The Warden | A For Honor Fanfiction

A Final Calm

"Do..." I stuttered, my voice shaking. Well, so much for staying composed. I looked away for a moment, taking in a deep breath before exhaling. Relax, I told myself, it's not offering yourself, I tried to tell myself. Liam was someone I cared for deeply, not some random tavern keeper offering a place to stay. Besides, we weren't going to do anything. I was making sure he was okay, that was all. When I managed to look back at Liam, I could see he wore a patient, if tired, expression on his face. Just get it out, I thought...

"Do you want me to lay with you? Just so you can rest a bit easier?" Liam's breathing seemed to cease for a moment. The pause was brief, but it was enough to throw my heart into a panic. Had I offended him? I knew Wardens swore not to partake of 'the flesh' until they were married, but that's not what I meant. He knew that, right? But then why had he seemed so shocked? I felt my breath catch in my throat as I tried to brace myself, ready for his steadfast, possibly angry refusal.

Instead... he just looked at me for a minute, uttering not even a single word as he stared into my soul. Then, he gently lifted one of his arms, raising the blanket and exposing his tunic and trousers. I felt my heart race as he held the blanket just high enough, as if to invite me closer. Taking a deep breath, I slowly climbed beside him and slid just under his arm, resting one of my hands gently on his chest. When I did, he wrapped his arm around me and pulled me close as he closed his eyes, wrapping us both in the warm blanket. Firmly, but still gently.

Be still my heart, right? Darn thing could have been mistaken for an overzealous blacksmith as far as I was concerned. Both his, and mine. Honestly, I still don't know how I managed to pry myself away this morning. If anything other than imminent death was at stake, I'm not sure I could have. I won't lie, I enjoyed being that close to him, both of us oblivious to the rest of the world, just taking comfort in one another. It was... surreal. I'd never felt that way about anyone else. I'd had crushes before, but they never felt anything like last night. Last night I felt like I was at peace, I guess, if that makes any sense? Like...

Come on, focus, I told myself, focus! Blackstone was marching towards us even now, there wasn't time for me to be daydreaming! I tried to put those thoughts of Liam in the back of my mind as I began grabbing branches again, not really paying attention to how big they were. There would be time to think about this once Blackstone was dealt with, well, if Blackstone was dealt with. I wouldn't say that I was pessimistic about our chances, but come on, how many of our guys were left? To say we'd need a miracle would be generous. Heck, maybe even several miracles.

"Hey, you still with us?" I suddenly heard Stone ask from my left, his voice sounding tired and strained. At first I was surprised to hear him, and gave a confused look as I turned towards him. His weapons were casually hanging from his belt and back as he held a set of massive branches in his arms, each of them looking almost as tall as I was. I hadn't even heard anything from that way before he said something, when did he come up to me? Easy, I told myself. I'd probably been so distracted by my own thoughts that I hadn't noticed him sneak up on me. I needed to get better about that sort of thing, it was starting to happen far too often for my tastes... Trying to play off my surprise, I chuckled and looked towards him.

"And where else would I be, Stone? I said I'd be here, didn't I?" I shot back. Stone seemed mostly unimpressed with my response, and simply set down the branches beside my own work. Somehow, the darn thing was almost as tall as all of the bundles I had made, how exactly did that work, I thought?

"Yeah, that's not what I mean, and I think you know that." He said, taking a breath as he set aside the branches and stood back up. Oh come on, was I really this easy to read now? Had actually feeling safe made me too eager to let my guard down? Seriously, everyone I spoke with these days was sizing me up almost as fast as I could size them up. Still, I couldn't deny that Stone was right. I knew what he was talking about, and more to the point, I knew who he was talking about. Sighing, I set my own branches down and began to arrange them with the largest of the bundles.