Working fast, Alexander peeled off the breeches and worked to get the dry pair on--no easy task when your skin was still wet and the cloth wanted to stick. "That's fine, thanks," he called to her, still wrestling and tugging with the pants, but he finally managed to yank them on and lace himself up.
"That's far more than I expected coming in here. Ah, are you sure you don't need any help here?" Decent again, though still shirtless, he turned around to look at her. "I'm sure it could go faster with two instead of one."
"Oh no. Don't worry. You just sit in-" Tanith turned and got an eye full of shirtless Alexander. Her repressed sexuality was not prepared for this and her eyes went wide. This was the second time in a few minutes and Tanith was not used to this. She did her best to avoid anything related to sex, as her chances of having it were rather nonexistence.
Red heat rushed to her face when she realized she was staring, "You just..you just sit there. And um...I'll just be a minute with this tea."
Alexander blinked at her reaction, then glanced down at himself. Had the laces come undone? No. Hm. Maybe it was the scarring. He had a couple that were, while impressive, also quite painful looking, he'd been told, even though they'd been healed for a decade.
Oddly self-conscious under her stare, he folded his arms over his chest, where one of the worst scars were. "Take your time. I'll just...sit here," he said, offering her a polite smile before he returned to the fire and wrapped a blanket around his shoulders. That was his fault. He'd been so used to his wife, and then so long a widower after, that he forgot how frightening those could look to other women! Poor thing.
The scars didn't bother Tanith any. She was a Connlaothian, born and raised and men were warriors. Scars were expected and signs of battles survived. It was the washboard stomach she was having trouble with. Years of repressed sexuality were screaming at Tanith to go for it, something her rational mind was not at all comfortable with. She hardly knew him! Didn't even know his name!
The water was boiling and Tanith quickly made the tea, her ears burning. She was acting like some stupid...girl! Bringing a mug over to the man, Tanith tried to act like everything was fine, "May I ask your name?" She gave a bright smile, she needed to keep him happy.
Happy people liked her. People who liked her didn't want to burn her at the stake when it was bad year for crops.
Alexander happily accepted the mug and blew away some of the steam. "Alexander," he said, smiling at her and completely oblivious to her mental turmoil. At least now she didn't seem as upset as she was earlier, though he still felt guilty for setting her back.
"May I ask yours?"
That surprised her a little. She had figured he would know who she was. Tanith was rather convinced she was more famous than she was, the freak with the scales and the horns and the magic, "Oh. Yes, Tanith. Tanith Frei."
She moved away, making herself a mug as well and taking a seat a safe distance from him and his...nakedness. Her eyes kept flicking to his chest, highly distracted and her hormones wouldn't let her ignore it.
"Well, it's a pleasure to meet you, Tanith," Alexander said after taking a sip of his tea. He gave a somewhat sheepish grin. "I only wish I could have made a better first impression."
He did notice that she didn't seem to want to get close to him, but he could understand. She was a mage and he was a soldier far larger than she was. He didn't imagine that a mage's life was easy, considering how pitchfork-happy some villagers were, and not even he felt comfortable around it. But it was still a little sad to see it in person, see how nervous a mage was of him just because he wasn't one--well, the battle wounds probably didn't help, either. Those were a very visible sign of his own strength, and a reminder that he'd killed and almost been killed.
"Have you always lived here?"
Tanith nodded, sipping the tea, feeling awkward. Alexander seemed nice enough, though he was still a villager and she should keep him happy. And she had snapped at him earlier. Maybe she should clean those boots...
"Yes. As long as I can remember. I..uh, well, I was born of dragon and a human." She looked uncomfortable, shrinking down into her chair a little, "So I was given to the church and the father here raised me."
There really wasn't anywhere else for her to go. She had no way of supporting herself and no one was marrying a mage, so she would likely grow old and die in the small room attached to the church.
A human and a dragon? Alexander's eyes widened and he started to open his mouth, but then he slammed it shut again before he could say something he'd regret. No, no, it was inappropriate and rude to ask how a union between a dragon and a human worked, and he was sure she'd already heard the jokes and teasing. He knew how peoples' minds worked; his own had gone there, too.
She was probably sick of it, and she looked uncomfortable enough.
"Oh, that's very kind of him. So you tend to the church here, then?" he asked. The answer was obvious, but he decided it best to get away from an awkward subject and onto more neutral ground.
"Um...yes." She really thought that was obvious. Of course he was a moron. That tended to go with muscles, from what she had been made to understand listening to gossip after the masses. He hadn't made an comments about her heritage, which was a huge point in his favor.
"The father is very old and...um...it lets him keep an eye one me." She gave a gesture to her chest, where the red mark was bright against the dark fabric.
Alexander's eyes fell on the mark and then jerked back up to her face. "I see..." he said, and seeing as this topic was failing, tried again.
"That must be a lot of work. Do you ever have time for other things with all that? Oh, the tea is very good, by the way," he added, pausing so he could drain the rest of his.
Tanith's hands tightened on the mug, her expression going dark when he refused to look at her mark long. Of course, it was too horrible to even look at. She took back all the nice things she had said about him. And he doesn't have a nice body at all!
Her voice was much colder and she stared down at her tea, "It's a lot of work. And no, it doesn't leave me much time for anything else." Not that she would really know what to do with her time. She didn't really have friends and most of her hobbies were...just work related.
Erk. Had he done something wrong? Alexander noticed her change in expression--and especially the ice in her voice--and glanced down at his tea. He was only trying to make conversation, but maybe he was getting too personal...
"Oh...I apologize. I don't mean to pry."
"You didn't pry." Tanith took another drink of her tea, irritated. He had seemed nice, but he was just like the rest. He couldn't handle the mark, just like every one else. She was just magic, scales and disgusting feet and that was it.
"Are you feeling warmer?"
"Much warmer, thank you," Alexander answered, and poked at his drying shirt and boots. They were still damp, of course. Damn. Something told him this girl wanted him out of her hair, already.
Tea finished, he decided to make himself useful and stood up. "Where should I put this?" he asked, raising his mug.
"I'll get that." Assuming you can stand me near you. Tanith stood, taking the mug from Alexander. She smiled, trying to keep her face pleasant, "I wouldn't want to detain you. It's bad luck to be alone with a magic user."
Alexander let her take it, but her words earned her a startled look."Is that so?" he asked, frowning. It was true he'd heard that before, but...
"Hmm. That's interesting. I reckon we're alone here right now, yet I'd say this is the exact opposite of what bad luck looks like."
"Oh, I'm sure it will hit." He would have some totally normal accident and it would be her fault. That's how it worked. She couldn't help but smile a little at his compliment though, "And you are soaking wet in the church's kitchen."
"Yes, but the company is pleasant," he said with a smile. "And the fire is warm, and the tea good. There are worse ways to spend a rainy day. Besides..."
Alexander gave a guilty look out toward the door. "If anything, it was me who brought trouble upon you."
Tanith flushed, not really sure what to say to that. She wasn't really used to compliments like that. Most villagers weren't overly cruel, but they weren't friendly either. She gave a shrug, "That's alright. I'll just clean it up later. It's really alright." She could still remember how quickly he had avoided her mark.
"You sure?" Alexander took a seat back by the fire, stretching out his legs. "I've still got time to kill here, so it really wouldn't be a problem. At the very least, isn't there something I can help with? To make up for it, or make your job a little easier?"
She really didn't know how to respond to this, it was a little out of her league. Tanith shook her head, "No, really, it's alright. There isn't much to be done in this weather. Really, the company is just nice."
Alexander relaxed a little at that, but he still looked at her thoughtfully. "Oh...do you get many visitors? It seems so quiet here. Peaceful. Well, maybe that's just the storm, but still, it seems like it could get awful lonely here."
"Well, people come to the church a lot. And the father gets a view visitors." Tanith shifted, moving to the sink and rolled her sleeves up, revealing more of the light, delicate red scales that appeared in places on her body. She started to wash out the tea mugs, staring down at the water, "It's not lonely really. I have the father to talk to. The silence is...nice."
Tanith knew her voice lacked conviction, but she didn't really want to talk about that to a relative stranger. About how she could manage to be surrounded by the villagers and still be lonely.
It was hard not to look at the scales, not when the color naturally drew the eye to them. But, feeling it was rude to stare, Alexander kept his eyes on Tanith's face even though he couldn't help but wonder how they felt. Smooth like a snake's scales, or rough like a lizard? He shook the thought out of his head, feeling bad for it.
"It can be nice to get away every now and then," he agreed, frowning. There was a melancholy note to her voice that he caught, but yet again, he wasn't sure how to tread here. She was a stranger, a young girl of a mage, and he had no right to stick his nose where it didn't belong.
It was just turning out to be depressingly difficult to find a topic that didn't seem to upset her.
...Which was an even worse thought when you thought about it. Did she have much to be happy for?
"Oh, yes. It is. The solitude can be very relaxing. And there's always a lot of work to be done around here. The father is getting older, so he can't do as much anymore. So I don't have much time for socializing anyways."
She paused, not really wanting to sound pitiful. "And I go to market every week. So I can see people then."
Trying to lighten the subject without stepping on toes, Alexander smiled. "Market is good for that. Catching up on all the gossip and everything." He gave a small chuckle. "Ah, but that's me talking like my late wife. It's not very manly, I know, but it is a little fun. I'm not ashamed to admit that."
Tanith gave a short laugh, "You are plenty manly." She set the mugs out to dry, quickly rolling her sleeves back down, one hand resting over where a patch of scales had been. "I'm sorry. About your wife."
"Oh, it's alright. That was a number of years ago," Alexander said, waving off her concern. He often forgot that casually mentioning a deceased loved one could make other people feel awkward; it had just been part of his life, and his wife's death was part of his life. It had happened years ago and, while he still grieved, it had gotten easier. He could casually mention her without feeling the pain of her loss, now. "Hope I didn't just make things awkward again," he added with a sheepish laugh.
Shaking her head, Tanith returned to her seat, hands twisting in her skirt, "Oh, no. not at all." He had, a little, but it wouldn't do to mention that, "It is hard imagining such a strong soldier such as yourself gossiping at the market."
