Page 4 of Orn and the Real Girl
“I…” she whispered, her large brown eyes dazed and heavily bruised with fatigue. “I need....help.”
I swallowed hard, my mouth and throat dry enough to ache, then hauled her up and cradled her carefully in my arms, balancing her weight so that I could use an arm to shoulder the heavy ironwood door shut.
“Of course you do,” I told her, shaking with nerves and something else I had no name for, something that made me feel flushed and cold at the same time. I did my best to ignore the feeling, striding across the room and kicking a stool closer to the fire. The noise startledGehyta awake with a camelidbleat, hertriangular ears flattening in concern. I set the woman gingerly onto the wooden stool. “I have no gift for healing,” I warned her, taking my kettle and hanging it over the fire. I stoked the flames back to life, adding two precious logs to get it nice and hot. If I needed to chop more wood in a blizzard, then so be it; I wasn’t going to let this stranger freeze to death.“But you’re welcome to my supplies. Anything you need.”
A small part of me was horrified by my recklessness, letting a stranger into my home like this and giving her unfettered access to whatever she wanted. For all I knew, she could be here to kill me and rob me, her plea for help a ruse to get my guard down. My older siblings had always told me I trusted too easily, and this could very well be the time it cost me something I couldn’t replace. But most of me was eager to give her whatever she needed, something about this haggard stranger making my blood sing, making risk trusting her.
The woman blinked up at me, her warm brown complexion wan and ashen even with the golden cast of the fire liming her heart-shaped face. I realized with a lurch that she was quite beautiful, even looking halfway to the gods and nearly frozen. My face heated and I spun away from her, scurrying all over my little kitchen area to get her tea and something to eat. My reactions were scaring me, but the act of getting a guest settled and fed soothed away the worst of it.
My heart settled and my face felt less obviously flushed when I went to my wardrobe and pulled out sweaters and a pair of leggings, knowing my mystery guest needed to get out of her cold, wet clothes if she was to have any chance of warming up. I returned to her side and held out my offering to her awkwardly. “None of this will fit you, but i-it’s at least warm and dry. So...have at it,” I mumbled.
Her head cocked, her delicate brows furrowing. “I don’t know if I can move,” she said at last, swallowing hard, and Idove for my water jug to get her a drink. I felt like an idiot for not giving her water right away. She took a long drink, wincing a little but sighing with satisfaction when she was done. She handed the empty cup back to me and I had to squash an insane urge to lick the rim where she’d drunk from it. Suddenly, my mind was drifting to the carnal places it had been sunk in all night with my lewd stories, and to my horror my body was reacting. I worked so hard to stuff those thoughts to the back of my mind that I almost stumbled from the mental effort.
“Can I ask you to help me?” she ventured, her voice smoother and richer after her drink. Hearing her speak was like being wrapped up in smoke and honey, and I shivered with pleasure to hear it.
It took a moment for me to realize what she was asking for, and when the dots connected all my hard work gaining control of myself went to out the window. The idea of having my hands on her body made me weak in the knees, but she needed help, not some lonely star-struck orc slavering and ogling her when she was unwell and vulnerable. I was stronger than my base urges, and with a deep breath, I cleared my mind. I nodded, holding my hands out for her to take so I could help her back to her feet. She swayed and wobbled badly once she was up, but after a moment managed to get her feet under her and stand unassisted. But it was clear to me that I would be doing most of the work. That sobered me further, cooling the flames of my inexplicable ardor.
I swallowed, licking my lips, then reached out with badly trembling hands to help her undress. The first two layers were coats, both sodden, that I tossed onto my table to hang later. Then she had a thick sweater, and when I told her to lift her arms up so I could peel it off of her shivering body, something shifted andmovedagainst her belly, and I felt faint for a moment.Gods above and below, please tell me that that isn’t her insidestrying to be outsides,I prayed, freezing with her damp sweater clutched in my hands as I watched the movement.
It took a moment, but eventually she noticed my stare and smiled weakly. “’S’allright,” she said, lifting her tunic to reveal an expanse of soft, round brown stomach—and a snake, shimmering black in color and flicking its tongue at me curiously from where it was curled around the woman’s torso like a living belt. I started, surprised by such a strange companion, but it was just a little hognose, harmless, so I threw her sweater aside as well and pressed on. I mused that having a snake for a pet in the cold of the mountains felt like a foolish choice, but then again, I’d been having complete one-sided conversations with Gehyta for years, so who was I to judge?
The woman coaxed the snake onto her arm, murmuring soft things to it and petting its little diamond-shaped head. She indicated I could proceed, and I carefully helped her out of her last layer of clothes, until she stood before me in just her smallclothes, miles of rich brown skin and delicious curves on display.She’s hurt and on death’s door, I chided myself, angry at my juvenile reactions to her beauty and her closeness.You’re an orc of honor, you disgusting lech. I ripped my gaze away from her tantalizing form and began helping her into the clothes I’d grabbed, starting with the leggings. She had to grip my shoulders to steady herself enough to step into them, and I couldn’t quite control the hitch in my breath at the feel of her little hands on me.You’re too full of romantic nonsense, Orn. The chance she’d want you are slim, I told myself, grabbing a spare tunic next.She’s human, and you’re an orc. A clanlessorc, even. Keep your head about you, man!
I tried to keep my skin from touching hers as I got her dressed, not wanting to overstep my bounds or rile myself up too much more. Her snake disappeared under her clothes to warm up once I was done. I was saved from having to figure out whatto say by the kettle whistling, and I hurried to get it and get her tea with more haste than was necessary. I considered re-heating my leftover stew from dinner to give to her, but I’d heard that humans didn’t like orcish spices, so I plated some bread and a little hard cheese for her instead.
Gehyta watched us from where she was lying on the floor, nonchalantly chewing at some of the hay I’d piled up for her bedding. She’d always been a bit skittish, even by aerlanis standards, but she was surprisingly calm in the face of an unknown person. Strange, that—and still more strange that she wasn’t infected by my nerves.
When the tea was ready, I handed it to my guest, her small brown hands impossibly tiny against my earthenware mug, and she took a careful sip. She closed her eyes and moaned, shivering once, before her eyes peeled open and caught mine. “This is really good!” she said, some color back in her face already. “What’s in this?”
I shrugged, settling into a crouch so I didn’t loom over her while she was eating. I reached over and buried my fingers in Gehyta’s silky pelt, earning me a bleary look of disdain before the aerlanis settled once more. “It’s a blend from the Fenns,” I told her slowly, my mind suddenly devoid of any singular thing that was in that tea. But it did odd things to my chest to see her enjoying something that I’d given her so much.
“It’s lovely. So spicy!” She hummed in contentment, taking another sip. “It’s warming me up like a good whiskey.”
“I have some of that too, if you want.”
She shook her head, something passing over her soft features that I couldn’t quite read. “No, that’s fine. You’ve already been so kind.” She started, her eyes darting to my face and going wide. “Bloody gods, I never even introduced myself!” She held out one of her dainty hands and smiled at me. “My name is Sara. And my...my pet is called Lena.”
I took her hand, careful of my grip, and my breath caught at the feel of her skin on mine, like a bolt of lightning fizzing up my spine. The fine hairs on my body stood on end, and I licked my lips, nervous and self-conscious despite Sara’s friendliness. “I’m Orn—” I almost kept going, giving my clan name, despite not having had any claim to their kinship for several years now. “JustOrn” I finished lamely. I busied myself with standing and fetching my other stool. I should probably try to give Sara privacy and space now that she was settling in, but I was unable to tamp down the hope that she’d want to keep talking to me, to maybe even be something of a friend while she recuperated here with me. “What, um...what brings you so far from civilization?” I asked.
She bit her lip, her gaze going flat and distant in a way that made me panic.“N-not that you have to tell me your business!” I added hurriedly, my face so hot I was certain my skin was a moment from melting clean off of my skull. “I was—um, that is, I was just curious. Trying to make conversation—“ Gods, did that high-pitched giggle come fromme?I was mere moments from throwing myself into a snow drift outside and letting Frichta guide my soul to the hereafter.
Sara managed a small smile, reaching out to grasp one of my flailing hands. “It’s alright, Orn, I know you didn’t mean anything by it. You’re a very kind and considerate person.” She sighed, releasing me, and her snake Lena poked her tiny head out of the collar of Sara’s borrowed clothes, the rest of her following gradually to twine around Sara’s head like a strange hat, tousling her long dark curls. “I’m just not...I-I can’t talk about it, just yet. I swear to you though, I mean you no harm.”
I nearly laughed at the last bit; since when did a lone human woman feel the need to reassure a fully-grown orc that she wasn’t a threat? Her delicate limbs and soft human skin said that loud and clear. But from Sara’s expression, she had clearly comefrom something bad, something that she was struggling to make sense of, so perhaps that was why she said such odd things. I was troubled by what could have befallen her, angry that someone so beautiful and sweet should suffer, but I was also perversely glad that whatever had happened had guided her to my cottage for help.
Suddenly, her mouth split in a jaw-cracking yawn, and I surged to my feet once more, my eyes darting over my small home in a panic. Vitrin’s mercy, where would she sleep?
My gaze landed on my bed, and I decided in a flash that it was all hers. But it was too far from the fire—I tended to run hot in my sleep, so I kept it as far from the hearth as possible—so I hurried over to drag it closer. The feet squealed and scraped against my carefully laid plank floor, but the ironwood frame was too heavy for me to lift properly by myself. Sara watched me, bemused, Lena’s little snub-nosed face turned to me and also watching. I finished dragging the bed over, leaving enough distance between it and the flames to avoid errant sparks and embers, then pointed at it.
“You’ll sleep here,” I told her, taking the largest blanket from the unkempt pile and spreading it on the floor over some of Gehyta’s clean hay. “You should sleep now. Unless you need something else?”
Sara blinked, looking between me and the empty bed. “I can’t take your bed,” she protested, biting her lip again. “You’ve already done so much, Orn”
“Well, I’m not sleeping in it,” I told her, internally wincing when I heard how sharp that sounded. “And Gehyta gets nervous around strangers, anyway. So...so you might as well.”
She hesitated for another few seconds, then sighed and rolled her eyes, smiling at me. “Fine, have it your way. But I don’t believe you for a second,” she chuckled, sinking into themattress and rearranging the piles of blankets around her much smaller body.
I settled into my new bed, Gehyta uncurling a little to lay her head on my chest, making contented little snorts and huffs as I scratched behind her thick, triangular ears and down her soft muzzle.
