The game was over and the affection they always felt for each other bubbled up, causing Théadan to hold her close, his voice growing quiet and a smile on his lips. She always liked those small, sweet moments with her lover, where whatever else around them could just keep happening because all they cared about was the attention they gave to each other. His sole focus was on her, just as hers was on him. And the kiss they shared proved as much; it was slow and unhurried, filled with fondness, thick with devotion. It did not last, they both knew she had not been wrong about them needing to move on from the barn, yet Navia still sighed to herself when Théadan let the kiss come to a slow end and stepped back from her. Her hands fell away from his face, dropping down to her sides while she watched him try to remember where he had stashed her shoes the night before.<br/><br/>At first Navia could not decide whether Théadan was serious in not being sure where he had left them or if he playing up the theatrics, but the way he dug around the bales of hay at random convinced her he was not pretending. It took him a few tries, but he was soon extracting the dainty black shoes from their hay-filled prison. Navia pursed her lips together in distaste at first as her gaze followed the way he had to shake out her shoes to remove the hay, but she said nothing to protest the way the<i>khussas </i>had been treated. It was not like the hay had ruined her shoes, after all. Depending on how well they were cleaned up, they could potentially be itchy, but that was all. Still, they were handed over and Navia could not resist shaking her head solemnly at him when he looked so sheepish.<br/><br/>“Thank you for returning them,” Navia said, taking a moment to pluck out a few remaining pieces of hay from the soles of each of her<i>khussas </i>before she dropped them to the barn floor. After she stepped into her shoes, they took the time to finish up gathering their belongings and finally pulled the stall door open so they could enter the rest of the barn once more. Vari was already out of the other stall and saddled, much to Navia’s surprise, but the Wyndagar was still where they had left him for the night, although he was hanging his head over and watching Vari, ears perked up. It appeared he was interested in joining her, but perhaps had refused to leave the stall out of loyalty to Théadan. Whatever it was, the farmer looked up from holding grain for Varinata to munch on, his dark eyes sweeping over the pair of them before settling on Navia.<br/><br/>He stared for a stretched out beat, then released a low whistle and stepped back from the horse. it appeared to be the first time he was really getting a close look at the two travelers he had let take refuge during the storm. Wiping his hand on his pants, the farmer crossed over to face them as they stepped out from the barn stall. “<i>Te atira maniya</i>,” he said to Navia solemnly before suddenly grinning at Théadan and reaching out to shake his hand in an obviously congratulatory manner, “<i>Tu te nutana svasti</i>.” Navia pursed her lips together to keep from laughing at first, but the man seemed such a good sport, that she did anyway. “<i>Dhanyu, sakhi,” </i>Navia answered, glancing Théadan’s way with a smile, “<i>Sah bahu zubha.” </i>It made the man laugh, widening Navia’s smile into a grin. “He says I’m extremely beautiful, and you’re very lucky,” she explained as she brushed past Théadan to head toward Varinata, “So I agreed you’re very fortunate.” She glanced back to wink at him before working to start loading up her horse for the last leg of their journey.