Precarious Truce

Writers: Heather, Miriah
Date Posted: 8th December 2020
Series: The Hallmaster's Ladies

Characters: Thayde, Enamra
Description: A semblance of a truce is formed between Thayde and his wife.
Location: Dolphin Hall
Date: month 8, day 14 of Turn 10

Thayde

Enamra

After being caught by Enamra sneaking back into their quarters, Thayde
told Quinla that he would not be seeing Jalotha for a while. He made a
point of being home as early as work would allow, and then he spent
the rest of his evening reading and going through hides on the couch
in front of the fire.

He and Enamra hadn't talked further about their fight, and even if
they had, Thayde wasn't sure what to say. He also hadn't tried to
initiate any intimacy with his wife either, not after the last time...
From her southern rearing he knew she would acquiesce if he wanted to
make love, but just the thought of her only doing so with him out of

obligation, killed any desire he might have.

Tonight when he arrived home there was a plate of food on the table,
again. He sighed. He'd been working very hard to get home early enough
to have a meal with Enamra, but it seemed no matter how much he
rushed, it was never in time to catch her.

**Maybe that's by design,** he thought.

Walking to the bedroom, he found it empty and instead turned to her
office, where he found her asleep over what looked like some of her
apprentice work.

"Enamra," he said her name softly, putting a hand on her shoulder.

Enamra's face was squished over her hides as she lay her head on them,
a little bit of drool pooling over a sketch she'd made of a current
path along the local coastline. A pencil remained clutched lightly in
her fingers, half on a hide that had figures. Her writing was
childlike, and the spelling poor with some of the letters backwards,
but it was clear she was making a real effort. Between cleaning,
cooking and assignments, Enamra was thoroughly exhausted by the end
of the day. She was taking little time for herself, if any.

She mumbled as he gently touched her and the pencil began moving.
"Juss a min...almos done..."

"Hey," he said, sweeping her hair out of the way so he could see her
face. "Why don't you go sleep in the bed where it's comfortable?"

"Huh?" Her eyes didn't even open as she smacked her lips together
sleepily. Groggily she lifted her head, but her eyes remained
closed. "'Kay. Bed." Her brows knit in a frown of sleepy concentration
as she attempted to rise. "Sleep."

Thayde hooked his hands under her arms and lifted her to her feet.
"Yes, sleep," he agreed, steering her out of the little office and
toward their bedroom. He had caught a glance of what she was working
on and felt a pang of sympathy- apprentice work wasn't easy, and
Enamra had a gap that most of the other apprentices didn't. **Maybe I
should pay one of the drudges to clean and make us meals,** he
pondered, wondering if lightening his wife's load would help.

As she was guided to their bedroom, Enamra began to wake, but only a
little as she stumbled forward. Maybe, she thought sleepily, she
shouldn't have drank that glass of wine. Wine always made her so
sleepy. When she got to the bed, she plopped into a sit and fell back,
fully clothed.

Thayde knelt and pulled off her shoes first, setting them aside where
she placed them every night. "You know, if you would wait for me to
get home, I could help you with your classwork." He said to her
sleeping form as he pulled her pants off, and then turned to pull one
of her nightgowns out of her wardrobe. "I am a master, you know," he
said as he pulled her into a sitting position and tugged her shirt
over her head.

Her eyes fluttered open as she was pulled up and she felt her tunic
being tugged over her head. Her lips puckered a little into a pout.
"You don't wanna to talk to me." She lay back, clad only in her brief
underthings. "When I get mad, you think I'm acting like a baby. "

"Yeah, well, I act like a baby when I get mad too, apparently." Thayde
said as he turned her gown right-side-out. "You had some wine
tonight?" He asked, gesturing for her to sit up again. Even though he
had seen her naked plenty of times, it was rare that his young wife
appeared in front of him so scantily clad without at least a hint of a
blush.

"Uh huh. A glass." She held up her hand, mimicking a glass, then both
hands, indicating a larger glass. "This much." She didn't sit up, just
took a deep breath, then her lower lip trembled. "Why are you still
mad at me?"

Thayde stood, holding her gown between his hands, eyes studying the
light floral print. He wasn't sure he wanted to answer her question.
One, he didn't know how tipsy she was, probably enough just to feel
relaxed and uninhibited in their conversation but still.... Two, he
really didn't want another fight, and fighting seemed to be all he
could do with the females in his life.

"Who says I'm mad?" he asked.

"Cause I got mad at you." She replied simply. "And you called me
childish and yelled at me. Then you left our bed."

"Well, you were acting childish." Thayde sat down on the bed next to
Enamra, his back to her. "I shouldn't have yelled, though."

"And you were being a huge...ass." She replied with a sniffle.
"Sneaking around...not telling me things..." She crawled up the bed
and curled up into a naked ball.

"I'm sorry, I should have told you up front that I wanted to see
Jalotha." Since she didn't seem interested in the nightgown, Thayde
stood and pulled the blanket over her instead.

She uncurled just a little under the blanket and looked up at him with
somber moist eyes. "I'm sorry for saying you smelled like baby pee."
She fell silent for a moment before speaking softly. "Are you coming
to bed?"

Thayde paused in his retreat. "Do you want me to?"

She blinked, visibly confused at the question. "Of course I do."

Did she, he wondered, or was that what she had been told wives were
supposed to say? "Then yes, let me cut off the lights." He slipped out
momentarily to flip off of the lights in the living area. When he
returned he was already working on the buttons of his shirt.

She was still awake when he came back in, but the only evidence was
the gleam of her half-closed eyes in the dim light, watching him. Her
eyes followed his fingers as he disrobed and as he climbed into bed,
she wiggled over and curled up next to him.

Thayde curled an arm around Enamra's waist and tucked her neatly
against his front as he settled behind her. He pressed a kiss into her
hair and closed his eyes, glad at least for what seemed to be a truce.

She nestled close to him and sighed deeply, thankful for his arms
around her. She yawned, then turned around in his arms, resting her
head against his shoulder as she wrapped an arm around his waist.
Getting comfortable in her usual position, she tucked one leg around
his, rubbing her cheek against his chest and snuggled as close as she
could.

The press of her soft skin against his, the way she wrapped herself
around him, it was an impossible situation because his body reacted
whether he wanted it to or not. Normally, having her so close in this
way would have initiated some lovemaking, but after the other night...
He wouldn't have sex unless she expressed a desire to do so. **Think
of cold things,** he coached himself, keeping his eyes tight shut as
he thought about the cold, frigid snow that he and Enamra had played
in at Amber Hills... but then those thoughts led to their strip
dragonpoker game. **Wrong thoughts, wrong thoughts,** he berated
himself. **Okay, think of swimming then,** and he mentally began going
through the proper steps for checking air tanks before going diving.

Warm now with his arms around her and feeling exhausted from her day,
Enamra was soothed enough to fall asleep. But she clung firmly to
Thayde even in her sleep as though in doing so, it would be impossible
for him to rise and leave without waking her.

Last updated on the January 13th 2021

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Precarious Truce