Reeled In Pt 1

Writers: Chelle, Miriah
Date Posted: 22nd August 2012

Characters: E'rae, Bahji
Description: Bahji considers what E'rae offers, but is distracted
Location: River Bluff Weyr
Date: month 9, day 13 of Turn 6
Notes: Follows On the Hook, Pt 1 of 2

Bahji nibbled her lip slowly as she sat in the bathing pool, dipping her
toes in the water. Since the kiss with E'rae, Bahji had had
problems concentrating on anything. Her mind constantly drifted
back to the feeling and emotions of his hands on her cheeks, the
soft heat of his mouth and her own eager reaction. She
still could hardly believe that she had clung to him as she had, only
coming back to her senses when he had pulled away. She knew
that she would have let him kiss her for far longer if he had not
stopped.

Bahji wasn?t stupid. She knew full well she wasn't in love with
the bluerider. Far from it. She liked him. She really liked him, but
not in the romantic sense that some of her peers gushed about.
No, there was something about him that made her want more of
what he offered, and she was bright enough to know exactly
what he was offering and what he apparently wanted.

And now, despite all of her parents' lectures about purity and saving
herself, she wanted that too. She wanted to know what was beyond
the kissing and the flirting.

Since she lost her sight, she knew that marriage simply wasn't going
to be an option. No man would want a woman who might give him
blind children. It was a simple fact. She?d accepted it; she?d be a
spinster. But, she was at the Weyr now, living here, playing by their
rules. That counted for something. She wasn't a Hold girl anymore.
She could take him up on his offer and not fear any reprisal. She could
be well and truly free.

She took a deep breath. She wanted to learn about what he
was talking about and he was more than willing to teach.
Next time, she resolved, she'd learn everything he would
show her.

Soot covered and smelling like firestone, dragon, sweat, and other
odors that would burn anyone's nose, E'rae walked into the chamber
and began to undress without looking around to see who else might
be there. He was eager to get into the water and get the char out of
his skin. It also helped to relax his muscles.

The moment she heard new footsteps, Bahji paused in her thoughts. The
smell that wafted to her was startling and she immediately brought her
hand up to cover her nose to protect it as much as she could from the
stench. "Sweet Faranth...."

Covering her nose didn't really help that much. Her stomach also protested
as Bahji started to turn a bit green around her mouth. "Who's there?"

When she was speaking he was underwater, so he didn't hear her. Coming
up, he made noise before wiping his eyes and searching for the sweetsand.
E'rae's mind was only on scrubbing himself just then so he didn't bother
looking about as he lathered up the sweetsand. There were a few others in
there, in corners of the large pool.

For someone whose senses had become keen through the loss of vision, the
smell was nearly too much to bear. When she wasn't answered, she shuddered,
and stood quickly, hand remaining over her nose. She did hear the sputter of
water and the sound of bathing, but that was not so unusual. The smell was.

Suddenly uninterested in bathing, she bent to gather up her things, tucking
her towel under her arm and stepping back to the wall to get her bearings.

With the first quick scrubbing done, E'rae started to rinse. Now that he had
gotten himself semi-presentable, he paid more attention to who was there.
The bluerider saw a certain person feeling along the wall and couldn't help
himself. "Leaving so soon?"

Startled by the familiar voice, Bahji turned, putting his appearance and
the awful stench together. "E'rae, please tell me that smell isn't you..."

"Well it was....though I'm working to eliminate it. One of the unfortunate
byproducts of drills-sweat, char, Leith's sweat, and the leather..." He put
the cloth up into his armpits, knowing they would be worse than other
places.

Her expression spoke plainly of her opinion of the smell and it put
her mind completely off of her decision that she had made earlier.
Somehow, even thinking of that didn't exactly flip her shift. "I'll
let you bathe then."

"If you don't mind me asking...where were you going?" He had done a good
job of rinsing most of the smell off of himself by now. What she was
smelling was his clothing that was lying there in a heap. He was going to
have to drop it into the laundry pile.

With her nose wrinkling, Bahji replied pertly. "Away from the smell." She
rubbed her nose, then smiled. "I was actually going to try to find you today
but..." She paused. "That really is bad, E'rae."

"It's off me now. Come back into the water and you'll see." He needed to
wash his hair, but that wasn't a priority at the moment. There wasn't much
of it anyway. Watching her body language that she didn't see, he tried to
figure out if he would win this one.

Shaking her head, Bahji wryly smiled. "Oh no. I still smell it and I don't
want to connect you with that stench for any longer. I don't think you
want that either. " She paused and crossed her arms over her chest.
"But.... when you're done and smelling better, come and find me."
She grinned a little wider, though the thought of what she would tell
him made her cheeks flush brightly. "I'll be by the lake."

Last updated on the August 31st 2012

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Reeled In Pt 1