Chronicles of an Elven Bed-Warmer
Chapter the Sixth:
Reciprocation
I still don't own Dragon age. I do however, own a Volkswagen, which is almost the same thing.
Kallian awoke reluctantly.
"Wha?" she said blinking owlishly.
A churlish voice interrupted her half-formed question. "Maker, you're a heavy sleeper. I thought I was going to have to get the cold water."
"...Elle?" she answered groggily. "What...time is it?"
"Well past time for you to be awake." The maid stated disapprovingly. "It's a servant's duty to be up before her master." Lectured the experienced domestic.
Kallian, less than remorseful, groaned and buried herself under the covers.
"Now, none of that." Elle scolded. With a determined frown she took a firm hold of the blankets and quickly jerked them away, exposing Kallian to the morning sun. To which she responded by wrapping her pillow around her head.
Elle let loose a frustrated growl at this act of willful defiance and smacked the lazy elf hard on her posterior.
"OOOOOWWWW!" Kallian wailed, now fully awake. "That really hurt!" she rubbed the affected area.
Elle shrugged off her junior's complaints. "His lordship is waiting with breakfast. We shouldn't make him wait any longer."
"Oh," Kallian replied with a yawn already feeling sleepy again. "Alright."
She Crawled out of bed, exiting her small bedroom into the main area of Aedan's chambers where the young lord waited with breakfast.
"Ah, there you a-" Aedan's cheerful greeting stopped short. He averted his eyes and coughed awkwardly.
Kallian cocked her head to one side, confused. "What?"
"You're a bit, um, under-dressed." Aedan muttered to his feet.
She looked down at herself. She was wearing a short, sheer shift that left her shoulders bare and came down to about mid-thigh. She had been surprised to find it in her dresser the previous night along with several outfits that just happened to be in her size. She suspected it was Elle's doing.
"What?" she repeated. "It covers about as much as that armor, maybe a little more..."
"It's different," Aedan countered. "That was armor, this...isn't." he shifted uncomfortably in his chair.
She gave him an incredulous look, then shrugged, how was she to argue with that? "Um...okay." she went back into her room.
Watching her go, Aedan had to force himself to stop picturing Kallian's legs. He had just about gotten a handle on it when she reentered the room wearing a robe.
"Is that better?" She asked with a sarcastic roll of her eyes.
"Quite." The matter settled she turned her attention to the food.
"Ooo! Muffins!" she cooed excitedly. She quickly split, buttered and consumed one with great relish.
Aedan chuckled fondly. Kallian always ate like someone was going to come and snatch away her food if she didn't finish fast enough. "Slow down, it's better when you can actually taste it."
The elf paused mid-chew, flushing in embarrassment. "Sormy." she apologized around a mouthfull.
Aedan sighed and resumed eating.
0-0
On Aedan's advice, Kallian was eating a bit more slowly now. He was right, she decided, it was better when you could taste the food. It was different than in the alienage, where not being able to taste what you were eating was often a plus.
She jumped when she felt something brushing up against her leg. She shot a suspicious glance at Aedan. He was casually sipping his tea while looking at some documents. She dismissed it with a small shake of her head. Then it happened again. She shot Aedan another look. He was still reading. Confused she peered under the table.
"Meow." It was a cat. A very large cat. It came up almost to her knee. Apart from it's great size it appeared to be a normal gray tabby. It looked up at her with its enormous yellow eyes and meowed again.
"Um, Aedan?"
"Hm?" He looked up from his papers.
She pointed under the table. He ducked his head under it for a minute. Then quickly jerked back and knocked his head on the table when he realized that her dress had ridden up and he could clearly see her panties
"Oh," he commented She didn't want you to look there. She was asking about the cat. She didn't want you to see… . He continued on with his face showing no indication that anything was amiss."He's back."
"Isn't this your cat?"
"Not really, I don't think he belongs to anybody, he just shows up here from time to time." The animal moved over to see if Aedan would give him some food. He scratched its head. "He's quite friendly though. I think the someone's been feeding him." Speculated Aedan loftily while simultaneously giving it a bit of biscuit, which the beast devoured greedily. "I have no idea who it could be."
"Yes," commented Elle, just clearing away the used dishes. "His lordship has a habit of picking up strays."
"Er..." Kallian fidgeted nervously.
"It usually turns out for the best though." The maid continued, pointedly ignoring her discomfort. As she left the room, she muttered. "That one's a devil for catching mice."
Still feeling uncomfortable, Kallian tentatively reached down to pet the outsized feline, they didn't have a lot of cats in the alienage, people tended to eat them, and anything else with a bit of meat on it.
"Um, nice kitty?" she scratched it under it's chin. The cat started purring and jumped up into her lap.
Kallian continued stroking it's fur. Thinking, she had lain awake the previous night exploring her feelings for the unconventional nobleman. She thought she might have something for him; she wasn't going to say she loved him; it was much too early for that. But he was kind. He didn't treat her like she was "just an elf" he saved her life after all, not that she was doing this out of a sense of obligation, well not entirely at least. And last of all she had always been curious what it would be like to be with a human, you heard things when you worked at a brothel.
Aedan felt an irrational stab of jealousy towards the innocent creature, Kallian had such an enraptured look on her face as she petted the stray. Eventually the animal got up and left to do whatever important cat things it had to do that day. He wondered what that might be. Chasing mice? Beating up on other cats? Spraying urine on things? It boggled the mind.
"So," she started, breaking him out of his thoughts. "What are we doing today?"
"Well, we need to see Master Wade about your armor, but apart from that I can't think of anything."
"Then I guess we can talk, um," Kallian lowered her eyes deferentially, "about last night."
"Ah...yes, that." Aedan colored slightly and looked away. He had been hoping she had forgotten about it.
"Yes, That." Kallian answered with a bit of an edge to her voice.
"Once again I must apologize for assuming..." He trailed off, noticing the look on her face
"So you're saying you made a mistake?" For a moment, Aedan thought he saw hurt flicker in her eyes.
"Um..." he dithered.
"Well, I refuse to accept your apology! You need to take responsibility for your actions!" She proclaimed boldly.
Aedan's face took on a befuddled expression. "What are you...?"
Kallian sighed in exasperation. "Look, just close your eyes."
He shrugged and did as she asked.
So Kallian got up from her chair, walked over to Aedan and sat down in his lap, draped her arms over his shoulders and kissed him on the lips.
To say Aedan was surprised would be a gross understatement. Kallian giggled at his completely gobsmacked expression. "But, what, how, why...?"
She silenced him with another kiss. As she started to pull away his hand came up to the back of her head and gently but firmly held her in place. She let loose a pleased sigh as he started to kiss her back.
Eventually they needed to breathe.
Before they could proceed to other, related activities there came a knock at the door.
The couple were instantly back on opposite sides of the table, slightly red and out of breath. After a few seconds Elle entered the room with an armful of laundry and eyed them suspiciously.
"What's going on?" She asked curiously
The Lord and his bodyguard tried to look nonchalant.
"Nothing," started Aedan smoothly. "Why do you-"
"We weren't kissing!" Kallian blurted.
Aedan face palmed.
0-0
As Kallian had warned Shianni the royal guard did show up on the Tabris' doorstep the following morning.
However in a surprising show of sensitivity Anora had only sent one female guard. Ser Mhiri waited patiently as her redheaded charge gawked at the palace interior.
"It's so big!" commented the awed elf.
"Everybody says that." replied the lady knight.
"Must be true then." Shianni reasoned.
Mhiri conceded the point with a shrug. "Are you finished being impressed? We do have a schedule here you know."
"What?" Shianni replied, she hadn't been paying attention. Then it sunk in. "Oh, alright..."
She followed Mhiri down a corridor, past the kitchens and into a sort of dorm type area where Queen Anora was waiting with a medium sized group of elven women.
"You didn't think you were the only one, did you?" Her escort explained at Shianni's surprised expression.
She felt a bit stupid for thinking just that. "No, not at all." she replied with a completely straight face.
"Ah, here she is." The queen finally noticed them. "Everyone, everyone, pay attention!" the women, (well, girls, really) immediately stopped whatever they were doing and faced the Queen. She gestured for Shianni to come over next to her. The elf reluctantly obeyed.
"Girls, this is Shianni." she introduced.
"Hello, Shianni." they chorused.
The Queen knows my name! She thought before turning to regard the group. They were all variations on the theme of 'young and pretty' Shianni at the ripe old age of twenty was probably the oldest one here. She sketched a rough curtsy in greeting.
The Queen started speaking again. "I'll leave you all to get acquainted, and remember, if anyone asks you're my new ladies-in-waiting." With that she swept regally from the room.
Shianni noticed that two of the girls were approaching her. They were quite the mismatched pair. One was short, even for an elf, with a babyish, round face topped with a mane of blond ringlets tied back into pigtails by pink ribbons, keeping with the theme was a frilly pink dress of the kind normally fond only in certain kinds of stories about mushroom princesses and plumbers.. Her companion, in contrast was quite tall, once again, for an elf (let's say about 5'7") had an angular face framed by a shock of cropped black hair. She was dressed in worker's breeches and a sleeveless top that accentuated her toned biceps and deeply tanned skin.
"Hi-yeee!" welcomed the short one. "My name is Melody but everyone calls me Mel." she continued speaking at a rapid, excited pace. The hyper girl gestured forcefully toward her partner. "And this is my bestest best friend in the whole wide world, Tasha." The tall one nodded in acknowledgment and grunted. "She doesn't talk much. Anyway, welcome to Rape Camp!"
Shianni tilted her head to the side, she couldn't have heard that right. "Did you say...?"
"Rape Camp!" the diminutive blond repeated cheerfully.
"Why-"
"Because that's what it is!"
"You're very...enthusiastic about it." Shianni awkwardly stated
Why shouldn't I be? It's fun!" Melody paused in thought for a moment. "Well, not the actual rape," she frowned and a haunted look passed over her features. "That was..." she shuddered. "But getting to stay here at the castle is really neat!" her obnoxious cheer returned full force. "It's like a sleepover!
Tasha nodded in agreement.
Shianni sighed. She'd never liked sleepovers.
0-0
The bells above the door tinkled as Aedan and Kallian entered Wade's emporium.
"Ah, Lord Cousland, so good to see you again." Greeted the man behind the counter.
"Is Master Wade available, my bodyguard needs some armor."
"Well if you have him come in I'm sure we can put together something for him."
"She's right here." he motioned towards Kallian.
The man sent him a dubious look. "Bodyguard, right."
Before Kallian could correct the man's assumption with a quick beating, they were interrupted.
"Herren, don't take any more orders for today, I can feel one of my heads coming on."
"Wade," Herren replied in a warning voice. "Lord Cousland is here to place an order."
"Oh, how dreary. I suppose I can see what he wants."
"Wonderful." Herren sighed, shaking his head
"Er, I wanted some armor for my bodyguard." Aedan repeated gesturing again towards Kallian, who gave a little wave.
Wade stared at her, enraptured.
"What?" she asked nervously, after a moment. "Is there something on my face?"
Wade just kept staring. He was making her uncomfortable. Even Aedan was starting to get annoyed.
"Herren, cancel all my other appointments, I have found my muse." then he turned to Kallian. "It would be a privilege to create armor for such a wondrous creature"
"Um...Okay?" She replied sending Aedan a nervous look.
0-0
Kallian admired her new armor. The inscribed leather was so well fitted it felt as if she wasn't wearing it at all. The crest of Highever embossed on the breastplate gave her a sense of being owned, but in a good way, like she was part of something. It felt pretty good.
"Oi! Elf!" she turned to regard sergeant Cartwright, the grizzled leader of Aedan's Guards. "Shouldn't you be guarding Lord Aedan, elf?"
"He's, er, in the bath." she pointed her thumb at the door behind her.
"Good, I wanted a chance to talk to you."
Kallian raised an eyebrow.
"Now, I don't like elves," She frowned, where was this going? "But then I don't like humans or dwarves very much either," he shrugged. "So I guess that's fair."
"Um..." She fumbled, at a loss for words.
"I guess what I'm trying to say is that I do like Lord Cousland. So do your damned job alright, elf." He extended a hand, she took it ,shakeing it tentatively.
"Right." he said gruffly and walked away.
Kallian was confused, was that supposed to be an...apology? "Hey!" she called after him.
"What?"
"My name's not 'elf'" she grinned at him, "It's Kallian."
He grinned back. "I'll remember that." he replied and continued on his way.
She guessed it was.
0-0
Later that night in his chambers, beneath the glow of a magic lighting crystal Aedan toiled on the endless paperwork that seemed to take up so much of his time. He was interrupted by a knock at the door.
"Come in." he replied, distractedly.
Kallian entered the room, she was dressed for bed once again in her short shift. "Are you still working?" she asked incredulously. She'd always thought one of the advantages of being a lord was that you only had to work as much as you wanted to.
He grunted, his attention back on the documents.
"Aedan, go to bed, it will still be there in the morning."
"Can't sleep." he muttered.
"Why not?"
"Don't know, sometimes I just can't."
"Maybe I can help?"
"How?"
"Well first I do this." She walks up behind him and starts kneading his shoulders.
"That's nice." He commented after a few minutes.
"There's more, but I need you to lie down."
"Hmm, alright." He gets out from behind his desk and goes over to his bed, a large canopy type with an elaborately carved headboard. "Face up or face down?"
"Face down please, oh and could you take off your shirt?"
He raises his eyebrow at her.
Kallian blushes and gets flustered. "It just works better on bare skin." she said defensively.
Aedan's eyebrow only climbed closer to his hairline. "Uh-huh."
"Look, do you want me to do this or not?"
"Okay, okay." He removed his shirt and lay down on the bed, resting his chin on his forearms. "Like this?"
"Yes." she gave him a appreciative glance and then got up on the bed and straddled his thighs. Then she proceeded to work the muscles in his lower back. He murmured in appreciation.
"That's really good."
"Something one of the girls at the Pearl taught me. I've only done it on my father before, he's got a trick back."
"What else did you learn there?"
"Oh, all kinds of interesting things, I haven't gotten to try most of them out yet though."
"Something for me to look forward to then." Kallian blushed and remained silent.
She continued with her ministrations for awhile before she noticed something familiar.
"I know I've seen that headboard somewhere before..."
"Hmm?" Aedan looked up at it. "Oh, I think it's one of your father's pieces."
Now that she had been reminded she recognized her father's style immediately. Kallian hummed in agreement, pushing out thoughts of what her father would think.
Thankfully, Aedan provided distraction. "How is it that you're not working for him? As an apprentice or something." Well, sort of.
She gave a resigned sigh. "No talent for it, I only have to look at a piece of wood and it splits."
"I'm surprised, You're quite good with your hands, I'm feeling much more relaxed."
Kallian leaned down and kissed him on the back of the neck. "Not too relaxed I hope."
Aedan chuckled. "It depends what you have in mind." He could feel her breasts press into him as she embraced him from behind.
"It's just that it's a bit cold in my room."
Subtlety was lost on Aedan. "Do you want to borrow a blanket?"
"I thought you might be cold too." she flirtatiously whispered in his ear.
"No, I feel fine." He still wasn't getting it.
"Are you sure? I could help warm your bed."
Aedan frowned in thought. "What do you-Oh!" It finally sunk in. "It is a bit chilly now that you mention it." He rolled over so that she was now in his lap. They kissed and embraced one another.
Suddenly there was a loud knock at the door. "Lord Cousland! An urgent message from Highever!"
Kallian immediately jumped off her employer and rapidly scanned the room for somewhere to hide.
Aedan motioned for her to hide under the bed, thinking what a cliche' it was she did.
Aedan got up and quickly put his shirt back on, much to Kallian's disappointment, and answered the door.
"Yes?"
"Sorry, I didn't wake you did I?" asked the concerned messenger.
"No, no, I was just doing the accounts." He wanted to get rid of this man and get back to what he was doing. He thought he could hear snickering coming from somewhere around his ankles. "Now what's so damned important?" The messenger was familiar enough with Aedan to know that he very rarely swore. He had definitely interrupted something. Without further preamble he handed Aedan the message, saluted, turned and quickly left before he got yelled at.
Aedan read the message, paled and sat down heavily on the bed. Kallian crawled back out from under it to look curiously over his shoulder. "What is it?"
A look of doom crossed his face. "My sister is coming for a visit."
Next time: Ellissa!
This might take awhile...