Chapter One Hundred Seventy-Eight: *Pain and More Pain
I met with Ena the next afternoon; she didn't have any information for me, so I paid her the fifty silvers she was owed and headed back to the inn. I dodged Fergus in the common room, instead sending down for supper, determined to enjoy it with my husband -- and perhaps tell him what I'd done. He'd been sleeping when I left, and I had no desire to wake him, but I was pretty sure he wasn't going to like my idea -- or that I hadn't talked to him about it first.
I was worried about more than that, though. Alistair had been acting weird...distant and cranky, and I worried it was more than pain and cabin fever. He'd barely spoken since we'd disembarked the ship, and I still had no explanation for the bandages he refused to remove. Larus had recommended he oil and massage the scar several times a day to help soften the scar tissue that caused him so much pain, but I knew he wasn't doing it since the bandages never came off.
It was time for what would probably be a very difficult conversation.
Alistair was awake when I entered, curled up in the bed listlessly. He sat up to eat, silently, and I waited until we'd both finished before trying to broach the subjects we needed to talk about.
"Alistair? Love?"
He didn't meet my eyes, but nodded to indicate he was listening.
"I...met someone at the market yesterday." I'd decided not to tell him about the attempted theft; not only would he be irritated I'd given the thief money, but I was worried he'd feel guilty he hadn't been there to protect me. "Her name is Ena -- she's from the Alienage. I hired her to try to find Arathea for Larus."
The outburst I expected never came. "Okay," he muttered, looking away as though distracted.
I stared. "Alistair?" I got up and moved into his line of sight, settling myself on the edge of the bed at his side. He tried to shift away, but I reached out and touched his shoulder softly. "You haven't massaged that scar today -- what if I help you?" I reached for the edge of the tunic he wore over the bandages wrapped around his torso.
He pushed my hands away roughly, crossing his arms over his stomach. "No!" He immediately looked sheepish and dropped his voice. "It's fine. You don't need to worry about it."
"I need to at least take a look," I argued softly. "Larus asked me to check for redness or bleeding. He'll ask tonight when we talk to Aedan."
"There isn't any," he insisted.
I tutted. "You haven't even looked, love. Come on, let me see." I tried again, and though he sighed heavily, this time he let me. Sitting up so I could pull off his shirt and unwind the bandages was uncomfortable for him, and he fell back onto the pillows when I was done, sweating slightly and clenching his hands.
I inspected the scar carefully; the poor thing was raised and firm, pulling on the surrounding skin tightly, but there was no redness, scabbing, or bleeding. It really didn't need bandaging, and I wondered yet again why he'd been so insistent upon using them. When I was done I reached for the bandage on his head, and he shied away until I persisted, gently pulling it up and off. This scar was less irritated, laying flat along his temple, though it pulled at the skin enough to tug the corner of his mouth into a sneer I hadn't realised was involuntary. I only got a quick look at it before he turned away, pretending to be fascinated by something across the room -- but I caught the glances he snuck in my direction, and I wondered what that was all about.
"They look fine," I murmured.
"I told you." His tone was gruff, and I was hurt, until I saw the panic in his eyes. He kept his head turned away, and wrapped his arms around his midsection again. "Will you please hand me new bandages?"
"Alistair..." I wished I knew what was going on with him. "They don't need to be bandaged. Larus said they were best left open. What's going on?"
His lips thinned, his jaw tensing. "It feels better when they're covered."
He was lying. I couldn't have been more certain if he'd crossed his fingers before saying it. But what the hell was he lying about? Why would he lie about such a silly thing? I watched him leaning back on the pillows, fussing with the blankets that were crumpled beside him, then picking at a loose thread on his trousers. When I took his hands and held them still, he sighed and looked at the same spot again; I followed his line of sight and found nothing but blank wall.
I wasn't sure how I caught on, but it suddenly occurred to me that he was constantly positioning himself -- almost posing, really -- so that I wouldn't see the scars. He kept his arms crossed over his torso, and while that could have been to brace against the pain, I was sure there was more to it; he kept turning his head off to his right so I could only see the undamaged side of his face, or using a free hand to cover the scar running down his temple.
Does he think I'm bothered by his scars?
It would seem strange; he was covered in scars from his training as a templar, never mind the various wounds he'd received during the Blight -- and so was I. We didn't always have a healer with us, and sometimes even when we did their mana had been spent on more serious injuries while we left the superficial ones to heal on their own or with potions. None of our old scars were as big as these, or as raised, but it wasn't as though the concept was new to me, and they didn't change anything about how I felt, of course. Alistair was mine -- regardless of what he looked like. And a couple of scars -- which he'd gotten while protecting me, no less -- hardly left him looking disgusting.
If that was his concern, though, just telling him that wasn't going to ease his mind. I quickly thought through my options; trying to argue him out of his funk didn't appeal, ignoring it was hurting us both...
Oh. Well, there was a rather obvious option...I smiled as I considered it.
Show, don't tell.
I'd had teachers tell me that for years in school, and I would finally put their advice to good use.
I let go of one of his hands to rest mine on his thigh, squeezing gently. He winced slightly, and the final piece of the puzzle fell into place. "Love?" His eyes flickered to me in acknowledgement before he looked away again. "You're still sore, aren't you?" Larus had mentioned that his muscles would be tender; he'd also said that massage would help.
Two birds with one stone.
"Here, roll over."
He tried to demur, but I wasn't having it, and I chivvied him until he rolled carefully onto his stomach, a pillow underneath him so he wouldn't have to arch his back. I persisted until he let me slip his trousers down and off -- my experience with him unconscious came in rather useful -- and shortly had exactly what I wanted: my husband, naked, draped across the bed in front of me.
I discarded my own clothes as quickly as I could manage, the fumbled through my bag of toiletries until I found the small bottle of oil I used as a moisturizer when needed. I set it on the bed beside Alistair, and then climbed up beside it so that I was kneeling by his lower legs. He jumped when my hands first found his skin, but relaxed when I started cautiously massaging his calves. I rubbed gently, digging my fingertips into his skin very lightly, enjoying the firm definition of his muscles under my hands. I started low, near his ankles, and slowly, carefully worked my way up towards his knees.
It didn't take long before I came across the first scar. It was clearly old -- just a narrow slash of silver against his skin -- and so well-healed I would have missed it if not for the lack of the blond, coarse hair the rest of his legs were covered in. It was just below the curve of his left calf, and looked like the sort of thing a young kid would get while fooling around -- climbing fences or jumping from haylofts. I caressed it gently before leaning down to press a soft, reverent kiss to the damaged skin.
He spoke shakily. "I was trying to play a prank on Ser Amos," he chuckled, "but his greaves were too heavy to lift. I got my foot into one, and then fell and sliced my other leg when I tried to put the second one on."
I drew my lips the length of the scar, flicking my tongue out to tease the spot where scar met normal skin, before reaching for the bottle of moisturizer and gently rubbing a small amount around the area. Finished, I moved on, massaging further up his legs -- accompanied by a chorus of groans, both from pain and pleasure -- until I found the next scar on the back of one knee. I repeated the process, laving kisses and caresses on the injury, followed by some of the soothing moisturizer. And then I did it again for the next scar, and the next, and every scar after that.
