Chapter 7
He woke up with an abrupt start, a consequence of being ejected from the fade. His first thought was that his emergency cache, a second rate staff, simple but warm clothing, a dark hooded wool cape, a backpack containing some coin, a few portions of dried meat and fruit and some potions, was about half a mile away under the loosened roots of an old yew tree.
He wondered whether it would not be prudent to get up now, to leave now… but the bed was warm and he was tired, magic was exertion too, physical, mental and emotional, not many non-gifted seemed aware of that… and then there was Ellana.
You are getting old, Fen, old, sentimental and incautious and one day, perhaps very soon, things are going to catch up with you…
He turned over to look at Ellana only to have her, still asleep, reach out to him bury her head against his chest and nuzzle it. He couldn't begin to describe the warmth that came over him as he wrapped his arms around her, the sweetest kind of arousal. Well, he wouldn't be leaving this morning he thought as he stroked her hair…
She woke some ten minutes later while he was still holding her.
"I had a very strange dream…" she told him, looking up at him from the depth of their shared bedclothes with solemn brown eyes, "you were very sad…"
"Hmmm" he said.
"And for some reason I was extremely angry with you…"
He stroked her hair, "Well, we did have that discussion last night…" He suggested gently.
"We did, didn't we?" She mused in a sleepy voice, "It seems stupid now… Irrelevant, silly…" She splayed her hand over his heart as if checking his heartbeat, "There were other things, too… I was… I wasn't me… but…"
"Dreams are like that…"
"And you were still you but also someone else…" She persisted. "And you weren't quite so good in bed…"
He smiled. "Well I'm glad some things have improved…"
She straddled him again and he was just starting to relax, telling himself that everything was alright, when she reached up with both hands and felt his ears. He froze. Undeterred, she ran her fingers along the edges.
"Strange." That cool voice of hers again. "There's several little holes on your left ear as if you've had it pierced so many times… And none on your right…"
From so close up she must have seen the shocked expression on his face, must have… He could have come up with some excuse, some clumsy explanation… But that would probably only make it worse.
She smiled at him "Solas…" She said very slowly, extending the 'o'.
"Yes, Ellana?"
She closed her eyes and put her forehead against his, the smile still playing on her lips. He closed his eyes and stilled his breathing. "I love you very much."
This was not bad, he told himself. Not bad. "And I love you too, Vehnan."
She stretched and yawned, their bodies rubbing up against each other in the most delightful, intimate way… "I'm hungry, would you mind awfully fetching breakfast while I start work? Those reports are not going to read themselves…"
Surprise. Relief. Admiration.
"Of course, Ellana." He replied crisply.
Well, he thought, as he closed her bedroom door behind him, on his way to the kitchen, the cache is going to stay where it is… At least for the time being.
THE END
