In Over His Head Ch. 12

They were both somewhere between just jumping and hoping for the best and giving up and climbing back in the window when the top of a ladder suddenly appeared out of nowhere on the side of the building. Edovan walked over and peered down. There was a tiny redguard girl with bushy dark silver hair. Well, tiny wasn't fair. She was still bigger than him by at least a foot, but she was not a giant twice his size like everyone else seemed to be around here.

She waved up at him and then "Shhhhhhh"ed him loudly with her finger to her lips like she suddenly realized they were not supposed to be noticed.

Edovan whispered to Staan, "I think she's here to help"

Stan walked over and looked down and waved and smiled.

"Oh, hey Kiki! Did the Comman--" He cut off mid sentence as both the redguard and the bosmer "shhhhhhhhh"d him forcefully.

"Woops sorry." Stan continued in a low whisper. "Did the Commander send you to help us?"

"Yesssssss" she whisper-yelled up at them both, motioning them to come down.

Edovan slipped down the ladder quickly, his bosmer ancestry working to his advantage for once. Staan was a different story, gingerly placing his huge hands and feet on each rung as he painstakingly descended. They both waited for him patiently at the bottom. Edovan was kind of enjoying standing next to someone he could almost see face to face. Kiki was a good head taller than him, but only a head, as opposed to a neck, chest, belly and.. other things. She was very striking for a redguard, with chestnut skin and big violet eyes. Her long bushy hair was her most striking feature. It had appeared silverish at a distance, but up close he could see the shock of white that run through the middle and also how the silver strands darkened at the ends to almost black. Along with her somewhat pointed face and her large eyes it gave her an exotic almost animal like appearance. Kiki noticed him looking at her as Staan reached the halfway point

"Oh no.. is..is something wrong? I have something on my face don't I! AUUGGHGH" She let go of the ladder and starting furiously wiping at her face with the sleeves of her deer leather jacket. The ladder, which had been placed a bit close to the building in order to reach all the way to the roof, began to teeter backwards.

"Um.. guys? The ladder.." Staan said looking a little white.

"No..no.. There's nothing on your face." Edovan tried to reassure her, "I'm just.. It's nice to meet someone I can see face to face and not face to ..well, you know."

The unattended ladder was starting to lean to one side now as well.

"Face to what?" A look of sudden recognition dawned on her face. "Ohhhhh.. Ahaha you don't like staring at nord crotch." she said grinning as she looked up directly at Staan's and licked her lips.

.

Staan was clinging to the ladder, his knuckles turning white, he was gripping it so hard. It began to fall both left and backward at the same time. "Guys? A little help?

Edovan almost choked at her answer, "No..I mean.." he stammered for words. It was not what he expected her to say at all. That's when he noticed the ladder listing dangerously to the left.

"Staan!", he called out in alarm as it started to topple. Kikki shot out a single slender hand and caught the ladder, effortlessly pushing it back upright and against the wall, her large violet eyes never leaving Edovan's now beet red face. Staan hurriedly descended another 3 rungs and then stepped off the ladder and dropped the last 4 feet to the ground. He looked very relieved to be back on the ground. Edovan was very relieved to start a new topic of conversation.

"Staan.. Are you afraid of heights?" he asked credulously.

Kiki took the empty ladder and laid it over easily on its side and then picked it up at the middle point with one hand and started to walk away with it. "No, not heights" she casually tossed over her shoulder. "He's scared of ladders." she said and walked off across the yard, hoisting the ladder from it's low position to her shoulder with a single upward yank.

"Long story," Staan said. "And we don't have the time. We gotta get you on the road!"

He reached out a big hand to herd Edovan along the outer wall till they made it to the other side of the large elegant headquarters tower. One there they slunk through the smithy area, The large orc over the forge barely grunting at them in acknowledgment as they passed through. Then down to the sparring yard and hurrying toward the big gate. Staan pressed a large scroll into Edovan's hands.

"Your client marked this map for you. You are supposed to meet them at the exactly the spot on the map at precisely when the sun rises over the city. That's not far now.. So you gotta go!"

He started to push Edovan toward the portcullis, but then suddenly dropped to one knee and wrapped the little bosmer in his bulging arms.

"You're gonna do great Edo! I'm proud to have you as a guild brother! Be safe!' he said and then stood back up quickly and rubbed his eye.

Edovan wasn't sure, but he could have sworn the huge nord was trying not to cry? Today had been such a strange day he thought to himself as he hurried across the first the long wooden drawbridge and then the dwemer stone bridge back down to the city below. His mystery client was waiting. It had to be someone important for them to go to all this trouble. Someone with ties to the guild, or someone who knew Margara perhaps? He'd been specifically requested for this job, so he knew they needed a mage, or possibly someone who could read dwemer runes? Yagaritte had to have put in the good word for him. She must have told the client about him and convinced them to ask for him specifically as a way to get him in the guild with no challenge. Well, that had almost worked out.

He thought of Mountains as he hurried down into the city proper following the landmarks on his map. Had she really asked about him? Why would she suddenly care? No doubt she wanted another chance at him maybe? A chance to prove she was the better combattant or just a chance to pay him back for her humiliating and unorthodox victory? Some mysteries would have to wait till he got back. The sun would be coming up soon and he had to make it before that moment. "An hour early is better than one minute late " his father had always said. An hour early was out of the question at this point. Maybe he could manage a few minutes? The sky was starting to turn pink. It was going to be a rare clear sunny day on the island with no snow, a perfect day to start his new career with a new adventure!

He found the little shop He'd first met Yagaritte in there on the corner That was his next to last marker on his map. . It was dark inside and the door was still barred for the night, but it didn't stop Edovan from taking a few seconds to stand on his tiptoes to peer inside through the little window in the door. There was the table where it had all started. He could hear her mesmerizing melodious laugh again in his mind as clear as if she were right in front of him. He could see her smile.. the curly wisp of strawberry blonde hair that always stubbornly dangled down across her face.

And suddenly it hit him, hard. He missed her. He missed her terribly. She was the reason he was doing any of this at all, not just the one who had made it possible, but the motivation to see it through. One thought had shown like a lighthouse in his mind this entire time. That she would be there. at the end of it all, waiting for him. When he returned from his adventure, his client happy with his work, she would be waiting, to hear his grand tales, to celebrate his success. To look at him and be proud for once, not that awful look of disgust that was literally his last image of her as she carried him to her door and tossed him into the hall, and out of her life.

The sun was rising for sure. The sky turning from pink to orange to gold over the many cliffs and bluffs to the east. He looked at the final map marker. He was almost there. He hurried around a corner and stopped dead in his tracks. This.. This was the wall. The very wall she had pinned him against when she thought he had stolen her herbs. He heard her low husky voice again in his head.

"What's the matter little mouse? Don't you find me attractive? Don't you like my breasts?"

He smiled a bit at the memory. Even then she had him pegged. Though, as much as he loved the beautiful curves of her body, his answer had not changed. The reason he had followed her that day..was her laugh. At that moment the sun's first rays streamed down from the cliffs and bathed the wall in amber light. It was time! He turned and looked toward the dawn, shading his eyes with his hand. And then he saw his client.

Statuesque, beautiful, strong. The rising sun struck her coppery hair and made it shine as bright as any precious jewel. Her raw, primal beauty was every bit as strong as that first evening. She was dressed differently, much warmer, but she was still leaning against the outside of the clothier's shop, her familiar satchel at her feet, steam rising from the hot fish wrap in her hands as she took huge gulping bites from it. She looked at him and winked and took another bite, wiping sauce from her chin, and she laughed, that low melodious laugh that made him feel warm inside. He knew of course before she laughed, but he had stood frozen in place until that moment, unable to believe that it was actually her, that she wasn't just a vivid memory..

He dropped his map and sprinted for her as fast as his little legs would go.. And as he neared her he leapt into the air. She had no choice but to drop her food and catch him up out of the air, clasping him to her bosom. He wrapped his tiny arms around her neck and shoulders, holding her tight, his little body heaving as he sobbed jaggedly on her chest, his face buried in the hollow of her neck under her chin. She held him like that for several seconds in wonder, his feet dangling far off the ground as she squeezed him.

"Whoah hey.. Shhh.. shhhh. shhhh. It's ok..it's ok. I'm here. I'm... here." she said gently, her own voice starting to catch in her throat at his outpouring of emotion.

She patted him gently on his back and rubbed his shoulders till his sobbing quieted to occasional sniffles.

"Missed me, did you?" she said chuckling as she used a free finger to rub at her own eyes. He nodded his head against her vigorously, but didn't say anything. She reached down and lifted his little chin up with the same finger to turn his tearstained face towards her. Then she lightly touched her finger to the tip of his nose with a little pat.

"I'm sorry Little Mouse. It was mean of me to hide myself away from you for so long. I just wanted everything to be perfect for you when you got here. If I'd known you missed me that badly..well.. I'd have done something differently." She paused and thought for a bit, and then continued, chuckling. "Not sure what exactly, but I would have thought of something. I only have one question. Did you really not know the client was me? I really wanted it to be a surprise, but you are so clever, I was afraid you would figure it out."

Edovan was sure her eyes had never been that blue before. He gazed up at them in adoration and finally spoke.

"I don't think I ever really KNEW..... but.. deep down inside, in my heart... I'd always hoped?"

He threw himself against her again..lying his head on her chest and pulling himself to her so tight he almost couldn't breath.

" I think.. I think we are supposed to be together somehow... As friends..partners, maybe more.. I don't know. I just feel like my whole life has been about getting me here to you. My.. " he started to say something about his parents dying. But something stopped him. He didn't want anything bad to happen to her. "My family..everything that has happened to me so far..I feel like as terrible as it was... and as much as I wish it had never happened.. I feel like it will all be ok as long as I am with you."

"Well then," she said with a twinkle in her eye, that same mischievous twinkle she always got when she was thinking of something particularly naughty, "I guess I better never let you out of my sight then! Hope you don't mind sharing sleeping bags!"

She laughed again as he blushed as she knew he would. But then bit her lip, because she also knew she wasn't joking. She needed him fully energized and alert for this job of course, but it didn't mean she couldn't have a little fun with him along the way. The journey was long, and the weather would be brutally cold. There would be plenty of opportunities for shenanigans on this job. Besides as she always reminded herself, as much as the thought of doing things to her little wood elf friend got her excited, if she had to be honest with herself, in the end, she just really loved teasing him...