hylianqueen | a pirate's cove

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."

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From:

highland_hawk

"And ye think I'll hurt ye?" Erik asked, trying not to focus on the way her lip caught in her teeth even though it was clear the action was not one of coy flattery but something else entirely.

From:

hylianqueen

"Possibly without meaning to. I can imagine I attach much more significance to our interactions than you would simply by virtue of my inexperience. It would be easy for me to forget my head and convince myself there is something between us when you do not feel the same way."

Zelda watches him with a steady gaze. "And yet, I find that I wish to be burned by that fire all the same. It is a predicament."

From:

highland_hawk

Erik was well aware that they were bobbing in the ebb and flow of the water - well, she was, his feet were firmly on the ocean floor - and that they were both stark naked. A fact his cock was reminding him of near constantly, and insistently. He was old enough, however, to not be led around by it any longer. "I'm not in the habit of ravishing virgins, Zelda, but I'm not all that experienced with maids, either. M'eye usually trains t'lasses well versed in their wants. I won't say I don't want ye, because I'm not in th'habit of lyin. I will say I'd be happy t'see where what I'm feelin for ye might lead, at whatever pace yer comfortable with."

From:

hylianqueen

"I do not lie either, which is why I wanted to be forthright with you. The last thing I want is to ruin a friendship because expectations were made unclear," Zelda said, smiling a bit. "And whatever there is between us, I would like to be your friend. It has been a long time since I have had anyone even come close to being a friend or companion to me. A princess leads a very lonely and isolated life, for the most part, and my father forbid me to play with children below my station."

From:

highland_hawk

"As does a sailor, and a man without lands. Ye don't garner close companions, but rather ones ye trust and ones ye don't and never really know fer certain which group is which."

He slipped a hand behind her neck. "And if I do somethin t'hurt ye, Zelda, ye've only t'tell me, or slap me with m'full permission t'do so, and without me thinkin yer rude." Because it seemed the perfect thing, he leaned in and kissed the tip of her nose.

From:

hylianqueen

Zelda smiled at him, a bit sheepish. "I did not mean to tell you not to kiss me. I simply wanted to be certain expectations were clear between us. I am ruled by logic and the idea of something that has to do with passion is new and a bit unsettling for me."

From:

highland_hawk

"And I'm ruled by instinct," Erik grinned, cupping her face in his hands. "Should be fun."

From:

hylianqueen

"How do you not blow away on the winds of passion, then?" Zelda asked, honestly intrigued by the concept of being ruled by instinct instead of wisdom. It seemed very much like something a follower of Din would do and that was something she'd only experienced in the negative. Still, there were positive aspects to passion and instinct. There must be.

From:

highland_hawk

"How would ye feel about lettin those winds through yer own hair for a bit, see how they feel?" Erik asked, without answering hers. "Maybe ye'll feel a little of how I find it s'easy t'let the winds pull me where they will?"

He'd seen a small sailing skiff when they'd arrived and he was pretty sure he could pilot it well enough alone.

From:

hylianqueen

"I think I can trust you," Zelda said. If nothing else, she felt like she could trust him to hold her best interests at heart; he hadn't let her drown beneath the waves and he'd listened when she voiced her hesitations at being taken advantage of. Erik MacSorley seemed like an honorable man and she was happy to put her trust in him.

"Will you show me?"

From:

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.

From:

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.

From:

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."

From:

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."

From:

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."

From:

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.

From:

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.

From:

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?"

From:

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."

From:

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?"

From:

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."

From:

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."

From:

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?"

From:

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.

From:

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.

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