Two Graves - The Song of Nephiah and Brelyna

Chapter 17: Inseparable Pairs

Nephiah gave off a short scream as she awoke, pushing herself into a sitting position. She was breathing heavily as she realized where she was. She made fists, lowered her head and squeezed her eyes shut. Brelyna moved up behind her and put a hand on her shoulder. Startled by the unexpected presence, she looked at her. "Bad dream?" She nodded. "You have those often." She nodded again and got up from the bed. "Every night." She put her fists down on the table and breathed deeply, trying to calm down. She was shivering.

Brelyna gave her a moment. "Sooo...", she eventually said, "I suppose you want to go kill them all now." Nephiah looked over her shoulder, said nothing. "I thought so." She stretched her arms out and yawned. "Can we have breakfast first?" Nephiah gave off a short laugh before removing her fists from the table's surface and shaking off the effects of her nightmare. Brelyna stepped up behind her and tapped her on the shoulder. She pointed at the steel plate on the chair. She placed a kiss on her cheek and left for the kitchen.

It took Nephiah a while to get into the unfamiliar set of armor. It was composed of many pieces. A chainmail first, then various steel plates that had to be strapped on in the correct order so they would form protective layers and not restrict the wearer's movements too much. As she was finally done, she stood up and felt it's weight. Moving in this would take some getting used to. She took a few steps and noticed the sound of steel brushing against steel. Moving silently was pretty much out of the question. She hopped up and down a few times to make the various pieces settle into place. It fit extremely well, it must have been custom made for her. She picked up the swords and felt the weight of everything that would be on her in combat. She began to masterfully move both swords through the air, turned on her axis 360 degrees and upon arriving in the starting position moved the right hand sword down in a diagonal strike through the air in front of her. It all looked very graceful, like she had done this for years. Again she wondered about that.

Brelyna re-entered, carrying two plates on which pieces of snowberry costrata were placed. As her eyes fell upon Nephiah, she stopped. She had only imagined her wearing the armor. And there she stood, both her swords in hand, looking at her. She looked a little taller, a little stronger, almost noble. Brelyna suddenly noticed the stark contrast of walking into this room with Nephiah unconscious on the bed and walking in with her standing tall, ready to go. She put on a big smile, the rising happiness at the picture made a giggle unavoidable. "My knight in shining armor...", she sighed before proceeding to the table.

She put the plates down and turned to her love. Nephiah was motionlessly looking at her, like she was waiting to be inspected. Brelyna tightened a few straps on the inner sides of her upper arms and then moved her hands behind her neck to pull the hair out from under the back plate. Nephiah must have forgotten about the additional length, she tied it together into a pony tail. Nephiah just looked at her as she worked, baffled, astounded, speechless at having someone take care of her. She had been living self sufficiently for a long time, hunting, acquiring resources, tending to her own wounds. It wasn't always pretty but it was all she knew. This was alien to her, yet it felt incredibly good.

Brelyna opened the jewelry box that still rested on the chair. She pulled a black linen strip out from under the items and wrapped it around Nephiah's forehead. Then she carefully put the necklace in place, she couldn't help but notice the change in Nephiah's breathing as she did so. Finally she placed the circlet on top of the black head band. She took a step back and looked at her creation. She put a hand over her mouth as the image took her breath away. What a noble specimen, eons away from the savage she first met in that dark Falmer cave.

She looked down at herself and back up at Nephiah. "I guess I better put something on myself." Nephiah instantly stepped forward to close the gap between them and put her armored hands around Brelyna's naked hips. As she was pulled close, she gasped at the sensation of cold steel against her skin. "You object, I take it?", she giggled and placed her hands on Nephiah's shoulder plates. Nephiah moved her head forward until their noses touched. The armor covered the lower half of her neck and restricted her movement from then on, she couldn't quite reach the pair of lips she was aiming for. Brelyna giggled again. "We just got you into that armor..." She squealed and laughed loudly as she was lifted up by the thighs. "Hm. It will be good practice." She nodded reaffirmingly and moved her head down, their eyes closed as their lips met.