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Avallac’h would recognize that smell anywhere.
Part of being a well-versed herbalist, part of having had a sweet tooth since he was a little elfling. Not that it was a rare smell, in fact, the sweet nectar of honeycomb candy too often scented the air near the food stalls tempting him immensely to spend his last coin on such an impractical fancy.
He didn’t expect to smell it in the murky outskirts of the burned village that they had stumbled upon their searches for shelter for the night. He followed the sugary smell, a reminiscence of his carefree childhood when he spent most of his free time watching the White Fleet and dreaming of being a ship navigator. Sure enough, when he turned around, he caught Ciri in the process of eagerly biting into the hard candy, her half-closed eyes watching him mischievously while her face was one of pure bliss and delight.
The dignified part of him wanted to brush off his own disappointment with Ciri not sharing the sweet with him and simply leave it as another example of how selfish and callous dh’oines are. Swallowing hardly the excess of saliva, reaction to the alluring smell, as well as his own pride Avallac’h addressed his companion calmly.
“Pray tell Zireael, where did you get the sweet from?”
Instead of replying, she bit down greedily on the remaining candy, making Avallac’h salivate even more. The sage bit his lower lip as he continued to watch her, first with disbelief, then with anger and frustration at her insolence. Ciri as if reading his mind, pushed the last bit of the honeycomb into her mouth and moaned in ecstasy.
Her final reaction broke something in Avallac’h, and before he knew it, his arms shot towards her, and for a fleeting moment, Ciri thought that he was about to strangle her. Instead, his arms tightened around her small waist while his lips pressed onto hers forcefully. She gasped in surprise, and the elf took the opportunity to suck her plump lower lip into his mouth and taste her sweetness. His tongue explored her, stealing the remaining candy from her mouth, baiting and savoring it before swallowing it down. His lips continued their exploration, trying to steal every drop of honey from her tongue, lips, and corner of her mouth.
When his hunger was sated, and her surprise was gone, Avallac’h sensed in her a hesitation suddenly realizing what he was doing. They were in some forsaken place, in some random world, with the relentless Dearg Ruadhri at their heels. Though he rarely thought of Lara now, as there were more pressing matters occupying his head, he felt the memories of his past love smacking him across the face, and he twisted his head suddenly, ending the kiss abruptly.
The Knowing One took a step back, inwardly cursing at himself for the shameful moment of weakness. He desperately tried to come up with anything that could explain sensibly what had just happened, but when he looked into her eyes he was lost for words. Zireael wasn’t angry, didn’t look like she was about to slap him. Her emerald eyes bored into him, and he couldn’t look away from those intense eyes, feeling as she was taking complete control of his very soul.
He didn’t speak or move when Ciri took one step forward, and when she placed a hand on his shoulder, his eyes drifted to her lips again as if spell bounded. He bent his neck slightly, letting their foreheads touch for a moment to give each other time for the decision – should we or should we not? – before their lips met again. This time Avallac’h kissed her much more gently, much more intimately, savoring the softness and timidness of Ciri’s lips, which was a stark contrast to her sharp personality. He tangled his slender fingers through her ashen locks, marveling at their silky touch, and pulled her closer. She groaned softly before opening her mouth for him, and although the taste of honey still lingered on her tongue, Avallac’h for the first time tasted her.
And the taste overwhelmed him. He kissed her faster and deeper like a man drowning, and she was his oxygen. His hands tightened possessively on her waist, and she pushed herself up on her tiptoes to have better access to his lips. Ciri sucked greedily on his lower lip and gently raked it with her teeth as the elf pulled it out. This act was so full of her, her greed and generosity, her stubbornness and compliance, her callousness and tenderness, and he suddenly became possessed with an intense need to touch, kiss, have all of her for himself, and himself only.
Avallac’h could fool Ciri later with an explanation that what he had done was nothing more than a need of tasting the candy she selfishly ate in front of him, but he couldn’t lie to himself, knowing that in the deepest, darkest corner of his soul he always wondered what it would be like to kiss the Swallow and slip his tongue into her sweet mouth.
A needy moan escaped her, prompting a low growl from the sage, and before he knew he was backing her up against the nearest tree. In the back of his mind, he knew this was wrong and immoral considering that he was her mentor and swore to protect her, but he hadn’t felt wanted in so long and hadn’t felt wanting for so long that he couldn’t simply part his lips from hers, even when she tried to get some air to breathe. He was so sick of his life, sick of Aen Elle and their demands, and for once he just wanted to get what he needed. And now he needed Ciri and her soft lips, her sparkling eyes, and her hundred ways of telling him when he was acting like a pompous prick. From the way she gripped his face, he could tell, that she felt as desperate as him.
Their shared passion was suddenly interrupted by a loud howl. They jumped away from each other, and Ciri swiftly took her sword out of the sheath and scanned the nearest woods to locate the source of the sound. Avallac’h clicked his fingers creating a fiery orb that illuminated their surroundings. For a couple of seconds, they waited in tensed silence until their heard another noise, this time closer, Ciri shifted her legs in preparation for a possible hostile encounter. Instead of ghouls or nekkers, they saw two foxes chasing each other around the nearby trees.
Ciri sighed in relief and put her sword down. The recent memories of kissing Avallac’h came back to her and she licked her lips to savor his taste, so foreign yet familiar.
“It’s only foxes!”
She commented the obvious, only to stop the awkward silence between them.
“It must be their mating season. Foxes are very vocal when looking for a mate.”
Avallac’h concluded in his usual calm and know-it-all voice. The tension left Ciri as she chuckled at his reply and in return received a quizzical look from her “almost mate.”
“It must be the fox mating season indeed.”
She repeated playfully and pressed something small and hard into the palm of his hand. Avallac’h forced himself to look away from her lips, still swollen after his ministration, and turned his attention to the small object in his hand – the honeycomb candy.
“Just remember to share.”
She added without her usual bravado, and he couldn’t help but smile warmly at her. Avallac’h decided to keep the candy and share it with her when they both will be free from all their obligations. Until then, they have each other and the promise that tastes of honey.