The Solitary Arrow Ch. 04

She smiled sweetly. "And that is a bad thing?" She asked.

"I suppose it is a good one, actually." He said, letting her go. "I wish I had a beauty such as yours to imagine when I would be alone at night."

She walked toward the bath room, the water was starting to give off steam. "I think the bath is almost ready." She said, dipping her hand into it. "Oh. It is quite warm." She added, smiling back to Harlen who was still crossing the common room.

When he came into the bath room, she was already in the water up to her neck. "Oh, by the spirits, Harlen, this is wondrous." She said, sighing as she bobbed in the water.

Harlen looked at her face, unable to see into the water from the floor. "Well, when you're done, let me know."

She hit him with a hurled rag. "You are not leaving." She said. "Get in the tub, and we will bathe together." She held her arms out. "Else, I may fall asleep from the relaxation and drown." She had a mock imploring look on her pretty face and her golden eyes flashed like bits of the summer sun.

Harlen made a circular motion with his index finger and Hyandai, giggling, turned around in the water to face away. He took off his clothes and climbed up onto the platform and then into the tub. She turned back around now, and they regarded one another.

For the first time, they were unclothed with each other. She looked about the tub and saw wash rags, and soft soap in a wicker basket. The soap was sweet smelling, not like the lye back in the cave. "Turn around." She commanded, holding up a rag and the soap.

Harlen turned around and felt her small hands on his back, lathering him up. She smiled. "I love your muscles, Harlen." She said, generously ignoring the scars that marked his beating at some time in his past. She let her fingers trace over the muscles on his back, and down his spine. With the rag, she scrubbed his skin and rinsed him off. She then washed his rump, cleaning him thoroughly, eliciting a couple of gasps from him. Lastly, she actually dove under the water to wash his legs, holding her breath for as long as she could while scrubbing each leg under the water. She finished his legs and with her hair plastered to her head, handed him the soap and rag. "My turn."

She presented her back to him, and braced her arms on the wall of the tub. He lathered up her back and buttocks. Then rubbed the coarse rag over it, scrubbing her skin. She gasped at the roughness of it, but it also felt delicious. She arched her back as he ran the rag down her spine. He then scrubbed her rump and then up the middle, causing her to gasp this time. Harlen took a moment to say. "Your back is lovely, too, you know?" He did the same as she on the legs, diving into the water to scrub them, she obligingly parted her legs for him and he scrubbed all the way up, then between them as he stood back up. Her spine arched more and she moaned loudly. He leaned forward and put his arms around her waist, and kissed her from above, so curved was her spine at that moment.

Hyandai turned back around, a wide smile upon her lovely, heart-shaped face. "Now for your front." She said, taking the cloth and soap from him. She soaped up and scrubbed his chest, running her fingers over his muscles and down his stomach. She then reached down into the water and soaped up his manhood, liking how it slipped and slid through her hands. When the soap had dissipated, she said. "See, two hands?" Harlen looked down, and she did indeed have both hands around his shaft, and still almost half-again another hand's worth lay before her fingers. She started to stroke him gently with both hands, small slow motions.

Harlen's voice, slightly quavery, said. "Uh. Isn't it clean yet?"

She looked down into the water. "Perhaps it is, but I wish to be sure." She said, kissing his neck as her hands slipped over his swollen organ.

He gently moved her hands off of his engorged rod. "Let's not make a mess in the water." He said, smiling. "Besides its my turn to wash your front." He added with a gleam in his eyes.

She leaned back against the wall and enjoyed the feeling of his hands moving all over her, soaping her, scrubbing her, rinsing her off. He moved downward inexorably, then got to her soft opening, and with a soapy hand washed at it, moving his fingers over her opening and clitoris repeatedly. She gasped and leaned back against the wall more firmly. He stroked her that way for a few moments, when she gripped his wrist and pushed it away. "Let us not make a mess in the water, hmm?" She said, giving him a playful look.

She moved to him and wrapped her long, slim arms around his neck, pulling him down for a long kiss. Her tongue teased his out and into her mouth, then she sucked on it a softly. His hands grabbed her rump again and did lift her up this time. She put her legs around his waist and pressed to him with all her strength. His thick pole was sliding over her entry and rubbing her clit in passing. She pushed her hips in and out, rubbing them against one another, and she let out a small moan, and moved her mouth to his neck, biting him gently, then harder as her movements became more insistent. He stroked her back as she slipped over him, and then felt her teeth clamp on his neck hard, and she screamed into her clenched mouth and his shoulder. Then she shuddered and was still, gasping for air. Harlen, caressed her and kissed her hair.

"Harlen." She said quietly. "I feel I almost cannot wait." She said, almost crying. "If that felt that good, my mind spins with what the real act will feel like."

He said. "I hope it will feel good for you, I know it will for me." He put his arms behind him on the lip of the bath and lifted them both out and onto the lip and turned and stood on the deck, with her still wrapped about him. She put her legs down and he held her waist and lowered her to the floor, her legs were a bit unsteady, but he helped her to step off the deck. He lifted large metal plates over the burning fire, covering the logs where the lack of air would extinguish the flames.

The gathered their clothes, and left the bath. She asked. "What shall I wear while I launder my clothes?" He guided her up the stairs by hand and into 'her' room. He opened a large wall-closet, and pulled out a dress. It had been his mothers, and she had been a relatively slight lady. She held the cotton dress to herself. "This should do nicely." She said, and slipped it over her head. It's hem touched the floor, but not badly.

He pointed to a large wall mirror. "Take a look." He said.

She stepped before it and gasped. The dress was lovely on her, it fit perfectly at the waist, and nearly so at the chest. "Your mother must have been a tiny woman, for a human."

Harlen nodded. "She was." He said. "And she had great tastes in clothes, if somewhat conservative." He added.

She swirled in the long dress. "I do not know, Harlen, this dress leaves people wanting to see more." She said, smiling.

He looked appraisingly at her. "Usually, a petticoat is worn under the skirt part." He said, digging a large mass of frills and cloth from the closet.

She looked at it with horror. "Gods, no." She said. "I have heard of those terrible things, and corsets, I'll not subject myself to either, no offence."

With a shrug, he put it back into the closet. "I'd rather see your legs moving under the skirt." He said.

"Would it terribly upset you to raise the hem a little?" She asked, eyeing the floor-dragging edge.

"Not at all, Hyandai." He said, smiling, I'll do several in the morning.

She turned and regarded her still nude companion. "Are you just going to stay unclothed for the market?" She asked.

He looked down and started as if he had not realized he was naked. "I suppose I should, huh?"

She nodded seriously. "I do not intend to have my companion spoken of more than I when I make my grand debut." She said, then giggled.

He went into their room and got out a pair of black linen pants and a white cotton shirt. He then pulled on socks and a pair of long shiny black boots, that reached to his knees. He stood and presented herself to her.

She walked up and straightened his collar and said. "Very nice, my handsome man." She said, and pulled him down to a kiss. She stepped behind him and braided his pony tail into a tight, intricate weave. Then put his belt on him. She added her small sword belt to her waist while he quickly took up her hem. He was surprisingly quick with the needle and he slipped her boots onto her feet. He rummaged in a box in his closet and found two finely-wrought copper and silver bracers and slid them onto her wrists. She regarded herself in the mirror one last time while she braided her own hair into a pony tail matching his. When she turned to look at him, she was wearing a incredibly lovely necklace.

"Where did you get that?" He asked, his eyes wide with amazement. "It's almost as pretty as you." He said.

She looked at it. "I wear it always. It is my fiamir" She said, holding it out form her neck. He leaned closer and looked closely at it. It was even more intricate than it looked at first. There were literally uncountable tiny facets to the two-inch disk of gemstone. Inside, something was moving gently, like a colored blob of material inside the gem. "You would call it my 'soul-necklace." She said. "But that is a poor translation." She looked at it and laid it back on her chest. "It is part of our way." She said, nodding as if that explained all.

"But I never saw it before." Harlen said. "I doubt I would have missed it."

She grinned at him. And it vanished as if it just faded from the world, then it faded back around her neck. "I can make it disappear and reappear." She said. "Else, the orcs or some other unscrupulous persons might try to steal it." She shrugged. "It is such a part of me, I often forget about it like I often forget my ears."

He looked at her sharply pointed ears. "I certainly don't forget them." He said, leaning in and kissing on one.

She cooed, and then pulled away. "We must to market, my strong man." She said, putting her arm through his. "Let us go show me to the people and see how they react."

They walked down the stairs and out the front door. Harlen beamed with pride as he escorted the incontestably most beautiful woman in the village. His chest swelled and his step became rather animated, she noted, and that made her smile. She never had a companion just plain show her off before, and it felt good.

They opened the gate in front of his home and turned toward the village.