Simply scouting

[Tim: High Chaos]

Tim felt her hand near his leg and gratefully accepted the berries. He scooped them up with both hands and placed them on his lap so he could eat them at his leisure. “Thank you, kind maiden.” He said gratefully. He popped a juicy berry into his mouth and it almost exploded, delicious flavor gushing forward. He smiled and bowed again, however missing CeNedra by about a foot, bowing to a nearby tree. “These are amazing, very fresh.” He said, enjoying them thoroughly, savoring each berry. “I thank you again.”

Suddenly he could feel her eyes on him, not in the usual way, but in the way he knew all too well. He sighed and finished the berries, eating them one by one, suddenly very quiet. When the delectable fruit was consumed he placed his hands down on his lap as usual, taking his time pondering her curiosity. After a minute he finally spoke. “You looked, didn’t you?” He whispered, not sound displeased at all, not asking a question, but just stating the fact.

“I would have preferred you ask and speak your mind.” He admitted. “I told you that I would not be able to answer many of your questions, not that you couldn’t ask them at all.” He thought for a moment. “And from the sudden quiet I would say that this interests you very much so, doesn’t it?”

[cenedra]

CeNedra sighed after he had, he knew, despite how hard she tried to hold it in, she’d let her curiosity flow from her every pour and he knew she had questions, knew she hadn’t looked away though, he had given her the option not to.

“Yes, I do have questions but didn’t wan to impose them upon you as I am certain you get them all the time, and I simply didn’t want to interfere in something that was your personal space.” She replied in her soft and caring voice, a voice that had changed greatly from their first meeting in the dying light of the late afternoon.

The light had grown quite dim in the forest now, though truthfully, it made little difference either to the blind man nor, to the Dryad, as her night vision was every bit as good as her day vision. She brought her hand down from his knee now and rested it on her own lap, her head turned up to gaze at him as she began to ask her questions.

“I suppose, the first question on my mind would be how and then why?” She asked, knowing that would basically open up more as he answered her. "Oh, and you are most welcome." She added to the end of ehr questions, in referance to his thankfulness of the given berries.

[Tim: High Chaos]

"Unfortunately they 'why' I cannot answer fully, only vaguely." He whispered. "Though I can say that I did it myself, for the strength to be able to cause a change in the world, one I hope is for the better. In exchange I was given these gauntlets to help me touch the world I could no longer see..." He looked to where her voice came from. "That is all I can say on that."

He smiled lightly. "And yes, it was willingly." He said, possibly answering her next question. "And yes, it did hurt a great deal." He added, maybe even answering the one after that. His face was unreadable, closed, though soft and pleasent, merely no trace of readable thoughts etched over his visage.

His words, hopefully, did not confuse the dryad too much, though he would prefer it to having her totally understand, which would jeperdize her life. He had taken a shining to this femal creature, she having been kind to him. He honestly wished more of her kind existed.

"Is there anything else?" He asked quietly, being the gentle council he was.

[cenedra]

She silently contemplated his answers as vague as they were, they told her a story of sorts that she was certain she didn’t want to know the entire plot of. Though she had many more questions still, they involved the empty spaces that lay between his answers and as he had stated, she would be better off not knowing and she took him at his word for it and soon wiped those thoughts and questions from her mind. There was still one that burned in her, naturally, as the healer she was, the greatest in the entire world as it were, she need to know why it was he didn’t want to be ‘fixed’ as she could do for him, should he ever wish it, she figured though still, he’d done these things for a reason and to undo what had been done would in some way, jeopardize his person. So, as it was, she soon too, wiped that one from her mind.

CeNedra sat silently for quite sometime, simply looking up at the mysterious man before her and as time went by, her lips began to move once again up into the warming smile she’d had before all the serious conversation had sprung up. And after a few moments longer, she leaned forward and then shifted so that she was kneeling before him instead of sitting and she reached out with her hand and laid it against his cheek, her soft touch would cause a slight tingling sensation. “Though you have so much to hide from the world, I am glad you have decided to choose my home to take your walk in Tim.” She stated in a voice as warming as the smile she’d allowed to grace her lips and then, she leaned in and kissed him softly on the lips before once again, allowing her hand to slide away form his cheek as she settled back, now sitting on her heals, still kneeling before him. “You are as sweet as the berries I have given you and I feel I am all the better for knowing you, perhaps one day, we will better understand one another’s lives, but for now, I am content in knowing simply that you do indeed exist.” She said, her eyes softly looking at him, her voice not hiding its warmth in any way.

[Tim: High Chaos]

He had heard her shift, moving in front of him, though he did not know what she was doing. Suddenly he felt her hand touch his cheek, a prickling sensation trailing wherever her hand moved. “Yes, well I would say I, too, am gla…” He was going to say glad but he was cut short. In that moment he heard her move and in a split second he felt her breath on his chin, being caught completely unawares by the gesture he did not know how to react and so his words were cut off, her lips touching his for a brief moment. There was a moment after she had moved back where he could not be read, his face impassive.

A few seconds passed and finally Tim’s mouth opened slightly and he exhaled audibly. “… Glad that I came for a walk in your forest.” He paused and looked to where he believed her to be. “Thank you.” He replied. “That was very kind.” His gauntleted hands stayed laid one on top of each other on his lap, merely resting there, though a moment before they had almost twitched in response to such a surprise.

He smiled at the dryad and spoke. “Why don’t you sit here, beside me, instead of in front of me, I am sure it would be more comfortable.” He pushed over on the stump slightly, allowing for what he hoped was enough space for CeNedra to sit. He then wondered something himself. “Would I be able to touch you again?” He asked. “I would very much like to see you once more.”

[cenedra]

CeNedra smiled still warmly up at him and to his surprise at her action as he stumbled over his words. She had not meant to confuse him; she just simply felt the urge to give him a sweet kiss, a sweet gesture for a sweet man. That was her intent.

When he had slid over and offered a seat next to him, she stood once more, using his knee as a spot for balance as she did so and then rested her small form next to him and turned her face to look at him once more, this time, taking his hands in her own and raising them to her own face, her own hands on the outside of his. “No, I do not mind at all.” She stated quietly as her eyes closed awaiting his fingers to move about her soft skin so as though he might be able to gain one more mental picture of her.

“And, it may have been kind, but it was sincere as well.” She stated softly before he would begin to gaze at her in his personal way.

This was the first time she’d ever gotten close to any living creature, besides her forest friends, in her over 1000 years of life, never trusting anyone, she was still at a loss as to why she had decided that this mysterious man she now sat next to and so closely had taken her in the way he had, this entire situation was so new, an experience the Dryad would never forget in her remaining years, no matter where their lives might take them.

[Tim: High Chaos]

He touched her face, this time acting slower then before, taking greater care to look at her in every way he could, his hands touching her ever so softly, along ever surface he could touch. He paused at her eyes once more, admiring them, and going over and over them with his palms. He went around her head, through her hair, over her long ears and down her slender neck, eventually, his palms resting on her shoulders. “Indeed you are so beautiful.” He whispered. “But…” He began. “I dare not overstep my bounds and go further than this. Please… would you detail me in what you wear, what your figure is?” He gently lifted his hands from her shoulders and set them in her tiny hands, holding them comfortably. “Tell about what I can not see about you, the color of your eyes, hair and skin…” He bowed his head respectfully. “Do not leave the details out, I know what colors are, I was once able to see… though I will not get into that now.”

[cenedra]

His touch was so incredibly soft, and she inhaled deeply as his hands moved over her slender neck and over her strong but slender shoulders and her amber eyes opened only after he stopped and then exhaled softly and began to breath normally again.

CeNedra was silent for a bit, her fingers closing about his hands, their coolness the direct opposite her warmth, their size engulfing her small hands easily. “I stand about five feet seven inches in height, my hair is red, though not a dull, lifeless color, it has been described to me like the fiery skies at sunset, my eyes the color of the golden amber would find deep within the tunnels of the great mountains, my skin, not pale nor dark, but a mixture of the two.” She started, telling him the absolute truth, she knew she was pretty, every one of her kind was, it was something of a necessity. “My figure is small, athletic and well formed.” She grinned slightly at that point, feeling suddenly a bit giddy when describing her body. “I were hunter garb, a light golden brown color pieced together with strand of animal hairs woven together that string across my chest to provide a means of keeping me inside my garments.” She then grinned wider. “I have a tattoo of sorts on my left upper shoulder A Dryad symbol telling my status as the Head Huntress of the Forest; it is the same colors of my hair and even now shimmers in the dark, though only because I blush.” She admitted just before leaning her head on his strong shoulder and sighing.

She was quiet for a moment then and in that time, she moved his hand to her side and placed it there for him to feel, moving hers once again to the outside of his, she guided him along her waist down to her hip then across her stomach and up, just below her breast and then between them to her upper chest and across to her shoulder again and back down to their beginning path where she once again rested his hand, sliding hers back inside his grasp and closing her fingers over his once more. The entire time, she never said a word, only smiled softly knowing it was much easier for him to imagine, knowing he wanted to know for himself.

“You know, truly, you are one of the most beautiful creatures I have ever had the pleasure of meeting.” She said quietly and then laughed slightly. “And you’re attractive too.” She added, meaning that her beautiful remark had meant his being, not necessarily his looks.

[Tim: High Chaos]

CeNedra described what she looked like to Tim, him turning his head upward in though, thinking what her body looked like. She sounded like someone who would turn heads in a crowd, even without her ears or, from what heard, her odd style of dress. He tried to think of the color of her hair, or eyes, though he could not imagine anything in other than silver and white, his sense of color eroded from years without sight. He sighed contently, still trying to come up with what she fully looked like, when she astonished slightly.

She took his hand and ran it along her body, up her side, over her stomach and between her breasts and down her arm again. This gesture took him by surprise, not expecting her to open with him. Once over the slight shock he concentrated on what he felt and began piecing together what her body looked like, both from her description and from what he felt. “You are,” He started, “an amazing creature.” He tilted his head slightly. “Though I must admit you fit my thought of what you looked like from what I have heard about your kind.” He smirk briefly, running her colorless image through his head again, beginning to fit everything together, her body, arms and face taking shape, even placing on her what he though she wore on her body.

“I must thank you, firstly for allowing me to see your body, you have an amazing figure.” He admitted. “And secondly I must thank you for your compliment, though I fear many would disagree with you, CeNedra.” He lowered his sightless gaze to his hands and sighed. “Though I do truly thank you for you compliment, it is nice to meet one who would actually take time to speak with a blinded man, even one who can not reveal too much about himself, such as I.”

“I am glad I chose today to take my walk and am glad I chose this forest to stroll in.” He chuckled slightly, shaking his head. “It is funny how things always seem to work out like that, hmm?” He added sagely.

[cenedra]

Her head remained on his shoulder; her eyes now closed as she listened to him simply talk. She liked his voice, it somehow comforted her, the way it was so soft, the way he never told lies. Certainly he hid many things from her, but he did not hide that fact that he did, and that somehow made it ok.


“You are most welcome Tim, as I only speak the truth about what I see, what I know in my heart.” She replied once again in all honesty, her hands still resting in his own, her head still upon his shoulder with her eyes closed to the growing darkness. “Why would I not find you attractive, or beautiful, you’ve showed me not but kindness and truth. You’ve hidden a great many things, but at the same time, nothing. I can think of no other who has ever been so perfectly straightforward with themselves as you have, besides, in those wounds you hold, you are all the more beautiful, as they define you, make you who you are and what you are. You have given yourself a way to see in which I could never understand, a way to feel, to hear and know, what I could never….” She paused and took a long inward breath and exhaled slowly. “You are beautiful in every way Tim, make no mistake and never forget that.” She finished.

Dryads have always been touchy feely creatures with Males, though, not usually so truthfully kind. CeNedra was finding this human endearing if nothing else, he’d shown her a kindness like none other.

“How much longer will you be about in the forest?” She asked then, her voice softly speaking to him in the night’s air.