At his knock, a voice called out "Is that you Soul?" causing the young man's ruby eyes to light up happily.
"Of course, who else would be out in this storm?" he asked cheerfully, stepping through the opened door into the warm cottage. The heat from the fireplace surrounded him, causing his muscles to instantly relax from the frozen and tensed state.
Helping him take his soaked coat off, the blonde said, "The bath's ready, we can eat when you're done."
"You're a blessing Maka," the man grinned, nearly hugging her before remembering he was still wet and settling for a kiss on the cheek.
"Flatterer," she smirked, pushing him gently down the hall. "Hurry, I'm hungry."
"I know," he tossed over his shoulder, causing droplets to spray all over the floor from his white hair, though Soul didn't notice. "Patience is a virtue though!"
"So is prudence!"
"Not my fault it rained." Rolling her eyes, Maka retrieved a mop from the closet and cleaned up after him, muttering under her breath about the obscene weather and her Soul's pretty face. Of course, she made sure to stay quiet enough during the latter parts so that he and his pointed ears wouldn't be able to hear her, since his elfish hearing was much better than a human's. When Soul came out of the bath, Maka was sitting in the living room, reading a new book, her wrinkled nose a clear sign of her distaste for it. "What is it?"
"Boring romantic drivel," she sighed, twisting around to look at him. "My friend thinks I like these for some reason."
"Probably because you're too nice to tell her otherwise," Soul said, kissing the blonde on the top of her head and strolling to the dining room. "Do you need help with anything?" he called as Maka moved to join him.
"Nah, everything's ready. C'mon, let's eat and talk about the most recent message," she smiled, dragging the young man to sit down next to her. "So what does it say?"
"'I would like to arrange a meeting at the mouth of the Fleeting River, which you should know is the border between our lands. We will be able to discuss the renewal of the treaty there, unless you've decided we don't need one anymore and then we can just skip beating around the bush for another decade of two and instead just go to war,'" Soul rattled off primly, rolling his eyes in amusement at the sarcasm in the Elf Queen's message to the human king.
Laughing at his expression, Maka grinned at him. "We really need to just get them together. Our legs will fall off otherwise from all these messages they keep making us send back and forth!"
"They never say anything that important to each other anyway. We all know the treaty will get bickered over for a while, then they'll renew it, and absolutely nothing will change," complained Soul in annoyance. With another dramatic eye roll, causing Maka to giggle, he said gently, "We'll figure it out later. More importantly, how have you been? Not missing me too much, I hope?"
"Boring, as always. The messages between those two lovebirds are always the most interesting thing to happen around here, you know that," Maka answered, shrugging. "The only times I get to do anything is when I have to take a message to or from the king."
"Let's just get them together so we can do more exciting things," groaned Soul, leaning back in his chair. Nodding quietly, Maka dug into her food as they moved onto other topics.
Later on, as the two were lying in bed, Maka whispered in Soul's ear, thinking him asleep, "I would rather run my legs off and see you, than rest for eternity and never feel your hands around mine again."
As she turned around to face the rain-streaked window, the young woman felt his arm drape itself around her. "How about we rest and see each other, eh?"
"You have to ruin the moment, don't you?" she snickered, grinning at him over her shoulder.
Soul smirked and answered, "You make it too easy!"
Laughing, the two continued teasing each other until long into the night, falling asleep by the moonlight in each other's arms and smiles on their faces.