AN: Gratuitous smut warning. BUT also lots of stuff revealed (some of which Deb will not realize the gravity of….). And Deb learns a couple more dirty words. Heh. Also, props to timeywimeyspaceywacey for the 'Sweet Dibella's tits" line. Heh, heh.

Chapter 21 – Rain, Rain

I awoke to the sound of heavy rain thumping on the waxed leather tent . A flash lit the hide, and soon after thunder vibrated the ground. I could smell that rain smell; besides coffee and orange blossoms, it was one of my favorite smells.

I laughed when the events of the night before came to mind. I turned to my other side, not expecting to see an empty bedroll. Stenvar had moved his directly adjacent to mine to before we passed out. I was surprised that I remembered that; I was surprised that I completely lacked a hangover.

"Stenvar?" I called out. A flash and thunder were my only answer. I had a sudden jolt of panic, not for the absence of Stenvar, whose sword I saw tucked away at the edge of the tent, but rather for our belongings that we had left outside. All of our armor, food, weapons and gold we had taken from the outlaw hideout; I hadn't even retrieved my bra before we crawled back into the tent when exhaustion finally hit us.

I looked behind me and was relieved to see what looked like everything we carried with us in a pile behind me. I crawled over to the pile and found my underwear folded neatly over my linen underarmor, and underneath those, my leather armor. The lantern had been lit, and I saw a bowl of what looked like soup sitting next to a plate of cheese, both placed directly behind my bedroll. I slid on my linen briefs and my bra, then covered most of my body with the one big heavy fabric blanket Stenvar had.

The soup was cold, but I didn't mind. I sipped it hungrily and wondered where Stenvar had gone. He'd obviously left clothed, judging by the absence of his hide underarmor in the pile behind me. But from the sound of the heavy rain above, he would have been drenched in the process. The tent protected me from the rain on all sides, including the bottom. I was lucky. I did worry, however, about the fact that metal was used to pitch the structure, but if Stenvar didn't insist we move, I figured we were safe from being toasted by lightning.

I bit off some cheese as my stomach growled for more food. Between swallows I heard splashing footsteps approach. A dripping Stenvar entered, smiling. He was indeed soaked through.

"Where did you go?" I asked with a mouth full of cheese.

"Put the horse under the overhang coverin' the chopped wood," he said before relieving himself of his wet underarmor.

"Oh, good," I felt ashamed that I forgot about the horse's comfort and safety. "And the soup and cheese?"

"From the worker's lodge. Traded some apples and gold for it." He sat down, naked, on his bedroll which was still tucked closely to mine. He watched me eat.

I looked up at him from my bowl of soup, and paused. "Oh, I'm sorry, is this for sharing?"

He smiled. "No. Enjoy." He continued to watch me.

I swallowed the rest of the soup and returned his gaze. "What do you look at?"

"I am looking," he stressed the word, still improving my speech, "at you."

I placed the empty bowl behind me next to the half-eaten chunk of cheese. His gaze made me uncomfortable and I tucked the blanket securely around me. "Why?" I asked, looking away.

Stenvar huffed a single laugh. He reached over and untucked the blanket from my right side, allowing himself to scoot close to me. "Because I'm cold, and you've stolen the blanket."

I smiled sheepishly, despite assuming he was lying. He lay with his arms behind his head, still looking up at me. I sighed and reclined next to him, propped up by an elbow. "Thank you for breakfast."

He gave a light grunt in response.

"Why…," I looked away from him. "Why don't I have a… ache of the head…? You know, from the drink?"

Stenvar chuckled. "You healed it away."

"I did?"

"Mhmm," he nodded. "Somethin' they probably won't teach ya at that College."

I laughed. "Also not the things you taught me last night, I suppose?"

Stenvar grinned and turned his head to look straight up. "I assume not."

I peered down at my magic-less fingers which had glowed yellow and also sparkled the night before. "I remember it all. The drink did not erase the night."

"Nope."

"I never would know lightning-magic could also… do… that," I blushed and then grinned while chuckling. "Is this why you like mages?"

Stenvar nodded. His eyes were closed, and he was smiling.

I suddenly felt really, really… awkward. "Did you… use me?"

Stenvar turned his head to look at me. "I don't use women, Deborah." He lowered his arms and matched my height by propping himself on an elbow as well. "I meant everything I said last night."

My eyes left his gaze and focused on the designs on his chest. I wasn't at all sure how to respond to that. "You have been with many mages?"

"A few, over the years, among many different kinds of women."

"Many?" I stared at the fist-sized flower on his chest.

"I'm an old man, Deb. I've been around."

I couldn't help but laugh at that remark. Still, the worry of sexually-transmitted diseases ate away at my mind. "Are there not risks to so much sex?"

"Risks?" Stenvar returned to lying on his back. "Just unwanted children n' regrets. And I can't make children." He gripped my chin between his finger and thumb, urging me to look at him. "Do you have regrets?"

I couldn't stop myself from smiling. "No," I answered honestly. "I… I needed…." I bit my lip. "I needed it."

His fingers left my chin. "Hmph. You n' me both, sweetheart." He opened his arms to me, inviting me to snuggle up to him. I did.

For an older man, I was surprised at how good a shape Stenvar's body was in. Aside from a bit of a mead-belly, he was incredibly muscular. My head rested on his shoulder, which thankfully was not at all boney. I hated boney shoulders – so disappointing.

We stared up at the roof of the tent, listening to the rain. After a while, the fingers of his left hand intertwined with those of my right.

"We will not travel today, no?" I assumed.

"Nope."

Lightning flashed and thunder vibrated the ground again.

"I enjoy storms," I said softly.

"Why?"

"I don't know. I always enjoy the rain. Enjoy the smell. Makes me want to lie in bed all day and listen, watch the flashes."

"Good, 'cause that's exactly what we'll be doin' today."

I giggled. A random question entered my mind. "Did you pass out when you… got the tattoo? The, ehh, smaller one…."

Stenvar's chest vibrated when he laughed. "No, but I wish I had."

"It pains me to think about it, and I don't even have one, a… man… thing. Ehh, what is your word for it?"

Stenvar laughed again. "Depends. The correct word is typ, but the more… well, another word, is pyk."

"Another word…. You mean, a word your mother would not use?"

Stenvar's body nearly convulsed in laughter. "Exactly."

"And, maybe, a healer would use the first one? Typ?"

"A healer? Sure, or the woman that stuck needles in it to make the tattoo." I felt his body tighten with the onset of his memory. "Did your tattoos hurt?" he asked.

"No. More, ehh…. I don't know the word. This." I proceeded to tickle Stenvar's side with my fingertips.

He laughed. "Kitel. And stop that."

"Stop what?" I grinned, continuing my feather touches on his painted skin, hand drifting just below the rim of the blanket before his strong hand grabbed my wrist.

Stenvar pushed my right arm away from him and preemptively gripped my other wrist before rolling on top of me. He spoke with his face just above mine. "Don't start somethin' you don't intend to finish."

"I cannot finish if you are holding me," I said, failing to retain my best poker face which slowly gave way to a blushing grin.

My response seemed to only encourage Stenvar, who moved my arms above my head. His lips lowered to graze the flesh just above my right breast. "Restrained, you can't kitel. And…," his tongue traced the outline of my bra, and his teeth found my turgid nipple, eliciting a gasp from my lungs. Apparently that was the "and". He used one big, strong hand to hold both of my wrists, and then pulled the blanket away from the rest of my body.

I felt horribly self-conscious, suddenly. I was completely natural – unshaved, unbathed since last night, and unscented with any perfumes. Stenvar never missed a beat, however. From Gerdur's response to my question about shaving, I assumed she spoke the truth, and that the men of Sky-Rim didn't expect women to be hairless. The man above me was concentrated fully on my linen briefs that covered my lower half, not giving my underarms a second glance. I let myself relax, and concentrated instead on accepting Stenvar's attention.

He still looked old to me; I couldn't get passed my ageist attitude. His face was still clean from our brief dip in the river, however, which improved his appearance. He also didn't smell much of mead anymore.

As his lips caressed my belly, I ran a hand over his shaved head, which began to feel stubbly. "Why do you shave?" I asked. "Do you not get cold?"

Eyes still on my midsection, fingers tugging my linens lower, he answered. "It's grey, always has been."

"The hair? Always?" I lifted my butt off the bedroll to aid in his disrobing me.

"Yeah, since I was born." His mouth sucked at the flesh of my left calf as he slid the briefs down and over my feet.

"Strange."

"It's a family thing. We all have grey hair, our entire lives." He nipped at the flesh of my ankle.

"But why do you shave it?"

"I look old enough without a grey head of hair."

"How old are you?" Please don't say sixty, I thought to myself. I could take twenty years my senior, but not thirty; that would just be weird.

"Fifty-two." He gazed down at me. "And you?"

"Twenty-nine. I had a day of birth not long ago, I think. In the spring. And I have many grey hairs. I do not care about that."

"You do? I don't see any." He bent forward and examined my pubic hair.

I giggled, and held my slight paunch to stop its jiggling. "Not there, Stenvar."

"Oh, well, then…." He lowered himself to my mound swiftly, sending me flat on my back with the sudden pleasure of his tongue licking the sensitive flesh.

I let the expert work his magic. He knew exactly how to respond to my body, and my moans and cries.. When I stopped responding to his light teasing, he increased the intensity of his licking and sucking, and eventually used his teeth to help expose the now-swollen nub. In what must have been mere minutes I was shuddering uncontrollably against the man. When I calmed, he lapped up my wetness. I understood, finally, that Stenvar was one of those rare men that really, really enjoyed pleasuring women orally.

When he finished below my waist, he left a trail of nips and kisses up the length of my body, ending with my mouth. I felt a sudden pang of guilt for not yet returning the same pleasure Stenvar had given me several times already. The ageist within me nearly cringed at the thought while kissing him, but at the same time, I enjoyed pleasing a man in that way. And, unlike Thrynn, whose size made my jaw hurt, Stenvar's girth would not likely cause such discomfort.

I pushed myself from my bedroll and flipped our bodies, landing Stenvar on his back on his own bedroll. The way I landed caused his erection to be pressed between his midsection and my mound. He could have easily slid inside me at that point, but I backed away, urging him to stay on his back. I braced myself for getting a close-up view of his genitals, but was pleasantly surprised. Despite his age, his bits were even more visually appealing than my much younger ex-husband's. I hadn't gotten a good view last night, and now, in the dimmed daylight, my fears of old-man-balls abated. I also realized that Stenvar trimmed himself below, as well as shaving his head.

"You… shave?" I asked.

"Shave? No, I'm not puttin' a knife to my neten. I just cut a little off with skers. Makes it look bigger, no?" He winked.

I laughed, and explored the area with my fingers. "I should, too."

"Neh." Neh. I was pretty sure that was the word for naw, or nah. He continued. "No reason for a woman to."

"In my world, most men want their woman shaved; everything except the head."

"Truly? Strange." Stenvar settled back, using his hands to prop his head up a little to watch me. I could tell he didn't want to talk about body hair anymore.

I watched the blue arrow move up and down as I began to stroke the erect shaft.

"Take off your binding," Stenvar requested. I obliged, and let my ample breasts join in on the fun. The bra needed a serious washing, anyway. I leaned forward, pulled back the foreskin, and let my tongue explore the swollen, purple-pink glans. I licked, gently, areas known to be sensitive, and was rewarded by a twitch of the organ and a light grunt of the man. I used my other hand to fondle his uniform sack.

I was determined to tease Stenvar for as long as possible, but I was also curious to see how much of him I could take into my mouth. I continued to lick and to move the foreskin up and down along the shaft, enjoying watching the organ twitch occasionally and feeling Stenvar's thigh muscles ripple. I looked up his body at his face, which remained relaxed and transfixed, watching my actions. I wondered if Stenvar noticed how much I enjoyed pleasuring a man in this way – though, perhaps not as much as he enjoyed pleasuring women similarly. Whenever I performed oral sex on a man, I became highly aroused. I fought the temptation not to finish in the same manner I started, to climb on top of the man instead.

Distracting myself, I took Stenvar into my mouth for the first time. A soft mmm sound from the man rewarded me. While in my mouth, I used my tongue to tease the sensitive underside of the head. With a hand, I moved the foreskin slowly up and down. I felt a hand on my head, and knew the man was enjoying the teasing. I considered that Stenvar was into light nips and bites during sex, and the fact that he had a tattooed dick. Testing him, I gently grazed his foreskin with a canine tooth. Stenvar gasped, and I continued to graze the organ, very slowly, over the glans. The man shuddered a bit, obviously enjoying the nearly too-intense play.

"Fuck," he muttered. I grinned at my success.

I continued to suck and lick at the head, but wanted to test something else. I took a deep breath through my nose and then, slowly, lowered my mouth as far as I could take him in, stopping just short of his trimmed hair. The tip of his head hit the back of my throat, and I stilled for a moment, but had to lift myself soon to get air. Stenvar's fingers knotted with my hair in a silent signal for more of the same. I obliged several more times until I could sense he was nearing climax.

I wasn't particularly fond of swallowing semen, no matter who the man was. I sat up, and using two hands, began to work the head and shaft at the same time. I was curious to know how he would react to a move I'd come up with years ago that compensated for my lack of desire to swallow. Making sure my one palm was overly moist, I began to rub it against the head, still using the other hand to stroke the shaft. Stenvar's neck flew back and eyes closed; he grunted at the sensation. I continued the motions for a little while longer until I decided he deserved a grand finale. I increased the speed of my strokes, and with my right hand no longer rubbed the head but rather let the glans hit the moist palm, as if it were thrust into a bodily orifice. Stenvar gripped the bedroll and thrust his hips up to meet my hands. His grunting increased in pitch until he was practically whining.

His climax hit more intensely than they had the night before, any of the three times. "Sweet… Dibella's… tutten…. FUCK." His shouting was followed by loud, growling moans.

I giggled, not knowing what 'tutten' were, but assuming it wasn't something polite. I continued the motions, slower then, and less harsh, until the man stilled. I leaned backwards, pushed open the unfastened tent flap, and let the rain wash my hand of the sticky mess.

"Fuckin' shit, woman," Stenvar grunted. "What in Ommin was that!?" He propped himself up to look at me.

I shrugged. "I don't like to swallow, so…."

The man laughed, collapsing back onto the bedroll, still catching his breath.

I snuggled up next to him, caressing his decorated torso, tracing the painted vines and enjoying watching him recover. "What is 'ommin'?" I asked. "I have heard it so much."

"It's…," he started, still breathing heavily, "a place you never wanna go to. Bad place. Daedra live here."

"Daedra?" I recalled what Gerdur had told me about god-like Daedras. I thought perhaps the saying was similar to the way people in my world used the word "hell". "So, I would say, 'What in ommin are you doing?' or 'I hope you go to ommin'?"

Stenvar laughed. "Yes."

"What does the word mean, though? I want to understand."

He sighed. "Nnff, I dunno, Deb. It's… another world." He grasped my hand and squeezed it tight.

"Are there any words you can say to explain it?"

He whined a little, and sighed again. "Never-ending."

"Never ending?" I thought a moment. Time? Infinity? Oblivion? "Alright, thank you. And what about 'tutten'?" I smiled, knowing it was something a bit naughty if he said it while having an orgasm.

Stenvar just grabbed one of my breasts. "This. This…." He groaned, and turned onto his stomach.

Tutten. Tits. Got it.

After I gave Stenvar an arguably excellent hand-job, we didn't have any further intimate contact. Neither of us particularly needed any, though I had been somewhat aroused by my own handiwork. Stenvar just wanted to sleep after that, however. While he slept, I walked out into the rain, letting it wash my body. Stenvar had set out both of our canteens to catch the rain water, and I took a few swigs. The late summer rain felt glorious. I was amazed at the climatic difference between here and Windhelm, despite the two areas being only two days' distance apart. I wanted to bathe in the river, but the water had become somewhat torrential with the downpour, and I decided against it.

I then realized how close the mill-worker's houses were, but was comforted by seeing how well thick evergreen trees blocked the majority of the view to our little camp. I crawled back into the tent, still wet, and dried myself with the blanket, grinning at how puckered my nipples were and how Stenvar would have appreciated the show. I dressed in my underwear and underarmor and then relaxed, listening to the rain, and later retrieved my journal from my knapsack.

On separate pages I made several lists of Norren words that I was learning. I wrote any thoughts I put in the journal in English, though, just in case someone should run across it. Since the Norren alphabet was more similar to Nordic runes, it was completely impossible for people to read the English bits, which I found comforting.

I looked over my lists while Stenvar slept, and added new words.

Food: ofrava, drunk; galgerth, potion; lyf, tonic; veizlas, feast; maakt, spiced.

People: kyna, I introduce; elska, sweetheart; kaer, dear; lokei, empire; Lokolt, Empire person/Imperial (aka Romanesque soldier); kenaris, instructor; mathir, man; kune, woman; vler, others; thuun, outlaw/bandit; qiib, cute; briita, beautiful.

Places and Nature: lein, planet; ilman, moon; Ommin, Oblivion.

War: gaeta, guard; stel, steel; svik, forge; jern, iron; nylith, recruit; dripa, kill; hjor, sword; skeyr, cut/slice.

Emotions: loska, I love; sekna, I miss; thrae, I desire (sexual); fysan, want/desire (not sexual).

Travel: aeventyrig, adventuring; authar, treasure; stjalt, tent; merr, mare.

Clothing: kjol, robe; serk, shirt; kerklaeth, armor.

Animals: feneth, cattle; frekir, wolf; fikin, fish; gifik, troll; gargen, snake.

Commerce: sysle, business; kaup, buy; selja, sell; thun, law.

Weather: fo, frost; himfos, rain; iz, ice.

Possessives: han, his; ha, hers; da, your; mina, my.

Naughty Words: rith, fuck; rithig, fucking; neten, nuts (probably not the edible kind); feikan, damn; sjugig, sucking (goddamn rithig Thrynn); skit, shit; tut, tit; bac, asshole; typ, penis; pyk, cock.

Random: vathvet, whatever/anything; sothas, mess; legathaar, apparently; vidth, besides; laargaar, obviously; megin, strength; sist, least (at least); horma, wreck/disaster; skapa, to create/make; gypt, gift; sahla, weak; finar,tofind/discover; syn, to exist; thongar, pregnant; segja, I suggest; hvil, rest; hvera, every/all; en, also; truer, believe; sitja, stay; klovt, head; haus, skull; sil, soul; fortid, past; frab, fantastic; rif; rib; vodar, vanish; valtekur, raped; hefin, revenge; mirak, portal; tholet, artifact; maalut, tattooed; bahs, art; nus, statue; kitel, tickle; skers, scissors.

The rain stopped in the late afternoon, and Stenvar went and bought us some more soup, meat sandwiches, and mead for dinner. It was too late to head out to Windhelm, so we settled in for the evening again. We only talked, though. We each had a bottle of mead to ourselves, which I knew was too much for me, but I drank most of it, anyway.

"I'm beginning to enjoy this honey-wine," I said while washing down my meat sandwich.

Stenvar grunted while chewing his own mouthful.

"I'm beginning to enjoy you," I accidentally said aloud. I took a bite of my sandwich before realizing what I'd said, then stared up at Stenvar – a terrified little deer, in the face of the flashing beam of a grin. I felt my face blush, and I knew my embarrassment was visible when Stenvar started to chuckle and turn a bit red himself.

Nothing more was said on that matter, and soon enough we were both asleep.

We set out the next morning to go back to Windhelm. The ground was wet, but we stuck to the roads to avoid mud. The journey was spent in relative silence with me resting my head against Stenvar's steel-clad chest. Around midday, we stopped by the roadside to have a light lunch.

"I think…." I stared at my chunk of dried beef. "I think I will ask Wuunferth if I can stay for a short time. Work more for him, maybe, if I can."

"I thought I'd be takin' ya to Winterhold in a couple days." He looked up at me, surprised.

I shrugged. "I think I need to learn the language more. Learn the magic-words. I don't want to be there and not understand the instructors."

"Hmph. Well, I have to go to Winterhold anyway. If you don't wanna come with me right away, I suppose I could take ya another time."

"Are you sure?"

"Of course. I'm always goin' somewhere. Lots of adventurin' to be done up north. It's just cold as Ysmir's dead nuts up there."

I nearly choked on my jerky. Stenvar, full of grace. "Who is Ysmir?"

Stenvar smiled, finished his meal, and then stood. "Get on the horse; I'll tell ya a story."