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When Alarik woke up, it was to a completely different scene than the one Jordis had woken up to. He could hear the hearty crackle of a log fire and through his eyelids he could see the golden flames dancing. A pleasing warmth filled him and when he opened his eyes he was surprised to find that he was in a cave. It had felt more like Breezehome, in Whiterun, with Lydia, or Proudspire Manor, in Solitude, with... Jordis.

Alarik's stomach dropped as the memory of what happened at Valtheim flooded back to him. The argument he had had with Jordis on the Throat of the World, her running through Valtheim Towers, and shouting that both of them had done on the bridge right before the shot.

Alarik sat up slowly, expecting a great deal of pain as he pushed his bedroll off of him, but instead met no resistance as he sat up. He looked down at his torso and saw that his armour had been cut off. He looked around and saw it cast aside next to the fire. His right hand went to his back where an arrow had been sticking out of it. He felt no wooden shaft, but instead soft fabric. He looked down again. A bandage had been placed around his middle and there was no sign of blood coming from the wound. He climbed out of the bedroll and saw that he had on a pair of ragged trousers and his leather boots, which Jordis had kept in her pack. "Just in case," she had always said, whenever Alarik had mocked her about it. Now, he was very glad that she kept them.

He noticed that Jordis, rather surprisingly, wasn't in the cave. She hadn't left though – her bedroll was still laid out and her pack seemed to be doubling up as her pillow.

Suddenly he heard a noise from the mouth of the cave. He wheeled round, furiously looking for a weapon and grabbed a dagger by the fire. He started moving cautiously towards the front of the cave, listening to the noise and trying to figure out what animal it was. However, the noise didn't sound like an animal. It sounded far more beautiful than that. Alarik racked his brain, going through his mental bestiary of creatures with beautiful voices. It couldn't be spriggans, could it? Cautiously, Alarik began to step outside and what he saw threw him completely.

In the lake, just outside the cave, was his Housecarl, Jordis, bathing. Alarik could only stand and stare at her beauty. Her pale skin gave off a faint glow as she bathed, and her blonde hair was a few shades darker than Alarik remembered it, but that was probably because it was wet. Open-mouthed, he saw Jordis scoop up some of the water and ran it over her arms, one at a time. She then cupped more water from the lake and tipped it gently onto her face. Alarik watched as the water ran in rivulets down her taut body, tracing the curve of her breasts as much as Alarik's own eyes did. As his eyes moved down her body they stopped short at her waist, as the rest of her body was hidden by the sapphire-blue water. Immediately the juvenile Nord in his mind started to conjure up a plan as to how he was going to get her out of the water.

As Jordis bathed, she sang softly to herself, a song that she had heard growing up in Solitude.

"By your bonnie banks, and by your bonnie hills, Where the sun shines, on Lake Hornrich, Where me and my true love spent many days, On the banks of Lake Hornrich.

Too sad we parted in that shady glen, On the steep sides of Ben Hornrich, Where the broken heart knows no second harvest, Resigned, we must be, when we're parting.

Oh you'll take the high road and I'll take the low road, And I'll be in Skyrim before you! Where me and my true love will never meet again, On the bonnie, bonnie banks of Lake Hornrich.

Where wild flowers spring and the young birds sing, On the steep steep sides of Ben Hornrich, But the broken heart knows no second harvest, Though resigned we may be while we're loving."

THUD

Jordis instinctively around to see what had broken the previously peaceful silence, but to no avail – the forest seemed to have gotten quiet again. She edged over to the bank where her armour and underwear were lying. When she was a short distance from them, she rushed out of the lake and started running to her clothes. She had left her armour underneath the branch of a tree and as she looked up at the branch she saw Alarik, sitting nonchalantly, a broad smile on his face. Jordis quickly dived behind a nearby tree.

"My Thane!" She called out from behind the tree, "it's good to see you are up and moving about!"

"The same to you, Jordis," he called back, "I feared for you considerably!"

This was a surprise to Jordis – when she had last spoken to her Thane he almost wanted to kill her.

"You feared for me, my Thane?" She asked.

"Yes!" Alarik replied, "I thought your voice had been damaged horrifically going over that waterfall – I had no idea that you could sing so beautifully!"

Jordis could feel herself blushing at the compliment but quickly shook herself out of it.

"It's not something that is necessary in my line of work," she said, "but armour and underwear are two very important things for a Housecarl, so if you would just throw mine over here so I could get changed in privacy I would be very grateful!"

"Where's the fun in that!" Alarik shouted, "come on, you removed my armour to get better access to my body! I'm not even asking you to take anything off – just not put it on!"

"My Thane," Jordis began, "I am a professional lady. My job is to protect my Thane, who happens to be you and I intend to do so as long as I am in your service. I needed to remove your armour so that I could clean up and tend to your wound, which if I hadn't done you surely would have died, so I please ask you to respect my privacy and hand me my armour!"

Jordis peered round the tree she was hiding behind and looked up at the branch. She found nobody sitting on it, but her armour and underclothes lay underneath it, undisturbed. She looked around cautiously before running over and quickly putting it all on and buckling it up.

When she got back to the cave she saw Alarik leaning back on the wall of the cave by the fire. He had found a bottle of mead in Jordis' bag and smiled when he saw Jordis walk in.

"I'll be honest," Alarik said, "it sounded like you were going to go off on some boring tangent so I decided to come back to the cave."

"That doesn't matter, my Thane," Jordis said, "I can still call you 'my Thane', right?"

"Well, I've still not forgiven you for going against what I said," Alarik mused, "and then you got me shot, in case you've forgotten."

"But I did help you come back to full health!" Jordis retorted. Alarik laughed.

"True, true," he said, smiling. He watched as Jordis walked over and sat next to him. She then started to roll up her bedroll and put it back in her bag.

"What are you doing?" He asked.

"Well, I'm packing up, my Thane," she said, "I figured, now that you were feeling better you would want to leave this damp cave."

"Why?" He said, "Jordis, how long was I asleep for?"

"Two days," Jordis said, "today is the third day we have been here."

"Two days..." Alarik thought, "and in those two days, have we been shot at? Robbed? Stabbed?"

"No, my Thane," Jordis said.

"No. Exactly. Why the hurry? This is the first time in months I haven't had to fear for my life! Now, I know you want to tick more names off the list, but please. Just another day. For me."

"Another day?" Jordis asked, "what about your weapons? You lost them all going over the waterfall! And those ragged trousers are getting more ragged by the hour! We need to restock, rearm and..."

Alarik silenced her by placing his big hand on her cheek. He kissed her gently on the lips.

"All I need right now is in this damp, dark cave."

He leaned in to kiss her again. At first, Jordis was taken by surprise but she quickly returned the kiss, pushing Alarik over as she did so. She climbed on top of him, never breaking the kiss. They lay like that for a few moments until Alarik finally broke the kiss. Jordis ran her hands up and down Alarik's torso, now tracing both the scars and Alarik's muscles.

"Something's not right," Alarik said, his face showing a serious look.

Jordis' smile quickly disappeared.

"What do you mean?" She asked.

Suddenly his smile was back again.

"You're wearing too much," he said, "look at me compared to you. Not fair, is it?"

Jordis threw her head back and laughed.

"Very well, my Thane," she teased. She reached behind her, arching her back as she did so, her chest pushed forward into Alarik's face. She found the leather buckle on the back of her armour and undid it quickly. She then undid the side straps and eased the armour over her head, leaving her with just her bra on. She stood up and kicked off her boots. Then, making sure Alarik was watching, she unfastened the steel greaves from around her waist and turned round, so she was facing away from Alarik. Then she slowly slid the greaves down her legs, revealing, inch by inch, the pale skin that had been hidden from Alarik in the lake outside. Alarik lay there, watching and smiling to himself as Jordis finally stepped out of her greaves and stood there in her underwear, the fire casting a light over one half of her body, leaving the other half in a mysterious shadow.

She crawled over enticingly to Alarik and knelt beside him, running her hand up and down his bare chest.

"It's your turn now, my Thane," she whispered. Alarik smiled and lifted himself off the ground and pushed his ragged trousers off. He kicked them out of sight and rolled over so that he was on top of Jordis, his weight supported by his big arms either side of her. He leaned in and kissed her again, starting with her lips and moving slowly down her body, moving from her neck, to her breasts, down to her stomach until he reached her pants. He hooked his thumbs in the waistband and pulled them down, kneeling up so he could remove them from Jordis' legs, one after the other. His fingers ran back up her legs, sending shivers down her spine which increased as Alarik's big hands neared her core. Finally he lay down again and kissed her there. Just once, but enough to allow a moan to escape her lips. Alarik looked up and smiled at her, then looked down again and gently slid a finger between her folds, all the while keeping his tongue flat against her. Above him, he could hear Jordis moaning softly and he felt her adjust slightly, as he started moving his finger in and out. His tongue moved upwards a bit and found her nub, which he then circled slowly, much to Jordis' enjoyment. A second finger joined his first inside her and he quickened the pace of their movement. Jordis could feel her orgasm coming and she ran her fingers through Alarik's hair. Her hips started to buck against Alarik's fingers and tongue and her moans gradually grew louder. Alarik's thumb replaced his tongue and he rubbed her there while his tongue started to circle one nipple through the fabric of the bra. Jordis' arms wrapped themselves around Alarik wherever they could as she rode out her orgasm, her whole body shuddering as she did so.

While she lay there, regaining her breath from her first orgasm with Alarik, he rolled back off her and slowly slid his fingers out of her. He looked at them, before dipping each one in his mouth one by one. Jordis looked at him doing this for a few moments and then reached for his underwear, nearly tearing it off and freeing his member. It stuck out from his body and Alarik climbed on top of her again. Jordis felt him enter her, slowly at first so she could get used to him and then he would pull back. Each thrust Alarik made was a little further inside her and soon he had a steady rhythm going, causing Jordis to gasp and feel a bolt of pleasure each time their bodies came together. She wrapped her legs around his waist, almost willing him to drive further into her. His pace started to quicken, the thrusts into her happening faster and faster as she felt another wave start to ride over her. She felt Alarik start to convulse as well and as he cried out he emptied his seed in her. The thrusts slowed down after that and Alarik withdrew from her, lying on top of his bedroll, his breathing heavy. Jordis moved so that she was next to him. She threw one arm over his chest and curled up next to him, lifting her leg over his. He looked down at her. She was breathing heavily as well but there was a content smile on her face. It had been a long time since he had seen a genuine smile from her, Alarik mused.

The fire soon burnt down so it was nothing more than a bed of embers, but neither of them moved to do anything about it.