Natural Disaster

Chapter 21

Launa woke up shivering, curling hard into herself and reaching across the bed in search of Avi, disappointed to find him absent. Her eyes were bleary as she blinked them open, unable to properly focus on the bare emptiness of the room. She shivered hard, the chill seeping into her joints and she stretched her hands, her knuckles creaking in protest. Shit, that’s cold, she thought, burying further into the covers and closing her eyes, Where is he?

As if on cue, she heard his socks shuffling on the carpet as he returned, a dull clunk echoing through the room as he set something heavy on the nightstand before retreating under the blankets. He carefully slid an arm around her shoulders, trying not to wake her. “Hey,” she greeted, making him jump, “Where’d you go?”

Pulling her flush against him, they both were shivering. “I went to see if there was any kind of weapon left behind,” he murmured against her forehead, wrapping an arm tight around her and rubbing her back to warm her, “I woke up a little paranoid.”

"Rightfully so," she grumbled, pressing her face into his chest, "You found something?"

"Yeah," she could practically hear his grin, "A big ol’ knife."

She draped an arm over his waist, sighing as his heat seeped into her, soothing her aching joints. “Like the one you had, before?

"Yes, but bigger." Avi replied, slowly ceasing the movement of his hand on her back.

She snorted. “Bigger isn’t always better,” she teased,moving her foot slowly forward in an attempt to see if he’d let her warm her cold toes on his leg. He didn’t verbally acknowledge it, but trapped her knee between his, which was oddly comforting.

"It is, when you know what to do with it," he joked right back at her, and she could feel his smirk pressed into her forehead.

Launa sighed, exasperated and poked him the the stomach. “You’re in a mood,” she observed, finally warm enough to relax, again.

"Just a little bit." He pulled back to look at her, tipping her head up with a bent finger under her chin, and leaned in close, sighing against her lips as they kissed languidly, still too sleepy to muster too much energy into it. She shivered, pressing closer against him as he combed his fingers through her long hair, cradling the back of her head, unable to shake the butterflies in her stomach.

They parted slowly, Avi kissing her one more time before settling down on his pillow, smiling and pulling her close. “It’s still early,” he murmured, “we should get more sleep.”

She nodded, smiling into his neck. “Sounds good,” she slurred, “sleep’s a good thing.” Before drifting off, the idle thought of how completely different this situation was compared to the screaming match of the previous night crossing her mind. She waved it away, choosing to block the memory and relaxed into him, almost instantly falling back asleep.

______

The next morning, she sat at the dining room table, twirling the knife in her hands, gently handling the shining blade. More like ‘miniature sword’. The thing was huge, and had an oblong hole built in toward the tip of its blade, the handle long enough to provide good grip and balance and- “I think I’m a little in love with this thing,” she announced, gripping it tightly.

Avi poked his head around the corner, one eyebrow raised. “I beg your pardon?”

"Dude," she said, smiling and gesturing to it, "This knife is sexy."

"You have a thing for knives?"

Launa nodded, rubbing her thumb over the supple leather of the grip. “Knives, swords, dirks, daggers… the list goes on.” Her face split into a wide grin, reveling in the sheer beauty of the blade in her hands.