"Welcome ta my castle!" said Zaljin proudly, sweeping an arm around the small, badly built hut that smelt of rotting seaweed and salt. The little island just off the Stranglethorn coast was barely big enough for the few scraggly trees that surrounded the hut. The steps leading up were lopsided, some nails were still poking out in some places, and the frame was off-center.

Meruda looked around twice, before saying, "Built it yaself, didn't ya."

"Yeah! How can ya tell?"

"Looks like da raft that we built. Da one dat sank."

Zaljin gave her a hurt look. "I'll have ya know this place has managed ta survive all kinds-a weather and tidal waves for the last four years." He didn't mention that he'd rebuilt it three times. He was pretty sure it would last this time. He'd added extra pylons.

Meruda prowled around the cabin while he unpacked the bags. They'd agreed on the way over to go find the pirates after the vacation. Neither one was eager to go back to that ship, and he was half-tempted to take her up on her offer of replacing his gear with a loan.

That weird tension twanged between them, the uncomfortable weight of words that needed to be said, despite the fact the words could hurt, mixed in with the underlying tension of sex that might be either really good or utterly disastrous.

Zaljin glared at his food box as he dumped the bags into it. He'd figured on a nice relaxing vacation with some enjoyable, if perhaps a bit sulky, companionship. Not on feeling nervous about how to treat a former friend and lover that might turn out to be a possessed shadow priest he'd have to put down, without losing face in case he was overreacting to some crazy old priestess' warning and Meruda's paranoia. Especially after getting beat mostly to death by those damn pirates.

~Now who's bein' sulky?~ He thought to himself as he listened to Daisy chasing Deathclaw around the hut. ~Ya wanted ta play the game, and someone changed the board is all. Don' mean ya can't win.~ He glanced over his shoulder. Meruda's body language was practically screaming nervous virgin, with her arms wrapped tightly around her body, shoulders hunched, and stiff spine. ~But ya gonna have ta concentrate..~

"Knock it off!" yelled Meruda through the window, as Deathclaw nearly took out one of the few trees on the small island. "This island ain' big enough for you two bein' foolish!" Both raptors looked ashamed, though in Daisy's case it was defiantly, and Deathclaw's was just sheepish. Daisy stalked over to the biggest shady spot under the tree, which had been the cause of contention. Deathclaw tried to crawl under the house. He got to his shoulders, figured his head was in the dark so all of him must be, and went to sleep.

Meruda was glad of the chance to yell at something. She wanted to scream with nervousness. Because here they were. There was the bed. She kept looking at it, wondering if it was clean. It looked clean enough, but who knew how many women he'd brought here? It wasn't a big enough bed for two trolls to sleep in without some very familiar cuddling. Zaljin was healed, so it wasn't like he needed to recover. So there might be … relations. Well, of course there would be, why else would he have brought her here? He'd said as much in the Hinterlands. So there would be … Sex. But she felt distinctly unsexy, rumpled, and very much not in the mood, her annoyance doubling when she wondered if that was reasonable or just her. It'd been a long ride down to Booty Bay to replace his part of the supplies, then they'd had to swim over to the island, and her robes were drying into itchy, salt-encrusted wrinkles. But she wasn't going to take them off, because then he'd think … well, she knew what he'd think. He was a male after all. They all thought that.

She snuck another glance at the bed again. It seemed to represent all sorts of illicit, dirty things. She could almost see the green mountain troll girl screeching and writhing on it. The thought made her want to throw up.

"Hey, Mer.." said Zaljin behind her, and her panic exploded into full-blown hysteria.

"I can't do this. I thought I could, but I can't, it's just too ..." She started saying quickly, before Zaljin interrupted.

"Ya can't put on a hat ta go lounge in the sun?" he asked, holding out one of the big floppy hats favored by beachgoers and farmers, a twin sitting on his own head.

"No, I mean I can't .." She stopped, not sure how to go on without seeming like either the frigid bitch everyone thought she was or a total psycho.

"Well, I got some goblin sun cream somewhere if ya want it, but last time I used it, I turned orange for a week. Your choice though." He shoved one of the hats into her hands, and sauntered out towards the water, whistling, a fishing pole slung over his shoulders. He paused halfway there, and said, "If ya fish, bring ya pole too. Dinner's still swimmin' around."

Her jaw dropped. He could NOT be serious. After, after EVERYTHING, he was just going to go sit out there and fish? And why the hell was he fishing? Was she not interesting to him? And if she wasn't, well, why the hell was she here? One of the third thoughts asked if she was seriously upset that he had decided that scaly things were more interesting than she was, when she'd just been about to tell him that she wasn't interested in him?

Yes. A not-as-small-as-she-would-like part of her would admit to being irritated that he hadn't found her so irresistible as to throw her down and make his demands. Because it was one thing not to want, and quite another not to be wanted. She glared at him, as he took the second biggest shade spot, and tossed his hook into the water, humming a tune absently. He was completely doing it on purpose just to make her furious, and as soon as she figured out what it was, she would let him have it. She DID like fishing, but what kind of jerk would just ASSUME like that?

She grabbed her fishing pole, and stomped out to go sit next to him, with a distinct distance between them.

"Ya sure ya don' want the hat? Ya nose wouldn't look good peelin'." He said companionably when she sat down. In full sunlight.

"Nah, I ain' wearing dat ugly hat." She said, sitting up perfectly straight and with complete and total dignity as she cast her line.

"Ya oughta relax, lady, ya on vacation. Ain'cha never been on vacation before?" He didn't have to look at her to know the answer to his question, as she puffed up a little more. "And who's gonna see ya with the hat or a peelin' nose out here? Sun-stroke ain' near as much fun as people say it is. Jes' go get da hat."

"I might get a bite." He had good points. She was willing to admit it, but she'd be damned if she went back for the stupid hat. Taking orders was not her strong suit. Especially not when she wanted nothing more than to fight with someone who was not being obliging.

Zaljin sighed, before handing her his pole, and getting up. He stretched up as much as he could. Damn muscles were still stiff. It'd be a couple days before everything felt normal after that kind of damage.

"Why am I holdin' ya pole?" She was not looking at the way those linen trousers were barely hanging on his hip bones, and clinging to the thigh muscles below. She was not looking at his washboard stomach muscles, or his calves. She was especially, absolutely, under no circumstances, looking at the bulge in the middle. She was so not looking that she entirely missed the tugging at her bobber.

Zaljin laughed at Meruda's unintended entendre as he loped over to the cabin. "So I can get ya a hat, ya stubborn wench."

He picked up the discarded hat. She did not look at his butt. The bobber danced on the water, more furiously than before, as if angry it was being ignored for surreptitious not-ogling. He set the hat firmly on her head, patted it a couple times, and then squatted down to pick her up, his arms going under her legs and lifting her in one scoop, to move her into the shade.

"What the hell d'ya .. Oh." She turned her head to glare at him, ready to give him a full lecture on female empowerment, and bloody-minded males making decisions and willy-nilly moving people, when he ducked in, and gave her a quick, affectionate *smek* sort of kiss on the nose.

"I like ya nose better when it ain't so high in the air." He said, as he took his pole back. "Ya gonna reel dat fish in or let it suffer all day?"

Meruda blinked, and then jumped as the rod in her hands jerked. "I was workin' on it when ya .. distracted me." She hoped the hat hid the color in her cheeks. Maybe he'd think it was sunburn.

"Ya easily distracted then, lady. S'pose its only fair wit' ya bein' so distractin'. "

He resumed his lounge right next to her in the shade, while Meruda spent several confused minutes trying to figure out what the hell that meant.

"I'm not distractin'. I'm sittin' here fully dressed. Unlike you. Don'cha have some spare clothes or something?" She said eventually, with the forthright tones of someone expecting an argument.

Zaljin inwardly smirked. It was nice to know she'd noticed.

"Lady, ya could wrap ya'self up in a yeti suit, and I'd still be distracted, 'cause ya kind of like keeping a pet cactus. If ya don't watch it, it'll stick ya somewhere tender."

"Nobody wants a pet cactus." She couldn't tell if that was a compliment or an insult.

"People who like things to be challenging do. Difficult an' fiddly an' rare things are more excitin' than the everyday sort." Said Zaljin, watching his bobber.

"Yeah right."

"I had a pet cactus. Got it down in Gadgetzan. Only one of its kind I've ever seen."

"What happened to it?"

"I had ta go on assignment and the stupid git I got ta watch it for me watered it like it was some kinda swamp plant. Killed it."

"What'd ya do about it?"

"I carved the words "Desert plants don't need water" somewhere near his spine."

"… Really?"

"No. Actually I still have the cactus. Its easier to keep now that it's already dead."

"Ya never thrown anything in ya life away."

"Not anything I liked, if I could help it."

That ended the conversation for a good twenty minutes. In that time they caught two more fish apiece, and she leaned back a bit. Her back was starting to hurt from sitting up so straight. His hand came up and pulled her back against his side.

She tensed up again, but he didn't make any further moves towards her, just leaving his arm curled around her side. Slowly, she relaxed again. It was more comfortable leaning against his shoulder and chest than sitting up straight. This wasn't so bad. She could handle this.

"I think that's enough fish."

She looked over at the pile. "How much does ya raptor eat? We should catch some for them too."

Zaljin looked at the pile. The amount of fish there would feed two trolls and two raptors for the better part of a month. He knew it, and he knew she knew it. He smiled. She didn't want to admit that she was comfortable. But his ribs were starting to hurt a little with Meruda's weight resting against them.

"If we catch all the fish today, what'll we do for fun tomorrow? 'Sides, I'm hungry."