Mischievous thing

Esus woke in the morning to Charyic hunting for clothes. He watched her for a long moment before asking, “What’s wrong, my beauty? You seem agitated.”

She looked at him with a half-smile, “I have an errand to run.”

Sitting up he held out his arm and smiled as she came to him. “What kind of errand?” He pulled her onto his lap and looked up at her hopefully, “And can it wait?”

Charyic grinned and kissed him longingly, breaking the kiss too soon. “I had a dream and I have to carry a message to Ayil. I may need to steal something along the way to her altar, so I need clothes, and my tools and knife just in case. I would be happy to let it wait but he said ‘When you wake’, and I’m-”

He kissed her interrupting her. “We’ll run your errand and then, my beauty, I want to show you want I wanted to do when we woke.”

Kissing his face playfully, Charyic asked, “I wonder if it's what I wanted to do last night?”

Groaning, Esus laid back, leaving her sitting up and grinning down at him. “You’re not shy anymore, my beauty. Has the way I look at you changed?”

He watched as her cheeks flushed and she slid off of his lap before climbing back on straddling him. “No, it hasn’t.” She adjusted her hips, and he was suddenly achingly aware that there was only the sheet between them.

“Ayil can wait.” He murmured, tugging the sash of her robe open and touching the bare skin of her belly. “I can’t.” Esus could see how much she wanted to agree, she started to shift her weight, pulling away the sheet, before cursing and getting up.

She covered her face and took deep breaths. “Ayil could wait. Malies can’t.” Charyic looked at him regretfully. “I’m sorry, Esus. I have to take his message first.”

Esus was no longer lying down. He studied her face with trepidation. “Malies? He spoke to you in a dream?”

She nodded. “Yes. I am to go to the altar of Ayil in Isemalrocath, I will know the offering to get her when I see it, but I may have to steal it. When I reach the altar, the message will come unbidden.” She took a breath and let it out slowly before rolling her shoulders back. “I need my things, Esus.”

“I’ll get them.” Esus pulled on his robe and left her in the room.

Malies. After the song she had sung she was going to deliver a message for him. He grabbed the first servant he saw and told him to have clothes fetched for himself and Charyic, and that the Holy Father needed to know of her dream. The servant tried to argue, but Esus was insistent, he demanded that the man speak to the steward if he had to but the Holy Father must be made aware. Any message Malies needed to have relayed would be an important one.

Unwilling to leave his Charyic alone for long, Esus returned to the room immediately. He thought his heart would stop as he looked inside and saw no one. “Ch-Charyic?” He could barely speak and her name came out as a whisper.

“I’m here, Esus.” Her voice came from near the bed and it sounded pained.

He moved quickly around the bed and saw her on the floor holding her right calf. “What happened.” He sank to the floor and began to murmur, moving his hands over her lower leg.

“It cramped up and I couldn’t stand on it.” She looked sheepish.

“So you sat on the floor?” He sat with her and pulled both of her legs across his lap, murmuring again, as he began to massage her legs and feet.

“It seemed like a better idea at the time.” Charyic smiled with chagrin. “That feels…” The sweet look of pleasure on her face made him want to tease her.

“I think you just wanted to show me the freckles on your feet.” He ran his fingers lightly over the tops tracing and connecting the spots on her brown skin.

She laughed and her smile was breathtaking. “I have other freckles.”

“My beauty, you keep teasing me.” He grinned at her and saw the way desire lit her green-brown eyes.

“Esus?” Ivhir’s voice came from the doorway.

“Here. One moment.” Esus regretfully lifted her feet aside and stood, bending to help Charyic up. “Up, my beauty.”

“You left the door open, I wanted to see if everything was alright.” Ivhir looked at Charyic with a teasing smile, “I expected the two of you to be eager for privacy.”

“It will have to wait.” Esus had not meant for his words to sound so sour, the tone made the smile fade from Ivhir’s face.

Charyic pressed her face to the back of his shoulder, murmuring apologetically, “I’m sorry, Esus.”

“You’re not to blame, Charyic. Malies is.” He stroked her hand, pressing it to his chest, as she kept her face buried in his shoulder blade and held him.

“What happened?” Ivhir inquired with a probing seriousness.

“My beauty has an errand to run. Malies spoke to her in a dream.” Esus frowned and squeezed Charyic’s hand.

Ivhir started as a hand was laid on his shoulder. “This is why you were so insistent that I come to you?” The Holy Father looked displeased.

“She is to take a message to Ayil, her altar, here, in Isemalrocath.” Esus was hopeful that if the Holy Father would forbid it, Charyic could not be forced.

“I would hear it from her.” His mirrored gaze was biting and Esus stepped out of its path.

Straightening up and looking purposeful, Charyic spoke calmly. “I am to go to the altar of Ayil in Isemalrocath. I will know the offering to get her when I see it, but I may have to steal it. When I reach the altar, the message will come unbidden.”

“Tell me of the dream.” The Holy Father commanded.

Esus watched as Charyic rubbed her belly and sighed before nodding, “There were two, the first I dreamt I woke in the morning. I thought it was Esus kissing my shoulder but when I turned to kiss him, it was Malav.” She looked to Esus ruefully. “The second, I thought I woke again, this time in the dark. I called for Esus but he wasn’t there. Malies assured me that Esus was sleeping, and we spoke.”

“You spoke.” The Holy Father blinked. “Why would he want to speak with you? Do you mean he gave you a command and you acquiesced?”

The wry twist of her lips and tilt of her head made Esus worry more than he had. “No. We had a pleasant discussion. He was so pleasant I misunderstood and thought he was asking when he was ordering.” She shrugged. “He’s very personable when he wants to be.”

The Holy Father looked stunned, his mouth opened and closed as if he wanted to speak but no words could be found.

“Despite how pleasant he was, I don’t want to disappoint him. I need my things so that I can deliver his message, whatever it may be.” Charyic looked at the Holy Father expectantly.

“You couldn’t have taken that attitude with Anyk’s message?” Ivhir was only half teasing.

“Anyk didn’t ask. I wasn’t spoken to kindly or otherwise before I was forced to sing. There are only two reasons you got me here at all. Esus and-”

“The King of Fools spoke to you.” The Holy Father frowned. “You understood exactly what he meant.”

“Yes.” The smile on Charyic’s face was sly.

“He wanted you to have sat on two altars.” The Holy Father was bemused.

“Three.” Esus volunteered softly, and Charyic’s sly smile turned into a grin. “She was laid at the feet of the King of Fools when she was born.”

“If Wyil had priests you would have been one of his highest.” The Holy Father looked at her with annoyance and speculation clear in his sharp gaze. “And you gave yourself as an offering at his bidding.”

“He has no use for priests. If it’s any consolation, I wasn’t supposed to be put on Malies’ altar. Having me sit on Isemal’s was deliberate.”

“He wishes to show which side of Anyk’s prophecy he falls on.”

Charyic shrugged. “I would be more concerned where Ayil falls.”

The Holy Father gave her a measuring look. “Do you have any objections to my joining you as you deliver this message?”

“That depends.” Charyic’s eyes sparkled with mischief.

“On?” The Holy Father sounded amused.

“Will you be bringing money or looking the other way when I need to get Ayil’s offering?” Her grin nearly split her face. It was contagious, Esus found himself grinning as well.

“I will bring money.” The Holy Father looked as though he might laugh. “Are you certain you haven’t sat upon Ayil’s altar? You are a mischievous thing.”

She laughed, “Mischief is kind to songbirds.”