Tansy of the Wilds

Chapter Eleven

Xer'tal watched the bundle of sunshine named Tansy bound over the puddle. Her innocent enthusiasm was continually touching something deep in his battle-hardened heart. He couldn't resist the twitch at the corner of his lips. The touch of her hand against his arm still burned against his skin and he found he was becoming very weak against those touches, much like her smiles. He felt like a starved dog, near begging for scraps of food when it came to those small actions she so sweetly handed out. It was like she saw him as a person, a man, before she saw him as an orc.

His voice dropped to a low rumble, "Ain't easy, for sure, but it isn't lonely. A dawn ain't lonely, however much the night calls it back. A river ain't lonely, no matter how much it meanders away from its spring. The same for me. It's about findin' yer purpose, even if it's different from where ya hailed from." He glanced at her, watching how the dappled sunlight played around with the golden tones in her hair. He had seen her pull it down last night, braiding it back, it was a mass of brown waves and for a brief moment he had the insane urge to reach out and bury his hands into those tresses to see if they were as soft as they appeared.

For an orc he had startled himself right out of the urge. Hair was sacred in orc culture, only those close to a person got to touch it, close family and lovers only. So the urge he had was bordering on full blown insanity, there was no reason he had the urge to gather those long wavy tresses in his hands and pull her small frame close. She was his employer, he needed to keep the lines between them clear. It didn't matter how many sweet smiles and soft touches she sent his way.

She gave a happy sounding hum, "I bet as a personal guard you meet all sorts of interesting people." It was clear by her tone she was expecting a response and he paused for just a moment before he decided to go with honesty.

"Intrestin'... I can say I ain't come across anyone quite like ya, Tansy." The orc's hand, so used to killing, landed lightly on her shoulder, giving it a tender squeeze. The touch was an imperfect attempt at human-style comfort, yet it echoed with the sincerity typical of Orcish kinship. Her shoulder was small in his grasp, delicate, much like a bird and desire punched him in the stomach with brutal force. "Ya pack quite a punch with yer words, and I ain't meanin' it lightly," He continued, his voice an unusual blend of gentleness and strength. He had no blasted idea where she was pulling all that softness from. He wasn't a soft person, orcs weren't soft but she yanked it from deep inside him anyway.

Tansy laughed at that, and he watched as her cheeks flushed at his words as his grip fell off her shoulder. "And here I was about to say I am probably one of the most boring jobs you've taken!" She smiled up at him. "It's not very exciting, trade negotiations, kobolds teasing you mercilessly, and walking, so much walking." She looked at the ground for a moment as she moved around a dip in the path. "You would probably find some interesting stories at the lumberyard." She gave a small hum, "Because we are between the port city Berget and the Capitol we get a fair amount of travellers, each more interesting than the last. My family set up a small town, not so much a town town but a place for the workers to live and for travellers to spend the night."

He grunted as she looked up, down the path. "One of my favourites has to be this very odd man who came in one day, he was wearing a sheep's pelt, he had a crown of sheep ribs on his head, and was carrying a sheep leg bone. He called himself Higgard, God of the Sheep." She gave a wry sort of smile. "My family didn't understand it and refused to deal with him because he was so odd and, in their eyes, a bit delusional, but when I brought him some food from the main house I managed to learn that he was from the Capsit mountains to the north. He wasn't a god, it was the wrong word he used because he didn't speak common well. He was a shaman on his way to get a herd of sheep that was promised to his village from a tribe from the southern range of Hifle mountains."