What do you mean I built Nathanial A WHOLE-ASS ROOM in my house and I'm not allowed to touch any of it?!? It's my house! Go back to the barracks if you don't like it!
Fic below cut.
"So what do you think?" Teleri asked, bouncing on the balls of her feet. She was new to this human concept of spouses, but the part that sounded the best was having a whole other person around who loved you. She'd been so excited for their wedding. Nathanial still spent most of his time at the barracks, which she could mostly understand due to his work, but she hoped this would entice him over even a little bit more.
"I love it!" He replied in awe, looking around him in delight. "It's perfect! Did Roza help you decorate?"
"And your Mom." She confirmed, still feeling giddy. "She told me you liked truly dark spaces to sleep in, that light bothers you, so I built one without windows right next to the entry so you could still hear someone if they knocked on the door. I had to move the piano, of course, but that's fine. I don't usually get a chance to play it, and I'm kinda shit anyway. Every now and then I consider asking Claude for lessons, but honestly when would I get the time?"
"I love your music." He assured her, "Even if it's just experimental messing around with the keys or strings, it's always wild and fierce in a way that suits you so well. Formality would ruin it, I think."
Teleri blushed, her cheeks darkening as they pinked. "I have a drum set too, but it's in Nel'Vari. You should come there sometimes and hear me play it."
"I'd love to." He assured her. "Sometime after the danger has passed, I'd be delighted to take some time off and travel with you. Why Nel'Vari, though? I'd think the piano would suit better there, and the drums... Maybe in Withergate?"
"DRUMS IN AN APARTMENT?" She brought her hands up to cover her mouth, not quite sure if it was in horror or shock. "No. Hell no. FUCK no. That's such a mean thing to do! The forge is bad enough and it's mechanized! Xyla would kill me, and she'd be right to do so!"
"Sorry, sorry." He laughed, holding his hands up in surrender. "I didn't think that one through. Why Nel'Vari, though? Surely it's the same sort of issue? Don't they value their peace there?"
Teleri shrugged, the movement as fluid through the shoulders as it was in her watery hair. It was her innate grace that had first drawn Nathanial to her, and he often felt like some hulking brute holding a delicate teacup near her, never mind that she was actually tougher than anyone in the town including both him and Roza. She shot him a grin that he couldn't help returning, as totally smitten as he was. "They do. But Wesley told me not to make a nuisance of myself and made me climb the massive safety violation on the outside of The Great Tree by barring me from using the wind lift, so the first chance I got I bought some drums and moved them in. You can't hear them in the town proper, I'm too far away, but the sound travels to the bridge. You should have seen the look on his face!" She broke down into giggles, and Nathanial joined her, his booming laugh echoing through their house.
"He didn't cause you any trouble over it?" He asked, still chuckling. Nathanial had met Wesley at the most recent music festival, and the man had seemed like the sort to take that personally. Especially when it was.
"Nah," Teleri replied, waving a hand dismissively. "Every time he tried to, Lucius would intercept him and Wesley would get an hours long 'friendly conversation' about how the Moon Goddess delights in my joy and blesses my work. My dude's got my back, and he loves my drums. The fairies and the fish supposedly do as well, so he doesn't feel as lonely or misunderstood when I'm playing. And he's awake anyway, he's a devotee of the Moon Goddess."
Nathanial sobered at that, remembering suddenly the one very important thing he had to tell Teleri about his room...
"Beloved..." He began, and her joking demeanor fell away in an instant. He wished he could get that sort of response from his soldiers most days, but it was still heartening to get it from his wife (Wife! They were married now! Teleri had picked him to be with officially and forever, despite not truly understanding human monogamy). "About that... About how you can be... A bit disruptive..." He trailed off, really not wanting to insult her, but...
"Is this about that merchant?" She asked, eyes narrowing. "Because I didn't mean to scare him. I was just in a hurry to get to the farming store before it closed. I needed more flower seeds."
"No, this is not about how that man ran blubbering to me that an invading warlord was terrorizing the town on their hell-beast and I had to explain that it was just my wife, the local farmer. I knew it was you, I've met the owlbear and he's a sweetheart, and it never would have been a problem if he didn't like to block the whole street with his self-importance. No, this is about your sleeping schedule." He took a deep breath and dove right in. "I'd like it if you didn't use my room. At all."
Her face fell, and Nathanial immediately felt like such a jerk, but he knew he couldn't waver on this. Not if he wanted this relationship to last.
"But why?" She asked, sounding truly lost, and he stepped forward to lay comforting hands on her shoulders.
"Teleri, Beloved, light of my life... You are a morning person. You're up literally every single day at or even before the sunrise. And not only that, you come skidding in every evening you actually sleep here in the last moments before midnight, rushing for your bed and smelling of magic and metal. I know you need less sleep than me, you've proven that time and time again, but I need more sleep than that. I'm a light sleeper and you wake me up, both coming and going. I always end up a complete bear the whole of the next day, and my focus is shot. That's not safe for me, it's not safe for Sun Haven... And it's not good for you either. It's not good for us. I don't want to spend our time together exhausted, cranky, and resentful of your energy. That's not fair to either of us."
Teleri's pout had deepened as he spoke, but Nathanial knew her well enough by now to know she was feeling petulant rather than actually upset. "I suppose that's not entirely unreasonable." She allowed, still sulking. "So I'm not to wake you at all?"
"Wake me if you need me." He assured her. "I'll always be here for you, just don't wake me consistently every evening and morning. I'll be no use at all if I'm consistently sleep deprived. If something's on fire or... I don't know, a dragon shows up, or even if you just need me you can always, always count on me."
Teleri tilted her head in confusion. "Why on earth would I wake you if a dragon shows up? Dynus drops by any time he feels like he's being ignored to hiss out some philosophy, loom ominously, and leave scales all over the place. He's really quite needy, to be honest."
Nathanial blinked at her. "Dynus does what?!?"