Rena opened the door, sighing with delight as the cool night air brushed against her flushed cheeks. The sounds of the pub flooded into the quiet night, the mixture of music from the fiddle, laughter, happiness filling the night and then dulling as the door closed behind her. Rena loved the music and was unable to resist a few turns on the dance floor. She had become a popular dance partner and now, several dances later, she was panting from the exertion and desperate for some cool, fresh air.
The evening air certainly delivered on that promise and the peaceful quiet was a sharp contrast to the commotion of the pub, which suddenly felt so distant as Rena paused to catch her breath. Something about the night made Rena contemplative. Perhaps it was the fact that the night sky made her feel so small, perhaps it was the fact that it made the rest of the world seem to fade away.
In the stillness it wasn't hard to hear the sudden rustle of skirts, the soft impact of a fall. Rena frowned slightly, trying to recall if someone had staggered out drunk but she had been to consumed with the dancing to notice one way or the other. Well, she might as well investigate and make sure everything was all right, she thought, following the sound into the night, where she came across a woman seated on the ground, feeling her ankle.
"Are you all right?" she called out as she approached, squinting in the dark to see if she could make out the woman's features but they were obscured by shadows.