You won't believe what a lovely KIWIFLUFF did for me! This is Garoul in all her sexy glory--this is some of the most astounding art anyone has ever done for me! THANK YOUUUUU. www . deviantart . com / deviation / 22038784 (take out the spaces). Look at some of her other stuff, too, while you're at it!

Providence

Part Two

Chapter One

Garoul awoke the next morning to a distasteful hum. Her eyes blinked open and she saw it was already growing light, despite the snow that still fell outside; however, her view was blocked by a rather obtrusive shadow.

Reich hovered over her, examining the various stains on the bed. The night looked like it had been a rough one. "Half the inn heard you," he said, taking a step back to sit on the window sill. "At least, I know I did." He cocked one eyebrow at the night elf. She stared down at the bed and the sight shocked her speechless.

"Hm, well," she managed, "that's not my problem, is it?"

The warrior laughed at her and replied, "I wasn't too bothered, myself."

"You're not too bothered by anything." They chuckled for a moment until Reich leaned forward and gave her a serious look.

"So now, I have to know—how was it?"

Garoul noticed she was naked but didn't much care, for she sat up with the blankets wrapped around her. She narrowed her eyebrows. "It was better than anything I could have conjured up." She clenched one fist. "I will see him again, just you wait," she growled. If Reich didn't know her, he would have thought she wanted to kill the troll; but the curl of her lip was not an expression of distaste, but one of extreme... he pondered this. The need for possession. Sometimes she was so male.

"Well, I'm sure he would be downstairs if you wanted to jump him." He smiled slyly. "I saw him there earlier. Can't say he's much of a looker, but your tastes have always been rather strange."

Garoul shook her head. "I don't even know if I'll be able to get up today," she admitted.

Reich laughed and offered, "I'll bring you some breakfast, then."

She wondered how long she had been out when she woke up again to find herself covered in a cloak with the blankets removed, and some bread, butter and bacon on the bare sheets beside her. There was no one in the room, so she hastily ate and set about to putting on her clothes, despite the raw soreness of her thighs and hips.

Garoul glanced around in hope of discovering the hidden location of her bed dressings, but they seemed to have disappeared. Reich must have done something with them, she thought, and let out an exasperated sigh. Tying her bags to her belt the elf left the room and headed downstairs.

Everyone who had remained overnight was stuck—that much she knew. She could see part of a snow drift at the base of a window near the door and sighed. Another elf, a tall man, sat at a barstool by the door; two orcs and a troll were talking in hushed tones across the room; and a short gnomish mage and a human woman were swapping stories near the stairs. There was little here for her to do beside visit the leather store, pick up some more supplies and ready more wares to be sold. Unlike all the various creatures stranded here, she had nowhere in particular to be, and since she took over the operation three days before, lazing around the common had become routine. Here she looked at new designs, ones she had bought, found, or created herself, and wrote down the materials she would need to create them.

Garoul decided to drink that night and by noon, she requested a small glass of wine. There was very little else to do for most visitors but drink, and the bar began to fill into the afternoon.

She saw a familiar, light blue troll settle next to her on a bar stool at around two, and she only looked at him briefly as to avoid any unnecessary attention. The room was still rather empty. Garoul wrote more notes in her large recipe book, adding a stencil sketch to one of her more stylistic designs. She could feel Hanzar's eyes on her at first, traveling down her arm to the paper on the bar, which then attracted enough of his attention that he actually leaned in to get a better look.

"I wish you could understand me," she muttered quietly, and she saw him pause. He whispered in Orcish back to her and the guttural sound stirred something familiar in her. Thinking for a brief moment, she flipped the page in her book and began to draw.

She began with a really awful doodle of herself, with some written Common coming out. She then drew a door with her room number, and another doodle of himself—also rather bad—with a few broken words of Common from his mouth as well. She put the pencil down and looked at him with a questioning expression.

He was rather bright for a troll—she'd always been told the Horde had very little when it came to brains, but Hanzar had proved far brighter than herself in picking up on nuances and gestures. The troll looked tentatively at the drawing and then, looking at her, he slowly nodded his head. With a smile she closed the book and signaling him to wait, she turned and left upstairs.

When she reached her room, Garoul saw her blanket had been cleaned and replaced, and everything looked as it had the day before. Unaware any maids of any kind existed at the inn, she shrugged her shoulders dismissively and walked to the window to look outside.

Some afternoon light managed its way through the white-out, but for the most part all she could see was snow. If the blizzard didn't let up by that evening, they would all be stuck here for at least another two days—the kind of hostilities that could erupt in that period of time were numerous and rather severe. She sighed and closed the curtain, walking back to her bed where she sat and waited.

Her door tentatively opened some minutes later, and after looking up and down the hall, Hanzar slipped inside. He wore sandals this time, and a long, cloth shirt with loose pants that came to his knees. They watched one another for a few moments before he came over and sat down on the bed beside her, looking rather stiff.

There was no delaying, Garoul realized, with the language barrier between them, so she launched right into the reason they had met. She began with the basics.

She pointed at him and in clear Common, she said, "You."

He looked at her for a moment and in a gruff voice replied, "You."

And that was where it began. After teaching him a few basic words, he turned the table on her and repeated the same ones in Orcish. Confused at first, Garoul picked up his meaning and for every word she gestured or drew, Hanzar repeated the lesson to her in his own language. She found the accent extremely difficult at first, but then she learned that many of the sounds flowed together more smoothly than Common—almost like the natural sounds of her own native language. When she recognized what they had in common she found it far easier.