Spellsword

A Woodland Beam

So this was to be my own chamber? I turned to him, finding myself a bit speechless. "Teldryn...." 

"I know," he said almost softly, but loudly enough that his voice reached me across the creaking wood around us. "But I did not forget your forests, Mephala knows you won't let me, and so..." 

His eyes lifted up toward the ceiling, and with it he lifted the lantern higher into the collecting darkness. I followed his lead, and found that across the beams and weaved amongst the rafters were branches. Small, jagged twigs began to creep into view, and more greenery appeared as my eyes delved into the depths.

Amongst the sticks and branches tied with string, was weaved a wild pattern of nearby barks, leaves and even a few sprigs of berries from the bushes that lined Winterhold. I was so fond of the crisp warmth they added to this frozen land, and now to this tilting chamber. Around each edge were sprigs of Evergreen, old trees that gave me a sense of longing, a sense of the forest canopy still so rich and vibrant in my mind after all this time.

"I thought that when you sleep here, on top the sea as you say, you may glance up into the familiar sights of home..." Teldryn was eyeing his handy work. He stepped forward as he began to reach up to fiddle with something he thought out of place as he continued; "Well... perhaps not.... just like your home, but.... you know I am sort of under college arrest and the trip to Valenwood was a bit out of my..."

I slid my arms around his neck and rested my head just atop his shoulder, having felt the overwhelming urge to embrace him as he spoke, and taking advantage of his slight distraction as he came closer to me. 

I had no words, for no - it was not home, but - to see the work of the hands of my dear friend, what he had done for me - he felt like home. 

As I met with him, his words trailed off. He paused for a moment, before I felt his reach and heard the sound of the lantern setting down onto the desk. And then, his cheek against the back of my head, his arms travelled around my back, where he held onto me in a light, yet firm enough embrace that I felt at ease. I had not expected to feel his hand gently rub my back, near to where the scar began. It was soothingly so, and the wince that may have been simply became a sigh into which I felt somehow closer to him.

It seemed neither of us were in a hurry to any where. No, this was a moment after what felt like an incredibly intense few days, where time finally paused and allowed us to be. There had been many times on the road, and a specific moment on this ship, where I had wanted to hold onto him just precisely like this. 

There was no need for anything else. Gently, as I readjusted my cheek against his shoulder, I felt his other hand lightly thread up my back and into my hair, where his fingers gently held my head to his. I felt the softness of his breath against me, and this slight tightening of his embrace before he relaxed again. I just held him. The ship swayed, and we two just flowed with it. I realised this may have been the most stable I had felt on the water, for I could not say that my times aboard a ship previous to this had been particularly enjoyable ones.

Teldryns voice entered somewhere close and into my thoughts, "So you mean to tell you you like it then, Vee..." And yet as he spoke, the ship tilted suddenly in a new direction, not with enough force to break our embrace - no, it was the sound that followed that had me lift my head from his. 

For the ink pot upon the desk slid again and this time, toppled over the edge and cracked upon the exposed wooden deck, just shy of the green rug. There seemed not much liquid within it, and yet, it was just enough that through the crack the ink began to seep out and across the slightly dampened wood, that began to soak it up immediately.

And for just a second, as if a flash of magic across my eyes, I saw my hand reaching for the cracked ink pot at the embassy, and in the very same movement, the empty hall where I had thrown Tamlen from the Thalmor attack. The image moved quickly, and my eyes then met with the ships cabin once more, yet Tamlen lingered. Like an unseen ghost in the darkest corner of the room.

"Vee?" Teldryn said, still holding me in his arms, yet now with his gaze set upon mine, as if almost enticing me back. "It's just a bit of ink... it'll clean up..."

My eyes returned to his. Torn somewhere between the vision of my oldest friend in the corner, and the clear, close view of Teldryn. No red cloth across his mouth, no helmet atop his head. Just Teldryn, with his deep red eyes flecked in amber and his slightly parted lips, as he took me in with concern.

 "What is it?" he asked, his eyes then moving between mine, "Where did you go?"

"I...." I mouthed at first, betraying one glance at the ink pot, and then back to him. "Tamlen."

"Tamlen?" Teldryn repeated, and seemed to move backward slightly, his hands reluctant to let me go, yet his mind seemingly withdrawing for a moment. I saw in him a battle, a small, unseen debate, and was sorry that in my shock I had been unable to find words more than that. I wanted him to understand, and so why was it so incredibly hard to express that? Why now had my mouth become dry and my thoughts seemingly run separate from my senses?

Though the words would not come, his gentle grasp around me gave me the strength to lift my hand and lightly touch his cheek. Perhaps slightly unexpected to us both - there was something of a small inhale, yet after a moment, he leaned into my touch, and brought his own hand up to hold mine. 

That was the grounding I needed, that was what brought me back to the swaying sea, the whistling wind and the creaking wooden beams of the ship. Of our ship, I allowed myself to name it as it was. As Teldryn had. And with that clarity, I said;

"Teldryn. I must tell you something."

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