[center][h3]Of Tenderness[/h3]

A Collab by [@Dervish] and I.
[hr][/center]

    Shutting the door quietly behind herself, Sevine settled onto the edge of the bed, the soreness of her limbs finally came over her, and she felt utterly exhausted. Squeezing the mattress like a farmer when purchasing new stock, she discovered it to be thin, as it were filled with straw, and offered a covering of wool, along with a stitched dual-layered wool blanket, sufficient in keeping the cold out. Not the best mattress, but it sure as hell beat sleeping on the cold hard ground. Reaching up behind her neck, she fumbled with the knotted leather cord, and therein it unravelled, loosening her leather armor. One by one, her layers of armor came undone until she was standing in nothing but her trousers, and tunic, boots cast aside in the corner of the room. For the first time in a long time, she could tell how dirty she was from the dark brown marks in the creases of her elbows. Running a finger along the nape of her neck, she discovered an equal amount of grime. Shuddering in disgust, Sevine searched her room for something to help remove the muck, and to her avail, she found a wash basin, along with a pitcher full of water, and neatly folded, a wash cloth. There, she slipped off her trousers and tunic, and pulled the single wooden stool up to the basin. She set about removing the dirt from her skin as best she could, even going so far as to pouring some water over her head so as to clean her hair. 

Meanwhile, Do'Karth had entered the inn, the revelry having died down as most of the townsfolk and visitors had either turned in for the night or had passed out from intoxication. Those who remained awake in the Windpeak Inn were seated around tables and flickering candlelight, their quiet voices and shadows dancing upon their brows giving them an air of conspiracy. The khajiit stepped gingerly over one man who was curled up on the floor by the central fire pit, clutching an empty wooden pitcher as if it were a stuffed bear, and it became immediately apparent to Do'Karth he had no clue of the room Sevine had secured for the two of them. The inn keeper was nowhere to be seen, as were any of the servers. 

[i]This one supposes khajiit are sneaky for a reason.[/i], he thought, his bare feet quietly crossing the hardwood floors. Picking a room at random, he lifted the handle and released the latch, and peered inside. A heavily bearded man, shirtless and overweight, was passed out with vomit encrusting his dark beard, the remainder having missed the mark of a pail entirely. Do'Karth scrunched his nose and silently closed the door behind him, suppressing the urge to gag. He'd known for a long time that his nose was far more sensitive than a man or mer's, and it was moments such as this that he regretted that fact considerably. Grabbing a half-empty mug of some liquor, Do'Karth took a swig, desperate for relief from the Plane of Oblivion he had witnessed.

Bracing himself, he was about to try the second door when he heard the creaking of wood and several forceful grunts. Wisely, he elected to pass that room. Curiosity killed the cat, after all, and the lingering euphoria of all the moon sugar in the world wouldn't spare him from the embarrassment of interrupting sloppy and ill-coordinated lovemaking. 

Door number three. With a sigh, the khajiit manipulated the handle and peered inside.

Sevine sat inside with a wash pail, and his eyes widened as he very quickly surmised that she was very much so naked. Do'Karth blinked, once again grateful for the coat of fur across his face to conceal his embarrassment. Still, it was clear she was comfortable enough around him to be in such a state; she knew he was coming eventually. 

"This one was not expecting you to be this forward. It would seem the amulet had an effect." He said, stepping inside while closing the door behind him and securing it. He stood before Sevine, still garbbed in his budi and coat. Setting his staff against the wall, he shyly looked away. He was not accustomed to the intimate company of women, much less a human. Strange sensations filled his heart, attraction and awkwardness alike. He was attracted to her, of course, but the ingrained taboo would be hard to shake. 

      Finding herself clad only in her barest of undergarments, she arose with a start, a rosy hue upon her cheeks at Do'Karth's sudden entering of the room, she had expected him of course, but not this soon. Perhaps it was the mead that she drank in the company of Elmera that time seemed to have warped, in a sense that she had forgotten it completely.

"Ah! I, uh, forgive me!" She cried, all but finished now with her cleaning, and immediately ventured to her pack, where she knelt rustling through the wooden frame rucksack. "I did not expect you so soon, Do'Karth. As for the amulet...well, what can be said of that?" A smile graced her lips as she carried on with her rummaging, careful not to upset the orderly packing she had painstakingly done.

     Finally she retrieved what she sought, a green linen dress. An odd choice, surely, for she had yet to wear it once since traversing the hold to the Reach for the first mission. Stitched with love and care by Liliana, it was her most treasured item, save for Do'Karth's amulet. Slipping it over her head, and straightening the light green fabric, Sevine turned to face him, unsure of what to do next. 

"I... I invited you to share the room with me, well...since the outcome of today, and I thought, that perhaps, we could sleep beside one another? I have no experience in sharing the bed, so I figured that, we may begin there in the least, and spend what time we have left in the night talking, unless, you have other things in mind?" She suggested, her palms were slick with sweat, and she wished that she hadn't used the entire pitcher of water in bathing herself. 

"Yes, Do'Karth thinks that would be desirable." he replied, still unsure of how to navigate the situation without seeming like a fool. He cast his coat aside on the back of a chair and approached with trepidation, sitting down on the edge of the bed. 

"Forgive this one, he, ah, is not accustomed to intimacy. He wishes to comfort you and know you, and he remembers you like to touch his fur, yes?" Do'Karth said, extending his hand for Sevine to take. "What has been on your mind, Sevine? Did you find those you sought out after we parted ways?"

     Joining him on the bed, Sevine at first sat down far from him, as she would if he were a friend, then when he offered his hand for her to hold, she reluctantly moved closer to him, her heart beat so loud, she found it hard to even think, let alone speak. 

"Do not worry about intimacy, for I am just as foreign in that realm, as are you." As she spoke, she cradled his furred hand in her own, stroking the striped, rust colored fur tenderly. "I did find those I sought, the first being you, as you would know, but the second person I sought were none other than Sadri Beleth. I too, thanked him for coming to my aid as well in the cave. He fares well, and we even partook in a duel. I have to admit, without it being a life or death situation, I acted with over confidence, and he bested me in the end. Moreover, he is a delightful fellow. Then, just now, I spoke with a Dunmer woman, perhaps the same age as Sadri, by the name of Elmera. She is a delightful woman in the sense that she is old, not elderly, but there is an aura about her like Sadri, one of knowing. But..." Her voice trailed off, suddenly remembering Thoring's words.

"There is another matter of great importance... Do'Karth," she brought her voice to a whisper, as if there were ears pressed to the walls outside the room, "Thoring, the innkeeper, mentioned Leif. He said that Jorwen, Red-Bear as he called him, bought Leif a room, and carried him off to bed. He said to me, that he was tied up in knots over a woman that wronged him, called him a great big blubbering fool. I think... he saw us, and he is sickened with rage. For now he sleeps, so it would seem, but I worry of the morning to come. If I know Leif, and I do, I have a terrible feeling in the pit of my stomach... He may confront the both of us. And as Nord tradition goes, he may challenge you to a duel. Have you seen Jorwen this evening?" Her eyes were heavy with worry, as she peered into the amber orbs of Do'Karth's, they glittered like precious gems in the candlelight. She knew in her heart, that while Do'Karth could handle himself, as she had been a witness to his agile moves in combat, she worried for Leif. While she knew she did not love him, she also knew that she did not wish to see her friend end up hurt, or worse.

Do'Karth nodded slowly, accepting what was being told to him. He had seen brashness in Leif, and how he regarded Sevine. "One does not fall in love without being a little brave, no?" Do'Karth smiled sadly. "Do'Karth knows of this tradition, and how Leif will likely wish to settle his grievances with this one in that manner. This one will accept this challenge if it will help him regain his honour and sense of self." He gazed steadily back in the emerald seas of Sevine's eyes and he gently squeezed her hand within his own. "This one senses your worry, not just for this one, but for Leif. While Do'Karth cannot promise either of us will remain unscathed, he will try to avoid causing serious harm. This one will never forget his generosity in Windhelm, and how he has been close with you for many moons. It is regrettable that he feels such agony, but it will pass. Pain always does."

"But yes," Do'Karth continued, grunting as his leg began to throb from the day's exertions once more, "Do'Karth has spoken with Jorwen, not of Leif... both a great many other things. He is a friend this one cherishes, and he feels a debt of gratitude to him and his family. Do'Karth promised to watch over Solveig for Jorwen, to keep her safe. This one hopes you do not object to his oath." he said with a soft smile. His thumb traced along Sevine's knuckle, fascinated by the smoothness of her skin.

     Shaking her head in dismay, Sevine reached up with one hand, and cusped his cheek, the pad of her thumb smoothing the fur into place, "I worry for you both yes. I worry at the loss of a friend, and at uncertainty. If he is as injured as Thoring suggests, then perhaps you are right after all, only time can mend wounds of broken hearts. As for Solveig... do not worry about me, for I like the woman quite well, and I admire Jorwen just as much. If you swore an oath to look after her, then I will see to it that you uphold it." Sensing his pain, or rather that he was in pain from the tonal exertion of his grunt, her brows furrowed in confusion.

"Are you hurt?" She asked, her eyes breaking his gaze and swept over him, inspecting him for any visible wounds.

"You honour Do'Karth. Together, then." He said, blinking at her suddenly concerned expression.

"Oh, this? Old wound, spear through the back of the calf. It didn't quite heal properly, so it causes this one pain from time to time. It can be easy enough to ignore while fighting or in life-threatening situations, but it always catches up to Do'Karth." He placed his hand atop hers on his cheek reassuringly. "After Snow Demons, icy seas, dunmer soldiers, and Falmer, this one has gotten lucky to have not picked up any permanent injuries."

"Here, allow me." Pulling his leg across the lap of her dress, her fingers prodded with care at the muscles in his calf, she could tell from the light presses how tense the muscle was. "It would do you well to apply a warm poultice every now and then, if feasible. There was a remedy my mother used for my father after he spent a long day in garden, though I know it not, I can write to my little sister and ask her, Pa kept it written in a journal that we still have, or at least so I hope. This is the least I can do, for even the weary nights as a soldier were a cause for sore muscles." As her fingers worked the muscle gently, she glanced at Do'Karth from time to time, as if stealing glances to make certain what she saw before her. 

"Now tell me, for I have talked at a great length. Is there anything on your mind?"

"There are warm things in Skyrim? This one was beginning to wonder." Do'Karth joked with a chuckle, sharply inhaling as Sevine's hands worked the tense muscle. "You would be doing Do'Karth a great kindness if you could inquire." he said, catching her eye as she glanced up at him. 

"Oh, this and that... how a kind yet fierce Nord woman saw something alluring in a khajiit, how a wanderer ended up in the strangest and most awful war of an age, lost friends. There are many things, many without answers." Do'Karth responded, looking around the room, knowing full well he had not expected to be this far North even half a year ago. "Something about you made this one feel safe enough to speak of what he has not to anyone else... you made Do'Karth feel right at ease. It was something he had not expected, and since that day, he could scarcely think of anything else."

     Nodding in a knowing fashion, her fingers continued to massage the muscles in his leg, again, her eyes flickered to Do'Karth's, "I could ask the same of you. I cannot say what it is about you, perhaps the feeling of your gaze, or the way you address me with such kindness, as well, for you are not another man trying to bed the famed "Huntress". As to what attracts me to you, I cannot answer, for why does the moth flutter close to the flame? Yet I know why I...favor you," the last word came out strange, as she were unfamiliar herself with what word to use, seeing as how she had never loved someone before. "Of all the others that have come before me, that have fawned for my attention, it is the fact that my name, the name they have given me, does not draw you to me. You did not seek me out for the fact that I am, the Huntress, but you sought to heal me. You did not prey on me in my time of need. And so, something in my heart, a kindling of a fire that I did not know could be kindled, was set aflame. Do'Karth... I do not know if I have told you, but I have never lain with a man or woman, nor even the thought of the notion of love. I considered it so foreign, and strange, that even in my youth, I did not act like the other young girls in Falkreath and spend my time doting on fanciful stories of romance. No... Love is foreign to me altogether, save for the sole exception a familial love." Her hands had worked themselves up to the knee, and began to inch closer to his hip.

"Now, when I think of you, my heart skips, and my head to my toes feel light, as if I am walking on air. I suppose this is what those girls believed love to feel like. You too, bring a sense of peace and security to me, one that is like a gentle warmth over my breast, one that makes me happy to open my eyes every morning so far. Mara has blessed me with you, I think, for my faith in her." Here she smiled a smile full of warmth and depth. Then she withdrew her hands and stood. 

"It is late now, I have a feeling that Ashav will want us up early for the next mission announcement. Let us spend what is left of the night lying beside each other, I am curious to know how I will handle sharing my bed for the first time. If you are not tired, speak to me still, until our eyes close." She teased playfully, bending to pull down the wool blanket on the bed.

It had not even occurred to the khajiit that anyone would only want someone, let alone Sevine, just for their name and reputation. What he saw in her was a good person who had endless compassion for those she came to care for and a sense of duty that often put herself in harm's way, not the woman who hunted down and murdered her assailant in cold blood in war time. What he had said to Jorwen stayed true; Nordic fixation on earning names was a strange practice that made people do foolish things, be it in search of a name of their own, or someone who has one. The truth seemed to get lost somewhere along the way.

It was such a strange and wondrous feeling to have Sevine say the kind things about him and speak of her feelings, of what brought her to his embrace. There'd been an attraction almost immediately after they met, and it was strange and uncharted territory. Do'Karth had gone his entire life without seeking affection and love, just his duty and subsequent redemption. He had been afraid to let anyone close to him, as he had ultimately been the death of the singular person he'd befriended outside of the Renrijira Krin, and the cat he was before his rebirth from a literal grave was someone he never expected to speak of again. And yet, here was someone who, with a total stranger from a race her people tended to despise, trusted him enough to not only let her mend her wound caused by assailants that wished her dead, but to speak of the truth of her name, something that she had told no other soul. 

And so, like an iceflow blocking a stream, his resolve and shame began to erode until he needed to tell her the truth of him; the kind khajiit who only wished to be of service to people and knew medicine that had saved perhaps a dozen or so life during the siege was not all he appeared; he'd once been a part of an ugly cancerous growth in Elsweyr's underworld, and he had been trained to kill the Mane without hesitation, all for riches and prestige. But Sevine just listened, not afraid or scornful for his deceptive persona that he'd cultivated for years, and she did something remarkable;

She took his hand and embraced him. The gods gave him a second chance, she said, that S'Razza would have been proud of the khajiit he had become.

It was then that Do'Karth realized that this Nord woman, one famed for her ferocity and vengeance in war, who had a curiosity in khajiit to the point she needed to touch their fur, whose hair was the most bright thing in Skyrim, was someone he could not live without. He watched Sevine prepare the bed after standing off to the side, and he helped tuck the blanket on the side closest to the wall. She thought it was Mara's blessing that brought him to her, as he felt the same for finding the company, finding her. It was certainly where he knew he belonged, and this would not be a fight he would leave others to fight, not when he found the one thing in his life that mattered. 

Both crawled under the sheet still garbed in their clothing, and while the bed was small for two people, neither seemed to mind. Do'Karth stared into Sevine's eyes, her face still bright in his eyes as if it were day. It was something that was unique to khajiit, and he often thought others would feel envious if they knew what they were missing. "Do'Karth would never seek to take advantage of anyone's vulnerability, and especially never yours." he brought a hand to her arm, gripping it gently. This one recalls you that day in the graveyard, wounded and bleeding, fleeing away from men who sought to murder you. Do'Karth didn't think that he would expect something in return for helping you, you were someone who needed it, and Jorwen and Do'Karth could keep you safe. This one would have done the same kindness for anyone, and he has. It always seemed that no matter how many lives Do'Karth would eventually go on to save with his skill with healing, it would never even the weight of the one life he took. But you showed this one that the thing he desperately needed to believe, that we are not just defined by our past mistakes, and could one day find acceptance with it. Instead of pushing Do'Karth away, you pulled him closer, and for that, there are not words that would suffice for his gratitude." 

His words filled her heart with an intense feeling of serenity, now knowing that his intentions were always pure, it brought tears to her eyes, and she could only bite her lip in response.

Moving closer, he pressed his forehead against hers and took the amulet he had given her into his hand, its weight all too familiar; how many times had he grasped it for reassurance and guidance? "This looks good on you, like it belongs." he purred, closing his eyes. Even away from her chest, he could hear the thumping of her heart, a comforting rhythm that he would always listen for. 

“I treasure it greatly, Do’Karth. Certainly, there have been others that sought to give me a token of their affection, but never did I accept them, nor did I care for them. This...this is a symbol of something greater, something deeper. One that binds me to you. I will never lose it, and here it shall always stay.” With that, she covered his hand with her own.

    As a silence came over them, Sevine found herself slipping her feet between his own, interlocking them, and just as he had caressed her arm, she returned the favor by letting her free hand wander to the only open patch of fur visible on his body, right at the hollow of his throat. There, she traced the softness of his fur beneath her fingertips, admiring the stripes she had never noticed, even toying with his neatly braided beard, rolling the bead that held it in place between her fingers. Sleep came like a shadow over her mind, filling it with weariness, for the musky scent of his body filled her nose, and the warmth radiating off him, warned her own being. With drooping lids, she fought sleep for as long as she could, solely desiring to keep gazing into Do’Karth’s eyes, and then, sleep overcame like a heavy blanket.