Morning Hope Rising, Part 8

The morning sun streamed through the roof thatching window. It was chilly. The fire and candles had long gone out. The brown-eyed outlander warrior started to panic; his lady wasn’t on his chest anymore.

He relaxed; she’d curled at his feet under the union furs at some point in the night. She was just as beautiful and sweet as that first night at the lake; something in the way she was sleeping reminded him of those precious first days.

His hips and back were stiff. He’d slept sitting upright for the first time in ages, and his body was hating him for it. He didn’t want to move because he knew he’d wake her, and he still remembered fearing her the night before.

“Snowcat, hey, snowcat.”

She started to stir. At some point in the night, the chee-chin had returned to the hearth; they were not even twitching as she started to wake.

“I hate to wake you, but I need to move. You’ll hear so much crackling you’ll think I’m young and untrained in a forest of dry bush.”

She tilted her head and smiled without opening her eyes. As she pushed up on her elbows, the union furs fell off. She giggled and reached out to stroke his inner thigh.

He reached out to cover her hand with his. Her eyes were still red from crying, and it made the green pop and the stars even more piercing. He felt relief that she had told him what was bothering her about union, but he wasn’t sure he would want to face her like that too often.

He pulled her hand away and laid it on the furs. Then he rolled to his hands and knees like a clover crawler and started to push himself up. She giggled again.

As he stood beside her, she reached again to stroke his inner thigh. “So, snowcat, food or clothes?”

“DeadLife Nightmare.”

He paused, stunned. “What?”

“DeadLife Nightmare.”

He shook his head in disbelief. She cocked her head and narrowed her eyes. “Finish. It.” A chee-chin stood and stretched then wandered over to where she was lying. It wrapped its tail around her ankle.

“Test the potions. No peace until done.”

“So… you want to spend the day locked in the cottage while I try what’s in the two vials?”

She nodded.

He sighed and pushed every bit of air out of his mouth. “We could. If I started mid-morning with one vial, we would have time to do the second vial just after moon rise.”

He got done before her on his knees; his love sword didn’t respond. He reached out, stroked the side of her face. Then he cupped her chin and gently kissed her on the forehead. She closed her eyes and covered his hand with hers. She nodded.

“All right then. Let’s dress in case you have to get a healer for me, and then eat. We’ll rest while the food settles.”

As his hand dropped, she opened her eyes and turned the green stars to pierce his brown eyes. Without warning, she tried to steal a quick kiss; she missed his lips and landed on his nose.

She started to blush and fluster, but he hugged her and laughed. “In time, snowcat, in time. It’ll come back, and we’ll be a stronger one than we were before.”