You have stumbled onto chapter 3 traveler!
Once in your room you let out a sigh of relief only to realize you could barely see, you hated winter, you hated how quickly the sun seemed to have set in the short amount of time. You reach in the moonlight for the a candle and flint at your bedside table, and as you had just lit the flame a knock comes to the window
Ugh not another bird, you groan as you take the candle by the holder and walk over, you jump in surprise at the sight of Grom instead of a small bird
“Grom?” you whisper harshly, setting the candle on the window sill and opening the window,
“I wanted to also apologize to you, I am sorry I forced you to put on those pants, I did not know how angry your father could have gotten. Rag explained to me how disrespectful I was, I couldn’t just have your father berate you, besides, I would rather not get yelled at every time he sees me. So…your father says you are engaged?”
“Yes! You perk excited “once we’re wed ill get to leave this town! Oh how I can't wait to leave! I hope we go somewhere that's lush and green with all kinds of plants! Doesn’t matter what they are though I hope they have fruits or herbs. Oh! And animals! All kinds, oh I just want life everywhere I look!”
“What is his name” Grom asks seemingly disinterested
“...Christian” you pause since the name didn’t immediately come to you “oh! By the way! my father said that its okay that I sell product to you”
“That is good, your father mentioned you were fined once, may I know when?”
You hesitate but decide for it, it has been clawing at your soul for a while now, “i saw a bird once! It was red and fiery and oh so majestic but then suddenly lit into a million colors of flames and disintegrated into ash! It so beautiful it made me cry…i wanted to know more and was worried sick I had killed it…so I snuck into the library to find a book with that same bird on the cover, went to my brothers old teacher to ask if he could read it to me…and he turned me over to the mayor, I felt so bad, we couldn’t afford birthday presents for my siblings ”
You look down in shame, clutching your skirt at the thought as you try not to let tears well up, and when a while goes by of silence you look up. His expression as if you reached up to pinch a star between your fingers and swallow it like a sweet treat. He then shakes his head and brushes the framing pieces of his hair out of his eyes “you…you do not know how to read?”
“Yeah, no women in this town does, I suppose one of those weird human things”
“Can I teach you to read”
You pause “Ha! No girls don’t read,” you say with a small giggle “they can’t! How could I even try?”
He widens his brows “well, forgive me for imposing but y/n, you want so much adventure! And I want to give it to you desperately but my departure day is set to arrive in two weeks!” his whisper raises to a murmur “There is so much I want to show you, so much I want you to see and you could see it all through books. And ... .and I know what it is like, I know how it feels to live in place that seems so small…and books were what made that place seem that much bigger” his tone turns more passionate and almost loving as he talks, slowly using his hands to gesture the depravity of the situation
You hesitate and lean back to straighten “I…i’m sure in my new village my husband will tell me when I need to read something”
His face once willed with so much passion slowly falters “well until then, may I tell you more I think I know what bird you saw, its called phoenix”
You perk up and jerk your head to look at him “A phoenix?!” you whisper harsh and excited
He's taken aback by your sudden change of expression but chuckles fondly “they are birds that live forever, well they age normally but at death they disintegrate into ashes-”
“I scared him to death!?” you whisper to harshly, both looking behind your backs to check if anyone heard
“Do not worry!” he turns and whispers back “Because next day, it rises from its ashes again”
“Oh!”
“You must be lucky, they are very rare, even I have not seen one yet“ He smiles at you fondly “ Would you like me to tell you more?”
You perk up excited “yes yes! please!”
“Well…our tribe of orcs lives in grove called Drugad”
“Drugad?” You smile excited, folding your arms on the window sill to rest your chin on your forearms as the cool air brushes against your cheek, "what's it like? Is it magical? Green? Beautiful?” you ask frantic and excited
He chuckles “woah woah there, one at time, yes it is magical, yes it is green, much greener than your…town” he seems like he's trying to be kind, “and yes it is…”his gaze softens at you “very beautiful, lush with greenery everywhere, all kinds of magical herbs, some that are tasty and some that do much more.”
“Woah, any magical creatures?!”
He laughs “of course! animals wander around grove always, I myself have purple panda that seems to be attached to me, I have tasked my neighbor with feeding her”
You tuck a piece of hair behind your ear embarrassed as Grom gently laughs “its pretty late” you
add, “It must be cold outside there”
He shrugs nonchalantly “i can take it, orcs are warm blooded, but I can leave if you desire…” he looks into your eyes as if asking
Your heart beats painfully in your chest at the thought of him leaving “no…please don’t, do you think you can crawl through this window without breaking it?” you half joke, but you do stand up on your feet to push the window up all the way, Grom’s figure was huge with muscle, especially his shoulders. But your window was too.
Grom’s eyes analyze the window before he pushes himself up on the window sill with his arms, turns his body sideways and smoothly sits down on the ground in front of you, you smile amazed and clap your fingers together lightly before shutting the window. “yay! So, warm blooded?” you question, as you tug your cardigan up your shoulders to hide your bruises from earlier. Fiddling with your hair nervously, you hadn’t gotten a chance to do it yet so it was still damp from the bath.
“Our blood is naturally warm so we can survive through winters” his expression looks distracted as he talks, you trace his eyes to your hair “could I maybe braid it?” his eyes soften when he says that, almost fondly.
You perk up surprised “I-um, yeah sure” you turn around, sniffling a few grunts in pain as you slide back until you feel his crossed legs against your back.
"You okay?" He asks before he touches you
"What-yeah! Just um no one's ever braided my hair before " you blush embarrassed
He chuckles "dont worry, i wont let a single hair fall" His fingers are surprisingly gentle as they thread through your hair and detangle the knots, while he seems casual, you are hyperaware of everything you feel-the soft pull of your hair between his fingers, the way they graze against your scalp feeling almost therapeutic, the way that every sound in the world seemed to halt for the two of you.
“Shall I talk more about Drugad?” you nod, as he speaks, “our grove is full of light, protected from any other outside life we do not allow in, its bountiful with all kinds of sweet fruit and vegetables, We put good use to any extras via trade,” you feel his hands travel down as they continue to braid down your back, “the grass is soft like blankets there, with all kinds of animals that I could go on and on about but-” he chuckles “i would bore you”
“Tell me anyway” you say softly, imagining how his face might look, you suspect that he's smiling because you believe you can hear it in his voice
“i would not know where to start” his voice has taken on a different tone, its deep and grumbly, a soft intimate murmur almost.
“Start with your favorite ”
He huffs amused ”hmm, well first one that comes to mind are shrooms, they are little mushroom looking things with feet, they give me biggest headache trying to wrangle them up.” he laughs fondly “they help to communicate to all plants, its how we know what they need” you feel his hand as they gently wrap the hair tie around the end of your braid, his fingers lingering for a moment before they pull away, “We also have dragons. They fly in and out of grove as they please, some staying for nights too, we use their fire-breath for our weapons. Makes it wonderfully more efficient than simple forge fire ”
He goes on and on about the animals and vegetation that thrive in Drugad, his tone filled with so much love and passion that you couldn’t help but admire him for. You ask questions and he takes his time to answer each one gently, and even takes a moment to ask how it correlates to your human life.
Soon however you feel the heat of the sun before you even realize it has come up, and by the time he leaves you wish you could go with him, no not just back to his inn room, but to his life, you want to experience it, to live in that wonderful grove
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As always LIKE COMMENT SHOW PROOF OF LIFE I LOVE IT! EVEN IF ITS NONSENCE I LOVE NONSENCE
I should prolly have a name for this fic, if u got an idea, please comment 🙏🏽 🙏🏽 🙏🏽
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@cassjoyse - hehe figured it out, yay!