Work Text:
Hella was proud of the boat. It wasn't anything too special. It was a nice boat and she liked showing it off. Well, everything here was nice, so it wasn’t really special, but she had been raised to take pride in her work and these days she’d take it where she could. Out in Heiron, being Ordennan wasn’t a great look but it didn’t have quite the same stigma in here. Well, Hella herself didn’t have a great reputation here but, the boat. The boat was nice. It was all so nice in Aubade. Probably due to Samothes. Hella didn’t know much about the Big Guy. She knew that he was the one Hadrian was really into. She remembered that Samol had called him "Ingenuity Alive" back when he told them that whole story about that Marielda place. There was another thing Hella remembered hearing about during Samol's story. The whole death thing, Tristero and all that. The way ghosts work. It was a little outdated nowadays. The whole story was, but that bit especially. Hella knew about how Death worked now. She may not have been some learned figure, a scholar like Lem or a priest like Hadrian. But Hella was a killer and it turns out it’s kind of difficult to be a killer without understanding how Death works. Well, more accurately how death didn’t really work anymore. Which did make killing kind of difficult. But Hella didn’t really have any say in all that, so she tried not to think about it. Not to think about Death. Not to think about Alidade. About how pretty she was. With her adorable round features and perfectly braided hair. Or how comfortable she looked taking up the front of Hella’s boat.
"This is a very nice boat." Adelaide spoke up, interrupting Hella's train of thought. It was rude, and endearing. Not endearing. Just rude. Why was not thinking about her so hard?
"It's okay I guess." Hella said in a way she hoped was dismissive, but the flush of her cheeks made seem bashful.
"No need to be so hard on yourself Hella. Take pride in your work." Adelaide replied.
Damn Adelaide. Always making things so complicated. It was almost like she was trying to flirt with Hella. Which she couldn’t be. And even if she was Hella swore she wasn’t interested in the other woman.
"It's not really my work." Hella protested. "Samothes and that." Adelaide giggled. Hella sighed. "Adelaide, please. Can you stop making this so difficult?"
"What?" The Goddess replied with a smirk
"Nothing. Forget it."
"No. You said it Hella. What am I making difficult?" Adelaide took a few long graceful strides over to where Hella was steering the boat.
Hella wanted to turn away but she had to keep the boat on course. She already didn't have control of the situation and losing control of the boat probably wouldn’t help that too much. Adelaide inched closer.
" Adelaide, please. Don't make me say it."
"Hella. If you don't say anything how am I supposed to know what's going on?" Adelaide teased. She was so soft. Her voice and her words and her face. Hella wanted to touch it but she flinched away instead.
"I really don't want to talk about it." Hella said softly. She wasn't soft like Adelaide was. She was a warrior, and although she wasn't sure she still wanted to be one, that was a problem to deal with after they got out of this place, if they ever did.
Adelaide put a hand in Hella's shoulder. "You know, it doesn't have to mean anything if you don't want it too. Just look at me Hella"
"No, that's the problem though." Hella exclaimed, shrugging the other woman's hand off her shoulder and turning to face Adelaide. "Okay so not that I do, but like what if I do want it to mean something?"
"Then it can mean whatever you want." Adelaide answered reassuringly.
"But you'll be here, and I'll be out there! I don't want to date a sword!"
Adelaide laughed and Hella was struck but a heavy fear. But as soon as she saw Hella’s face Adelaide stopped laughing, but she kept smiling.
"Who said anything about dating?" She remarked warmly.
"Well. You know. You asked what I wanted.. And… I want.. You know, that, I guess." Hella stammered. She felt flustered and bit ashamed. She has just turned Adelaide down in the very breath she had asked her out. This was a disaster.
"Hella." Adelaide said softly taking another step towards the powerful woman. "it's okay. I think I'd like to date you too. At least while you're still here."
"Oh." was all Hella had the wherewithal to say.
"Can I kiss you?" Adelaide was always the more eloquent of the two. And Hella envied that. Like she envied those soft lips and dark well kempt curls on Adelaide’s head. Like she wanted it. Wanted to touch it all.
"Hella, I asked you a question." Adelaide broke Hella out of her thoughts again.
"Right." For the gods' sake. Hella was a knight she was brave and courageous and… and… "Yeah, you can kiss me."
And Hella had seen Adelaide smile. But never like this. This was big and they were close. So close. And Adelaide's lips where on Hella's. And it felt good. Like all her worries had been silenced for one moment. And all her fears were banished for a single moment. And suddenly all the thrills Hella had ever experienced where nothing compared to the soaring joy of this one kiss. And then it ended. Hella thought she could have kept going until she was out of breath. But if she kept doing that she couldn’t see Adelaide’s beautiful face. And, as if Adelaide was having the same thoughts, they both just kind of pulled back. And Hella expected everything to come crashing down. But Adelaide was still there. And she was still smiling. And Hella smiled shyly back.
"You're not too bad at that" Adelaide said. And Hella still expected it to all come crashing back down, but it still didn't.
"Well, maybe we'll have to practice more." Hella offered up tentatively.
"Oh, I don't know." Adelaide replied coyly and Hella had almost started to worry again but then Adelaide said: "I think that could be arranged."
And they both smiled. And the space between them felt like it was just right. And despite all of their differences they just fit together, and it felt like every worry Hella ever had was in vain. It just felt so correct. And suddenly there was something wrong with that. Things in Hella’s life weren’t supposed to feel like this. She had to pull back, for real this time.
"I think it might be time to head back in" Hella said tentatively. And Adelaide stepped away, settling on the edge of the boat next to Hella. Still near enough to reach out and touch but far enough that Hella felt the loss of her proximity. And Hella frowned. Not sure what any of this meant.
"What now?" Hella asked nervously.
"Now we do whatever we want." Adelaide said joyfully. "We have nothing but time until they fix the sword"
"And then?" Worry was flooding back into Hella's mind.
"Then we figure out how to make it work." Adelaide announced, her voice full of conviction. "And I don't know about you, but right now I think I'm going to want to make this work"
And they smiled at each other. Hella’s smile was tentative in comparison to Adelaide. But Hella was used to that. Gods just tended to shine brighter. But Hella knew in her heart no matter how much she worried over their relationship, Adelaide seemed to want to make it work. And who was Hella to argue with a god? Especially when she wanted the same. Hella’s only complaint was how easy it was to get distracted from steering the ship with Adelaide sitting right there. She couldn’t help stealing glances at Adelaide all the way back to shore. But Adelaide was staring at Hella the whole time so it seemed like a fair tradeoff. All in all, Hella was pretty happy about how the day had turned out.