Authors Note1: Hey everyone, thanks for the Reviews, many of you seem to like the story about Riveria. I will do my best to not disappoint you and I have many things planned for those two.
.
.
.
.
While she was still worried about Aina, Riveria felt more and more tense falling off from her. Bell had a natural talent to help her relax her thoughts, the the landscape literally flew beneath them.
They didn´t ran but walked at a quick pace, thankfully there were small streams here and there so they didn´t need to save their water. From time to time Bell looked over his shoulder, after a few hours he only saw Babel, not the city beneath it.
Whenever Bell traveled and came out of the city for a while, he enjoyed the peace and let his eyes wander around the landscape. The mountains in front of them grew slowly, it would take days to arrive there. Riveria and Bell didn´t talked the whole time, but even walking side by side in silent was nice.
Except for two short breaks, they walked the entire day until the sun slowly started to set. Bell took a foldable map out of his jacket and looked at something he had in mind.
"Ms. Riveria?"
"Yes?"
"Since the sun is slowly sinking, how about we set up camp there for the night."
Bell pointed at first on the map and then forward, to a small forest. According to the map, this forest had a small lake inside...and since he was travelling with an elf...
"I wouldn´t mind camping under the sky, do you have a special reason for the forest?"
"Eh?"
Bell looked perplexed.
Riveria blinked and looked at his confused face, confused of his behaviour.
"Bell?"
"I mean...I thought...don´t you need to camp there?"
"Why?" She raised an eyebrow.
"I mean, here...there is a lake inside."
"I...can´t follow your argument..."
"A lake in a forest...a forest lake...I mean...ahm..."
She slowly understood what he was talking about...it had to be because of Ryu...and Lefiya. When she had traveled with Ryu, she had demanded to camp at small forests with lakes inside, that she "had" to take a bath there. Lefiya was pretty similar.
"Not all elves feel the need to bath in a forest lake everytime they see one, you know?"
Bell´s shocked expression let her chuckle slightly.
"Do you really thought every elf is like Lyon and Lefiya in that matter?"
"Well I...yes."
"It is really refreshing to travel with you, Bell. This forest is as good as a camp under the sky, so why not. And to be honest, a bath would be nice."
She looked amused to him while they walked, he looked like he was in thoughts.
"Bell...you better don´t imagine me bathing right now..."
"I-I-I would never!"
"I was joking, don´t worry. I trust that you won´t try to peek on me while I take a bath."
Bell looked serious into her eyes. "I swear that I will never do something like that. Never will I betray your trust into me...that is unthinkable for me."
Riveria saw the determination in his eyes. Bell was a pretty unique man for her, she was amazed how pure and innocent he remained with so many partners. Lefiya once told her to never speak the word "Harem" in his presence, Bell hated this word with every fiber of his being.
Not only the women he loved, Bell treated every women with utmost respect. Even when there were a few embarrassing situations for Riveria in the past with Bell, she really trusted him. In her Familia, Riveria had once heard a few men talking about her, back when Raul was still a teenager.
They had praised how beautiful she was and the outline of her body, wanting to discover what was under her robes. Riveria had punished them all...Raul got a lighter punishment due to his youth. But Bell...Bell had never looked at her in an indecent way, sometimes Riveria noticed out of the corner of her eyes that Bell looked at her.
Never wandered his eyes over her body, when she talked to him he was focused on her eyes. And when something happened, Bell apologized...and he meant it.
Back when they had trained together because Bell had to get stronger, he bumped into her and both fell. Bell had put his hand on the back of her head in reflex and pulled her close, he had turned them around and made sure it was his body that hit the ground first. While the situation, how she lied on top of Bell, was embarrassing...Riveria was staggered that Bell moved in this way by instinct. His nature and instinct let him protect a woman whenever possible, wanting to make them happy. The only thing she noticed, sometimes...but only sometimes...his eyes wandered to her ears. Riveria knew that Bell was fascinated by elves, well he was in love with two and one of them was expecting his child.
But what Riveria didn´t knew...Bell was really facinated by her. Lefiya was the youngest elf he had regular contact with, Ryu was older than him and maybe what one could call a young adult elf. But Riveria...in his eyes she had a special aura on her...the aura of an adult elf. Her elegant yet simple beauty fascinated him, if he was honest he was all too happy to go on a journey with Riveria.
There was much love in Bell´s heart...love for more than one woman...and Riveria...was one of them. It wouldn´t make the journey easier for him, but he would do everything to reach their goal, to make her happy.
.
Small forests like these one with small lakes inside weren´t that rare near to elven forests, for whatever reason. Just when the sun was about to set, they arrived at the forest. From what Bell could see, the forest was about as big as one of Orario´s eight districts. The forest consisted entirely of deciduous trees and smaller bushes underneath, there were no paths through the forest, only a few animal trails. He heard a few birds chirping and some noises from animals inside the forest, but it looked really nice.
"Bell, follow me."
"Okay."
Riveria took the lead, naturally she found the right way between the trees and bushes.
"Where you here in the past?"
"Hm?"
"I mean you find the way to easily."
She smiled slightly. "I am an elf, have you forgotten?"
"I´m sorry, it slipped my mind that this has to be something natural for you."
"Well I lived in a much bigger forest than this one for over seventy years."
"If I am allowed to say that, you look much younger."
"That is very polite of you."
Riveria knew him well enough to know that he wasn´t trying to flirt with her. She was once again thankfull for her green robe, that ended at her knees and the elven boots. It made it pretty easy to move through the forest, Bell had much more problems due to his enormous backpack, but he refused to let her carry some of the stuff.
He was adamant that he couldn't allow a woman to carry to much when traveling. Riveria got what Lefiya had raved about, that Bell was a true gentleman...that he once even took off his cape and put it on a puddle so that Lefiya´s feet didn´t got wet, when they were traveling...it was no wonder that Bell had managed to win Lefiya´s heart.
Her ears were much sharper than Bell´s, so Riveria heard the faint gurgle of the lake, following this sound.
"Ms. Riveria?"
"Yes, Bell?"
He looked at her backside, there was something bind onto her backpack.
"I wanted to ask before...why are you carrying a bow and arrows with you?"
"To hunt of course or fight back if he come across monsters. I can´t let you do all the work just because my magic is too dangerous for the forest."
"You can hunt?"
"I do it occasionally in my spare time, it is very relaxing. I always gave my best to kill an animal with only one shot, to let it suffer as little as possible."
"Hm."
"Are you surprised? That elves hunt?"
"No not that, Ryu explained the reason to me in the past. That you have to take care of the animals in the forest, when a few species just get too many or if there is a spreading illness. I´m just surprised that you hunt, I mean...you are a mage and..."
Riveria smiled over her shoulder...a smile that Bell could die for. "A princess?"
In the moment she spoke the last word, a small squirrel jumped off a low branch and landed on Riveria´s shoulder, sniffing at her cheek. She gently scratched the squirrel´s head and smiled from the side.
"You should be more careful, little one."
To his astonishment the squirrel remained on her shoulder and rubbed the small head on her fingers.
"Well ahm..."
"Do you thought I was getting pampered all the time back in the forest?"
"You weren´t?"
"Well actually most of the time by Aina...and my father, but I was glad that she dropped the act when we were alone. I don´t know how it is for humans or in the stories that you read, but I learned to fight, use magic and use a bow like everyone else did. My father even wanted me to be better than the usual elf, in all forms that were teached."
It was rare for her to just talk about her life back then, but it was somehow easy to talk to Bell like this.
"And when monsters appeared I helped to fend them off too."
"There are monsters in elven forests?"
"Sometimes."
"And they allowed you to fight with them? Wasn´t that...dangerous."
"I wasn´t a helpless maid, and I refused to let others fight for my safety. Elves treat their royalty a bit different than humans do, they aren´t just subjects to be important. Every elf needs to be able to defend oneself."
Bell tried to imagine a younger Riveria out in the forest, hunting monsters and animals.
"Were you good at hunting?"
Riveria raised her right hand and the squirrel jumped from there to a branch again and vanished in the tree.
"I often competed with Aina, but sadly only when no one would see us. It saddens me to say this, but in many terms elves treat their loyalty like everyone else. Status means alot for elves and they don´t like it when distant relatives spend time together."
"But why? I thought you and Ms. Aina have the same ancestors...that makes you family, right?"
"Yes and no. Elves care much about the main family and since she is from a side branch, she isn´t allowed to use the name "Alfr". I really wish they were more open..."
He tried to focus the subject on the nicer part of the story. "So you and Ms. Aina competed often with each other?"
Riveria smiled, she understood what Bell tried to do. "Yes, but it took a long time until I got her so far."
"Didn't you get along well at the beginning?"
"Oh we did in a way. If you want to call it like that, Aina was my chamberlain. And at first she was only that, too reserved to act unfitting for her position. But as you surely can imagine, for a race that cares so much about status and such things...it was not easy for me to find someone who I could really talk to.
Everyone was so reserved around me, and Aina wasn´t different in the beginning. I was quite a free spirit by Elven standards, wanted to go into the forest often and see what was beyond the forest...something that many people disliked."
"But why?"
"Many elves don´t trust the outside world. They only had bad experiences with humans, since they never left their forests they only got in contact with humans that came to our forests."
"And those were?"
"Poachers, treasure hunters, lumberjacks and bandits."
"Oh."
"Yes, these were the only people that many elves had contact with."
She ducked slightly under a branch and continued her way after Bell passed it too.
"Over time, I got along better and better with Aina, she became my friend. I think you humans call it...a childhood friend. And later, she became more like my older sister."
"So Ms. Aina is older than you?"
"Actually we are of the same age."
"But you said older sister."
"It is how we act around each other, we share the same blood and I refuse to see Aina and Eina as something else as my family."
The words sounded nice but Riveria spoke them with a serious tone, Bell had the feeling as if she had often argued with someone about that point.
"So you two had fun together?"
"Yes, we traveled through the forest, went on a hunt together and other things. We did everything together, even bathing after a long, hard day."
"You bathed together?"
"Yes, washed each others hair and back, it were simple times back then."
"Hm."
Bell couldn´t help it...he was a man too...just for a splitsecond...he imagined Riveria bathing with Eina´s mother...but only for a very short time.
"I thought...Ais told me...you don´t like it when everyone sees your skin?"
"I believe Lyon is similar in that matter? And Lefiya surely too."
"Well Ryu is okay with Syr...and well..ahm..."
"You?"
"Yes..."
"No need to be abashed, you two are married, it is natural. And for your question, yes I don´t like it. Aina is the only person I ever bathed with without clothes, not even Ais saw me without a swimsuit and it should be like this.
For us elves it is something very precious to have our skin seen, only our beloved should do this."
In the past, Riveria would have been appalled that she had told him these things so freely, but talking with Bell was...nice. Something about Bell reminded her of Ais, she also never cared about Riveria´s status. And something reminded her of Aina, she could talk freely to him...and something felt different.
They followed the animal paths and Riveria led Bell masterly to the small lake. There was a spot near the lake where the trees weren't quite as dense, but not really a glade. The trees weren't that dense here, but their crowns almost completely covered the sky, only a small patch remained free.
Riveria looked left and right, Bell smiled while he watched her. She noticed his gaze and put on a questioning look.
"Bell?"
"Ehe, it is the same as when I traveled with Ryu or Lefiya, I´m amazed everytime how well you elves find your way in forests and know what to look for for a good resting place."
"Oh that? A matter of habit and experience. This seems to be a good place to rest, let us set up our camp."
"Okay."
Riveria put down her backpack and leaned it against a tree, then she walked to Bell and helped him to put down his enormous backpack, they had learned at their first rest that he had trouble to do it alone. A normal person couldn´t even lift this backpack and Riveria had a bit more trouble than Bell with it.
Due to her being a mage, she didn´t maxed out her strength to level up, also every person that was not Bell needed a long time to max out their status, so long that no one except him and Ottar did that.
Bell smiled while they set up the camp, Lefiya was more carefree and a bit clumsy, Ryu was better but was always drawn to the nearby lake so Bell mostly would do it. But Riveria...she was a master if he could call it that. She worked quickly and efficiently, first they cleared the ground of stones and branches, made sure that it was flat and not wet, then they spread the large tarpaulin that Bell had lashed under his backpack.
After they had finished with the tarpaulin, they stretched a rope between two trees, there they would hang some food so that no animal would try to eat it at night. Little by little her little camp took shape, her blankets and small pillows packed in a corner for the time being, while Bell unpacked the cookware.
"Do you want to start cooking right away?"
"Yes, I thought that would give you time to take a bath in peace."
He smiled in his mind when he noticed how she glanced to the side for a moment, Riveria said she didn´t needed a bath as badly as Ryu did in forests...but her body betrayed her words.
"It is okay, Ms. Riveria. Go and take your bath, I will prepare the food as good as I can."
She sighed for a moment but smiled slightly. "Fine, thank you, Bell."
Before she went to take her bath, Bell filled a pot with water from the lake and put a small magic item in the water, it would purify the liquid.
At first Riveria thought it was because she was an elf, then she rememberred how Bell was, that he behaved like that with women...he was a real gentleman. Riveria took her backpack and turned into the direction of the lake, it were right behind the next trees, but she would walk a bit away from the camp.
"Bell...I trust you." She looked over her shoulder.
"I won´t peek on you, I swear on my grandfather."
She nodded and left, Bell listened to her footsteps for a moment, but it wasn't like she was making much noise. After he was sure that that she was far enough away from him, he sighed...Bell was in love.
He couldn´t deny his own feelings towards Riveria, but he had to held himself back during their journey, helping Aina came first. Bit by bit he took out the things he would need for today, he hoped it would work.
Bell had trained under Mia, Mikoto and Haruhime to cook a bit, it became a real joy for him to cook for a woman he loved.
At first he took out two magical heating plates and put them on a board, they would only get warm on top. After activating them, Bell put the pot with water on one of the plates, the pan on the other plate. While they got hot, he took out other things and unwrapped the bacon he got from Mia, she told him to use it at the first or second day.
Bell cut the bacon into small pieces on another board and threw a small piece of butter into the pan, soon the faint hiss of fat filled the camp. He used a wooden spoon to move around the bacon pieces, while he noticed the first light steam coming out of the water, he needed to wait until it was boiling. He took the knife and board again and started to cut down mushrooms that he had cleaned before. Lefiya gave Bell the advice that Riveria loved all kinds of mushrooms, apparently her home forest had the most delicious ones. Mama Mia had prepared hacked garlic for him, since she didn´t trusted his cooking skills so far. The mushrooms and the garlic went into the pan first, he moved them around with the spoon until they got a bit brown and sprinkled some of his spice mix on it.
Syr had shown him the best way to sprinkle spices, he took them between the fingers of his right hand, raised the hand so that it was next to his face, his arm at an angle and sprinkled them from there into the pan. It looked strange but Bell thought that Syr knew what she said.
When he was statisfied with the mushrooms, he put the bacon into the pan and whirled everything around. Bell focussed completely on the cooking and tried his best to ignore the soft splashing sounds from the lake. Riveria went a few dozen meters away...but Bell had really good ears. He didn´t heard the rustling of her clothes, but how she...washed herself.
He really tried not to imagine it but focus on his work. When the water started to boil, Bell unwrapped the noodles that were part of the package and put them into the water, stirring them from time to time. Now came the part when he needed a bit of flour on the mushrooms and bacon. After that came the part where he had to be careful, Bell opened a small can and gave cream into the pan, the sizzling sound changed and he moved it around to not let it get burned.
The smell that filled their camp was really good in his eyes...or rather nose. He saw that the water was boiling again and prepared a small sieve he would need. When the pan was at the right point, he opened the last package. Inside was a kind of cheese he never saw or tasted before Mia showed him, it was grated by Mia beforehand. The cheese melted in the cream and gave more creaminess to it, he tapped the rune on the heating plate and lowered the temperature a bit.
"Mmmh...Bell...that smells wonderful."
He looked up and froze, Riveria had returned and wore a different kind of robe. This one was also green and looked similar to her usual one, but longer. Of course she wouldn´t wear her normal sleeping wear in front of Bell, but this one was okay. She smiled slightly as the smell of the food filled her nose, she still dried her hair with a towel.
To see her not really carefree but relaxed...her beauty only rose in Bell´s eyes.
"Bell?"
"Oh s-sorry, we can eat if you want, it is finished."
"That sounds good, I´m sorry for not helping."
"It´s okay, really."
She put her towel over the rope to let it dry and sat down on the blanket. Bell gave her a bowel and filled it with noodles and the sauce.
"What is the name of this dish?"
"Ms. Mia said, Knights Pasta."
"So knights eat this often?"
"I don´t know, apparently the sauce is called "Knight´s sauce", I don´t know why."
Riveria held the bowl in her hands and raised it to her face, inhaling the scent. "Ah...it smells really good...Thank you for the food, Bell."
For the first time during their travel...or rather ever since Riveria asked him to help her...she really smiled. Not a slight or light smile...a genuine one.
Woah...
Maybe it was the light, the fact that they were alone...but Bell fell even more in love when he saw that smile. She really had the charme of an adult elf...her beauty was hard to describe for him...just wonderful.
The food actually tasted really good and they enjoyed the warmth it spend them.
Bell was only focused on his own thoughts during their meal, there wasn´t much to talk about during eating. But Riveria also was busy with her own thoughts, about what she did a few minutes earlier.
When she had found a place to take a bath, Riveria had looked over her shoulder again. She trusted Bell but it was a habit of her to not risk anything. Her ears twitched while she listened to the sounds of Bell preparing their meal. Her cheeks got a bit red when she slowly took off piece after piece of her clothes.
With a deep breath she took off the last thing and stood there naked, covering her crotch and chest with her hands even when nobody could see her. Thankfully the water was not too cold, even if she said otherwise...Riveria loved to bath in a forest lake. It wasn´t completely dark outside, she leaned back and relaxed for a while, listening to Bell working.
Riveria felt...strange. Never before had she felt like this and she didn´t knew what it was...maybe just her worry about Aina...it had to be it...most likely?...
She was thankful for Bell that he helped her, agreeing without asking further questions...he was really a special man.
.
.
After they finished their meal, Bell went to wash himself while Riveria cleaned the cooking tools. At first Bell wanted to do that but Riveria insisted.
"Bell you will not do everything on your own, I will do my share and I won´t accept a no!"
This strict side of her...Bell even loved that. He had to accept it...he wasn´t head over heels for Riveria...this feeling had build up for a long time in him.
It was equally embarrassing for him to undress completely with Riveria nearby, not that she would peek...but Bell got fully naked with a beautiful, adult elven maiden not even twenty meters away from him. If Bell was another man...wasn´t that innocent and pure...he would maybe touch himself now by that thought.
But Bell wasn´t like that, he washed himself quickly, as well as his used underwear and returned to the camp in the clothes he would use to sleep. They showed each other a short smile when he returned, he hung up his underwear behind the tree, like Riveria did with her underwear on the other side.
Since there was nothing left to do and they wanted to start early, both looked at the map a last time, talking about their route the next day before getting ready to sleep.
.
.
Bell was lying there nervous, he had a small travel pillow under his head and was wrapped in his blanket. Riveria slept on the other side of the big blanket, the distance between them required the decency. A small magic item was buzzing softly between them, it would scare away insects.
He slightly turned his head and looked into her direction...it felt strange. Bell had slept next to women already...even in a forest like this...but with Riveria...it felt different.
"Bell?"
He startled...did she noticed that he was looking at her?
"Y-Yes?"
"Thank you...for coming with me..."
"Ms...Riveria?"
He heard her blanket rustling when she turned away from him...Bell heard the tiniest sobbing from her...
Riveria didn´t allowed herself to cry...but she was so worried about Aina.
It broke Bell´s heart to hear her like this, even if she tried to be as quiet as possible. A burning conviction grew in him ... they would save Aina ... he would make Riveria happy.
Riveria...I love you...
.
.
.
.
Authors Note2: For your Information, when Riveria´s ark is done...which will take a while...the next one will be Haruhime, since I started her ark at spirit child, but will remake it into a BellxHaruhime. After Haruhime we get Astrea...yes that lady Astrea...then Lefiya and after her Anya. Later we will see Tiona and others. I will focus more on the minor girls here, so nearly no BellxRyu and BellxAis, both have their own stories and Ryu will get another in the future, a "What if" one.
But one after another. Beginning saturday I have three weeks of vacation, so more chapters, even for the ero part, we will read how Bell and Nahza...happened. And others.
