the Leathermines

Back to 57.

 

Laun stood in the middle of the road in front of the gate into the Keep and held her arms out.  Her head was back and her eyes closed as the little sharp points fell on her face and melted.  The first snow had finally come and the flakes were big and fell slowly though the cold air.

Laun had been coming back from a walk to the gate-log to check in with the protectors there when she saw the first of the flakes sticking to branches above her head.  The  protector with her also had a wide smile, but showed they wanted to hurry back into the keep.  She could not run, but Laun felt happy and wanted to share this with people.

Even as a slave, almost naked and shod in sandals, she had loved the first snow of the season.  It was a change as the blanket covered the land, letting the plants sleep until the spring would warm and melt things again.  And Winterberry jam.

She felt a little dizzy and opened her eyes and took a large breath to steady herself.  She saw people coming in along the road and knew that whatever preparations they had been able to do were now done for the season.  The big flakes were coming down harder and faster and Laun could feel that this first snow was to be at least up to her knees by morning, if not higher.

There was a drip on the back of her neck as Laun shook her head at the doorway into the Great Hall.  It made her shiver, but also made her happy.  She smiled and walked briskly to the kitchens.

“Snow!!!!” Laun called out.  There were some groans, some cheers and a few people who just scowled.  Orgia was one who turned to her Lady and scowled.

“Great.  That means we will have to keep people in the tents to make sure the weight isn’t too much for the canvas.  And who will have to do it?  Me!”

Laun did not hear playfulness in that tone, but actual anger and frustration.  She went to the woman and restrained her need to touch her.  “Is there anything I can do?”

Orgia looked up and pursed her lips together before saying, “There were things I wanted to get done, but there isn’t any time, now.”

Laun put a light hand on the older woman’s shoulder and said, “First Feast is in a few days.  Concentrate on that and let my birthday slip.”

The chatelaine’s eyebrow went up and said, “I should’ve not told you.”

Laun took ahold of the other side of the pot Orgia was moving and helped to slide it along the hearth grating.  “You had to.  It would have been impossible to hide, anyways.”  Laun brushed her hands together and said, “The household comes first.  If you get things done in time, I will be delighted, but don’t force it.”

Orgia held out her arms and they hugged.  “You are a jewel.  Now get out of my kitchen before I put you to work.”

Laun backed out and went through the Great Hall.  People were coming in from the snow, many with a good layer on their capes.  Laun helped to clear the last of the food from the morning’s meal from the sideboard as a hot pot with a ladle in it was placed.  Stacks of mugs came out and people dipped into the hot cider/tea mix.  Little chunks of apple and orange rind were floating in the drink and Laun for one was delighted.

She found a place in the middle of the room to sit.  It was away from both fireplaces to let those who were truly cold warm up.  She greeted those who came to her, warriors’ grips offered to her more than kisses on the hand.  She was liking the grips for the feel and the feeling behind them.  She had felt stronger as her last wound healed, making an effort to do her morning dance forms, with or without a partner.  It hurt and Lucaris and Disa both ganged up on her about it, but her strength was up and her stamina was good.

She was feeling good about most things.  The household was generally in a good mood, even with the winter looming for a while before it had started falling around them.  They had been able to trade for some supplies at the post that were going to help the household for the next month or so, though Laun was still unhappy with how low some supplies were getting.

With the snows, any trade that had started up was going to be halted for a while.  What they had was what they had.  And what was available was getting shorter in supply.

That made her think of the prisoner.  She had been in to see him most days, random times and random results.  His core training was there, keeping him from completely turning the way Laun wanted.  She had been able to lay the foundation of the mission she wanted him to go on.  She was not sure if he realized that he was being played, but it was something she felt she had the skill to do.  Now that it was snowing, she had to either send him out, or kill him.

Her face showed that she was thinking deep thoughts and several people approached her, but seeing her looking past her mug and tapping a rhythm on the side, turned and went to other matters.

Laun had been keeping her personae fluid for Hazalam, pushing him one way and another until he had come out with his own version of who she was and what she wanted from him.  She had just smiled when he asked if she were the daughter of the Silver Master.  He seemed satisfied with that.  She had given him a name of his next target.  He knew who that was.  Laun knew details and primed the assassin with them, dropping them for him to pick up as she dropped suggestions of other things for him.

Soon.  She thought she knew how to know if he would be able to follow her instructions.  It would be dangerous, but fun at the same time.  But not that night.  It would be the night before First Feast.  That would not be easy, but it would make sense.

Laun was still making lists of what needed to be done as she took a sip of her drink and found that it had turned cold as she sat.  She chewed on a piece of apple and looked around.

The light through the upper windows had changed.  It had been grey for most of a week, and now, with the snow, it was dark in the middle of the day.  The time of just candlelight and fires was on them.  It was going to be hard, but they would make it.  Somehow.

She smiled as Laun watched a group of men bring in a large load of firewood.  It was more than they usually would need for a night, but the wood was still dry and she knew the snow would cover everything thickly in no time.  Corners were piled and even more wood and sticks came in with the next people.  Those went through and down the corridor to pile firewood for the tower.  Laun approved.

Laun quickly finished her drink and pulled her cape around her.  She got up and made her way through the people and then out to the corridor.  She had a want to see the snow from the walkway.

Her stomach was not entirely happy with her that day, but Laun kept going, ignoring the annoying things her body kept trying to do to her.  She thought of the stuff Lucaris had made her drink that morning and put it up to that.  She was tasting the cider at the back of her mouth as she reached the top of the tower stairs.

The snow had already accumulated up on the walkway.  She pushed the door open, creating an arc of dark in the white.  The people up there were huddled together, a layer of the white on them as they looked down on the keep.  Laun stepped out and found that she could barely see more than to the first trees past the walls.  The snow was getting thicker.  She looked down into the garden and saw there were already people inside the tents that were popping the canvas up with sticks from below to keep the weight down and the canvas dry.

There was more of a wind on the walkway than there had been when she had been on the road.  Her wool cape was good against it, but she felt it on her nose and ears immediately.  She made a few niceties to the team, thanked them for being there and went on her way.  She was glad in some ways that she could do that.  It was at her pleasure that she took shifts with the protectors.  She did it to know what it was like, and to deal with the insomnia she seemed to be fighting.

The pigeons were all huddled in the cage, nothing new or different in with them.  Laun found she had been both hoping for something and hoping nothing was there.  Every few days, she tried to go up and be with the birds, feeding them meal worms and oats when the keeper of the flocks was up there.  They were used to her presence and only a few flapped half-heartedly when she opened the door.  She picked up one and it cooed as she held it.  The warm underfeathers were soft and she stroked the bobbing head for a few minutes before putting the bird back on it’s perch.

From the top of the tower, Laun went down to her room.  She would not admit it to anyone else, but she was tired and the cold had started to make things hurt.  The constant game of Sticks had started to take up a good third of the area around the door, but no longer blocked it.  She stooped over and looked at the two players.

“Who’s turn?”  One nodded, still looking at the playing field.  “Do you have a two and four?”  Laun pointed and his opponent swore as the piece was placed, blocking the progression.

“Come out and join us for a game?”

Laun shook her head.  “I don’t really have a head for it.  I’m going to take a nap.”  They saluted her and she went inside.

She struggled with her boots and finally gave up.  She grabbed a blanket and laid down on one of the lower mats, trying to keep her feet off the end and off the bedding.  Her stomach was still giving her hints of what she had eaten earlier.  Her legs were also giving her problems, but not as much as her hands.

Her hands had started to seize when the cold had come.  If she was outside, she had to wear huge mittens to keep her hands functional, negating the reasons for being outside.  She had to be careful when doing her drills for she had clunked people in various portions of their anatomies while asleep early in the morning.  She giggled when she thought of Fount being woken by a stave thumping into his shin as he slept on one of the lower mats next to Ali.  He had been swearing for a good five minutes before he was fully awake.

The thought of Fount warmed her.  They had been able to spend nights together, just themselves.  He was different when he was not balanced with Edgar or being distracted with one of the other women.  He was tender and they talked a little when he was trying to delay himself.  He called her beautiful for the first time she remembered since they had become lovers in that last week.  It was a wonderful night and it had just been them, Fount having arranged for her evening meal to be brought up and left, no one else in the room.

He had called her Love and Lover before.  But he had not told her that she was beautiful just because in conversation.  Edgar had.  He commented on her hair and her eyes and rumbled his appreciation of her into her ear.  Hells Gate, Laun thought to herself, he could be reading the harvest house inventory in that voice and he could have her.

Edgar had been making a point of not just checking in with her every day, but to tell her where he was going to be if he was not going to be with her that night.  He was almost like a teenager when he had been invited to one of the other women’s bed and he told her about it.  She was happy for him and was glad that others were getting a taste of him.

Taste... Ali had been changing slightly and Laun was not sure where it was coming from.  She seemed more open and even started conversations with Laun and her men instead of just sitting or standing near them.  Edgar seemed to have accepted Ali much more and Fount was treating the stablehand more like a buddy than before.  Ali still asked to clean Laun if they were together and Laun had been with someone else, but there did not seem to be the pressure, the need, for them to be together as much.

Disa was different, too.  She had been learning more and more about the household and Orgia was more than pleased.  At night, Disa had started to spend time with Lucaris and Pillar if Laun did not ask if she wished to be in the Tower room.  It was good to see the three of them together, though Laun missed her maid near her.

She was never truly alone if she spent time inside the Keep.  She could call out softly for help and it would be there.  Outside, no one went around the land without at least one person with them.  There had been no sign of any more scouts or anyone from Falmir’s side, but it had to happen.  Though, with the first snow, anything from the Capitol City would be hard to fathom.

Laun thought of her journey to the Festival and wished that she could have seen more of the city she had grazed against.  She couldn’t even remember what it had been called on the map.  She could remember Flora and that house.  It had been a trap.  She knew that now, but at the time, she had not been exposed to such deceitfulness.

It was something that she had learned.  Not just to see, to recognize, but now she could do it herself, and without the other person blinking.  She was not sure she liked that about herself.

She turned and tried to get comfortable.  She thought she was tired enough to sleep, but her brain would not shut up.  Her body was also trying to scream at her, but she really did not want to pay attention.  She pulled more of the blankets around her to try to find a position that did not have as much pain to it.  She propped herself up.  She punched the horsehair core pillows.  She put things between her knees and curled and twisted.

She finally just gave up and just sat on the bedding.  She leaned against the side of the bedframe and looked at the room from that perspective.  It was different, the angles didn’t seem quite right and she could not see the other side of the room.  She looked up at the wood of the ceiling and could make out the cross-beams in the snow-darkened lighting.  The wind that had been at the window that morning had quieted and she could hear pats of snowflakes hitting the window, and a slight creak as the cold tried to sneak in.

Laun pushed herself up and started to straighten the linens.  She made the mat, pulled the covers on the bed straighter.  She saw that there was a stain on a cloth draped over one of the chairs and tossed it to in front of the door.  She started to go through the room, doing little straightenings, moving things and tossing any found clothing into the growing pile.

She rearranged a few things on the arming tree, rubbing the velvet on her face for a few minutes.  She was planing on wearing it again for First Feast.  Her hand went to her side and she hoped that the wound would be well enough to have the pressure of the boiled leather on it.  Laun firmly pressed her lips together and told herself that she would wear it, and it would be good.

Laun put one of the wooden swords back behind the arming tree and glanced over when she heard a larger sound at the window.  The flakes were getting smaller and had more force behind them, the wind behind them becoming stronger.

She saw that the latch that had been hidden for the small hidden space had worked it’s way loose, again.  She went to it and was thinking that it was a silly thing for being a secret.  She opened the stone and wood door and looked in.  The chests were still there, having been searched and counted and put back.  There was little in there that she really had any interest in, other than the mystery left by her Lady.

Her Lady Hellon.  She remembered flashes from the fever dream and wondered...

Laun’s hand went to the back of the secret area.  She felt along the mortar and edges of the stones.  They were cold to the touch, rough along the seams.  Then she felt a small puff of air.  She pushed on the stone and found it moved.  It took her a few minutes to move the chests between her and the wall, her side and stomach making themselves known.  She felt along the stone and found a small indent, just big enough for two of her fingers.

She pulled and had a thin stone in her hand.  The hole went back into the wall, and without giving it a thought, her hand went into it.

An oilcloth bag was in her hand.  It was all that was in the hole.  Laun put the stone back and then the chests back.  She closed and latched the secret door and held the oilcloth to her.

She wanted to see into it.  She desperately wanted some sort of message from Lady Hellon to her in there.  She could not delay looking, now that she knew that it existed.

It was dark in the tower room.  She would need light.  Laun set the bag on the table in the corner and picked up the cold lamp.  She almost forgot about the pile of clothing and stopped short of tripping on it.  She opened the door and started across to the little fire.

“Lady?”  The protectors watched as she lit the lantern.

She stood over their game and said, “I couldn’t sleep, so I am cleaning.  So, who’s winning?”

The man she had helped earlier grinned.  “Because of that move you pointed out, I have captured almost all of his sticks since then.”

Laun smiled and turned to the other man, looking at the almost-pain in his face.  “Do you happen to still have a naught and one?”  Laun looked at the move she saw and he looked.  When he saw it, he slapped his leg and laughed.

“My Lady!  You have forsaken me!”  The winning protector put his hand over his heart and feigned heartbreak.

Laun tilted her head and looked at him, a big smile on her face.  “I am giving you a challenge.”  He made a small bow from his sitting position and she went back into the room.

She stalled at looking at the bag by lighting all of the candles and lanterns in the room.  It was now bright and almost cheerful in the room.  Laun tried to match it, but there was something that made her frightened of the oilcloth bag.

She sat at the little table and untied the bag.  Inside, there was another smaller bag and a few trinkets.  No, not trinkets.  One was a signet ring akin to what Emmy had been sent there with, the flower carved into it surrounded by small red stones and smooth pearls.  She did not recognize it, but it was easy for her not to know a blazon of any house not her own.  There was a small perfume bottle, dry but still smelled of musk and roses.  And a small knife, another onyx-studded pommel on the table in front of her.

It was another assassin’s blade.  Hidden within a secret place.  Layers upon layers.

Laun held up the blade and looked into the subtle carving on the end.  It was slightly different than the two she already had.  She did the wax seal trick again and found that the symbol was still the raven holding the sword, but that there was a shield around the bird and sword and a ... crown above.

Laun broke the wax in half and sat back.

She could think of only one way that could be interpreted.  A royal sanction for the assassin.

It was too much for her to absorb right then.  Her Lady, who had been supporting the household with gems from the banks of the Grey, had been not just an assassin, but a royal assassin.  She looked at the blade again and saw that it was much more intricate, had more gems set in it than the other two.  It was worthy of a noble of the royal court, even though the sinister mission it would be used for tarnished it.

Laun stood and went to the window.  She could not see anything but the snow falling thickly outside, the cold flowing down the panes almost visibly.  She was regretting not having the tapestries up on the walls, but she thought of the use the sleeping chamber had now that she was not there...

She had been invited to the ongoing sexual romp that seemed to have been there since the sickness had passed.  Orgia had sanctioned the rooms use once she realized that she would not be finding people having sex in her clean laundry or coming upon them in other, odd places.  The room still smelled of wintergreen, the walls were still covered with the tapestries.  The bodies were very inviting.  The first time, she declined, as Dreng had ‘asked’ for her presence in his chamber.  The second time...

She thought of the quick and dirty fuck that had happened.  And it was so appropriate to call it that.  The man who had invited her in was not alone.  She had not even stepped in the door all the way when there were hands down her breeches and up her tunic.  She was carried into the main area and pushed against the wall, her breeches being held up only by her boots.  Her arms had been pinned by the tunic pushed up and held as the man against her pushed himself into her.  His chest crushed against her and his manhood pounded in and out of her.  It had been thrilling, but short as he grunted and came in her.

The other man there...  She smiled thinking if Dougal knew what his men had been up to...  Was gentler, but not by much.  He held her arm as she slid down the wall and he turned her around.  One hand on a breast, the other around her waist, he stroked in and out of her as she supported herself on the wall.  She had not even begun to peak and she heard and felt him getting close.  She made sounds and wiggled her ass as though she was also close and that set him off.  He held her to him as he made little thrusts that matched the pulses she could feel.

The men had both thanked her and kissed her hand before they left.  Laun was left to clean herself off with the supplies that were on the anti-chamber shelf.  It had seemed too quick at the time, but it made her have flashes of heat go through her when she thought about it.

Those flashes had been...inappropriate lately.  She had been learning who and when, and being not so gently told no by some people.  Rightly so.  She still touched shoulders and gave and received warriors’ grips with them, but now she understood more of the other relationships in the household.

Everyone was connected to everyone else in some way.  She knew she was still being held away from some things by Edgar, the protectiveness showing in different ways.  She did love him.  Deeply and without reservation.  She did not choose one over the other, but if she had to, Laun had seriously thought that Edgar would be her Lord.  But then she would see those grey eyes and Fount would make her heart flutter as he showed how strong he was by carrying her or talking to her about plans he had for the household in the spring.  She loved Fount and wanted him by her side for the rest of her life.

She had a love or admiration or respect for most of the rest of the people under her roof.  But those two were the ones who made her want to fight the darkness within her and fight the darkness that was coming for them.

She heard voices on the other side of the door.  The voices were low, but a good tone.  She put the knife back on the table and put the oilcloth back over the items there.  She was not ready for the items to be seen by others until she had worked out for herself about them.

There was a scratch on the door and the person on the other side waited until she called to them to come in.  Silar and a few of Orgia’s staff came in.  He was carrying several empty brasiers and the others had rugs and other things under their arms.  Silar almost tripped on the pile of clothing, but recovered enough to put the tall metal things on the floor inside the door.

Silar came within a few paces and asked, “Do you wish company?”

Laun nodded and motioned to the other chair on the other side of the table.  He nodded and sat.  He was perhaps a little too broad for the chair, but he made himself comfortable as he turned attentively to her.  She looked at him, his eyes dark and almond shaped and looking at her, open and waiting.  He had on a leather jerkin over his tunic, a hint that he had been outside for a while, still with droplets going down his chest.

“How are you on this fine day, my prince?”

His eye tried to glance away, but he kept eye contact.  “Well, Lady.  I would hope you would just call me Silar.”

Laun nodded once and smiled.  “I do take liberties.”

He also nodded slightly and said, “Most of the ones you take with me, I give willingly.”  He leaned forward slightly and put most of his torso’s weight on one arm as he leaned towards her.

Laun thought to herself that anything she said next could be inappropriate to anyone else.  “Then is it truly a liberty?  We have not had a chance to...play for a while.  Shall I ask for some privacy?”

His smile flashed his teeth broadly and then he was back to his semblance of courtly demeanor.  “At your convenience, My Lady.”

Laun glanced at the staff that were putting down more rugs on the floor and finding the hook-holes in the outer wall for the one tapestry they had with them.  They were putting the brasiers against the wall on either side of the arming tree and moving things around a bit.  Laun had a flash of something she couldn’t really name as what she had just straightened was messed and straightened again.  She was just glad Orgia hadn’t decided to strip everything and start over.  She had threatened that once after having to send up most of a complete change of linens twice in one day.

As the staff were finishing what they had been sent for, Laun asked, “Could you take the pile of laundry down for me?”  She had a willing nod from someone and they were alone after just a moment.  She waited and there wasn’t a return for something forgotten.

Laun stood and went to the door.  She opened it and looked at the two still engrossed in their game.  “Men, I am going to be busy for a while.”  She had a wink from one of them.  “Make sure people scratch before coming in, all right?”

She thanked them after a, “Yes, Lady,” came from them in unison.

Laun turned and leaned her back against the door after it closed.  She both did and did not want to play with him right then.  Her body was aching for contact, for the motion and the release.  Her mind was calling to her to talk to Geralk about the ring from the bag and Edgar about the transport she would need for the prisoner.  And her stomach yet again gave her a sour taste of the cider at the back of her mouth.

Silar saw the slightly off look on her face and said, “You are not obliged to do anything you don’t want, My Lady.”

She looked down and said, “It’s my body.  I want to do one thing and my body wants to do another.”  She made a little burp and the taste in the back of her mouth was worse.  She looked around and swore.  “Damnit!  They took the tankard I had.”

Sillar got up from the chair and went to her.  He took one of her hands and kissed it.  “Our chatelaine and her staff can be too efficient.”  He kissed the inside of her wrist.

“You are not thinking of Orgia and her...staff.”  She tilted her head and looked at him through her hair.  Laun should have felt something, but it was not happening.  He was more than willing to do something, but his touch, his kiss was just on the outside of her.  She was either tired or something was wrong with her.

Silar pressed into her and trapped her against the door.  He laced his fingers into hers and pulled her arms up above her head.  His mouth was on her neck, nibbling and licking and sucking, hot and...

“Stop.”

He pulled back, panting.  “Kuacha-?”

She looked into his eyes.  She had felt something while thinking about what had happened before.  But right then, it was not right.  “I don’t know...  I am...”  She could not finish.  She looked away.

Silar slowly released her.  Her hands were free.  He no longer pressed into her.  He stepped back.  But she still was against the door.

He went to one knee and looked up at her, trying to catch her eyes.  “Lady?”

She shook her head and looked at him.  She held out one hand and he took it, holding it between both of his.  It took a moment, but she pushed herself off of the door and went down on her own knees.

Her head was down and she was looking at his hands around hers.  “I am sorry.  I am so inconsistent.”

Silar squose her hand.  “A ladies’ prerogative, I hear.”  He went to push her hair back and paused.

“You can touch me.  I just might not respond the way you want.”  Her eyes closed.

He brushed her hair away from her face.  Her face was warm under his hand.  There weren’t tears, but it looked like there could be.

“What is on your mind?”

He could feel a small shake of her head.  “Nothing...everything.”  She raised her head but did not look at him.  “I have changed too much.  I don’t like me.”

Silar’s hand pressured her chin up further and she looked at his chin.  “You have gone through more in the last few months than most do in their lifetimes.  And you have had to go through it without teachers or coming of age ceremony.”

“Each of you have taught me something.  You-”  She looked up and put her hand on his cheek.  “You have taught me that pain is good.  Pain is a tool.  Pain heightens some pleasures.”  She drew her hand down his clean shaven face.  “You have also taught me that hiding does not always work if someone knows something about you.  I feel like I have been hiding from Falmir and he...”  Her eyes went down to his hand over hers again.

“He only cares for his power.  He would not know how to deal with you if he actually knew about you.”

“He knew about me before I was born.  He only cared to create pain for my family.”  Laun’s voice dropped and Silar heard the deadly edge she had when she was feeling sadistic.  “If he didn’t want to cause pain, I wouldn’t be alive.  I hope to give to him all the pain that he has given to me.”  She blinked and her eyes went to the side.

Silar could not say what he wanted to.  That he could get her to Falmir’s side by betraying her.  His own eyes went down as he could not look at her with that thought in his head.

Her hand stroked gently on his chin and then down his throat.  He was hoping to feel a spark from her, even just a fingernail trailing down.  She was being delicate and her touch was as light as a feather being drawn across his adams’ apple and to his chest.

“May I offer you a massage, then?  Nothing more.  Just hands on your back.”  Silar raised her hand to his lips and said before kissing the knuckles, “I know you were riding yesterday after Pillar had told you not to.”

He saw that hint of a smile she had when she was feeling naughty.  “I would like that.  Thank you.”  She looked up and gave him a real smile.

She had her tunic off, her knifebelt draped on the edge of the bed, and laid on the floor mat as Silar used his knowledge of bodies, and hers in particular, to try to release some of her stress and physical discomfort.  Her breeches were slightly pulled down, her boots still on and over the edge of the mat as he worked.  Pillar had been right to be worried as the side wound was healing, but she had been compensating around it too much.  Her back and other side muscles were taut and felt like strings of heat along her back.

She seemed to have gained weight.  Silar smiled to himself.  He liked women who had shapes less like boys.  The men on this continent all seemed to like women that were easy to snap in half.  Laun had muscle, but she needed more of the woman’s curves.  He could see how her breasts had grown slightly and there was more of a roundness to her upper hip.

The dark hand on the lighter skin...  It was a contrast that Silar was enjoying as he slid his hands down and found yet another knot on her lower back.

Laun felt every knot unwind and each one seemed to take another piece of worry out with it.  She felt her focus come back.  She had not let herself know that she had been carrying around so much pain and tension.  She pushed herself to have the pleasant facade, to not show her people anything but the Laun they seemed to want.

Silar bent over and put his face close to her ear.  He knew that Edgar could just talk to Laun, or just about anyone, in that low tone and get what he wanted.  Silar did not have that ability.  He just said softly, “May I massage your front, too?”

Laun nodded into her bunched blanket and turned.  He helped to settle her by moving things around her.  He carefully rubbed her shoulders and collarbone area and Laun felt even more tension flow out of her.  Her eyes were half-closed and she could feel that the nap she wanted to take was trying to take her.

“You are putting me to sleep,” Laun whispered.

“If that is what you need, My Lady.”

His hands were on her breasts, but it was a deep pressure to go through and to the muscles underneath.  He reached her breastbone and it felt like he was stabbing hot needles into her.

Her eyes were open and she couldn’t speak for a moment.  “Ow!”

Silar’s hands kept working, but with just a little less pressure.  “I think you need to wear actual underthings, My Lady.  This wouldn’t hurt if you had some support.”

Laun’s eyebrows went together and she said, “I have no idea what you are talking about.  Remember, I have only recently been wearing any clothing...”

“Which you seem to take off at a moment’s notice.”  He kept moving down and was under her breasts, carefully rubbing along the ribs.

Laun moved her hand and very softly slapped him on his arm.  “Only a few people seem to dislike it.  A few people seem to like it a little too much.”  She took in a deep breath when his hands started pulling her ribcage up off the floor.

Something wasn’t quite right.  She swallowed and her stomach kicked her slightly.  It was worse than the sour cider.  She seemed to have developed heartburn and the massage she was getting seemed to have made it worse.  “Could you massage something else?  My stomach is really giving me problems.”

Silar nodded and he started to stroke down her sides.  He came to her wound and he leaned down and kissed it.  She smiled at the gesture and relaxed as his hands made little circular motions on her lower stomach.  She felt the pressure and it felt like she had to go to the privy.  He released and it was better.  Another thing her body was trying to get away with. 

His hand had gotten to the top of her thigh and was pressing in, another tender spot.  She felt it up her side and down her inner thigh.  She tried to relax around the pain, but she couldn’t.  “Ow.  Just ow.”

Silar nodded.  “For someone who knows her body so well, you really ignore it.”

“It is also a tool, one that I wish could be remade.”  Laun’s breath caught in her throat as he hit a hot spot in the crease between thigh and crotch on the other leg.  She forced out a breath and felt better as his fingers seemed to become gentler.

His hands started to do long strokes back up her body.  “Well, unless you have less clothing, that is about how much I can do right now.”

Laun smiled and went up onto her elbows.  “Thank you.  I feel much better now.”  She closed her eyes for a moment and felt that the nap that had been trying to cover her had retreated.  More actual energy was flowing through her.  She still did not have the urge to push Silar onto his back and ride him, but she was feeling much more open to something.  But not right then.

She felt it coming and could not stop it.  It was an acidy burp that had pieces of apple in it.  She put her hand over her mouth and turned slightly so that she would not burp directly into Silar’s face.  She swallowed what came up and the taste just would not go away.

The look on her face said enough after the burp.  “Lady, do you need water or something?”

She nodded.  “That’s why I was looking for the tankard.  I’ve been finding that I need a few drinks of water through the night or else I get a sore throat in the morning.  I think it is the cold sucking the moisture out of the air.”  She swallowed again.  “But this...  Bleh.”

Silar held out his hand and helped Laun back to her feet.  He was tempted by the line of her fur peeking out over the tops of the breeches as he knelt before her.  He just pulled them up and fastened them for her, trying to keep some of the distance he had created in himself.  It was hard to not just pull her to him when she bent over to retrieve the tunic from the floor, her ass rounding well while in that position.  He shook his head and was thankful that his jewelry held him in place no matter what.

She buckled the belt and settled it on her hips as the last thing on.  She was amazed that Silar had not taken his liberties, but he knew restraint...in many ways.  She smiled and shook her head at herself for having the flash of desire after she had gotten dressed.  Though, she thought to herself, tying him up did not require her to get undressed.  Or him for that matter.  She pushed that to the side as one of the inappropriate thoughts.

She kept her body between her hands and Silar as she replaced the smaller bag and two of the found items back into the larger oilcloth bag.  She put the ring into the pouch at her hip and turned with the bag in hand.  She wanted to put it back in it’s hole, but not with Silar there.  She saw the inquisitive look on his face, but did not say anything.  She decided that in plain sight was best.  She put it at the feet of the red dress.

Silar sniffed.  His face changed to a wash of homesickness and then desire.  “Was there perfume in that?”

Laun nodded.  “Very old.  It isn’t even liquid any more.”  Laun smelled it, too, but it was just musk and roses to her.  The various oils and bath things that Disa and Orgia forced her to use were sometimes overpowering to her.  She liked the plain soaps that just made her clean.

Silar took in a large breath through his nose.  He let it out again and said, “I haven’t smelled anything like that in ages.  It smelled like the gardens of...”  He blinked and refocused on Laun.  “Well, a place I will never go to again.”

Laun went to him and put her hand on his chest.  She felt the thumping of his heart, faster than usual.  “I am sorry that you have had to make such a hard choice.”

He put his hand over hers.  “Even with the conflict around us, you have helped to soften that choice.”

She couldn’t help smiling.  “You are such a charmer.”  Laun lay her head against his shoulder and listened to his heart for a few beats.  It seemed to slow down and she could hear him slowing his breathing.

“Oh, I’m sorry.”  She pulled away, but his hand still was over hers.  “As I said, inconsistent.”

“Your touch is welcome.”  He did not move his hand, did not go to kiss her.  He just stood holding her hand over his heart.

“Be careful.”  That is all she said.  He nodded, a smirk of a smile which told Laun that he had gone past careful long ago.

They dropped hands.  Laun looked to the window and saw that the snow was still coming down.  Thickly and in the dark.  She went to the window and looked out.  She could not see anything past the smattering of snow on the glass, but she needed a moment to collect herself.

She turned from the window and her eye caught on the brasiers.  “Where did those come from?”

Silar took a moment to turn and look at what she was asking about.  “Orgia handed them to me and told me to be useful.”

Laun nodded and said, “I wonder how many more we have.”

 

Next, The household, and the Spy in Chapter 59.