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[hlaefdige]

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[hlaefdige]

She absolutely noticed both, and has tucked both away to be considered at a later date, when she is feeling particularly sorry for herself and would like the reassurance that there is one man, at least, who thinks she is worth paying foolish and unpolished compliments made all the more sweet in their sincerity.

"I suspect I will always welcome you warmly, Eskel," she tells him solemnly, feeling the desire to reward him for returning to her with a few too-honest comments of her own. His big paw gripping her bottom sets her grinning at him, her eyes twinkling in the glow from the fire.

"Perhaps if you are not too tired, in the morning you could join some of my men in the training fields. I suspect they would be very interested to test their strength against yours." And, hopefully, him getting all sweaty and exchanging a few blows with them will endear him to them all the more, further cementing his welcome the next time he blows into town. Plus, as much as it pains her, she will need to get some work done eventually, and he will distract her far too much if he hangs around watching her struggle over her sums.

[wolfdogwitcher]

"Alright. I promise to be careful with them." He says. Truthfully, he might not mind a little sparring. As much an opportunity to show off as to exercise. "I am capable of restraint, perhaps I will just sit and read while you work." He might be more comfortable doing that then hanging about the chamber full of many staring eyes that he assumes the throne room to be.

[hlaefdige]

"Do not trounce them too badly, they may never forgive you," she teases. She wants her riders to grow to accept the man she has taken for her lover, not to resent him. Witchers are rare in the Riddermark, which is both a blessing and a curse as far as their reputations are concerned, as tales about them are told less frequently but also there are fewer chances to correct any false assumptions. Eskel will have to be something of an ambassador while he is in her kingdom.

She sighs, scrunching her face up as she contemplates the day ahead. "You may wish to stay down with the éoreds at least until supper," she continues. "I must hold court tomorrow, and I fear it will be dreadfully boring to you. Property disputes and marriage applications, all things that must be brought to me to decide upon whether they interest me or not."

[wolfdogwitcher]

"It would be boring." He concedes. "And nothing I would be helpful with. I shall take in your soldiers and stables instead. I should see how Miruvor is settling in anyhow. Even if it will be hard to get up in the morning."

[hlaefdige]

Shifting herself, she eels up the bed a little until she can lift her chin and kiss him properly, smiling against his torn lip.

"Court will not start until after luncheon," she promises. Training, of course would start in the morning, just after dawn as is standard. And she will have to get up and get out of bed long before court begins so that she can be dressed to the exacting standards of her chambermaids, but for now, it's nice to pretend that they will be allowed to lounge around in bed until noon together.

[wolfdogwitcher]

"Mmm. Still...I shouldn't keep you up all night." A declaration a bit at odds with the way his hands lazily wander.

[hlaefdige]

"No, you're right, you shouldn't," she agrees, arching into the press of his hand like a cat being petted. She would be content enough to drift off to sleep right now, held in his strong arms as she is, but the spark of her arousal hasn't completely been smothered yet, and if he keeps touching her like that, she's going to want to go again.

[wolfdogwitcher]

"Mmm." He hums against the pale curls. "Perhaps I'll wait. Give you something to look forward to tomorrow night. And he'd be lying if he said he wasn't tired from sleeping rough and riding a long way, taking as many contracts as he could along the way. Indeed, he still has one hand resting on one of her breasts a moment later when she might feel his barrel chest rumble with a long exhale and turns his face sleepily into the pillows.

[hlaefdige]

Amused by how quickly he seems to settle down, Éomer lifts her head from his chest so she can watch him all but melt back into her bed, his exotic dark hair rumpled against the fine linen pillows, the warm firelight flickering across the planes of his face like a lover's caress.

Instead of poking him awake, or making some sort of quip to prolong their conversation, she lets herself settle as well, watching him until she is fairly certain he has fallen asleep, struck by the raw trust in that gesture. Here he is, in her bed, in her kingdom, as naked as the day he was born with his weapons all the way across the room. She could slit his throat if she so wished, or drip poison past his lips if the spirit moved her to do it, and she might even succeed.

Not that she would, of course. She has known Eskel less than a week's worth of days combined, but already she is more than passing fond of him, and the thought of harm coming to him distresses her intensely.

Slowly, carefully, she extricates herself from under his heavy arm and slips from the bed so she can pad about the room barefoot, tidying up their discarded clothing and banking the fire for the night, not wanting to give the servants who will come in to rouse her in the morning too much of a fright. It takes some creative maneuvering to winkle the blankets out from beneath him but she manages eventually, and when she climbs back into bed to settle down beside him, she covers them both first with a cool sheet and then with a warm blanket, then pulls the curtains closed around the bed to block out the light and keep in the heat.

Settling down beside him in the now near-dark, she waits for her eyes to adjust as much as possible so that she can watch him sleep.

[wolfdogwitcher]

Witchers rarely get the chance at real sleep. On the road, he meditates more than he sleeps, an in-between state that does more for the mind than the body. Half reliant on Miruvor to keep watch. On the off chance he's sleeping in an in, there's still a need for wariness, this time from the humans who might catch him of guard. The only time he sleeps deeply, is in Kaer Morhen. The only place he can trust there's someone to watch over him.

For him to be so asleep in Éomer's arms is a show of immense trust that cannot be overstated.

[hlaefdige]

She may not fully grasp the extent of the gesture he is giving her, but she's got some idea based on her own experiences as a soldier. That she could move around him without him cracking open an eye to watch her, that she could move the blankets beneath him without him asking her what she's doing...

She carefully leans in and brushes her lips to his cheek, murmuring a quiet wish for pleasant dreams in her native tongue against the cut of his jaw, and then curls up against him and closes her eyes.

[wolfdogwitcher]

He sleeps so deeply he's confused when he wakes up. The smell of Éomer beside him, the warmth of her body, makes him think he's dreamt the previous night and all the ones before it. He has to check momentarily to see that he's not still wounded, that he's not still sleeping beside her in the little cottage where he laid lain for weeks recovering from his injuries.

Everything comes back to him quite swiftly, however, when he spots the thing that woke him-- a fair-haired maid of barely sixteen standing at the foot of the bed and looking lol a deer caught in the eyes of a hound.

"Um..." She begins, blushing scarlet.

"It's alright." Eskel says, gently shaking Éomer's shoulder. "Éomer, duty calls, I think."

[hlaefdige]

The fact that she does not have a nightmare while she sleeps pinned beneath one of Eskel's heavy arms is a minor miracle in and of itself; the fact that she sleeps through being woken by Léofrith pulling the curtains around the bed back to let the sunlight splash across the bed is a much larger one.

Grumbling, she turns herself in towards the warm bulk of Eskel's body, hiding her face beneath his arm.

"Fuck off," she croaks.

[wolfdogwitcher]

He laughs.

"Oh come on, I didn't wear you out so much last night, surely." He teases, before looking a bit sheepish in front of the maid, who won't stop staring at him even as she tries to bribe Éomer into wakefulness by saying she'll go and fetch breakfast. Eskel is relieved to know there will be half a moment to put his pants on.

[hlaefdige]

Grumbling some more, she rolls herself away from Eskel's warmth and shoves her mess of hair out of her face, glaring playfully at him and then turning a much gentler expression to the young girl who was tasked with waking her.

Thanking her, she asks Léofrith to bring enough food for two and then dismisses her all in their lilting mother tongue, figuring that the poor girl was flustered enough as it was, asking her to speak Common might be asking too much of her.

Once the door was shut behind her, she turns back to Eskel and reaches out to brush his tangled hair away from his forehead.

"So much for our lazy morning in bed," she laments with a smile.

[wolfdogwitcher]

"Eh, I think we both knew it wasn't gonna happen." He stretches, scratching his scarred chest. He knows he should get up and find his pants before any more of her servants show up.

He glances out her window as he ties the laces on his trousers.

"You're sure your men won't mind if I go out and challenge them to a few rounds?" He asks. "Good naturedly, of course"

[hlaefdige]

Sitting up in bed, she lets herself admire the figure he presents as he slips from her bed and goes to collect the clothes she left draped over one of the chairs by the now-dead fire, enjoying the sight of his body in the warm glow of morning as he gets dressed. He's looking well. She can't notice any new injuries, and he's clearly been getting enough work to feed himself well enough that he looks fit, even if he could probably stand to put on a little more padding.

If he stays in Edoras long enough, she'll do her best to make sure he's looked after.

"If you can wait until I am dressed, I will go down with you," she tells him, finally deciding to climb out of bed herself and making her way over to him to snatch up his shirt before he can grab for it, slipping it on to hide her nakedness like a robe. "Éothain, at least, will be glad to see you, he loves to poke fun at me but it's a little difficult now with me being his queen, so extending that to you should cheer him greatly."

[wolfdogwitcher]

"Hey..." He chuckles, watching his shirt flick out of reach to cover his lover. It's a very charming image, and he doesn't put up much of a fight to get it back. Instead he sits down in the chair and laces up his boots. "Éothain the one who brought me up here last night? He seemed to find my imposition more amusing than bothersome."

[hlaefdige]

She winks at him, fully intending to keep his shirt on until she is forced to dress in her own things.

"He was one of the riders who trained me when I first took up my sword," she explains, glancing over to the door as it opens to watch as Léofrith brings in a tray with porridge and some preserved fruit on it, two mugs of tea steaming alongside. "I think he likes to think of himself as a brother figure to me."

As Léofrith sets the tray down on the table by the fireplace, Éomer rises to her feet and walks closer, thanking the young girl who seems to have regained some of her equanimity with a few moments of privacy to come to terms with the unexpected presence of a man in her queen's chambers. She still shoots Eskel nervous, sidelong glances occasionally, but she seems able to force herself to focus on her tasks, bustling around a little and then returning with a comb and some leather ties in her apron pocket so she can start to tame Éomer's wild mane as she sips her tea and pokes at her breakfast.

[wolfdogwitcher]

Eskel decides it's probably best to ignore the girl, and idly organizes the things he brought with him while talking to Éomer.

"So what you're saying is that I should be sure to make a good impression." He jokes. "That's what you do with brothers, right?"

Gods forbid any of his brothers turn up.

[hlaefdige]

Eskel ignoring her probably sets Léofrith at ease more than Éomer's murmured assurances that he's unlikely to even gesture towards her, and she's accustomed enough to life with servants bustling around to know to ignore the poor girl as well, so she lets herself be drawn into conversation and doesn't wince as Léofrith pulls at the tangles in her hair.

"I believe that is the accepted custom, yes," she agrees with a smile. "But feel free to knock him on his ass a few times. I doubt he'll take too kindly to you going easy on him for my sake."

She's curious about the other witchers, and wonders if she should ask about them. Maybe she will, but not right now, not with Léofrith in the room. Her Common isn't very good, but she doesn't want to frighten the girl with the words she might understand.

[wolfdogwitcher]

Eskel carefully sets aside his steel sword, near his jacket and turns his attention to breakfast. As usual, he eats quickly, as if accustomed food being scarce or fleetingly available. Kaer Morhen is-- or rather, was-- a place full of hungry boys and men: if you don't eat quick, you don't eat at all.

"When do you want me to come back?" He asks, speaking quietly. Léofrith won't be the first young lady he's frightened with his harsh voice and ruined face.

[hlaefdige]

Éomer eats quickly as well, far more quickly than is seemly for a high-born lady, but she doesn't really care overmuch about how she looks while she eats breakfast.

"Whenever you grow tired of being heckled by humans," she replies, her tone gentling to match his. She doesn't find his voice or his face objectionable, though she does wistfully wonder what he might have looked like before the injury, when he was more symmetrical, but then again, Éomer is a woman who built her life on warfare and violence, and a few scars are not enough to turn her stomach. Hopefully the people of Rohan are built from the same stern stuff, and Eskel will not have to put up with too much censure.

Finished with her hair, Léofrith takes a few hasty steps towards Éomer's wardrobe and hauls open the big wooden doors so she can select a dress for Éomer to wear, giving the two of them just enough privacy that Éomer feels it's not pushing propriety too much to slip Eskel's shirt up over her head and come stand in front of him, dropping the cloth in his lap and bending to kiss his cheek while he finishes his breakfast.

"You do not have to wait for me," she tells him, keeping her tone low even though Léofrith will most likely not understand what she is saying. "I am merely trying to postpone the inevitable boredom of my day. You are free to go whenever you wish and do as you please."

[wolfdogwitcher]

With the maid's back to them, he dares to kiss her quickly on the back of the hand before finishing his tea. He'd be lying if he said he wasn't looking forward to a day sporting with his men and exploring as much of the city as he can before the discomfort sets in and he returns to her side. He shrugs into his shirt and his jacket, gear jingling.

[hlaefdige]

There is an indrawn gasp of breath from the other side of the room, Léofrith having turned around with her choice for Éomer's wardrobe and presumably startled by the sight of a witcher fully-dressed standing in front of her naked queen, but Éomer does not back away from Eskel even as he does up the last of his buckles, nor does she take her eyes from his.

"Enjoy your day, dêore," she tells him, picking a Rohirric endearment both because she felt like it, but also to send a message to the girl watching them fearfully.