Emma held the strap of her pack over her shoulder, full of the clothes that she wanted to wash, as she walked down the decline to the edge of the lake. She stopped and looked out at the landscape before her. The lake was in the middle of the forest, and it reflected the trees like mirror images in the clear water. The lake somehow held a nice, warm temperature despite being hidden underneath the darkness of the forest. She knelt down and stuck her hand in the water, swishing it back and forth and smiling at the warmth of it on her skin.
"This is perfect," she sighed as she stood and dropped her pack next to a tree close by. She then began to untie the leather straps of her boots.
Alistair carried the four pairs of socks he owned with him as he walked over to Wynne. She was in the middle of making the requested stew. "Ohhh Wynne... have I ever told you how much I love you?" he confessed as he neared her and the ingredients she was cutting.
"Yes Alistair. Every day at dinner," she smirked, continuing to dice up a potato.
"Ah yes," he nodded, "well, I do... but I was actually wondering if I could borrow some of that soap you have?"
Wynne looked up to see Alistair and his bundle of disgusting socks. "Oh my... yes, yes you can. But I've given it to Emma. She went down to the lake to wash some of her clothes as well," Wynne nodded in the direction she saw Emma go.
Alistair was silently happy to spend more time with Emma. "Alright. Thanks Wynne." He bid her farewell and headed off to the lake.
It took him about 15 minutes to get through the woods to the lake. As he cleared some brush and walked onto the stones of the bank he looked up just in time to see Emma pulling her shirt off.
That was the last piece of clothing she was wearing.
He immediately panicked and darted behind a tree. He had clenched his eyes shut and held them shut, afraid to see anymore than he already had. Which was everything.
Emma had sensed a presence approaching and turned, panicked. Her awareness of those with the taint as well was still unreliable.
She immediately jumped behind a tree and covered herself as much as she could. She grabbed her dagger from the sheath in her pants and clutched it tight. She didn't sense it as a darkspawn, but she sensed something familiar about whatever it was in the woods. She decided to call out to it.
"Whose out there?" she pulled her shirt over her head, then quickly stepped into her pants again. "Show yourself or regret it!" she threatened as she swiftly tied her pants in the front.
Alistair knew by the sound of her voice she would sneak up on him and possibly kill him before knowing it was him, so he decided to face her. He held up his hands and kept his eyes closed tight, in case she was still naked.
"I'm sorry! I was coming to wash my socks and Wynne said you had the soap and I did see you naked but it was only for a second and I am really sorry please don't kill me?" he spoke fast and with fear of impalement.
Emma was halfway up the bank when he came out from behind the tree, dirty socks in hand and his eyes clenched shut. She couldn't help but laugh after a moment of seeing how frightened he was.
He opened his eyes to see her clothes had been thrown on, and her sheathing her dagger as she laughed.
"Alistair-" she tried to talk but kept laughing.
"Maker's breath, I was afraid you'd come 'round the tree before I could get away," he let his arms fall as he sighed with relief. He didn't understand why she was laughing so hard, though. "What's so funny?"
Emma looked at him, causing her to laugh more. "You... you looked so scared!" she walked up to him and caught her breath. "Ohhh Maker..." Emma stood up straight and sighed as she stopped laughing. She looked at him and saw him smile shyly. She then remembered he had seen her standing there. Naked.
"Oh... so... did you see...?" she covered herself, even though already clothed, embarrassed as she realized there was no way he didn't see her completely naked.
He felt his face flush red. "Oh, um... I, uh... I did, but I looked away quickly! Because I saw you, and I didn't want to be rude, and of course I didn't know you were naked or else I would have called out first to make sure you weren't naked but I didn't know you were so I didn't call out..." he was gesturing nervously with his dirty socks in hand, trying to back pedal the embarrassing moment.
"No, it's alright," she stopped him from his head exploding. "I mean, I should have said I was going to have a bath as well..."
Alistair shook his head. "No it's my fault. I should have realized you were going to do your wash and that you might have a wash..."
"Ha, I don't think we're going to get out of this smoothly," she looked at him shyly.
He agreed. "Yes... but I am sorry. I really didn't know..." he looked at her, hoping she believed him.
Emma nodded. "I know," she moved some hair behind her ear and looked away. "Well, you can go wash your socks-"
"Nono," Alistair insisted. "Please, go ahead. You were here first. I will wait until you're done."
"Um... okay," she nodded. "I'll be back in a little bit. And I'll bring you the soap."
"Sounds good. I'll see you later," he said.
"Okay," she replied. They both turned and went their separate ways.
As Alistair walked away, he glanced back to see Emma covering her face and shaking her head. He felt horrible. But he noticed her hair was down. As he thought back he realized he never actually noticed how long her hair was. It was a little past her shoulders, and very wavy. She'd always worn it up due to the fighting and all... it was very pretty, he thought to himself.
On his silent trek back to camp, his mind flashed to the image he had of her there, naked by the lake. He closed his eyes and shook his head.
"No Alistair, don't..." he told himself. "Emma is your friend, don't be disrespectful." He pushed the thought away for a second, but came back to it when he recalled how lovely she looked. He couldn't help but want to think of her curves, her legs, her breasts...
"Ahhhh!" he shouted lightly. He again pushed the thought away as he stepped back into camp.
Wynne had heard him, and looked up to see his filthy socks still in hand and an upset look on his face. "Alistair, are you alright?" she asked, concern in her voice. 'Did they fight?' she asked herself.
"Everything is fine," Alistair replied quickly as he disappeared into his tent.
Wynne sat back and watched as the flap to his tent closed. Her brow wrinkled, very curious as to what just transpired between the two wardens.
Emma walked over to the rock where she had laid all her things and paused there.
"He just saw you completely naked," she spoke aloud to herself. "Oh Maker... how embarrassing..." her heart filled with dread. She was worried what he thought about her. Was he repulsed? Did he see the birthmark she hated on her upper thigh?
She covered her face and sighed. This was terrible. How was she going to look at him? He'd seen everything she would have to offer. Physically, that is. How do you keep things normal after that point?
"Ohh," she looked out to the lake and felt her heart pounding in her chest. She thought to herself and spoke aloud, "I suppose it wouldn't be so bad if you weren't enamored with him," she scoffed. "Whyyyy?" Emma looked up to the sky, asking whoever might be listening.
She decided there was nothing she could do about it. She would just act as if nothing had happened. What else could she do? They had important thing's they needed to attend to, and they needed to be together to do them. She nodded as she agreed with herself, then grabbed her clothes to wash them.
