#collecting a damp treasure aka lainey on the street

[casuallivi]

HAPPY BIRTHDAY CAIT CAKES!!!!!!!

Az bedside table be like:

🕯️🕯️🕯️🕯️🕯️🕯️🕯️🕯️🕯️🕯️🕯️🕯️

🕯️The Temple of Elain Archeron🕯️

🕯️🕯️🕯️🕯️🕯️🕯️🕯️🕯️🕯️🕯️🕯️🕯️

After the Rain

an Elriel Headcanon

@fawnandshadows​ happy early birthday present. You know I have no chill and can’t wait. Enjoy!

The first time Elain entered Azriel’s rooms she was drenched after being caught in a rainstorm

It was one of those sudden spring storms that came out of nowhere

She went to the fishmonger by the docks, who always had the freshest fish available, and just as she completed her purchase, the rain started

She was hurrying down the street, the rain pouring over her, making her dress cling to her body (immodestly)

Suddenly, a figure dropped from the skies, landing with an almost silent thud in front of her and a dark leathery wing immediately stretching over her head like an umbrella

“Oh,” was all she could gasp, observing the familiar, if forbidden, towering form in front of her

Wordlessly, as if this was all perfectly normal, Azriel scooped her into his arms, his embrace sure and firm, and they were airborne within seconds, the blessed comfort of his shield stretching over them, raindrops bouncing harmlessly over it

She clung to his neck with one arm, clutching her basket to her chest

Elain wasn’t afraid of flying. Not with Azriel. He was the first one she’d flown with, and the confident, unobtrusive hold of his arms around her body always felt comfortable, all fears forgotten

Surprisingly, he didn’t fly towards the River Estate, but took a turn and headed towards the House of Wind, which, granted, was a lot closer to them right now

She didn’t question him

They never really needed words to understand each other, to share in their closeness and when her cold hand wrapped around the skin of his neck, the thumb gently stroking under his ear was enough. It was permission. Encouragement

He landed on his balcony and opened the tall glass doors for her, ushering her inside

Elain entered, dripping water everywhere, leaving puddles on the floor

Azriel marched ahead of her and disappeared behind another door, leaving her to look around

The bedroom was large, the furnishings simple, but stylish, if impersonal. The bed was enormous, to accommodate the massive wings, and Elain glimpsed a walk-in wardrobe full of dark clothing. It surprised her–that he had so much clothes, and that everything looked kind of the same

“Here,” he re-emerged and handed her a drying cloth. “The bath is hot, if you want to warm up.” He nodded towards the bathing chamber, and felt her cheeks flame with…well, not embarrassment exactly. Perhaps it was more about anticipation and curiosity.

“I…have nothing to wear,” she murmured, taking the drying cloth in her hands, feeling his scarred fingertips brush over her skin

“My tunic is hanging on the door,” he told her, voice quiet. “You can wear that…” He swallowed. “If you want to”

Elain went inside the spacious bathing chamber, complete with an enormous bath and something called a ‘shower’ where water came from a spout. It was an invention that came from Dawn Court, and Elain was aware that Cassian had purchased it and mounted in the bathing chambers for Nesta, so she did not need to take baths anymore

Taking off her sodden dress, she stepped into the tub, finding it hot already. The water was steaming, and she had no idea how Azriel managed to fill it so quickly and make it so hot

However, she wanted to try this shower thing and she stepped under it…

And then nothing happened

The water did not pour over her and she stood there, shivering and disappointed. Oh, and naked, in Azriel’s chambers, no less

She waved her arms beneath the shower head, willing it to turn on, and still, nothing happened. She even poked some knob with her toe, and still, no water came out

Frustrated, she snatched the drying cloth and covered herself with it, before getting out of the tub and marching out of the bathing room, back to the bedroom

“Oh, by the Mother!” she gasped, seeing as Azriel stood in the middle of the room, his torso bare, wearing only a pair of dry soft britches, which males often wore at home here

If she were but a few minutes earlier, she might have seen him…nude

This time, her cheeks were aflame for a different reason. He looked so comfortable like that, so at peace. Seeing him barefoot felt strangely intimate. Which was an odd thought, because she must have lost her mind, coming out here like that, only wrapped in a cloth, naked underneath

He cocked his brow at her and stared at her in confusion. “Is everything alright?” he asked at last, and she did not miss his beautiful hazel eyes skimming over her form, briefly stopping on breasts, and then her soft pale bare thighs

“I…” she was here, and, by golly, she was going to do for it, “I…”

“What?”

“I want the shower!” she blurted out. “It doesn’t work. I want to try the shower,” she repeated, feeling itchy, hot and cold all at once

He smirked and nodded, as if this was a perfectly normal situation, and then beckoned her to follow him into the bathing room. He showed her the knobs that she had poked before, and turned them, explaining ‘hot, cold. You can adjust it to the temperature you want.”

“Thank you, Azriel,” she whispered when he smiled at her and her impatience

“You are welcome, Elain.”

It was bliss. This shower. Once he left her alone, she stepped under the pouring water and it was so hot, so wonderful, so sublime. For an Illyrian warrior, Azriel had an enviable number of products that lined the shelves of the bath enclosure. Lotions, soaps, shampoos, scrubs…All sorts of things which she ‘borrowed’ liberally. And as she lathered her body with something that smelled divine of cedar, she thought that she’d be smelling like Azriel

And closing her eyes, she thought of his body, the firm, stacked muscles of his abdomen, the wide span of his shoulders, the oily spill of his tattoos upon his dark golden skin, the delectable V that disappeared into his britches and pointed right at his…

She showered for a good 40 minutes and even then, turned it off reluctantly. What she wouldn’t give to have this at home! 

Home

Whatever that was nowadays. A place in her sister’s home. A set of rooms

The tunic was soft, well-worn, smelling of the same cedar fragrance, which made Elain pull the air deep into her lungs. It was big on her, obviously, and yet, when she came out of the bathing room, she never felt more exposed

The hazel eyes dropped to her bare milky thighs again

“Warmed up?” he asked, watching her, that hungry, warm gaze sliding up and down her body shamelessly

Azriel looked at peace, long legs stretched in front of him, crossed at the ankles, while his wings stretched behind him, looming imposingly over them

By the Cauldron! He was big.

Such large wings

Big

“Yes, thank you,” she tugged on the hem of the tunic, watching him lounge in a large armchair, papers scattered at his feet. “It was amazing!”

“You look good in my clothes,” he noted absently, his eyes devouring her, her long hair, her bare legs

“I…what?”

“What? he shrugged and then waved his hand and at once, her hair dried. The water just…evaporated

She gasped in awe and squeezed the ends instinctively, only now noticing the the puddles on the floor were also gone

“You can do this?” she demanded

“I can do all kinds of things,” he smirked

“But then…you could’ve just dried me up,” he told him, crossing her arms on her chest, glaring at him

“I could’ve,” he agreed, not looking put off in the least, “but then, you wouldn’t have discovered the joys of a shower. And you wouldn’t have been wearing my tunic right now”

She didn’t have an answer for that, other than her heated cheeks

Wordlessly, she looked around the room, the mantle of the fireplace bare. She rounded the bed, feeling his gaze upon her at all times, like he couldn’t get enough of her

She finally stopped and looked at the bedside table.

A glass vial. A little packet. A ribbon. A dried flower. And a sketch. 

The headache powder that she had gifted him two Solstices ago. The little pouch that contained the ear plugs that she gave him last Solstice. When everything happened. A ribbon. For her hair. Her ribbon. A dried rose which she had stuck into his lapel last Summer Solstice, when he’d won a pie eating contest. And a sketch–of her face.  A framed one, done in pencil. Not a very good sketch, but the likeness was undeniable

She turned around and looked at him. His eyes were still on her. Observing. Seeing. Watching everything she was seeing. 

She questioned him with her eyes. This small, private shrine of his, dedicated to her. Tiny tokens of love and affection. That’s all this man had. That’s all he valued. Her. 

“Home is where I am with you”.