Page 24 of Tryggred By the Orc

Itwas takingEben’sfull concentration to follow all this, a task made all the more difficult by the unsettling anxiety inTryggr’sscent, and the pleading, beseeching look in his eyes.Asif expectingEbento solve all this for him at once, andEbenhad to close his own eyes, draw in more of that sweet, reassuring scent, with still only him in it.

“ButwouldDraflinot have considered all this, before he left?”Ebenasked, as steadily as he could. “Hehas seemed to…come aroundonAlma, as you said he would, ach?Hecares for her, does he not?Mayhapeven” — his thoughts flicked back to that scent onDrafli’smouth — “welcomed her?Longedfor her?”

Tryggrgave a heavy exhale, and jerked a distracted nod. “Ach, sure he does,” he said thickly. “Howcould he not?She’ssweet, loyal, works hard, wishes to please.Youought to know this, ach?”

Therewas a strangely accusatory tone in his voice, his eyes suddenly dark onEben’sface, andEbenblinked, and again fought to think. “Well, it seems to me,” he began carefully, “thatDrafliwould not have failed to consider all this — most of all ifAlmais now pregnant with their son.Wouldhe not have spoken to theAsh-Kaiof this?Andyou said he gave orders to your otherSkaikin also, ach?Youhave many strong scouts and warriors amongst you, do you not?”

Tryggrgrimaced, frowning at the floor, and againEbenfelt a sudden surge of commiseration, of understanding.Tryggrclearly wanted to win hisBoss’sapproval, wanted to show himself a strong and capableSkai— and here he’d been left behind again, trapped in a scullery, doing dull, tedious work he didn’t feel was important.

“Iken this work has not been easy for you,”Ebencontinued, steadier now, his eyes intent onTryggr’sface. “Butamidst it, youhave again and again shownDraflihe can trust you.Youhave kept his woman safe, you have granted her much help, you have offered her laughter and relief.Youhave been a good, faithfulSkai.Youhave done much good work, sir.”

Thesirhad slipped out beforeEbenhad caught it, and though he winced, he kept his gaze steady onTryggr’sunreadable face. “Draflitrusts you,” he said firmly. “Andif he again asked for your help in the scullery,Iken this means he trusts you in this, too.Heknows you shall do this.Heknows you shall do more good work with this.”

Therewas an instant’s silence fromTryggr, and then a slow, harsh exhale, his hand rubbing at his eyes. “ButIstill know fuck all about that curst scullery,” he said heavily. “Howthe hell amIs’posed to fix it up for her, and showBossIcan pull it off, ifIcan’t even…”

Buthis voice had slowly trailed off, his eyes narrowing towardEben’sface.AndEbentwitched a shy, sheepish smile back, even as a distant, disbelieving part of him wondered ifDraflihadn’t known how this would unfold.Surelythe most fearsome orc in the mountain didn’t pay that much heed to what went on in the scullery… did he?

“Youcan,”EbentoldTryggr, the conviction quiet but sure in his voice. “Forwe shall fix the scullery, and help yourBoss, and your kin.Together.”

18

Ebenwasted no time in hustlingTryggrup to the scullery, and setting to work.

Tryggrstill seemed a bit dazed by it all, castingEbenfrequent narrow, searching glances, butEbenfought to stay focused on the task at hand.OnhelpingTryggr, and being a friend.

“Firstof all,Iken we could polish the counters and floors, to make these smoother, and easier to clean,” he said firmly, as he glanced around at the now-empty scullery. “Wecould also install new, stronger drying racks, for these ones are not safe, ach?Mostof all for a pregnant woman, and soon an orcling.And” — he dropped his gaze to the old wooden washbasins — “we could forge new steel basins, mayhap.AndIcould seek to finish plans for this washing machineIspoke of, also.”

Tryggrwas fully staring atEbennow, his swallow visibly bobbing in his throat. “Youactually… set to work, on that whole washing machine idea?” he asked. “Don’trecall giving you much encouragement at the time, didI?”

Ebenflushed and waved it away, though he couldn’t quite meetTryggr’seyes. “Iwished to help you,” he said, too quickly. “Iken this work has not always been easy for you.Mostof all when you are such a fierce, fearsome warrior.”

Tryggrblinked at him, andEbenwas vaguely surprised to see a flush of red, creeping up his neck. “Uh, well, how long d’you think it’ll all take, then?” he asked, with a curt wave betweenEbenand the room. “Forgotto tell you,Bosstold me to spend whateverIneed off his accounts, too.”

Truly?Ebenhad already been uneasily recalling how much trouble hisKa-esh kin had given him over the floor-cleaning project, and he felt himself brightening, beaming atTryggr’sface. “Thatwill be a great help,” he replied. “Andit is another sign of how muchDraflitrusts you, is it not?”

Theredness was spreading higher upTryggr’sneck, but he twitched a brief, grateful smile towardEben, before lurching for the door. “Ach, then,” he said, a little hoarse. “TotheKa-esh wing, then?Butmayhap a stop by the sickroom first?Seewhat’s going on withBoss’swoman?”

Ebennodded and warmly smiled back — he’d been about to suggest the same — and upon reaching the sickroom, they found it caught in a bustle of activity.Itturned out that a morose but flinty-eyedAlmawas indeed preparing to leave the mountain, and she had a variety ofAsh-KaiandGriskorcs hovering around her, all seemingly speaking at once.Butlurking far more quietly near the door were twoSkaiorcsEbennow recognized, thanks to his previous observations — the lean scoutKillik, and the huge, hulking warriorUlfarr.Bothof them obviously intending to accompanyAlmaon her journey, andEbencould feelTryggr’sshoulders sagging as he looked at them, and then signed something akin to,Youhere forBoss?WatchoverAlma?

Killik’snod was curt and decisive, his hand signing back so swiftly thatEbencouldn’t fully follow it.Buthe could seeTryggrrelaxing a little more at the sight of it, and then signing back slower, perhaps even soEbencould understand.Thanks,brother.We’llhave the scullery real nice for when you andBossbring her back.

Oh.Sonot only were theseSkaijoiningAlmaon her journey, but they were fully planning to return her in short order.Andwithout at all meaning to,Ebenreached and squeezedTryggr’shand, and flashed him another swift, beaming smile.

Tryggr’sglance towardEbenwas grateful, his hand squeezing back, his claws gently prodding intoEben’sskin.Asensation that hadEbentwitching all over, heat pooling in his trousers — and it was enough to get him through a tearful goodbye withAlma, who seemed miserably unaware that she would very soon be returning.

“Thankyou so much for all your help,” she said, wiping at her eyes as she gave a weepy smile betweenTryggrandEben. “You’veboth been so wonderful.”

Thesight and scent of her sadness nearly hadEbenweeping, too, and he was grateful whenTryggrmanaged most of the speaking, and then steered him out of the room. “Ach, naught to fret over,Ka-esh,”Tryggrsaid firmly, with a little shake to his shoulder. “Youwere right thatBosshas it all sorted out —Killiksays he’ll be boggled if she’s away for more than a few days.Sono need to scent thus, ach?”

Ebensniffed and nodded, aiming a grateful smile towardTryggr’sface — butTryggrwas frowning again, his eyes fixed to the corridor up ahead, his steps quickening on the stone floor.Perhapsjust focused on how they apparently had a far shorter timeline than they’d anticipated, andEbenforced his attention back to the next tasks at hand.Firstcollecting his own notes from his room, and then heading over to the engineers’hellir.Where, as expected, his former colleagues were initially highly reluctant to offer their support, butEbencountered their whining and demurring by offering shocking amounts ofDrafli’scoin, which soon sent several engineers scurrying for the scullery.

Nextwas a consultation with the construction and masonry teams, and after that was the forge, whereGarethinstantly came out to meet them.Hisfamiliar genial face was flushed with heat from the ovens, his muscled arms and chest gleaming with sweat, and though he listened attentively toEben’sexplanation,Ebendidn’t miss his frequent narrow glances towardTryggr.Who, toEben’svague surprise, was standing far closer to him than necessary, and frowning straight back towardGareth, too.

“Thatfucking smith,”Tryggrmuttered afterwards, onceGarethhad willingly agreed to work on the washbasins. “Skai-kesh above,Iken he’d do anything you asked,Ka-esh.An’ then kneel and beg you for more.”

What?Ebenhuffed a distracted, incredulous laugh, and shook his head. “Ach, no,” he said, with a dismissive wave of his hand. “Iam sure he would not.Hewishes for someone who is a match for him.Someone... stronger.”

Hisvoice only slightly wavered as he spoke, angling a sheepish smile towardTryggr’sface, butTryggrwas studying him with sudden, surprising seriousness in his eyes. “Youarestrong,Ka-esh,” he said flatly. “Strong, and brave, and true.Oneof the strongest orcsI’veever met.”

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