It wasn't much, just one small room in a simple wooden house. All it contained was a table and two chairs, a tiny dresser for clothes, and a futon-style mattress on the floor. But for them...it was home. They knew that eventually, they would find their own house, but for the moment, they were content to just stay here amongst friends. The tiny room, with a window facing the sea and sunset..was their first home, the first place they lived in together as a real couple. They shared meals with the others in the house, and Murrue took her turn at cooking. The first time Mwu had tasted the stew she had made for them all, his face had lit up in a delighted smile, causing her to blush and look away, drawing knowing grins from the other adults in the house.
They were a presence in the house, both chatting with everyone, playing with the orphan children, he even helping to shore up the house against the often fierce winds blowing in off the sea. But most of all, they preferred to be together. Every morning, Murrue would pack a lunch, and the two of them would go exploring. They went everywhere together, walking on the beach, through nearby fields, and along cliff-top paths. Mwu even climbed the cliff, despite Murrue's worry. She stood there on the white sandy beach, her heart in her mouth as her lover easily scaled the rocks. As he reached the top, he grinned, sitting there on the grass. "You coming?"
She sighed and shook her head in exasperation, her heartbeat slowly returning to normal. "No, I think I'll go the safe way.." she called up to him. "And you be more careful!"
A few minutes later, she joined him atop the cliff, both of them sitting together to watch the view of the ocean and sky. "I didn't know you could climb so well.." she mused after a while, and Mwu chuckled. "No, I guess not. But then again, I didn't know that you could cook so well. There are a lot of things we still don't know about each other, huh?"
"Yes, there are." she replied softly, leaning her head on his shoulder. "Before, we just didn't have enough time. But now...we have all the time in the world."
Over the next few days, the newly-reunited couple returned to this spot on the cliff, or to a small hollow in a glade of trees they had discovered during their explorations. And during this time, they told each other stories, anecdotes about their lives that they hadn't been able to tell each other before. Murrue's tales of her childhood and academy life made Mwu smile.
"You're telling me you were actually able to outdrink five upperclassmen? And still walk back to your dorm?" he asked incredulously, blue eyes wide. The young woman giggled, lying back on the colourful blanket they had spread out on the grass. "They challenged anyone in the bar." she replied, smiling at the memory. "They thought that no-one could ever beat them, least of all me. But I did." Her voice held the faintest trace of pride, and Mwu shook his head. "Remind me never to drink with you.."
His own stories were told haltingly, his eyes refusing to meet Murrue's. He told her of his childhood, the full story, something he'd never felt comfortable enough to tell to anyone else. About being ignored and ridiculed by his parents, of always being alone. In comparison to her own happy and contented life, his sounded pathetic.
But when he had finished, his voice a little shaky, she had taken him into her arms, bringing his head close to rest on her chest. "It's okay.." she told him gently, stroking his hair. "It's all in the past..."
"When I have my own family," he murmured, "I'll get to know what a happy childhood should be like.." Murrue smiled, kissing the top of his head. "That sounds like a good idea."
They spent hours like this, nestled together on the soft grass under the trees, learning every little thing about each other from as far back as they could remember, to the present day...where their lives intermingled, becoming one.
"So.." Mwu said, reaching down to pluck a fallen leaf from her dark hair, "what now? We've run out of stories to tell about ourselves, so what do we do now?" Murrue stretched, tugging down her rumpled clothes. "We start writing a new one.." she replied, stifling a yawn, and sitting up to lean against the tree. "A new story. Or rather...new chapters to the one we've already written." She brushed away the wrinkles in her skirt, frowning at the grass stains. Sighing, but pink lips quirking in a smile, she looked up at him, moving a stray lock if blonde hair from his scarred face. "Does that sound good?" Mwu nodded, wrapping her in his arms and lying back down on the blanket.
"I wonder how many chapters we can write to this story of ours?" he thought aloud, one hand smoothing down her shiny hair. Murrue laughed sleepily, nuzzling closer in his embrace.
"As many as we want..."
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( :shrugs: randomness again. I just wondered...there must be quite a lot of things they still don't know about each other, ne? The grass stains...no comment XD
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