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Waking up with a gasp, your hand flies to your throat, as if you can make the air fill your lungs quicker. Shakily, you sit up as you try to move your thoughts away from the dream you just had.
Sometimes it's Manerkol. Sometimes it's vague premonitions. Most times though, images from your past are what haunt your dreaming hours. Putting your head down on your knees, a few stray tears of frustration and fatigue slip from the corners of your eyes.
You are just so tired. All you want is to have a decent night’s sleep. Your restless nights have begun to wear on you, physically and mentally, and your body is at its tipping point. To be honest, you’re not sure how much longer you can keep it up without starting to randomly fall asleep whenever you stop moving.
With a sigh, you wipe your face clean and put your outerwear on. Might as well make use of your sleeplessness and take watch. When you exit your little tent, your gaze immediately slides to Morkai’s larger one longingly. You are reminded of the night you spent together after the Feast of Pies, and how much comfort he brought to you by merely sharing a bed.
You even think about asking to join him in the hopes of getting a little more sleep, but the thought that he may turn you down has your face heating and you squash the idea out of existence. Instead you turn your head and see Eledwen staring at you.
“Why are you awake?” she asks quietly.
“Couldn’t sleep. Why don’t you go get some rest, Elly? I’ll be up anyway, so I can keep watch.” She looks at you with her draconian eyes, as she debates on if she should agree or not.
After a moment, she breaks the silence. “Is there any way to help you sleep better?” A warm feeling floods your chest and gratitude washes through you in response to her question. With a small smile, you walk over to her and put your arms out. She takes you up on your offer and embraces you in a hug with little hesitation, showing how far you’ve come in your friendship with each other.
“You’re sweet, Eledwen. Thank you for caring.” Letting her go, you give her a gentle push towards her tent and shoo her along. “I’ll be fine. Go to sleep.”
After she disappears behind her tent flap, you settle by the firepit and pull out a lump of wood that you had been attempting to carve. Your skill is laughable, but you enjoy it and it keeps your hands busy. It's going to be a long rest of the night.
vOvOv
As the sky starts to lighten, you hear rustling as a couple of your companions start to stir. You think it's probably Eledwen and Straasa. Morkai and Daelynn are not morning people after all. Neither are you, for that matter, but that’s not obvious with your current sleep schedule.
Elly exits first, but immediately disappears off into the trees, watching the sun rise, you’d guess. Straasa comes out soon after and starts preparing breakfast after offering you a soft good morning. You see the question in his eyes, but he doesn’t voice his concerns.
You silently help your friend prepare some food, just enjoying his presence. “It's nice having some peace and quiet in the mornings,” you comment idly.
Straasa chuckles lightly. “It never lasts for long, does it?”
You grin. “No, not once the troublemakers are up and about.”
“Aren’t you one of those troublemakers?” he asks with a quirked brow. You put on your most beatific smile.
“Who, me? Straasa, I am offended that you would suggest such a thing” An eye roll is your only response before he walks off to wake up the others.
Daelynn doesn’t bother getting dressed before wrapping herself up in a blanket and getting her food. She starts eating while staring groggily off into the middle of nowhere. Morkai takes the time to make himself presentable before venturing out, but doesn’t look happy about it. He takes a seat near Straasa and shoves the food in his mouth with more force than absolutely necessary.
At least he’s not complaining about the taste yet.
“Who made this?!” his deep voice shatters the quiet. Welp, looks like you jinxed it. “I swear my boot would taste better,” he mutters as an afterthought.
The grumbling continues, but everyone just ignores him at this point, his complaining par for the course. Eledwen rejoins everyone and starts eating her own portion as everyone else is finishing up. Just as your companions are packing up their belongings, Elly walks over to you.
“Thank you for taking over my watch last night.”
Morkai immediately stops rolling up his tent and his head snaps towards you so quickly you’re worried he might get whiplash. The glare he sends your way is nothing to sniff at.
“You’re welcome, Elly, but don’t mention it. Seriously. Don’t mention it.” You throw in a quick glance towards Morkai’s general direction for good measure, and she seems to pick up the hint and leaves. But Morkai is already stomping over to you, so you were probably too late anyway.
“What did she just say?” he all but hisses at you.
“Good morning to you too, angel face,” you purr sweetly, completely ignoring his question. His right eye starts twitching.
“You were supposed to be getting some rest, you nuisance. Why did you take over for Miss God Child?” He crosses his arms and looks down his nose at you. Probably trying to intimidate you into answering.
You merely sidle up to him and wrap your arms around his waist and look up at him through your eyelashes. “Morkai, don’t you know that thoughts of you are enough to keep one up at night?” He stiffens in your embrace as he debates whether or not to allow you to distract him with your flirting. In the end, his mask of annoyance drops as he loosens his stance and wraps his strong arms around you.
“You had trouble sleeping again last night, didn’t you?” he whispers. You have to swallow thickly at the worry lacing his tone before you can answer.
“I’ve been trying those tonics that Straasa made for me, but… they haven’t been working. I still get pulled into that dreamworld.”
He takes a deep breath as he leans his forehead against yours and closes his eyes. He stays like that for a minute before backing away. “We should make it to the next town by nightfall. Hopefully you’ll sleep better in a real bed.”
vOvOv
Your party did indeed reach the next town by the time the sun was setting. Everyone headed immediately towards the nearest inn, hoods wrapped tightly around themselves to keep from being recognized.
Warming yourself by the fireplace, you feel a presence on your right approach. Glancing over, you see Morkai looking at you. Is that hesitation in his eyes? But as soon as you think it, his gaze clears and he smirks at you.
“You know, doll, if you need help falling asleep, I can assist you,” he drawls as he wraps a warm arm around your waist and gives you a squeeze.
“Oh?”
“I hear that exhaustion can work wonders for insomnia,” he tells you gleefully. You’re pretty sure you know where he’s going with this by how his green eyes flash with heat, but you inquire anyhow.
“And how exactly do you plan on getting me exhausted?” you ask while quirking an eyebrow at him.
He leans down and his hot breath tickles the shell of your ear. “Training is always a good go-to, but if you prefer, I’m sure I could figure out something for us to do in a bedroom.”
A shiver runs down your spine as desire coils in your stomach. How the man can get you so riled up in such a short time frame is beyond you.
Despite the overwhelming desire you feel, you can’t help but feel a blush staining your cheeks. Is he only offering because he’s worried about your sleeplessness? Embarrassment floods your mind and you can’t help but look at the floor as you try to think of a response.
You must take too long though, because Morkai lets go of you and takes a step back. Your gaze flashes up to meet his and you think he looks unsure for a moment before he schools his face into nonchalance.
“Maybe another night, gorgeous,” he quips with a smirk. Shame washes through you as you realize that he thinks that you didn’t want to be with him in that way. You try to open your mouth and force words to come out, anything that will fix your mistake, but he has already turned around and strode off towards his room for the night.
“Gods damn it,” you mutter darkly. After you make it to your room, you start undressing, when you notice something in your satchel. Reaching in, your hand comes away with a small wrapped chocolate.
Thinking back to how Morkai had his arm around your waist, you smile. The small candy melts on your tongue and you savor the sweetness as you finish getting ready for bed.
vOvOv
Your eyes spring open as you stifle the scream about to rip out of your throat. Tears flood your eyes and overflow down your cheeks as you are faced with your lack of sleep once more. Wiping your face clean, you sit up and grab your pillow. Embarrassment be damned, you know that you long for Morkai’s embrace, and he offered, so you are going to take him up on it.
Determination practically has you stomping out of your room, down the hall, and over to his door, but your courage fails you before you can knock. He’s probably already sleeping. You shouldn’t disturb his rest.
You almost turn around to head back to your room, but his face earlier when he thought you were rejecting his offer flashes through your mind. The urge to clear the air and let him know that you want him too runs through you and gives you the push you need to softly knock on his door three times.
A minute passes and you think that maybe he didn’t wake up, but then you hear a barely there rustling on the other side of the door. “Morkai?” you question softly.
At your voice, the door cracks open slightly. After only a second more, it swings open fully to reveal Morkai gripping his great sword in one hand, clad only in his underclothes.
“What’s wrong?” his deep voice, rough with sleep questions you.
“I’m sorry, Morkai. I know I shouldn’t have disturbed you, but I couldn’t sleep, and I was thinking about your offer earlier. I know I didn’t respond, but I really wanted to sleep with you, I just didn’t know how to say it-- Share a bed, I mean!” Heat blossoms across your cheeks once more, and you slap your hand across your face in embarrassment at your rambling.
You clutch your pillow to your chest tighter and begin to back up, but he reaches out and captures your wrist before you can make your escape. He drags you into his room and closes the door, before marching you over to the bed.
After setting his sword down, he pushes you down onto the soft mattress, already warm from his body heat, and climbs in after you without preamble.
His strong arms wrap around you and his soft lips brush across your forehead. “I’m glad you came. Go to sleep, precious. I’ll watch over you.” Tears prick at your eyes once more at the emotion in his promise. Your body relaxes against his and you wrap your arms around him as well. All of your sleepless nights seem to crash down upon you at once, and your eyes drift close as sleep pulls you under.
vOvOv
The door to the room bursts open with a loud bang. Your redhead is already shifting to get out of bed, when you hear Straasa proclaim, “Morkai! Come quickly! Its-”
His urgency quickly trails off, however, when your friend’s gaze lands on you, peeking around Morkai’s large form, blinking blearily at him.
A light dusting of color rises on his cheeks and he backs up towards the door. “I’m so sorry. Nevermind. Please go back to sleep.” Then he is gone as quickly as he came.
Your attention is drawn to Morkai as he sighs deeply and crawls back under the covers with a grunt.
A chuckle escapes you as you realize that Straasa must have tried to wake you up first. “Guess we’ll have to let Straasa know we’re sharing next time so he doesn’t jump to conclusions.”
A grumble is the only response you get as he drags you closer in his embrace. You can feel him smile against your hair though. The knowledge that you’ll be sharing each other’s beds from now on is just as pleasing to him.
You snuggle against Morkai and press a small kiss against his clothed chest in gratitude. Whatever happens, you’ll face it together.