With that she cinched up the horse's pack and headed toward Covetous, one of the least villainous caverns she knew. She could mine for just about anything there and her supplies in every area of ore were diminishing. She made it to the cavern without any great mishaps and started setting up for her task at hand. "Ironic", she thought as she continued to hack away at the cavern's inside wall with the pick, "I can't seem to get away from beating things." Just as she thought, the cool interior of the cavern was comfortable after being subjected to the sun all morning.
She had been working steadily with no interruptions for several hours when the echoing sound of whistling reached her ears. She paused, her body going still, muscles tensing as she cautiously watched the opening of one of the cavern's branching tunnels. A man came casually strolling out of the entrance, one hand bracing the shovel balanced against his shoulder, the other carrying the reigns to his pack horse. Once he saw her he sauntered right up to her a bright smile spreading over his features. He was ruggedly handsome even with the dirt smudges all over his face and clothing. His eyes sparkled with some internal light and his smile made her melt much like the molten iron she worked with so often. He dropped the shovel to the ground and offered a dirt-smudged calloused hand to her, that incredible smile still intact.
"The name's John. John Duklain. I see you're a fellow miner."
He nodded toward the pick that she clutched in her hand. She stood there staring at him like a blithering idiot, too nervous to respond. She was finally able to drag her gaze away from his face to stare at the offered hand. His smile faltered somewhat and he started lowering his hand to quickly wipe the dirt and grime from the creases onto his trousers.
"Sorry about that. I didn't realize I was so filthy."
She finally snapped out of her daze and offered a tentative smile.
"It's OK." She held up a smaller version of his own calloused dirt encrusted hand.
"Liability of the trade."
John's chuckle of amusement at her comment eased her tension a minuscule bit. He jabbed a finger toward the hole she'd been excavating in the cavern wall.
"Find anything good there?"
She half turned to look and smiled wryly
"Not a lot. There was a small vein of azurite that I was following but I think I took a wrong turn somewhere and lost it. Not much but iron ore." She shrugged one shoulder
"That's OK. That's mainly what I'm after."
The conversation, although stilted at first, finally more easily to her. John was a natural socialite. Very easy going with a wonderful sense of humor. It was quite easy for her to get wrapped up in his conversation not to mention his eyes.
They spent the next several weeks in each other's company quite often. Her store of ores was growing to ridiculous levels. She had more ore than she knew what to do with but when John called to go mining, she answered. She had never been able to communicate like this with someone. She'd never been so at ease or laughed so much. She knew she was falling in love. A part of her warned about all the "what if's" but the other part, the part that enjoyed living life so much squashed those thoughts aside. This world was tough and you never know which day is going to be your last. Make them count.
(The romance of John Duklain and Kaice Sullivan will continue on a real time chronological basis. Hopefully they'll make for interesting reading. If not, we're still having fun.
)
