Intimacy

Writers: Avery, Suzee
Date Posted: 25th October 2014

Characters: Bryvin, Zelah
Description: The Wedding Night
Location: Elsewhere on Pern
Date: month 9, day 5 of Turn 7

Bryvin

Zelah

Xeladrie sat in a chair and brushed her hair rhythmically. Her maids were
gone and she was alone in the chambers, waiting for her new husband. She
expected him to want to bed her, as was his right as a husband, and as she
was sure her father wanted. She rather hoped it would be a quick affair of
bedding and then leaving.

She certainly didn't want him to sit around and _talk_ with her. They had
already done some talking before the reception, and he'd touched her and
kissed her and caught up in those feelings, she'd found herself softening
slightly. When he talked, he seemed sincere and reasonable, and she could
see why people liked him. She didn't want to like him, and she worried
that continuing to talk to him would spoil that.

Bryvin stood on the other side of the connecting door for a moment.
The party was still going strong downstairs and while he'd convinced
the gentlemen who had escorted him to his room that he didn't need
their help he was certain there would be visitors later or at the very
least the headwoman would be checking the sheets in the morning.
Additionally, he wouldn't put it past Xelfin to have someone listening
to assure them the match had been consummated.

He opened the door quietly and stood in the shadows a moment. "My
Lady," he said as he stepped forward.

She turned slowly to face him. "My lord husband." Her tone was cool, her
eyes wary. "I was just getting the knots from my hair."

"Please continue," he said and instead of approaching her right away,
walked to a side table and poured himself a glass of wine. Despite
their earlier few moments together he knew she'd probably be at least
a little apprehensive over what tonight would entail. Neither was he a
green boy to jump on her the moment they were alone. As in all his
interactions he was methodical in his approach so as to achieve the
desired results. Their early interaction would set the tone for their
entire marriage. So, pouring another glass he carried over and set it
in front of her.

He watched her for a few moments in the mirror and sipped his wine.

She appreciated the gesture, and decided to give him a moment of honesty
as a reward. "You're not what I expected."

"Oh?" his eyes crinkled with a bit of humor. He could imagine a girl
didn't think they'd be given in marriage to a man nearly twenty turns
her senior. "You're not what I expected either. But that is not to say
I was not pleased. You are a lovely young woman Xeladrie." Most of it
was true. Even a if part of him knew he'd been achingly disappointed.

She felt herself blush a bit. This was her third glass of wine of the
night - she'd drunk two at the party for her nerves, and now she was
starting to feel it.

"You're a nice looking man yourself," she replied.

That much was true. Xeladrie could see why her - why people could fall for
him. She thought about asking what he had expected, but decided not to
be so direct about it. She wasn't sure she really wanted the answer.

"My father is very pleased with the trade," she added. "He probably won't
even be put out at the expenses of hosting it, not with all of the
important people who were here."

Bryvin acknowledged her compliment with a simple nod. Then after her
comment about the trade he smiled fully. "Well," he said softly. "I
wouldn't call you a trade." He stepped closer to her. "More of an
acquisition, and I believe I got the better end of the deal." That was
indeed more true than she could possible know. He reached out to
gently stroke a blonde curl where it lay over her shoulder.

**Does the name for it matter, when it's trading people for land?** she
thought. But she didn't want to say anything and risk angering him. Being
beaten on her wedding night...would even that ruin her father's greed?

"It does seem so. A wife and land both, while my father removes yet
another female child from his house."

The gentle smile left his eyes almost as quickly as it had appeared.
"I see," he said. He dropped the hand to his side and turned away from
her for a moment while he gulped the last of his wine. Intelligence
was to be valued in a wife. A vapid woman would give him vapid
children. But he wouldn't put up with questions about his life,
business or how he chose to conduct them, from a mere woman barely out
of the harpers care.

"Are you angry with your father then, or men in general," he asked as
he turned back to her.

She had to tread carefully, she realized. She was pushing his good nature
too far. So she bit back her true answer and gave him a carefully edited
version.

"My father," Xeladrie said, letting a hint of her bitterness seep in.
"Consider how this appears for me. You knew that marrying a strange
woman was part of the bargain for the concessions you wanted, and you
got to decide that that was worth it. But imagine my father comes home
and tells me I've been traded for ground. I'm an item, like a good
runner. Wouldn't it bother you?"

She finished the glass he'd poured her before speaking the rest. "It's not
fair to hate you, when I don't know you," she said, saying her first true
lie of the night. "But can you blame me for being a little wary?" she
added, a little softer.

He looked at her speculatively. "You appear to be an intelligent woman
Xeladrie," he said evenly. "You were raised for just this situation
and yet you expected it to be different?" Perhaps he was being a bit
severe on her but if she expected him to be soft about her duties as
his wife she was sadly mistaken.

"You're right, you don't know me. But perhaps you _should_ know that I
didn't want to marry you either. A man likes to know the woman in his
bed is there by her own choice. Yet that is not the lot of a Lady, nor
a Lord. Some are lucky like Lord Zathris and Lady Benani who fell in
love before they ever came to power but that is the exception, not the
rule." He gentled his expression after a moment. **You seemed to enjoy
our little interlude.**

"We both know this is a business arrangement. I don't expect you to
love me any more than you expect if of me. We are each of us here to
do our duty. So, shall we?" He could still be gentle and make love to
her or he could take her. But really it didn't matter to him in the
long run.

"There's a difference between expecting and enjoying," she snapped, then
quickly added, "my lord husband."

She set down the brush and stood up. "That said, I appreciate your...
forthrightness with me. My father coddles and lies too much."

Perversely, he enjoyed her flash of anger. It was very evident he
hadn't married a milk-sop miss and he found that stimulating. He
stepped forward and held out his hand. "Then can we agree to make the
best of the situation, my lady?"

She could do that, for now. Perhaps if he respected her he'd trust her and
then she'd have space to work.

"That seems the best plan." She took his hand and let him lead her.

He held her fingers lightly and lead her toward the bed. "Your mother
has explained this to you," he asked kindly. Her agreement to their
congress ameliorated the beginnings of the thought that he might have
to force their union.

"Yes," she said as she followed behind him. She'd even experimented
some, though she hadn't dared risk her family's anger by going too far
with anyone. "And though she seemed somewhat unimpressed, you did promise
earlier that this would be enjoyable."

"I did," he said as he reached down and pushed back the bed furs to
reveal luxurious sheets then he turned and bent his head to hers to
begin where they'd left off hours before.

She leaned up into the kiss, stepping closer and reaching a hand out to
touch his back gently. Letting him claim her seemed easier than walking
the minefield of words.

Knowing that the experience would be far sweeter for them both if she
enjoyed herself, he began by an assault on her lips and neck. Kissing
her breathless and then sweeping her off her feet to lay her gently on
the pillows. Then he stood next to the bed simply admiring her for a
moment in the dim light. The bedgown she wore was nearly transparent
and left almost nothing to the imagination. He admired every curve and
dip warmly before pulling at the tie that held his own robe together.
Drawing the tie he dropped it on the floor and stood in the firelight
so she could also look her fill.

She had to admit to a thrill as he performed the harper-tale maneuver of
sweeping her onto the bed. She lay there watching him watching her,
wondering if she met his expectations. Xeladrie knew she was lovely of
face, but if that would translate to a man's interest she didn't know.

She was more intrigued when he dropped his own robe, having never seen
a nude man before. A shirtless one yes, the men working the fields or
the boats. But she'd only been able to look. He wasn't as soft as she might
have expected a steward to be.

And of course there was sign of his interest, and her mother had explained
how babies worked, what she must do.

"Come here, my husband," she said.

Last updated on the November 13th 2014

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Intimacy