13 - By the Light of the Fire

"'Don't need no help,' he says." Rose grumbled as she shoved another branch into the fire. "'Thanks but no thanks.'" she continued to mumble to herself as she stirred the fire. Sighing, she paused to glare over at the man she had been quoting. He still had not awoken nor moved at all, not even a twitch. Honestly, she was starting to get a little worried.

Grabbing a stick (that did not come from the fire) she proceeded to lean over and poke at his boot. This warranted no response. So, she frowned and tried a little harder, this time poking his leg. She even went so far as to poke at his shoulder with the stick. Still nothing. Leaning back with a huff, she winced as her ankle protested movement. Her feet were going numb as well, lovely.

Glancing up again she noticed Irene had already fallen asleep, wrapped up in a blanket. Sighing quietly to herself, she scooted a little closer to the fire, as close as she could reasonably get, and settled in for a long night.

Hours later - she didn't know how much time had passed with her just staring into the flames, but it was still dark out - she heard a moan. Turning her head slightly towards the sound, her golden-brown eyes followed every movement the man made. He'd tossed his head to the side, she could see his fingers twitching under the blanket as he tried to regain consciousness. Scooting over, her feet finally starting to thaw, she leaned over him.

"Mister Allen..." she called out in a soft voice, hoping not to awaken Irene nor startle him. Much. His brown eyes finally blinked open, and it took them a minute to adjust so that her face came into a clear view for him, backlighted by the fire.

"You fell off your horse," She explained with no preamble, as he blinked up at her in confusion.

"Oh...I," It all started to come back to him as he attempted to sit up; however, a wave of pain hit him square on at about the same time. Wincing, he allowed Rose to assist in lowering him back to the ground. "'Thought I told ya not t' follow... ...lemme guess, that girl's here too?"

"Irene? Yes, she is. She's sleeping over there, so please keep your voice down." Rose instructed, pointing off over her shoulder. Clint glanced that way but couldn't make out much in the dim light, so he decided to take her word for it. He shifted his attention back over to Rose, the two of them silent for several seconds, until he attempted to move his hands. The blanket fell from off him, but his hands remained together.

"...Ya claim to wanna help me," Clint said slowly, raising an amused brow at Rose. "But ya still ain't untied me yet." To see the look of shock on Rose's face as she glanced down to see she had indeed forgotten to cut him loose - that alone made this little adventure worth it.

"I, I do have a knife!" Somewhere, Rose thought, at once standing and turning to get to Bells' saddle bags. Now, she'd forgotten something else - her ankle. Having attempted to put weight on it without thinking, it gave way and in a flash of pain she went down. Having heard her fall more than anything - she hadn't even yelped! - Clint was concerned and so rolled over onto his front, hesitating a moment to allow the world to stop spinning before he crawled over.

"You all right?" He asked gently, still making Rose jerk back in surprise. Glaring at him, she shook her head.

"Of course not! I am cold, my ankle will no longer support my weight - again - so no I am not 'all right' at this very moment but I assure you if left alone I will be fine." She ground out, emphasizing the last word more than any of the others. Clint frowned, knowing he had to do with most of this, and so got up on his knees then rose to his feet, looking over towards Bells as he asked,

"Where's the knife?" He asked, no emotion showing in his voice.

"In one of the saddle bags, I am not sure which one." She responded, watching him walk over to the bags sitting on the ground. He was moving very slowly but with a purpose, it looked like. She could only see the firelight dancing off his back, but he did hesitate every now and again. Finally he made a victorious noise and, once on his feet again, headed back over to Rose.

"Would ya mind doin' the honors, please?" he asked, offering her the hilt of the knife. Peering at his face a little more closely, she could see a sheen of sweat on his forehead.

"Mister Allen, are you all right?" she inquired steadily, slowly reaching out a hand for the knife but not taking her eyes off him.

"Never better, now please cut m'free." he said again, holding up his wrists to give her better access. Pursing her lips, she focused all her attention on his wrists as she brought the knife up, she was afraid of cutting him instead of just the ropes. She put the tip of the knife under the ropes and pulled upward. There was a little bit of a struggle in getting them off, but eventually he was free, and she hadn't even scraped him. He was rather surprised that she hadn't 'accidentally' done it on purpose. Then, another thought occurred to him.

"Wildfire! ...You said I fell of m'horse, didn't you?" Clint asked, looking up rather suddenly, enjoying be able to spread his hands apart now. Looking around them, he asked, "Where is she now?"

"She ran off and has yet to return, I'm afraid." She informed him, watching as his expression changed into one of deep concern.

"She's still part wild...if anyone else tried t' grab her.." Clint started, attempting to stand and more than likely go out in search of his horse, in the dark. Rose reached out a hand and, closing her fingers around his shoulder, she yanked him back down.

"She'll come back...it will not do her any good for you to go and get yourself hurt somehow out there in the dark, Mister Allen." Rose told him in a no-nonesense voice, and, with a frown, he seemed to see the sense in it and started to relax. "Come now, it is still night and you need more rest. Go on and lay back down." She spoke again, releasing him and waving towards the blankets he had recently vacated. Slowly he turned his head to blink at them, then back to her.

"...You said you's was cold, right?" He asked, still clearly unhappy that he would have to wait in finding out about his horse until the morning. "Ya should take 'nother of the blankets, I dun't need 'em...I'm used to cold." He explained with a nod, but even in the reflection of the firelight, she could see the truth in his eyes. He was already on the verge of falling ill, so she was not about to accept such from him.

"No sir, you need both of them. ... If I get cold, I can huddle up with Irene." Rose offered with a small smile, glancing over the fire towards the girl. She was still sleeping, thankfully. Lowering her head to examine her hands a moment, she raised it again to look at Clint.

"Mister Allen, I...also wanted to thank you, for the flower." She said, clasping her hands tightly together. For a moment she wondered if somehow she had indeed got it wrong; his brows drew together and she could almost hear him thinking, Flower...flower...what flower? But eventually it seemed to click, and with an easy smile he nodded, then shrugged as he sat up a little straighter.

"Reckon it seemed like a good idea at th' time. I didn't think I'd see ya 'gain an' I wanted t' thank ya some'ow, for...warnin' me like that." He said, his smile sincere as he leaned forward, towards the fire, and nodded again.

"Oh, well, you are welcome." Rose said, feeling a little ease and a little something else that she couldn't quite discern, in finding out that there was nothing more behind it - he'd only wanted to say 'thank you.' But...express it instead of say it, she supposed. He stretched out a little bit, rubbed his wrists, and then crawled on over to the blankets.

"I still don't 'prrove of you followin' me, but thank ya all the same fer fishin' me out 'a the water." Clint said as a finality, then settled down in the blankets and was soon asleep. Stretching out herself before the fire, Rose cast him a sidelong glance and mumbled under her breath,

"Go ahead and say what you will, Mister Allen, but this is the most fun I've had in a long, long time.." Smiling to herself, she looked into the fire for a while, then she headed over to huddle up beside Irene and possibly get some shut-eye.