Chapter 4 – A Quiet Place: Friends and Benefits

Three months later in early Spring, Garek sat before a warm campfire. His tent was fully set up with sleeping arrangements for two, with a blanket hanging down the middle to provide privacy. Two sets of bowls and mugs on two upturned logs. A pot of stew bubbling over the fire. He was both excited and nervous. His rapier, Cats Paw, close at hand.

Would she come alone, as promised? Or would his newly growing trust result in tragedy.

He smiled when he saw a shadow cross the stars overhead, and turned to watch the trail where the girl, Selene, should appear shortly.

She was quiet, he would give her that. He was unsure whether it was training, or nature, but her footfalls matched her personality. Quiet, gentle, such that he saw her before he heard her. A cloaked and hooded figure, pack on her back, making her way slowly toward the clearing in the starlight.

She was slightly wary as well, hooded face scanning the clearing as she approached, including, he was pleased to see, the tree branches themselves. Ah, she learns.

Seeming to satisfy herself, as he had, that they were both alone, she paused at the clearing entrance and lowered her hood. Her eyes were bright, and she was smiling.

"Garek, it is good to see you again, and as promised."

"You too, Selene. No issues traveling?"

Her smile broadened, and she moved forward into the clearing. "None."

He still felt himself tense, and forced it away. He ventured cautiously, "Are you hungry?"

"Yes. I am, thank you."

They went about serving and eating the food he had prepared, sitting companionably next to each other. Finally, he spoke again. "I missed you the rest of that week. It's like… this place was special to me, but now it seems emptier without you here."

Selene was quiet for a few moments. "Truly?"

"Yes."

Selene averted her gaze. "I… I experienced the same, back in Mother's castle. It seems to lack something now, even though there are more people there."

He felt the last of his tension flee as they returned to normal conversation topics. "Well, there's your mother."

Her eyes returned to his. "Yes, but… there are many things I cannot discuss with her. Often, she would find them uninteresting, or she is too busy. And now I have… secrets that I cannot share at all."

"Yeah, that's tough." He considered again. "So, how long can you stay?" Please stay. Please stay.

She gave him a crooked smile. "I am afraid that I have been taken hostage by an insane faunus, and cannot be released for five days."

"Oh my, that sounds serious," he laid a hand on her shoulder in sympathy, and marveled at the fact that he could, that she wasn't afraid of him despite his earlier reaction.

"Yes, it is most dire," she replied solemnly with a smile at the end.

They sat in silence again, enjoying the quiet sounds of nature for almost an hour before she cleared her throat. "Can you… tell me of what happened with your… partner?"

"I'm not… ready yet. Maybe later?" He hugged himself. "I'd rather talk about you. Can you tell me more about your home? And your mother's servants?"

Selene thought for a bit. "I am not sure that is safe. Now that I understand what a Huntsman does fully, I fear you might be found at odds, or among her enemies. People would demand you tell what you know, and I would feel betrayed."

He grunted in agreement. "True. Probably better that I don't know some things. I would not tell of… well frankly I'm not a particularly important Huntsman, and I'm not sure I know anything that would be worth hiding. Maybe if I were a confidant of Headmaster Lionheart, things would be different, but I only met him a few times when I was being punished."

"Punished?"

He grinned. "It turns out gluing the underwear of another Team's member into a solid brick with tree sap is not considered a 'reasonable reaction to them refusing to stop flicking your ear in class.'" Garek shrugged. "Got detention for that one. Totally worth it."

Selene frowned, apparently not sure she understood all the nuances. "Were you tortured during this detention?"

"What?! No! Mostly you just had to sit in a room and die of boredom, or do some mind-numbing task for a Professor."

"Ah, then I agree, that may have been a reasonable transaction. What else shall we discuss about you?"

"Anything but work," he grumbled.

"You mislike your work?"

"No. No, it's not that. It's just that… being a Huntsman isn't just work. It… it becomes your identity. All you do is Huntsman things. All you talk about is Huntsman things. All people want to ask you about is Huntsman things. I love my work. I don't want to talk about my work. I am not just my job."

"This is why you come here."

"That is why I come here."

She hummed, and tapped her chin with a pale finger. "I do not care about your work, and would rather not discuss it."

He smiled broadly. "You. You can stay."

She bumped her shoulder against his. "You are too kind. But it is my place. Not yours. You can stay."

They passed the rest of the week similarly, finding they had very similar appetites for conversation and solitude that meshed will together.

They parted companionably, and agreed to return three more months hence.

A season blinked, and they returned. He became more relaxed this time after sighting Blackfeather overhead, even daring to wait until he heard Selene enter the clearing before turning to smile at her. They made the most of the time together, in their own way. Talking about life and family to the extent they felt comfortable doing so. Listening to the sounds of nature around them, even maintaining the campsite and taking care of chores together seemed… natural. Parting became harder each time.

Three months later, fall had come, and with it, near tragedy.

It wasn't her fault.

Selene had become comfortable, and he thought he had with her as well. And thus, she had determined to play a prank on him. She would leave her pack, and creep up, and place her hands around his eyes, and he would guess who the surprise guest was. It had seemed harmless.

Garek had been sitting on the log, back to the trail, expecting to hear her arrive and turn to greet her. Instead, he suddenly felt a presence immediately behind him. Far too close.

Something had been burned into him through pain and loss. Something that had caused him to abandon civilization for longer and longer periods over the last six years. The memory of a smiling faunus woman, seemingly friendly and nonthreatening. Someone who it had seemed could be trusted. The vivid recollection of a sudden feeling of sluggishness, watching his partner Toller's head fall to the table. The feeling of waking up somewhere else, and hearing the wet noise of flesh parting. The image of Toller, bleeding out beside him.

Now, in the clearing, those trauma memories, the broken parts, took over his reflexes even though his mind should have known who it was behind him, and why they were there.

In an eyeblink, he was no longer seated, but instead had spun and lunged, fluid-like, drawing Cats Paw to swing it at the throat of the threat behind him.

At the parchment-white and scarlet-eyed young woman, who stood unarmed and without aura, in the path of what would likely be a mortal strike. He gave a strangled cry, and balked, nerveless hand releasing Cats Paw to fly past her, praying he'd done so before his weapon could hurt her. He fell to his knees, shaking and staring at his own hands as if they were someone else's. His entire body shook.

It seemed minutes before Garek could hear anything but his own pulse thundering in his ears. Then he felt a soft hand on his shoulder. He flinched from the touch, terrified by what he would see if he raised his head. "Selene…" he rasped. "Gods Selene, I'm sorry." He looked up to see her eyes filled with concern, not pain. He checked her carefully for blood or injury. "Did I hurt you? Please tell me I didn't."

"You did not." She was shaken, at this point not in fear for her own safety. "I am unharmed. Garek it is you I am concerned for. You did not even see me. Your eyes. And the speed of your reaction." She knelt down. "What did you see? That caused you such terror?"

He swallowed thickly. "I have… something happened to me, years ago. I was… I trusted someone, and I was tricked, and my partner was murdered beside me. I'm so sorry, I didn't realize this would trigger it. I saw you fly overhead. I knew you were coming. It just…" He choked. "Please, are you hurt?"

"I promise, I am unharmed. You did not hurt me," she repeated again.

"I'll… make sure that I'm unarmed from now on when you arrive." She's half grimm, and I'm the monster, Garek mourned.

"No, that is insufficient. I did not know of your trauma, and I startled you." She considered. "We will take additional measures. When I arrive at camp, if you are not facing me, I will pause at the trees and make my presence known. And you will make a sign that you have heard and know me, so that you do not hurt me or yourself."

"I will. I'm sorry. I ruined your visit."

She smiled. "We will… repair it." Another long pause. Selene took a deep breath. "Let us begin again. Come, let us sit, and set this aside." She helped him up, and they sat together in their usual space, collecting their wits, and staring at the fire.

It took minutes before he felt able to speak, and when he did, the story of his past pain poured out. And Selene listened. She was… surprisingly good at it.

"I begin to understand, both why you chose this place, and your reaction. Again, I apologize. I will be wary of things that will remind you of this, in the future."

"It's… I feel better now. I don't know what I would have done if I'd actually hurt you." He sighed. "It's okay, as long as you make sure I know it's you… I should be okay."

They ate, and then sat again, shoulders touching. The silence itself was like a balm that he hadn't known he would need.

The next day, things returned to normal, as if the prior evening had been a bad dream. It was not until they were preparing dinner that things shifted, yet again. She had been helping to put vegetables in boiling water, when some hot water splashed on her hand, and pulled back with a yelp. He fetched the medkit, but she assured him it was minor.

But it did remind him of something.

"So, Selene, about your aura," he hazarded as he handed her some numbing cream.

"Hmmm?"

"When we first met."

"When you threatened to kill me?" She smirked, then started to apologize remembering what had just occurred the prior night.

"I'm okay, Selene." He sighed. "I'm never living our first meeting down, am I?"

"Not until I am able to return the favor," Selene smiled, but without malice.

"Mean. Just mean." He wiped his hands on his trousers. "Seriously though, how are you wandering the wilderness alone without your aura unlocked?" He took back the tube of ointment, and packed away the kit.

She shrugged. "I suppose Mother assumed I would not wander outside her lands, and with Grimm always available, what need would I have for it? If I were attacked there, hundreds would respond to my call. And an injury like this is not likely to be life threatening."

"Yeah, but aura can make the difference between making that call, and gurgling bloodily."

"That is an unpleasant visual."

"It's a worse experience."

She huffed, which was oddly endearing even with her alien features. "I believe you are suggesting something."

"Would she notice if your aura was unlocked?"

"I… no I do not believe so."

"Are you willing?"

"You would do so?"

"I believe it would be safer for you."

She was quiet for a minute. "You care for my safety."

"I… Yes. Yes I do."

"Even though I am as I am, a Grimmling, and you are a Huntsman?"

"Because you are Selene, and I am your friend, Garek."

"My… friend."

"Yes, friend…" He smiled and reached out, grasping her shoulder gently. "And I would feel a lot better if I knew you at least could control your aura a little bit to protect yourself. If I'd been a little more paranoid, or you a little less nonthreatening, our first meeting could have ended in tragedy."

"Very well. I will consider it." Scarlet eyes rolled to the left and up. "Friends."

"Yes?"

"I've not had one before. I love my mother, of course. And I feel affection for my father in an abstract manner. I even like some of Mother's servants. Others I find frankly creepy or annoying. But friends. I have not had a friend."

"Well. Now you do."

She closed her eyes and smiled gently. "Friend. Friends. Best friends. Boy Friend."

Garek snorted "I heard two words there, right?"

"Hmm? Oh. Oh yes. Though I don't see the issue."

He almost spit his drink. "Well. Um… we can go into that some other time."

"So, what do we, as friends, do?"

"What we've been doing. That's why we're friends. Labeling us doesn't make us friends. We were already friends." He thought for a minute. "Ideally, we'd probably get drunk and sing stupid songs and wake up hung over together at least once." He looked over. "Do you drink alcohol?"

"I have had wine. It made me dizzy."

"Okay so that's a thing. Maybe next time."

"Perhaps." Scarlet eyes danced.

As the summer week drew to a close, he lay awake that final night together, musing on how each visit he found himself enjoying her company more and more, and dreading her departure. She was… alive, vivid, fascinating.

She was intelligent. Beautiful in an uncanny way. Clever.

And in many ways, she was surprisingly ignorant. She had clearly been socialized in some fashion. While she had knowledge of many aspects of social etiquette that was about two rungs above his, there were gaps in the more informal things large enough to drive an Atlas Dreadnought through.

The next evening, he saw her off. He even dared to give Blackfeather a tentative scratch along the neck, for which he received a careful eyeballing from the Nevermore. He wasn't sure whether that was good or not, but he wasn't left battered or bleeding afterward, and Selene had giggled at him.

He had only two more nights alone afterward.

His pure solitude returned.

He loathed it.

When he finally met Tarlech at the shore for the return, the old man asked him how he had fared.

"Fine."

"And what of the ghost? You have now visited the island how many times? Six? Seven? Have you seen it?"

"What? Oh. Yes, actually."

The man twitched in surprise. "Lad, it's not good to pull the anchor of the one who holds the tiller."

"Oh, I'm not. I actually have." He said it matter of factly. Really, he felt that reinforcing the legend might help protect their secret.

"Hmph. And lived to tell I see."

"Let's say that I have reached an understanding with it. One unlikely to be shared with anyone else who might linger."

Tarlech muttered, "Huntsmen. Always thinking they be special."

Ah but I am. I am. Garek thought.

Three months of hard work flew by and it was moving into winter again. The weather had gone full winter-cold.

This was the first time she'd put their new entry ritual to the test. It had been almost a full year since their first meeting when he heard her clear her throat at the border of the clearing, announcing her presence. He tapped the log beside him in an exaggerated fashion, signing that he had heard and knew it was her.

But even still, she was cautious. "Garek, may I approach and surprise you?"

He laughed. "Okay. But I'm not sure how it will be a surprise." But maybe that's for the best.

It seemed a moment later when two slender hands covered his eyes from behind, though they trembled slightly. "You must guess who your visitor is."

Garek blinked underneath her soft hands. Uhhh… well… okay I can play along. "Oh my, who can it be?" He drawled in a monotone.

He felt her hands relax. "You must guess," she said in her lilting voice.

"I don't know. This is a very difficult game," he said through a smile.

"You must guess or… or I will… cut out your liver!"

Well, that was kinda violent sounding. His smile grew wider. "You told me you don't even like liver."

"Who told you, faunus? You do not even know who I am." Garek started laughing, which set her off as well. "You are very bad at games, Garek," Selene managed through her laughter. She had a nice laugh.

"It comes from spending too much time alone. I always know the answers to my own riddles."

"Ah. Yes. I can commiserate."

Garek blinked. "That's a mighty big word."

"Mother makes me read the thesaurus. She says education is important."

He snorted. Queen Grimmling, Headmaster of the Grimmlands. Wielder of the Thrown Eraser of Doom. The image set him off again, and made her laugh at him, though she didn't know why and he wouldn't say.

Soon they sat beside each other in companionable silence.

We do that, he mused. No one is in a hurry to talk. We both came here for the quiet, the solitude. But now it's a shared solitude.

Three months later it was Spring, and Garek took another trip on a small fishing boat, and a small campsite was reborn yet again.

A gentle announcement of her presence. His sign that he heard.

Then a sharp poke in his lower back and a pale hand's fingernails dug into the spot where his neck met his right shoulder. For one moment, Garek felt his body scream to move, but broke through it almost immediately. It was Selene. His friend, Selene. This was her little game, and it gave them both joy.

"Do not move. Do not speak. What is the password."

Garek rolled his eyes, but grinned at the same time at their ritual of greeting.

"Well?" A familiar voice hissed.

"You told me-"

"Silence varlet! I did not give you permission to speak!" He waited, silently counting to twenty. He heard a huff behind him. "I may have given conflicting instructions."

"You think?"

"Hmph. Well, what is the password, then?"

"Grimmling?"

She laughed. It was like music. "Yes. Yes, I suppose that will do." He stood and turned, and was embraced as she dropped the stick she had poked him with. "Hello my friend. I have missed you."

He was… surprised. Should he have been? He returned the embrace. Her pale skin felt warm, and her hair smelled of subtle spices. "It's good to see you too, Selene." They separated and he gave her a once over. "How have you been? You look well."

"Yes. I am well. I have been researching about friends and how they should behave. And it appears you are correct that it often involves drinking alcohol and acting stupidly without regret."

"Told you."

She smirked. "Therefore, I have brought wine," she held up a small leather bag and removed a bottle from it.

"Oh Selene, you shouldn't have." He took the bottle and glanced at the label. Stared at the label. "Selene, this wine. I don't even recognize the country it's from. And the year format doesn't even make sense."

"Mother's servant said it was excellent." She bit her lip, then put on a serious face and dropped her voice an octave. "'It is a rich red, with an excellent smoked oak flavor and undertones of berry and spice' if I remember his words correctly." Her brows drew down.

"I… Okay. Well then we should save this for our going away party. How long can you stay?" He realized he sounded almost needy this time, but she didn't seem to judge.

"I convinced Mother I was taking a longer trip with a full retinue of Grimm. I bid them wait at the shore for my return. She does not expect me back for six days."

"Oh, thank the Gods."

"Truly?"

"Solitude isn't what it was cracked up to be. It sucks here without you. Boring."

She considered. "Yes. I don't know if I would enjoy this alone as my quiet place now. It is too much associated with enjoyment of camaraderie."

"Good. Then let's camarade. Are you hungry?"

"Famished. It is never good to eat before riding a Nevermore any great distance."

"Oh? Oh…. Yuck."

"Yes. My first time was extremely unpleasant. Tyr- I mean, my mother's faunus servant found it very amusing. I did not."

"Jerk."

"Mother punished him for that." She frowned. "Too forcefully in my opinion. She… tends to over-react to slights against me. Knowing what I have learned now, perhaps a… detention would have been more appropriate."

"Parents do tend to overreact to slights against their kids, or any threat."

"Oh? Then she is not atypical?"

"Well… I think that depends on what you mean by 'overreacts'."

"A rack and thumbscrews were involved."

"Oh. That's… yeah that's extreme."

"He lived. Frankly he is the more unsettling of her servants. I am told he wept the entire time and thanked her for the pain." She shuddered. "I think he is quite mad. He's more an acolyte than servant, really." She shook her head. "Ah, but that veers too much into forbidden topics. Let us eat."

They did so in companionable silence, then she spoke again. "I have given thought to your prior suggestion."

"Which one?"

"About my aura. I read further, and asked some guarded questions, and I am satisfied Mother would not know that my aura was unlocked, unless I used it. And even then, she would likely assume it happened due to the stress of the moment. In light of its usefulness, I am willing."

"Good. That's good. Do you want to do it now?"

"Does it take long?"

"Not really, just a few minutes really. It can be tiring, though."

"Now is fine, then. I am ready."

"Okay. Let's go to the tent. You're likely to feel exhausted almost immediately, so it's better to be able to just go to sleep. You'll be recovered by morning."

He led her into the tent, and bid her sit cross legged on top of her sleeping bag on her side of the blanket divider, and arranged her pillow behind her. He placed himself in front of her, hands on her shoulders.

"Are you ready?"

"I am."

He leaned forward, pressed his forehead gently against hers, and recited words.

"For it is in the bonds between us that we achieve strength." Selene felt a presence inside her. It was something that had always been there, but never before had she been aware of it.

"Through this, we become greater than we are alone…" As the feeling grew, becoming almost a strain, she became aware of a separate presence, familiar and close to her.

"Infinite in capacity and unbound by death, I release your soul..." The strain snapped, and she felt herself flooded with… warmth. Joy. Strength.

"...and by these bonds, I protect thee." Protectiveness. Safety. Comfort.

She felt incredible.

She felt wobbly.

She felt extremely sleepy.

A very comfortable darkness enveloped her, tucked her in, and kissed her forehead goodnight.

The week passed. They had copious time for companionship, and chatting, and Garek set aside several hours per day teaching her how to manipulate her aura.

It was the fifth day, their last full day together, when they finished dinner and cracked open the wine. It was quite delicious.

They had been enjoying themselves mightily, the bottle half gone, sitting next to each other on the log and singing songs. He was convinced that she was making up some of them. It was charming. She was charming. And very pretty. Her eyes sparkled and her speech slightly slurred as she finished her fifth attempt at making up something that rhymed. They laughed, and then looked at each other.

And then she leaned forward, and pressed her lips clumsily against his. He felt his eyes widen, and he pulled back.

She looked embarrassed. "Oh. I'm… I apologize. I do not have…" She frowned. "I assumed… I assumed poorly." Her cheeks reddened slightly and she considered the mug of wine setting in front of her, "or perhaps my judgment is impaired."

"Selene, you just kissed me."

"Yes… I… was it done poorly?"

"You've never kissed anyone before."

"No, and the stories do not go into detail, only that it is… nice, and a thing that people do to show affection." She looked down at her hands, then back up. "Should I have asked perm…" She concentrated on the word. "…permission first?"

Garek tried to focus, he was still buzzed as well. "Uhh… maybe. I mean, maybe I was being kinda… overly friendly?" He thought about it. There had been a lot of laughing and hugging and hands patting going on. How do I feel about the idea? "I'm not… mad… just surprised."

"Would you… like to kiss me?"

Would I?

Well… yeah.

Is this a good idea?

Alcohol sat on his shoulder, and said that everything was going to be just fine. Sobriety was on the other shoulder, apparently trying to get its boots on.

So he said yes.

It started out a little more confident that the first kiss. Since he was aware of what was happening, he was able to provide some gentle guidance. It was… nice. Very nice.

And then it was too nice. He pulled apart, and they were both flushed and breathing rather quickly.

"Selene…"

"I believe I have discovered what the term friends with benefits truly means."

"Yeah… and I think we should put a pause on that."

"For what reason? We could… continue. I am not an innocent."

"Excuse me?"

"I mean… I have never… had the opportunity to be with another person. That is to say, there were none at Mother's castle that I would consider for such a thing. But I am an adult, and I have read books, and I have… experimented alone."

"So you know about the birds and the bees, then?"

"Birds… and Bees."

"Males and females, sex, babies, all that?"

"I believe so. I may have missed details."

"I think I need another glass of wine," Garek muttered.

They kissed several more times that evening, but he managed to resist going further, arguing that they should discuss it when they were both sober, in the morning. It was… not easy.

Garek awoke in the middle of the night to the quiet sounds of rhythmically moving fabric nearby, and soft gasps.

Oh gods, he thought.

"Oh gods." Came a quiet whisper a few minutes later from the other side of the partition.

It took him some time to fall back asleep. Some very uncomfortable time.

The sixth day bloomed like a flower reaching toward the sun.

It bloomed awkwardly.

There was a significant amount of silence during breakfast.

Likewise, after breakfast included awkward silences, covert glances, and slight blushes on both sides.

It shouldn't have for him. He wasn't an innocent teenager. He'd had sex before. He'd had good sex before. But this, having an adult woman getting her jollies right next to him after kissing him several times the evening before, had been uncanny. A lot about Selene was uncanny but that was uncanny.

And gods was she adorable when that pale skin blushed.

It was getting toward lunch when he realized they just weren't talking. Not the normal companionable silence they'd shared previously, but the awkwardness of two people who just didn't know what to say.

"Selene…"

"YesGarek?" Her response was fast and almost breathless, and she blushed immediately.

Yes Garek! Oh gods. "We should talk about… last night."

Her face reddened further, but she tried to play it off. "About the discussion we had?"

"No, about what happened later, when I woke up in the middle of the night."

"Oh. Ohhh. Oh dear."

"Oh yes. Oh gods."

"Oh gods." She whispered, face aflame and biting her lip.

"Yeah."

"I thought… I thought I was quiet."

"Everyone thinks they are. They never are."

"I am… I apologize if I disturbed your rest."

"Hmph." He looked askance and gave a low laugh. "Disturbed…"

She swallowed, and took a deep breath. "I feel I should also confess something else, then. I may have also… been curious."

His head snapped around so hard he almost hurt his neck. "What do you mean?"

"I may have… peeked at you, while you were sleeping." She glanced down at his waist, meaningfully.

Garek sat down, and put his face in his hands. "Selene, you're going to give me an aneurysm." He took a deep breath, exhaled, a second, exhaled. "Sit down. I can see we aren't done with our discussion from last night." He patted the log next to him.

She did so. He rested a hand on her knee. They both stared at it for a few seconds before he removed It. "Could we, maybe, set some expectations here? I know that I'm the first guy that you've had that kind of interest and opportunity with, and that you were curious. But you can't just take liberties like that without talking about it first."

"I… I am ashamed."

"Don't be too ashamed." He held up a hand. "But don't do that again. If you have… desires, then you have to either find some alone time, or discuss it with the other person beforehand."

"Yes. Yes, I see that is correct."

"Good."

"Could we have sex?"

He choked. "I… that's very blunt."

"You said-"

"I know what I said!"

She huffed and then gave him the most predatory look he had ever seen on woman in his life. "I wish to have Benefits with my Friend."

Oh. Gods.

Yes! Say Yes! World Class Nookie!

No! You idiot! Say no! Her mother is the fucking Queen of the Grimmlands. She'll kill you!

He closed his eyes and counted to ten slowly, then coughed.

"Selene, while I would very much appreciate said benefits, I have to ask you a question first."

"Yes. I will answer." She declared eagerly.

"I realize you're an adult, but parents can have odd ideas about the age of their children,"

"Yes, I am an adult. I have not been a child for almost a decade."

"Doesn't always matter to them. And on top of that, your mother considers herself…" Selene gave him a look. "Fine, is royalty. They have even more restrictive ideas about who their offspring sleep with." He shook his head, then gave Selene a long look. "So exactly which of my limbs will your mother, Queen of the Grimmlands, tear off and beat me to death with if I were to have sex with her only daughter?"

Selene frowned, then her eyes slowly widened and her ardor cooled to subzero temperatures. "It… possibly all of them."

"That's what I thought, and now I am very much not in the mood, and neither are you."

She sighed. "This seems unfair."

"Let's eat lunch, and then we can discuss some more."

Lunch was less awkward than breakfast, but still passed in clear contemplation.

The afternoon began to wane.

Garek jumped when Selene suddenly stood, turned to him, and growled. "Arggh! This! This is unfair!"

"Selene-"

"Do not you 'Selene' me. I must leave here within hours. I want… I want… something!"

Garek balked. "I'm here too, you know. I have a say in this."

"Then say something. Say yes! Say no! Negotiate!"

The smart answer would have been to say no.

He was not a smart man.

He negotiated.

Had they been ten years younger, what they ended up with would have been described as a heavy make-out session.

Selene was a quick study. She had a decade of self-experience to draw from, that suddenly could be applied to a second person.

The most difficult part, it turned out, was drawing boundaries. She kept trying to push them, and he found himself wanting desperately to grab a rather large eraser and redraw them himself.

But each time, thoughts of dismemberment intruded, which served admirably to cause him to hyperventilate and freeze up. And to her credit, she quickly learned to read the change and drew back herself.

Reluctantly.

She was shameless and insistent.

He was helpless and willing.

But they managed to restrain themselves.

Doing things alone can go mate with itself, she thought during one particularly passionate kiss. This is incredible.

It was late in the evening when they finally forced themselves into what was more a simple embrace than passion. "I must leave…" Selene whispered sadly.

"Yeah." He pulled back, caressed her cheek. "I'm going to miss you. This changes things."

"Yes. And… three months is a long time. Perhaps we could…"

"Any more frequently, and someone will notice. Dangerous for both of us." He sighed. "Absence makes the heart grow fonder." He chuckled. "Even now, the fishermen in the village believe I've lost my mind."

She laughed. It was a gentle sound. "I believe you have. We both of us have."

Finally it came time to leave. They embraced again at Blackfeather's side. "I like the benefits," Selene murmured.

"Hmph. I think we're well past that stage. I think we skipped benefits and went straight to dating."

"Dating. The word seems insufficient." She pulled back and looked at him with lidded eyes.

He felt his knees weaken. "Oh… is that your determination?"

"Yes." She smiled wickedly, curling arms back around his neck and leaning in to breathe directly into an ear. "I do not yet call myself fully satisfied." She laughed at how completely her words threw him off balance, and at the warmth that pooled deep inside her at the thought. "I understand the fear, and I will wait. But I will have what is mine, in time." He reached out for something to steady himself, and gained a handful of feathers and a soft warble from Blackfeather. Garek looked to the Nevermore for sympathy, and swore there was a knowing look in those monstrous red eyes.

Finally, Selene released him and gave him a final, mind-numbing kiss. A quick study indeed. He stepped back, almost falling, as she mounted her pet. "Apparently, I have more in common with my mother than I imagined. I will see you in three months, Garek of Mistral."

He was left speechless as he watched her mount wing its way into the darkness.

A/N: I hope you enjoyed this chapter. As you can see, not a ton of action or adventure so far, and zero combat. Mostly an exploration of what is clearly an evolving relationship. While they are only spending less than a week together at a time, you might consider it a "boot camp" level of companionship each visit, followed by extensive time for them to contemplate any revelations before the next one. And I'm time skipping three months at a stretch here, focusing on the evolving relationship itself rather than the time apart.

As Garek is learning, our favorite Grimmling appears to be a study in contradictions. Are these by accident or design?

They are also playing what one might consider a dangerous, and somewhat naive, game. Both seem to realize there is an underlying conflict present between their worlds, and are trying to convince themselves that they can somehow avoid it by not 'becoming involved'. To be fair, it's clear that Selene is not privy to her mother's plans, possibly by design, and Garek clearly is nowhere near our favorite immortal Headmaster's inner circle either and doesn't even know the name Salem, much less her plans.