Work Text:
“Here’s to our beloved Watcher on her birthday!” Sagani slurred slightly as she raised her pint in salute. The rest of the table followed suit, adding their own overlapping toasts. “How many years is it? I need to know how old I should be feeling tonight.”
Adira shook her head and took a long drink of ale. “Nope. A lady never tells,” she said and immediately followed that with a stern finger of warning to the entire table. “The first one to say I’m not a lady gets fed to the lion.”
“She’s thirty-one.” The answer earned Edér an elbow to the ribs but he grinned nonetheless. “What? I’m no lady.” He reached out to wrap an arm around her shoulders and pulled her closer to plant a kiss of apology on her full lips. “Not that anyone would believe it anyway.”
“Believe what? That I’m thirty-one or that you’re no lady?”
A brief look of confusion crossed his features. “First one...I think. Maybe I need another drink.” He raised an arm to flag down a passing barmaid, noticeably wincing as he did so. The action didn’t go unnoticed by the rest of the table who were only too willing to give him a hard time about his actions earlier that day.
“How’s that hand doing, Edér? Find any new traps to stick it into?” Sagani teased mirthfully from behind her drink. “Was your haul of two coppers and a torn diary page worth the pain and suffering?”
“Oh c’mon, Sagani, I’m sure he found half of a demented animancer’s shopping list to be incredibly enlightening.” Hiravias belched loudly. “He doesn’t look it, but he’s deep. He likely knew it contained secrets none of the rest of us could possibly understand.”
The flush on Edér’s cheeks was only partially due to the ale he’d already drunk. “Yeah, yeah, ha ha ha, I’m an idiot and it’s hilarious.”
Adira patted his injured hand. “It wasn’t the smartest thing you’ve ever done, love.” The gentleness of her tone softened the words. “Why didn’t you just wait for me to check for traps like always?”
“Tell you what,” he said just as the next round of drinks was delivered to the table. “You all drop this right now and I’ll buy this round. Next one is on me, too.”
A chorus of cheers erupted from the group and they raised full pints in his honour, promptly moving on to another topic. They didn’t often have this kind of opportunity for relaxing so they were all determined to enjoy it. After several hours had passed they started leaving for their respective rooms, one at a time and some stumbling more drunkenly than others, until only Adira and Edér remained.
With a contented sigh, Adira rested her head against his shoulder. “As far as birthdays go, that wasn’t too bad. I can’t remember the last time I actually celebrated it.” That was the problem with her recent years of solitary living with only a lion for companionship. “Elith doesn’t really pay attention to calendars.”
“I imagine he’s not the best gift giver, either.”
She laughed in agreement. “That he isn’t.” After another sigh, she reached out and squeezed his uninjured hand. “While we’re on the subject of gifts...I know I said you weren’t allowed to get me anything, but I changed my mind.”
Edér chuckled in response. “Don’t think you’re really allowed to do that.”
“I know, I know, but this is different.” Adira pulled back slightly to meet his gaze. “I just want to know what really happened earlier today with that trap. I know you, Edér, and I know you aren’t some bumbling fool who would just stumble into something like that for a couple of coppers.”
The denial she was expecting didn’t come. Instead, he reached into his pocket and handed her a small, tightly wrapped bundle. “Saw this and really wanted you to have it. Figured I was probably gonna trip a trap, but it was worth it.”
Curiously, Adira unwound the cloth to reveal the gift inside. She gasped when she saw what it contained. It was a heavy gold cloak clasp in the shape of a leaping lion. The artistic detail of the piece was exquisite and it was clearly more valuable than anything else they’d looted from the room. “Edér, this is beautiful and I appreciate the gesture, but I can’t keep it.”
“You can and you should.” He used his hand to make her close hers around the clasp. “Knew if you found it after disarming the trap you’d insist that we sell it.”
“That’s exactly what we need to do. We could buy some really good equipment with this.”
Edér shook his head, refusing to budge. “What we’ve got right now is good enough. Look,” he said and cupped her face with his hand. “You do so much for everyone else and you never ask for anything in return. You give more than you take and we all know it.”
“I wouldn’t feel right if I kept it.” Adira stared down at the gold lion still held tightly in her hand, torn with indecision.
“Look at it this way. It’s a gift that I paid a heavy price for.” He grimaced at the pain in his hand. “You wouldn’t want to sell a gift that someone gave you, would you? ‘Specially if that someone happens to be someone who loves you and is far more fragile than he lets on.”
A knowing grin tugged at the corners of her mouth. “Are you saying that it would break your heart if I refused to accept this?”
“Into so many tiny pieces.” He looked so earnest she wasn’t entirely sure he wasn’t lying. “It would be plunged into darkness, likely never to recover.”
“That would be unfortunate. I think I rather like your heart the way it is right now.”
“Then say you’ll keep it.”
“Your heart or the lion?”
“Both.” He leaned forward to brush a soft kiss across her lips. “They’re linked now. You want one, you gotta take the other.”
“You drive a hard bargain, Edér Teylecg,” she said, returning his kiss with one of her own. “I’ll take very good care of both of them.”