Pen Work in Wardens' Keep

There was a silence in the hallway that Pendra took to mean most people were out doing what they were doing best, whatever that was for each person. She had already had a training session with a young squire who wanted to learn more and was coming back to the room that she and Gareth shared.

This was something new to the dwarven woman. She tended to have one or the other gentleman for a while, or between other tasty men, but never stayed with one for long or felt so much for them. It wasn't that she couldn't care. It was because she had been so hard to de-ice. She cared for people but often kept a distance mentally. How this man, who was a swinger like she was, could change that she had no clue.

Without knocking she entered the room and strode up to the desk where her man was trying to write something. What it was she could not fathom but she touched his arm and kissed his cheek before saying anything and chuckling with the words, "Writing a love poem are ya?"

Gareth had been sitting at the desk of the room he occupied with Pendra, writing a letter to his ailing parents back in Umoja. He missed them dearly, but he had responsibilities here as well, to watch over his cousin Macha, and to the Dwarven woman who he had been apart from for what seemed like months. He had instructions written to his parents' seneschal on what to do for his absence as Arl. He combed his fingers through his hair, then felt Pendra plant a kiss on his cheek and he smiled beneath his beard. "If only I were that creative. No, this is a letter home is all, an update on what we've done thus far. Also saying I plan on bringing a rather lovely Dwarven lass home to keep." he gave her a private wink and rotated his formerly broken arm.

Jezarine had tended to it, but it still felt a bit stiff. It would be difficult to hold a shield for a time. "Maker, I missed you, Pendra." he said, drawing her towards him, wrapping his arms about her waist. "I didn't even think I'd ever be capable of missing anyone outside of my family, but you're special to me."

"Hmm. Home to keep or home to the keep?" She teased as he pulled her in, "I missed you as well." She kissed his lips and smiled, "So you are forewarning them of you bringing me with you? Wouldn't that make a scandal. I think I'm up to it. Should I bring my axes or my short swords for dress wear?"

Pendra wrapped her arms around him and grinned, "That is a profound statement. It is just as profound from my side. What spell was cast when we met again?"

He barked a laugh at her joke. Then their lips met, and when they parted he grinned at her. "We'd be the talk of the Arling, for sure. The Acting Arl and his Dwarven Consort. Not only that, I managed to find a woman crazy enough to get me to consider settling down!" he made a face of mock drama. "The womanizing Arl has been tamed! Woe is my reputation!" he chuckled then kissed Pendra's neck tenderly before signing his letter and turning his full attention to her.

"So how did your mission go? I'm sure you have an amazing swashbuckling tale of beating down hordes of Darkspawn with one arm and petting a Mabari with the other." he jested.

She laughed haughtily then grinned at him, "The mission was a success. We found some Darkspawn to tackle, poor Robert didn't get too offended at my mannerisms but he still has trouble looking at me. I believe we traumatized the poor lad almost to death."

Pendra took a seat on the bed and patted the other side of herself, "There is a meeting for everyone tonight with the warden commander. It's not only for the wardens. I think she finally wants to give out the big missions to everyone."

He smirked. "What did you do to traumatize the poor boy? Told him about how I met you in your nightie?" he chuckled and stroked his fingers through the Dwarf's hair. She had gotten up then and headed to the bed, he was not long in following her, sitting beside her, testing the feel of the bed. It was strange, after spending so much time sleeping on the ground in camp, being on a comfortable bed again felt odd. "We'll have to break this thing in soon." he grinned his handsome grin.

Then she mentioned the meeting and he tilted his head. "Huh, collective meeting, eh? I suppose I could come along. Probably be nice to see how you Wardens conduct meetings."

Pendra laughed, "Remember that night the tents flew away because of that dragon and we were in the middle of our play? He saw us and I guess he was traumatized by seeing his former teacher in nothing and in the middle of fun."

She smirked as she looked up into his eyes, "There isn't much to the meetings. Nygozy tells us what to do and where to go then we leave." She sniggered.

He barked a laugh at the memory of the tent thing. "Hah! I remember that! And we didn't stop either!" he chortled. "Aye, I can see how that would affect the poor boy." he said and scratched his beard. He pondered what possible use the Warden Commander could have for a muggle like him, then kissed Pendra's chin teasingly. "Its a nice room, actually. Been a while since I've slept on anything soft." He said, poking the bed beneath them.

Pendra smirked, "We were in the middle of something and it's not like he saw us really go at it. He didn't have a view from above when we slipped to the ground. I should have screamed something lusty. If I'd known we would traumatize someone that bad from that little glimpse of our nakedness then I would have been naughtier."

[color=teal"You've slept on me." [/color]She teased then kissed his cheek and started kissing up to his ear where she whispered, "Maybe we should try out the mattress to see how comfortable it is."

Gareth barked a laugh. "Boy had to learn about women sometime, may as well be from his teacher and her Arl lover." he chuckled and then nibbled on Pendra's ear. He could feel much of himself afire for her, and the sweet promise of breaking in the new bed was more than could be resisted. "Yeah, but I figured I'd give you a break from being a pillow for a bit. Let's test the springs on this baby, shall we?" He whispered the last sentence before blowing out the nearby candle.

Pendra lay against Gareth with a smile on her face as her eyes were closed, partially napping. She loved their time together especially when they were doing naughty things with each other. They were not likely to have a lot of quiet time so she took what pleasures she could when she had the time to do so. There was no training for the rest of the day so it was going to be good.

Then there was a knock at the door and her eyes opened, slowly, drowsily, "What?"

"The Warden Commander would like to see Lady Pendra and Sir Gareth, ser. It is not urgent."

She sighed heavily against Gareth's chest, "We'll be there soon as we can."

After their "Reaquainting" romp, both dwarf and Man had fallen asleep, only to be woken up by the knock at the door some hours later. The Acting Arl groaned at the interruption, but sat up all the same, seeing as Pendra was up now too. "Blast... I was enjoying that dream too, you were divine in it." he smiled and kissed Pendra's forehead. "Not urgent, eh? What should we do then, hm?" he grinned at her, over his shoulder.

"Bathe then go see the commander. It may not be an emergency but we don't want to keep her waiting too long." She stated as she sashayed into the bathing room and pulled him along with her.

Some time later she was happily walking down the halls with Gareth, an arm around his waist as she strode along with him. This was coming about to be a good day and hopefully it would only get better. That was probably an innate dream as whenever a person was called to a commander it equaled work and or trouble. She wondered what it would be this time.

As they came to the doors she noticed a guard outside and stood before him with a hand on her hip, "Pendra Dragoncoal and Gareth Feres here on the commander's orders."

Pendra waited calmly as the man opened the doors and stepped in to the side, "Pendra Dragoncoal and Gareth Feres here to see you ma'am."

Ah a bath would be nice, especially with his lover. He grinned at the prospect and then she pulled him with her.

When they were both clean and dressed, he followed her through the halls of Vigil's Keep, looking around at the few things the Darkspawn did not trash earlier during their siege of the place. He sighed, as the Keep was grand, and destroying such precious items seemed an injustice to it. Still, he had a job to do, even though not directly under the Warden Commander's orders. He folded his arms over his chest as he waited for them to be admitted into Nygozy's office, and when they were he offered the Warden Commander a cordial smile. "Good to see you again, Commander. You rang?"

((This thread is before Home Sweet Wardens' Home))

As the two came in, Nygozy looked up from her desk and smiled at the two, "Good I'm glad the two of you came together. There are a few things we need to talk about. Come, sit." She waved them to a couch then sat on a chair beside it which was angled a bit towards the couch, "I believe you were intending on going to your home soon, Gareth?"

Pendra sat down on the couch with a smile. She was very aware of how the other woman moved, ready to move in a moment and fight whenever required. That was understandable. Nygozy was in her early stages of pregnancy and showed no slowing but she did seem tired.

Since the conversation had been directed at Gareth, Pendra kept quiet and waited. She wondered why both of them had been brought in at the same time and what was going on in the mind of the smaller dwarf.

Gareth clasped his hands behind his back a Nygozy addressed him. Evidently it was good they arrived together, but for what purpose, he wondered. He nodded to her question. "Yeah, I was thinking of heading back to Umoja with Pendra. Unless you need us for something here?" he asked, tilting his head. There was not much to do around Vigil's Keep that the Wardens couldnt do themselves. He had no obligation to the group aside from his wanting to be near his lover.

"Good. It is said that your home has one of the best training grounds available." Nygozy waited a moment to allow the two of them to consider that and answer in a verbal or nonverbal manner, "This is a matter that cannot leave this room. That is why the guards are not ine here with us. There are some possible warden recruits being sent our way; however, I am unsure of their origins. The warden who brought them is an unknown to me."

She stopped and waited for a response, looking directly at Gareth. Pendra kept quiet as she realized that the conversation at this point was more directed at Gareth.

The Arl titled his head to the side again, but he got a serious look on his face. This was business then, and not a social call. Umoja produced two things, Grey Iron and excellent swordsmen. He folded his arms over his chest. "What do you need me to do, Warden Commander? I can use my influence as Arl to find out who they are." His blue eyes flicked over to Pendra briefly, silently asking her opinion on this as to not leave her out.

Nygozy shook her head, "It isn't a matter of finding out 'who' they are as finding out 'who' they are." She leaned against the arm of the couch knowing what she said was confusing, "You see, I know their names, backgrounds and such. That's not the problem. It is who they are inside. Are any of them working with those people with the falcon tattoos? Are any of them spies for others who wish to harm the wardens? What are they truly? They all have an outside face but it may be that one, two or more are not what they say they are. Or at least are not going through trying to become a warden for the purpose they say they are."

She stopped a moment to point at Pendra, "Pendra is good at rooting out issues, or so I've been told by her former employers, and I need people I can fully trust with this mission. Your home has an inner and outer sanctum so these initiates could not get into the inner sanctum. I will not lie and say there is not a danger, there always is in a case like this but I would like to have these initiates train in your outer sanctum like any other soldier. If you find someone we should not trust, I would like you to keep him or her watched and if there are any falcon followers then they can be tossed in a cell until I deal with them."

"So you wish for us to root out spies." Pendra stated instead of asked, "I have had a point of time that I did not quite do very well by that." She admitted, embarrassed and angry at the memory.

Gareth folded his arms over his chest, thinking this through. Finally he nodded. "Alright, Warden Commander, We'll give it a shot. I want to know that you're not letting in potential assassins near my cousin, so I'll make sure we're thorough." He said, once again clasping his hands behind his back. "How soon do you want us to leave for Highever?" he asked, as Highever was the place Umoja was vassal of. It would be good to see his parents again, they'd be surprised to see Pendra, that's for sure. He still kept a business face on, though.

Nygozy nodded, "Thank you, Gareth and Pendra. I have notes on what I wish for you to look for and paperwork on each of the recruits. It will only say that you are the commander of these recruits and that Pendra will be their weapons trainer in the official documents. Make sure no one sees the coinciding notes."

She stood a bit slowly then touched Pendra's arm then Gareth's, "You will be leaving within the next day or two. I will tell you exactly when as soon as I can figure out when myself. There may be more going with you at least to Highever. It is unsure as of yet. Until I give a call it is to you to get ready to go and if you can give a hand for jobs around here it will be appreciated."

The dwarf then went to her desk, got a folder and handed it to Gareth, "Enjoy the rest of your evening."

Gareth listened to Nygozy's words and took the folder of papers when it was offered. He nodded, his face still in a serious expression quite unlike his usual look of boorish aloofness. "We won't fail you, Commander. I'll say goodbye to my cousin, no one else in this camp really who'd care much to see me gone, anyway. I'm sure Pendra has others to say farewell to." He clapped a fist to his heart, and then walked out, before staring at the files in his hand whilst in the hallway.

Pendra stood with Gareth and nodded to Nygozy, "We will do our best." She said before leaving the room. When she started walking along with her lover she noticed that he was opening the package to look at their mission but she put a hand on top of it, "When we get to our room."

The woman looked about the hallway and led Gareth back to their rooms then nodded, "Ok you can open them now. You never know when someone can sneak up on a person and take a peek at what you have."

She flopped down onto the bed with her hands behind her head and closed her eyes,
"Want to read it to me like a bed time story?" She teased.