A New Decade

Life, Milestone

Natalya and Fenneck head back into the mountains after spending the winter blissfully in each others arms in the safety and warmth of the palace of Flottenheim.

Natalya giggled as Fenneck kissed her body awake. They were laying in his room next to the fireplace. Fenneck's lips found her own and she felt her body grow warm with his touch. These last couple months had been pure bliss. They hardly left Fenneck's tower but to go out at night to eat and drink with their friends. All they did was lay romantically in each others arms and tease their bodies till they had to step away to avoid making love to each other. Natalya found that she didn't mind the waiting as much as she thought she would. Clearly the tense, arduous build up to their first kiss had paid off. Maybe Fenneck was onto something. She smiled up at him. He was shirtless, in his braes. She admired his strong, slender chest and enjoyed the way his long, bright hair cascaded past his face and tickled her skin. She was wearing a white smock. She knew Fenneck could easily see her body through the thin, silky fabric and she liked how admiringly her caressed her. They had managed to avoid touching each other's groins so far but it took an arduous amount of self control and patience. Occasionally Fenneck would admire and kiss her breasts but he tried to avoid it. They rarely talked. There was nothing to say. They were finally on the same page after all these years. Finally theramin made sense. After a few blissful hours Fenneck spoke the words she was dreading, "We need to go, Dimitri will be ready by now with some new refugees." Dimitri. Natalya dreaded telling him about this new change. She feared his jealous rage would come out again and he would cut her out of his life, or worse, that he would tell Natalya that he told her so. Fenneck seemed to understand the thoughts going through her mind, "He'll understand." He sounded so confident. Natalya hated that. She knew her and Dimitri had been drifting apart but it still hurt her to know that he had been right. That her feelings for Fenneck had been there the whole time. "I hope so. I don't want to hurt him." Fenneck kissed her head as he stood up to get dressed. "I know, but I think he knew this was a possibility for a while." He said sadly. "You should tell him though. He'll know if you try to lie to him." "I know." Natalya said, sitting up. They packed their things and got dressed, taking longer than normal as they savored the privacy and warmth of Fenneck's tower. As they headed out Jasna hugged them goodbye. She was debatably more thrilled about Fenneck and Natalya's reunion than they were. Natalya noticed her eyes fill with tears of joy seeing Fenneck so joyously happy again. Natalya wondered if Jasna caught a glimpse of the romantic, carefree boy he had once been when he held her sister in his arms. They headed into the mountains. After a few nights cozying up in their bumblebear cave Natalya headed into Lenisily to meet Dimitri. She hated the idea of leaving Fenneck, realizing they hadn't been apart for the entirety of the winter. As they parted though, Natalya felt his spirit with her as if he was climbing the mountains alongside her. Her body and mind felt at peace. When she finally got to the border, she checked the rocks they used to communicate in code. Dimitri would send the next refugee in a weeks time. Natalya looked out into the desolate forest hoping to see him. She didn't and returned to Fenneck. A week passed and she headed back out to the pass. She got there as Dimitri was approaching with a single male wood elf. She came out from behind the rocks and met Dimitri's gaze. The wood elf looked nervous and Natalya introduced herself and told him to go into the pass and wait for her. When the elf was out of earshot she went to Dimitri, "Dimitri I-" "You shouldn't be here. It's not safe Nat." "I needed to say this in person, Dimitri." She looked into his eyes hesitantly, "Fenneck and I..." She trailed off, not really knowing what to say but Dimitri understood. He smiled sadly at her, "I'm glad." He said softly. Natalya felt a sense of relief wash over her, "I...Really?" "Really. Look, I've known this was coming Nat. He's good for you. He'll take care of you. Something I never could do." He caressed her face. "You know, if it wasn't for him I never would have had the privilege to love you all these years. I'm really glad he shot me that day." He looked down, laughing softly. Natalya pressed her face against his hand. "Tell Fenneck that he has my blessing." Natalya looked down gratefully, feeling a huge weight lifted from her shoulders. "Tell him that if he hurts you though I will track him down and kill him." Natalya had no idea if he was joking and decided to just laugh and smile at Dimitri. Dimitri asked, "So how was it having sex with your soulmate?" Natalya blushed, "We haven't yet. We've just...kissed. A lot." She giggled thinking about how stupid it must sound to Dimitri but he smiled softly at her, "It's so nice to see you like this. You look really happy Nat. Thank you for everything, for the hope and joy you've brought me. For this new purpose. I finally feel like I know why I'm here, I never would have found that without you." "This isn't goodbye Dimitri." She said. "I know, I just want to say it." He kissed her forehead and pulled away, "Go help this poor lad. He's a talker, I've known him for an hour and a half and I already know way too much about his imaginary childhood friend. Have fun with that." Natalya laughed at him and smiled as she saw Dimitri's eyes sparkle with more happiness than she'd ever seen in him. "Be safe." She said. "You too." He said smiling before turning to head back into Lenisily. The wind blew fresh air into Natalya's lungs as she turned back toward the mountains to meet this eccentric wood elf.