was complimentary.

She hadn't known what to do with him being so kind, without constantly picking at her. It was unusual. Yet there he was, pulling her out of the pit of her thoughts and being somewhat gentle, in a sort of Dav manner.

Why, he even held drink to her lips; being mindful of her wrists. Twice! Once with a flask of brandy to warm her as they sat out in the chilly rain, then again in the Pony, with a glass of wine.

The wine was to seal a deal with Helmsgard. He was coming along with them, aiding them especially in his homeland. Not only this, but they would be leaving soon.

Dru chuckled as she recalled.

Helmsgard had put a long, hollowed reed in her wineglass after seeing how embarrassed she was by Dav's gesture, as she was not used to others holding glasses for her. Neither Dav nor Dru understood what it was for. Dru asked, Dav dumped the reed, and the drink, on the floor.

This led to him being lightly tapped with her pathetic hands, upside the back of his head. As they went back and forth, Helmsgard calmly explained the reed was for sucking the wine through it.

Dru had never seen Dav's face go red so many times. If she had ever seen it, that is. The memory was enough to make her burst into laughter again.

As she cleaned the wine he dumped on the floor, Helmsgard got another glass of wine for her and handed it to Dav. He mistook it for Helmsgard offering it to him, and downed it immediately. This shocked Dru momentarily, but once she realized his blunder, it amused her.

Once he realized what he had done, his face turned a few shades darker. He stumbled over his words and bade both of them goodnight before hastening out of the inn.

She locked the door behind her as she chuckled to herself. He was certainly a brat. But he could be almost tolerable sometimes.

And somehow as she flopped back into a chair, she couldn't help recalling how lordly he looked. Though outrageously overdressed.
But this night, she caught more of a glimpse of what she considered a true Lord of Gondor, than she may have in her entire time knowing him.

Even if his embarrassment caused quite a bit of amusement on her part.