[FIN] Elephant Overhead [Merik]

[Nairore]

x x

It was really nice to get out of the palace at long last. Nairore breathed in the fresh air, which smelled pretty much identical to the Fairy Court, but somehow it felt less stuffy. Maybe it was because finally there was some privacy wherein she could talk to Merik. The last few days had been spent with brief encounters and passing. She remembered waking up the morning after. She had felt oddly different, in a way she couldn't describe, but Merik had been gone when she had awoken. It hadn't been hard finding him, in the library doing research, but bringing up the topic was something else.

So she spent the remaining time there wandering around the Palace, avoiding the library as much as possible and keeping to her room. From what she had gathered there was a pre-existing relationship between Merik and Titania, and she wasn't sure how deep that ran. Frankly she didn't want to think about it. No woman wants their first time to be with an adulterer. But then Merik had been gentle, had been caring about it. It had been extraordinary . . . after the initial start. Ahem. Just thinking about it tinted her cheeks pink as she rode her horse just behind Merik.

She watched the man who had taken her virginity carefully. She really wished she could see what was going on in his head, to know what he was thinking. Because frankly she was not one for awkward situations. They were something that relied on social graces and so forth, things which Nairore had never taken the time to hone. She bit at her bottom lip and remembered kissing him. Why was she dwelling so much on these details? They were childish things to keep thinking about, like a young girl with her first crush. But that was ridiculous.

With a sigh she kicked her heels into the flanks of her horse to catch up with Merik, pulling the reins to match his pace and trot along beside him. She rode along in silence for a few more moments, her multicolored eyes ahead. Why was she behaving this way? Then again how was she supposed to behave. This man was responsible for turning her life in a new and completely unexpected direction, even going so far as to do what she had never allowed any other man to even think about. He was a pretty imposing figure when you thought about it that way. She took a deep breath. "Did you find what you were looking for?" she said, wondering where the question had come from.

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[Merik Dragmire]

Merik, though he had been researching his little project, had been avoiding Nairore as much as possible after their first night at the Palace. He wasn't sure what to say to her; he hadn't exactly planned to take her to bed, much less in the guest chambers of his ex's home. And if that hadn't made it awkward enough, she had also met Kotone and knew he wasn't exactly single.

He snapped himself back into the present when he realized that she had brought her horse up alongside his own.

"After searching dozens of books i found a single passage mentioning an area of the forest that has been abandoned for over a hundred years because it became infested with monsters and the air turned poisonous. I think it might be the best possible place to look." he replied as they continued along the forest paths.

[Nairore]

x x

His answer was straightforward and honest. The most direct answer possible, really. The problem was it exhausted practically all realm of conversation, meaning that topic was to be dismissed as easily as it had been brought up and the awkward silence would return. Nairore cursed herself mentally for the whole situation. She hadn't been thinking, clearly. Had she succumbed to instinct, passion and primal thought due to her weariness? No, she had still been conscious. Her conscious mind hadn't had much control over what was happening (which had honestly made the night even more interesting) but it was still active enough to make the decision.

Of course Nairore hadn't even though about Kotone. So long ago, it seemed, and so brief their encounter that the thought of her had been dismissed from Nairore's mind. She was feeling strange about the entire ordeal. Not overly bad, which was a good thing. She didn't regret the night, in all honesty, though she did think it could've happened under better circumstances. Part of her was even glad it had been Merik, for what it was worth, even though it now seemed to put a rift between them.

It was time she stopped acting like an awkward school girl about this. She was Nairore, daughter of the Hylian Knight Commander. She had beaten just about every Knight who had passed through training in her time. She was a legend among the Hylian Knights. That would be for naught if they all knew she acted like this after her cherry was popped. She took a deep breath. "Merik, about . . . about what happened," she started and immediately realized she had no direction to go. What exactly was there to say to break the awkwardness? "It was nice." Once the pain had subsided, of course.

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[Merik Dragmire]

Merik was quiet as they continued walking, unsure of how to proceed forward with Nairore. But after she had spoken he couldn't help but smirk as he turned to look at her.

"A little better than nice as I recall, but I am glad I could make it special for you." he said with a faint chuckle before slipping back into seriousness. "I'm just not too certain of where we go from here. In the past I've been fairly good at determining from the beginning whether or not events were going to lead to the bedroom and generally where things would stand afterwards...I really wasn't expecting this..."

Excellent work Merik, that isn't going to make things more awkward for either of you at all...dumbass...[/i]

[Nairore]

x x

Funny how this man who she had spent her whole life being told she hated always had a way to make her feel a bit more comfortable. From the odd smile to the empathetic feeling of mutual awkwardness. It made Nairore feel significantly better to know that she wasn't the only one at a loss for what to say in this situation. It even drew out an increasingly common smile from her to watch him trip over his own words. Even the most charismatic find themselves lost sometimes.

"Neither was I," she agreed. It was somewhat flattering to find out that he couldn't read her as well as he did the other women. Frankly she hadn't been expecting it either, nor could she hardly believe it. All of those Knights she had sent to the medicae with broken limbs and various other injuries because they sought the impossible, which Merik had come in and claimed ever so casually. It seemed to be what he was best at, though. She grunted and focused on her horse's mane for a moment and thought.

What was there to say? Really? She didn't exactly know what grounds they should be on after that night. She hadn't been expecting it in general. It seemed to affect everything, throwing all plans out the window. "I'm still here for training, so we continue that, I guess," she said flatly, trying to reason it out. Training was her first priority. It was the entire reason she was in this situation to begin with. That would be a good place to start. Keep that the same as normal. But then that was never a question anyway.

"As for after training . . . well . . . I mean whatever happens happens, right?" she said and her cheeks went pink. Truth be told she had enjoyed it, which was rather obvious. And since it had already happened there was no reason for it not to happen again, right? If Merik was so willing, of course. "Would you be in trouble for it? I mean I'm not exactly part of your tribe or anything, not . . . yet." She was a little hesitant about the yet, considering she had asked him before to show her what it was like to be a Gerudo. Whether that plan was still happening or not. It seemed everything was up for question, but truthfully it was significantly better than the fog of doubt that had been plaguing her before the Palace.

This questioning could be called doubt, but it was lighter, it didn't involve the questioning of everything she had been raised to believe, after all.

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[Merik Dragmire]

Merik nodded at Nairore's mention of training, it had been neglected during their stay in the Palace and in light of everything else he had nearly forgotten the whole reason they were travelling together.

"Your training will resume later this evening, I gave my word I'd train you and if I am nothing else, I am most definitely a man of my word..." only he had also given his word to Kotone and that promise now lay torn asunder.

"There is no law saying I cannot be with whomever I choose..." and he had taken advantage of that fact on more than one good night. "But I won't lie to you Nairore; back around people I can promise you nothing. Kotone has always been the queen of my heart... but we are not together openly for her safety."

He shook his head to clear away the various thoughts battling it out for dominance. In all honesty he cared for Nairore in much the same way he did Titania...and the real way he had managed to stop sleeping with her had been to avoid being around her privately for extended periods...with his student that was not likely to be a possibility.

"I do care for you greatly...but I think in the public eye we should work towards the appearance of teacher and student...or the equivalent with my being in disguised while seen with you in public. While we're out in the world for your training I think whatever occurs belongs solely to us."

[Nairore]

x x

Nairore heard what Merik was saying, and then she simply blinked. "You want me to be your mistress?" she stated with almost disbelief. So her first time had been as the mistress for an adulterer. Sure, that was every girl's fantasy, right? She was supposed to then assume if she saw it through he would eventually change his mind and realize he cared for her more, making all that they had done wrong together right as it should be. At least something was supposed to come of this aside from her being Merik's play toy for whenever he was not around his real woman.

But then Nairore was never one to believe such girlish ideas of romance and fairy tales of Prince Charming. She was practical, she had had her virginity taken and as it turned out she had enjoyed it. Frankly it was somewhat liberating. Her father had always preached about marriage and all that. But frankly that was one ideal of his she had never fully taken to in the first place. She mulled over what Merik had explained and then shrugged on her horse. That was the truth of the situation, and either things could remain awkward between them or they could take advantage of it.

"Sure, she said with another shrug. "But then the same goes for me," she decided. Being able to be free herself might just come up in the future. She didn't exactly have plans, but you never know, right? And frankly any jealousy between teacher and student would just get in the way of lessons, so she wanted to make the arrangement perfectly understandable. "You get Kotone, I get whomever I want," she said, and then gave him a smirk. Thoughts of finding her one true love and thus ending this arrangement didn't even occur to Nairore. It was a concoction of human fallacy.

"But!" she snapped, raising a finger. "Training comes first and you are not to let anything hold you back when it comes to it, even if it means I'm going to be too tired afterward and you're having a particularly carnal idea. Understood?" she grinned devilishly, then kicked her horse's flank and rode ahead of him before he could even answer.

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[Merik Dragmire]

"Just like being with Titania..." Merik muttered with a smirk as Nairore dashed off ahead of him. He let her gain a bit of a head start before setting off after her and calling out. "DON'T FORGET WHO IT IS THAT KNOWS WHERE WE'RE GOING! YOU'D BETTER NOT LOSE THE TRAIL!!"

~~~~~~~WE NEED TO GO BACK...TO THE FUTURE!!!!!~~~~~~~

Frostbite and Flamestrike crossed together before and a little above the King's head to catch Naurlambe between their blades. The move was an unexpected one and though he had stopped the brunt of the strike the large scimitar had still managed to just barely cut into the skin above his left eye. Smirking at the blade's sudden bite, he pressed upward and shoved Nairore back before taking a few steps back himself and wiping away the thin trail of blood.

"Enough Nairore, lets head back." he said as his blades dissipated and he began walking towards firelight of their camp.

The area they had set up in was not so much a clearing as just the slightest break between trees in the area. As such their training had taken place in the overgrown area around the camp. Walking back into the light he found himself covered with dozens of cuts and nicks, most were clearly created by nature but more than a few he recognized as being the work of a blade. Smirking a little he brought his frozen blade back into existence, froze over a small rock, and used the ice to wipe away from the cuts as he found them.

[Nairore]

x x

It was a long way from having to take a nasty cut in order to land a punch. For the first time since they had started training together Naurlambe had managed to taste Merik's blood, and not just once. He bore more than a few cuts from her sword, and it wore each smear as a small trophy. That is, until he called an end to the training session and dismissed his weapons. Nairore had already had her next plan of attack set into motion when he did so, having been keeping up a relentless offense, so she dug her foot into the base of a root to absorb her momentum and let Merik walk past her to the camp.

Her chest was heaving still. She still had to exert far too much effort to even scratch Merik than she was happy with, but progress was progress. She'd managed to hit him, even though for every scratch he had on him from her blade she had about three to match, easily distinguishable from the brush by the burns and frostbite, but she had still gotten him. Part of her almost wished he could turn off the magic in his swords, because the burns added insult to injury and made each of those injuries sting even more. Then again Nairore had never been a stranger to the pain, and even embraced it. Pain was growth.

She stepped back into the camp and pulled a rag from her supplies, using it to clean off the edge of Naurlambe where it had managed to cut Merik a few times. Even a little bit of blood could harm a weapon, even one as carefully and lovingly crafted as Naurlambe. Once it was clean she set the weapon aside casually and sat down, checking the scratches across her body. There was nothing serious enought to merit any sort of actual treatment, although there were several places where beads of blood had trailed along her skin. Enough to merit her next course of action, anyway, which was quite new to their usual routine.

Her jacket fell off when she shrugged it off, and in the same motion her hands grabbed the bottom hem of her shirt and pulled it up and over her head, laying it to the side and leaving her nearly completely bare from the waist up save her undergarments. Not like he hadn't seen it all previously, or at least that was her logic. It's astounding how much more comfortable you become once secrets were revealed. She grabbed a canteen of water she had filled up at the last stream they had crossed and began to wash the scratches idly, admittedly finding this better than wandering into the woods to clean herself off.

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[Merik Dragmire]

Merik gave his body a final once over to ensure he had managed to clean up any traces of blood left behind from the session before tossing the frozen and bloodied rock into the brush. He reached into his pack for his tunic and then thought better of it and left it inside. The evening was warm enough without throwing in the heat from the fire, and there was always the possibility that it might just get in the way later.

Instead he pulled out his blanket and laid it out along the ground, quickly following it down as he set his pack as a pillow and sat back to watch Nairore, a habit born from years with Kotone in case she had something to say. When she took off her jacket and shirt to continue cleaning her cuts he whistled at her.

"I must have been inadvertently blocking out parts from the last few weeks, I swear I don't remember you ever giving me a show before, its certainly something nice to see after so much hard work." he said teasingly as he continued to watch.

[Nairore]

x x

Nairore glanced over at Merik as he sprawled out and set his gaze on her. Nairore had never had low self-esteem, had never been self-conscious about her body. Truthfully she had been training for this most of her life as much as she had been training with her sword. Her clothing was always quite invoking and her manner never seemed to fail at drawing suitors. Of course most people who had even dreamt of admiring her further beyond what she displayed usually ended up having their dreams blocked by shards of nose.

Merik was an exception as he had already seen everything. She wasn't exactly sure how much of her he remembered, as she didn't remember there being much of a chance to take the time to study each other's body that night, but it wasn't like she was completely naked anyway. So when he whistled at her she rolled her eyes and threw him a casual grin before going about her business cleaning off the cuts. "Well if our early discussion is anything to go by you might as well enjoy while you can, since we're making for the desert," she cooed.

And then, almost as if to prove a point but frankly more out of practicality and her need to cool off a little, she poured the rest of the contents of that particular canteen across her collarbone. Gravity did the rest to add to the show. It was only after she had completed the act that she realized the double nature it held and laughed to herself. Seemed she couldn't help herself after all. He had freed something deep within her that had been hidden behind the violence, something that was still present. Merik had simply managed to tame it.

So was that what she was? Tamed? The Knights would be laughing if they'd known that. No. She was a free woman, unrestrained. She doubted Merik would stop her if she decided she wanted to go in a complete different direction. Part of her even entertained the thought that he would follow. She tucked that game away for later and instead, now cleaned off as best as she could without a stream or river at hand, moved across camp to where Merik was sprawled and settled in straddling on top of him. "So is this going to become part of our nightly ritual now?" she cooed softly, grabbing his hands and placing them on her hips.

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[Merik Dragmire]

Merik returned Nairore's grin unabashedly as she offered her little bit of advice. It made him laugh a bit before he countered with his own advice.

"I don't know how far you've ever traveled within the desert, but it is important to make sure you have good company. The sands stretch on for hundreds of miles in all directions and you might travel for days without ever seeing another living being."

Then she had to go and pour all of her water down along her collar. A part of him, the survival oriented Gerudo part of him, cried out at the waste of the precious water...all the other parts of him beat that part into silent submission as his eyes followed a particular stream all the way down her body. Soon enough she was atop him and while one hand stayed on her hip, his other slid up along to the middle of her back.

"I think that it may, it is it's own form of training afterall." he growled playfully as he leaned up and his hand push down to catch her lips in a fierce kiss.

[Nairore]

x x

Nairore wasn't expecting the sudden burst of passion, for whatever naive reason she had. As his hand had worked its way up her back he was somehow able to take her by complete surprise as he pushed down, enough surprise that she wasn't able to resist and his lips were upon her before she knew it. And with the sudden start she made a squealing noise that colored her cheeks rose again, as she found herself particularly embarrassed for having made such a noise in the first place. The embarrassment was washed away by the ferocity of his kiss.

Except then she pulled away and rolled over onto her back, escaping his grasp. Her eyes turned skyward toward the stars and she stretched herself out on his blanket, a very feline-esque stretch, before turning her back to him. "Speaking of training, I don't suppose you know how to give a good massage," she said to the fire, directed at him. Unseen to him would be the playful smirk across her lips as she basked in the warmth of the fire against her now-moist skin.

Granted while she wasn't expecting him to have magic fingers like her sister, who had fondly and tenderly come to know all of Nairore's muscles in a very different way, she was almost expecting him to try. And she certainly wouldn't object, as the few days of awkwardly pacing the Palace trying to find some form of nondescript exercise and failing had had their effect on her muscles and the sudden exertion required when they had leapt back into training left them sore.

Another part of him expected him to lose all control to the passion he had displayed just a split second ago in a kiss. And the final part of her figured he'd try to play his own game. The more she thought on it the more curious she got as to how he would approach the sudden dismissal of what had been quickly building. She was still shirtless, after all, and she found herself hoping he'd give her that massage. It would definitely feel good, regardless of how rough and untalented he was.

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[Merik Dragmire]

Well Merik was stunned once again as Nairore abruptly pulled back and rolled away from him onto the blanket. He gave her a sideways look before she sat up facing the fire away from him. He sat up behind her and gave her an unseen, questioning look as she asked him if he could give a massage.

"I've given a massage or two in my time and I never heard any complaints although..." he placed his large hands on her shoulders, chuckling darkly as he continued. "...I don't suppose anyone would say a thing when the one giving the massage could easily wrap a single hand around their throat and end the massage prematurely."

He allowed the silence to hang for a moment before his hands started moving. His hands were rough and calloused against her soft skin but though he was clearly not a master masseuse, he wasn't lying when he said he had done it before. It had been a while and his movements were at first clumsy, but soon he was kneading and working her tired muscles with a little more ease than one would expect from a giant like him.

[Nairore]

x x

Nairore felt his rough hands against her shoulder. They certainly weren't the delicate and tiny hands of Lori. She imagined this attempt at a massage would be something like trying to perform surgery with Naurlambe instead of with a scalpel. And when he got started she couldn't say the calloused hands were particularly tender, or maybe it was just the roughness of them rubbing her multiple scratches the wrong way. Either way she winced momentarily at his clumsy start, but soon fell into the sensation. Frankly at this time her muscles would give to any sort of massage.

She mused on his comment for a moment. "Who would you be massaging that didn't trust you already?" she speculated flatly, then shrugged her shoulders back into his hands. "Hang on, you're going to need some pointers," she said, her hands catching his as they dug into her muscles. "You're giving a pleasure massage, which in general serves no purpose. You need to be more firm," she said and pushed in on his hands so that his fingers dug into her back. "It hurts more, but it's more beneficial for the muscles."

She had been right, of course. He certainly wasn't Lori. She had this spectacular way of dancing on that line, seemingly doing both types of massage. The thought sent an unfamiliar flutter through Nairore's stomach. She dismissed it as excitement, for she'd be stopping into Castle Town soon to see her sister. She'd have to make a point of getting one of her massages while she was there, if there was time. Considering what other business she wanted to attend to, there mightn't be much time once her father learns of her being there.

As if in foreshadowing her gold eye glinted against the fire as she turned her head to Merik. Complete coincidence, of course. She looked back at him, then sighed and quickly maneuvered behind him. "Here. My sister used to be a miracle worker, she taught me a thing or two," she said as she dug her fingers into Merik's back, working at the shoulder blades somewhat forcefully, but necessary to get a deep tissue massage.

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