Resh POV
Resh woke to the most satisfying feeling he had had in a while, warmth. It was like he was back in Akavir again. It would appear sleeping in front of a red hot fire for a few hours heats you up quicker than Resh had expected. Perhaps giants fuel their fires with something that burns brighter. Maybe mammoth fat? That wasn't the best part of his feeling though. He greatly enjoyed the dream he had. It made him remember one of the better points in his life. It seemed he was going to have to change quickly though, lest Lydia see the result on his body his dream had made.
The moment he started to pull his armour back on Lydia came into view from the other side of camp. Luckily he had finished putting on the bottom pieces of armour, hiding certain parts that needed to be hidden. Judging from where she walked over from, Lydia had spent the last few hours sitting on the edge of the camp making sure nothing got in. Maybe she was quite a good companion after all if she was that attentive to her work. When she got closer Resh noticed that she was carrying a strange scent, similar to the one she had in Ivarstead when he woke her up in the morning. But he discarded it as some form of unique 'human smell' he wouldn't know anything about, nor need to.
Before he had a chance to announce that they were leaving, Lydia spoke up first. It seemed that she was trying to contain her laughter at something. "Have a nice dream?"
Resh blinked in confusion before the horrific realisation dawned on him. He must have spoken in his sleep. He glared at her grinning face, knowing full well what she was obviously hinting at. "What!?" he hissed.
"Well… when you were asleep you made a few… noises. And it sounded like you were having a very good dream," Lydia replied with a smirk, all the time smiling sweetly.
Resh sighed. It's not like he should feel embarrassed. There's nothing wrong with what he did. It's just he'd rather not have given Lydia something else to constantly ask about.
"Yes, you caught me. I was having a sex dream. Happy?"
It would appear Lydia was not happy with his answer. Not yet at least. She planned on drawing this out. "I didn't know the language you were speaking in, but there was an awful lot of growling and moaning. It went on for quite a while."
It was now Resh's turn to grin. Of course he lasted a long time. Practice makes perfect, and he'd had a few centuries of practice before that day. "If you must know, I used to have a very… active sex life when I was with Kayce. And I was reliving our first time together." Resh usually wouldn't have elaborated. But to be honest he was actually very proud about what he had done, even all these years after. And, surprisingly, remembering their good times together wasn't nearly as painful as he thought it would be. In fact, it didn't make him sad at all. Besides he knew Lydia well enough that no harm would come of telling her. And as he considered her a friend, he guessed it would be nice to have someone to talk to about this kind of thing again.
Lydia, despite being jealous of Resh's old lover, was overjoyed nonetheless to be talking to Resh about something this private. He must have really trusted her and thought of her as a friend. Too bad that was it.
"I'm not sure if I'm correct to assume this, but the hissing language you were speaking sounded worried at one point. What's the reason behind that? It sounds interesting."
Resh laughed at that. "It was so the others in the party, who Kayce had conveniently sent out hunting beforehand, wouldn't see us. It didn't really work though because they all heard the noise we made from miles away."
Lydia noticed by the way he said 'conveniently' she was probably planning ahead behind his back. She must have been really sure that she was going to get laid. "Why were you trying to be so secretive about it?"
"Ordinarily any kind of a relationship where I'm from wouldn't be an issue to anyone. But we had been friends as well and the others already thought I was getting preferential treatment by Kayci, the group leader, because of that. The fact that we were in a closer relationship would only make them suspect it even more," he explained. It turned out they were just worrying over nothing.
"What happened when they found out?" she asked.
"Nothing really. We were wrong about what they would think and they all seemed pretty fine with our relationship. I got quite a few congratulations from the rest of the group about my accomplishment as well. Of course, it gave them a means to tease us constantly. And at every opportunity they would try to find a way to make us spend more time together. There were a few times where the others had tried to join in with us, where I'm from relationships are often in groups larger than two. But we decided to keep it between just the two of us, despite Kayce's relatively promiscuous nature."
"Promiscuous? How so?" Lydia asked. Surely the commanding officer in a group of soldiers had to be sensible and un-scandalous in order to be taken seriously?
"There's nothing wrong with it. What people do is up to them. But Kayce had sex with a lot of people, regardless of race, sex or fighting skill. And the fact that she stayed exclusive for me was something to be proud of." Resh focused more on the word 'race' than anything else. Lydia just guessed it had something to do with Nordic racism that most Nords, minus herself, seemed to have. Of course Lydia was unaware it was down to Tsaesci racism instead and that she, too, fit into the criteria that he would have had something wrong with.
Lydia started to think that if she were to try talking about her own sex life, Resh would finally start to realise her intentions. Or at the very least start to think of her in a sexual way. At the moment, he hadn't noticed her in the slightest.
So Lydia put on her sexiest voice and got to work, "You know Resh, I agree with you there. Nothing wrong with sleeping around. I for one enjoy a bit of stress relief myself every so often. Of course there isn't really anyone I know who's up for that sort of thing…" She looked up hopefully at Resh, giving a full view of her cleavage hoping she had gotten his attention.
"Huh? Maybe on our travels we could find someone to come with us and… satisfy your needs." Resh had almost forgotten that his follower had a sex drive too. Perhaps next time they pass a city or town they could hire a mercenary or a whore as well. They would probably be more than happy to serve as a bed mate for Lydia as well.
"That's not what I meant Resh," she replied, taking one last chance and stepping closer to give him a better view of her breasts. Which he was still ignoring!
"What did you mean then?" Resh asked, still, somehow, looking confused and oblivious to what was happening around him.
Lydia sighed, "It doesn't matter, let's just get going," Resh knew that he was probably missing something important but decided not to pry and just packed up the rest of the stuff, now warm enough to continue walking.
Lydia POV
The next few days of their travelling had gone well, especially now Resh had warmed up. Still slower than it would have taken Lydia on her own, but it was going better than it had before and she thanked the Divines for that at least. Although she was actually pleased they were getting somewhere. At this point they were probably only a day's travel from Winterhold, Lydia still couldn't bear that their resting times were so erratic. It seemed that Resh would completely forget that she needed food and sleep, and continue walking for days at a time until she had to ask to stop, making her seem weak.
Unfortunately their recent success was short lived, Winterhold had always been a very cold and snowy continent, and after resting by the fire Resh seemed to be able to put up with it. That was until the blizzard started.
He seemed fine at first, maybe lagging a few steps behind her when they walked. But there were no vocal complaints and he kept a relatively steady pace. It wasn't until after 15 minutes when she started to lose him in the snow did she worry. She looked back to see him stumbling behind in the distance. She had seen him shiver a bit when walking and thought nothing of it. But now, after seeing the violent shakes he had, Lydia knew something seriously wasn't right.
Lydia went over to him and tried to help him walk by hoisting one of his arms over her shoulders. But he was too heavy for it to work properly, weighing considerably more than someone, even his huge size, should weigh.
It became clear that he wasn't going to be able to continue in this blizzard when I started to stagger completely off track while walking, the bombardment of snow and cold air causing his breathing to become laboured and his steps to become slower and less coordinated. Scanning the surrounding for a place to set up camp and wait out the blizzard Lydia could see nothing but the opening for a small cave. Not even that, more a crack in the rocks barely big enough to fit inside. It would have to do though.
Summoning up the last of her strength she dragged her lumbering, almost passed out Thane to the gap in the rocks and pushed him in, shielding him from the blizzard. The space was cramped. Not too cramped to move around, but cramped enough that there was nowhere to really move to. Being a soldier she had often needed to escort people through the cold environment, and knew exactly what to do in this situation. So, without warning, Lydia started to strip off Resh's wet clothes so that his body temperature could start to heat up without the constant cooling effect of the dampness. She didn't get very far before Resh's eyes popped out of his head and he used his remaining strength to throw her off.
"What are you doing?!" he yelled, still able to hold her back despite his convulsing in his layers of wet clothing.
"I'm stopping you from dying. Now take off those wet clothes or you won't heat up quickly and you'll get hypothermia."
Resh considered what she said for a few seconds before replying. "Fine," he grumbled, seeing her small amount of logic. "But I still don't see how I'm going to heat up." Being cold blooded it was going to take a lot more than removing wet clothing to save him.
"Well that's simple. You need heat. But as there's no fire here, you need a different source of it…" That's all Lydia said before she started taking off her own clothes and moving closer to him.
"Get off me," he commanded as she climbed onto him, finishing her stripping out of her own clothes. It held no power though as he was easily overpowered by the woman who was half his size.
"No. You need my body heat to warm you up, or you'll die," Lydia spoke seriously before wrapping herself around him, covering as much as possible. Resh merely growled in response, as if unable to word his irritation at her helping him.
However much she would have wished this were a sexual experience and not just a 'naked hugging necessity', Lydia got her priorities in order quickly and put all her lusts to the side. This wasn't the first time Lydia had shared body heat with someone in order for them to live. Although the other person being a Nord was definitely a new experience. Every other Nord she had met seemed to be able to survive the freezing conditions as well as she did.
After what seemed like hours, but was more likely only about 20 minutes Resh had finally stopped hissing and growling, and seemed to finally accept his fate. He was still freezing cold and shivering, but it would take a while for that to stop. Usually a few hours. But as Resh didn't seem to be warming up nearly as quickly as most others do, it would probably take all night. It took another 15 minutes before Resh stopped struggling in discomfort and shifting against her. Instead he just lay back and started to let his mind shut down, feeling his body cease to work, before he fell away into blackness.
"Lydia?" she heard Resh ask weakly, as another convulsion shook through him causing his mind to start working again before he fell under.
"Yes?" she answered slowly, wanting desperately for him to just stop shaking and rest.
"Don't leave me here when I die," he whispered in a voice that seemed scared, still freezing cold.
Lydia was shocked at his words. He seemed so sure he was going to die. It was like he had no hope. "Resh, you're not going to die. And even if you were, I would never just leave you here to be lost in the snow."
Resh seemed pleased with her answer and started to drift to sleep, where he started muttering incoherent nonsense, even though it was in her own language it still didn't make that much sense. She thought she heard something along the lines of "Putting his body to good use to pass on," and "Feasting on him," when she pieced together his words, but laughed at how mistaken she must have been to think he had said that. There was one thing she had definitely heard him say despite his weak and muffled voice, "Thank… You…"
The Next Morning
It had been a peaceful sleep for Lydia during the night. She had almost forgotten that she was wrapped naked around her equally naked Thane, who was now warm again, pressed up against him unknowingly in her sleep. It wasn't until she woke that she realised how awkward the situation was. Thankfully Resh was still asleep and didn't notice how close their 'parts' were to touching.
Lydia was about to try and shift away but stopped after he started to mumble when she moved. It was like trying to sneak away from a sleeping lover. After a few more unsuccessful attempts at moving, Lydia decided that instead of try to move away completely it would be better to just pivot away from him.
The reaction to that was rather unexpected. When she tried to move her hips, Resh mumbled a bit more and pulled her closer with his arms. She tried to pull back, but even in his sleep Resh was far stronger than her and she was now pulled into a spooning position. Resh smiled in his sleep and started speaking in his weird hissing tongue in words she couldn't understand. Perhaps he was having another dream.
Lydia leaned in a bit closer to try and hear if he was saying anything she could understand but practically jumped out of her skin when she felt something long and hard press against her thigh. Resh was definitely having another dream! When she felt his hands start to roam up her legs she was torn between waking him up and just letting him get on with his dream, with her feeling its effects too. It was a horrible decision. She definitely wanted it, but she couldn't say the same about him. Why was it the only time he tries to have sex with her be when he's unconscious?!
A dark part of her mind was urging her to just lie back and let him carry on. It's not like he would ever find out. As long as she cleaned up afterwards, of course. Even though he was obviously dreaming of someone else, this seemed to be as close as she was ever going to get to him showing her any interest in her.
But in the end she couldn't bring herself to do anything like that, and common sense started to win over. If she were to just take advantage of him like this she would be no better than the monster that had tried abusing someone with Resh present and subsequently scarred him for life. As well as that, if Resh ever found out he would probably throttle her alive for raping him.
"Resh?" she said quietly, trying to wake him without too much noise. She quickly realised it hadn't worked as his roaming hands had now made it to her sex and were now circling her tantalisingly. Despite the fact she was clearly eager, judging by the moisture that coated his fingertips. She still had to stop it now before it went any further than it already had. Just as Resh was unconsciously about to plunge his fingers into her, Lydia shouted as loud as she could to rouse him before he did.
"RESH!"
Resh POV
Resh woke at the sound of Lydia's shout, straight away on his feet prepared for any danger. He was surprised at how warm he was. He never would have guessed Lydia's method of warming him up would have worked so well. He checked around looking for the danger that Lydia must have woken him for. After a few seconds of looking around, Resh glanced back down at her who was also naked. He wouldn't say he was attracted to the human, but even he had to admit that it wasn't the worst thing to wake up to in the morning. And there was an endearing quality about the look of shock on Lydia's face. The woman in question had now scampered over to the supplies and started frantically putting on her armour as quickly as she possibly could.
"Why did you wake me if there was no danger?" he asked, confused at the interruption of what had been a pleasant sleep, with an even more pleasant dream. He started to get changed instead of bringing it up.
Lydia considered telling him, but decided that it would be easier and a lot less awkward to just lie. "I thought I heard something."
Resh looked at her suspiciously. He could smell something wasn't quite right with what she was saying. The way her blood pressure rose he could tell she was lying. Another thing Resh immediately noticed was that she had that strange scent on her which she had the day before. And what was even weirder was that for some reason some of the smell was on his fingers too. It almost felt damp.
"What would you have heard?" he asked inquisitively, trying to catch her out.
"Err… Wolves."
"Yes, of course…" he replied dryly, clearly not believing her. "Anyway, how far from Winterhold are we?"
"If you're warm enough then we should get there by today," Lydia told him gesturing for them to leave.
"Let's get going then," Resh exclaimed before brushing any snow from the blizzard out of his hair.
Lydia POV
Lydia winced as Resh ran his hands through his long black hair, not forgetting what it was coating his fingertips, but she didn't bring it up not wanting him to realise what had almost happened. Instead she just silently handed the supplies over to Resh, who grumbled about having to carry them when he had a perfectly able minion meant to do this. If he had really complained, she would have carried it instead. But he would probably take it as an insult to his strength.
The journey ahead of them should only take a few hours and Lydia couldn't wait to get to Winterhold. Not just because it would mean the end of this pitifully slow adventure but because it meant that she would, hopefully, have somewhere to rest for the next week when her monthly 'time' started tomorrow.
And she knew for a fact that it would be better to have that in the city rather than when they were trekking through the snow. Besides, it would be easier for Resh as she would have less to complain to him about if she was comfortable in a city. Speaking of Resh, she supposed it would probably be best to warn him. He was her Thane after all, and she had to do all she could to make his life easier.
"Resh, I think I need to warn you about something before we get to the college. It's been almost a month we've been together so I feel I should let you know about something…" This was going to be awkward, especially as Resh hadn't once even seemed to wonder about it in the last few weeks. He must have known it was going to come around eventually.
"What would that be? Is it dangerous or something?" Resh asked. How could he not even guess what she was talking about? Was he that oblivious to her mentions of them being together a month that he couldn't guess the consequences?
"Well, I wouldn't really say dangerous. Unpleasant is a better word. Very unpleasant for me and unfortunately you'll catch some of that unpleasantness as well."
Resh frowned at that. He wasn't going to let anything happen to her, or himself. "Why? Do they not like you there? Will they attack you? Because I can help with that." The snarling tone of his voice made it quite clear what he was suggesting.
Lydia rolled her eyes, "Kind as you are to offer, they're not going to attack me… There may be some blood though." Lydia desperately hinted at the word 'blood' for him to understand.
Resh seemed confused, "Why blood? Just tell me what you're talking about."
"Are you really that oblivious?! It's quite obvious what I'm talking about!" Lydia was surprised at her raised voice, perhaps she was 'starting' early.
"What?" he asked in his still confused voice, also seemingly surprised at her anger as he shrank away from her yelling.
"I'm going to have my moons blood, you idiot! How did you not guess any of my hints? I was hoping this wouldn't be awkward, but because of you it was! Now let's just hurry up and get there!" she shouted angrily before walking off in a huff.
Resh looked at her walk off and tried not to think about this 'moons blood' thing Lydia spoke of. He had never heard of a Tsaesci having this 'moons blood'. But obviously it worried her and angered her enough to bring up. But frankly, he had no idea what she was talking about so thought it best to dismiss whatever she meant as irrelevant and look forward to the next day...