StarHawk/NelMetScin

It was a cold day for late Decending Wood. And the streets surrounding the inn were next to empty. The locals didn't mind the cold so much, it was the fierce winds that coupled it that made them return to the comfort of their homes or the inns.

Nel, a slight girl in her early twenties, was sitting inside the inn by a window, or so she thought, she couldn't see. She had been blind for years now, her hearing worked almost like a second sight. She was waiting in the inn for the storm to pass so she could leave again. She was idlely playing with a small leather pouch she had in her lap. It was then that the door opened yet again to allow another gust of cold wind into the inn.

A large man, she guessed, stepped in. She could tell by his heavy footsteps that he was headed in her direction. He approached the table and spoke in a lusty voice "Is this seat taken, gorgeous?" She tilted her head in his direction to reply but instead a different voice spoke out.

"Why, yes it is." A different man spoke riverspeak, his voice thick with a seaspeak accent. "Is this man disturbing you, dear?"

Nel finally found her voice. "No, I was just waiting for you." She interjected, covering her surprise well. She could hear the larger man walk away with an unsatisfied huff in his step. Nel smiled at the man sitting across from her. "Thank you."

"It's my pleasure. I didn't like the looks of him, too greasy. What did you think?" He stopped to look into her eyes and noticed the eerie white cataracts that covered them. "Oh, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to make offense..." His words faltered when she smiled. "You have a very charming smile."

She hid her blush well. "It's alright, I'm used to it. And as for him, I didn't much care for his three week old musk smell. It was good of you to scare him off." She mentally berated herself for forgetting her blindfold again, not only did it help her see, but offered a warning to others that she was blind... She tilted her head down, letting her long brown hair curtain her from him.

The man sensed her embarassment ans smiled. "My name is Deathwish. My firends, however, call me Scin" He extended his arm and took her hand gently to shake it. She jumped at his touch and pulled away. He sighed audiably. "I'm sorry..."

She shakes her head and grabs his hand to shake it. His hands are warm with nervousness and caloused with time. "My name is Nel. You may call me Nel" She recovered. "So, Scin, care to buy me a drink?"

"As many as my lady desires..." He gains the attention of one of the inn's servers and orders a glass of Windcrest Wine for them.

"Do you make it a habbit of saving strange women in bars?" She spoke with laughter in her voice.

"Only the attractive blind ones." He joked in return with a wink. He relized the action was wasted on her and ran his fingers through his dreadlocks. "What brings you all the way up here? Your Riverspeak is marvelous." The drinks arrived and each took up a glass.

"I don't usually travel this far north, but a dear friend of mine required that I retrieve some herbs for him." She sipped her drink. "What about you. We're a little far inland for you to be 'at home.'" She was being generous with her drink.

"My ship has set port not far from here. I traveled inland a little to get supplies. I'm gone again in the morning." He too was being a little too generous with his drink.

They had both gone though several glasses before they knew it. With each glass they found their chairs moved a little closer to the others. And their tongues a little loose with conversation.

"So why did you come over?" Nel found herself asking as the evening set in. She took another drink and leaned in, her attention completely on the conversation at hand. She could feel the familiar tingle though her body and knew she was drunk. So she leaned on the table, knowing that she couldn't sit up straight.

"I couldn't just watch that guy walk out with the prettiest girl in the bar. You're like a nymph, I feel ... drawn to you." Scin knew he had too much to drink this night, and would likely regret it in the morning. "You didn't have to let me sit down, y'know." He smiled.

"I did have to, other wische the schmelly one would have stayed." She spoke a little loudly and slurred her speech with her excitement, she quickly hushed herself. She instead spoke in a whisper. "Besides it was so sweet of you to step in." She finnished her latest glass of wine and set it upon the table with unnessiccary tenderness. "So tell me of your ship." It was more of a command than a request.

Scin smiled then. "It's a beautiful ship of jade, she glides over the water with such finess. She's my escape. I feel free when I'm out at sea." He turned his gaze back to Nel, and leaned in more. "I would find it pleasurable if you were on the ocean with me. You are scho beautiful..." He ran his fingers though her hair timidly. Their lips met and a flame erupted from within.

The kiss was just the beginning. Their bodies moved together, his arms were around her, not wanting to let go. Her fingers were enterlaced in his hair. The kiss broke off but the fire did not die out. The moved clumsily through the inn and to the stairs where they stopped several times, once every few steps to renew the fire that was growing between them...

[They pushed her door open, it wasn't locked and it was left slightly ajar, making it all that much easier. They fumbled their way across the room to the bed, each sheding a their shirt in the process, Scin could feel her heat radiate through him. The sensation was intoxicating. Nel took the time to feel her way around his body as he guided her towards the bed. She felt his strong cheeks, his strong jaw, his soft lips, her hands fell to feel his shoulders and the back of his neck, she again entangled her fingers in his thick dreadlocks. They hit the bed with a thud and both began to laugh. They kissed again, their passion burning through their skin, reaching out for the other. Once they layed down drowsiness engulfed them. Scin held Nel's chin and kissed her, his lips falling away as sleep took him too soon. A qucikly mumbled "I love you, Nel." escaped his lips. Nel too fell back, her body mostly caught up with his, as she closed her eyes to welcome sleep she mumbled in return "I love you too, Owl."]

Scin squinted awake as a beam of sunlight crossed his face. Sheilding his eyes and trying to contain his brains inside his skill seemed a chore this morning. He smacked his lips to add some much needed moisture to his dry lips. As he felt himself wake with the ever-rising sun, he looked around him. He was in a room at some inn he wasn't sure how he got there. The night before was a blur of colors and sounds. He looked beside him as he sat up against the weight that his head now provided, his jaw dropped to see the sleeping body of a woman beside him in bed. He glanced around the room and did the math, he found himself stumped. Surely he would have remembered if something happened... especially that... But his memory was foggy and just thinking hurt. He slipped out of bed quietly, staring down at her. She looks so peaceful, like an angel. Oh, what have I done... Uncertain of last night, he just stood there and watched her sleep on.

After a few moments Nel stirred, suddenly aware that the warm body she was curled up next to was gone. She first reached out for it, without opening her eyes. Scin felt the urge to give her his hand. She latched on and pulled him to her with little effort. Scin found himself in bed again with the attractive girl latched on to his side. He amused the thought of staying there for only a moment. Nel's hand reached up to Scin's shoulder feeling out for a scar she knew to be familiar. When it wasn't there, she was startled out of sleep. Though still blind her eyes flashed open. She let out a small scream of shock. "Ahh! Who are you?!" She fumbled her way out of bed, and realized, all too late, she was next to naked. She groped for a sheet and wrapped it around her in hasty modesty.

Scin snickered despite himself. "Come, come now, it's nothing I haven't seen already." He regretted his words as soon as they left his mouth. Nel blushed deeply and sputtered for a response.

"I... Uh... You... Uhm... What exactly happened? I don't remember..." She felt her face searing with embarrasment, but she couldn't help it. She got down on her knees and began searching for her top.

Scin got to his feet with an appolagetic expression on his face. He could see she was just as lost as he was. He grabbed her blouse from the bed frame and handed it to her. "Here," He spoke softly in Riverspeak. "I don't rember last night either... But to see you in the light, I'm honored it was with you."

Nel grabbed her shirt and quickly threw it on. "I wish I could say the same, but being blinded as I am..." Her words died out with heavy sarcasm.

"Would it help if I let you study my face?" He offered kneeling on the floor with Nel. He reached out for her hand, he had a moment of deja vu when she pulled away. He grabbed for it again and brought her fingers to his cheek.

Nel was silent as she ran her fingers over his cheek, feeling day-old stubble growing in. Her fingers moved to his peirced ear, she brought her other hand up and felt his coarse dreadlocks tied back. They moved almost like they had a mind of their own, moving from his brow where he showed he was concerned, to his strong jaw, to his soft lips. Her index finger traced the outline of his lips. She smiled breifly then dropped her hands to straighten out her clothing. "You seem like a good looking man. I'm sorry now that I can't recall meeting you." She stood and moved to the nearest bedside table.

"If you don't mind me asking" Scin spoke up after watching her move away. "You seemed to be looking for something while you were sleeping... on my shoulder... Is there a story behind that?"

Nel shook her head, her brown hair moved from side to side. "Someone dear to me is tattooed there and still has the scars. I was dreaming I was in bed with him again."

"... I see..." He said at last. He then turned and found his shirt. Putting it on his curiosity prodded him. "Was is a plesant dream? You looked... peaceful as you slept."

"It was." She was being short. Riffling though her memories attempting to make sense of it. She vaguely remembered kissing him, but much before or after was a blur.

Scin couldn't help but make more jokes to lighten the mood. "Don't worry, I don't remember your name either." He paused. "It's probably better this way, it'll be less awkward in the long run I'm sure." He sat on the opposite edge of the bed from her. "Maybe I can come and see you in a few days when my ship takes port again? Get to know you propperly?"

Nel shook her head, her tone was even, almost monotone. "I leave this morning. I must return with the herbs I came to get." She reached for the package and held it to her chest, her mind still in a haze searching for some answer to this.

Scin frowned. "So I'll never see you again?" He didn't know why he felt hurt about this.

"I guess not." Nel tried to detach her emotions. She stood and checked her belongings. Apparently satisfied, she moved across the room with a grace that does not befit a poor blind girl of the River provinces.

Scin did not speak. He let her walk out, listening for a moment to her fleeting footsepts he sat. Looking around the room now, he felt dirty. He had no recolection of the night before. But she seemed like a remarkable woman. We wished his legs would work and follow her. But still he sat. He took a deep breath, he could still smell her feminine aroma on the air and in the sheets. He shook his head and got up. Tis a shame... but there are other fish in the sea... Other nymphs to be had... He crossed the room and closed the door behind him, never to speak of this again.