Private Tales Sliver of Time

[Míriel Fëanorna]

Miriel merely smiled when he seemed to cotton on to what had happened and as her hand was still clamped firmly in his grip she went up on her tip toes and planted a quick kiss on his lip before sliding herself free of his grip. They had been going for a good few hours now and the sun was at its highest point in the sky. She moved over to a basket she had brought out earlier and lifted the lid to reveal some cooked meats and cheeses. Sitting with her back against the fencing she motioned for him to join her before making herself a combination of bread meats and cheeses.

"You're better than you give yourself credit for. It's confidence you lack," she said as he sat down beside her. "I don't know how Nordenfiir fight one another so I'm trying to keep my moves based off of what I've seen you do but you clearly have some warrior instinct in you."

 

[Baise]

The stomach was a route to any Nordenfiir's heart. If they had shelter and food they were generally quite content creatures and not the raiding, pillaging northerners often described. Not that they were 'cute and fluffy'. He wasn't admitting that yet.


"It would be hard not to carry a little of my father," he admitted. Everyone had always been quick to point out how little that truly was. People always remembered the brash and bold side of his father, drinking and telling stories. Screaming before a battle. They rarely thought of his quiet determination when a real fight started and how easily Valthar wore that look too.

"You have a lovely home," Valthar reflected as he chewed on a piece of cheese. "What was your home like in the jungles?"

His heart was still slowing from the exertion. His skin had that flushed feeling from it coming to an end. He was going to have to move into some shade soon, he thought to himself.

 

[Míriel Fëanorna]

"Thank you," there was pride in her voice as she accepted his compliment. "I worked hard for it. It's been a bit of a slog but I think it is how I've wanted it now," her eyes ran over the fields and watched the foals as they played and zoomed about the place. One skidded on the grass on a particularly sharp corner and went sideways. He picked himself up soon enough and strutted off like nothing had happened.

"It's called Órënya," Miri glanced to him and then she picked at the food in her hand. "It is very different to this place. There is very little open space like this for example. The trees are huge, sometimes you cannot see the tops even when you stretch your head right back and the trunks are thicker than a giants arm. My house is in an Aldacarni - a red tree - near a series of springs. I built it in her branches myself, it was a very satisfying job but it is a lot smaller than what I have here," her eyes flicked to the forge and house. "But I do miss it at times. Not enough to move back just yet but maybe in the next two centuries," she rubbed her palms on her thighs once she had finished with her food then picked up the water skin and took a sip. "What about you, what's your igloo like?"

 

[Baise]

Valthar snorted a laugh and reached for the water skin. He didn't take a sip, but gulped down half the bag without taking a breath. This was likely a pleasant afternoon for Miriel, but for him it was becoming uncomfortably warm, especially now that he wasn't so focused on the training.

"We have houses of stone, tall roofs for the fire smoke. My house is..." he looked towards hers, "About the size of your upstairs but just one floor. My bed, my kitchen and my stuff. I have my boat and my nets. I lived a very quiet life," he said with a shrug.

"You really lived in a tree?" he asked. If she was teasing it was a very convincing lie. Valthar was struggling to imagine a tree so large that a home could be built in one. "Bugger than that tower over the docks?"

 

[Míriel Fëanorna]

Miriel nodded at his description thoughtfully. It made sense for a fisherman and a single man at that - he didn't need a lot of space. Miriel's home had once belonged to a family that she had turned over the years into her own little escape from work. Still she hoped it was a big fire he had to keep out the chill of the snow. Now it was her turn to snort when he asked her again about living in a tree. The tone of his voice was a mix of hopeful and disbelief and in the end she struggled not to laugh.

"Yes - bigger than the tower over the docks. About 400 feet tall I would say, perhaps the same thickness, but they have such big leaves anyway it is impossible to say without climbing and measuring them. In the Jungles it pays to be off the ground when you are resting. Some of our homes are built into the trees themselves though those tend to be families. The houses are round and they go around the outside of the tree, then you hollow out the inside of the trunk a bit and you can use that as another room too. You know I have some sketches inside, I can show you if you like?"

 

[Baise]

He knew that his question sounded silly, but he still laughed along with her. Valthar tried to imagine trees so tall. He didn't have a strong imagination. He could picture such a thing seen from a distance, but it was hard to fill it out with elves building into the tree.

"Yes please," he replied. Inside also meant shade. Why was the sun so much hotter here? It was unbearable.

"Are there many predators in the jungle then?" he asked as he stood up. He eyed the equipment she had set out, unsure if she wanted it packed away first. From what he had been told by the guard at the gate there were plenty of thieves abroad in Alliria.

 

[Míriel Fëanorna]

"Yes, a lot. The Jungle is not a friendly place really," she stood up and stretched with a wince, her hands coming to the small of her back to massage the muscles there tenderly.

"Don't think this gets you out of training later," Miri warned him. If he truly wanted to get better it would take repetition and they didn't have a lot of time to cram that in. Well, she wasn't entirely sure how much time they had so she would work him hard until he told her otherwise. "But we can do it in the evening when it is cooler," her eyes traced the trickles of sweat beading on his forehead before she heading for the house with a small gesture of her hands. The weapons shuddered then rose silently, floating their way back in to the forge.

Inside the house she moved to the bookcase, trailing her fingers over the volumes until she found the one she was looking for and sat down on the window seat with enough room for him to sit beside her. Inside the leather bound volume were a series of different drawings; weapons, horses, flowers and scenes from her travels around the world. She flicked through them all until she pulled out an older series of drawings and passed them to him.

"Here, see?" The series of sketches comprised of a few shot through the trees in the thicket of her city, and then blueprints of her own home. After a bit of shuffling she also passed him some quickly sketched watercolours of the jungle itself.

 

[Baise]

"Happy to train in the evening," he replied as they walked back towards the house. The cool evening air was far more pleasant for training. Even that was warm to him. The tundra was going to feel cold by the time he was home.

He watched the weapons as they all floated away. Valthar had seen her charm the giant's hammer but seeing all this steel floating along behind them was something else. Clearly he trusted her skill enough to hit her with her own axe.

Valthar spread the sketches out, fingers tracing the trees without touching the parchments.

"It really looks like this?" he asked. "It looks nicer than here," he added with an amused snort. Then again, he couldn't see heat in a picture.

 

[Míriel Fëanorna]

"Yeah, it really does. I'm glad you like it," Miri's voice softened somewhat as her fingers too traced over the lines of the house she had built and then she laughed at his comment of it looking nicer than here. She supposed he was not used to such busy places as Alliria. She kept flicking through the sketches and passed him more when she came across them of waterfalls and the flowers she had mentioned before that were as big as a person, of snakes and bugs of bright colours. It was nice to share this part of her.

"Nobody has ever asked about my home before," she admitted, looking at a particular sketch of the view from her home. "I think how I feel about my hammock is how you feel about your boat," she mused and cast him a smile.

 

[Baise]

"Perhaps because we are both far from home," he offered. "I know what it is like to be somewhere so different. I hear many live and die inside cities as large as these. Still, I suppose I got to visit one of the largest cities there is on my way home."

Vakthar didn't think that her hammock was quite the same as his boat. It wasn't where she spent her working day and it wasn't her livelihood. Still, he had learned not to go on talking about his boat too much. Especially not with a woman he was planning on sleeping with again.

 

[Míriel Fëanorna]

"There is a lot of poverty here and disease spreads a lot quicker," Miri nodded with a small frown before slowly putting the sketches back into the leather bound journal. "I think because I have been here so long people seem to forget I am not from here," she shrugged her shoulders a little. It wasn't something she minded as such but it was nice to have someone take an interest in her home still. She stood and put the journal back on the shelf then sat back down with her feet tucked up against her backside.

"So how long would you like to stay before you make your way back North?"

 

[Baise]

Valthar wasn't a man who hid the truth. His expression immediately revealed how torn he was. Home was what he wanted more than anything in the world. It was also very, very far away. There was a long and arduous journey ahead.

He liked Miriel. He liked her a great deal. The Alliria stone was hot as hell during the day but he was finding her home increasingly comfortable and welcoming.

"A few days. Long enough to rest up and do some training. Not so long I don't want to stay. Is that okay?" Valthar asked.

 

[Míriel Fëanorna]

Miriel watched the expressions cross his face but stayed quiet; this wasn't a decision she could make for him. She played with a bit of loose thread on her leggings as he made up his mind and only raised her gaze when he began to speak and give her his answer. It was almost sweet how he asked at the end, a marked difference from the man who had informed her he was going to take her down by the fire the other night. Her lips twitched slightly as she held back a smile before shifting her position so she was on her knees beside him and pressed her lips to his.

"Of course," her voice was a low murmur as she watched his expression before sitting back on her heels. "Is there anything you want to see whilst you're here, or anything you want to do aside from training?"

 

[Baise]

"You know I didn't deserve any of the kindness you showed me," he said, taking a side tack away from her question.

"I have been shown very little on the way here. The axe, lodging, training..."

The rest of the affection she had shown him he wisely did not try and put into words now. He did not ask whether she was seeking something from him, he merely said:

"Thank you."

Valthar said little at times, but he almost always meant what he said.

 

[Míriel Fëanorna]

Miriel contemplated what he said quietly. She appreciated the thank you but it felt a little odd to her to even be given it but she didn't want to diminish his words.

"When I travel, I tend to go on my own with no idea of who I will meet or what I will find. I rely a lot on the hospitality of strangers so whenever I meet someone in a similar situation... I try to offer them the same," it was what she called paying it forward. It had been an elderly man up near Elbion who had first mentioned the same notion to her and told her he offered hospitality after his years of wandering the globe. Of course she didn't always offer her bed but that was a nice bonus when it came to Valthar.

"From the sounds of it the southern lands have not been entirely kind to you but I don't think that means you are undeserving of kindness."

 

[Baise]

A firm nod seemed to close off that loop. Valthar didn't want to labour the point. He had said his piece. Perhaps luck was not on his side, or being so far from the sea those forces that had watched over him has last sight of him.

"I would like to go down to the docks and watch the boats come in," he said, finally answering her earlier question. He had caught a brief sight of the great Allirian docks on his way in and the guard towers, but he wanted a closer look.

 

[Míriel Fëanorna]

"Yeah?" His request was a surprise in a way, she had almost expected him to say nothing. In truth she didn't know much about the docks other than when the best times were to go down there in order to get the fresh catches of the day which was usually in the evening or first thing in the morning. By the process of elimination the boats most have come in around those times.

"Well you're welcome to come and go as you please obviously - do you want me to come with you or would you prefer to go alone?" Of course she would take no offence either way.

 

[Baise]

"It would be nice if you wanted to come," he offered hopefully. He wanted to spend more time with Miriel before he had to leave. A city was a city. It wasn't one he has heard so many legends off. Not a place he had an interest in losing himself in. There was a limit to the time he had here, with her.

"I could cook, if you would like?" he offered. Valthar new a hundred and one different ways to prepare fish. His house had a small kitchen, but he had cooked his own catches most evenings since he had moved there.

 

[Míriel Fëanorna]

"I haven't spent much time at the docks, it would make a nice change," Miri nodded and then shifted her position on the window bench so that she was no longer sitting on her heels. "I know there is a small bit of beach nearby, we could take a few weapons and do a little training there before the boats come in with the catch of the day," it would probably also be cooler with the breeze coming off of the sea there.

At his offer to cook she raised both eyebrows in genuine surprise.

"If you keep talking like that I'm not sure I'm going to be able to let you leave," a small smile crept across her face. Living on her own meant cooking or if she didn't fancy going to the trouble herself then visiting the pub. She couldn't remember the last time she had had someone cook for her.

 

[Baise]

"It might be cooler down by the water," he agreed, arriving at the same thought.

"Will Vilissë do the same...not hitting you thing? Might be good to practise with its weight. And well... Not walk on a parade of floating weapons," he mused.

The thought of walking at the front of that procession clearly tickled him as he broke into a rare grin.

 

[Míriel Fëanorna]

His grin made her laugh.

"I suppose you might be right," Miriel glanced to the axe which stood still where he had left it the day before. "She shouldn't do unless you particularly want to hurt me," she eyed him with mock scepticism. In truth she had not had the unpleasant experience of having her own weapons turned against her outside of the training ring. "Guess I will just have to make sure I use more than a stick to defend myself this time," a slight gleam crept into her eyes as she stood and went to find her signature curved swords, and a couple of shields too.

"Shall we, or do you need a bit more time to rest your old bones?"

 

[Baise]

"Old bones?" he asked. "It was not my bones as much as my bruises that needed rest," he declared.

Alliria was split into two halves. Valthar finally got to see it properly as they meandered past the docks towards the shore.

There were great merchant ships out in the deeper waters, continuing further upriver. Valthar stopped to watch their sails. There were far more complex arrangement of sails and ropes on display than anything on the vessels that reached Eratejva.

They were supposed to be training first, but he paused to watch the ships in awe.

 

[Míriel Fëanorna]

Miriel walked with her hands clasped behind her head to help her stretched out her back some more as they walked. It was a pleasant day and she was glad to be enjoying it outside of the forge. The sea air was pleasant too though not particularly to her tastes; she preferred solid ground under her feet or a horse between her thighs. What made the docks more enjoyable was watching Valthar's joy.

She came to a stop beside him as they reached the sands and lowered her hands to place them in the pockets of her breeches.

"When I first arrived here I thought the sails were really oddly shaped clouds," she mused. A long time ago.

 

[Baise]

Valthar tilted his head to one side. With the right angle they would have been drifting across clear blue skies at just the speed of clouds.

He leaned forwards, looking towards the smaller docks. Later, the fishing boats would be coming back in and he could stroll past and just and get something from the fresh catch to cook.

"It's relaxing, the water. Isn't it?" he asked.

 

[Míriel Fëanorna]

Miriel was watching him more than she was the water, she had to admit. It was nice seeing the joy on his face - it was a marked change from the seriousness of when he had first arrived in her forge.

"It's nice to look at," Miri sounded doubtful as to whether it would be as relaxing being on it. But the business of people going about their jobs and the gentle breeze and bobbing of the large vessels was a nice aesthetic. On a spur of the moment she kicked off her boots and left in the sand before she made her way towards the waters edge for a little paddle. Digging her toes into the sands she glanced over to him as the wind whipped the hair about her face. "Do you swim in your frigid waters?"