Leaving the Eastern Lands
Disclaimer: Me? Yeah, me no own nothing.
Summary: A Thief. A Knight. A Joke. A Kiss.
Author's note: This is an alternative first kiss scene.
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It was a sunny afternoon, just the way Alanna liked it. Not cold, but not hot. No layers upon layers of clothing and no boys pestering her to swim.
The best part of the afternoon? That she could spend it with George, be herself and relax. She wasn't a girl disguised as a boy in a quest to become the first warrior maiden in over a century. No, with George, she was free to be Alanna.
"Life of a Knight getting' too tame? Had to come down t'the brawlin' city?" George asked her, while no one else was listening.
Alanna blushed slightly, hoping it wouldn't show. What type of a welcome was this? With a raised eyebrow, she responded, "It's your life which looks to be tame."
This was a complete lie. The life of the King of Rogues was never tame.
The thief shook his head. "Yer right. Nothin' too interestin' happens in this shabby old inn. I wake up t'do the same thin' every day. Go t'the markets, work all day long with me sweet Ma," George said with a grin. "Like I said, nothin' too interestin'."
Alanna smiled and went along with George's little joke, not wanting to be so serious all the time. And why shouldn't she have a little fun sometimes? "But don't you ever go out and do other things? Enjoy Life?"
"O' Course! But sometimes I have no clue what t'do," George said soberly. "There was a fair a while back. Went t'that."
Alanna noticed a wicked gleam in his eyes. "Oh, but have you ever tried something fun? Like traveling and seeing the country?"
He shrugged. "Tame old me? Never."
"Oh but you should try it," Alanna told him.
George frowned pretending to look hurt by her words. "I should try goin' t'another country? Yeh don't like me so much yeh want me t'leave Tortall?"
She laughed, lightly. "Oh I wouldn't say that."
"What would ye say then? Ye want me to leave th' entire Eastern Lands?" George had a look of hurt pride and Alanna was starting to wonder if he was still joking.
She didn't want George to go!
"But I like you here." She cringed inside. She had meant to tell him to stay, just not in the way she had.
"I like me here too," he said, touched by her rare show of emotion towards him. "But since ye said I should do somethin' with my life, I might have t'go." He waited to see if she would protest.
"No one said you couldn't do something with your life here," she snapped.
George moved his chin to be resting in his hand, as if considering whether to stay or go. "But what would the likes of me do here?"
Alanna wasn't going to answer this and remained perfectly silent. Then decided to say," You could stay here, for a start." All mockery was done with; the girls temper was emerging.
"Well I might have to say then." As the sentence went on, George's voice become quieter and Alanna did not like the way he was looking at her. Or the fact that he had just moved closer to her.
"You might have to," Alanna said, unsure of what to say.
He moved even closer, to Alanna's discomfort, to whisper in her ear, "I was never going t'actually leave."
The manner in which George was looking at Alanna began to frighten the poor girl. When she attempted to speak, her voice was little more than a whisper. "I never doubted you for a second."
"Good," George said, moving his gaze from her eyes, to her lips, then quickly back to her eyes.
Alanna noticed the change in his gaze and was suddenly frightened. Was this relaxing afternoon visit turning into something she didn't want it to?
The girl was even more frightened when George leaned in closer to her and planted a kiss on her lips.
Alanna was shocked by the kiss and immediately broke away, wondering what she had gotten herself into.
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Madame-S-Butterfly
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