[center][h3]Healing Hands[/h3]

[@Stormflyx] & [@Father Hank][/center]

[hr]

[i]Morning, 31st of Second Seed, 4E208
Gilane, Hammerfell[/i]

Raelynn woke first. It was the sunlight pouring in that did it. They had at least made their way back into the bed to sleep - even if there was a large dip in the center from the [i]accidental[/i] break. Her eyes travelled the room to piece together any other clues of their activities. There wasn’t much, but a painting had fallen from the wall - no, two paintings. She smirked, rather proud of the frantic mess they had made of a once modest room. Then she found herself thinking back to what Gregor had been talking about. Wanting to show her something brutal and twisted, that he had power… She knew there was truth in it by how excited it had made him to say those things out loud. She sensed his relief too. How long he had carried such a secret - for him to finally be able to share it with someone, to share the weight of such a dark burden with another...

He had shown her his gratitude.

It was time wake him up too. They had places to be today - she would have rather prefered to stay in their room together but she knew her father would be seeking her out soon. They had to get back to the [i]Three Crowns Hotel[/i] before the others woke up. It had been nice to finally wake beside him like this, especially now. She wanted to savour the moment of seclusion and quiet just a little longer. 

She began by placing her hands on his back, trailing over the deep scratches in his flesh with her golden restorative light. She knew it would feel good for him to wake in such a way - by her hands like this. He deserved some sincere kindness, and he needed it too.

A deep, elongated groan escaped Gregor as Raelynn’s healing hands woke him from his dreamless slumber. Nightmares often plagued him but he had found that Raelynn's presence by his side kept them at bay. “That's the good stuff,” he mumbled, his voice hoarse. He turned his head to look at her, eyes blinking away sleep, and smiled. “Hey there, beautiful.” 

“There you are…” she said playfully, placing a single kiss on his shoulder. “I take it you slept well,” she didn't want to say too much to him right away, the moment was too nice to spoil with talk. She continued moving her hands across his body, removing the traces of what she had done one by one, piece by piece. He looked at peace like this, she was surprised to see this side of him.

“Yes, I slept like the dead,” Gregor said in agreement and simply watched her while she worked, occasionally turning this way and that so she could heal all of his scratches and bruises -- they were everywhere. She was similarly vandalized. Gregor smirked and ran his own hands over her body, giving her the impression he was just trying to distract her while she healed him, before he assumed the  serious expression he had so often seen on his father's face when he was younger and began healing Raelynn's wounds himself. Gregor knew enough Restoration magic to take care of such superficial injuries. “Now we're even,” he said, eyes twinkling with amusement.

It had been a while since someone else's healing hands had touched her. It was different, to say the least. Especially different to the way that Gregor usually touched her under the covers. She smiled at him, placing her head back down on the pillow, a long and content sigh left her lips as she finished her own work, erasing the marks in his neck. “I suppose we are, Gregor,” she began in a hushed purr, “we ought to think about leaving soon if we're to get back to the hotel -- to the group.” As soon as she said it, she felt the bubble burst, and she pouted playfully at him, knowing he wouldn't want to leave either. 

She was right, of course, but Gregor sighed all the same. He hadn't felt this safe and comfortable in years and it pained him to break the spell. They had a war to fight. Summoning his willpower, he sat up and got to his feet, searching through the room for his clothes. Once he was dressed he looked at the shattered bed and the rest of the mess and ran his hands through his hair. “I'll be honest with you, I don't think I have enough gold left to pay for all this,” Gregor admitted and smiled sheepishly at Raelynn.

She looked at him as he dressed himself and watched him move around the room while she remained in bed. “Oh Gregor, did you spend the last of your coin on your new clothes?” she asked in a flirtatious tone, biting down on her index finger suggestively before chuckling. “I might have enough, but you know… Now I have to go without something new.” She stood up from the bed, and plucked her own dress up from the floor, sliding it over her tiny frame with a long exhale. “A shame too, I was eyeing up really a rather alluring little number just yesterday. I guess I’ll have to wait a little longer…” She smirked at him, wanting his mind to wander to thinking of her in revealing clothing, walking around Gilane adorned in the local fashion. “But yes, we must pay for this terrible mess we created…” Once her dress was back on, she got to fixing her hair. It was disheveled and in much less of an intricate style than before Gregor had gotten his hands into it. The best she could do was to comb her fingers through it and braid it loosely over one shoulder. 
“That's a tragedy,” Gregor said and put his hand over his heart while he imagined Raelynn dressed like a desert princess. “But yes, it's been a while since I've had work that paid. Not since the Dwemer invasion. I hope this Poncy Man fellow will provide adequate compensation for services to be rendered…” Gregor started his usual weapons check when he remembered he left everything in his room last night, looked around the room one last time and concluded he had everything he needed on his person. “Shall we?” 

After they had paid for the room (and the damage) by pooling their remaining gold together, Gregor and Raelynn stepped outside and into the morning sun. The Imperial was immediately relieved that he'd decided to buy new clothes the day before. It was going to be a hot day. “How was your day? I didn't see you at all until you returned last night,” Gregor asked as they began walking back to the hotel, arm in arm.

Raelynn tensed slightly at his question, she had been able to push all of it to the back of her mind, but Gregor’s question had dragged it back to her present thoughts. “It was,” she began with a sigh, trying to decide just what she should tell him. Surely there could be no secrets between the two of them now, and walking with her arm in his made her felt [i]good[/i] and trusting. “I had dinner with my father,” she fell straight to the point. No sense to dance around it. “Or, I should say I had dinner with my father, and Daro’Vasora.” There was an awkward anger to her tone and she sucked air through her teeth sharply as she finished. 

That caught Gregor by surprise and he cast a sidelong glance at her with raised eyebrows. Considering they were in a country that was foreign to both of them, [i]’dinner with dad’[/i] was one of the absolute last things he’d expected her to be doing. And out of all the people to accompany Raelynn to dinner with her (presumably) affluent father, Daro’Vasora was also a decidedly unlikely choice. The way Raelynn spoke, Gregor assumed that it hadn’t been a great success either. “What is your father doing in Hammerfell? And why was Daro’Vasora there?” 

He hadn’t talked to the Khajiit since their discussion in the [i]Frisky Dolphin,[/i] a conversation born from desperation and exhaustion that Gregor was starting to regret. But, to Daro’Vasora’s credit, she had inadvertently led him to a place where there were opportunities aplenty to continue fighting the Dwemer. His request had been fulfilled, one way or another. Either way, he had said some things to her that he probably shouldn’t have and he didn’t like that the Khajiit seemed to be involved with everything that was going on. 

“I don't rightly know yet. He can't be doing anything good.” The words began to roll out, she felt safe to speak to Gregor about it, “I was with her, taking a walk. I felt afraid to be alone and we just happened upon each other… The next thing I know, my father is there. I'm as surprised as you.” She raised her thumb to her mouth, and nervously bit down on it, looking Gregor in the eye, a flash of concern. “He is sending for me today likely. To talk in private. A good thing too because he was incredibly loose lipped last night,” her cheeks grew hot and her face flashed red as she thought of what he had been saying to the Khajiit. “I'm worried he's going to start trouble that he can't afford.. “ 

Gregor suppressed a smirk at the idea of Raelynn’s dirty laundry being flippantly aired by her father. Now was not the time to be amused at her expense. Instead, he focused on the fact that her father was here with a plan, apparently, one that Raelynn did not have undisputed faith in. “I should very much like to meet him,” Gregor found himself saying. “I know you’re not very enthusiastic about it but maybe he has work for me. And even without that, I want to see what kind of a man raises a woman like you.” He squeezed her hand. “Do you want me to come with you?”

“A woman like me?” she said in a spirited manner with a smile “I wonder whatever it is you mean by that…” her eyebrow raised at him and she gave him a playful nudge with her elbow - trying to change the tone of their conversation from being quite so serious and centred on her family. Of course Gregor wanted to meet him, they all would - hell, Raelynn herself would relish the opportunity to meet her companion’s parents. “Your offer is very kind, but I'm afraid he won't have a lick of it. It must have been 4 years since I last saw my father. This is our overdue reunion. I suspect he will be asking me about my companions, but he does indeed have work for us, for them.” She grew silent as they continued to walk, the tension dissipating from her posture. “Besides, I don't know if I have it in me to hear him tell [i]you[/i] his stories about me…” she ended with a laugh and squeezed on his arm ever so. 

Gregor joined her in laughter. “Why must you taunt me so? I would pay handsomely to hear him reveal your most embarrassing secrets, if my pockets weren’t so light. Very well. I offered because you seemed… unsettled by the prospect, but if this is something you must do alone then so be it.” He fell silent, having run out of things to say, and simply smiled. It was good to walk like this, to talk about meeting her father and joking about the things he might say as if they were nothing more than young lovers out on a stroll. Well, Raelynn anyway. Gregor was merely playing at being young again. “I wonder what the Poncy Man has in store for us,” he said at length as the [i]Three Crowns Hotel[/i] slowly came into view. “I hope he knows what he’s doing. This faction of Dwemer seems more manageable than the butchers in Cyrodiil, but  I am still not eager to replicate the disastrous demise of the Colovian Rangers.” 

“I’m sure many would pay handsomely! Maybe one day I’ll tell you [i]myself[/i], on my own terms,” she placed her head against his arm “I know, and I appreciate it. I hope you understand. Maybe when he’s more settled we can see him together. He seemed very… Unlike himself last night. I suppose I will find out why soon enough.” As she saw the now familiar banner of the [i]Three Crowns Hotel[/i], she knew that soon she would part ways with him once more - not knowing when she would next see him, only knowing that they should still keep this a secret - even though Daro’Vasora had flaunted her knowledge of it. “I do wonder myself, he’s a strange fellow. I didn’t pay him too much attention - I was too busy enjoying my feet being on solid ground again admittedly.”  Raelynn stroked his arm once more, letting her hands linger over his bare skin where the sleeves rolled up. “Hmm,” she sighed softly “I hope it isn’t quite so long a wait to see you again this time, Gregor.” A cheeky smile grew on her full lips as she once more looked up to him, to look into the piercing eyes she so adored already. 

“Gods, I hope not,” Gregor said. He stopped, grabbed her by the waist and pulled her in for a kiss -- he didn’t care that they were in the middle of the street while the city was waking up. Last night had left him feeling empowered and emboldened. He was done letting his circumstances dictate his actions all the time. They continued walking and Gregor added: “We should have plenty of opportunities to see each other now that we’re here in the city. But we, quite literally, can’t afford to do [i]that[/i] to a room every evening, as much as it pains me to say.” He playfully elbowed Raelynn in the side. 

“I'm sure we can be creative about it Gregor,” she began in a seductive tone, even a playful reminder of how violent they would get was enough to spark her again. But she resisted pushing it any further, or saying anything else on the matter. She could sense in his demeanor that he felt different, there was trust between them now, an unspoken agreement wrapped around his secret. She was glad to know it, and even more glad that he seemed to be showing no signs of regret. 

As they approached the stairwell of the hotel, Raelynn knew it was time to part ways, for now. She pulled away from him slowly as she ascended them, turning to face him once more, with a small but flirtatious smile, a sparkle in her eyes, “you know where to find me…” 

Gregor watched her go with a heavy heart but a grin on his face. “See you around, pretty woman,” he said laconically.