As A Stranger Or A Friend?: The Swallow And The Drowned Sailor

Axtapor - 8 Sun's Dawn, 1246 A.D.

I was so happy I might be able to be struck in the chest by a ballista bolt and not even feel it. Even as she lay there sleeping, she was nothing short of magical! The freckles, which I'd once thought only covered her shoulders and face, turned out to be all over her. It looked like she'd lain on the forest floor and let the sun nibble her skin as it poked through the trees. And her small breasts and tender belly, lovingly squished against my muscles like the tiniest of pillows! And GODS, those baby soft thighs! They were strewn about one of mine now, but by Kava's grace, how lovely they'd felt squeezed around my waist while I fit my hips against hers. And, of course, that warm space between them... Everything about that was exquisite—absolutely everything.

I closed my eyes for a moment to relish the sensation of how every inch of her bare skin landed perfectly against my scales. It was as if she was made for me and I for her... Were she healthier, I would not let her rest this way, but she had difficulty breathing while I took her and tired very quickly, so she needed to be left alone for now, much as I wished for the opposite. Because of that, the encounter was not long, but I enjoyed it all the same and hoped that she did too. The last thing I wanted was for her time with me to be terrifying or underwhelming. I looked down at her once more and gently brushed her sandy hair over the slope of her back.

As it parted to reveal her skin, all happiness snapped away immediately because, for the first time, I saw them: three diagonal lines crossing her flesh, darkened by trauma and time. I ran my hand over them, they were only slightly raised, not unlike the wrinkles in a shirt, but no matter how delicate they were, I wanted to scrub them from her skin. I didn't want her to remember anything about that bastard! For him to have marked her like this! It angered me, it—!

"Axtapor...?" Her voice was small and sleepy and so very gentle.

"Aye, I be here." I whispered and squeezed her just a little tighter to me, "Be somethin' the matter?"

"I'm just glad you're here..." She nestled into me further and sighed softly.

Like that, I was smiling again and decisively concluded that she had me firmly wrapped around her finger. I wondered if she knew that. Probably not. We lay there quietly for a little longer before she moved off of me gently. I frowned, not wanting her to leave.

"Axtapor?"

"Aye?"

"Umm..." She slowly sat up, covering herself bashfully with the blankets as she went.

I folded an arm beneath my head to prop it up and shamelessly drank her in. Even the noon's harsher light could not detract from her beauty. Her disheveled hair and pink cheeks made her appear angelic, while her freckled shoulders and the slope of her lower back seemed to beg for my hands to sit upon them. Gods, it would be so hard to abstain from her now that I'd tasted her sweet flesh.

"We should not delay so long...I must say my goodbyes to the Copperpots before they depart."

"Aye, I know. We owe 'em as much for findin' ye and keepin' ye hid." I replied softly.

"Yes, I am grateful to them..."

Her voice had taken on a different quality now, and her expression slowly wilted.

"What be troublin' ye, ey?"

"It's silly, but I—" Her chin quivered.

"Oi, nay cry. What be the matter? Speak true." I said, sitting up quickly.

She put her arms around me. "I just started to f-feel as if they were my own f-family—!"

"Oh, my wee cream puff..." I kissed her head and embraced her tightly as she cried into me.