Private Tales Read between the lines

[Zana]

"I might have to ask him tonight..." Zana's eyes lingered on it for a while longer trying to puzzle out for herself how the Magma might be able to make that possible. Then there was the pipes and things in and of themselves. She found it all fascinating. She put the plug in the bottom so they weren't wasting the water then glanced up at Talus when he put a hand on her back. An easy smile spread across her face as she stood and nodded in answer to his question as his fingers curled around her shirt.

A playful glint flickered in her eyes.

"I would," she lifted her arms up to allow him to pull the shirt up and over her head then tugged on his own shirt. "Would you like to join me?" Zana would have been more than happy to have the whole thing to herself but she guessed she could share.

 

[Talus]

He gave her a considering look for a moment. "You know..."

A smile flickered over his face, and the moment caught him.

They were thousands of miles away from Vel Anir, away from all their troubles, their concerns. They were free here, utterly and truly free. They did not have to fear for assassins, they did not have to worry about someone finding them out.

None of that.

"I think I will." Talus said as he helped her drag his shirt free, throwing it onto the floor and pulling her into a kiss.

 

[Zana]

He trapped her laugh before it could escape her lips and she returned his kiss with love. With his shirt gone her hands slid up his chest slowly. Her thumbs and fingers followed every small groove they met, every little rise of scar tissue or blemish. She took in every inch with slow adoration as their kiss deepened and a small content noise came from the back of her throat.

It felt like a weight had suddenly been lifted from her shoulders.

She gave a soft sigh.

"Can we add bubbles?" she grinned and glanced to the shelf with the numerous different bottles.

 

[Talus]

Talus let out a laugh. "If you can figure out what does what."

His head shook.

"I was never brave enough last time." His fingers slowly floated over her hips, glancing towards the bottles on the shelf. All of them were labeled of course, but it just so happened that those labels were entirely in dwarvish.

They'd taught him a little of the language the last time he'd been here, but speaking it was very very different than reading.

He reached over to the other handle, turning it slightly to ensure that the water wouldn't be scalding hot.

 

[Zana]

Zana threw him a smirk and then side stepped her way over to the shelf to take a look. She knew two different types of elvish, several human dialects, and a smattering of Orcish but Dwarvish had not been one she had gotten around to learning. Even so there was a little thrill to trying to figure it out.

With care she picked up each bottle and brought it to her nose to sniff. A few times she poured some of out out onto the back of her hand and rubbed it into her skin. The dwarves cared far more about their hygiene than she had thought she would have. In the end she believed she had figured out what bottle was the one that would scent the bath and poured a little bit in. It turned the water a soft hue of pink and the smell of roses quickly wafted into the air. Slowly, as the water began to hit the already filling pool bubbles began to form.

She placed what she thought was shampoo and conditioner on the rim of the bath and then also the bar of soap.

As the bath finally reached its limit she kicked off her socks and then wriggled her way of her breeches then put a tentative foot into the hot water.

"Oooh..." her moan was one of pure bliss and she quickly climbed in, submerging herself up to her chin. "This is heaven."

 

[Talus]

Talus bit his lower lip as he watched Zana, ogling her like a schoolboy might have.

Just because he'd seen it dozens of times over the last few days did not mean that he would ever tire of the sight, and she slowly slid herself into the bath he couldn't help but reach out and let his fingers slowly glide over her side.

A second later Talus slipped off his own breeches, pulling them free and tossing the clothing towards the other side of the room. Then, slowly, he followed after Zana.

"OOO-ooo-OOO." The Dreadlord made odd sounds as the heat proved to be a little much for him, but eventually he submerged himself fully into the water alongside her. A breath filled him, eyes closing for a second.

He wished he had something like this at the cabin.

 

[Zana]

Zana watched him through half lidded eyes with a small smirk, especially when he seemed to dance about as the water hit a certain area. The temperature, for her, was perfect. Who didn't like their skin being burnt off as they soaked? When he finally came to join her she shut her eyes fully and let her head full back.

She wasn't sure how long she lay there just letting the travel pains ease from her bones and the grime come off her skin before she turned her face towards him and reached over to run her hands through his hair.

"Come here," she tugged gently then helped guide him until he sat between her legs. She reached for the sponge she had also set down on the side and then dunked it under the water. Once it was warm she drew it from the water and slowly wrung it out over his head before running it down his neck and back in slow strokes.

"I love you," Zana smiled and kissed him just below the ear before she ran the sponge around and down his front. "Thank you for bringing me here Talus." It meant the world to her.

 

[Talus]

Goosebumps rushed over his skin despite the hot water surrounding him, fingers gently stroking over the expanse of her legs as he simply enjoyed the feeling of her touch. His eyes closed, and a deep breath filled him.

"I love you too." Talus said softly, then he slowly turned himself around.

Fingers floated through the water, gently coming to rest on her hips as his thumbs stroked over her skin. A soft smile touched his face, eyes locking with hers.

"It's only the first." He told her, his hands slowly grasping her to pull her into the middle of the bath with him. "I'm going to take you all over the world."

He meant it. "Everything I've ever seen and more. Just you and me."

No troubles, no worries. Just the two of them. The idea made his heart soar.

 

[Zana]

When he turned she gently brushed the sponge over his nose and a smile lit up her face before he pulled her out towards the middle of the bath. It felt more like a small pool with how large it was. As they slowly glided through the waters she wrapped her arms around his neck and ran the sponge over his back in small slow circles.

"I think I would like to go see the Fire Giants next," she murmured and rested her forehead against his as they hung there in the moment, dreaming like young lovers with their whole lives ahead of them. "Or go and watch the dragons fly or try wine in an Oban vineyard...or.... There's this horse race in the deserts...." there were too many places. Too many wonders of the world. she agreed when she struggled to limit where she wanted to go down to specific locations. "Where have you wanted to go?" He had been kind enough to let her dream the most for the walls of her cage had been smaller but she wanted to know what he dreamed about too.

 

[Talus]

Talus let out a satisfied sigh, smiling as his arms wrapped around her in a tight embrace. For him, this was utter heaven. They could have been floating in the deepest ocean, the farthest sea, it all would have made him feel the same.

Fingers gently floated over her flesh, taking her in. "Alliria."

It seemed so comically close to Vel Anir compared to everything she had listed, but Talus had never been. He wanted to see the city of the sea, he wanted to watch as hundreds of people milled about and lived their lives.

"The Ixchel Wilds." No civilization, no cities, nothing but the wilds. "Anywhere."

He told her softly as he kissed her. "Everywhere."

"As long as I'm there with you." As long as they were together.

 

[Zana]

Alliria was a surprise and she blinked then kissed him - the barest and quickest of embraces - then did the same after every place he suggested after that.

"Done, done, and done," she smiled and her eyes flickered between his to try and capture this moment in her mind forever. When he kissed her again this time she sighed into it and drew herself tightly against his, her arms around his neck tightening as she did so. They would travel the world one way or another. Perhaps on more trips such as these; stolen bits of time off. Or maybe it would be after they had changed things in Vel'Anir.

Maybe they would leave and just keep walking. The thought filled her with a deep sense of peace and she sighed in deep contentment before deepening the kiss.

 

[Talus]

His hands slowly floated over her skin, eyes closed as he enjoyed the feel of her, the taste, the scent.

It all filled him with excitement.

Before Zana he had never thought beyond his goals, he'd never thought what would happen after Vel Anir changed. Over the last few days it was all that he had cared about. He wanted his city to be okay, he wanted his people to live free.

Yet more than anything he wanted to be with Zana. He wanted to see her atop Mountains, standing amidst the jungle, clinging for her life at the prow of a ship.

He wanted to live life with her.

"I swear. I promise." Talus began quietly. "We will live this life."

His hands slowly slid over her body, touching, kneading. Drawing Zana into him. "I promise."

 

[Zana]

His words made her warmer than the bathwater would ever be able to. It seared through flesh and muscle to the soul beneath. As his hands roved her skin she trembled and edged herself closer until she was practically straddling his lap and there was no further way to be closer to him.

"Talus..." her voice was soft but it held a note of warning. She didn't want him to make a promise that he might have to break. Neither of them knew what would happen down this path. She sighed and ran the sponge once more round and down his chest between them both.

But she also wanted them to be able to hope and dream.

"No matter if I get only days or if I get years with you Talus, as long I spend my time with you I will have lived the life I want," she would love to see the world but it was him being there that truly drove that passion.

 

[Talus]

Talus stared at her for a few moments, and then slowly nodded his head.

He understood what she meant, where she was coming from. They could not know their lives, not the whole of it. Yet the need in his chest was still there, the need to explore, to see the world, to show her what she had never seen.

"However we spend our lives." His finger drew a figure eight on her back. "However it al-"

Talus cut himself off, lips thinning. He would not speak of an end, any end. "If I had to be what I am."

A Dreadlord, a weapon, a monster.

"If I had to be what I am to meet you." All the years in the Academy, all the torture, all the pain. "It was worth it. All of it."

 

[Zana]

"I know," she dropped the sponge and cupped his cheeks. She could feel the turmoil of emotions through the bond but Zana merely smiled. Now it was her time to radiate a calm. she had accepted her lot in life a long time ago, had been playing the game far longer than Talus had. She ran her thumbs over his cheekbones and then drew him into a sweet kiss.

She knew she would live through the torture of it all again to meet him.

"Let us not talk of that here. We're on holiday. What will be will be so let us live in the moment," her thumb ran down from his cheek to run along his lips that were swollen from their kiss. She smiled faintly and then pulled him in for another kiss, a deeper one this time and let her hands slide around the back of his neck.

 

[Talus]

His fingers folded slowly behind her, dragging her close. "Okay."

Talus said softly, then a mischievous smile suddenly crossed his face. His teeth sunk into his bottom lip, and he suddenly blurted out.

"Then how about I bend you over the edge of this bath tub and we make the whole city wonder what humans get up to." It was without a doubt the most forward Talus had ever been about anything.

Somehow, he even managed to keep a straight face while saying it.

 

[Zana]

Zana raised an eyebrow when she saw the change of expression and then felt it down the link. Quite an intense shift. The heat was rising in her cheeks even before he said his comment out loud but it still made her choke. For a moment all she could do was stare at him as if she couldn't quite believe the words had just come out of his mouth and then with a soft laugh she nipped his bottom lip.

"If the city collapses it is entirely your fault," she gave him a mischievous look.

 

[Talus]

"I can accept that." Talus said as he suddenly wrapped his arms around her tight and pulled her into him.

He had decided to embrace her words.

No thoughts of the future. No thoughts of the past. No considering what might or may not happen. He would focus on the now, on the two of them, on just this moment. That was all that would matter right now. Her skin against his, her lips on his.

Nothing else.

 

[Zana]

Zana lay there until her breathing finally came back down to what she could deem was normal before moving slowly towards the sponge that had been slung half way across the baths.

"How do we know exactly when to turn up to this... feast?" she grabbed the soaps she hoped were the right ones for her hair and poured one out into the palm of her hair and began lathering it into the thick strands. She took her time as the smell of honeysuckle and a flower she couldn't place flooded her nose and combed it through her waist long hair in long and deliberate strokes.

All the time she watched him from across the way, her lips flirting with a smile as she watched him try and recover himself also.

 

[Talus]

Talus watched her, clearly ogling every move that she made without even a hint of shame.

He leaned back in the massive bowl like tub, simply lounging in the warm water as he drew in a deep breath. Satisfaction drifted around him, along with a certain amount of smugness that gently floated through the bond between of them.

"Well." He began. "There isn't really..."

Dwarven custom was damned hard to explain. "We just show up."

Talus told her with a shrug.

"I've tried to figure out how they work, but in all honesty everything we've ever been taught about nobility just doesn't apply here." Half the things that were done here could have gotten them executed back home.

 

[Zana]

This clearly visibly vexed Zana as she combed her hair with a little more agitation. She liked a plan. She liked to stick to the plan. She liked to have a rule book and know it to the letter. The Dreadlord gave a small huff of frustration as her mind turned to other idle things once more like what to wear and how on earth she stopped herself addressing the king as Majesty.

"Maybe we should just send Grey and stay here, I can cook?" she smiled seductively. The last time she had been at an event with dignitaries she had nearly had a fit from the horrific vision she had had touching a certain Heiress's hand. She knew it would be nothing like that here but this was now a different kind of discomfort. On simply not knowing how to... be.

Talus made it easy for her to be who she was but she hadn't shown that side to anyone else.

 

[Talus]

He smiled. "Unfortunately my love, I believe they're expecting all three of us."

Plus, there was a hint of curiosity in him wanting to see just how Zana would take being surrounded by so many uncouth Dwarves. His own reaction the first time had been nothing short of...well, hilarious from what he remembered.

"It'll be okay." He assured her, slowly submerging himself in the water and wandering over to her. His head was barely at level with her belly, lips pressing just over her navel. "I'll be there the whole time."

His arms wrapped around her. "And these are good people."

This was not Vel Anir. No one was out to hurt them, no one was waiting to send an assassin.

 

[Zana]

Zana wondered briefly if she should attempt to wash Grey too so he looked presentable.

As he made his way over to her she slowed her movements in her hair. His lips across her skin brought out a soft sigh and her eyes closed as she ran her fingers through his hair coating it in the same soap. She pulled him closer to her.

"Please don't leave me alone tonight," because, she realised, he was right. She had been holding onto that fear she had had in Vel'Anir and been tainting these people unknowingly with the same brush. Trust was such a hard thing to comprehend and offer but she wanted to. She wanted to welcome these people into her heart like Talus had.

She leaned down and rested her forehead on the top of his head with a sigh.

"I am sorry," for she knew he would feel it through the bond. "I am trying."

 

[Talus]

His lips pressed against her stomach once again. "Zana."

The tone of his voice was firm, there was no harshness to it, no rebuking her or making her feel silly. He would never do such a thing, never even think of it.

"You'll be with me the whole time." He would not leave her side, not for even a second. Slowly he tilted his head so that his eyes could meet hers. "It will all be okay."

A hand reached up and softly ran across her cheek. "Do you remember why you wanted to come here?"

To see what he had seen, to experience a portion of his life.

"I know it isn't easy. I know this place is strange." So different than home. So foreign. "But we're here, and we're free, and we have each other."

He slowly stood and kissed her. "I know you're trying, and I'm here with you every step of hte way."

 

[Zana]

Her name from his lips would always be a caress. She didn't raise her head from where her forehead was pressed to his though as he spoke. Not until his words settled in her heart like a promise and she felt her anxiety ease somewhat. It was only when his hand touched her cheek that she met his eyes and gave a small nod.

"I know... I know..." she sighed as he drew back from the kiss. She was sat on the rim of the bath so now she had to tilt her head to look at him as he stood, her lips twitching somewhat at the state of his soapy hair. But she did know the truth of every word he said. He would never bring her somewhere it wasn't safe and she had chosen this place because he already knew it whole heartedly.

"Maybe I will have a drink tonight," she gave his hands another squeeze before sliding back into the water to rinse her hair out.