Chapter 488 - Open Secret

I completely suck at pitching tents.

How can this be? I fear city-life has defeated me, made me so codependent on automation, I can't even fuckin' put two poles together no more… oh, if my past self could see my present now - he'd laugh, he'd cry, then he'll promptly come and give me a well-deserved kick in the balls.

Not as if I was doing anything here even that mind-blowingly complex either… come on, it was just a simple, easy tent, with even simpler and easier instructions.

Something has gone and done mental aptitude a disservice and caused my intelligence to regress back to like a two-year-old. Now here I am doubting all the other things I did prior to this hiccup…

Did I pick a good spot here, or was being near the bank of the lake not a good idea? We got two tents, actually, did I pick the bigger one of the two? I can't remember which was which - did I? Was this all just a dream? If I hit myself, would I wake up now and none of this will - 

"Son of a - !" 

I stumbled back, pressing a hand hard against the throbbing in my nose, doing my best to stifle my voice - you bend a pole too much, keep in mind, the pole bends right back. 

Well, that answers the dream question at least…

Through welling tears and the slits in my fingers, I gave a quick subtle peek towards the shoreline… well, it was meant to be quick anyway, but in the end, as much as I tried to pull away, my eyes stuck.

Idyllically, ethereally, the full moon gave Ash an outline, a shimmer to her snowy-white figure. The limelight of night basking her figure in a heavenly glow, her bare feet submerged in the shallow waters, and the chilling gentle breeze swaying the hems of her skirt, the locks of her hair, and with that, seeing that, the hard throbbing in my face instantly dwindled to a stop - how could I ever possibly look away?

Her eyes searched the skies, mesmerized, admiring its breathtaking view, just as I admire hers. In the city, with its bright light, with its constant bustle, there was never a scene like this. We could never have a moment like this there.

Only here was it possible, and only now… could this ever happen now…

There was movement - then suddenly Ash was looking back at me, and just as sudden, I looked away, quickly seizing again one of the poles and putting on a great show pretending to know what I was doing.

In actuality, I could hear too much of my own beating heart exploding in my eardrums to even focus on anything else. There was also this awful churning, bubbling feeling in the pit of my gut that long deep breaths failed to subside - seriously, I was a mess inside. 

Then just when I thought I managed to finally get some meager semblance of composure, I heard a faint shuffling from right behind me, closer, louder… before coming to an abrupt stop with an even fainter gulp of air. 

"Master?" I heard Ash say, speaking out a normal that didn't sound too normal. 

Again, I dared whirled my eyes around back at her, and immediately I felt something inside of me drop off a million-mile cliff. I don't know, something felt different, seeing her in front of me now… it just felt different. 

Nevertheless, there I replied back, as normal as I could possibly be about it too, "Yeah, Ash?" 

In a slow drifting motion, I watch her gaze move away from mine, to the pole I had clutched in one hand, then on towards the crumpled, shambled mess of nylon and stick lying pathetically on the ground like a plastic bag that's been trampled into the dirt itself. 

"I, um, well…" She began slowly, snapping her eyes back towards me with a hard blink. "The bedrolls you've brought along with you, I believe. would prove sufficient enough by themselves for us to… for us to sleep in for tonight." 

"Oh," I briefly glanced down at the plastic bag by my feet. "So no tent, then?"

"No need." 

"And if it rains?" 

"It won't," Ash said. "I checked." 

"When?" 

"Just then." 

Okay, I'm not even gonna ask how that works or how she did it, another Elf thing probably… in any case, I trust her judgment more than any weatherman anyway, and so away went the pole in my hand, landing with a crinkly splat atop the failed attempt at a tent.

"Guess now we only just have to pray that the mosquitoes already had their fill for tonight," I said, then eyed her with a raised brow. "Or are you going to tell me you checked for that too?" 

"Nothing would disturb us tonight," She said in a confident, assuring voice. "I won't let anything pester this night." 

Well then, can't raise any doubts with that level of confidence. 

"I'm sure you won't," I said, parting her with a slight smile as I whirled around, bending down, and reached for the unzipped rucksack close by.

Fortunately enough, I was still coordinated enough to manage the sleeping bags. Just a matter of pulling them out from the bag and stretching them across an empty patch somewhere, and that's what I promptly proceeded to do, sliding away the tent, and replacing it with the beds, unfurling the creases, and ironing out the wrinkles. 

Problem solved, and yet… I have a sneaking suspicion that Ash didn't come up to me just to give me some info about the weather, a small peek back at her revealed her stiff gaze remained staring, and that her breathing seemed to have kinda halted too. 

Then it happened again, another louder shuffle treading even closer, then with that same sudden stop following after, Ash spoke again, "Are you… nervous?" 

That stopped in my tracks real quick, and to my own surprise, it nearly forced a laugh out of me as well. She's asking me this, and there she was barely speaking out in a quivering whisper. Hard to tell who she was asking the question to. 

"Can you tell?" I said, breathing out some of my tension. "I'm clueless, I'm lost right here. Like, what do I do next?" I glanced back up at her again. "What do you want me to do next?" 

"It's… It's not my place…"

"Maybe it isn't," I said, slowly rising to my feet. "But tell me anyway." 

Ash visibly gulped, moonlight gleaming the mess of expressions on her face and unveiling her apprehension. 

"What I… wish for you…" hesitation strangled her voice, but she pulled through, and forced it back down. "Do as you wish, Master," she said. "I want you to do as you wish… with me…" 

I didn't object, I didn't question. I just did. Rising to my feet, closing our distances, and as I took one of her hands into mine, a streak of red began to form below her trembling, tender gaze.

Her lips narrowed when I took the other and gently pulled her towards me, but before I could do anymore, her lips parted open again - her voice echoing with a variety of emotions verging on combusting.

"Y-You should know, Master," She said, trying and failing to calm her nerves with a breath. "I don't mean to deceive, but… I've been… hiding something from you." 

I leaned back, cocking my stare. "Have you now?"

"I'm - there's - recently, I've been - well…" redder and redder her face burned and smoldered, until eventually, she finally threw all reserves to the wind. "There's a season, a period of time we, um… female Elves, in particular, undergo, it involves… well, I chose to - " 

I stopped her there, no need to get her more flustered than she already was. 

"I know," I said. 

Her eyes grew, horrified. "Y-You knew?" 

"I knew," I affirmed calmly. "Keener senses, sensitive skin, and you become just a little bit warmer to the touch," I listed out and at the same time feeling the temperature of her skin rise a little higher. "It must have been quite a troublesome ordeal for you all this time, hasn't it?"

"B-But how, Master?" She asked, breathless, face glowing so bright, embarrassed. "I've never mentioned, I never said, I - !"

"You don't actually take me for being that much of a fool, do you? I mean you weren't exactly subtle about it either," I said, feigning a wounded look I was far from feeling. "Well, I suppose having an all-knowing Goddess of a mother certainly helped. I figured it out, she just filled in the pieces, explained to me the process."

"She…! Um, right… and just what precisely has she told you about the process itself, if I may ask you?" 

I just smiled at her. "Plenty enough." 

"Oh…" She slumped her head, and almost seemed to buckle. "My shame is immeasurable, the embarrassment… this is not how I wish for you to perceive me as… for a Knight to be so ensnared by her whimsical desires… how unbecoming of me. " 

"Hey, I'm not judging, in fact, I'm flattered," I said cheerily, cupping her chin and tilting her eyes back up at mine. "It just means that you just love me that much, don't you?" 

"Beyond even that," She whispered back. "Yet alas, just what precedent does this imply? To have you for my own, I forced myself into my desires, to this situation. I couldn't have just asked, I couldn't have just spoken up, I - "

Again, I stopped her there. Leaning in, stifling her words, her lips, with a quick, fleeting kiss. I drew away, pressing my forehead against hers and feeling her surprised breath trickling against my skin.

"Then ask, Ash," I said to her. "Ask me now." 

She peered deep into my eyes, scouring, still breathing heavy breaths, ears twitching frantically, desperately… 

"Master…" She said, "Love me, please…"

"Already am," I smiled.

"More..." I felt her tug my clothes, pull me close. "Love me more..." 

And that was all I needed to hear.

I let her pull me, and I pulled right back. In each other's arms, in each other's embrace, and in each other's gazes, we drifted away into ourselves together in this moment.

Our quiet moment.