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Solstice shifted restlessly, trying to sit up again as her lover shushed her for the third time in as many minutes.
“My love, please – you must rest. You’ve done far more than your fair share, and more beyond that too, I should wager,” Gale kissed her forehead with a smile, pulling the blanket back up closer around her, “stay here, I am more than capable of making a cup of tea.”
It was difficult for the druid to rest. For the longest time it had felt like the world rested on her shoulders, the fate of her friends, her lover, every home she had ever known under threat from…
Solstice sighed. Gale was right – there was just too much, and how could she help anyone when she could barely keep her eyes open? She settled back on the pillows he had propped her up on, cool silk soothing against her cheek.
—
The smell of chamomile and honey drifted towards her, along with the warmer scents of something vaguely sweet… Solstice blinked the sleep from her eyes, adjusting to the light again as Gale sat on the edge of the bed with a tray laden with sweets.
“That was…quick?”
“When I saw you had fallen asleep, I took the liberty of drinking your tea whilst I went through the cupboards and a few old recipes. And some fresh tea, of course.” He waited a moment to allow her to sit up in the bed, before setting the tray on her lap. “I hope it is to your liking?”
“Gale, you didn’t have to go to all the trouble—”
“Ah, no trouble at all, my love. Not for you. Not ever.” He smiled as he poured the tea into a pair of matching cups. “I wasn’t quite certain what you might like, so I made a little of, well, everything that I could think of.”
It didn’t seem like much of an exaggeration. Small portions of a number of treats, both sweet and savoury, were arranged on small plates. A cup of soup beside a fresh and buttered bread roll, a slice of layered cake, some cubes of fudge, there were even a couple of chilled desserts with frost on the bowls to keep them cooled.
“When I was a young lad – aeons ago, I know – I would study far too late into the night. Ah the amount mother would scold me for burning through the candles, quite literally, faster than she could replace them.”
Solstice smiled at the mental image of a young Gale, hands covered in ink, surrounded by a stack of books. Though somehow she still imagined him with the beard, a thought that brought a slight giggle bubbling up before she could stop it.
“Yes, yes, laugh away at my folly,” he smiled, tenderly tucking a stray curl of hair behind her ear before continuing. “But you see despite all her chiding, Mrs Dekarios would not let her star student run out of candles, and every night when I was still scrawling away past midnight a try would appear by my door. Almost like magic, you might say, and perhaps in a way it was her own special kind of magic. There would be a selection of little treats, just like these, and a big mug of night time tea. And always a little saucer of cream for dear Tara too, of course.”
Unwilling to interrupt the memory, and far more willing to taste some of the delicacies calling to her from the plates, Solstice chose what looked like a small cookie and dipped it into her tea.
“I hope it helps you as much as it did me. Because it wasn’t just food , I had to put down my pen and set the books aside – I couldn’t bear to hear Tara’s scolding if I spilled anything on a valuable old tome, even if she was more than happy to sit upon its cover herself – so it made me take a break. It made me stop, just like you need to stop now.” He smiled more softly now, taking the druid’s hand into his own and caressing the callouses on her palm and fingers. “It doesn’t have to be forever, or even for very long, but you do need to take a rest, Sol. It’s alright, the world can wait a few hours so you can regain your strength. And you are – strong, that is – the strongest person I’ve ever had the great fortune to meet.”
“Gale, you know you’ve already seduced me, don’t you?”
“Shh my love, let me just spoil you for now. Until the sun rises and a whole new set of troubles inevitably lands upon our doorstep, let me love you the way you deserve to be loved. Let me take your burdens and tend all the wounds that no spell can touch.” He brought her hand to his lips, kissing the back of her fingers like the old and chivalrous nobles in the stories he read to her some nights.
It was impossible to disagree with Gale when he looked at her so softly. Solstice felt every word, could feel his care as he moved to gently massage her palm, finding aches in the joints of her fingers that she hadn’t known were there until he eased them away. She could even taste the care in the delicate tea and the treats that they shared as they talked long into the night – stories of when he used to study, how different it was to young Solstice running barefoot through the woods, and of all the things they hoped to see when the world allowed them the time and peace they had earned.
Yes, she thought, I guess I can let you take care of me, just for one night…and every night that follows.