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De Sardet, Kurt and Siora were on the way from New Serene to San Matheus, on the hunt for Major Hermann.
Siora kept checking the roads for tracks from the various beasts, while Kurt brooded and De Sardet was lost in her thoughts. He was tense and De Sardet had a feeling that the events of the past kept hunting him as much as they were hunting the Major.
On the outside, Kurt always seemed tough and composed - but she had seen the anguish in his eyes when they found Reiner in the morgue and then rescued Wilhelm in the Ghost camp. Apparently, he had lived through the same torture and worse, yet managed to come out of it alive – but at what cost? Hermann needed to die in order for Kurt to find peace, that much was clear. Maybe, if they succeeded, she would carefully ask him what he had done to him. Alas, it did not matter to her if he told her or not - as long as she could ease some of his pain.
After he had received news that Major Hermann was in San Matheus, Kurt had come straight to her and asked for her help – how could she say no, after what they had been through together already? It’s true, she thought, I also helped Vasco find out about his birth family and then regain the trust from his adopted family, the Nauts - but this is different. It’s Kurt now, who needs my help. My master-at-arms, who has protected me and taught me how to protect myself for the past ten years. He stood by me and Constantin during the Coup and this wonderful, loyal man now needs me to right the wrongs from his past and to make sure no other recruit will have to face the torture he had lived through.
The protectiveness towards him had awoken that night in the morgue but had grown extensively ever since then. She needed to erase the line between his dark brows and to finally give him peace of mind. She wanted even more than that but did not know if he would ever consider letting her take care of him in such a way. She longed to hold him, tell him that it would be alright, that they would manage to arrest the Major and that he and all the other recruits would be avenged - but she feared he would not accept such comfort from her. In his eyes, she would probably always be the young girl he was supposed to protect and train, and not the woman she had become. She was twenty-five now, she had responsibilities of great value to the congregation and no one, not even Constantin, who had known her forever, considered her to be a girl, still. But Kurt kept calling her “Green Blood” and seemed determined to act as if she would always be too young for him.
Maybe, this quest for revenge would finally show him that she had influence and power too, and that she was grown and reliable and maybe he would even see that she was a potential partner and not just a charge.
Ever since they had left the continent, she had hoped they would leave behind the old court with its rules and etiquettes and at least to some extent she had been right. She did not have to live in the Palace in New Serene with Constantin and his entourage. She was provided a small town house for her companions and herself. Siora preferred to camp outside the town in the forest at first, but after a while felt more comfortable in their presence and determined she could learn a lot when staying with the renaigse. Aphra was happy as long as she had a working station and enough flora and fauna to study, while Vasco had settled down after being reaccepted by the Nauts. He was content staying with her for now, exploring the island and helping the other Nauts on Tir Fradí.
Both Aphra and Vasco had decided to stay behind in New Serene due to the tense relationship the Alliance and the Nauts had with Thelemé. Petrus, on the other hand, thankfully did not live with them. She was deeply grateful for his guidance and the link to Thelemé, especially now, with their mission to arrest Hermann, but he was from a different generation than the rest of them. He was used to the rules at the court and a deeply religious man who would surely disagree with her that Kurt could be more than her bodyguard. She was sure he would love to set her up with a fine mannered noble, as long as he paid enough Coin Guards to keep her safe, and Kurt might even agree with him. No, she thought, it’s good that Petrus stays in his own townhouse and I am free to pursue my longing for Kurt, however slow the progress may be.
It was a two day-march from New Serene to San Matheus, and on the eve of the first day they settled at a camp near a river. Close to nightfall, they had to be careful on the road to avoid clashes with bandits and creatures alike but the day had been uneventful so far. Siora and Kurt were just discussing who would take the first watch - when De Sardet was suddenly hit in the shoulder from behind.
The smell told her immediately they were attacked by tenlans, the green ones spitting venom at their prey. She called out to the others to defend themselves, frantically reaching in her bag for some antidote. She rolled behind a large boulder and tried to see in the twilight from where the tenlans were attacking. Apparently they had missed a nest on the other side of the river and the pack had felt threatened by their camp.
De Sardet took out her pistol and aimed at the closest beast, while Siora shot her magic at the tenlans near the nest.
“Green Blood! This way!”
Kurt had found a log across the river banks and was balancing over to the other side while calling for her help.
De Sardet followed quickly and they attacked the group in unison, Kurt with his flamberg and she with her stiletto, while Siora helped them with her magic.
“Kurt! Behind you!” De Sardet screamed, as the alpha of the group rolled towards him in frightful speed.
Kurt managed to dodge, but was hit with rubble and debris. He immediately went after the beast as De Sardet finished off two of the smaller ones.
Again, she was hit by the tenlan’s venom, this time on her breast. Siora sent the beast a final magic blow while Kurt struck the alpha with his sword. The creature was enraged and De Sardet fired another shot from her pistol to ensure Kurt's victory.
“Thanks, Green Blood!” he called out to her while wiping the dust off his face. He winced and she realized he must have cut his eyebrow, the one which was already scarred.
She wanted to help him, but Siora joined them and spoke a healing charm for both of them. De Sardet nodded in thanks and tried to catch her breath.
“I am sorry Carants,” Siora said, “I missed the signs for this pack. I was thinking too much about the mind shakers you want to seek out.”
De Sardet waved her off. “We are alive and not injured. Please, do not worry.” She turned to Kurt. “Right, Kurt?”
“That’s right, Green Blood” he winked, “a little exercise before dinner never hurt anybody… Although, we do stink terribly now.”
Siora sniffed at them and wrinkled her nose. “You are right, you should both take a bath. There is a small bend up ahead where the stream is slower - you should also wash your armor. The poison can damage it.”
De Sardet sighed and took off her hat. “Lead the way.”
The day had been long but she did want nothing more than to get out of the slimy, stinking clothes and maybe even catch a glimpse of her handsome master-at-arms. She took her bag with her while Kurt swung his over the shoulder.
As they reached the river bend, he cleared his throat.
“Green Blood, you go first. I will turn around and watch this side of the river. Siora, you can watch the other side and make sure that she is safe.”
De Sardet was about to agree when Siora started laughing. “You renaigse are so strange - here you are, both dirty and smelling but you would rather stay this way so as not to look at each other without…” she was searching for the right word: “Clothes?”
De Sardet coughed in her fist. “You know, she is not wrong” she turned to Kurt. “We are both miserable at the moment and would be cleaner a lot quicker if we went in together. I can stay here and turn around and you can stay there and look the other way. It’s almost completely dark now anyway,” she suggested.
Kurt looked at her, startled, and suddenly blushed. It warmed her heart to see such sweet color on his scarred face.
“I don’t know, your Excellency…” he stuttered.
“I am hungry, soldier,” Siora clipped, sounding exasperated by their continental modesty, “and we have another long way to travel tomorrow. Listen to her. I can clean your armor in the meantime.”
Kurt swore under his breath and turned around while De Sardet obligingly stripped out of her outer armor and handed the pieces to Siora. She had the nerve to wink at her, then took the armor a little way down the stream to wash it.
By now, it was indeed completely dark, except for the moonlight and the swarms of fireflies in the air. Siora conjured up a magical light where she sat and started scrubbing their gear.
De Sardet stripped out of her last clothes and rushed into the water. The river was deep and cool but she could still stand comfortably with the water reaching her collarbone. It was refreshing but not too cold.
She cleared her throat and called out to Kurt. “You can come in, now. I will look the other way.”
She heard him putting his flamberg to the side and getting out of his uniform. There was an awkward silence before she heard more rustling and finally a splash as he too got into the water.
“Ahh, this feels good.” Kurt could not suppress his delight and she had to smile at his joy.
“It really does.” She glanced over her shoulder and saw him wash the dirt out of his black hair.
Good idea, she thought and started undoing the braid wrapped around her head. She sighed in relief as the long weight lifted off her head. The sigh must have been louder or more unsettling than she realized because Kurt turned around in alarm, as if he expected another attack.
“Green Blood?”
“I’m alright, I’m alright,” she assured, sheepishly looking at him now. “It’s just the braid, it gets so heavy all day long… it felt really good to let it loose…” she trailed off as his stance relaxed.
He glanced at the braid which had fallen into the water around her shoulders. Realizing where his eyes were leading him, he blushed again and turned around hastily.
“We should hurry,” he mumbled and started scrubbing himself more vigorously.
De Sardet bit her lip and could not bring herself to turn around again… She watched his broad back as the muscles danced in the moonlight under his numerous scars. He was such a beautiful sight that her fingers tingled with the need to reach out to him and touch his skin.
She had not realized she had instinctively moved closer until he stilled.
“Your Excellency, what are you doing?” he dared to glance sideways just a little and caught her eyes…
“Kurt, I—”
She struggled to find the right words. “You are just so wonderful. I am sorry, I can’t help it,” she said helplessly.
Kurt slowly turned around, disbelief and wonder in his eyes. “Me? Wonderful?” He seemed to search her face for answers.
Tentatively, she raised her arm out of the water and reached for a strand of his silky hair.
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She did not have to reach far to touch his hair, as she was not that much smaller than him, Kurt realized. Tall, strong and fierce was his Green Blood. Her eyes seemed to glow in the moonlight as she looked at him - and he noticed his heart was beating faster than during the fight before.
He had never imagined how long her hair was, as she always kept it in a braid around her head but as she reached for his hair, he found the courage to reach for hers. Her strawberry blond hair looked a lot darker now and he could see little curls forming around her face in the humid night air.
“Would you wash it for me?” she asked, holding out some dark leaves. “Siora gave them to me a while ago and said they should help with my curls…”
By the mention of their companion’s name, they both glanced in her direction but Siora was currently occupied starting a new fire and making up another campsite for them.
Kurt returned his gaze to De Sardet, still holding out her hand with the leaves. Her big, blue-green eyes seemed to pierce his heart and he trembled slightly as he took them from her. He ignored the voice in his head that screamed that all this was wrong and he had no right to look at her or touch her in any way.
Yet, hadn’t she said, she thought he was wonderful? No woman had ever called him that, not even his mother. He had been born to a woman in the Coin Guard and as such was given to a wet-nurse as a baby. He did have some fond memories of her, but it was not the same as a mother’s love.
The women in his life who had followed and who he allowed to see him unclothed had merely lusted for his strength and wanted no more than an hour of fun. None of them had looked at him the way his Green Blood now did.
“What do I do with them?” he asked, a little embarrassed and helpless as he realized he should have asked for instructions first.
But she just smiled at him and turned around while loosening her thick curls from the braid. “Well Siora said I should crunch them in my hands and then rub them from top to bottom, then rinse everything out.”
Kurt stared at the leaves in his hand and the cloud of hair now flowing between them, not quite believing what he was about to do. Even though he was still overwhelmed by her closeness, he did as instructed and crushed the leaves between his palms. A fresh, flowery fragrance shed around them as he spread his palms on her head. He started working in the leaves, untangling her curls.
It was— pleasing to do so. After a while, he dared to massage her scalp.
A blissful sigh escaped her mouth and he felt his heart stutter with joy. He loved this sound, he thought, and wanted to hear it again. So, he continued to massage the muscles in her neck down to her shoulders. She leaned her head to the right side to give him better access to her left shoulder, where she seemed to be especially tense.
He worked her muscles like he learned from his comrades and was soon rewarded with more satisfied sighs. He felt his body react to it, hardening and longing for more, so much more.
But he stilled, shocked, as she leaned her back against his chest. The sudden proximity, the heat coming off of her skin, her fresh smell, her head against the side of his face - her neck close enough to kiss, to bite. What was she doing? Didn’t she realize how much more she was worth? He was a soldier, ten years older than her, scarred inside and out. How could he ever deserve her affection?
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De Sardet could not believe her luck when Kurt had willingly washed her hair. His touch on her so intimate in the protective darkness of night, and their bodies hidden by the streaming water around them. But when he suddenly stopped, she feared he had come to his senses.
Determined not to let him hide from their attraction any longer, she turned around.
The frown on his face had returned and it seemed like he wanted to say something, but she stopped him with a finger on his lips.
“Don’t.”
She tentatively closed the distance between them and stood on tiptoes. Her breasts broke the surface of the river and his piercing light-blue eyes drifted downwards. She took the chance of his momentary distraction and kissed him.
At first, he did not kiss her back, but when she pressed her upper body against his chest, he groaned and put his hands around her back, responding to her lips on his.
Delighted, she started caressing his neatly shaved neck, leaning more into his embrace. She could feel his hot length pressing against her stomach and shivered at the thought of what her beautiful master-at-arms would look like underneath the surface. Her lips were hot and flushed against the stubble of his beard as she felt his tongue brush against them.
Surprised at his sudden eagerness, she obligingly opened herself to his kiss. The ache in her chest and the tingling sensation in her body multiplied with this new-found intimacy and she never wanted to stop exploring this wonderful feeling with him…
Suddenly, the spell was broken by a loud screech in the silent night air.
They jumped away from each other, looking for Siora - as she came out of some bushes a couple of meters down the stream with a dead bird in her hand.
As she saw them looking at her, she smirked, held it up and called out: “Dinner!”
Kurt and De Sardet both breathed heavily, their cheeks flushed, and they looked at each other again.
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She looked wild and tempting, her hair finally free and framing her face, her lips red and swollen. Kurt wanted nothing more than to get her out of the water to a nice, soft piece of grass - but they were not alone, and they had a mission still to accomplish.
“I’ll get out first, your Excellency— Green Blood, I mean, if you don’t mind. I would rather keep watch, now.”
She nodded slowly and turned around. After counting to ten and taking a deep breath, Kurt jumped out of the river and hurriedly clothed himself in his undergarments. When he stole a look back at his lady, she was just finishing braiding her beautiful hair again.
He promised himself that he would bury his face in the mass of her hair and bite her tempting neck if she would ever let him touch her again…
Here a commissioned Chibi by Merruschka, thank you so much! And thank you Greenedera for introducing us!