Silverpine Dreams

***Disclaimer*** I do not own World of Warcraft. I play, but don't own Blizzard nor do I work for Blizzard. Any names that may match any characters by any players or NPC's is purely by accident.***

Many thanks to my Fiancé who does all of my editing and spell checking. XOXO


Silverpine Dreams - Book Two: by AzureBonds

Book Two - Chapter One


A few hours later that day, Lina woke, feeling tender, but otherwise none the worse for wear. She was still draped across Zaba's chest and leg, and had his arm securely wrapped around her back. She lifted herself up on her elbow and looked down at the big troll lying with his other arm across his eyes. She could see that he was trying to block out the sunlight that was streaming into the mouth of the cave. Smiling she gave the troll a gentle shake on his massive chest. "Wake up sleepy head." she said with a smile. She couldn't help chuckling when he half heartedly swatted at her, seemingly not wanting to wake up, but after spending three days sleeping, Lina knew that she just couldn't sleep anymore.

She gingerly moved his arm by squirming back from his torso, she really didn't want to wake him up, because she knew that he was well and truly tired. She was sure that he hadn't slept that much over the last three or four days, because he had been taking care of her while she was sick with fever. Zaba grumbled in his sleep, and she was afraid that she had woken him up. When she looked at him, he had his head raised and was squinting at her with one sleep blurred eye. She smiled at him, and he smiled sleepily back at her and dropped his head back to the floor, falling quickly back to sleep. Continuing to shimmy away from the troll, Lina had gotten his arm out far enough that she easily got up without disturbing him further. When she got up Zaba rolled over onto his side and started snoring loudly. "I think I broke him." she smiled as she thought to herself.

Turning away from him, Lina took stock of what was in the cave. She could see that there was a tanning frame against one wall with Zaba's stack of leathers that he had already collected. From what she could see, he was really good at his craft. The surfaces that were visible were hardly marred and the hides were of pretty good quality. She could see that there was a lot of room for improvement. She knew that was where she would start to make herself useful. Lina's father was an artisan leather worker, and an expert skinner and had taught Lina everything he knew. It made her sad to think of him now, but Lina being as pragmatic as she was, pushed those thoughts to the back of her mind. She knew that she needed to grieve, but there was work that needed to be done, and she was not one to sit idly. There was no time to dwell on bad feelings.

Lina looked to the deer that Zaba had brought back the night before, lying close to the skins and his backpack. She knew that it would have to be skinned and butchered soon or it would start to turn sour. She scanned the cave further and saw that the fire had finally dwindled to barely glowing coals, and the cooking pot lying on it's side not far away. Being a farm girl Lina was used to working at this time of day and she could see that there was lots that she could be doing.

"Well there's nothing to do, but get to it." Lina thought to herself. She quietly moved around Zaba, so as not to wake him up. She grabbed the cooking pot and headed to the doe and backpack.

Once she reached Zaba's pack, she quickly glanced back at him, checking to make sure that she didn't disturb him. Feeling that he deserved a good rest, she set about finding his skinning knife. She was happy to find that it was on top of everything in his pack. She also found some cooking herbs and his tanning salts. " Well, I can put these to good use." she said, talking softly to herself. She placed the items in the pot so that they would be easier to carry. Grabbing the skins and the pot, Lina went out side to set up her work stations. She made two more trips into the cave, picking up the tanning frame and then coming back to heft the deer up to her shoulder to take it outside for skinning and butchering. Once outside with it, Lina looked for a place to best skin the dead animal.

Seeing a crop of trees near by, Lina thought that there was a branch or two that she could hang the deer from it's hind legs to better draw the skin down and off of the carcass. Remembering the rope that Zaba had tied around her belly, Lina went back to the cave one more time to retrieve it. She stopped on the way in to scratch Tibol behind the ears on the way in and stumbled over a loose log from the now dead fire, nearly falling on top of Zaba in the process. She somehow managed to keep on her feet this time and sighed a breath of relief. She double checked to make sure that she hadn't woken up the big troll, and then returned to searching for the rope. When she spotted it, she picked it up and left the cave, being careful not to trip on the way out too.

Zaba, did however wake up just as soon as Lina got up, missing her warmth as soon as it was gone. Wanting to watch her without being noticed, Zaba feigned sleep. He wondered what she was up to. He saw her pick up the cook pot, and inwardly hoped that she would make food for him. He liked to cook, but liked it better when someone else cooked for him. He then saw her rummage through his backpack and pull out the curing salt and cooking herbs. He then started to worry that she would try to cook with the salt, but when he saw her pick up the skins too, along with the cooking pot, he breathed a little easier. "She must know a little about skinning and curing leather." he thought. When she came back for the doe that he bagged the night before, he wanted to get up to help her, but he was pleased when she managed to pick it up and heft it over her shoulder. "She may look small and fragile, but she has steel in her backbone too." he mused to himself. He knew that life was going to be tough for her, but he was glad that she seemed willing and able to face whatever came her way.

He admired her buttocks as they peeked out from the bottom of the shirt he gave her. It had ridden up as she carried the deer outside. Seeing her cheeks made his cock twitch and reminded him of their activities earlier that morning, and made him think of the fun they were going to have again soon. While lost in his lewd thoughts, Zaba didn't hear Lina enter the cave again, but nearly jumped out of his skin when she stumbled over a log from the dead fire. Quickly regaining his composure, he continued to pretend to be asleep. He saw her check to see it he had woken up and nearly laughed out loud at her sigh of relief. When she had picked up the rope that he tied her with the night before, and left the cave, Zaba got up to watch her from the mouth of the cave. He admired her smooth flow as she prepared to start her tasks.

Before gutting and skinning the deer, Lina wanted to get it tied up into the low-branched tree that she picked earlier. Tying the rope to the hind legs of the animal tightly so that it wouldn't come undone, and then throwing the other end over the lowest branch that Lina could reach, she pulled the deer up and up, until it was a good height for her to reach it and not have it drag on the ground. She pulled the end of the rope that she was holding to the trunk of the tree and wound it around the tree, tying it off tightly, to keep it from slipping. Happy that she had that well in hand, Lina scrounged for firewood to build a good fire, so that when she was ready, the coals would be perfect for cooking a deer shank for supper that night.

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Author's Note - Edited for spelling mistakes.
Keep R&Ring please!

~AzureBonds~