AN: in case you didn't see in the last chapter, I posted link to a few pictures of my Tav / Lenny in case you want to get an idea of what I have in mind (if you are on FFnet, then if you'd like, head over to my profile where I've left the link.

The Fighter's Rogue Rose
Chapter Two: Get Fucked
-\-O-/-

They made camp about a mile outside Rivington. Aradin stared surreptitiously at the half-elf as they sat by the fire in the dark and ate roasted rabbit, a thousand questions in his arsenal.

He had a difficult time wrapping his brain around the fact that he was travelling with the missing Finchleywyn girl. He knew there had been something about her, something… sophisticated and regal, well-educated. She hid it well, behind commoner's clothes and battle scars, but it wasn't hard to see when she did everything with perfect posture, spoke overly proper, knew several languages and held herself with an air of confidence, dignity and authority, the likes he'd only seen from court dwellers.

At this point, it made all the sense and Aradin finally felt like he was beginning to get a clearer picture of who this mysterious girl was.

He hadn't meant to come onto her, or had he? Hell, if she'd asked him to, he'd have no problem obliging. Perhaps he had made that clear enough, he thought he had anyway, but it didn't seem the girl picked up on his subtle advances. Maybe he'd have to spell it out for her. He idly wondered if any of her other companions had… obliged her.

"So… your actual names' Lorraine, then, yeah?"

"Yeah," she said. "But don't call me that. I can't afford the trouble before we even have a chance to get there."

"You haven't even told me where we're headed."

Lenny took a deep breath through her nose. "Alright. Don't get mad, but – "

Aradin scoffed, "Anytime someone says that, I almost always get mad."

"Here," she sighed, handing him a crinkled up treasure map.

Aradin set down his bottle of wine, swallowing the last of his rabbit and unrolled the ancient piece of parchment. His eyes cast over the squiggled, cascading lines, the red bullseye over a secret tunnel in a rarely traversed section of a dangerous place he dreaded – the Underdark.

"Of feckin' course," he grumbled, not even angry at this point.

"We're not that far from the city. You can still go back if you wish. I'll just… go myself. It's not like I can't handle it, I guess I just prefer having the company."

Aradin shook his head, "Handle it, my arse." "Look, I don't mind coming, watching your back. As long as you listen to me and heed my word."

Lenny's eyes widened, gaining a haughty attitude. "Oh, I'll be listening, and you'll be listening to me and heeding my word."

"You damn nobles. Can't stand having anyone else taking charge."

"Let's get one thing clear: I paid you to be here, technically, I am the one in charge."

"Shouldn't have paid me first," he snipped. "Too, too trusting, like I said. Anyone else would have taken your money and left you in the dust. You should have dangled the pouch before me as a promise to come, for after I've done the job you wanted. You just gave it to me right away, trusting I'd be there in front of the marketplace. Barking, it was."

Lorraine blinked away her frustration. He was right, but he was just as idiotic. "Well, I suppose I could have led you straight into a trap myself, luring you in with all that coin. You seemed so eager to have it, yet you never thought for once that maybe my intentions were deceitful? You're barking too."

Aradin was scowling, sufficiently heckled. She had him with that one.

A few moments later, Lenny lightly queried, "How old are you, Aradin?" and her hand outstretched for his bottle of wine. He picked it up and handed it to her without fuss. "I'm just curious."

"I'm curious too, about a lot of things." Aradin replied, low and slow.

Lenny twiddled her thumbs, avoiding his searing gaze. "I bet you are."

"How old do you think I am?"

"Oh, I don't know. Young."

"I am young, but older than you probably think." He sighed. "I'm twenty-nine."

"Mm. I was a bit off," Lenny said, taking a swig from the bottle.

"And you?"

She smacked her lips, smiling adorably. "Twenty-two."

He sniggered again, "Pfft, just a little girl, like I said."

Rage steamed between Lenny's ears. She really hated being called that. Her knuckles cracked, poised with eased practice to shatter a jaw, or a nose if she had to, and Aradin was the prime candidate – but he had such a handsome nose, the last thing she wanted to do was fuck up that beautifully scarred face which mocked her so attractively.

"Little girl or not, I've done things you've never dared dream."

Aradin sniffed, shrugging. "Like I care."

"Whatever, then."

The bruised ego of this man… he was twenty-nine and behaved like child bully. Maybe she'd have a more difficult time tolerating him than she thought, but she continued to try and not let it get the best of her.

-\-O-/-

Aradin remained awake for most of the night, watching, pondering, sneaking glances at the little half-elf as she slumbered. He rather liked her sun kissed, tawny skin, all those little freckles; her long lashes, pouting lips; those sparkling dark eyes and that buttery rose hair.

She practically glowed all on her own. She was more than appealing and it made it hard… er, hard for him to think of much else.

Around her, he was feeling a scoundrel-like side taking over. He hadn't fucked in far too long, many, many moons. She was making him feel ravenous. He kept attempting to clear his lust-addled mind but he wasn't very good at it.

Finally just before daybreak, Lenny's eyes peeled open and they hastily got ready to pack up their campsite.

The hours wound onward as they crept beneath the mountain peaks, hours of awkward silences and glowering gazes fixed with tension. Aradin fancied he'd like to poke and prod her a bit more, to not only fuel his own entertainment but to see how much more she'd spill.

"So, let me guess," he began. "The betrothal you mentioned…"

Lenny grimaced, their long-running silence having come to an end. "Yes?"

"Bet you thought you were going to be married off to some old geezer with a receding hairline and a gut bigger than his brain."

"Oh, I know I was actually. A fifty-something year old tycoon named Lord Lewellyn. Grierson Lewellyn." Aradin stopped walking and he laughed heartily, his hands on his knees. Lenny decided she quite liked the sound of it. She was not sure she'd heard him give a genuine laugh until now. "What's so funny?" she questioned tentatively, brow quirked.

Aradin collected himself, "I know him, done a few jobs for the sour prick. I helped build him even more wealth, since you been gone. I never realized he was engaged to the Finchleywyn la – er – you."

"Hmm," Lenny hummed. "That's interesting to know. And these jobs happened after I left?"

The fighter scratched the back of his head and told her, "Yeah, after."

"But you never did any jobs for my Uncle Pierce?"

"No."

"I see."

"You know, I would have wondered how a half wood-elf had been born under nobility but the Finchleywyn's are human, so it was easy to put the pieces together. Your mum must 'ave been a wood-elf, and your father was human, like your uncle."

Lorraine scoffed, glaring behind her at the fighter. "Think you've got me all figured out, do you?" If he mentioned her parents again, she'd deck him.

"On the contrary, little elf, I'm only just beginning to understand."

She rolled her eyes, "All you need to know is, my nickname – or alias, whatever you like – is getting more well known now, so it isn't going to be long until one of my uncle's associates finds me. They are searching for me now, I know it. That's why I have to try to go get this thing. I'm certain now where it is."

"Why would you give yourself an alias so close to your original name?" he went on derisively and she shook her head.

"It just sort of stuck, this one day…" Good gracious, she wished he'd stop prying. All they'd done so far on this trip, when they weren't glaring at each other without words, was belittle and interrogate each other.

"And would you mind telling me what exactly this old family heirloom is?"

Lorraine slowed on the path, stopping to face him. "It's not really a family heirloom, it's… it's called a Giant Ruby Stone, but it's just this large ruby crystal. It's nothing special, truly, it holds no magical properties or powers, not to my knowledge anyway, but it has sentimental value to my Uncle Pierce – and it's worth a fortune."

"How does a Giant Ruby Stone have any sentimental value when its lost, stuck deep inside a cavern no one's been able to get to?"

"Because – arggh!" she whined, childishly stomping her boot to the dirt. Lenny hadn't been ready to delve into all the details yet, hadn't even planned on ever telling her hired hand much about anything. He didn't need to know everything, what was it to him? "Just because, Aradin."

"It was just a simple question. No need to twist yourself up." He quipped with a devilish smirk, stepping ahead of her and taking the lead.

Lenny sighed dramatically, her fists balled up at her sides. "Alright, look. You want to know that badly?"

"Only if you want to tell it."

"I don't want to tell it, but I might as well at this point, now since you might never let it alone."

"Don't you think it might be better for us both if I had more information?" Aradin replied and she mulled it over for a moment. "What if something happens and because you didn't tell me this or that, we get fucked?"

She was blushing profusely and she didn't know why. "We're – We're not going to get fucked."

He sniggered, "Yeah, hopefully not in the way I've implied."

"What's that supposed to mean? Never mind. Listen up because I'm not going to feel happy if I have to go over this again. The Ruby we need is rumored to be inside this, well, a secret hidden treasure trove, okay?" Aradin's jaw dropped slightly and he watched as she pointed to the rolled up parchment in her pocket. "This map belonged to my great-grandfather. He was an explorer of sorts, a collector of grand artifacts… but he went missing all those years ago. No one's been able to find him, nor his body, if he didn't make it. He talked about the Ruby, this treasure to my uncle when he was just a boy and my uncle has been obsessed with it all ever since, obsessed with finding my long-lost great-grandfather and the Ruby," She unrolled the map, tracing the tips of her fingers over the bullseye encircling the treasure. "But Uncle Pierce could never find this map. I acquired this map, and without it, I'd have never realized where this place is."

"How did you acquire the map?"

"Psh. I'm not telling you. But I know where we have to go."

"Which is?"

"Not far from the Selunite Outpost, actually, just passed a Minotaur den, one that should still be cleared out." She rolled the parchment back up and tucked it safely within her bag. "It's sort of funny to me. I wish I'd had this several months ago. I could have found the hidden tunnel on my initial way through that area and then we wouldn't even be doing this right now."

Aradin scratched his chin in thought, his tone playful. "Hm. This doesn't seem all that treacherous a task, like you said. If you're as capable as they say, why do you really need me here?"

Lenny huffed, "Are you really complaining about being paid?"

"I'm only wondering."

"I told you before, I prefer the company and I could use someone watching my back. What is it that you don't get?"

Aradin stopped suddenly, and Lenny ran right into him, her forehead colliding with him just below his shoulders. She rubbed her face and was about to ask him why he stopped but remained quiet as she saw Aradin on high alert. He peered, eagle-eyed from side to side. "Do you hear that? Voices…" he zeroed in on a spot far ahead. "Up there."

Indeed, Lorraine could hear several grumbling, mumbling voices and what sounded like the whirring of machinery.

Aradin covered his nose with the sleeve of his cloak. "Ugh, you smell that, don't you?"

It was the unmistakably rotten, most putrid smell of goblins. It was then she noticed a large funnel of greyish black smoke billowing amongst the trees about half a mile away from their position. It never hurt to take a cheeky look and stealthily, most secretively, see what those decrepit little monsters were up to.

Shaking the back of his cloak, Lenny motioned for Aradin to follow her through the thicket.

-\-O-/-

She was an incredible climber, even in the tight trousers she donned, so Lenny cracked her knuckles, hiking up her legs and crawled, lifting herself up over a wall of boulders with ease. She grabbed hold of a tree branch beside her and was able to peer discreetly through the log fencing surrounding the goblin encampment.

Unfortunately, she hadn't bet on their being so many of them.

A few goblins she and Aradin could handle, but here and now, the last thing she wanted was an altercation as two against fifty would most certainly lead to her last breath.

From where she stood on the boulders, panic ensued as she saw two large goblins, caught up in a tedious argument, headed towards their lookout spot.

Aradin, the dolt, decided to climb up after her. He was causing the brushes around them to sway back and forth, and he was cursing under his breath. He needed to shut up and stop moving.

"Shh, Aradin. Be quiet. There's – "

"Let me look."

"Wait, I – ouch – my foot!"

"I. Can't. See."

"Stop it, I said! I said – "

The branch she was holding snapped and down they went together, loudly breaking twigs and tumbling over the rocks in one big heap. Aradin had turned, falling flat on top of Lenny and they both groaned in pain as they collided with the uncomfortably rounded, mossy ground.

Her knee was inflamed in agony, having struck it against the boulder as they toppled. Aradin was so heavy, and to Lenny's utter horror, his hard, muscled hips, his pelvis, was crushed against hers, straight within her completely wide open thighs. She was going to tell him to get off but then she heard the voices of the two arguing goblins. They'd heard the branch snap and were walking closer to investigate.

Aradin opened his mouth to speak but Lenny's hand shot up instantly to cover it, her palm folding around his lips before he had the chance. He had probably been about to say something really snarky, probably about how he was currently in between her legs, but she pled to him with her eyes to stay still and silent. His serious, warm brown gaze returned hers with a curious twinkle as they lie there, hiding in the brush.

She didn't want to concentrate on Aradin's intoxicatingly manly scent, which was like leather and earth, sweat and something that was simply, wholly him. It was engulfing every bit of her senses, but she found quickly that this was the only thing keeping the thrum of her heartbeat from escalating to the point of explosion.

"Could 'ave sworn I heard something…"

"Me too, but I can't be arsed over it. I'm in too bad a mood to give a shite."

"You're always in a bad mood."

"What? And you're not?"

"I can't stand talking to you, Gluuf. You're such a buzzkill."

"And I can't stand having to see your ugly face every day of my life."

"Well maybe I'll fix that for you when I slit your throat while you're sleepin'."

"Try it, Frug. I've been wondering just what that ugly face tastes like after its roasted over a fire!"

"You're just as ugly, and twice as fat!"

Finally the goblins were walking away and when Lenny decided it was safe enough, she unwrapped her hand from Aradin's mouth.

"Sounds like those two are going to be very happy together." He joked, his face disappearing into the crook of her neck, holding himself steady on his elbows. She smelled so good, so much better than anything. It was gratefully drowning out the stink of the goblins, entangled up in her. He needed more.

Lenny snorted, amused but bemused. "Did you just crack a joke? Very funny. You can get off now, but remember to stay low and be quiet." If possible, he pressed himself even harder into her, sufficiently pinning her with all the strength of his hips. He chuckled, low and throaty, as if he knew something she did not, and her fear rose sevenfold, heartbeat once again bound for explosion. "Aradin, I… I said get off,"

His large hand found its way until he was cradling her head, fingers entangled in her hair. Lorraine felt totally swept up in the paradox of this man's brute nature but currently soft touch. Was he, was he smelling her? Tentatively and tender, Aradin's nose scraped along her skin. Her breath hitched, body quivering with gooseflesh. He was inhaling the spot below her ear, drinking in as much of her sweet scent as he could.

An exhale then, entwined in an aggressively delicate, guttural moan, tickling over her in teasing puffs. She whimpered, suddenly so lightheaded. Her legs quaked libidinously, organically squeezing her thighs more tightly around him.

Like rolling thunder vibrating her entire being, Aradin hummed in approval yet thankfully liberated her of his very dizzying ministrations. He sat into a kneeling position, dusting off his shoulder and offering her his hand to stand.

For a minute there, Lorraine had been afraid of a worst case scenario situation. She would have fought him to the death of course, before she'd let anything unspeakable happen, but, he'd been… gentle, sweet even. It seemed like he'd merely wanted to, she didn't know, perhaps enjoy the moment, enjoy… her?

And undeniably, she had liked it very much, made quite clear by how her body was reacting. Gods, he was… something else.

Lenny accepted his hand but when she'd knelt on her knee, she hissed, wincing at the lightning bolt of pain that shot through her. Aradin's gaze swept over her, concern between his brows. "It's nothing," she assured him in a hushed tone. "Cracked it on the rock on the way down, but I'll manage. We need to get out of here and keep going. We have no business being anywhere near this shithole."

If he weren't mistaken, she was the one who wanted to get closer and have a look, but Aradin agreed nonetheless, saving themselves another bout of bickering. He nodded to the path behind them. "After you."

-\-O-/-

AN: oof