Alex sighs with relief as she unbuttons her top, and releases the wrappings around her chest. The pressure was incredibly uncomfortable, especially as she had been unfortunately gaining a little muscle weight due to all of their training. It meant she needed to compress her chest even more to continue to pass as a man, but it was starting to get painful.
Scanning the room once on habit, twice on instinct and a third time because of a gut feeling, she eventually gives up on the sensation of being watched and reasons that it’s likely her guilty conscience.
Truth be told, she didn’t want to leave Casper. She felt horrible siding with Peter and the others who were all very in favor of abandoning the search for repairs but it was logical, and ultimately she couldn’t blame them.
They had been slaves, slaves who had been freed and given a second chance at life. Maybe they owed it to Casper and Rathiel but no life debts were sworn, no promises made, and in the face of potential death and freedom, who wouldn’t choose freedom?
Alex herself had made that choice a few times, though it was difficult to equate the two.
Her mind finds itself flowing backward through time, to a conversation she had with her uncle once.
The man was piss drunk and mostly rambling, which was the best time to get him to reveal more than he was supposed to. She had been refilling his glass for a while at that point to ensure he would be a bit more flexible…
Alex had asked him then, if she could be permitted to sail out with the fishermen and see the ocean. Coming from a landlocked holding in her fathers estates had her curious about the seemingly endless sea.
He had told her that the moment she gets a taste of freedom she will never want to return to her duties here in his castle. He had said that she would certainly abandon all of her responsibilities just to feel that for even a moment.
She didn’t believe him at the time. That was until living with him became too much to bear.
Alex knew what it was like, to abandon everything and everyone for a chance to be free. To cast those you love away at even the minor possibility of no longer being beholden to the whims of some sort of master.
She was never a slave, but that didn’t mean she was free either.
Alex grabs a bottle of wine from one of the shelves and opens it, pouring herself a glass and downing the contents with practiced precision and just the right amount of elegance.
She hoped that her talk with Annabelle would begin to put the right pieces in motion to get the others to see that. She dare not speak the full truth at the table but the real reason she was siding with Peter and the others, was because they were dangerous.
The position she had been in with her uncle was comparably lesser than what the ex-slaves had to endure. There was no world in which they would agree to sacrifice themselves for Casper or Rathiel or Engee. Peter and his crew would get violent if push came to shove. In fact Alex had no doubt in her mind they would be willing to kill everyone aboard this ship to be free if they believed they would die on a rescue mission.
Sitting down on the bed, Alex runs through all of the possibilities she can think of, every scenario she could reasonably assume had the chance of transpiring.
It wasn’t easy.
Her mind kept drifting. It was mostly from exhaustion, partially from the panic and anxiety, and a small sliver of idle fantasy to distract from the horror that was the past 24 hours.
Perhaps Laihal’s succubus magic had tainted her mind, or too many perverse dreams had her conscious mind wrapped around the ideal world it conjured in those resting hours.
Alex thought things would be so much easier if Casper wasn’t such a coward. Wasn’t so moral. Didn’t have as much of an aversion to simply acting on his feelings about the women he was with.
If they were all together, everything would be smoother. They could trust each other more if they were closer. They could rely on one another more if they had just had the courage to act on the feelings they held deep inside.
Maybe Alex was projecting her own perverse desires. The likelihood of everyone here being at least partially interested in women would be a statistical anomaly…
But still, maybe if they had all been closer, more comfortable expressing themselves, comfortable sharing and being honest in mind and body then they wouldn’t be at each others throats right now.
Alex’s body lurches, and the world smears past her as her leg is pulled under the bed, and the rest of her arcs through the air to collide with the ground.
On reflex alone Alex manages to brace against the wooden floor to prevent her head from colliding with the ground, but she isn’t nearly fast enough.
Her chest hits the ground and as soon as she moves to reposition herself her arm is behind her back, with another hand in her hair pulling her neck backwards.
Alex tries to shout, to scream, but stops as cold steel rests against her throat, and her eyes settle on a small figure pacing the room above her.
“Elisayra, please… this isn’t like you.” Alex tests, struggling now to swallow too hard, less the metal cut her flesh.
She knew she should have trusted her gut, trusted her sense that something was wrong… Zesstra must be the one pinning her to the floor then, having hidden under the bed. She had no idea where Elisayra came from but that didn’t matter now. What did, was trying to figure out her angle.
“I know, I know it isn’t but it feels like this is who I have to be now.” The small woman mutters, somewhere between a cry and a plea.
It was clear to Alex that Elisayra took no pleasure in this, and if Alex had her skills and talents she very well might have done something similar, though maybe not as violently.
At this moment however Alex’s options were limited to say the least. Alone in the captain’s quarters, half naked with two assassins preventing her from gaining access to her own weapons, she decided the best course of action was to simply comply.
“We can all be reasonable here-”
“We can’t though! No one is being reasonable so why should I be?” Elisayra continues to pace around back and forth near the door, tiny hands clenching the hilt of her dagger in a rather frightening tick.
“You might not consider me a friend any more, but I certainly consider you one.”
“No, you don’t. If you considered me a friend you would have listened to me when I said we need to find Casper.”
Alex takes in a slow breath, something Zesstra doesn’t seem to like, as her grip in Alex’s hair tightens, forcing her neck to be more exposed.
“You don’t understand.” Alex tries. Her tone drops to something more sympathetic, trying to play into Elisayra’s more emotional side.
“Why does everyone think that?!” Elisayra gives a frustrated grunt, turning to look at Alex with confused, desperate eyes. “Why do you think that?”
“This entire situation is incredibly complicated.”
“You don’t think I know that? Alex I have been with you all for a long time! You don’t think I listen?”
“Elisayra…”
“No, don’t, I want you to listen to me.” Elisayra swipes some tears from the corner of her eyes as she looks down at Alex, no longer bothering to struggle or fight, but still warry.
“I'm listening.”
“Good, because no one else is…” Elisayra wipes away a few more tears before continuing. “You all think that I am just some dumb half elf, don’t you?”
“What? No, I don't…”
“You do though! You didn’t try to talk to me at all about your idea. You didn’t listen to me when I tried to explain and instead you went off to go have a meeting with Peter. You don’t think I understand stuff like this?”
Alex presses her lips into a thin line, because Elisayra was right. She hadn't even considered the girl to be a useful asset in the dialogues. The thought just didn’t cross her mind. Alex knew her as a very useful companion when it came to thieving but that was about it.
“You think just because I don’t know how to use big words I'm stupid. Because I talk simply I’m dumb? Because I act a little more childish than the rest of you, I'm not nearly the same age? While you were living your whole life inside a castle being tended to be all your personal slaves I was struggling to survive on the streets Alex, don’t you think I'd know how to deal with tense situations? You don’t think I haven’t had to talk my way out of being beaten to death in a gutter?”
Alex remains quiet, the hurt in Elisayra’s eyes more than she could bear.
“I wanted to think of you all as my friends, because I was stupid, and thought I deserved them. But I guess I'm the fool for thinking I deserve anything nice. You all never saw me as anything more than a half elf gutter rat. The dirt on the bottom of your shoes. You all talked real nice to me but when push comes to shove I'm just in the damn way. Isn’t that right?”
“Do you really hate yourself so much, you think that’s true?” Alex finally snaps, the blatant lies flowing from Elisayra's lips worse than any pain this woman thought she felt.
“Wh…what?” Elisayra backs off slightly, the sudden rage in Alex’s voice catching her off guard.
“Allow me to sneak into the nearest cave to pet the matted fur of a broken vermin while it cries itself to sleep. Allow me to share my first man with scum. Allow me to share a drink with filth and a room with someone I hate. Do you hear yourself, Elisayra?”
“But… no! No that is different, you were just...”
“Forgive me for not being perfect with how I show my affection!” Alex scoffs, struggling against Zesstra only to stop as the blade cuts the skin, sending a flow of warm crimson down her neck and patterning droplets into the wood below her. The pain radiates from her throat, shocking her, but she dare not lose the momentum.
It was clear to Alex now, that this wasn’t really how Elisayra felt. Eli was scarred, terrified even. Without control. She felt cornered and without options and this was the only way she knew how to express that fear. She wanted to be heard. Alex’s heart broke for her, because she too knew the feelings far, far too well.
Despite the pain and the sudden spurt of dizziness that overtakes Alex, she fights through it to continue to de-escalate. This was a critical moment for them. If Alex didn’t play this correctly, they might lose Elisayra…
“Forgive me, for being scared.” Alex softens slightly showing she wasn’t all hate, but quickly allows the rage to return. She needed to knock Elisayra off of what she expected. She needed to play into the half elf's own emotions, use her experiences and feelings she is familiar with, but directed towards her in a way she would never have heard before.
Alex spits on the ground. “Forgive me o vile creature, for erring on the side of caution in the company of people who wish to see people like me dead.”
“I don’t want to see you dead.” Elisayra gapes, every fiber of the young half elf’s body struggling to regain control of the situation, while the rest of her mind reels from the sudden shift.
“You don’t? Me in my castle? The very same noble that reviles you? The noble daughter surrounded by a rebel, a bandit, a thief and a slave? All looking to kill and go after the nobility? You don’t want me dead? Please Elisayra I know you don’t think I know you but I believe I have a pretty good understanding. If you still see yourself as nothing more than the shit on the bottom of the boot then pray tell, who is the fucking boot?”
It was Elisayra’s turn to be unable to speak. All of her previous momentum lost at the force of Alex’s retort.
“Elisayra, you are right. I didn’t come to you in these negotiations, and that was my mistake, and I am sorry. But do not for a second conflict your feelings about yourself with my feelings about you.”
Alex lets the last of her rant end in quiet tones, half to sell the impact and half because her voice was quickly losing its strength. The blood from the gash in her neck was still spilling onto the ground around her, dripping down her bare chest and soaking into her skin.
“I… I am sorry. I just, I don’t know what came over me.” Elisayra drops her own knife, eyes watching it hit the ground with no small amount of horror. In that moment, Zesstra’s blade releases from Alex’s neck, and her grip loosens enough for Alex to crawl to her feet.
Making her way to Elisayra, Alex wraps her arms around the young woman in a warm embrace, made warmer for the blood saturating her.
“I am sorry I did this. I’m so sorry I did this to you.” Elisayra sobs, unable to bring her own arms around Alex in kind.
“I am sorry too… I am sorry I haven’t been working harder to show you how much you mean to us. How important you are, how we care for you.” Alex whispers, tightening her hug.
This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it
Elisayra’s sobs soften slightly, until she sees and feels the blood from Alex’s neck begin to soak into her own clothes.
Pulling away from the hug, Elisayra looks down in horror as the trail of red runs itself down Alex’s chest to begin to drip into the floor.
Her eyes go wide, panic gripping her now as her hands reach out to put pressure on the wound.
“Oh gods! I- Zesstra! We.. oh no…” Alex pressed her hand against Elisayra’s, holding it to the wound to apply pressure. It wasn’t enough to kill her, but still the blood loss was getting to her.
“Zesstra! Get some medicine, quickly!” Elisayra shouts.
“Nephinae will be faster.” Alex notes with a soft voice.
“Nephinae is… she is helping Annabelle.”
“What happened to Annabelle?”
“Laihal challenged her to a duel.”
“Shit, is she alright?”
“She is bleeding a lot…” Elisayra winces.
“Good that Nephinae is looking after her then…” Alex lets her weight fall slightly, bringing her to the floor to avoid falling over. Her hand still clasped around Elisayra’s, she ends up bringing the small half elf to the floor with her.
“Alex, please forgive me, I am so so so sorry.” Elisayra looks as though she is going to cry again.
“It’s fine… we are all scared, we are all exhausted, we are all confused.” She reassures her.
Elisayra stays quiet for a moment, until Zesstra returns to the room with bandages.
“Let's get you to bed.”
“Don’t get any blood on the sheets, Casper will kill me.” Alex jokes, though it comes out much quieter than anticipated. She must have been cut a hell of a lot deeper than she thought. Looking down at her chest and the ground that much became obvious. Maybe she would die from this? That would be embarrassing…
“We won't.” Elisayra reassures her, sitting her on the bed.
“Zesstra! Hold this.” Elisayra replaces her hand with Zesstra’s, who is holding gauze to stop the flow of blood.
Elisayra quickly grabs a number of clothes, and begins to wipe the blood from Alex’s stomach, up to her chest and neck, enough to avoid any from getting into the sheets.
Alex’s head feels fuzzy, and the world begins to spin slightly as she is played down facing the ceiling, her back propped up by pillows and sheets.
“Okay, okay most of it stopped, uhh… Zesstra you need to get Nephinae please. Quickly.”
Alex smiles and closes one eye. “That bad? Your assassin apprentice needs better training in discretion.”
“I know, I know I am sorry.” Elisayra’s tears drip onto Alex’s stomach as she hovers over her, continuing to wipe the blood away and hold pressure on the wound. “Is… is there anything I can do to make it up to you?”
“I can think of something.” Alex mutters.
“Anything. Please just tell me.”
“Nephinae won't sing to me… she is still furious with me. But I'd like it if you could? Or just. I don’t know, stay with me for a little while?” Alex chuckles, a sudden fear rising in her as her body goes cold.
There was no way Nephinae would let her die… right?
The itching possibility of having angered her oldest friend to such a degree that she might not be willing to save her life terrified her. She didn’t want to be alone just in case…
“Of course… you did that for me before, didn’t you? That's what you meant with the broken rat?”
“You’ve forgotten already? Yes.” Alex chuckles. “When your hands were broken, and you could barely sleep. I rubbed your back and hummed to you. Though I think it was Nephinae who did the singing.”
“I… remember feeling comforted, and peaceful, but I must have been delirious.” Elisayra tries a laugh of her own, but it comes out mostly as a whimpering cry.
“It’s alright. I didn’t do it because I wanted you to remember it. I did it because I wanted you to feel better.”
Elisayra wipes away more of her own tears, the fear in Alex’s voice getting to her as well it would seem.
“I think I remember the words…”
“It’s alright if you don’t.” Alex laughs. “So long as you don’t mind staying here for a while… it’s… it’s been a long time since anyone's stayed with me while I slept.”
“It's the least I can do…” Elisayra smiles softly as Alex finds her body relaxing. She hoped she wouldn’t die from this. She hoped Nephinae cared for her enough to save her life. She knew she needed to slow her heart, so she allowed herself to close her eyes.
Letting her mind drift away, Alex finds comfort in the warmth of Elisayra’s proximity, and a small pang of longing as she tries to sing.
***
Annabelle struggles through the hallways, hobbling after Nephinae who power walks through the ship without much regard for anyone else.
“What the hell is going on!” Annabelle tries to shout again, but her words are ignored as Zesstra leads the full elf up another set of stairs to the deck of the ship.
Annabelle was shocked to see the dark elf assassin so soon after her and Elisayra stormed out, but the urgency in which she spoke indicated that something had happened.
Pausing at the bottom of the last set of stairs, Annabelle struggles to take in breaths and regain her strength enough to climb them. Everything in her was screaming at her to give up and rest. But Nephinae was the only healer left, which meant someone was hurt. Zesstra was with Elisayra, and if Elisayra was hurt then Annabelle needed to be there to kill whoever was responsible.
It takes a good while for everything to stop hurting enough to risk the climb. Several minutes easily, which pissed her the hell off, but she didn’t think Nephinae would be so willing to stitch her up a second time if she managed to fuck up the initial job.
Eventually though she was confident in her ability to make the final push, and so she ascended to the top.
Looking around, she couldn’t see anyone other than the crew continuing to make repairs to the sails.
“Where did the two elves just go?” Annabelle asks, watching as a few men turn to her with wide eyes.
She didn’t blame the stupid looks on their faces. She had but a few hours ago asked them where the others were, disappeared, and then reappeared half dead, bleeding and covered in stitches. Now she was asking where even more people were.
“They uh, went to the captains quarters.”
Annabelle grunts and heads towards the room with righteous fury, ready to split her stitches if it meant the possibility of gaining favor with Elisayra again.
Opening the door, Annabelle finds herself struck dumb by the sight before her.
First her eyes look towards Nephinae, who shoves her way past Annabelle the moment she enters, her expression unreadable.
Zesstra, despite having followed her, was nowhere to be seen at all, and instead the only two visible individuals left had her feelings twisting something fierce.
Alex lay resting, her chest exposed for all to see on Casper’s bed with the sheets pulled to her waist.
Elisayra lay next to her, one small hand rubbing a damp cloth just above Alex’s breasts, as she whispered something sweetly into the woman's ear.
Elisayra notices Annabelle’s arrival, as well as her position, and begins to blush.
Annabelle coughs, and finds a faint pain building in her chest, more than any of the external wounds she presently suffers from.
“Excuse me…” Annabelle quickly turns and closes the door behind her, leaving the two girls to whatever it was they were doing in there.
The entire scene confused her, and made her angry for a reason she couldn’t quite place.
Swallowing what felt like her pride. Annabelle makes her way a few steps back towards the lower decks before the door once again swings open.
“Annabelle! This isn’t what it looks like…” Elisayra’s voice echoes out, but pauses as she looks Annabelle up and down. “You’re hurt too… come inside, lay down, I can help you.”
More confused than ever, Annabelle struggles to find an excuse to stay away, but the pain and ache in her body makes it a struggle to walk any more than a few more steps. If she was going to collapse. Better to collapse inside and away from everyone than exposed on the deck.
Turning, Annabelle walks three lumbering steps towards Elisayra, passes the threshold to the captain's quarters, and falls to her knees.
Elisayra closes the door behind her, leaving the three women in the room alone.
Annabelle hangs her head low, staring at a spot on the wooden floor, unable to ask the question nagging at her, for fear of an answer she wouldn’t like.
“This isn’t what it looks like.” Elisayra explains again, her voice defeated.
“Then what is it?”
“I… ambushed Alex with Zesstra, I had a whole speech and everything about how I was going to save the day and make sure everyone did what I wanted to go save Casper…but Zesstra ended up accidentally cutting her throat.” She explains with no small amount of shame.
“What?”
“We had to get Nephinae to heal her, she is asleep right now. I apologized and asked if there was anything I could do to help her. She asked me to stay with her for a little while.”
“I see.” Annabelle nods her head, and lets her weight fall against the wall, looking up to Elisayra who shifts uncomfortably halfway between her and Alex in the room.
“Annabelle, I’m-”
“No, I’m sorry.” Annabelle cuts her off, waving a hand in front of her face. “I am sorry for hurting you. For hurting Casper, for hurting our party.”
Elisayra stays quiet, and instead takes to sitting down at the table in the center of the room.
“I was selfish, ignorant, and a fool. I was everything I stood against, and acted as the people I have always hated.” Annabelle fights against the pain, and prostrates herself before Elisayra, letting her head smack against the deck to try and force any lingering foolishness out of her. “I beg your forgiveness.”
Elisayra doesn’t move… she doesn’t speak, she doesn’t even appear to look in Annabelle’s direction.
That hurts the most, she thinks. Hearing Nephinae’s words cut like a knife, seeing her with a nearly naked Alex twisted her guts, but Elisayra not wanting to look at her was worse than death.
Annabelle bites her lip hard enough to make it bleed, as silent tears stream down her face to soak into the floorboards. The very act of crying itself caused pain to shoot up through her nerves, so she tried her best to suppress it, but couldn’t quite find the strength any more.
She felt at that moment, as if she had lost everything, and she couldn’t figure out why.
Why was Elisayra’s opinion of her so damn important? Why did she want this half elf's affection so fucking much? Why did seeing her with Alex in that bed rip her heart out? What was all of this?
Was it because she was confused? Scared? Desperate? Did it matter?
Elisayra’s sudden touch on her cheek feels like a ray of sunshine, cutting through the fog of her mind. At first Annabelle can barely place the sensation, until her head is lifted up to stare into Elisayra’s eyes.
“Please don’t do that.” Elisayra begs with a tired expression, lifting Annabelle further off the ground.
Annabelle doesn’t bother hiding the tears, doesn’t try to speak, doesn’t try to do anything other than move at the will of Elisayra. Why was she so willing to follow her direction? Why did she want to protect her so much? Why did she feel that same aching, gnawing pain she had towards Casper when she looked into Elisayra’s eyes? Why did it look like Elisayra felt the same?
Why… Why did she desperately wish Elisayra would kiss her?
Annabelle pulls her face away to hide the redness in her cheeks.
“What is happening to me…” she mutters under her breath.
“Annabelle, please, you’re hurt.” Elisayra pushes the larger woman's shoulders back against the wall, letting her rest there on the floor, moving as the boat rocks up and down on the waves.
She winces suddenly, as a wet cloth presses against her arms, but turns to see Elisayra holding her arm with one hand, and dabbing at the blood with the other, and all of the pain melts away.
Wordlessly, Annabelle watches as Elisayra tends to her. Her dexterous hands gently wiping the dry and fresh blood, cleaning the recently stitched wounds.
She understood why Alex could fall asleep to this. It was as if the heavens came back to earth to kiss the skin Elisayra cleaned. Each gliding motion sent a shiver down Annabelle's back, each dab, a jolt through her heart.
“I thought you were angry with me?” Annabelle asks, watching as Elisayra works to remove Annabelle's boots to wash the larger women's tired feet.
“I am. I'm still furious with you.” Elisayra retorts, turning the next jolt through her heart into a twisting blade.
“Then why…?”
“Because, if we don’t have each other, who else do we have?” Elisayra offers softly.
“I sold out Engee, I betrayed Casper. That doesn’t sound like having any of you. I am a fucking bandit, a sell-sword, I got rid of Engee the second I saw the chance because I wanted her gone. I am awful.”
“You are a person… like the rest of us.”
“...”
“I still thought you all hated me for a while. Aboard this ship. Everything you have all done for me, I forgot, because I hated myself more than I trusted your love for me.” Elisayra explains, moving the cloth to wipe at Annabelle's neck.
“Eli…”
“It’s true. You’ve risked your life for me time and time again. You’ve saved me, protected me, and in return I turned my back on you the moment you did something I disagreed with.”
“Let's not play the blame game…”
“I’m not, I am telling the truth.” Elisayra tugs at Annabelle's shirt.
Annabelle struggles to lift her arms while Elisayra works the blood and sweat soaked garment off of her body.
“We all fucked up, we all failed, we all made mistakes. It all just happened to culminate at once.” Annabelle offers, suddenly a little bashful as Elisayra takes to wiping the blood that’s gathered around Annabelle's shoulders and sides of her chest.
“Cabin fever, I think is what it’s called. We have all been cramped in here together for a while now. We are all feeling it. Alex said something similar.”
“Maybe that’s what it is…” Annabelle offers to herself as she struggles to suppress the feeling of yearning as Elisayra works the cloth nearer her chest.
“There is blood all over this as well.” Elisayra tugs on Annabelle’s bra.
“It’s alright… I can wash it later.”
“You don’t want me to keep cleaning you?”
“No… that's the problem I think. I do want you to continue.” Annabelle shudders out.
“Why is that a problem?” Elisayra cocks her head slightly, letting one finger remain hooked inside her undergarments.
“Because… it simply is.”
Elisayra searches Annabelle's face, noticing now the fact that she was blushing the entire time.
“It’s a little strange, going from friends to enemies to friends again.” Eli notes
“Tensions are high… People are scared and confused. A lot can happen to a person under extreme stress.” Annabelle offers in the way of an excuse.
“Do you think… what you’re feeling now is because of extreme stress?”
“What I'm feeling now?”
“Wanting me to continue to wash you.” Elisayra replies in a soft, low voice that threatens to send Annabelle into a puddle on the floor.
“I think it might be.” Annabelle admits, swallowing hard as Elisayra tugs slightly at the bra.
“Were… you under extreme stress while we were shopping?”
Annabelle feels her face grow hot, much hotter than it already was. “I… don’t think so.”
“So what makes this feeling different from then?”
“I don’t know.”
Elisayra moves closer as another finger works its way into Annabelle's bra.
“What are you doing Eli?”
“I… don’t know.” Elisayra admits, moving close enough for her breath to warm Annabelle’s nose, as yet another finger slips in, though this time her hand shifts from the middle, closer to one of her breasts.
“We shouldn’t.” Annabelle begins to protest, but finds her breath hitching as Elisayra’s nail grazes against her nipple.
Elisayra looks back towards a sleeping Alex, before turning back to Annabelle with eyes full of confusion and curiosity in equal measure.
“We aren’t in our right minds, things have been too damn confusing. We were at each others throats just an hour ago and now…” Annabelle looks down, watching with hungry eyes as Elisayra's hand pulls Annabelle’s bra down below her chest, her small hand moving, and eventually cupping as much of one breast as she can, and squeezes softly.
Annabelle brings one hand up to rest on Elisayra’s cheek, feeling the warmth of her, the softness of her. The eagerness of her. “Eli, we can’t. These things we are feeling. We can’t make sense of them. We need… we need to stop.”
Elisayra lets her hand linger on Annabelle’s bare chest for a little while. Before he cheeks suddenly flush, and she pulls away, letting herself fall to the ground.
The small half elf brings up both of her hands to cover her face, embarrassment leaking from between her fingers. “I don’t know what came over me… I don’t know what's happening to me….”
“It’s alright… Eli, it's fine.” Annabelle works her breast back into her bra, and reaches out a hand to grab a hold of the half elves. “We… we just need to put our heads back on straight. Okay? We need to rest. To… think, and relax and sort it all out…”
Elisayra nods softly.
“You promised Alex to stay with her, didn’t you? Go on… keep your promise. I can head down to the other beds.”
Elisayra shakes her head. “The bed is big… do you think it would be okay if you stay too?”
“I don’t think Alex will care for me cuddling up to her.” Annabelle chuckles.
“Maybe… but you can cuddle up with me if you like, I can be in the middle?”
Annabelle rubs a hand over her face, struggling to suppress the cocktail of emotions still radiating throughout her.
“Please?”
“Alright… I can do that.”
Elisayra removes her hands from her face, and smiles. The half elf works her way up from the ground and into the bed, placing Alex at the edge.
Annabelle feels the pang in her chest return, as Elisayra brings one arm up to rest over Alex’s chest.
Nervous, anxious, and a little jealous. Annabelle finds herself joining the two women, sliding herself in between Elisayra and the wall.
Her breath catches, as a thought flutters past her mind, a thought she suppresses for a time, before the view of Elisayra’s hand moving up and down in time with Alex’s breathing becomes too distracting to ignore.
Shifting slightly, Annabelle ends up enveloping the half elf entirely, beginning her leg up to cover Elisayra’s lower half, and stuffing the small girl into her chest with her freshly cleaned arm.
Elisayra wiggles in to be closer to Annabelle, letting out a comfortable sigh that overwrites any feeling of jealousy.
“This… is nice isn’t it? Elisayra asks gently, turning to look Annabelle in the eyes.
“It is, though I don’t know how long we will get to-”
Annabelle trails off, as the colors in the room begin to shift.
“Is everything alright?” Elisayra asks, turning a hand to touch Annabelle's cheek.
Annabelle finds her breath catching. She blinks several times to clear the wrongness away but instead of fixing itself, more color seems to shift and leave.
Elisayra notices it then too, her eyes growing wide as slowly the world around them has color stolen from it, leaving only faint traces of red in the woods and wines.
“Anna, I’m scared! What happening?” Elisayra asks, her voice quivering, any anger melting away to be replaced by fear and the desperate need to be comforted in the face of it.
Annabelle struggles to sit up, her eyes looking out toward the window to a once blue sea, now turned entirely gray.
“I… I don’t know.”