Heroes of Veritas: Crafting Bonus (Book 1)

Chapter Eight: The Horizontal Tango

While Astredian was busy getting stepped all over, Elise spent the remainder of her evening helping Jorgen with the dinner rush. By the time they’d nudged the last stumbling patron out the door, Elise was well shattered. She leaned a table, sighing deeply, and picked up one of her feet so that she could stretch her stiff ankle.

“Why don’t you go on to the bathhouse, Miss Ellie? I can take it from here,” Jorgen said as he started putting the chairs up on the tables. 

“Thanks Uncle Jorgen.” Elise said, checking how much coin she had in her purse before letting herself out. 

She had been in a foul mood after Astredian left, but her irritation had cooled now that she’d had a little time to think things through. Astredian wanting to recruit her didn’t have to be a bad thing. Maybe it was happening sooner than she’d intended, but when did anything ever go as planned?

Elise got to the Misty Mermaid a few minutes later, and after careful consideration decided it would be best to use the public bath today. Private rooms were expensive, and as much as she wanted to be clean, she also wanted to be judicious with her money. While money would be easy enough to make later on, when she’d mastered her crafting skills and started taking on lucrative commissions, it would be hard to come by until then. She took her robe, towel, and a bottle of eucalyptus essence - the only kind allowed in the outdoor public bath - and let Aunty Amy lead her to a screened washroom.

Elise knew the drill, and after a quick scrub of both herself and her clothes, she slid back the door to the outdoor bath ready for a good soak.

Astredian had to clench his jaw to keep it from dropping as a stark naked Elise slid open the door leading to the outdoor public bath that he’d so far been enjoying by himself. She was damp, and the lanterns from the second floor above reflected blue against her tan skin, giving her the appearance of an ethereal nymph. He knew it was a mixed bath, but he was not expecting to see a woman walk out of the changing room without a towel - much less one that he’d been thinking about kissing earlier that day. 

His mind filled with the places he’d like to kiss her now that he had a clear visual aid for doing so.

Elise blinked at Astredian, thinking for a moment that she should just turn around and leave...but it was too late. She’d already embarrassed herself by literally running away from him once, for no discernible reason - at least not one she could tell him or anyone else about. And, anyway, she didn’t think should be embarrassed by either her body or her desire to be clean.

Wait...was he checking her out again? Well, she was naked. That kind of felt good. Somehow, she felt far more powerful and in control now, without a shred of clothes on, than when they’d both been fully dressed and armored.

Elise slid into the bath, wading to one of the seats across from Astredian with a quiet, “Good evening.”

“Evening,” he responded, not taking his eyes off of her breasts as they bobbed on the surface of the water.

“Looking costs extra,” Elise said, her cheeky sarcasm leaking in now that she’d decided not to be nervous.

“I’m not sure I could afford you,” Astredian said, showing that he could play at that too.

“Oh,” Elise said, reaching for the bottle of eucalyptus essence that she’d left near the edge of the stone bath. “Have you tried this stuff yet?”

“No, not yet” he responded, taking in her bare, generously round, apple-shaped ass as she stretched out of the water to grab the bottle. He licked his lips absently, feeling his face grow hot; or hotter - he was sitting in a volcano powered bath, after all.

Elise dumped the bottle of eucalyptus essence into the bath, and graced Astredian with a wry smile. “Come on, Astredian. We’re trying to get clean here, not dirty - right?”

“Right, sorry…” he Astredian muttered, pulling his eyes away from her with some difficulty; whether his face was red from the bath or being called out, Elise couldn’t tell, but she thought it was kind of fun being on the other side of the exchange.

Elise leaned back in the water, enjoying the relaxing effect of the eucalyptus essence. In a bath this large, the effect wasn’t as instantaneous as it had been in the private bath, the outdoor bath being much larger than the indoor ones. After a moment of silence, Elise decided to try and ease the awkwardness with smalltalk. “So, how was your day?”

“It was all right. Though, I think I would have enjoyed dinner with you and Jorgen far more than the ball I ended up at,” Astredian answered, looking at her again - this time without lecherous intent.

“Ooooh, a ball?” Elise said, genuinely interested. There had been a few balls back on the Morgoth server, but since she wasn’t a roleplayer she was never invited to attend one. There had even been some really pretty ball gowns available to purchase in the cash shop, but she decided against buying one because she’d never have a reason to wear it. The Dire Beavers were a raid focused guild, and they probably would have frowned on her wearing a ball gown to a raid; on the rare occasions that she was allowed to join a raid group, anyway.

“They aren’t as much fun after you’ve attended them a few times,” Astredian said, sounding tad on the bitter side. Seeing the disappointment flash across Elise’s face, he added, “But, the food is usually pretty good, and the music is nice. Tonight’s ball had a quartet in attendance. Sometimes it’s just a pianist, or a cellist.”

Elise’s eyes sparkled a bit at this, “Wait, does that mean… Do you actually dance, Sir Astredian? I didn’t think you were the dancing kind.”

Astredian snorted, looking a little offended. “Of course I can dance. I’ll have you know, my dance card sometimes fills up before I’ve even sat down for dinner.”

This was an exaggeration, but Elise would never know. She could tell she’d struck a chord, though, and backed off. “Sorry, I’m just surprised.”

“Don’t be…” he said, pushing his hair water slicked hair back from his face. “Actually, I learned to dance when I was very young. My mother taught me. She thought it would help me to become a well rounded gentleman.”

“You seem like a perfect gentleman to me, so I’d say she did a good job.” Elise replied with such frank sincerity that Astredian couldn’t help but take her statement at face value. She wasn’t flirting or making eyes at him; she could sense that learning to dance from his mother mattered to him - and she was empathising. That only made her more enchanting.

He smiled faintly, before saying, “Thank you.”

“No problem,” she said easily. Then, she tilted her head at him, “Hey... do you think you could teach me to dance?”

Astredian quirked an eyebrow at her. “What, now? I mean...I’d be happy to do the horizontal tango with you, but…” 

Elise’s face turned bright red, and she sank a bit into the water, “No, not now! Ugh.”

Elise groaned, feeling her confidence from minutes earlier slipping away. Then, she actually heard what he’d suggested, and sank a bit further down into the water, blowing some bubbles as her head fully submerged into the bath.

Astredian laughed from deep in his belly, the remaining stress of the day escaping him with the laugh.

At this, Elise erupted from the water, splashing at him with both hands, “Stop laughing at me, jerk! You knew what I meant.”

“Hey, hey, enough of that - this is supposed to be a calm, relaxing environment, isn’t it?” he said, grabbing one of her wrists before she could continue her watery assault. She pouted at him, but instead of pulling her wrist away, she came in closer - a curious expression on her face.

“Were you… joking about the horizontal tango?” Elise said quietly, the hand whose wrist he held coming to rest on his bare chest. He looked down at her, his body growing taut again as she trailed her calloused fingertips down his well muscled chest. She looked up at him now, green eyes half-lided under black, water speckled eyelashes. “...Cause they have rooms here, you know.”

He hadn’t known, but now that she mentioned it he felt he’d better go ask for one.

Elise watched quietly as Astredian got out from the bath and wrapped a towel around his waist. What was she doing? Did she really just ask him to get them a room? 

She groaned a bit at her own stupidity after he went inside and shut the door behind him. Elise had always been rather blunt in her approach to romantic entanglements, an approach she always thought had served her well. Unlike her work and gaming relationships, Elise had always established clear boundaries in her love life - mostly because she was terrified of getting pregnant or sick.

Even though none of her previous relationships had lasted, they also hadn’t ended horribly. Her previous partners had all been good people, they just weren’t right for each other in the long run. She’d enjoyed her past relationships for what they were, and although she did feel sad when they ended, she wasn’t destroyed by them.

She’d had a few hook ups since her last boyfriend four years earlier, but found it hard to date with her rigorous work and gaming schedule. Hah. The gaming schedule that Astredian himself was always pushing her into! Was she really going to hop in the sack with him? Though...it wasn’t really him. It was just...a version of him, like Elise of the Ragland Ward had been a version of her, but was not the same as the Elise of Earth.

Elise pulled herself out of the bath, and went into the changing room, trying to decide if she should back out. It was a bad idea to get involved with her guild commander, wasn’t it? But...well...he wasn’t her guild commander yet. And damn, was he smoking hot.