7
It had been a week since their trip to the Wounded Coast, and Isabela hadn't seen Hawke since.
Maybe the girl truly was straight after all, and Isabela's attentions had been wasted. She certainly seemed interested, but whenever Isabela got close to a breakthrough, Hawke would go and hide, with her tail between her legs, for a fortnight or so. Isabela was busy wondering if her ability to convert women to the fairer sex was waning, when Hawke walked through the tavern towards her.
"It's not much, but I wanted to give you something to say thank you for your help the other day" Hawke said as she handed over a purse. It held 50 silvers, from her own stash, no doubt, her ridiculous sense of honour directing her to pay Isabela for time served.
Isabela waved her hand dismissively. "Keep it, sweet thing, I didn't do anything. Actually, I did worse than that. I almost blew us up."
"Are you sure?" Hawke asked, hesitating with the purse still in her outstretched hand.
"I'm sure. You don't need to pay me when you've made no coin yourself. I don't need your charity."
"I didn't mean it that way…"
"I know, I know, Hawke. I'm not in the mood to fight. Just pull up a seat and we'll have a chat."
Hawke did as she was bid. There was a moment of silence. "Did that hurt?" Hawke asked, curiosity colouring her tone.
"Did what hurt?"
Hawke gently touched the end of Isabela's lip piercing.
Isabela unconsciously touched the inside of the piercing with her tongue. "Oh, that. A little bit. It was years ago, so the pain is a distant memory. But the amount of pleasure it brings has been well worth it."
Hawke cocked her head, eyeing off the piece of gold jewellery that rested just underneath Isabela's lower lip. "What pleasure? How could a piece of gold threaded through your lip possibly bring you any pleasure?"
Isabela threw her head back and barked out a laugh. The things that she could teach this girl! "Not my pleasure, sweet thing, my lovers' pleasure. If you'd ever let me lift your skirt, you'd see what I mean."
"Oh…" Hawke said quietly, with a blush.
The two women fell into another awkward silence. Hawke reached around, pulling out a piece of fruit from her back pocket. "Can I borrow your knife?" she asked, putting the oval shaped fruit down on the bar.
"You can, but why?" Isabela pulled out the blade that hung on her waist.
"Varric told me that you like these. We picked a few when we went to Mount Sundermont yesterday. He said that the peel is tasteless, so it's best to cut them in half, and eat the flesh."
She brought the blade down on the fruit, cutting two perfect halves, and handing one to Isabela. Isabela looked down, and instantly recognised the fruit as a tampini. She had to suppress a laugh at Varric's joke. The oval shaped fruit had a pea-sized, perfectly pink seed in the middle, with soft, light pink flesh surrounding it.
"You realise this looks like a… never mind…" she stopped herself as she watched Hawke's lips gently start nibbling the flesh of the fruit. She made small sucking sounds, and slowly licked the juice off her lower lip. Isabela crossed her legs, suddenly feeling aroused.
"This is a joke, isn't it? Maker's breath, I swear, you're deliberately trying to torture me!" she accused, as Hawke worked the pink seed loose with her tongue.
Hawke looked at her innocently. "Torture you? What are you talking about Isabela? Eat your fruit. Varric said that it's your favourite. It really is delicious."
"Oh, I've eaten the fruit, Hawke, I know it's delicious. I think that you are the one that's missing out on that front." She remained fixated as Hawke continued nibbling, sucking and licking her slice of fruit, until all that was left was empty skin.
"Well, I'd better get going. But that was a tasty treat. You should really get started on yours, Isabela. Why don't you use your lip ring on it?" Hawke stood to leave, and gave Isabela a quick wink.
"Andraste's tits! I knew it! I knew it! You cheeky little shit! You may have the others fooled with your innocent act, but I'm onto you! I'm going to get you back for that one of these days!"
Hawke cocked her head, and widened her eyes. "I have no idea what you are talking about, Isabela" she said with an innocent smile, before turning to leave, with Isabela staring at those swaying hips.
