War of Attrition

A/N: Hello again! Here's ya'll Christmas present. Hope you enjoy it!

Bright Shadow: Yes I live still! I actually struggled with that chapter quite a bit, I was working very hard to get the initial "exotic" feel of the ritual dance/ceremony, I'm glad that I appear to have captured it! And as far as how their relationship is working, I'm glad its more "believable", the goal is...well I'm sure its fairly obvious :) But you can't have a absolute HATE relationship change to a LOVE or even TOLERABLE relationship overnight, and I see SO many fics that do that. While this may be the slower route it is one that I think gives the story credibility and substance.

Xeno: I'm glad you're enjoying it. Don't worry, it is all part of the master plan, rest assured! You will not be disappointed by the end of this chapter! ;)

therealChahiro: Welcome, its great that you've found and are enjoying the fic. I hope I don't disappoint.


As per usual:
"" is human language
// // is goblin language
thoughts will be itliczed regardless of language.

Also might I add that much of this chapter was written whilst jamming out to Groove Coverage's "Poison" and the Russian sensation Vitas.

- - -

//Hey, wake up.// Inphyy cracked one eye open and looked at Dwingvatt who was standing in the doorway of her room. The inked wolf crest on his face was still there, although not as prominant as it had been earlier. It was the early morning of the day after the mating festival, still dark outside at that too. And cold. Very cold. Maybe she could pretend she was still asleep and-
//Come on sunshine,// she found herself being dragged backwards out of the warm blanket nest by her foot. Instinctively she kicked out and thrashed about, twisting loose and pulling herself in to a sitting postition, glaring daggers at Dwingvatt, who pointedly smirked at her. //We've got to wash the bedding before things ice over for the winter. And if you want to eat for the next three months we've got to go gathering.//
//I fail to see why that requires getting up before dawn,// Inphyy muttered venomously, stretching slightly.
//Because it will take all day and the rest of the week starting today,// Dwingvatt said, moving about again, gathering up the furs and skins that had been Inphyy's bed for the past three months. //Come on,// he rolled his eyes as she got up, rubbing sleep out of her eyes. //And Magistra wants to check on you, properly.//
"I don't need to be examined," Inphyy muttered, as she followed him out of the house, the frosted ground sending pins and needles through her bare feet and her breath coming in white clouds. She couldn't see how the goblins weren't bothered by it, they only had a thin piece of cloth that was more of an ankle brace than anything on their feet. Boots and shoes seemed to be a foreign concept to them.
"You don't have much of a choice," Dwingvatt said, not wanting to get into an argument with the human this early in the morning. Fortunately the subject was left at that, but he could feel Inphyy's glare at his back.

Washing the bedding didn't take long. But it was a cold, wet and unpleasant process that left Inphyy shivering as she and Dwingvatt hauled back the dripping blankets and spread them out over the stone wall that surrounded Dwingvatt's house. They would spend most of the day air drying while they were gone. Dwingvatt went back into the house for a moment then reappeared with a skin that had a hole cut in the middle of it.
"Here, Magistra would kill me if you died from hypothermia," he said, pulling a cloak of his own around his shoulders. Inphyy stared at the garment that he'd given her in confusion. "Its a shawl, you put your head through the hole and it rests on your shoulders like that so you don't have to tie or hold it." Inphyy gave him a doubtful look but pulled the material over her head and found that it did just as he said it would. But from the exasperated sigh she guessed something was off,
"What?"
"You really don't know anything about being feminine do you?" he asked, looking at her incrediously. It was something he'd noticed over the past few months. She didn't behave like a female, didn't move like one, talk like one or care for her body in the preening manner that most women did much either. And he was certain that he'd never even seen her do anything with her hair, let alone try to fix herself up. As if being bred and trained to kill all her life had forced all the estrogen out of her or something.
"I've never had much use for being a mindless doll," she retorted, huffing slightly.
"But weren't you something very similar? A mindless killing machine?" he said, rasing an eyebrow.
"I hate you," she hissed, eyes narrowing as her arms crossed over her chest and her posture hunched slightly in a defensive gesture.
"That's nice. Here hold still," he said, ignoring the noise of protest she made when he reached forward and straightened the shawl. "There. Much better. If you stopped scowling for a minute, you'd actually be quite pretty for a human," he said as he started heading for the woods, leaving a rather shocked human gaping for a moment before she ran to catch up with him.. If she just took a bit of time with herself, hell she could actually look quite nice. He was sure Magistra would have a field day trying to feminize the girl, but he doubted that Inphyy would try to change anything about herself.

"Wait! What? Dwingvatt!" she yelled, jogging after him. "Did you just say I'm pretty?"
"I said you could be. Didn't your mother ever teach you anything about, you know, girly stuff?"
"My mother died when I was very young. My father remarried a widow, she had lost her husband in the War and had a son, Aspharr. He..." she trailed off as they walked, Dwingvatt crouching to dig at the frozen earth and pull out some wild mushrooms. He didn't say anything. It was obvious. If she was less desirable then maybe the torment would stop. However it didn't, and the more it happened the more lacking she became in her self-care. She crouched next to him looking intently at the mushrooms, purposely distracting herself. Those funguses were dangerous to gather unless you knew exactly what you were looking for. These in particular were small dark red ones, each one about a centimeter around with a flat cap on them. Don't take them all, so that way they can grow back in the next year was the rule of thumb. Dwingvatt took about half of them and wrapped them carefully in a thin white cloth which he placed in the gathering bag that was slung over his shoulder and across his chest.

The rest of the morning passed, both of their bags filling rather quickly. The land being left to its own devices for three years had resulted in a variety of natural collections of mushrooms, tubers, herbs and berries. Dwingvatt seemed content to gather one type at a time, and stuck with mushrooms, leaving the other things untouched but not unnoticed, and by mid-afternoon they returned to the house to start the preservation process, which would be drying the small fungi in mesh cages over the open flame of the small metal stove. As evening drew closer Magistra paid them a visit, bringing tea as the healer always did.

//I see you two had a productive day,// she said, eying the dried mushrooms, as she began to look Inphyy over. The sword wounds were all healed by now and only silver scars remained, only the human's wrist worried her now. It appeared to be healing fine and the girl eating properly also helped. She'd put on about ten or twenty pounds and actually looked a little feminine now. //I think we can take the splint off, but be sure she doesn't put too much weight on it,// Magistra said, slowly unwrapping the tight bandage. Inphyy slowly rotated her wrist and winced slightly as the muscles and tendons protested at the sudden movement. The healer took the limb and gently massaged a oil into the skin, slowly rotating it as she did.
//Do this twice a day,// the healer said looking between the two, slightly surprised when Inphyy nodded. So she has been learning our tongue after all. I thought she might, the necessity to adapt is always strong in humans. //Ah Dwingvatt, I've got some cloth so you can get some clothes made for her. Not the most exciting colors, but, hopefully they'll do. She needs something else other then those few outfits and something to keep her warm.// Magistra pulled a few bolts of cloth that was wrapped in thin paper from her bag. There was a dark green, a white, a beige, and a light green, the material was softer than the coarsely woven clothes the human had been wearing. Magistra watched as Inphyy stroked the material in curiosity, rubbing it between her fingers.

//Thank you Magistra,// Inphyy said softly, a small smile on her face. The healer nodded.
//Do you know how to sew the clothes?// She asked, to which the human nodded, it was one of the few feminine skills she had. Battle fields required resourcefulness, you had to make your clothes last and repair them till new supplies came, but this material was nicer than anything she had worked with. Suddenly an idea came to her. Leaning closer to Magistra, Inphyy whispered something to the healer. The goblin smiled and patted Inphyy's good hand and stood, pulling her towards the bathroom.
//Of course dear. Dwingvatt, we're stealing your bathroom for a while.//
//So long as it stays in one piece,// the albino goblin remarked, watching them from where he was patching some of his own clothing that had been left in storage.

About an hour later the two females reemerged, and Dwingvatt was entirely absored in the complicated knotting of the rough leather stitches that would hold an extra layer of insulation on the inside of his clothes during the winter months.
//Well, what do you think?// Magistra asked, startling him out of his concentration and causing him to stab himself with the needle. Sucking on the injured appendage, he looked up at the two and his eyes widened slightly. He had to hand it to Magistra, the old healer wasn't in charge of the mating ceremony for nothing. Inphyy actually looked...nice. Her hair had been washed and cut slighlty to even out the disarrayed layers that had grown wild in the past three months. Small braids, wrapped with pieces of leather and colored thread held her hair back and out of her face, actually showing her startling blue-green eyes. Dwingvatt had to admit, thanks to the small bit of effort on Magistra's part, Inphyy actually cleaned up rather nicely.
//Well for once you don't look like river rat-ow! What was that for?// Magistra had clipped him on the back of the head at his remark.
//Be nice,// she scolded, shaking her head at him.
//I was and besi-OW!// The healer had smacked him and again as she went about gathering her things to head back to her own home.
//Be nice to her,// the healer said once more, shaking a stern finger at Dwingvatt as she left, leaving the two in silence.
"Did I really look like a rat?" Inphyy asked, sitting across the table from her captor as he picked back up the clothing he was working on.
"Kind of. You looked really shaggy and unkempt, now you look nicer. Softer," he said as he carefully threaded the leather through the holes to get the knot work back in place.
"Oh."

- - -

The next several days followed in the same manner, they would wake up before dawn and go out to gather food, then come back and preserve it. Inphyy's wrist was still tender and too much movement or weight put on it still caused a great deal of pain. She had become accustom to using her right hand for most things that required strength, although the dexterity remained in the fingers of her left.

They were out on a particularly overcast day and Inphyy's wrist was acting up on its own accord. She had been careful not to use it, but even the slight unconscious motions of movement caused pain and her hand cramped up terribly. She was craddling her wrist to her chest as she walked along side Dwingvatt in the forest, pausing here and there to crouch and gather whatever caught her eye. Observation was a skill that had served her well in battle and training and now aided her in this process. As long as she had seen the plant before, she could match the gathering skills that had taken Dwingvatt years to master.
"What about this one?" she asked, squatting and clumsily uprooting a large, white capped mushroom that seemed to have no stem and connect direction to the earth. It was like a larger variety of the smaller ones they had found under a log the other day. Dwingvatt came over and looked at it, taking it from her and sniffing it slightly. To Inphyy the fungus all smelled the same, so she assumed the sense of smell for goblins was stronger than her own.
"Where'd you find it?" he asked, looking to where she pointed. It had been growing snugly between two tree roots, and the soil around it was a sandy quality as they were near the stream. "These are tricky. It depends on what's growing around them as they leech off everything else. This one is safe but if its around something poisonous then it absorbs that poison. Good find," he said handing the mushroom back to her, noticing that she seemed to glow a little at the compliment. "How's your wrist, still bothering you?" he asked as they kept walking.

"A little," she said softly, hugging the limb closer to her chest as if she was afraid something might happen to it.
"Here, let me see it," he suddenly stopped and turned to face her, his hand held out. The action startled Inphyy so much that her instinctive reaction was to take several steps backwards, shaking her head violently. Dwingvatt rolled his eyes in exasperation, her panic and fear was obvious, they were extremely careful not to touch each other. It was some sort of rule they had established without meaning to. Granted in the first several weeks he had held her while she was wracked with fever and nightmares, but it had been out of grudging necessity. It was clear that she didn't trust him still, not that he could blame her. In her mind she was still his prisoner of war, he had shown once that he would not hesitate to destroy her, and every action of care after that had been because his superiors or elders had ordered him to.
"Come on, let me see it," he repeated, not advancing on her, but forcing her to be the one to take the action. "I won't hurt you, you know that." he said softly, as if he were talking to one of the children who visited them every so often.

With painstaking slowness she came closer to him and finally extended her arm, her wrist hoovering just millimeters above his open palm. It was then that he realized something and very nearly kicked himself for not having picked up on it before. Shaking himself slightly, he moved his hand so it gently touched hers, supporting it and with his other hand traced it lightly over the exposed under side of her wrist. Her pulse was fluttering frantically beneath the pale flesh, veins dark blue and spider webbing up her arm as he felt her muscles, taunt and tight up her entire arm. It was however, highly difficult to focus on diagnosis why her wrist was still acting up when the scent of female hormones was assaulting him. When had that happened? He'd been close to her before and never noticed the change in her scent or that she was secreting hormones in the first place. Why the sudden change? It didn't make sense. Glancing at her, he saw her eyes were half closed, her lips slightly parted, his fingers had begun automatically stroking and working the tense muscles and tendons while he'd been mentally distracted. Its as if she's never been touched kindly. So any touch has a heightened effect on her... He shook his head and suddenly took several steps back, dropping her wrist.
"Sorry," he said, shaking his head, trying to clear his mind of the scent that was flooding his senses.
"Its okay...It helped, whatever you did.." Inphyy said softly, blushing slightly and rotating her wrist to show that there wasn't any more pain in it. The gentle touch on her skin had sent goosebumps and tingles all through her skin. It had made a small shudder start in the bottom of her stomach. No one had touched her like that before. Not even in an off hand manner. It had felt good, soothing.

"I-" Dwingvatt had started to speak again, when a sudden crack of lightening illuimanted the sky followed by thunder so loud it make the ground shake.
"Fuck, come on!" Dwingvatt said grabbing her arm and pulling her. They were too far from the house but they could make it to the small shack at the edge of the field hopefully before the rain started. But then seconds later the rain came crashing down on them in hard, half-frozen pellets. Inphyy yelped slightly as the stinging rain hit them, but it wasn't so much from the hurt of the rain as it was the shocking cold and the sheer ridiculousness of the situation. Finally they reached the shack and scrambled into it. The space was small and cramped, half of it taken up by a work bench for fixing tools when they broke in the field and there was the distinctive scent of oils used to grease chains and lubricate connecting parts.

Inphyy shivered, wrapping her arms around her and pressing herself as far back into the corner of the shed as she could while Dwingvatt pulled the door shut. The rain was pounding down furiously on the tin roof of the shed and light seeped through the cracks in between the wood. For a moment they stood there, panting in silence from the run and looking at each other. Then Inphyy doubled over in giggles, holding her sides.
"What pray do tell is so highly amusing?" Dwingvatt asked, rolling his eyes at her. Although he had to say it was nice to see her smiling, the laughing was an added bonus. She'd not shown even a hint of joy since she'd been there, it wasn't forced either but natural, and beautiful sounding. The expression of joy or amusement for humans took on a very different tone then that of goblins. It was a higher pitch, and more pleasing to the ears.
"Its nothing, just..." she shook her head ruefully as if what she would say might betray her. Dwingvatt's ears twitched in interest, if anything he had learned that Inphyy as part of her personality, was fiercely private, getting anything from her was like pulling teeth. But when she mentioned something then she was already teetering on the edge of telling it, all she needed was some prompting.
"Just what?" Dwingvatt asked, slipping his bag off his shoulder in a nonchalant manner. She shook her head again, giggling, hands clasped over her mouth as if she would spill a secret of some sort.

Dwingvatt shook his head, she would spill it sooner or later, he just had to wait it out. Leaning against the wall he closed his eyes in a lazy manner and pointedly made all outward appearances of ignoring her. Which was easier said than done. Her scent was undeniable now. Had he really been ignoring her so much that he'd failed to notice the change? Although it was not unexpected, now that he paused to actually think about it. She had been malnourished and abused, therefore her body's primary concern was survival, nothing else. It was not unheard of, for females to not produce hormones, although it was usually if they were starved or living in harsh conditions that were trying on the mind and body, mountain desert goblins had to deal with this the most often. Their menstruation would not occur till much later as well due to the lack of estrogen, which would explain a great deal about the human's lack of menses. But now at this very moment, in the tight confines of the shed, she smelt fresh and wet from the rain and undeniably fertile. There was also the shine in her eyes that had appeared in the recent weeks.

"Its weird," Inphyy said, finally breaking the silence, once she realized that he wouldn't press her into admitting whatever it was. Dwingvatt's ears twitched slightly to show that he was listening. "I never imagined...any of this...Its crazy..."
Dwingvatt opened his eyes and looked at her in slight confusion.
"I mean....Dwingvatt...I'm..." she looked as though the thought was terrifying to her. "I'm happy here..." she whispered in a rush and with those words the dam broke and everything spilled out. "I don't want to go back. Well I couldn't go back anyway, the Maiden of the Light would punish and kill me most certainly. But please," she looked at him, almost desperate. Afraid. "Please let me stay with you. If you'll let me...if you can. If it'll be allowed. Please...I-I feel safe with you. Here. In this place. Please..." she whispered, suddenly looking very afraid, very small, just like she had been when they'd fought three months ago. But also, incredibly needy.

The albino goblin stared at her for a moment, not having expected this at all. Moving the few steps it took to get him next to her, so they were almost touching, he gently reached up and stroked her cheek. She didn't flinch away, but quite the opposite, she turned her head into the touch, her eyes half-lidded. She was trembling slightly, but it was obvious that she craved the touch. And to make matters more complicated, her scent was nearly over-powering now.
"Inphyy..." he whispered softly, stroking her face again and watching in small amazement as she nuzzled his hand again. Raising himself on his toes to close the height gap between himself and her, Dwingvatt gently put his lips against hers.

The effect was electric. A small gasp came from the human, but she didn't pull away, instead her arms hesitantly drapped over Dwingvatt's shoulders, her entire body shaking.
"You can stay as long as you want...Inphyy...I won't hurt you, I promise," he managed to whisper into her ear, pulling her body to press against his.
Inphyy's eyes were closed tight, her breathing fast and shaking.
"Please," she whispered, suddenly acutely aware of how much she needed some sort of touch. Having gone from the harsh abuse to a nearly monk sort of celibacy had left her starved. Craving kind touch. Affection. His lips were against hers again and she whimpered softly, longing for it but terrified at the same time. The kiss was gentle, but pressing, his hands fumbling for a moment to free her body of the gathering bag, which fell to the floor with a soft "thud". His tongue was pressing against her lips, tracing them for a moment before she opened her mouth and granted him access. Asparr had never kissed her, never been gentle with her. His teeth gently nipping at her lower lip as his hands traced down the curved of her body, stopping just below her hips to cup her ass and lift her up. Inphyy gave a startled yelp and clung to him as he lifted her, but relaxed when she found that he was seating her on top of the work bench to better even out their heights.

Instinctively she let her legs part and loosely wrap around his waist as he moved to kiss her again.
"You're breathing too fast, relax," he whispered to her, his hands stroking her back. Nerves were getting the better of her. Inphyy gasped as he kissed her ear, gently trailing his tongue along the outer rim and down to her lobe to suck on it. Her hands were clenched in fists, tightly knotting his shirt as she tried desperately to figure out the foreign sensations that were setting her body on fire, causing a sort of "tickling" in the lower part of her stomach. One hand capturing the back of her head Dwingvatt kissed her again, slowly and deeply, to try and calm her and was slightly surprised when she kissed him back this time. Inphyy sighed, leaning into the embrace and the kiss. The touch was like a drug, one that she desperately needed. His other hand was stroking her back and circling downward to tease at the rim of her ass, slipping under the material of her skirt and tracing over her skin. A soft noise that was between a whimper and moan left her throat as her head bowed back and he broke the kiss, biting gently at the pale flesh that was now exposed and sucking on it. Her entire body was shaking and she pulled her neck away from his lips to kiss him again. That was what she desperately needed, the other matter of foreplay and making out could come later. There was something powerful, intimate about the kisses that she craved more than anything else. Then she felt his hand move from her ass to her breast, cupping it and squeezing it gently.

She moaned into his mouth, her hands cupping his face as her body reacted, shuddering and spasming under his touch. Then his hands left her and he pulled away. Inphyy's eyes flew open, uncertain, confused, panicking. Dwingvatt put a finger on her lips.
"Are you certain that you want this?" he said, panting for breath, knowing what he wanted. But also knowing the implications. The complications.

Inphyy seemed to be well aware of them as for a moment she closed her eyes, taking several deep breaths to gather her thoughts. After a moment of silence, she looked at him again.
"Yes. More than anything," she whispered frantically, her hands clasping his tightly as she leaned forward resting her forehead against his. "Please."

Outside the half frozen rain continued to pour down.