Inspired by summat off of Friends.
Prelude to chapter 5.
"So what do you want to do in the next few years?" Cadvan asked idly. He and Maerad were lying on their backs, head-to-head, in the long grass in the horses' paddock. They had waited while the nine horses had smelled them and decided they were neither a threat nor an interest, then lain down quietly as they wandered away. It was a few years since Maerad and Cadvan had defeated Sharma, but their friendship had stayed strong and Maerad trusted Cadvan more than she had trusted anyone before in her whole life. They lived on the same street in Lirigon, and once Maerad finished her studies next year she was going to work at the same Healing House as Cadvan.
"I don't really know," Maerad said in answer to Cadvan's question. "I want…I want to become a really good Healer. I want to travel a little, without being chased. I'd like to help people with the White Sickness, but I don't think I'll ever be that good." She told her feelings freely, having no shyness about anything in front of Cadvan. "And I want to receive the perfect kiss without being scared." They lay in silence for a few minutes. "What about you? What do you want in the next few years?"
Cadvan paused. "Peace," he said simply. Maerad smiled slightly. Trust Cadvan to say something like that. It was one of the reasons she lo- liked him. As a friend. Nothing more.
Maerad heard Silvia calling her name and sat up. "I have to go," she told Cadvan.
"I'll see you later," Cadvan replied. Maerad turned and walked across the field to the gate. Before she reached it, she felt a hand on her shoulder and turned. She barely had time to register the mischievous spark in Cadvan's eyes before he put a finger under her chin, tilted her head back slightly and kissed her. She felt his tongue on her lips before he pulled away. She gasped quietly, without meaning to, as he did so.
"That's one you can cross off your list," he said, an almighty grin upon his face, one which Maerad thought he must have used when he was small to get out of trouble with his parents. And only someone with a heart of stone could not forgive that cute smile…
Maerad physically shook the thoughts out of her head and smiled back. "Yes, I suppose," she replied, and walked away with a wave.
Would she ever have the courage to tell him how much more that kiss meant to her than to him?