Feel free to review, I do love feedback.
.
Caroline placed on final block on her latest creation then stretched and stood back to admire her handiwork with pride. It was a new house, larger by far than the shack they were all currently crammed into. There was a central room with seats around a large fireplace and two sleeping areas with room to expand as needed. It was plain and simple. She figured she could decorate it later, maybe even design windows at some point, but for now it would do nicely.
"Have you eaten today?" She turned and saw Malroth behind her, one hand on his hip, a cabbage in the other and a stern expression on his face. She thought for a minute and decided not to answer, he was already worried about her. She'd taken a well-deserved day off the day before and was feeling much better, but she had in fact forgotten to eat breakfast. She realized everyone was taking a break for lunch and went to eat with the others, sitting cross legged on the ground as she slowly peeled her cabbage apart and ate it.
While they ate Caroline told them about some of their adventure. She told them how she'd had a little trouble with the map, and about having to dig a shelter into the mountain side to get out of the weather because she didn't have any blocks. She left out the part about having to strip naked to avoid hypothermia and that she'd had to educate Malroth on the birds and the bees.
"I've been trying my hand at building." Rosie informed her while pulling a bag out of her pocket. "I made this for you. We all did. Perry helped with some of the weaving and Bonanzo helped with materials. Even the pastor help by telling me how to enchant it. You can hold an almost unlimited amount of materials in this."
"Oh wow! Rosie, this is great! You have no idea how useful this will be! Actually I was thinking me and Malroth might go out exploring tomorrow. Maybe we can find some good dirt and bring it back here."
"Even if there is more dirt out there it will take forever to find enough and haul it back here."
"I can't think of another idea."
At that Brittany chimed in "I heard this hot goss about a wiggley that lives near here... He's part of this ancient tribe with like the power to clean up gross soil so the Children of Hargon are like "I don't think so mate." so he's laying low in is burrow."
"Wait, you're saying there is a giant worm out there that can solve out soil problems? That sounds almost too good to be true! Caroline, you must find that wiggly and bring him here right away!"
"Sounds like a plan. Brittany, can you mark it on my map?"
Once everyone else had finished eating and returned back to work the builder ran to a chest for supplies then she and Malroth decided to make their way to where the wiggly made his home. Outside of town limits she gave Malroth a playful shove as she demanded "This time tell me if I'm looking at the map wrong, jerk!'
"Hey, you didn't ask!" He teased back giving her a gentle shove. She gave him another shove and he tackled her to the ground the two wrestled around, Caroline at a severe disadvantage until at some point she discovered Malroth was ticklish. She quickly used this weakness to gain the upper hand and pinned him under her but then he attempted to tickle her ribs and discovered she had the same weakness.
After a few minutes of them both assaulting one another's ribs while attempting to protect their own Malroth pinned Caroline. He straddled her hips while holding her wrists above her head his triumphant face inches above hers. "Surrender."
"Never!" She grinned, struggling helplessly against him. Laughing at her defiance he shifted his weight to pin her more tightly beneath himself. Suddenly he stood and pulled her up.
"Let's see that map." he demanded hoping she wouldn't notice the bulge that had formed in his pants. Her squirming and wiggling in an attempt to free herself had put friction on a very sensitive part of his anatomy and his body had responded. While thanks to her he understood what was going on with his body he had not had alone time to figure out what to do about it.
She pulled out the map and they stood together looking at the mark. "Leaving out this late we probably won't be able to reach it before dark."
Caroline shook the enchanted bag. "I have enough blocks for a small shelter, two beds, and if needed a change of clothes. Once I find plant fibers I will make some extra clothes for you too, at the very least some swim trunks."
They walked together and talked about nothing important for an hour then fell into an amicable silence for the majority of the afternoon. A few slugs attacked, and a couple of drackies, barely an inconvenience. At sunset she threw together a very small shelter, a wind-break open to the sky and just big enough for the two beds she'd packed. It was unseasonably warm and Malroth was like a living furnace so there was no need to have a fire in the shelter. The full moon gave them just enough light to see one another's faces as they spoke into the night.
Her eyes were closed, and she was on the brink of sleep when she felt his arms wrap around her and pull her close. Smiling she opened her eyes, expecting to see him sleeping peacefully, but he was smiling at her, very much awake. "Sorry, I didn't mean to wake you, go back to sleep."
"Y-you're holding me."
"I do every night. I thought you knew that."
"I thought you curled up to me in your sleep for warmth."
"I do it to make sure you are warm enough. But if you'd rather I didn't..."
She should have told him not to. She should have told him to keep his hands to himself. That this was inappropriate. Instead she snuggled closer.
"I just don't want you to think this will lead to anything. Some guys would think it means I'll sleep with them."
"Um... isn't that exactly what we're doing?"
Caroline's eyes shot open. She looked up into his confused face. Right, he takes a lot of things literally. "It's an euphuism for having sex."
"You've made it clear people should be married before they risk it. What is married anyway?"
"It's when two people decide they want to be together forever. They become husband and wife and promise to take care of and support each other." She yawned and pressed her face into his chest.
"Bozo asked me if you were my girlfriend or wife."
"What did you tell him?"
"Well, I didn't know what those words meant so I ignored him. I figured it wasn't his business anyway."
Caroline chuckled. "So that's why Bozo told everyone we're married."
"I didn't know he told people that."
"It's ok. If I am off the market I'll have less guys harassing me while I try to work. You can be my fake husband." With that she drifted off to sleep.
Caroline woke before Malroth the next morning, she contemplated getting up and away, but what was the point? He knew she was in his arms and he was fine with it. Of course he was, for a hotheaded killing machine he was very innocent.
'What is wrong with me?' She wondered. 'Malroth is my best friend, I shouldn't be snuggled up to him!' But she made no move to get away from him. It did feel nice to be held like this. To feel cared for.
She thought back to her conversation with Rosie the other day. Rosie's insistence that Malroth was in love with her, smitten. Four days ago he didn't know what sex was. Last night he didn't know what marriage was! There was no way he was ready for a relationship, and she just didn't have time anyway. She was married to her work and that suited her just fine.
He opened his eyes and sat up and grinned at her and they began their day. They hadn't been walking long when they say a large gray blue sphere in the distance with a white energy slowly swirling around it. "Hey, what's that?"
"Don't know, race you to it!" she challenged, bolting before she finished talking.
"Hey that's cheating!"
"My legs are shorter!"
He quickly caught up and passed her. He was sitting on the edge of the platform the sphere sat on with his arms crossed grinning at her when she came panting to a stop in front of him. "Even cheating you can't beat me. Pathetic. So what is this thing?"
"Hmmm, it kind of makes me think of a naviglobe, but I thought those only existed in children's stories." A word with a nearby fat rat reveled that the sphere was, indeed, a naviglobe. Explaining what it was to Malroth she pressed her palm to the orb. The swirling energy flowed into the orb which glowed bright blue and a warm, tingling energy flowed through Caroline.
She closed her eyes and focused on the naviglobe. Her hand tingled. "I'm going to test this, wait here." She jogged about a hundred yards away and closed her eyes and focused on the naviglobe again. She reached out to touch it and the warm tingly feeling filled her body and when she opened her eyes her palm was on the bright sphere. When she had warped she felt another destination on the corner of her mind so she tried again focusing on the dietree. "Hi pastor. Bye pastor" and she was back before Malroth.
"This is crazy!" she laughed, "Malroth, try this thing!" She urged grabbing his hand and pulling him towards the globe. She pressed his hand against it and the strange power shot through him as well.
He closed his eyes and viewed the points he could now warp to for a moment then open his eyes and met hers. "There is a potential to get separated here."
"According to the stories as long as we hold on to one another we can each take the other with us."
"Let's test that. I'm going to take us to the dock, if it doesn't work we meet back here." He wrapped his arms around her.
"You know just holding hands w-" she never got to finish the sentence as the half rotten wood of the dock buckled under her feet and she tripped forward onto Malroth's chest.
"Fucking klutz, you can't even stand up without me!" He laughed.
"I guess I'm really falling for you!"
Malroth was laughing so hard he didn't catch what she said, or the deer in the headlights look that came to her eyes when she realized what she said. He finished laughing and grinned down at her. Her heart was already racing but then her belly started doing flipflops 'No! too fast! this is much too fast!'
She pushed away from him turning blood red "No, forget I said that. It was a bad joke, I'm stupid, I mean it's stupid!"
"Wait, I missed it. What did you say?"
"You know we've goofed around enough. We got a wiggly to find, let's get back and see if anyone can give us more precise directions."
Malroth put an arm around her again and they warped back to the naviglobe. Another fat rat was able to tell them where the wiggly was, and that a bunch of monsters from the children of Hargon where on their way to his burrow already. Thay ran as fast as they could. Why had they wasted so much time playing with that naviglobe?
"Over there." Malroth pointed at a hole in a sandbank and they ran in to see an enormous pink worm in a straw hat and kerchief cowering before a bunch of other monsters, begging for its life. The monsters questioned them then attacked. Malroth faced off against the muscle, a badboon and a skeleton. Caroline spotted a gremlin hiding in the back casting spells. she'd take the spell caster. She ducked a spell then slashed him with her sword once, twice, the third blow dealt a fatal wound but a bright light flashed from him and struck her before he fell. Her body became heavy and her vision darkened.
"Hey, can you hear me? Wake up." She blinked in confusion and found herself staring into the concerned red eyes of her best friend. She was still on her feet, but she felt groggy and disoriented. Her right arm was aching horribly, and she felt drool on her chin. She tried to wipe her chin, but she couldn't move her arm. She looked down in confusion to see her sleeve was covered in blood and Malroth's hand was clenched over a gaping wound.
She heard the pastor's voice nearby and realized she was beneath the dietree, Malroth had warped the three of them back to the farm. "Move your hand Malroth I need to see." the pastor was saying.
"Hmmmm hmmm hmmm, I think she'll be ok. Rosie, fetch some bandages. It looks worse than it really is, as for the sleep spell it will have no lasting effect. The point is to leave the victim open to attack. Oh, Builder, you're awake."
Malroth turned on his heel and stomped off. Caroline wanted to go after him but couldn't even get up for everyone making a fuss over her. An hour later was clean and patched up with her arm in a sling when she found him stomping around the edge of town. He turned when he heard her behind him, his face relieved until his eyes fell on the sling. He glared and turned back around.
"Malroth, are you mad at me?"
He turned to her "Why would I be mad at you?"
"You just... you look mad."
"I am, but not at you. It's my job to protect you and now look at you!"
"I'll be right as rain in a few days."
"That's not the point!"
"The point is there were half a dozen monsters in that cave. The point is I chose to take one a gremlin who put me under a sleep spell. The point is I was completely incapacitated and you got me out alive. The point is..." She grabbed his elbow with her good arm and spun him around and pointed at a field of clean earth around the scarecrow where their new friend was chatting with Rosie and Perry. "...mission accomplished!"