''No, Schmooples. You've had enough to eat for today.'' The statement was followed by a quick series of plaintive whines, but Leliana held her ground and eventually the nug gave up and retreated to the other side of the camp where it curled up against the large Mabari hound, snorting in discontent the whole way. Leliana gave an indulgent laugh and sat in front of her tent with her lute across her lap.
''Is Schmooples still trying to dethrone Chomper as the biggest eater of the group?'' Kallian asked as she sat down beside the red head, snaking an arm around her waist as she did so. Leliana laughed again and leaned into the embrace. ''I don't think there is any danger of that. Chomper has the advantage of a considerably larger stomach.''
The two women exchanged a soft smile and held each other's gaze for a moment. This had become a ritual of sorts for them. Ever since their first night together, they would take some time at camp to just be together. It was usually after Kallian and Leliana had taken care of their respective pets; mostly because said pets would not let them have any peace until they were fed.
Leliana began to gently pluck the strings of her lute, extracting a soft melody from it as the fingers of her left hand travelled up, down and across the instrument's neck. Kallian leaned in closer and rested her chin on the Orlesian's shoulder. She closed her eyes for a moment and savored her lover's presence. She could sense the warmth of her skin through her shirt, feel the little movements of her head as she played and smell the scent of leather and sweat that clung even when she was out of her armor.
''Hard day, today'' Kallian said, running two fingers down Leliana's arm until she reached her hand, wrapped her thumb and little finger around the other woman's wrist and rested the tips of her other fingers on Leliana's knuckles in a mimicry of the bard's own hold on her instrument.
''I know'' Leliana replied softly; almost absent mindedly. The hand hold did not impair her ability to play, but she always found it incredibly distracting. Whenever she played, Kallian would place her hand over hers like this. As gentle as the grip was, it always felt strangely possessive to her. ''Do you intend to play me like a lute, dearest?'' she queried.
Kallian lifted her head from its resting spot. ''Mmmh? I just like feeling the way your fingers move.'' The Warden explained, nuzzling Leliana's ear. That earned a giggle from the red head. ''I'm sure you do. In fact I recall you were quite appreciative last night.'' The bard countered with a mischievous twinkle in her eyes.
She had expected Kallian to blush or laugh, but instead the Elf tightened her hold on the human and sighed tiredly. ''I love you'' the Warden whispered unexpectedly, startling Leliana's fingers into stillness. The red head turned to look at her lover with concern.
''Kallian? Is something the matter?'' she asked, worry seeping into her voice. Kallian shook her head and smiled reassuringly at her. ''No. I'm just happy to be with you.'' The Elf said as she took the lute and set it aside. ''I was just thinking back to how we got here. My life went from ordinary to miserable, then to horrible, then to nightmarish. It went back to just miserable when I became a Warden.'' Kallian began, electing not to delve into the details of her past. The memories of it still haunted her.
Leliana gazed sympathetically at her lover even as a game of tug-of-war took place in her mind. Curiosity wanted to know more about Kallian's past, affection wanted to offer words of comfort and, she felt faintly ashamed for it, vanity wanted to know what influence she had had on Kallian's life. Leliana settled for leaning closer to Kallian and nestling her head on her shoulder.
The Elf went on, now with a faint current of anger in her tone. ''Then it was back to the nightmare in Ostagar. And then poor, poor baby Alistair dumped everything on my shoulders because he was so busy feeling sorry for himself that he never stopped to think that I could be upset and lost too. I should have figured out he had royal blood right then and there.'' Kallian finished bitterly, lazily tracing patterns on the back of Leliana's hand with her fingertips.
The bard turned her head to lay a soft kiss on Kallian's mouth. ''Don't be too harsh on Alistair. He... well he is a good fighter.'' She offered, knowing very well that Kallian's opinion of her fellow Warden was less than lofty. The Elf scoffed in response, but let the subject drop to avoid a pointless argument.
The Elf brought her other hand up to cradle the human's face, gently stroking her earlobe with her thumb while she continued to trace patterns with her other hand. Leliana hummed softly in pleasure and fully reclined against Kallian, stretching her legs in front of her and shamelessly resting her head on the other woman's chest.
''Are you going to continue your story?'' she asked after a moment, enjoying her lover's gentle caresses. Kallian smirked a little before answering. ''You want to know what happens in Lothering, don't you?'' she teased. Leliana refused to be embarrassed. ''I know what happened. I was there, remember?'' she retorted. ''Then I don't need to continue my story.'' Kallian challenged, her mouth stretching into a real, albeit mischievous, smile. Leliana was not ready to admit defeat yet. ''A nightmare is not a good place to end a story. It should end on a happier note.''
Kallian arched an eyebrow at that. ''Indeed? Alindra and her Soldier ended on a happy note, did it?'' she asked, tipping Leliana's chin upwards to look into her eyes. The Orlesian merely stuck her tongue out at her. The Warden bent down to kiss Leliana's nose, then went on. ''Alright, so then Morrigan joined us and my life improved past miserable to be merely awful. Because I didn't have to eat Alistair's cooking anymore.''
Leliana stifled a giggle at this. Alistair's culinary efforts were sadly on the unspeakable end of atrocious. ''At least it's easy to eat. You hardly need to chew it. It goes down like water.'' The red head countered, although she was not sure if defending Alistair's cooking was such a good idea. Kallian rolled her eyes and adjusted their position so they were laying side by side, facing each other. ''Anyway, on the road to Lothering we found Chomper, and life seemed to have improved a little more.'' Kallian continued, now running her fingertips in circles on Leliana's shoulder.
Leliana rested her head on her hand as she listened to Kallian tell her story. It was sorely lacking in details, but nevertheless she wanted to hear the rest of it. She was bound to come up soon. ''And when you reached Lothering?'' she prompted, trying to push the story along, but Kallian seemed determined to take her time.
''In Lothering? Oh well, there were some bandits, some mercenaries, a crazy man talking about the darkness, a crooked merchant and a whole lot of refugees.'' Kallian said, now fiddling with Leliana's braid.
''And?'' Leliana urged, knowing that Kallian was deliberately winding her up. ''And what?'' the Elf said innocently, although a faint smile was tugging at the corner of her mouth. Leliana pushed the smaller woman onto her back and crawled on top of her, resting her chin on one hand while the other joined with the Warden's. ''When you got to the inn?'' the red head pressed again, stroking Kallian's fingers with her own.
''Was there an inn? I don't remember.'' Kallian said innocently, playfully evading Leliana's grasping fingers. The red head was beginning to lose patience. ''Kallian!'' she protested when the Elf suddenly rolled the both of them into the tent and took the top spot.
''Ah yes. I remember meeting someone at the inn. It was a young Chantry sister with red hair. She was quite pretty, but some things she said were hard to believe.'' Kallian went on, slowly pulling up the hem of Leliana's robes as she did so. Leliana's mind was once again pulling in several directions at once, with lust being the most recent addition. ''But in the end I decided that she would make a welcome change from Alistair and Morrigan, so I let her join us.'' Kallian continued as she finished removing Leliana's robes and moved to undress herself.
''And that turned out to be the best thing that ever happened to me in my life.'' Kallian finished, lying back down on top of Leliana, their exposed skin making contact and their eyes meeting for a moment.
Leliana blushed and wrapped her arms around Kallian. ''Flatterer. Why don't you put that silver tongue to good use, mmh?'' the bard teased, brushing the Elf'S lips with her fingers.
''You're the one with a silver tongue, Leli. I have to be content with deft fingers.'' The Elf teased as her hand slowly made its way down, softly prodding, squeezing and scratching along the way. ''Are..ahh... you implying my fingers leave something to be ... mmh...desired?'' Leliana tried to sound outraged, but Kallian's fingers had begun to work their magic and soon all coherent thought fled her mind.
Kallian paused for a moment, trying to think of a good reply for that, but she too found her mind preoccupied by other things. ''Just...'' she started but a low mewl from Leliana thoroughly smothered that thought. ''Later'' was all she could manage as she leaned down for a kiss. Leliana was already pushing herself up to meet her halfway. ''Right. Later'' she concurred between kisses.
By the time the two women had finished indulging their lust, the last thing on their mind was resuming their conversation and so they settled down to sleep. Leliana lay on her side, with Kallian's arms around her. The last thing she was aware of before she drifted off to sleep was Kallian's hand coming to grasp hers, with her thumb and little finger wrapped around the wrist. She found she rather liked it.