Pure cuteness ahead… but no lemon, so ha you perverts out there. )
Chapter 27, Moonlight bathing
While Beast King walked back through the forest Lise and Kevin entered the statue's clearing again, Karl jumping around their feet like he had done the entire way. Somehow they had managed not to stumble on the ecstatic puppy, at least so far.
For some reason nothing had attacked them during their walk, either. Perhaps the rumors about Kevin had spread quickly…
"Karl, leave that alone…" the beastman grunted as the pup went over to the grave and suspiciously poked at the flowers with his nose.
Karl snorted and laid down on the ground, his tail waving happily.
"Let it be," Lise calmly said, motioning at the false grave.
Kevin nodded in agreement and put her armor on the ground. As he straightened up he looked at his stained arms, as if he hadn't seen it before running his gaze over the torn and blemished clothes.
"I better wash, gah," he concluded with another grunt.
Lise looked down at herself. There was blood on her as well after her and Kevin's embrace in the underground room.
Not your everyday follow-up of the first kiss…
"You're not the only one…"
She realized what that could be translated to and automatically looked up, staring into his rather dazzled eyes. They both turned away again, blushing slightly. In the silence that followed Karl's ears twisted, puzzled.
"Um… I'll just… be over there…" Lise mumbled and went down to the bushes facing the statue, bringing her backpack along since there was a towel and an extra tunic somewhere within its depths.
She disappeared behind the greenery but glanced through a tiny opening between the leaves as she absentmindedly searched for the big piece of rough cloth inside her pack. Kevin stood still for a moment, in the silver light she couldn't (just like before…) see any colors. Still she had a feeling he blushed; she still did.
After a while he sheepishly rubbed his cheek with the back of his hand, a faint smile on his lips though. He let his backpack fall and freed his bedroll, taking the blanket from it plus a smaller sack from the pack before heading into the bushes behind the goddess' back. Karl jumped up and happily bounced after him through the shrubbery.
"Karl, stop!" Kevin yelped, laughing.
His call was followed by a loud splash. Lise chuckled to herself, tenderly.
Of course Kevin let the pup bring him off balance, the prince was far to strong to be beaten by Karl no matter if he was tired.
'I've never heard him laugh like that,' Lise warmly thought, 'he's finally free from his guilt…'
And Karl was such a bundle of festive trouble. She had to smile widely at the statement, laughing again as she heard the two playfully wrestle in the small river on the other side of the clearing.
Still smiling she pulled out the towel and put it in the grass, letting it go to slowly rise her hand to her lips. At the touch of her fingertips a sparkle of the earlier glow returned, causing a thrill of warm, tender excitement to run through her whole body.
'We kissed…?'
No, it hadn't been a dream. The blood on her tunic and arms, be it obscure, was clear proof.
'I love Kevin… I love Kevin!'
Sweet, adorable, strong, handsome, brave, stuttering, dependable, shy Kevin!
Widely smiling she ran one hand through her hair, feeling strong all of a sudden despite her fatigue. And happier than she ever could remember. As her hands fell to the towel she clenched them into cloth-filled, shaking fists, not of a fury other than that of pure joy.
'Oh calm down, you're acting like a silly fourteen-year-old!' her sense of duty snarled.
But the rest of her just sneered back at that sense for the moment being.
'Be like that then!' she snorted at it, smiling even wider, 'but let me be happy just for once, you can't take this away!'
'I take everything unneeded away!' Duty snapped back, 'you have your responsibilities to think of!'
The normally leading sense twitched with hurt pride as Lise just chuckled again.
'Responsibilities, right here in the middle of a forest?' the princess sneered, 'aren't you satisfied with that I've accepted a possible suitor?'
'Now you're making things up! He hasn't exactly…'
'Oh, just shut up!'
Some other part of Lise's mind laughed, amused. Duty seemed even more offended as the newcomer piped up:
'Just imagine the Challenge of the Queen… you wouldn't stand more than five seconds against him. If even that.'
'No…' Lise smiled, chuckling.
'Oh yeah? And how will you even make him fight you, have you considered that?' Duty coldly said, causing Lise to roll her eyes, 'he'll never want to attack you even for traditions! Stop being silly and just get cleaned already!'
'Alright, alright…'
Without relaxing her lips the slightest the amazon pulled her tunic over her head and stepped into the cold water, shuddering. It wasn't that deep; she sat down on her knees and the water reached up to just barely cover her chest.
"Brr…" Lise muttered and rubbed her arms below the surface to get rid of the more stubborn stains.
Since they were on her skin the marks weren't that hard to get rid of. The tunic would be more complicated though… oh well. It wasn't like anybody was supposed to normally see her walking around just in that. She didn't have much left of the piece of soap she'd gotten from Rolante, she'd rather use that on herself and not on clothes.
Come to think of it…
She had begun to adjust to the cold water, it wasn't plain torture anymore. Okay, why not...
Lise reached out of the river, for her backpack. As her hand passed above the heap that was the tunic she thought about placing it in the water with a rock on to stop it from drifting away. That would at least help a little… but no. There was no time for letting it dry, they were only going to rest for maybe three, four hours and that wouldn't be enough in the cool night.
Nope, this had to do.
For the sake of time she tried to keep her hair as dry as possible too, even though a big part of it was floating peacefully on the surface around her arms and tickling her pleasantly.
While she was rubbing water over her face to get rid of the last soap left in that area she suddenly heard a splashing from behind and almost dove beneath the surface by instinct. But she knew Kevin never would try anything like spying and a monster would sneak…
"Arf!"
Lise sighed and rolled her eyes, with a smile though.
"Karl, I'm glad you think I shouldn't be lonely, but I prefer not to have men of any kind around when I take a bath!" she said, trying to sound resolute as she waved at him with a pointing finger sticking up just above the surface.
It was just that he was so darn cute when he whimpered and paddled closer.
"Oh, no you don't!" she stated as he tried to lunge forward to lick her face again.
Kindly but firmly she grabbed the sides of his furry body and lifted the drenched puppy out of the river. He snorted but waved his dripping tail at her as he was put down.
And then he began to violently shake off the water.
"Hey!" Lise shouted with a loud laugh as she got an unwanted shower.
"Ah, sorry for that!" Kevin called from the other side of the clearing.
"No, it's alright," she yelled back, smiling.
Karl snorted again and strutted up into the open field.
The amazon smiled, but her head snapped up in surprise as a strong light erupted from behind the bushes in the area where Kevin was, accompanied by his powerful howling.
"Something wrong?!" Lise shouted and slammed her palms onto the dry ground to heave herself out of the water, completely forgetting about her lack of clothes.
"Nothing, just easier drying…"
Thousands upon thousands drops of water flashed in the moonlight as a familiar sound came from the other part of the river. Lise covered her lips with her hand as she laughed and leaned back into the river, seeing a mental image of Kevin in his werewolf form shaking off the water just like Karl had done.
She figured that she should get up on dry land as well since he obviously was almost done. Shivering in the chilly night she stood up and quickly wrapped the towel around herself.
Grimacing at the cold she rubbed the cloth over her wet skin and dug her clean tunic out of the backpack. Her hair received a quick, rough massage by the towel to get fairly dry before Lise hurriedly got into the simple clothing.
Since she was still freezing she tied the towel around her waist to work like a long skirt before she walked the same way as Karl had done a moment ago.
While she sat down on the ground just by Kevin's bedroll he entered the clearing as well, wearing his other set of clothes and the remains of what he had been wearing thrown over his shoulder. He was rubbing his face with the blanket to get rid of the last water; he obviously lacked a towel.
Lise met his shy gaze as he lowered the cloth, biting her lower lip as she desperately tried to think of something to say. She didn't know where to begin, and he clearly felt just as lost now.
The problem was that they had realized how much they loved each other while they had been too exhausted and relieved to think; now they had had time to realize it to the fullest. Suddenly it felt more complicated than before…
Just… didn't know what to say… what to do, where to start. Where to begin again, what was the next step?
Karl saved them from the awkward torture. Oblivious to his friends' shy staring at each other he took a bite of Kevin's blanket and pulled.
"Hey, Karl…!" the beastman snorted and playfully tried to win the competition, not really using any strength.
Lise laughed at the scene and stood up, rushed over to Karl as fast as the improvised skirt allowed and buried her fingers in the fur on his head. He barked in delight and let go of the blanket, pushing at Lise to make her continue scratching him behind his ears. She sat down again and smiled warmly as her nails gently worked on the puppy's head.
"You're a little beast too," she told him, "but cute."
He just snorted at that, his tail waving happily.
"What's he saying?" Lise said in a soft voice, glancing up.
Kevin more or less forced himself not to be more timid, wrestling his accursed shyness away as he sat down just beside her. His hands felt shaky, though, as if he was scared of something.
'Yeah, I'm scared,' he grimly thought, 'I really am… of loosing this realization.'
The sad happiness was a soft buzz throughout his entire being now, but the shyness was still dangerous. He thought that logically it shouldn't be that way, but it was…
Oh, come on! Don't let it take over you again!
Lise smelled a bit nervous, insecure… but was it the same way he felt, or was it about whether she did love him or not?
Kevin held back an urge to bite his tongue, trying to calm down enough to speak.
'Am I overstressed?'
He swallowed and looked at Karl.
"Ah, he's not making much sense," he said, beginning in a low voice but it felt better as he finally got down to saying something so bit by bit he regained a normal tone, "too young. Just happy to be here. And like you too."
That he was able to smile at her made himself rather surprised, he had been sure that he was too uptight by now to manage something like that.
'Relax, just calm down,' he told himself, 'there's no use being like this.'
Lise smiled back, carefully. Then the scent of nervousness increased for a moment, before she slowly changed her position and leaned at his arm. Kevin forced down a will to jump and took in a slow breath.
And draped the arm around her shoulders, drawing her closer.
See, it's alright. Okay?
They exchanged glances and smiled rather sheepishly, understanding.
"Haven't ever felt…" Kevin said in a low voice, fighting to keep the embarrassment from taking over.
"Me neither."
She very resolutely decided not to say anything about challengers now, it could scare both of them off. The princess might have been caught in the joy but she was clearheaded enough not to start building cloud castles. What they had now was enough for the moment and it couldn't be sweeter…
Well, apart from one thing.
She held back a sigh. Not that that helped against Kevin's nose.
"Wrong?" he said, his tender grip of her twitching.
"No, I was just thinking of Eliott…" Lise muttered, "even if we manage to take care of Jagan there might be so many battles left and… hm?"
His left hand moved up to her face and the fingertips swiftly touched her lips to make her stop talking. She met his gaze, rather surprised. Kevin shook his head, gravely.
"Lise, please don't worry now."
His warm hand moved to her cheek, as he watched her with tender concern.
"But I have to be strong, Kevin…" Lise finally muttered.
"I know, gah, but not now. Should let mind rest too."
She straightened up then, wrapped her arms around his neck and leaned her forehead on her upper arm beside his head.
'She sad?' Karl asked, worried.
'No, just tired,' Kevin silently told his young friend while placing both arms protectively around Lise's shoulders, 'she's always planning the next hunt. And worry makes her weaker.'
There was no other way he could explain the situation to the puppy.
'She's strong! And smell nice!' Karl happily said, lying in the grass with his tail storming and ears twitching.
'Yes,' Kevin softly mumbled.
'Your female?'
Kevin wrinkled his nose at the puppy. Oh yeah, he's growing. Not really the kid he used to be… and if he'd been in the castle he must have met other wolves.
'That's not what humans call it,' the prince said.
'But is she?' Karl grinned.
Had the wolf been a human he could have been a nine year old, happily teasing younger brother.
Kevin's lips twitched. When wolves said "female" and "male", they meant it.
And…
'Yes, she is,' he told Karl.
'If she'll have me for the rest of her life…' he thought to himself, holding back a frown.
'Happy!' the pup declared, placing his head on his front paws with a merry whimper.
Kevin turned his face to Lise, his nose automatically being buried in her hair. The soft, warm smell almost made his head spin before he adapted to the first overwhelming feeling of closeness.
Now she was holding him, her warmth melting around the young beastman. Still… he was so afraid to loose her, like he had lost his mother and feared to have lost Karl as well. It had been so close when he had fought Rakadra…
The mere thought of ever failing to keep her close made him tighten the careful grip he had for the moment.
Lise's arms carefully squeezed his neck in return, not so that he got any troubles breathing, just a brief tightening.
The silence was like the silky petal of a white rose.
Peaceful.
Kevin awoke by a very careful caress, three fingertips stroking a warm path across his cheek.
"Hmm?" he muttered, snorting out a tired breath.
"The birds are here," Lise's voice softly said, almost whispering.
She was sitting on her knees beside him, her fine silhouette resting against one of the moons as Kevin opened his eyes with a wide yawn.
Faintly he could remember moving his slightly numb arm under her head to get some feeling back in it before he fell back into his slumber… there was some memory of her warmth drawing away too, but so slowly and careful that he in his remaining exhaust had slipped back into sleep again.
Rubbing his eyes he sat up, blinking.
Karl was standing in front of two big, feathery shadows beside the statue; he was whimpering and snorting while the birds chirped.
They hadn't got the same language, but could still understand each other fairly well. Talking about hunting for the moment.
"Want something to eat?" Lise said and put her backpack on the ground.
The half blood looked up at her and realized that she was in her armor already. Slowly he nodded.
"And then we leave," he said, knowing that she wouldn't admit that she was eager to go but truly wanted that.
"Alright," the princess innocently said.
Kevin took the bread he was offered and ate it without a word. He didn't want to say anything that could be nagging, so he decided to just let it be. After all, the sooner they could get to the Light stone and meet Wisp, the better. He had felt the holy elemental's presence when calling it for help, but the link Luna had provided wasn't strong enough for holding councils.
To avoid a moment of stressing waiting Lise took a bread as well, but she wasn't really concentrating when eating.
Waking up to find herself resting peacefully in Kevin's arms, still holding her own over his chest and hand by his cheek, had truly dazzled her. At first she had been too drowsy to even remember that the situation was rather unfamiliar, though her mind had caught up with facts after a few moments. She couldn't recall falling asleep like that, it must have happened while they were sitting down and holding on to each other.
Tenderly she went over the realization the he had made sure she laid completely on his bedroll, and then letting himself only be halfway away from the ground since there wasn't enough space. So typically him.
To watch his calm face that close, able to feel his warm breath passing through her hair… she hadn't ever wanted to move.
However…
When the birds suddenly landed she had been forced to realize that it was time to go again, whether she liked it or not. But unwilling to disturb Kevin just yet her movements of getting out of his embrace had been slow and careful and he had kept sleeping.
After putting on her armor and remembering that she didn't have her ribbon any longer Lise had spent another few moments watching Kevin's sleep before carefully awakening him. He really deserved more rest after all he had done, but…
She didn't know how to thank him for what he had gone through for her, it was so incredibly much.
"Know the way?" Kevin said as he stood up, pulling Lise out of the pool of thoughts.
"According to my memory the kingdom of Light used to be to the east southeast of where Rolante now is, in the mountains," the princess nodded.
One of the birds chirped.
"Beast King told them already," Kevin translated with a glance at the carriers.
"He's really helping out…" Lise said with a smile.
The half blood thoughtfully nodded and started to wrap up his bedroll.
A few minutes later they left the Moonlight forest, entering a night sky not created by any Mana stone's power. Karl was nervously peeking out of Kevin's backpack, but he was safe there.
'Thanks for everything,' Lise thought, glancing back at the forest.
Due to her position she could only see the castle of the beastmen in the corner of her eye, but there was where she sent her thoughts.
Kevin's father seemed cold blooded, harsh and empty of emotions. Still, it was pretty clear that no matter what he made it look like, he really did care about his son.
Hm.
"You won't find him here, at least I hope so."
He had said so about Jagan.
Lise clenched her teeth. Not that she knew Beast King that well, however that little remark, the tone of his voice, hinted that not even he felt tempted to engage battle with the red eyed man. And that just couldn't be good.
The princess closed her eyes for a moment.
No use worrying now. They just had to see Wisp and talk to him about it…
But she could never stop worrying about anything at all.