"The lengths ye'll go to, to get out of a couple day's chores," Petra playfully chided Marren as she and Cailin entered the room, "how ye be feeling, lad?"  "From what Lyranda tells me, a lot better than I was," Marren said with a grimacing chuckle, then added, "please don't make me laugh, it hurts too much."  With a pouty expression, Petra replied, "oh, ye poor baby," causing everybody in the room to break out in a small laugh.

Moving to the foot of the man's bed, Cailin sat down and spoke to the man, "how are you feeling, really?  I... ... ... we were all worried sick about you."  "Truthfully, I don't remember anything from the time the bolt hit me until I woke this morning," Marren replied, "Lyranda and Lilith filled me in on most of the details, but I just can't remember.  I'm glad to see you weren't hurt, are you alright Cailin?"

"I will be," Cailin replied with a sigh, " just a few things I need to come to terms with."  "I understand," Marren responded, "Lyranda told me what you had to do to one of the bandits, I'm sorry you had to go through that.  It's never a pleasant or easy decision to make, but unfortunately, it's the only choice there is sometimes."  "So it seems I'm finding that out," Cailin replied with a slight tear in her eye.

"Thank you for what you did, putting your life on the line for me," Cailin said to the man.  "It's alright, I saw a friend in dire trouble and instinct took ove... ... ...  ,"  Marren began to reply, his words suddenly interrupted when  Cailin bent down and kissed him.  For a moment, Marren was in shock by the woman's action, then became blissful over the situation.   Marren was in heaven, then was abruptly brought out of his state of bliss by a stinging slap.  The sound was sharp, loud and reverberated throughout the room, causing even Petra and Lyranda to wince.

"You almost died!", Cailin shouted at Marren as she now stood above him beside the bed, "don't you ever do anything like that again, you ass!"  Turning from the man, Cailin then ran from the room, her face in her hands, crying in a weak voice, "you almost died."

Reaching up to rub his now sore cheek as he watched the woman leave the room, Marren glanced up toward the other two women, "what the hells just happened?  Did Cailin just kiss me?"  "Aye," Petra responded, 'that she did."  Adding to the conversation, Lyranda spoke, "then she slapped you."  "Yeah, she did that too," Marren replied to the druid, "but she kissed me first... right?"  "Yes," Lyranda responded, "she did kiss you first."

With a wince, Marren then raised both arms behind his head and said with a smile, "hmm, how about that... she kissed me... she actually kissed me."  Looking down at the man, then toward Lyranda, Petra spoke with an exasperated sigh as her eyes rolled to the ceiling, "oi... ... ... men."

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Cailin's Journey - - An Adventure In The Making
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