What Happens In Solstheim

Chapter 4

When Farah awoke the next morning, she was surprised to see that Teldryn wasn't there. His bedroll was rolled up neatly and his belongings gone. She bolted upright and without thinking threw the doors of the Great Hall open, still wearing only a cotton shirt and the leather pants – nothing else. He couldn't have left, could he? Not after what they've been through the previous day...

Her eyes frantically searched the village as she plunged into the snow, passing through the few Skaal that were awake on her search for him. She looked behind every house, down the few roads that led out and even in the animal pens. No sign of him.

Just as she was about to head back inside, utterly disappointed, a familiar voice called out, "Red? What in the name of Azura are you doing out here in the cold dressed like that?! You'll catch a cold, woman!"

Farah spun around and that's when she saw him, standing at the forge and staring at her as if she was crazy, "I thought you were gone! I woke up and you weren't there, your bag was also gone and I couldn't find you in the village."

She approached him slowly, the heat of the forge warming her up the closer she got. He sighed, shook his head and turned his back on her, fiddling with what looked like armor, "Now why would I leave again, huh? I thought I made myself clear last night."

She could only shrug, "How early did you get up then? That armor seems newly forged and that doesn't take little time."

"Around three or four hours ago." He muttered.

"You only slept two hours?!"

"Give or take." Before she could throw a scene, he turned around and rested his hands on her waist.

Farah froze, her eyes wide and her knees suddenly weak. He tried reaching around her waist using only his fingers, muttered something under his breath and then crouched down. Then his hands were on her thigh, mimicking the previous moments and trying to reach around her legs.

"Wh- what are you doing..." she managed to stammer, not trusting herself to speak.

Teldryn didn't answer, though he noticed the sudden red color in her cheeks and smirked. He returned to the armor he was working on, picked it up and placed the cuirass over her head. Farah stood as still as a corpse while he tied up the latches and buckles, knocking on the chitin plates as he did so.

"I have to say, this is one of my finest pieces yet." he grinned.

Farah looked down at the chitin armor. It felt strangely light for its size and covered every part of her body. Then Teldryn crouched again, this time helping her into the boots. And all that time her heart was hammering in her throat, making it undoubtfully hard to breath.

"What is all this for?" she almost squeaked.

"Whatever you were wearing yesterday won't be able to protect you against the next part of the quest." He explained as he pulled on the gauntlets as well, "I need to have complete confidence that you won't get stabbed in our next fight. I can't always keep an eye on you, you know?"

When she was wearing the complete set of chitin light armor, she looked up at him in question, "You woke up in the middle of the night just to forge me armor? Teldryn, I don't know what to say..."

Honestly, he also didn't know what to say. This woman was a strange one. Usually Elves wouldn't give them second looks (High Elves more than the others), and usually the Nords hated the Mer races. Though he couldn't think anyone could hate or dislike her in any way. He just wanted to keep her safe for when he needed to fight his own battles. He'd be a lot more at ease during a fight if he knew she was wearing the right armor – a set he forged himself and he had very high trust in his forging skills.