Few Words Between

[Lani Stranger]

73rd of Fall, 518AV

The knock on her door surprised her, and Lani stopped what she was doing to look up at the door, as if she had imagined it. There was a long standoff, before she heard the demanding rap again, and she immediately turned back to what she was writing, tapping the quill on the inside of the inkwell, and setting it down on her rag. She glanced at her work, realizing that she had paused mid word, allowing the ink to travel down the tip of the quill and pool on the parchment.

”Shyke,” She looked at it, realizing she would have to recopy what she was working on, or accept the blunder, rewrite the single word she had destroyed, and continue on. Her perfection streak detested that option, and she hesitated a little too long, looking at it. The knock sounded again, and Lani cursed once more, scooting out of her chair and bouncing over to the door to crack it open and see who was trying to reach her at this time of the night.

”Black Eyes.” Narth’s familiar nickname was a mere breathe before the bearded man barged the door, enveloping the Chiet’s face in his hands, and her mouth in his beard. For a few ticks too long the mixed blood was surprised by the sudden ferocity and odd hours of the man, but once she realized what he wanted, she relaxed further. He pushed her into the room gently with his own body, and she heard the door slam behind him, which is when she pulled away. Placing two russet palms on his chest, she separated herself from him.

”Narth?”

”Shhh.” He said, eyes unusually hungry, and his hands were distracted with the buttons on her shift now. She giggled, and hooked her finger on the collar of his weird cropped Inartan shirt, pulling him further into her apartment. The fire was going, and two candles remained lit on the table where she had been working, casting interesting shadows across her room. She didn’t mind being Narth’s bedwarmer, she was pretty certain he was enamored with her exotic body, but she liked to do it on her own terms. In the safety of her apartment, shielded from the eyes of others, it was easy to forget that she was his lesser. That he was Endal and she was Chiet. When the bearded Endal was consumed by lust and hunger for the woman figure, she was in charge.

The mixed blood turned when they neared her small bed, so that he faced away from it, and she gently pushed his chest with her two hands. He willingly sat down, one eyebrow raised in expectation. He kept her around because she could switch on her own hunger easily enough. Only she did not want to get naked and give into him today, she knew other ways to please the man and remain clothed herself. Trying to take control of the situation, she leaned down to grab each of his knees with her hands, pushing them together so that she could straddle them. But she did not lower herself onto him as if to mount him, instead she bent over slightly, exposing the cleavage that teased the man through the two buttons he had managed to undo. She smoothed her fingers up his thighs, and then his chest, pressing her nails into the skin.

[Lani Stranger]

It exhilarated her to do this, because she logically knew he could flip the switch in an instant and be in complete control to do so. If he pleased, he could turn her over and have his animalistic way with her like the barbarian of men tended to do, but he didn’t. Instead the Endal watched her slow progression up his chest, feeling her fingers claw into his flesh underneath his shirt, and he let it happen. He wanted it to happen, she was in control.

When she reached his neck, the mixed blood hesitated, letting her fingers trace his collar bone and under his beard, toying with the idea of choking him. He wouldn’t see it coming. Instead she let her fingers graze over his red curly bear and grab his face, pulling him in for a deep kiss as he had to her just moments prior. Only now she was in charge. As if she were Laviku, father of the sea, seducing Semele, their dear mother earth, she could feel his body move underneath hers. Breaking the kiss, she let her hands fall down his chest again, this time fingering them underneath his Inartan clothing. He seemed to understand her wordless demand and raised his head to let her release him of his clothing.

Once she did, he seemed unable to help his hands from wandering to her own hips, smoothing up the side of her ribs under her shift and cupping her breasts in his hands. It wasn’t what she wanted, but she knew better than to attempt to stop him, which would make him less receptive towards her own seductive tactics. He pulled at her hips, trying to guide her closer to himself, and she resisted slightly. She saw his eyebrows scrunch at the reaction, but before he could open his mouth, she moved her hands to his warm bulge, leaning into him with her shoulders, trying to press him back against her cot. The further his hands were from her hips and breasts, the better.

Lani lowered herself to her knees, the cold stony floor digging into her kneecaps and chilling her bare toes. Even in his hot and stupid state, the man giving into greater impulses, and the temptation to lay back and relax while Lani did the work seemed ease his confusion quickly enough. Within a few ticks, she had his pants unbuttoned as well, and then she held his power in her hand, and he was all hers.

[Lani Stranger]

Whatever had possessed Narth to visit her rooms and attempt to seduce her with his rough and barbaric manly ways, was gone now. She had successfully worked it out of him. At some point they had moved to the rug in front of her fire place, and she had lost the fight to keep her clothes on and keep his hands off of her, but she didn’t mind too much. He had tired eventually, and she was free now. Black eyes glanced up to watch his sky blue ones, which flickered with the reflection of the fire in front of them, and she judged that he was content enough that she could cloth herself again.

Rolling away from him, she tucked her feet beneath her and sprung to a standing position easily enough, stepping over to her bed, which at one point had been made in preparations for her slumber that night, but the blankets had been disrupted by their activities. She yanked the top quilt off of the bed, and grabbed the pillow, slinging it at Narth, who shot a hand up to catch it as if he expected what she was doing. He had never visited her chambers before, and they certainly had not pleasured on another on her rug of all places before, but he tucked the pillow under his head, not sparing her another glance as he sprawled on the rug, watching the fire.

Silently she draped the quilt beside him, leaving him the option to have it or not, and retrieved her shift from where it was slung at the foot of her bed, slipping back into it, and snagging her wool sweater. The half-Eypharian selected a log from the pile, fed it to the fire, and then turned to look at Narth with her hands on her hips. Why had he come? He had still spoken nothing of substance to her in the bells he had been there, but the visit itself was unusual. She was used to him trapping her in the stables on a slow afternoon or requesting her to scout for him and shoving her up against a tree. She always took it and didn’t complain, knowing she didn’t really have the option to in the caste system. But on occasions like this, she liked to control the night as much as possible.

”What?” He finally asked, eyes flicking from the fire to her and back.

”Nothing.” She answered, dropping her hands and stepping over him to return to her table where she had been working. He shrugged in his entitlement and went back to silently watching the fire eat it’s new log. Lani curled one leg up to sit on it as she sat in the chair, letting the other hang to the floor, and picked up her quill once more from the rag she kept for it. The she hadn’t had time to cap her inkwell before Narth barged in, so there was a thin dried film over the top of it. She scooped it off with her quicll, wiping it onto the rag, and then wiping off the tip on the rag to make sure no film was left over. She dipped it once more and then dipped it again. It frustrated her that narth had interrupted her note taking, and that she had to abandon it without properly caring for the materials. Even her two candles, which she had spaced evenly on either side of the parchment so that her hands did not cast shadows covering the words she was writing, were nearly out. She had to ration them, as Market Day was not for another six moons, and if she ran out then it was the end of her late night studying.

”Black Eyes,”The tone was a request, and Lani paused in preparing her quill and looked at him. He glanced at her to make sure she was paying attention since she hadn’t answered, and then returned to gazing at the fire. ”Why do you still wear those southern clothes?” He spoke in slow Nari, used to the language barrier between them. The foreigner frowned, turning back to her work and dipping the quill again, unnecessarily.

”I tried… to get clothes.” She muttered, recalling the failed attempt to seduce the seamstress not too long ago. If she was to fit into this foreign city, she should at least wear the local clothing, and try and hide her unsual black hair, but her whole plan had been a bust when the flirtatious seamstress had given Lani the wrong impression. The foreigner realized now that the seamstress was likely trying to secure a sale, but the half-Eypharian had read it as sexual interest, and could not have been more wrong. She had yet to show her face on market day since, unwilling to look the seamstress in the eye again. This meant she was certainly not acquiring the local clothing any time soon.

[Lani Stranger]

”What happened, did you piss Felicity off?” He asked, and she heard the amusement in his word. Her frown deepened, and she supposed she had, in a way. She had given the woman a good laugh, but she hadn’t stayed long enough to see if the seamstress was upset with her or not.

”Nooo…” She dragged out the Nari word, unsure of how to explain what had happened in the local language, and unsure if she even wanted to. She owed Narth nothing, she was his new exotic toy, and she gained favor that her caste usually did not receive by being his bedwarmer, but she knew where she was. The Inarta’s disrespect for monogamy had confused and angered her when she first learned she was not his only lustful partner, but she had gotten used to the idea rather quickly. Conversation was not what they were good at, and she was confused as to why he wanted to speak with her now.

”What happened?” He wasn’t going to let it go.

”I… tried to… umm,” She didn’t hesitate from fear of him laughing at her, that she didn’t care about, but because she didn’t have the words for it. She heard a breathy chuckle from the floor in front of her fire place, and she glared at him, twisting the quill in her hand.

”Ah, you didn’t? Did you think she was actually interested in you?” The tone was not mocking, but a little bit incredulous. He did not laugh the way that Felicity had, but she didn’t like that he understood what the seamstress was doing better than she had.

”No.” She turned away from him, dipping her quill once again, even though she had not been able to focus on her work in order to copy anything down.

”Bahaha, okay, no.” He answered the question she did not ask. ”She does that to everyone, few people actually lay with her.” She could still hear the amusement in his explanation, and opted to ignore him. There were no other Inarta to chastise her for disrespecting a higher caste member, and she knew Narth was not petty enough to attempt to enforce her respect, so she didn’t speak.

”Next time, try visiting Leyla. She doesn’t play any games, she will give you exactly what you want.” Lani turned to him, confused as to why he was helping her. He could see she didn’t need clothes. She had come with enough when she travelled here that she would be set for the season. However he must have guessed she wanted to fit in with the local culture, and wanted to adjust her wardrobe accordingly. It wasn’t as if Narth and herself were friends.

”Okay,” She accepted his pointer, decided to look for the other clothing vendor at the next Market Day, glad that she had not ruined her only chance at getting a new wardrobe.

”Okay.” He said with some finality, and then lapsed back into silence. Lani eyed the ink splotch from where he had distracted her, and decided it wasn’t work redoing the whole page. With a quick slash she crossed the word out and rewrote it beside it, recollecting her thoughts on deciphering the language she was studying, and let the Endal rest on her rug, while she continued her work, thinking about how she was going to air out the smell in the morning.

Word Count: 2,374

[Ssezzkero]

Writing +1, Seduction +3, Planning +1, Observation +2, Socialization +1, Narth: Makes a bootycall, Seduction: Kissing, Seduction: Taking control of the situation, Seduction: Refusing without ruining the mood, Seduction: Men, Seduction: Power, Seduction: Castes mean nothing in bed, Felicity: Not the only seamstress in Wind Reach, Leyla: A Seamstress, Narth: Cryptic, Narth: Comfortable in your chambers, Narth: Only meets Lani for sex