Found:
Day three of travel, and it has been an... Interesting one.
Starting with a brief flurry of mischief, culminating in me causing the tent to fall down around his ears whilst he was still inside getting ready, then turning to more serious matters as we continued our walk through Ered Luin.
He wished answers to questions surrounding what I want from him. Initially, he was dissatisfied with what I had to say, protesting that he could not answer the same question himself until he was more sure of my stance on the matter. Hypotheticals followed and a tenuous agreement reached before things turned lighter again.
Later, seated inside the Inn of Michel Delving, he told me of two other women. One he sees as a daughter figure, though things turned bad between them when she would not accept that he wished for no more than that. The other, a woman he fled from without word or warning.
I know he feels the need to make things right, but there is something in the wording that he used that leaves me uncertain and wary.
I'd told him earlier that I do not settle. I probably should have added that neither will I be settled for.
Perhaps I am wrong in my understanding of the situation, but I cannot quite shake the feeling that I may just be a back-up plan were things to go badly between he and the other. I won't play that role. Not for anyone.
That said, the evening went well. He sang to me, I sang to him, the midgets enjoyed the impromptu serenades. The food was good, as was the drink, and the chance to be in the warmth was a welcome change.
I had asked for two beds, but somehow we ended up in the one. He'd asked something of me that I found... Painful to answer. It's unpleasant to bare ones truths in such a way. He simply sought to offer comfort and that's how we fell asleep: pressed together in a bed too small for either of us to comfortably stretch.
I'm not complaining, of course! I needed that, I think.
