Madame Mist: Walking

((I feel I need to write some Rist in every now and then just to keep it making sense for the later plans that can't happen until they've actually had a decent and believable period to get to know each other properly and stuff...I don't like rushing relationship stuff...Inspired by some silly swan poem by a guy named Owen Sheers))

She liked the way his hand felt locked with hers. It felt warm and comforting. Comforting against what, she wasn't sure. Why would she need to be comforted? It had been raining and the boggy ground near the sanctuary sucked at their feet, making their walk much harder than it should have been. Erskine seemed to be making a game of it, despite the obvious fact that it appeared to be aggravating the knee injury. Every other step he would pull a face or make a noise and then look to see if she'd noticed. She kept her face passive. They were in civilian clothes, simply because they felt more comfortable. Besides, Tipstaff or someone would probably fly in a rage if they got their precious Elders Robes all dirty and wet. She had never seen any life on the pond in Roarhaven. She had lived there a long time as well. But even so, there were two swans on the water.
"That's new." Erskine mumbled.
"Yes. I've never seen those around before."
"Maybe they got lost."
The swans swam on and the couple moved forward once more. "We can go back inside, or at least back to solid ground, if you like."
"I'd love that, but eventually this levels out to tolerable scenery. I'd like tolerable scenery."
"Not sure what to say about that. I'd have to agree in the long run, though."
"The swans are a nice touch, though."
"You know when we were at the petrol station and I got the feeling someone was watching us?"
"Yeah?"
"I'm getting that feeling again." Ravel seemed to instantly switch to high alert. "It's probably just paranoia, but-"
"I think I'll go back inside now."
"Okay..."
He leaned over and kissed her, squeezing her hand. "Nothing personal. It's cold and I want to sit down."
"Same, I guess. I have mud in my shoes..."
"Ew. The mud here is like...like..."
"Mud?"
"Yeah..." He laughed, "only more...gunky."
"It is very gunky."
He wrapped his free arm around her shoulders and she rested her head against his shoulder, closing her eyes for a moment. "Are we going to go through the annoying process of turning round or are we going to walk round the sanctuary?"
"Your choice. You're Grand Mage."
"Very true. I say we walk round. Admire the scenery."
"Is it worth admiring?"
"Once the world ends, we'll view this sort of thing as beautiful."
"That's morbid."
"Just trying to paint this place in a beautiful light...it's very hard, you see..."

((Hey look, it's V-day. I'd forgotten until I got here...and got a bunch of V-day messages from friends which creeped me out because V-day is for couples...'HOW DARE YOU, SIR. YOU THINK JUST BECAUSE WE'RE ACTORS WE SLEEP WITH EVERYONE!' (if anyone gets the reference I will love you forever)))