"I wish I shared that confidence." He murmured to the empty enclosure.
Harlen let himself slide down in the tub and let his muscles relax. The water was barely warm enough to be comfortable, but it would suffice. Soon, with his mind wandering over the events of the last few days, he drifted off to sleep.
---
Hyandai received the bottle from Maegan and took a sip from it. This stuff was good, she decided, handing the bottle over to Wendy. It burned a little as it went down, but then seemed to explode into general warmth throughout her. It had a mild aftertaste, but she could not place it.
"What did you call this?" Hyandai asked Tessa, noting that her voice slurred a little as she spoke.
The four women had abandoned their tubs in favor of the two long benches set near the entrance. Hyandai sat next to the petite Wendy, and the other two women sat next to one another. The bottle, something with no maker's label, and only etched with two 'X's upon its side, passed among the four women freely, each drawing off little sips, and passing it along.
"Itsh my daddysh brew." Tessa said, her voice slurring even worse than Hyandai's. "He makesh it with pertatoes."
Maegan giggled at Tessa. "You're drunk." She accused her friend. "When you're drunk, you can't say pototoes."
Tessa was taller than any of the other women here, by almost a head. "I reshent that." She said, standing to her full height. "I can so pay sotatoes." Then she blinked, her face adopting a blank expression for a moment. "Oh dear." She said, finally. "I think I need the latrine."
The tall woman hastily grabbed up her long cloak and ran for the flap, trying to don it as she bolted.
"Ah, blast!" Said Maegan. "I better go tend to her, else some young soldier will likely take advantage." She grabbed up her own cloak and headed for the flap. "I wouldn't want to miss out on a good soldier." She said over her shoulder, winking at Hyandai and Wendy.
Hyandai rose from her place next to Wendy, turning to the young woman. "I find myself untired." Hyandai said. "Would you like to walk for a while?"
Wendy's eyes widened as she smiled and nodded. She stood from the bench and took her cloak from a peg.
Removing her own cloak and bundling her other clothes under her arm, Hyandai took the young woman's hand and led her from the bathing enclosure.
Wendy proved to be very good company, Hyandai discovered. She was also knowledgeable about many things, especially herbs and what the young woman called 'home alchemy.' They had walked the length of the encampment, and even as far out as the sentries on the south side.
They now stood on a low rise that overlooked the campsite. The fires down in the shallow valley created an artificial star field below that echoed the much vaster one above. A cooling breeze blew down off the mountains, and sent shivers down Hyandai's spine as the curls of wind snuck beneath her cloak and caressed the bare flesh beneath. One of the sentries had just passed by the pair and had nodded in acknowledgment before moving on down the slope on his rounds.
Wendy turned and looked at Hyandai with staring eyes. "Lady Hyandai." She said, very quietly. "I understand that elven women are often, well, they are often equally," She paused a moment. "accommodating of other women as men." Her blue eyes shone brightly to Hyandai, even a bit more than could be explained by the elf's darksight.
Hyandai nodded but said nothing, keeping her face impassive.
Wendy stammered a moment. "I, I do not know if you are of that sort." She murmured, her eyes growing very large and concerned-looking. "But if you are." She looked down at the ground, her expression encompassing embarrassment and curiosity and nervousness all in one quick glance from the slender woman. "If you are, and you find me appealing . . .." She let the sentence drift off to silence.
The elven woman's face softened at the girl's discomfort. "Wendy." She said, very softly. "It is true that many elven women are attracted to other women." She reached out a hand and touched the young woman's cheek. "But, I do not even know if I am one of them." She finally admitted. "I have not done more than kiss another woman, and those instances were unbelievably rare."
Eyes alight with kindled interest, Wendy stared at the elven woman. "Did you enjoy those kisses?" She asked.
Hyandai giggled. "Well, yes, I did, but then . . . "
She was interrupted by Wendy's lips against hers. The young woman embraced her fully as she kissed the elven lady. Hyandai was stunned for a half a moment, then relaxed into the kiss. She had been about to say she did not often pass up a chance at a good kiss. No point in wasting this rather impulsively given one. Hyandai began to kiss Wendy back, putting her own arms around the young woman, and pulling her tight.
It took Hyandai a long moment to realize that she had slipped a hand out of her cloak and into Wendy's. She was stroking the girl's back and rump softly with her fingertips. She could feel Wendy shivering beneath her touch.
Hyandai pulled her lips from the girl's. "Are you cold?" She asked, still stroking Wendy's spine.
"No, Miss Hyandai." The young woman said, looking down nervously. "I'm somewhat frightened."
A soft giggle came from Hyandai's throat. "Frightened of me?" She asked. "You are probably half again stronger than I."
Wendy smiled wryly. "And still you could easily hurt me, even with just words." She said. "I want to trust you, though, something tells me I can."
"I tell you that you can trust me." Hyandai said earnestly. "But words mean little. What is it you wits to entrust to me?"
There was a long pause as Wendy stared at the campsite below them. More stiff breezes came down off the mountains and whipped the girl's subtly blue hair around her head.
"You are the first person I have wished to give myself to." Wendy said, keeping her eyes upon the flickering fires of the camp. "I've wanted neither men nor women until now."
A small piece of Hyandai's will fell aside with those words. "But I am betrothed." She said. "I cannot take a lover without my beloved."
Wendy turned to her. "But you can take a lover with him?" Her eyes glinted in the darkness again. Hope rekindled in her eyes.
A gentle smile crossed Hyandai's lips. "Yes, it is our way, when the situation is as ours is." She said. "But, it is not necessarily Harlen's way. Would you like to speak with both of us?"
Hyandai saw a slight nod of the young woman's head against the backdrop of the camp. With an extended hand, Hyandai brushed her fingertips against Wendy's neck.
"Come," The elven lady said, "we will go speak to my betrothed, if you are certain of this."
Hand-in-hand, the two women walked back to the camp. They wore smiles that were both mysterious and telling. The air did not seem so cool anymore to Hyandai. It seemed downright warm out now.
As they walked, Hyandai noted the girl's glances, and was reminded of Harlen's glances at her the first morning after they met. Hyandai did not know if they were being observed, and did not much care, in either. As the two approached the tent she shared with Harlen, Wendy squeezed her fingers tightly enough that it was very near too painful.
---
Harlen actually fell asleep for a short while in the tub. It was not until the water grew chill and the moon had risen well into the sky that he awoke shivering. He got up and hastily dried off with his blanket and bundled up his clothes. Casting his cloak over his shoulders, he headed toward the tent that the captain had provided Hyandai and him.
The tent was empty, he discovered. He supposed that Hyandai must have found the bath relaxing as well, or got to speaking with someone. He hung the cloak upon a peg mounted in the framing poles of the tent then cast himself onto the cot with a loud sigh.
His eyes wandered to the Ehladrel lying atop their packs in the corner. What sort of thing was that weapon? Did it think? He sat up and regarded it, watching the ornate engraving in its flanks flicker and dance in the torchlight. The runes unsettled him, they seemed somehow malign, like they noticed him and did not care for the feel of him near.
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