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‘Shit!’ screamed Tearelle as the monstrous large beast clawed at her abdomen. In retaliation, Bastian sent a pack of sparkling flames towards its beak. The monster started frantically waving its murderous paws in an attempt to extinguish the fire engulfing it. While it was distracted, Mirri took the advantage of the opening and slashed at its back limbs, causing it to shriek in pain. It tried to catch her with her beak, but she was quicker, and it only managed to bite the air in her place. It tried to snap at her again, but stopped, as its chest has been suddenly penetrated with two blades. Tearelle pushed the weapons deeper in, until she was absolutely sure that the opponent was dead. The blood spurted out of the animal and soon it stopped moving. The fight ended. All three of the adventurers were exhausted and wounded, but at least the threat has been neutralized and the village of Ren was safe once again. As the party gathered their bearings, their leader, an Altmer named Tearelle cursed out loud. ‘Fuck, shit. That was close, way too close. It almost got us. Are you two okay?’ She looked at her companions with worry in her eyes. Mirri, a dark elf, had several nasty scratches across her back, and Bastian, an Imperial mage, had sprained his left hand. Other than that they suffered only minor injuries. ‘I’ll live, but I think that I should be the one asking you that question’ said Mirri. She was eyeing their leader with furrowed brows. She was right, as the Altmer Warden suffered the most injuries out of them all. Scratches and open wounds were visible all across her face and arms and her right leg was limping and stumbling after the rest of the body. She was clutching her most recent injury on her stomach, which was producing increasingly worrying amounts of blood. It seemed that she tried to smile reassuringly, but it looked more like a painful grimace. ‘I’ll heal myself back at the village. Let’s not delay any further and go tell them the good news.’ She looked at the body of the beast with weariness. Bastian noted that she looked way more tired than usual after a battle. More often than not she would be more cheerful and energetic, no matter the injuries she suffered, especially when they tackled such big and dangerous specimen. However, now her eyes were mostly blank and her eyebrows furrowed. It was clear that every step was incredibly painful to her, and that her weapons and armor were bothering her with their weight. Seeing her like this made him feel uneasy.
They made their way towards the village and notified the town leader that the danger has passed. She was incredibly grateful and provided all three with housing quarters so they could heal and rest at peace, although she lamented that she could not reward them with something more, to which the Warden said the usual: that it was not needed. Mirri muttered something else under her nose, and Bastian just rolled his eyes at her. Tearelle provided her magical connection to nature to heal the wounds of her companions. Extraordinary mushrooms sprung out of the earth and by touching them, the injuries of the wounded had begun to close themselves, as they always did. Of course, the healer put her attention to her companions first, before she did anything to help herself, which annoyed Bastian, just a little, but still. He thought that she would stay with them a bit more and talk about their adventures, as she would usually do, but it seemed that she wasn’t keen on doing that and just excused herself to go into her gifted cottage and separate herself from everybody else. Lately, it seemed to be the more common way of events, as she did not want to talk for long.
Several hours passed and another day came. All the wounds of the adventurers and the villagers have been mostly healed using different kinds of magic and various healing poultices. The trio had stayed a bit longer than usual in the village as to recharge their energy after the big battle, and also to help the villagers with the start of the rebuilding of their homes. Around noon Bastian sat near a campfire site where several villagers were eating their portions of food after working for the whole time of the morning. Mirri appeared just seconds after him and scooped up an apple from his hand that he started to eat. He grimaced at her and she smiled inncocently while raising her eyebrows in question, or rather, a challenge. The man decided that he didn’t have the strength to deal with her gimmicks right now, and had given up on this part of his meal. He also noticed the lack of their Warden friend throughout the entire morning and the evening before at the rebuilding site. Usually, she would help as best as she can, talk with people and also most probably flirt with several, but right now she was nowhere to be seen. Not since yesterday’s fight. ‘Do you know where’s Tearelle?’ He asked Mirri beside him. She shrugged. ‘I have no idea. I think she’s still in the cabin.’ Bastian suspected so too. ‘Do… do you also think that she has been more… stressed lately?’ He asked after several minutes of silence.’I’mean… Sure, but, I think that fighting monsters nonstop for several weeks will do that to you’ the Dunmer sounded like she wasn’t exactly believing her own words, but at the same time wasn’t eager to elaborate on the topic. Bastian thought that it wasn’t only that Tearelle was stressed, though. It also felt like she was a bit more closed off… regarding her emotions. She wasn’t talking about them, and sure as hell she didn’t want to show them. No smiling or laughing but also no anger. The only thing that seemed to still concern her was the wellbeing of her companions. She was, however, easier to startle. She sprung to her feet at the smallest sounds, even the ones that were made by her humanoid or animal friends. Bastian had no idea why that was happening but he didn’t like it. It was unnerving and very unlike regular Tearelle, who was careful and thoughtful, but not paranoid. It seemed like his dark elf companion had also noticed this change of behavior, but wasn’t exactly eager to confront it in any way. She would much rather behave like nothing weird or unusual was happening. Bastian though, was unable and unwilling to do that. He thought some more about Tearelle and found out that it really bugged him that something evidently bothered her. The Altmer was a treasured friend, one he would even consided his best friend, with whom he made many memories and came on many journeys with. She was always considerate of him and his feelings. Without hesitation she threw everything esle to the side when he asked her for help with his personal matters. This has really cemented her in his heart and mind and now he did not want her to suffer from any reasons whatsoever.
Suddenly, a conversation he had with Razum-dar, Tearelle’s Khajit lover has been recalled by his memories. They travelled for a short period in time in Elsweyr together, and he has seen him on several other occasions. ‘Tearelle can sometimes be… rather difficult, this one knows. She can close herself of to others or be frustratingly stubborn. However, she has been through a lot, and this one wants to make sure that she’s travelling with people who can take care of her when she needs it.’ The Khajit looked thoughtfully at Bastian as if estimating whether he was one of those said people. The man shifted uncomfortably under his gaze. They were standing before a house near a lake. Nearby, Tearelle, Mirri and Queen Ayrenn were discussing the plan for the next phase of their operation meant to eliminate another threat to the lands of Aldmeri Dominion. ‘Sometimes she can grow weary of the world surrounding her and of her responsibilities, which she placed upon herself consciously, although a bit foolishly in Raz’s opinion. In those times, her words can sometimes be rather harsh and, well, rude. She does not mean to offend you, however. She just needs companionship.’ At the time Bastian has felt a little embarrassed and unable to fathom why such a speech was necessary at all. ‘What do you think that I should do at such time, then?’ He asked with hesitation. Raz looked at him once again and twirled his tail. ‘A little bit of physical comfort, is all.”
Right now, the read headed mage started to understand the point of the speech. ‘I’m going to get her some food.’ He proclaimed and stood up from his seat while fetching a bowl of meat and potatoes from field kitchen nearby. Mirri didn’t stop him, just looked at him like he was some sort of a fool. ‘I wouldn’t bother her right now, but sure, you do you.’ He ignored her and went to the cabin in which the elf resided and knocked. A snarling ‘what?’ came from behind the door. For a moment he contemplated just leaving the bowl in front of the door and running away. He resisted the urge. ‘I brought you some food’ was said instead. After several moments the door creaked silently and Tearelle’s face came into the view. ‘...Thanks.’ She reached for the food, but he pulled his hand away. ‘Can I maybe… come in?’ She looked at him in thought and he started to feel uncomfortable. After several ticks, however she finally opened the door a bit more, just enough so he could enter the cottage. And so he did. She looked even more tired than the day before, although it seemed to be impossible to achieve. Her face lacked emotion and the bags under her eyes were even more prominent. She wasn’t wearing her armor, which was unusual to him. Instead, she only wore simple fabric pants and a top showing off her stomach and arms. It gave him a chance to see her scars. There were many of them, but the one that always stood out to him was the one just above her heart, looking as if someone ripped it out of her chest. And from what he was able to gather from many talks with her, it indeed has been, but she never wanted to really talk about this period of her life.
Now, once again he found himself staring at it for too long of a minute. He coughed and handed her the bowl of food. She took it silently and started to eat slowly while sitting down on the nearby bed. Bastian did not know what to do next, but he settled for leaning against the wall in front of his friend.. To be honest, he didn’t really think this through at all. He didn’t know how to talk about his feelings, as he never had anybody to teach him that or even seemed to care about them at all. They stayed in an uncomfortable silence for a while. The Altmer finished the food and put the bowl on the table beside her. Then, she looked at Bastian as if she also wanted to say something, but also did not know how to even start. It was apparent that slowly she had grown impatient with his visit, as she started to say ‘Do you need something, or do you mind leav-’ ‘Do you want a hug?’ He said in the exact same moment, without thinking. The only thing that appeared in his mind at that very second were words of Raz talking about “physical comfort” and he decided to trust them. But now, seeing the confused and stunned look of Tearelle he felt incredibly foolish. ‘Um, sorry nevermind forget what I sai-’ he panicked at started for the door, ready to run away and never ever come back. However, he was stopped by a silent ‘Wait.’ He reluctantly turned towards his companion. She looked at him… with hope it seemed. She patted the space next to her on the bed. He sat down after a moment and looked at her. He decided to just go for it, and put his one arm around her shoulders, which was only a little uncomfortable as the Warden was much higher than him, even when sitting. She leaned in to his touch with a sigh of relief. It seemed like even this brief contact made her feel better. After a moment Bastian began to wonder how long should he be doing this exactly, when she pulled away from his side. She turned to look him in the eyes and asked with a little bit of pause before: ‘Would you mind if… if we’d do this more um, comfortably for our… heights?’ He did not know what that would entail in the slightest, but seeing more life again in her eyes encouraged him to say ‘sure’ to whatever she was suggesting. Her face lit up even more as she unexpectedly grabbed him by his waist and pulled him onto her lap so that his back was pressed against her torso. Bastian was not expecting this at all and the sudden movement startled him considerably. ‘Is… is this okay?’ asked the elf. His heart was beating right out of this chest and he truly did not know whether it was. This unpredicted closeness was almost scary at first, he did not remember a time where he was this close to somebody else. He nodded his head slowly to her question despite that. She snaked her arms around his body more tightly and buried her face in the crook on the right side of his neck. He shivered, but felt that this was something which she was used to doing. Maybe with Raz? After several moments he also discovered that he didn’t mind the contact at all. It was also comforting to him. He wasn’t used to hugs, but this was surprisingly nice. He put his hands on the arms holding him close and relaxed. He rested his head on Tearelle’s shoulder. They sat there for a long, long time. Both felt significantly better. Finally, the Altmer raised her head and whispered into his ear, not wanting to break the consoling mood that had been created: ‘Thank you, friend’ Bastian’s face flared up with embarrassment and he only responded with: ‘You’re welcome’ and the pair continued to cuddle for the rest of the day. The Imperial finally understood what Raz has meant with the “physical touch” advice and could definitely say that it worked.