Delyth knew Ruadhan wasn't going to let the whole fiasco go. In fact, he showed exactly how upset he still is about it by commanding Tiarnan to make her decision to be a guard the worst decision in her life. Four days and Delyth showed that she is not backing down. Tiarnan pushed her to do more and she pushed back harder to prove she can handle any challenge she is faced with.

If he is honest with himself, Tiarnan is impressed by her perseverance. Few of the men he's trained or trained with have that quality. Most of them just puff their chests out and measure their dicks thinking that makes them a man. In the six days, Delyth showed them the true meaning of a man and the drive to be a soldier and they hated her for it. Still hate her for it. He watches as they try to push her back 'in her lane' and to 'do her duty as a woman'. Every day they taunt her for playing dress up and 'trying to be a man'.

Tiarnan has had to ward her against doing anything that could get her in trouble. She is still being watched by Ruadhan after all. Six days and she's learned more in her lifetime than she ever did. Lashing out in anger would prove how unable she is to keep her emotions in check as a woman. It takes everything in her not to grab them by their balls and twist at an unbelievable angle.

She has never had to deal with this kind of behavior in Naelund, so coming here and being treated like this is new to her. She doesn't know it but Tiarnan has been trying his best to lay men off her. There's only so much a glare can do. They still try to corner her and get her alone, especially in the showers when Tiarnan is not close by. Which is not very often.

The men, however, have been up Tiarnan's back wondering if he's scored her in his bed yet. To their dismay, he hasn't rewarded them with an answer and orders them back to their positions.

"Let's go! Up. Up. Faster, you worms." Tiarnan bellows from below them as he orders them to climb up the wall. It is not an easy thing for Delyth to do because she didn't grow up around walls. Even if she did, who in their right mind looks at a wall and thinks it would be fun to climb it? As far as she is taught, they evolved from apes not spiders.

"Aiken, you may look like a woman but right now you are a man with an arrow pointing at your back," Tiarnan tells her.

Confused, Delyth turns her head to look for said arrow and sees none. Out of nowhere, something zooms past her and lands on the side of the wall. It was an actual arrow. She loses her grip from the rope and falls from the wall landing on her side.

Tiarnan walks over to her side and looms over her body while she grits her teeth in pain. "Are you okay?"

She nods, rubbing the side that aches. His eyes scan her body to make sure nothing is badly injured. Satisfied that she seems fine, he nods and straightens his posture. "Good, now go back and climb that wall. You will do it over and over until you can no longer feel your arms."

Delyth sighs and her head falls in exhaust. She stands to her feet, shakes her arms and rolls her shoulders. When she approaches the wall, she looks at it, her eyes squinting as the rays from the sun hit her directly in the face almost blinding her. Tiarnan watches her with interest and folds his lips trying to stop the laugh that threatens to escape.

Adorable, he thinks to himself.

She takes a hold of the rope and pulls herself up the wall. Tiarnan and Ruadhan's Commander, Cillian, watch the only woman in the bunch try and fail at climbing the wall. It was getting sad that it carried on until the sun went down.

"And you say you believe in her?" Cillian says, not being able to look away from Delyth's attempt to climb the way. She is only half-way up.

"Have faith in her, Cillian. We were once like her." The knight thinks on his words and realizes how right he is. They were once scrawny skeletons, climbing the wall with trembling legs and arms. The difference was they weren't half as determined and headstrong when they first started as Delyth is.

"What would drive a woman to even think of doing something like this?" Tiarnan shakes his head as if he doesn't know the answer to his question. "Well, I'm heading home to my family. I can't watch this anymore. Make sure she doesn't hurt herself, Holian."

He hums a non-committal sound as Cillian retreats from the scene. He looks back at her struggling and shakes his head once more out of sympathy. Tiarnan digs his feet deeper in the ground, refraining himself from running to her when he sees her foot slip but she catches herself.

"Delyth, get down," he calls for her. It is almost painful for him to watch any longer. He fears she is going to get herself severely hurt. Or worse, die. Ruadhan would be happy; one less trouble on his hands but Tiarnan would not be happy with himself.

"I'm almost at the top."

"Now, Delyth. You can try again tomorrow." He doesn't mean to sound vexed. His worry overrides every emotion. He just wants her down from the wall before she falls and hurts herself more than she did before.

"You are free to leave if my failure is so difficult to watch, Captain." The annoyance and frustration was clear in her voice. Tiarnan groans at her stubbornness and marches to stand below her. He understands she wants to prove something to herself but this was getting out of hand.

He prepares himself to catch her in case her hands fall loose off the rope and she plummets to her doom. She looks below her to see him with his legs spread shoulder wide and his hands hanging by his side. A laugh is released from her lips and she pulls herself further up the wall.

"There is no need for that. I figured out how to keep a handle on the rope."

"I don't care." He watches with more determination and concern. The more he supervises, the more he frets. She seems better than she started but that doesn't make him worry less.

He doesn't know when it happened without him noticing but all he hears is an hooray sound. He blinks to see Delyth standing at the top of the wall with a bright smile across her face. Even though she was sweating in her brows, he still finds her stunning as she is beaming in victory.

"You can come down now." She glowers at him for ruining her happy moment.

"Could you not have given me a few more minutes to soak it in that I made it to the top?" She calls down at Tiarnan who is pulling at the rope, ensuring it is safe.

"Excuse me for wanting you safe on the ground before you trip and fall to your death," he answers her, raising his eyebrows at her. She huffs and climbs back over the wall, making her way down slowly.

"Be careful." His nerves are sparking throughout his body as he watches keenly with fidgeting fingers tapping against his thigh.

"I'm fine, Captain," she reassures him. When she looks down and sees that she was a few feet away from him, she pushes off the wall and free falls.

Tiarnan's eyebrows shoot beyond his hairline, his heart starts beating hard against his chest and he raises his arms prepared to catch her in time. His heart bottoming to his stomach.

In which he does. When he sees her laughing, he frowns at her recklessness. "Have you lost your mind? Why would you do that?"

She shrugs, still smiling. "Because I know you'll catch me."

He freezes, shocked at her trust in him. She notices this and her eyes take a quick glance at his lips before looking back into his eyes, noticing that he was also looking at her lips. She's never wanted to kiss someone in all her twenty three years but the pull and attraction she feels towards the man holding her securely in his arms is so strong, almost like a whiplash.

She takes a deep breath, runs her tongue over her lips, tempted to lean in and just kiss her way up from his cleft chin to his lips that look remarkably soft but she remembers the reason she is here and the position she is in and steps out of his hold. He blinks quickly like he was in a trance and clears his throat while she creates distance between them.

"Thank you, Captain for- Yeah." She says and leaves him with his clouded mind, not knowing what to say or do.

He wants to kiss her and he knows she wants to do it too but it would cause so much problems for them with Ruadhan and the other soldiers. It would make her situation so much harder than it already is. He couldn't allow that.

This is nothing. He is tired and confused, maybe a little lonely. She is the only woman he's spent this much time with and his third leg is trying to take control of his mind. She is beautiful, that much is obvious but she is off limits and out of his league. 

17/02/22

Au revoir...

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