Decembert Day 29 - Carols/Singing
@continentcakeshop thanks as always for the encouragement <3 also, this song is one of the oldest known medieval love songs :)
Rating: T
Content Tags: TW3 Lambert, yearning, first kiss, heckin soft
Summary: As Lambert completes his nightly ritual, a song comes into his mind, and Essi joins with the words.
The breeze tickled the back of Lambert’s neck as he sat hunched over his sword, swiping his whetstone down the edge over and over. The woods that their camp was in were quiet, only the occasional hooting owl breaking up the crackling embers in the fire and the calm heart pounding in his companion’s chest.
Lambert sighed to himself, twisting his sword over to run the stone over the other side. He started to hum quietly to himself, a random medley that danced through his mind without really needing any extra thought. He could feel Essi’s piercing eyes watching him across the fire, but he paid her no mind. He knew that she, unlike some bards that he knew, was comfortable with quiet. So he continued in his task, intent on finishing sharpening his sword before retiring to sleep for the night.
Soon, though, he heard her humming along with him. He loved her voice. It was soft and a little raspy, as if her passion laid in the back of her throat just waiting to bleed out. As Essi’s hums joined his in harmony, he suddenly recognized the melody for what it was. A love song that Essi had written as they walked, side by side along the Path. Lambert knew every word, held onto them like falling leaves in the night.
Lambert stopped his whetstone and set it aside, looking over at Essi where she already watched him. She held out her hand, palm up, an invitation. One that Lambert took, fixated on the relaxed curve of her fingers.
He sat at her side, feeding from the warmth of her more than the fire at his feet. Her lips were turned in a soft smile, waiting for his lead. Their breaths held in the space between them as Lambert made his choice.
In quiet, clear words, Lambert sang. He sang the words that haunted him at night, trailed behind him as he fought away the monsters that peeled at his core.
Merry it is while summer lasts
With fowl’s song.
But now nears the wind’s blast
And weather strong.
Essi gasped out a breath, something fleeting and tasting of sweet summer rain. Her hand grasped onto Lambert’s knee as she looked at him in disbelief. “You know the words?”
Lambert nodded, unable to look away from her riverstone blue eyes. “They follow me. I’ve decided…to let them catch me.”
Essi’s hand came to his cheek, resting warmly on his skin. “And me? As I follow you?”
“I’m caught.”
They breathed in each other’s air, drawing closer until their noses brushed and their hands began to wander unbidden. The last few words were easy, easier than the hearts beating in their chests.
Oh, oh! How this night is long!
And I with very much wrong
Sorrow and mourn and fast.
The silence between them was deafening before they both surged to fill the void, their lips crashing in a wave that rivaled storms on the seas. Lambert sighed into Essi’s lips, wrapping his sword-calloused hands around her waist and holding her fast, as though he feared she would drift away on a winter breeze. Essi threaded her fingers up into his hair with the same fervor, her nails on his scalp grounding Lambert away from the spiral that his mind so willed him to fall into.
They parted, resting their foreheads together as their chests heaved with heavy breaths taken to desperately fill their lungs. Essi chuckled, a light sound to break through the outside of Lambert’s shell. “I am glad, Lambert, to have caught you. Finally.”
Lambert sighed, a soft smile escaping his lips. “As am I, to have let you.”
