"It's time we found camp, Kitten." Gogh could see Vara's shoulder had long since been slumping. She was stumbling, which was unusual for the agile elf. "You are going to fall over."
Vara wanted to argue. The noble-elf pride in her tried to force her to argue, but she couldn't work up the heat for it. She was tired, her legs were shaking, and the last fifty steps had been hell. She had dragged herself as far as her body would let her. She had reached the end of the line. Vara gave a slow nod, and wished suddenly that she hadn't. The headache that had pounded behind her ears after the chasm ordeal had left her feeling drained.
She wanted nothing more than to stop and rest, and yet she fought it. She fought it because she knew the moment that they stopped her and Gogh would begin talking. They would start talking about what happened. Vara very much did not want to talk to him. She had given into at a moment's weakness. She had decided a long time ago that there could never be anything between her and Gogh. They had kissed once many months ago.
It had been Yule. Seven months before. It seemed like forever ago. They had been caught up in the Northlands; the ground had been covered in several feet of snow. Everyone had gone off to bed in the inn where they'd been staying. Everyone that is, excepting Gogh and Vara. They had sat in front of the fire for a long time. They had been talking. Just talking. Then, as they were walking to bed, he had noted that all night they'd been sitting beneath a bit of mistletoe. She'd smirked and intended on giving him a kiss upon the cheek. But no, he'd been Gogh; he'd grabbed her and given her a firm kiss.
A kiss that had haunted her for a very long time after that. She had expected to be disgusted by such possessive roughness. It had not happened that way. It was like some dark part of her had woken to that kiss and relished in it.
She had worked very hard to forget that feeling. To lock it away and pretend like it never happened. They had both agreed that it was a bad idea to get involved. A terrible idea.
The incident upon the bridge had broken open that carefully crafted lie. She had clung to him, and he to her in a way that was far more than mere friendship. They had both known it.
"There's a hall up here...It might lead to a place where we can spend the evening." Gogh said leading on. He wasn't even humming. It was almost like he was being very careful not to make to much sound. Like he would frighten her off. It was probably very close to the truth. She didn't see the hallway he mentioned at first, and then it came into view; some trick of stonework had hidden it from the eye until they were very nearly upon it. It was a small hall, small enough that they no longer walked side by side.
"Alright." Vara said hugging herself. It was colder where they were now. But she could see a room off to the side now.
The small hallways bloomed into a massive circular room. It took only glance from the word 'temple' to enter the mind. Pillars had been carved directly into the stone walls. Each statue was decorated with a carved picture etched along its surface. They seemed to form a story. The first picture was of a woman in childbirth. The woman had a dragon on one side of her, and a human on the other. She herself seemed to be a mix of the two.
The next pillar was carved with a picture of the woman holding three children in her arms. Once again the female seemed to have given birth to a dragon, a human, and a Draconum. The next few pictures showed her doing the things that women did when they had children, breast feeding them, rocking them. In all three the children were somewhere around her. The same man and dragon from the first picture were always nearby. The last pillar had all six figures curled up and sleeping. Brinia would have loved the room.
At the very far end of the room a stark white statue had been placed atop a pitch black dais. Both colors of stone were so different from anything else the group had come across it was obvious that they had been imported from somewhere else. The statue was of the woman. It was ten feet tall. She had the look of a human at first until you noticed the massive rough horns perched atop her head. She had daintily clawed feet. Several of her clawed toes had broken off, either from lack of care or age. Possibly a mix of both. She had flowing hair that fell nearly to her knees. She had a wide hipped and full breasted build, like some tribal goddess of fertility. Her face was beautiful, soft smooth features and a full ripe mouth that curled into a delicate smile.
Curled up around her were the three children from the pillars. You could see them better now. The dragon child had tiny underdeveloped wings, and the smallest little horns poking out of the top of his head. The young Draconum was shaped almost exactly like the female figure, simply in male form. The human was a plump almost cherubic child with curling hair. All seemed to be male.
Surrounding the circular dais was a pool. Despite the fact that it was stagnant water the pool itself was crystal clear.
"A sacred pool to a Goddess." Gogh said plopping down to one side of it.
Vara motioned to one of the pillars. "A baptismal pool." She said pointing towards one of the pillars that showed the three sons being baptized in a pool very similar to this one. "She was probably a goddess of childbirth motherhood..."
Gogh nodded, grunting as he began to wash his face and hair in the pool.
"Gogh! Have some respect. This is a sacred place."
He looked up at her blandly, "Excuse me, Princess. But in case you failed to notice this is a blessed pool. I doubt a little blood and sweat is going to offend a goddess of children. She's probably seen her share of sweat and scraped knees."
Vara couldn't argue with his point, but she could bring up something else. "You haven't called me princess in a very long time."
Gogh grunted once more. "I call it like I see it. You've been walking with your nose in the air. Saying as little to me as possible. Acting jut like some highborn elf." He looked up at her from where he knelt. Water was making a wild pattern down his neck as he pulled off his fur and leather cuirass. Vara wished he wouldn't. It was very difficult to argue with someone you were obviously ogling. Not that Gogh wasn't work a look.
He was so massively built. Orcs usually are. He had a wide shoulders, and a chest that boarded on being to muscular. Hi stomach and hips tapered down, all of it seemed to be made of lines and definition. His skin wasn't just green; it was the color of healthy moss. Except of course where he was scared, those were several shades darker. On some people scars took away from their attractiveness, but on Gogh...on him they were beautiful. He had a massive slash across his neck from an axe that had dug deep enough to ship his collar bone. Another decorated his hip....others made a pattern across his shoulders and back. He, like all orcs, had tattoos. His family symbol was stretched across his back, a wolf risen up, howling at a tribal knot work moon. His own symbol curled across the upper part of his chest, a runic mark of strength and honor that wound its war like a wave around her nipple.
He stood slowly. Vara felt her breath catch as she watched the play of muscle beneath his flesh. She knew her eyes darkened with feminine appreciation. She couldn't stop it.
"Now, that is a look worthy of any orc, Princess." His tone had dropped o a deep rumbling purr.
Vara shook her head and lifted her eyes deliberately to his face. Not that this helped her in anyway. Gogh would never be thought beautiful by any race. He was, however, striking. His cheekbones were carved high upon his face. He had a delicately sloped nose that flared wide at the nostrils, and soft lips. But it was his eyes that really caught ones attention. They were shaped like almonds, and save for the surrounding white there was no color differentiation between the pupil and the iris. It was perfectly, pitch black. Right now those eyes were trained on her, and filled with black fire.
