PM to join [Ivory Aerie] Wash the worries away

[Lavira]

Timestamp: Winter 66, 513

It was really, really cold. There was no way to describe other than being sub-arctic cold. Did Morwen have a grudge against the Inarta too or were they just having bad luck this year? Whatever the reason, Vira didn't care as much as she probably should have.

The little girl who still had not given her her name was playing in the spare room (Vira now immensely glad that the previous occupant had had children and had left that room unchanged) and, for once, Kovac was off too! It was the first time in a while that they both had schedules that lined up. The last time that they had both been off, he had just come back from a long hunt on the 50th and she had planned on going out to the Enclave class (until Turrin, Sira, and she had gone a-hunting for the murderers). Then it had been a relentless back-to-back round of hunting trips with Vira even staying overnight two times in a location, snuggled in against Mohya for warmth.

Only two of the ten hunts that had followed since the 50th had had any kind of success, though she had managed to track down a few warrens of hibernating rabbits (the inhabitants of which had long since moved on or been frozen by the ruthless weather).

Vira turned her mind from the unsatisfying exploits and focused on something far more interesting: Kovac. He had slipped into the bath chamber half a bell before and Vira had spent that time checking up on the eagles and feeding Qeeta. The Avora had been...odd...since the season started, as if something was bothering him, but he'd yet to talk much about it other than passing notes that he was having strange dreams. She remembered him talking to her about that crazy Elk hunt she'd missed out on and the bizarre conclusion of it, but hadn't thought much of it since then.

Now, her lover was brooding and it was high time Vira figured out what the problem was.

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A few chimes later, Vira slipped silently into the wash area, spotting Kovac with his back to her on the far end of the pool. She had changed out of her clothes and left the clean ones and a towel resting against the base of the wall, her long hair hanging down her back. The eighteen year old stepped to the edge of the pool and placed her hands on the lip for balance before lifting one leg over and in slowly, following it with its partner, and lowering herself into the warm water so that it splashed against her chin.

The teen waded towards him as quietly as she could, not wanting to startle him, but likewise hoping her gentle touch might give a pleasant surprise. Perhaps she could encourage him to open up to her now.

Once directly behind him, the rider slid her arms around his chest and splayed her hands so that one was over that strange mark he'd acquired on his navel and the other was on his chest. She pressed a kiss between his shoulder blades then and let her body rest against his from behind. "You're too contemplative lately, Kovac..." Another kiss, higher, towards the crest of his shoulder. "What has you distracted?"

[Kovac]

Once upon a time, Kovac had little concerns. He was good at his job, and spent his spare time drowning his angst in wine, music, and the arms of whomever he could lure or drag to bed. He had carried a chip on his shoulder, a trophy of spurned love that he used to justify all kinds of insolence, apathy and indulgence, and his recreation was to wallow in it.

What a self-involved bastard he had been.

But time and trial had matured the mongrel, in some ways at least. Now, Kovac bore the burden of all the hunters in Wind Reach...feed the people. He held himself accountable to Lavira now, not because she demanded it, but because she deserved it. He had the honor of riding now, if only temporarily, upon Sira, as if he himself was a rider. Then he had been given two apprentices to mentor, and to keep alive. Straw upon straw was lain on his back, the dreams, the threat of Zulrav, the unrest among the castes, the Yasi Lavira had brought home. Times were desperate, and the once self-pitying, apathetic half-breed now found great weight upon him.

The bath was always a welcomed relief. To have the joy of a private bath was one of the blessings of loving an Endal, and now, Kovac savored the wash of warm water over his olive-hued skin. Still, nagging thoughts clambered for his attention.

Such was the Avora's distraction that he did not realize Lavira had entered until her lean arms wrapped around him from behind. The warm press of her body against his back, the soft application of lips to the sensitive flesh between his shoulders already ignited the fire his lover so easily fanned. She brought the dichotomy of calm and ardor to him each time she drew near.

"What isn't a distraction anymore?" Kovac replied,turning his head slightly to the side. His hands lifted to lay atop each of Lavira's pressed to his torso. "The hunts are failing." He complained. But the two of them had discussed the matter time and time again, and Lavira knew well that more lay upon her lover's mind.

"Ever since we found the Blue Elk, I have been having...dreams. They are strange, some disturbing, but always the same ones."

[Lavira]

The teen spread her fingers so they could be held between his, her head turning to the right and her cheek resting against the spade of his shoulder, listening as he jibed slightly at the ever-present distractions. She chose not to add to this nor the reference of the hunts. It had been a topic of much discussion all season, or at least the few times they'd managed to be home at the same times.

"Well, distractions can be good things sometimes. If we are too stressed over a matter, the flurry of activity to draw the mind away to another matter can sometimes shed light on the solution we've missed." She finally murmured, tightening her knuckles on his in support. The younger woman would then pull her hands free and move in beside him, brushing her hip against his and smiling consolingly. "I use the Ranges for my distraction. Nash doesn't say much during our training flights, but he at least appreciates my eye for detail."

Vira waded ahead of him and stretched over the edge to get one of the spongest that was kept nearby, the curve of her spine sticking out. With the lower food hauls they had and the light, barely filling meals they were regularly being served, everyone was showing signs of weightloss. The teen usually ate a healthy portion, but the decreased availability had left her already lean figure even more skinnier as the little fat stores she had were drying up. Her ribs and spine were more obvious, her cheeks more gaunt, her knees knobbier than usual.

The falconer dipped the sponge into the water and squeezed the air out, letting it slowly re-inflate as she turned to face him once more. During this time, he brought up the Elk hunt again and Vira lifted her eye to meet his inquisitively. "What sort of strange and disturbing dreams?" It was hard to tell sometimes if he did much after they fell asleep, if only because so often she was still caught in her own nightmares to recognize things in the waking world.

While he answered, the teen waded to him once more and took on a servants role, grabbing his left hand first and began rubbing the spong in long strokes up the tools which let him work best. The strokes were slow but firm as she sought to wash away the grime of the world and draw him into a more relaxed frame of mind.