a pirate's cove

[hylianqueen]

Zelda had spent the past several days searching for a suitable door in which she could learn how to swim. Perhaps it would be better to learn in the indoor pool but Erik seemed incredibly confident in his skills to teach her and Zelda wanted to be by the sea more than anything else. She felt that this would make him happier too and that strangely was something she wanted to see; she had never been fascinated by a man quite as much as she was fascinated by Erik.

The door that was carved with a ship opened to a stretch of beach and a little cave with a boat moored outside it, a fine boat with large black sails. Zelda knew very little about boating but she thought this would be something Erik would want to see and she could hardly wait to find him and show him what she'd found.

She asked the desk which room he'd taken and was given the perplexing answer that Erik had refused lodging within the hotel. Strange, very strange. Still...he had seemed to like the gardens that she had shown him on his first day and Zelda took a chance that he might be there. She found him on the edge of them, set up into a camp beneath the shade of several trees.

"I've found something you might find interesting. Both the sea and a boat."

Comments

[highland_hawk]

"Aye, but first we'll be needin t'find our way back into our clothes," he smirked, already walking her towards the shore, "I'm a strong man, but I'm not strong enough t'take ye out on th'open water with such a beautiful distraction pullin m'focus away."

He stopped when solid ground was beneath her feet again and, reluctantly, removed his hands from her hips.

[hylianqueen]

Zelda blushed a little. "I had forgotten I wasn't wearing anything, to be quite honest. I do apologize for being so forward."

Zelda walked back to the beach and slid back into her gown before pulling her damp hair over her shoulder to braid it quickly.

[highland_hawk]

"I would like to say that I hadn't, but I was enjoyin the view too much t'not notice." He watched that beautiful body disappear behind the gown and sighed. He would have to arrange for more swimming lessons. Soon.

For now, though, it was time to teach a princess how to let the wind flow through her hair.

Erik was back into his plaid in moments and held out a hand to her. "Follow me, m'lady."

[hylianqueen]

Zelda took his hand, sliding her fingers in with hers. "Yes, absolutely. I want to learn what it is like to stand on the deck of a ship and let the wind and the waves take me where they will. But I will require more swimming lessons soon," she said, grinning at him. "I want to become proficient."

[highland_hawk]

Erik could hear the other members of the Guard, especially Viper, giving him no end of hell about walking hand in hand with a woman, but he couldn't find it in himself to care. At all. Her hand felt wonderful and soft in his and he wasn't about to let it go if she was agreeable. "Then I will endeavour to make m'self available t'yer whims, m'lady. For now," he said, and trailed off as they reached the simple skiff and he held tighter to her hand.

"Climb aboard and I'll see if I can't tease us out a wee bit of wind."

[hylianqueen]

Zelda stepped up into the skiff and looked at the workings of the boat. "So how does this work? I would like to know how to sail a boat all by my lonesome too. All knowledge is worth having."

It was something she had always told herself and a principle she lived by.

[highland_hawk]

"Now that's one I can't teach ye quickly. Maybe if ye ever only wanted a bit of a sail on a calm day, but the problem is when the winds rise or the seas change. And they can, without s'much as a few minutes notice. It takes years t'master wind and water, luv and even then sailors are lost at sea. But I'll explain what I'm doin as I do it, if that'll satisfy yer curious nature?"

With one foot, he pushed the skiff from the dock and pulled the lines to drop the sail, teasing out a breath of wind as he did so.

[hylianqueen]

"Yes, merely explain it and I will try to follow along," Zelda said, watching what he did with a keen interest.

"The sail helps you harness the wind, does it not? So how does it overcome the currents of the water? How do you steer the boat?"

[highland_hawk]

"That's where th'art of it comes in, Princess," Erik called as he manipulated lines and rudder, aiming the skiff towards open water. "Ye treat the winds with respect, and they'll get ye where ye need or die out on ye completely and leave ye at the mercy of the water itself."

Once he had them out over water, he beckoned to her with a crooked finger. "Feel steady enough t'try walkin over here closer? I'll give ye the feel of it."

[hylianqueen]

Zelda had always considered herself a brave person even if it was not her most defining feature. She walked across the skiff and stood next to Erik, trying to embrace the wind and sun and waves and not be afraid.

"All right, I am ready to be taught. Teach me, Erik?"

[highland_hawk]

Right, because his body apparently needed more torture and thinking of all the things he could teach her swam past his eyes in a flash that had his skin feeling too small for his body again. He managed, somehow, to get a measure of control over himself as he pulled her back against him so she faced out over the water. If she felt his reaction against her back, so be it.

He guided her hand to the rudder behind them and wrapped her fingers around it. "Watch the horizon as you move the rudder. Pick a cloud and see how our position changes just with the movement."

[hylianqueen]

Zelda pushed lightly to move the rudder and watched as the skiff slowly turned to the right. The cloud she'd picked, a fluffy one that wisped off at the end, slowly changed position in the bright blue sky. She beamed, pleased she had figured it out.

There was the matter of Erik's body, hot and solid behind her, but Zelda tried not to let it distract her too much and if her cheeks colored, it was from the bright sun. "I think I'm beginning to understand it, if only a little."

[highland_hawk]

Erik held the lines in his left hand, leaving his right arm free to wrap around her waist. He told himself it was to keep her steady, but it was an utter lie. He liked having her close to his body, not to mention being able to smell the soft fragrance of her hair in with the salt of the sea air. This was, quite possibly, the best afternoon of his long life.

"What are ye understandin, luv?"

[hylianqueen]

"If I push the rudder this way," she said, pushing it lightly, "It seems to move the boat in this direction. It would take many, many months to learn the ins and out of it but I believe I may have a basic understanding. So this is how we steer. How do you control the speed? Are you at the whim of the winds?"

Zelda leaned back against him, relaxing just a bit.

[highland_hawk]

"We'd hardly last through the first storm if we were," Erik countered with a laugh, his thumb rubbing lightly against the material of her gown over her stomach. "The amount of sail I let out decrees how much wind we harness and how fast we go."

He released one of the lines he held and let her feel the speed of the skiff beneath them increase.

[hylianqueen]

Zelda drew in a sharp breath, impossibly aroused just by the simple touch through her gown. She supposed that Erik was perfectly aware of how he affected her and relished in it but it was a new sensation for Zelda.

"I see. The more sails we have, the faster we can go...is that the way of it? More or less?"

[highland_hawk]

"The number can help, and the bigger the ship the more ye need," Erik nodded, then took the rudder from her and placed the lines in her hands. "It's also the amount of sail ye have out. If it put the full sail out in this wind, we'd be movin faster, pull more back and we slow. It's a delicate dance of man, wind and cloth."

And very clearly, one he loved.

[hylianqueen]

"It seems very complicated," Zelda admitted, toying with the lines to see how it affected the sails on the wind. It was something fun, though, especially with the wind blowing her hair back off her face and buffeting her dress.

"Complicated, yet completely satisfying."

[highland_hawk]

"It is both, m'lady, and a wise sailor never takes the sea, the wind, or his ship for granted. I'm never more at home than I am on the sea." He trimmed down the sails to give them a more moderate speed, yet still fast enough for her to feel that breeze against her skin.

He leaned around to kiss the apple of her cheek.

[hylianqueen]

Zelda turned then and watched his face for a moment. Erik was well over a head taller than she was and fully muscle but she did not feel intimidated. Instead, she felt safe and admired and wanted, things she had not felt in a long while since the coup.

She rose up on her toes and kissed him on the mouth, tentative and soft.

[highland_hawk]

Erik had presence of mind enough to keep one hand on the lines so he didn't completely lose the ship, but his free hand was all about spanning her back, fingertips pressing into the fabric of her dress before slipping up to cup the back of her head. His mouth slanted over hers, tongue drawing along the seam of her mouth, a tentative question.

[hylianqueen]

Zelda had never considered opening her mouth during a kiss before but it seemed natural enough to part her lips beneath his and sigh a little, letting the good sensations carry her and abandoning logic and good judgment for the time being.

[highland_hawk]

Erik wasn't sure which zinged into his bloodstream harder - the feel of her lips opening under his, the little sigh, or her taste when he slipped his tongue into her mouth and tentatively brushed it against hers. Whichever one it was, he forgot about the lines, forgot about where they were, and wrapped both arms tight around her to pull her closer.

[hylianqueen]

Zelda lifted her hands to press against his chest and deepened the kiss, giving her silent permission for him to continue. It was further than she had ever been with anyone else but Zelda trusted him with this aspect of her life.

That, and the prospect of kissing was simply too alluring to resist.

[highland_hawk]

Erik felt her hands against his chest like fire, but he made no move to shift them away. Instead he near devoured her mouth until his lungs were screaming for breath. His hands wanted to move, to explore the lush body pressed against his, but he'd made his promise to not push for more than she was willing to give, so they stayed flat on her back.

When he finally broke away from her mouth, he didn't move away an inch. He merely pressed his forehead to hers and gulped in air.