The Beastkeeper's Redemption

Twenty-One

Twenty-One
-ˋˏ ༻❁༺ ˎˊ-

He estimated perhaps five hours having passed since Izzy had fallen asleep atop him.

And he wasn't about to shift lest he disturb her.

Somehow, he was afforded sleep between bouts of waking, though it was light and restless since his coupling with the woman in his arms.

When she had started to snore gently against his chest, he had contrived a way to tug the coverlet over their bodies using a free hand and his tail. It was remarkably uncomfortable- this position- but he wouldn't trade it for anything in the world. Reclined back awkwardly against the pillows and the wall, he was half-propped upright which made his neck and spine crooked.

But as long as Izzy slept on... as long as she was tucked into his body and he within hers, he would remain as he was for an infinity if he had to.

After he dosed, he woke to a room that was illuminated by daylight. Which must have meant that they slept much of the day away, and yet she snored on.

The pressing need to relieve the spasm of pain developing in his neck, and his bladder, finally convinced him that he would have to move. He ran his fingers along the curve of her spine with infinitesimal reverence, feeling her warm and silken, and he murmured her name into her hair where his lips rested against her crown.

She didn't stir, immersed in the deep sleep of the exhausted. Kaede sighed, gently coaxing her to one side. Instantly, he found the absence of her body against his... odd. Unwelcome. Though the immediate urgence of his desire for her had lessened, it had never fully dissipated. He'd been half-hard yet as he remained clasped inside her, teetering on the edges of an all-consuming need that almost made him rouse her.

But he dismissed the notions that came to his mind at the evidence of her weariness lingering upon her face and tucked the covers warmly around her curled form.

Allowing himself one last moment to let his gaze roam over her sleep-rumpled form, he located his trousers from the floor, hopped clumsily into them, and then left her chambers.

The house was quiet- empty- and he recalled movements earlier in the day that he surmised were the sounds of Izzy's sister as she readied for her activities that appeared to take her from the premises. He wondered if he would meet her; if Izzy would allow him that sort of closeness.

After tending to the pertinent needs of his body, Kaede located the larder.

Gods... evidently Izzy had neglected to stock her kitchen. He made a mental note to rectify that, even as he found some stale cheese wrapped in a cloth and a few withering apples. A furtive search more located a few more staples that he could press into some poor excuse of a dough for bread. A nearly empty jar of honey would have to compliment that.

As he moved through her property, he took care of the cobwebs clinging to each rafter and corner- an easy feat that his abilities were quick to tend, small eddies of dry breezes curling through each nook and cranny. The mould would take a few days, but he tempered the dampness that gathered on the wood and paint. After he had compiled a decent fare for them to partake of, he would tend to some of the broken and aging furniture he had spied around the house. There were some tools in the stables he could make use of, and what she didn't have, he would improvise... or acquire.

While he had been in the stables the evening prior, he had garnered the begrudging compliance of the pixies he had disturbed, finding them to be useful allies, albeit annoying ones. The stranger that Lou reported loitering outside was some concern, so the creatures would stand as alerts should someone repeated the activity. His enchantment wards of protection- indiscernible to the naked human eye- he placed around the small perimeter of the building. A skill he and the other Beastkeepers used often when safeguarding their territories from creatures of a more violent tendency.