The sunset was just beginning to fade out of the sky, and as the shadows crept around me I felt the usual pangs of homesickness and loneliness. The inn behind me was humming with business as travelers began to soak up some news from each other and warriors began the work of drowning their memories.
I had my own dreadful memories, but I chose to keep them. I had found the oblivion of the bottle far too compelling and had ended up more than once in a gutter, puddles of sick around me without even knowing if they were my own. Tonight, though, even knowing what would await me should I choose to hoist a wineglass, I found myself tempted just to have a few hours when I wasn't subsumed with the desire for some affection and company.
No, I told myself, no, I would instead go for a walk to the meadow behind the inn, gaze at the stars until the moon set and the feelings became a sad sort of tranquillity. The flowers would smell sweet, and would be a restful pillow if I chose to spread my cloak and lie down there.
I had wandered a little way into the meadow before I realized there was someone else there. A large male figure sat on the ground, his shoulders rolled inwards in a posture of great weariness or sorrow. I turned to leave, when he spoke, "Audette? Is that you?"
"I... yes, I am Audette, do I know you?"
"Yes, though perhaps I have changed more than I have realized. It is Iakob, from next door."
"Skinny Yasha?" I cried, surprised and glad to see someone from my home village.
"Ha, I haven't been called skinny in quite a while," he said as he stood, and as he rose from the ground I could see why. He stood well over six feet tall, a foot and more taller than myself, and his chest and shoulders were as broad as my arms were long. Even in the twilight, I could see how well-muscled his arms were, the light from the inn glancing on the firm bulges of his biceps. I became suddenly self-conscious of my plump body, shaped by hours of sitting, studying, and memorizing magical texts for spells to protect warriors like him. I tried sucking in my round belly, even though I knew it was pointless.
"It is such a pleasure to see you, Yasha. I never thought I'd see anyone from..." I trailed off. Our village was destroyed and I hadn't spoken its name in years.
He cut me off, perhaps knowing a similar reluctance to talk about the past too much. "Me neither. Are you staying at the inn?"
"Yes, I am."
"Will you sit with me a moment? Unless your family is waiting for you inside?"
I shook my head, "No family for me. I've been in Lady Treyer's forces for the past five years. I had been studying at Kilnmark for five before that."
Yasha smiled, and I could see his eyes wrinkle at the corners in the low light. He turned his head towards the inn, and his aquiline profile was illuminated by the lanterns hanging on the outer wall. "You were always the brightest one in the village." He gestured to the ground next to him. "Come sit, if you would."
"Certainly." He had spread out a thick blanket on the ground and had another resting on top of it. "Were you planning on sleeping out here?"
"Maybe. I find most beds too short for my height. I hadn't decided if it would be damp enough tonight to warrant going inside. I also didn't feel like being surrounded by drunken louts." His tone became a bit peevish, and I laughed lightly. "I've become sour in my old age."
"I was actually feeling similarly. That's why I came out to walk here, and look at the stars."
"They are a soothing sight," he said agreeably, and we lapsed into a few moments of companionable silence. After a minute or two, I became aware of his gaze resting on me. I turned my head away nervously, certain that my hair must be frizzy or my face too red even in the darkness.
"Audette, I am so glad to see you. You look just as beautiful as I remembered," he said, his voice low.
"Me?!" I practically squeaked in surprise. "But I was always..." I wanted to say some variation of "so fat" but couldn't think of a way of expressing it that wouldn't further embarrass me. He said nothing, but took my small, soft hand in his great paw, and lifted it to his mouth to kiss the back of it.
"I don't want to offend you, but with the world so full of violence and chaos, I never knew if I would see you again. I just wanted to tell you. If... if you want to leave now I understand."
Skinny Yasha, skinny no more, had always been an odd older boy. He was quiet but adventurous, inquisitive without being bookish, and almost always in trouble. I had always liked his company, though he was quite a few years older than me. He was one of the few fellows in the village who would listen to me prattle on about some new topic I had just read. And here was giant Yasha, holding my hand like it was made of porcelain and peaches, telling me I was beautiful.
"I don't want to leave," I found myself saying. "I had been feeling... lonesome," I spoke quietly, nearly whispering.
"Oh dear," he said, smiling at me, "no one as lovely as little Audette should ever be lonesome." He leaned over me and pressed a gentle kiss onto my lips. I felt shivers run through my body, down my spine, into my breasts and belly and lower, into my sex. I had been intimate with other men before, but the trembling I felt between my thighs was new in its intensity.
I held the kiss and slipped my arms round his neck so that he wouldn't pull away too quickly. He didn't yet deepen the kiss, just kept pressing soft kisses on my lips with his own, his beard not nearly as scratchy on my skin as I thought it would be. He was so powerfully masculine yet everything he did to me was tender and soft. I felt a low moan rise from deep inside me as my desire for this handsome giant grew.
"Little Audette, I have dreamed of this day for years," he whispered against my cheek, and his arms slid around my waist. I was engulfed in his embrace, and my breasts and soft belly pressed against his firm, muscular body. I began feeling dizzy with want, and so I whispered back, "I'm here now, and your arms feel heavenly about me."
I could feel his lips curve into a smile, and he began kissing my neck, sliding out the tip of his tongue to lick my skin, toying with me. I wriggled closer to him, if such a thing were possible, and sighed in pleasure. I was burning and wanted more of his touch, so I put my hand over his and pulled it to my left breast. He gasped and groaned a little.
"Gods, your breasts are softer than I imagined and so deliciously big." His thumb began grazing my nipple, which stiffened instantly. "A luscious handful, they are, my pretty Audette. I hope they bring you as much pleasure as they do me..?"
He pulled back to regard the outline of my face in the dim light and grinned when he saw my expression. My lips were parted and my eyes heavy-lidded as his thumb teased my nipple gently. I couldn't speak, but nodded assent and made a small quiet cry in the back of my throat. At that, he began unlacing my dress, revealing the chemise beneath and slipped his hand under the thick fabric. My chemise was old and the fabric had become thin with wear, a fact that gave me no end of pleasure at that moment.� The ribbon that cinched it closed quickly was undone, and before I knew it I was naked to the waist.
"Yasha! What if someone sees us?" I said, suddenly afraid of being seen, by others or by him. I had been so hot a moment ago but now felt certain he would see the roundness of my body and be disgusted.