Private Tales The Withering - Part II

A private roleplay only for those invited by the first writer
Aster chuckled as Baen transformed and bit the chest. When in doubt, bite it. That was her new motto for the Shucks.

"Red and gold with a cross," Aster mused. "Like a templar?" She didn't really know much about them but she knew that they liked crosses.

"Is that it? Just clothes? Why would someone just leave clothes hidden for that many years?"

There was something about this whole thing that was bugging her. Nothing made sense. She was hoping that this first stop would have provided more than it had.
 
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"Not quite..."

Baen was particularly well read on Templars, having lived through the age where magical beings and users were actively hunted by them. The Wild Hunt had seen plenty of their ilk on the Erlking's list back in the day.

"There are some trinkets ... nothing I recognize." Frustrating, but sooner or later in their travels someone would have to recognize them. The hound gave the affects one last thorough nosing before he stepped back and sneezed. The items were whisked into the air by an unseen force and magicked into one of the forward harness bags. With nothing left here for them to find, it was time now to get moving.

"Aster, we need to go," turning back toward the door where the Omnia stood, the hound turned a cursory glance around the area as another curious scent drifted in on his nose, "What is that ... are you wearing perfume?"
 
Aster nodded when he said they needed to go but she heard his pause and his sniffing. She didn't smell anything but her nose was not as strong as his.

"Perfume? No. I know you hate that shit because it messes with your senses." She didn't really wear it when she wasn't with him either but he didn't need to know that.

Aster reached down and lifted her shirt to her nose. No, she didn't smell anything off. "What does it smell like?"
 
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The hound's black muzzle wrinkled as he took in the air with a gaping maw, panting once and then twice before giving another sneeze. Baenon wasn't entirely sure what he was smelling just now, as it seemed to have vanished on the breeze as quickly as it had arrived.

"Flowers, perhaps..." with a shake of his head he turned away from the entrance of the treehome, "we have two days journey ahead of us. Are you ready to leave?"
 
Aster shrugged at his description. She had no clue. She didn't smell anything. It was probably something in the dust that they had stirred up in the house.

"Yes, I am so excited to ride you, Baen," she said with a sly smirk. She walked slowly in the direction of his voice until she made contact with his fur. She walked next to him until the got to the door and she had to let him go first.

She was soon mounted up and ready to go. Two days was a long time in his stony silence. She just sighed as she got comfortable.
 
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Always with the distasteful remarks.

Baenon rolled his eyes at the Lady and for once wished she could see him do it. Standing patiently while she found her way over to him and pulled herself up into the saddle, he set off at a slow pace into the woods. Before the branches could begin to snatch at them, Baen had plunged them into the Ley and took off at a bounding gallop along the magical web woven across the landscapes of Arethil.

In the Ley time felt and span different. Though they traversed through it for hours, it felt only like an extended blink. By the time he broke free from it, stepping out into the rolling hillsides of eastern Falwood, it was night time and the sluagh was nigh exhausted. Panting heavily, Baenon's steps continued lightly across the country, following the hills down into a valley and a river that ran through it.

There he scouted along the banks for an enclosed, safe area to make camp before depositing the Omnia back on her feet and making for the waters to drink deeply. It was a cool, clear night. Both moons hung in the twilight sky surrounded by stars. There were no roads through this area, and so other than the local fauna, they were quite alone.
 
The night breeze felt amazing but the Omnia felt disgusting. She needed to bathe. At least to rinse off some of the dirt from the travels. She heard Baen walk away to get some water and the Omnia took the opportunity to take her clothes off. She didn't really have the ability to wash them so she would be putting dirty clothes back on but oh well.

"Baenon, do you happen to have a towel in your ridiculous bags?" Aster asked. She didn't need it yet but she would in a little bit. She shifted into her raven form and glided over to the edge of the water. She waited until he was done drinking before she shifted back and stepped into the cool water.

She walked deeper and felt the water flow over her body. She didn't much care what Baen was doing. He could be enjoying the view or he could have gone back to the clearing. She ducked down under the water and let her hair get wet. At least she could feel cleaner.
 
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The hound paused mid gulp, water openly dribbling out of his maw and down his chest, his dark eyes setting on the woman and pointed ears flickering back against his skull.

"There is a lot more than a towel in my ridiculous bags..." scoffed the hound before dropping his head to sate the rest of his thirst. The cold water hit him like a kick in the gut, but he'd pushed the journey here faster than he might have if he'd been traveling alone. Of course, if he'd been alone he would have been moving ahead of schedule instead of behind.

Making up for lost time had a way of draining one's reserves quickly.

Finally, with a heavy breath, Baen stepped out of the water past the raven, shifting to his bi-pedal form in rather the same instant as she. For a moment he stopped and did indeed appreciate the view. Any other night, under different circumstances, he would have stripped and followed her in to give her a thorough scrubbing of his own. Not tonight.

Tonight they were in foreign territory and he was ready but unwilling to collapse with her under his guard. He instead busied himself with starting a fire and setting out the bedrolls. Duannan might've been able to flick their wrists and construct a fine campsite fit for a Queen. He was not Duannan, not did he require luxuries when traveling. Had he been alone, he would have been perfectly fine with sleeping in his hound form, sans fire. But he had a Lady to look after.

Baen removed his outter layers of armor and set them aside, leaving him bare chested. He sprawled with a grunt by the fire, idly watching Aster in a manner similar to a hound watching an unsuspecting target.
 
Aster took her time in the water and it wasn't until she was getting uncomfortable that she headed back to shore. Her feet hit the dry ground and she shift once more. She wasn't going to make Baen get back up to walk her to her clothing and shit. She was not completely helpless, after all. In her raven form, she found her clothes and the fire. She didn't need a towel when she had a fire to dry her.

Baen was going to get another show apparently.

Aster shifted back to her fae form and stoof in front of the warmth of the fire. It dried her slowly but it also warmed her up and once she felt dry enough to get her pants on without too much fighting, she did just that. Unlike Baen, she put her shirt on as well.

She found her hound and sat down on the bedroll next to his. Aster laid down without saying anything. Her brain had been trying to figure out what everything they had found so far meant and it slowly was starting to frustrate her.

"Baen, I am a little cold...come here." Aster wasn't demanding at all...noooooo...
 
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Eyes tracking her movement from water to fire, Baen watched her in silence as she dried herself by the flames. Duannan were beautiful creatures in so many ways, and though Baenon perhaps did not have a full appreciation of what the word beautiful truly entailed, it did not stop him from openly taking in her figure. The chiaroscuro of golden light licking across alabaster against the stark shadows of her curves.

He was unashamed of staring and would have done so had she been capable of seeing him do it. After all, why shouldn't he? There wasn't a single inch of her he hadn't seen up close or felt beneath his fingertips or tongue. Memories that all too willingly rose to the surface, mingling with visions of what he would have liked to have been doing presently.

The glint of his gaze shifted as she moved to lay on the open bedroll - the one nearest the fire, just for her. At her request, her hound obliged, pushing himself to sit up and lean over her, arm reaching for the blanket that had been waiting, folded, just to the side. He flung it open with one hand and lay it out over them both ... over Aster, mostly. He would be fine without.

Instead of receding back to where he had been, Baen remain laying on his side, right arm propping his head up while his left tugged the blanket up over their shoulders.

"Better?" he asked, just inches away from her ear.
 
Aster was surprised that he had obliged without any sighs or huffing. He must have been more tired than she had thought because his strong body was resting against her side.

"Much," she said quietly before she turned her head and kissed him softly. She always knew where his lips were. Always. "Goodnight, Baenon." She smiled and shifted onto her side with her back now against his chest. She tucked the blanket and his arm securely around her.

It did not take long for the Omnia to fall asleep. She may not have done much on the trip but she was still quite exhausted.
 
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Though trouble seldom found the black shuck while traveling on missions, he would be remiss to wake without gratitude for what fates may be that they were able to sleep soundly through the night. Falwood was a peaceful place, even if it did belong to the Summer Court. The court's influence only reached so far, and here in the deep woods the realm belonged to the wilds.

Baenon was perfectly comfortable to be there ... he was also perfectly comfortable to wake up with his face buried into the back of Aster's neck, arm still firmly wrapped around her middle. It wasn't the contentedness of someone waking up alongside a loved one - Baenon hadn't reached a point in his life where he could abide by such feelings - but the lulling of his otherwise prickly demeanor by a certain scent clinging to the fae woman.

He couldn't place it, but knew even without having to open his eyes that this was the same curious scent he'd picked up at the treehome just before they left. Something about it was alluring on an instinctual level. Comforting. Soothing.

Dozing there, perfectly complacent to linger in the place between awake and dreaming, Baen nuzzled against her and silently wallowed in the feeling.

Just a little longer ... the sun was yet even barely risen.
 
Aster was out. She didn't remember dreaming about anything and when she woke up, she may have had a little drool on her arm. Super sexy. She was pleased to feel Baen's arm around her and his warm breath on her neck. She could rarely get him to cuddle and she had gotten it two days in a row. Was he sick? That thought brought a small frown to her lips. She hoped not. She couldn't handle that.

He snuggled into her further and she smiled as her eyes closed again. She was not going to be the one who broke this. As much as she wanted to turn over and kiss him, she didn't want to wake him. Not yet. Not when this was so peaceful and perfect.
 
He'd drifted off again before he could stop himself, and by the time Baen's eyes opened again the sun was pouring in through the canopy of the forest and streaming golden rays across the river bank.

Damnit, he'd overslept. This was not like himself. Perhaps he had pushed too hard yesterday - he'd not even stopped for a meal, and only now did he realize that Aster wasn't able to keep up with such a schedule. Aggravated with himself, Baenon breathed a sharp sigh against the back of her neck before reclaiming his arm and pulling himself away from the Omnia, "Aster, wake up. We need to go. We're behind schedule."

Pushing himself to his feet, he began calling pieces of his armor to him with magic, pulling them on in quick succession and cinching each into place with practiced fluidity. He didn't often rely on magic for such mundane things but if it helped to expedite the matter of cleaning up camp, so be it. The firestone, still burning a low flame, was quickly snuffed with a gesture and recalled to be magic'd back into the unseen ether of his harness bags.

"We will push all day to our next destination at an Inn. There will be food and a real bed. Can you make it?"
 
Aster had been in a peaceful sleep when Baen's voice woke her. She opened her eyes and slowly sat up. She rubbed her and then got to her feet. Honestly, she would wait until he was ready before she moved. She didn't want to get in his way as she sometimes tended to do.

The thought of real food and a real bed would force her through the day. She could do it. She'd survive. She'd be grumpy, but she'd survive.

"Yes, I can make it," she told Baen softly.
 
The Hamlet of Landen


They traveled without stop all day, pressing through inclement rain and sour conditions. By the time they arrived to the Hamlet of Landen, both the Lady Graves and her black steed were well soaked to the bones. The hamlet was far busier than the small, sleepy village they'd passed through before. Many people lined the streets and the buildings seemed to stretch on forever. Baenon brought them through the thick of the early evening crowds and turned off into a quieter alley.

He moved back under a stone archway where he stopped out of the rain and waited until the alley was clear of passerby before signaling to Aster to dismount. Once out of the saddle and on her feet, he swiftly retook his bipedal form and adjusted his glamour to that of Lord Graves once again.

Before setting back out into the downpour he turned to Aster who by mere glance alone he could tell was quite exhausted, hungry, and no doubt unhappy with the present state of herself.

"The Inn isn't far," he told her, making no effort to draw his own hood. He was beyond any saving from the rain, "and I suppose you've earned some proper pampering."
 
Exhausted, hungry, and unhappy with the present state of herself was an accurate description of Aster at the moment.

She knew that Baen had to be more exhausted and hungry than she was though. He had done all the work today. He was the one who deserved whatever pampering there was...well...he deserved it first. She was not going to sleep until she had a nice hot bath.

"Good," she said with a small smile towards the direction of his voice. "I need food, a bath, and a bed!" The blind Omnia wound her arm through his so he could lead the way. She had to remember to remember that she was Lady Graves now and Baen was her dear husband.
 
"And you will have all three," Baenon replied over a long breath in and out. With the Omnia on his arm, he lead back into the rain and out onto the main roadway through the city.

"We will rest here tonight and I will send word to my contact. Then...we wait." One of the things he hated doing the most ... waiting. The edge of distaste on his voice spoke of the grimace on the face that accompanied his words. At the very least he'd not been wrong about the Inn, within a matter of minutes he could see the sign up ahead: the Gilded Lilly.


"I should like your best room, and private service for food, drink, and a drawn bath," he said at the counter of the Inn once they were inside.

"Very good, m'lord. What name shall I put it under?" asked the hostess, an elf of unusually dark complexion.

"Lord Baelor Graves," he replied, casually tossing a coin purse onto the counter.

The elf lofted a brow and lightly pried the top open to look inside before giving him a nod, "If milord and his lady will follow me, we'll get you out of those wet travel clothes and into a hot bath."

She lead them down the hall to a room at the very end and unlocked the door to let them in, "Our finest room for his Lordship. Della the maid will be along with food and drink shortly. The bath house is through the back door there. If you need anything else, the bellpull is by the bed."

The door could not close fast enough.

Baenon dropped the glamour guise with a tired snarl, loosing his arm from Aster as he then quickly moved to close the curtains of the windows in the room before depositing himself into a chair at a nearby table.
 
Baen so nicely dropped her arm as soon as they were in the room. He could have at least brought her over the chair but noooooo. Aster just glared in his direction before starting to make her way towards where his boots had been making noise. Her hands found the table without incident and she took a seat as they waited in silence for Della.

They did not have to wait long. The maid brought food and drinks as well as running the hot bath before she departed. Aster, ever the lover of making Baen want her, stood and started to undress as soon as the maid had left. She took her sweet time just to give him a nice show.

"Will you help me to the tub please?" She asked sweetly once she was fully sans clothing. "I would shift but I cannot open a door as a bird..." Her voice was light but her exhaustion clung there too.
 
He found himself wading between the crossroads of exhaustion, hunger, and disgust with his present state. One did not weigh any heavier than the others, but eating certainly offered a much more efficient solution to at least one of them. He needn't shed his layers to do so, at the very least, and if he wished to bathe or sleep the layers would need to come off.

Yet as soon as he allowed himself the opportunity of a meal, his attention was pulled elsewhere by the shedding of layers not his own. Though tired, Baenon's dark gaze casually regarded the show without a shred of remorse. Much like at their last evening's stop, he was content to take her figure in when she so readily placed it on display. Food all but forgotten in the present moment, when Aster asked so gently for his aid he found his own body moving as if on auto-pilot to oblige.

He moved in silence, not but the steps of his boots marking the migration from chair to standing before her. There, a handswidth apart, he took her in more closely. Were it not for the strong musk of his sodden self lingering in his senses, he might've picked up on that perfume again. Alas, his right gloved hand lifted to draw a finger to her chin, following the line of her jaw to her neck, then down along the curve of her nape until the flat of his hand smoothed across the back of her shoulders.

Baen bent and swept her legs out with his other arm, scooping the woman off the floor into a bridal carry with narry a warning. He carried her, so light and fragile as she always felt to be, back to the door which he tossed open with magic and into the bath house on the other side.
 
The feel of his finger, even gloved, made her smile. It didn't matter how he touched her as long as he touched her. Baen's hand moved ever so slowly across her jaw, her neck, and her back with each touch sending chills through her. He did not give her time to do anything before he scooped her up into his arms.

Aster giggled and settled into his hold. She had made sure to tell the maid not to add any florals to the water so Baen wouldn't get irritated but she had to admit that some rose would be lovely right now. He bent and gently placed her in the tub. She sighed happily as the hot water rolled over her body and she immediately felt herself start to relax.

"Do you want to join me?" She asked with a coy smile.
 
"I will not sully an Omnia's bath with my filth," Baenon replied lightly, gloved hand lingering briefly in her hair before he stood straight again with a heavy sigh, "and I am hungry. Enjoy your peace, little raven."

It would, perhaps do them both some good to spend some time apart. Baenon was a solitary spirit still trying to find some semblance of balance in having not just another person along on the mission, but Aster. He disliked being distracted, and she played the role of just that so very well. He needed time to think and set his thoughts to the mission at hand. Needed to figure out the right questions to bring to his contact tomorrow.

He needed to eat.

The shuck stepped from the bath house, mentioning idly as he departed her presence that the door would remain open and she had only to call for him if a need arose.

Back in the room Baenon began to once more strip his layers. Armor laid out in one corner, cloth underlayers in the basket by the door for the maid to wash. With a gesture of his hand he whisked Aster's clothing into the appropriate piles and took a seat at the table, helping himself to a large cut of the roast set on the center platter. When the initial hunger pangs were sated, Baen withdrew the map given to them by Eske and began making notations by their first stop; treehome.

He would need to assess the contents found within the trunk again, but he was far too fatigued tonight to do it. That would have to wait...
 
To say Aster was a little disappointed was an understatement but she understood. Baen had cuddled with her two nights in a row and he was not a touchy type of puppy. She would be happy with what she got from him when she got it and she would respect his unspoken request for some alone time.

Honestly, she did not need to be told twice to enjoy her peace. She sunk down into the water until her entire body was enveloped in the glorious heat. This was a much better bath than her cold one the night before. She would savor this until it turned cold and she was grudgingly forced to get out.

She may or may not have drifted off a few times and by the water had grown past where she liked it, she called for Baen. Yes, he left the door open and she could have shifted but what fun was that?
 
He had since shifted from his mission work to reading a tome of his present course of study: Historical Runes. His plate clean and his belly now full, he supped on a flagon of local cider while enjoying his own peace.

Until that delicate little voice lilted in through the doorway.

Baenon's eyes lifted from the pages, glancing off toward that door while he briefly considered closing and locking it for just a few more hours of peace. Had it been any other fae in that tub, he would have. Instead he closed his book and stood from the chair at the table, leaned to gather an assortment of food from the table onto a plate, and silently padded his way into the bath house.

A foot nudged a stool set nearby over to the side of the tub and upon it he placed the plate. Then made his way around the end, bare hand lightly brushing over Aster's crown as he passed behind her, and then stepped to the far side.

"Make room," he murmured behind the ghost of a smirk, "I have decided to join you after all." And into the tub he stepped, settling down into the water - now just a bit warmer than tepid, not that he cared - his hands gripping Aster's ankles to move her legs off to one side.

"Hm, you've stolen all the heat, Omnia."
 
Aster could feel the internal struggle Baenon was having with himself about coming to her aid. She listened intently to his movements and smiled as he headed in her direction with a small detour for something. She soon realized the something was food. She could smell it and she smiled at the thought but the screech of the stool made her crinkle her eyes. But if he had brought food and he was moving the stool closer for said food that meant...

"Make room. I have decided to join you after all."

She scooted up some so he could slide in opposite her. She smiled in his direction as his hands moved her legs and now her feet rested against his ribs. Of course, the first thing he did was complain. She rolled her eyes at him before answering.

"You took too long to join me, Baenon."
 
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