7. Sirin
Chapter seven
Sirin
IN WHICH OUR HEROINE ACCLIMATES TO HER SURROUNDINGS, IS NEARLY CAUGHT IN THE BATH, AND FORMULATES PLANS FOR HER FUTURE
She frowned. While her head and arm hurt, she wasn't freezing.
Her mind was foggy and she felt confused.
Healing naturally was codswallop. She could smell a bit of smoke, but not an amount that should raise an alarm.
Nor was the heat coming from any particular direction.
It was just comfortable. The warm air was perfumed with a savory scent that made her mouth water and her stomach grumble.
Gingerly cracking an eye, she saw Berne's large form sitting alone at a small table. He was frowning down at a mug while worrying a bit of jerky between his teeth. As if he sensed her staring, his head rose and his attention was on her. The corner of his mouth lifted in a shy smile.
Oof, that kind of smile could knock a girl off her feet.
''Ach, you're awake then, I see. How do you feel?'' He asked, raising an eyebrow.
She hadn't had much time to really look at him before, but more than anything, he smelled comforting.
Another human probably wouldn't notice, but since she hadn't had time to dull her senses back to normal, she could detect his unique blend of the outdoors and the forest, something wild and free that couldn't be distilled to any specific scents.
She had never seen anyone like him before, nor any of these people.
Below his thick mop of disheveled curly hair, a few errant locks fell over eyes that seemed so welcoming, so familiar.
Sirin didn't have anything close to a type, she had been attracted to too many people to narrow down her likes to one set of preferences, but if she had, this man would be it.
He was gorgeous, to be sure, but more than that, he seemed so fully himself and nothing else, and that was the sexiest thing she had seen in a long time. Perhaps ever.
''Feel? Fairly terrible, but I do have some lunula in my pack that could help me.
Could you get it for me? It's in a small pouch on the side.
I'll need some water as well if you don't mind,'' Sirin said, her tone haughtier than she'd intended as she tried to cover the thoughts she'd been having about him.
Berne stared at her, motionless for a while before he grunted and stood. He crossed to a corner where he crouched to rummage through her pack. He fetched a tiny mug and brought it back with her pouch.
He was a broad man, in a way that spoke of significant strength lined with enough fat to keep him warm in such a chilly climate.
His skin was pale, and she imagined it would flush beautifully if she teased him.
She ran her eyes, unabashedly, down to his thick thighs and calves.
She bit her lip, yes, this was a fellow who would be able to manhandle a solid girl like herself.
She would not mind one bit, she decided.
Sirin returned her eyes to his face, scolding herself.
She wasn't here to have sex or ogle her rescuer; she was here for a purpose.
Or perhaps she was here, wherever here was, to get out of here and back to her purpose.
He'd been kind though, as far as she could remember, and gentlemanly, and he was definitely easy on the eyes.
She decided when she left, she'd take note of how to get back, in case a tumble sounded good to him too.
Dear Lady, it had clearly been too long since she'd had sex.
Luckily, he interrupted her mental calculations on exactly how long it had been, by starting to speak.
''I'm sorry Gunna was so strict with your lunula, she didn't want you healing up and running from justice or something.
I would've given you some in sips while you slept, but I didn't know if it would work for you while unconscious or not.
'' He smiled sheepishly and handed her the cup.
''Sorry it's so wee, I only keep one mug for myself and then these wee ones for my nieces. I've never needed more here at home.''
Sirin smiled and thanked him before dumping a measure of lunula into the water cup and draining it in one go. His speech explained many things. They weren't ignorant, Gunna was just actively hostile. Lovely.
The familiar rush of lunula washed through her and she immediately set it to healing her brain injury and then her break. Oddly enough, the puncture wounds on her arm seemed to have healed already. Interesting.
She sighed and closed her eyes as the relief of healing went over her body, and suddenly, memories of the last two weeks rushed back.
Hiking through the mountains, the increasingly deep snow, the bright sun.
Giddy, she remembered all of the interesting species of flora and fauna she'd documented.
4 She blinked, remembering her fall, and how the bear had herded her.
For a moment, she felt somewhat sad at the loss of her bear.
He'd been her constant companion for over a week, and she'd begun to think of him as a protector.
She gasped, as she was hit with the image of Berne, in a tavern, laughing with his head thrown back in a way that made her want to throw away her worries and join him in his joy. Heat flooding her body, she then remembered her dreams, all of which had starred the man sitting across from her.
''You're the man from the tavern! That's how I know you!''
''Aye, I saw you at the tavern in Pershing. Ran into you along the way, thought it'd be best if I didn't let you die.''
''Ran into me? Oh, after I fell you mean?
I appreciate it, truly. But…'' she trailed off, flustered from embarrassment when she remembered exactly how much she'd thought of him, of what she'd done when she'd thought of him.
At least it somewhat explained her extremely visceral and instantaneous attraction to him these past few hours, after all, she'd been masturbating to her memories of him for two weeks.
She directed a bit of lunula to clear the blush from her face.
There was no way he could have any idea, so she'd best just change the subject quickly.
''So trespassing, eh? Seems an odd charge for folks that didn't have any warnings posted about private property at all.
What is the sentence usually, anyhow?'' Surely it couldn't be terribly harsh, considering they hadn't bothered to mark their territory in even the smallest way, and she hadn't done any person or property harm.
Berne took a deep breath and cocked his head.
''That's a difficult question, particularly at this point in time.
'' He rubbed at his beard before continuing, immediately triggering intrusive thoughts about how she'd love to run her fingers through it.
He continued, thankfully unaware. ''A few years ago, it would have been death and I would be in a great deal of trouble for not having already given it to you swiftly. "
Death? For trespassing? That was ridiculous.
A slightly hysterical laugh bubbled out of her.
You simply couldn't go around killing anyone who wandered onto your unmarked land, but Berne wasn't laughing.
He looked extremely serious and upset by the situation.
She sucked in a breath. Ridiculous as it was, he seemed to believe it was a real possibility.
Which meant… perhaps she should be treating it as a real possibility. Without lunula there wasn't much she could do to protect herself from an execution. Perhaps, she thought, a coil of fear settling in her belly, this is what the Lord Lunologist had warned her about.
When he'd told her she hadn't really treated it as an actual possibility, she supposed.
Instead, it had sounded like a justification, a confirmation of the importance of the work.
In Berne's cabin, confronted with the real possibility…
it didn't sound nearly as galvanizing. Instead, it sounded like the distant echo of a death knell. She shivered, and Berne continued.
"These days, though, talk has been leaning away from that, considering it now seems our L—leaders, our original ones, I mean, didn't intend that.
It's a very serious matter, but perhaps not one we should go killing folk over.
Problem is, then, if we aren't killing trespassers, what do we do with 'em?
That's what they will be trying to figure out and what we should perhaps try to figure out for 'em.
Find it always helps when you create a problem if you can come up with the solution too. ''
''If thoughts have been changing, have there been any suggestions of alternatives?
" Alternatives were hope. Alternatives she could work with.
"As I said, I am happy to arrange for fees to be paid, or I could do some sort of service for the community.
I have a fair amount of skills. I could teach or I could arrange for trade relations between you and some of your closest neighbors.
My research is extremely important, but I suppose it isn't particularly time-sensitive, so I could delay it a bit if needed. ''
Berne shook his head slowly, his brow furrowed in thought.
''It's not an issue of fees or service, it's a matter of knowledge.
We don't want anyone to know about us, to know we're here.
There's more to it, but I'm afraid you already know too much.
Honestly, your research complicates matters worse.
You didn't wander here. An' you weren't lost, you came here on purpose.
Ach, you were looking for something and whether you knew that meant you would find us or not, the fact of the matter is, you did.
And the looking is the real problem because it was intentional and considering you already blurted it out to Gunna, we are going to have some difficulty there.
I don't know we'll be able to convince them you were lying, and you weren't here on purpose. Looking on purpose, I mean.''