Episode 85 I Don’t See the Problem
I Don’t See the Problem
Whistling wind. Cerian wasn’t expecting Arisanna to push him into the tub. Perhaps he should have guessed with the way she hesitated, though.
He assumed her plans would involve fewer layers of clothing. He doesn’t usually bathe with his leather trousers on.
When Cerian surfaces and opens his eyes, Arisanna’s climbing into the tub with her shimmeron gown still in place.
If that’s what she wants, he won’t complain. As the water soothes his fire magic, relief at the loss of that burden fills him. This is better than the chair, even if they’re far more clothed than people normally are in bathtubs.
She slides over him, and he reaches out to steady her.
“I’m sorry,” she whispers. “I should have warned you.”
“I said yes. And I will never complain about being in water with you.”
“With your clothes on?” She smiles tentatively at him, and he presses his forehead to hers.
“Either way.”
“I may have forgotten this isn’t the heartlanding,” she whispers. “And we can’t just wish our clothes away.”
He stares at her before laughing.
“And now our clothes are wet,” she adds. “It seemed like a good idea at the time, but now I’m second-guessing myself.”
“No more thinking,” he whispers. “Just be here with me now.”
“But we didn’t bring anything else to wear, did we? I didn’t pack anything.”
Clearly, she’s not done thinking.
“Are you planning to go somewhere?” he asks.
She opens her mouth before closing it again and shaking her head. “Not tonight.”
“Then I don’t see the problem.” He nuzzles her ear and trails kisses along her neck. “Just be mine. Don’t think. Just feel.”
“What if someone needs us?”
“I need you.”
“But—”
He leans his head back and looks into her eyes. “Elowyn’s trunk is in her room. I imagine it’s full of your clothes if you need something else. I’ll be fine.”
Arisanna presses her lips together as the most adorable wrinkle appears on the bridge of her nose. “I’m overthinking this, aren’t I?”
“You took off my shirt and boots and shoved me into a bathtub full of water before climbing in on top of me. Perhaps we could return to that?”
“I can’t believe I did that. My mother would—”
“No. We are not going to discuss your mother while I’m half dressed in a bathtub with you.”
A little huff of a laugh escapes her. “Sorry. I think I’m stuck in my head again.”
“Then follow my lead the way you did last night and stop talking. Stop thinking. Just be mine.” He trails more kisses along her jaw. Her neck. Nibbles at her earlobe for reasons he can’t explain. But one of those enchanting little gasps flits from her lips, and a smile steals across his face.
“I’ll be done talking now,” she whispers.
“Good.”
They lie in the tub together, kissing and touching and only occasionally talking until long after the water grows cold and he has to use his fire magic to warm it again.
His trousers are an obstacle he can’t figure out how to overcome without leaving the water, so he doesn’t. He just enjoys being with her. Making her happy.
Not catching anything on fire.
“I don’t even know what time it is,” she whispers as she plays with his ears more. It’s utter perfection being able to relax and not worry about his palms tingling when she does it.
“I believe we established you have nowhere to go,” he mumbles as he closes his eyes and basks in her touch.
“Nowhere but the heartlanding.” She kisses him again as he slides his hands along her legs beneath the water that’s cooled once more.
“I don’t want to get out,” he whispers. “I never loved water before I met you.”
“We’re turning into prunes,” she says with a light laugh. “I don’t want this to end either, but I’m getting cold. Unless you want to warm the water again.”
He pushes his heat into the surrounding water, and she sighs contentedly as she rolls to her back and relaxes against his chest. Her legs keep getting tangled in her skirt, but his vines have been happy to untwist the fabric every time it’s happened.
More than happy.
“I like this,” he says as he wraps his arms around her.
She chuckles, but her voice has a weary note to it, and she yawns. “What happens next? I feel like I ruined this by pushing you in with your clothes on.”
“Do I seem unhappy?” He nuzzles her neck as his hands wander, and she rolls her head from side to side against his shoulder. “Are you unhappy?” he asks next, and she whimpers and shakes her head again. He kisses her neck. “Then you ruined nothing.”
“I suppose”—she yawns before she can finish her thought—“we could always get out and take off the rest of our clothes.” Her words become quieter as she speaks, trailing off until he can barely hear her.
“I think we should sleep,” he says instead, though every inch of him longs to do exactly what she suggested.
“My humanness may be showing.”
“I love your humanness.” He presses his lips to her temple. “If I rise to search for towels, you won’t fall asleep and drown, will you?”
He’d assume not, but the excitement of the past few days has clearly caught up with her.
“I don’t think so.”
That’s hardly reassuring, but he takes her word for it as she sits up and lets him crawl out from under her.
The chill of the air against his wet skin makes him shiver. He should have lit a fire in the hearth before she dunked him.
Not that he was thinking about that sort of fire at the time. His hands are too waterlogged to get a good spark now. It will have to wait a few minutes.
He glances down at Arisanna to ensure she hasn’t drowned, but she’s resting her cheek on her arms along the side of the tub.
She really is tired.
Towels.
He searches the room, hoping he won’t have to sop a trail to the water closet, when he spots a nearby shelf with thick, fluffy towels and what appear to be dressing gowns made of the same material.
They don’t need those...do they?
Whistling wind. She’s exhausted. Now is not the time.
Besides, the effect of the water won’t last long. His palms are already drying.
No. Tonight, he needs to get her dry and in bed. To sleep.
Gingerly, he steps out of the tub onto a thick rug and grabs a towel, quickly drying himself off.
When he glances back at Arisanna, her eyes are closed, and he only hesitates for a moment before peeling off his soaked trousers and wrapping the larger robe around himself.
It takes away the chill, though he’s already warming from within.
When he rubs his fingers together, a spark easily forms.
With one more look at Arisanna, he hurries to arrange some kindling in the hearth, and soon a flickering orange glow fills the room.
Not that he needs it now, but she will.
Taking a deep breath, he turns back toward her. Will she need his help? Will she want it?
“Cerian?” she whispers as she lifts her head.
“I’m here.” He steps back to the tub, and she looks up at him.
“You got your trousers off.” She covers a yawn as his fire prods at him again. “Is there one of those for me?” She gestures to his robe, and he nods.
When she attempts to stand, she gets caught in her skirt, and he catches her around the waist as she loses her balance.
“I may need help,” she murmurs. Her cheeks have turned a rosy pink, and she hesitantly meets his gaze as his magic pokes at him some more.
He’s still waterlogged enough to control it. Thank the fates.
“I will help,” he says. “If you wish me to.”
When she nods, his heart races in a tempo to match hers. But he takes a deep breath and attempts to calm both their hearts.
“My dress is heavy,” she whispers. “I don’t think shimmeron is meant for bathing in. I...I should take it off before I get out, probably.”
“Whatever you believe is best.” He takes another breath as he reaches for a towel for her before blanketing the air around her with heat from his burgeoning fire magic.
“At least shimmeron is easy to get off,” she says as she frees her left arm.
“That would have been good to know an hour ago.”
She snaps her eyes to his. And then she laughs. It’s a tired laugh. Half delirious.
He won’t take advantage of her exhaustion. She’s clearly nervous about him standing there watching her, even if she hasn’t said anything.
And even if he’s already run his hands over every part of her that hides beneath that dress.
As soon as her other arm is free, he steps behind her and wraps the towel around her. “Hold on to it,” he says softly.
With her towel covering her, he gently tugs her gown the rest of the way off and leaves it in the water where it falls.
“I’ll get it in a moment.” He offers her his hand, and emotion fills her eyes as she looks up at him.
“I’m sorry. I’m just exhausted, and this isn’t quite how I imagined—”
He presses a finger to her lips. “No expectations, Arisanna. Let’s get you dry, all right?”
When she rises on her toes to kiss him, he returns her kiss with all the love he feels every time he thinks about her. Eventually, he hands her the robe and fishes her gown out of the tub before hanging it and his trousers over a chair in front of the hearth to dry.
By the time he returns to her, she’s tying the dressing gown around her waist as another yawn takes over her gorgeous face.
Then her eyes grow wide.
“What’s wrong?” he asks.
A nervous laugh slips from her throat, and she glances toward his knapsack where he left it by the door when they first arrived.
When she looks back at him, she says nothing, and he studies her.
What is she keeping from him? And why? What did she and Tharios discuss that she doesn’t want to tell him?
His walls threaten to return, but he pushes them back. She loves him. She’s just nervous. It’s all right for her to be nervous.
Perhaps he should ask so they can discuss it instead of dancing around it.
Unless she really doesn’t want him to know.
That seems unlikely, though.
Talk about it. That’s what they need to do.
“You can tell me,” he says. “Whatever it is you and Tharios discussed. You don’t need to be afraid. Not of me.”
And just like that, the worry on her face unknots. Hopefully, he said the right thing.