Berserk

Five

I'm on the edge of leaving when Inkeri finally comes out of his room, my impatience evaporating when I see what's taken him so long...

My wife had taken the time to plait his hair and he had woven the flowers I had just given him into his hair..

The braids are whimsical and childish... But it suits him in a way I can't explain.. It makes his already soft outer appearance appear even softer... Softer even than most women...  The way the color of the petals pop against the brightness of his hair catching the early morning sunlight... How everything competes with the brightness of his shy smile when he finds that I've not abandoned him to walk on his own...

To think I had been so close to missing the chance to witness a fresh Inkeri emerging from the depths of his room with flowers I picked for him woven about his hair...

The image of him is washed in an unescapable innocent beauty that leaves me at a loss for words as he stands before me in his moss green tunic, the dropped hem much longer than the ones men wear but shorter than that of the women... Not quite a dress... But with the way it drapes itself over his slender curves... Maybe a dress would be more modest paired with the thick stockings he's donned in place of trousers and soft animal hyde slippers on his feet... He looks so pretty, the flush of his cheeks giving his visage such warmth...

A breath of summer on this brisk spring morning...

While I flounder looking for what I should actually say to him he gives me the most gracious of smiles and closes the distance between our bodies only to take hold of my arm, his still sleepy face turned up expectantly at mine while waiting for me to lead us to the great hall.

...
Inkeri
...

We walk in silence for a time, our gait slow as we both try and navigate the sparks seeping from his skin to mine and back, both of us doing our best to just adjust to each other's company for a little while before Eric finally speaks, "You look very pretty, Inkeri..."

His voice is rough and low, the compliment making my already hot face flush even more...

My grip tightens instinctively around his thick upper arm for guidance so I don't run into anything while averting my eyes to avoid the glance he gives me. 

It feels as though I've pulled the petals off of every flower in my hair and swallowed them along with a burst of the early spring breeze and now they're just fluttering about inside of me... The inner beast that rarely actually stirs inside of me unless I'm getting ready to shift waking up to chase them by stepping on every single part of my stomsch instead of helping to keep me calm.

"Thank you." My voice sounds thick and I feel flustered...but I can not help but feel very pleased that my effort hadn't gone unnoticed...

I'm not even sure why I bothered to weave the flowers into my hair in the first place if not just to draw his eye...

I just hadn't expected to feel so elated knowing he has noticed... That he noticed enough to tell me... And made the effort to actually say it nicely instead of the grunts I normally hear from him. 

Part of me wonders if I should tell him he looks nice too... It's clear enough that he made an effort... He had bathed and combed his hair, his pelts had been wrung out and dusted,  his beard groomed and plaited to keep it tidy... He looks handsome and it gives me chills to know that he's done it for me... It's easy to tell I make the big berserker nervous, though why I have no idea...

Maybe it's just from acting out of character to try and woo me that has him so on edge.

I try to open my mouth to tell him his efforts also hadn't gone unnoticed I stop myself and think better of it... Bringing attention to his efforts when he's clearly already uncomfortable would be unkind, so instead I settle on curling more snugly around his arm while we walk and pretend that I don't see the mystified look that he sends my way at the sudden level of closeness.

...
Eric
...

Just when I think the little pup can steal my breath away no more he has to go and turn redder than a low hanging apple in fall, but thankfully before I can shove my fist into my mouth to prevent my tongue from hanging out of it we finally make the last turn into the great hall, the food smelling almost as delicious as Inkeri himself, the quiet conversation stopping completely as everyone gets an eye full of us...

How strange it must be seeing beautifully gentle Inkeri on the arm of someone like me when before he wouldn't have come near me plated in inch thick armor for protection before,  much less be clutching me with such steadfast conviction to be strong enough to bare the attention being paid to us as we make our way to one of the shorter tables normally reserved for berserkers.

  It's simpler for us to sit together as a group instead of intermingling with all of the normal wolves... They all felt the need to hold their tongues around us, or worse, grovel and make lewd propositions as if being physically intimate with us would grant a transference of our strength... Some of the propositions are more oily than that... Some just wanted to claim that they had accepted the men ruled by their beasts and survived the interlude... So... It is easier to sit apart.

Normally when a courting couple walks into the great hall for the first time stares morph into smiles, but the faces here at the moment just read as concerned as I guide my Inkeri to the table, holding my hands out to help him step over the bench and tuck himself in trying to pay no mind to the stares of everyone around the room, including those of my fellow berserkers as they focus on the two of us. He ignores them with such grace that instead of my inner beast pushing for me to snap at all of the rude sets of eyes I find myself stepping over the wooden bench to settle in beside him and pulling him close, my arm slung heavily around his waist, hand resting modestly above his hip with no objection from Inkeri himself even though several throats clear around the room before conversation finally picks back up... Most of it now hushed whispers about us.