It's inevitable, everything that's good comes to an end [Garth]

Kattegat was positively rippling with energy as the raid drew nearer and nearer and honestly, Iliana was not a fan. Sure, the influx of people to the area in anticipation was certainly helping her make money, and the assumption that wealth would be incoming had some people opening their pockets a little early. Something else she wasn’t upset about. But she was naturally pessimistic and rather than focusing on all the possible advantages of the coming raid, she was busy running through all the things that could go wrong.

She didn’t know very many people in Kattegat yet; She continued to isolate herself and used ‘working’ as an excuse to justify the anti-social behavior. There were few people she interacted with more than once, and most of them were not exactly friend material. It was times like these when she missed her best friend, Brynja. How hard was it to just find someone in this village who would be mean to her and help her judge others? That was all she wanted. Instead, she’d met a bunch of nice people.

Of course, there was one nice person she didn’t mind spending time with, and it honestly irked her a bit. She didn’t know if it was because he was a blacksmith and spending time in his shop or listening to him talk about his work reminded her of happier times in her life, or if she just genuinely enjoyed his company. That couldn’t be it, right? Because he had to be the nicest person she’d ever met. And she was friends with Redra. It was hard to be nicer than Redra.

For one inexplicable moment, she thought about what it would be like if Garth met her friends. She knew he & Redra would hit it off immediately because they were both the sort of person who other people just wanted to like. But Brynja… Iliana interacting with Brynja in front of Garth would immediately tip him off to the fact that she was not like him. Not the nice, friendly, pleasant person he believed her to be. And then he wouldn’t want to be friends with her anymore, she was certain.

Speaking of Garth, he was going on the raid with the Ragnarssons, and Iliana wasn’t sure how she felt about it. Not that she had any right to any sort of opinion about what he did with his life, but when your only friend was leaving and could be gone for months, Iliana thought you had a right to be a bit put out. She’d never tell him that, of course. She’d wish him well, and hope the gods would keep him safe and she’d get back to her life. In fact, maybe she’d go visit the twins in Uddevalla?

Before she got any farther with that plan, there was a knock at her door, and her brow furrowed as she looked at it. She wasn’t expecting company. The knife Garth had given her rested on the small table beside the door. It looked as if it was on display, but it was also there so she could grab it easily in case she ever needed to. She might not have been shieldmaiden material, but her mother had taught her how to defend herself.

However, none of that proved necessary when she opened the door and spotted Garth there, with two small, fluffy puppies under each arm. A smile spread across her face as she looked from the pair of puppies to his face, raising an eyebrow in question. “Come in?” she offered, stepping to the side and pulling the door open wider so he could get by. “What are you doing here? Who are your friends? And shouldn’t you be getting ready for the raid?”

Iliana was still plenty confused by Garth’s appearance at her door, with a pair of pups in his arms, no less, and his laughing at her questions wasn’t exactly helpful. But he came inside quickly and started to explain and Iliana just got even more confused. He wanted to see her again before he left? Shouldn’t he have more important things on his mind at the moment? And he’d… bought her a dog? To protect her? She thought that was incredibly thoughtful, but definitely not something he should be worried about? If she wasn’t?

But the pup in his arms was wiggling and he reached out to pass it to her and she scooped it up immediately. She really did love dogs. She hadn’t had one in a few years and had thought getting a puppy when her future had been so uncertain wasn’t a very responsible thing to do, and had stopped herself. “Looks like I need to think of a name for you,” she said to the dog as it licked her cheek. Grinning, she turned back to Garth. “Thank you,” she told him, stepping further into her house. She didn’t know how long he was staying, but they didn’t need to hover inside the doorway.

Putting the puppy down so it could wander and get used to her house, Iliana crossed her arms loosely in front of her, listening to what Garth had to say, and thinking. She was doing a lot of thinking. And she was thinking that Garth liked her. And also that she was a complete idiot for not seeing it sooner. All the things he’d done for her, and inviting her over for dinner, and just literally being nicer to her than anyone she’d ever met… it was ridiculous that it had taken her this long to piece it together. But the idea was so foreign to her, that someone that nice would like her, it never ever crossed her mind. Until she came face to face with him before he left on a raid because he was worried about her safety.

Finally she realized she’d been too quiet for too long, and he looked like he was having a hard enough time with the whole situation, so smiled at him. “I’m happy to take the dog. It was very thoughtful of you. I’m sure he’ll be an excellent guard dog,” she told him with a grin. “Are you supposed to hope raids are short?” she wondered next, teasing him just a little bit. It was all still very strange to her, but now that she’d sorted it out in her head that he liked her, she didn’t feel awkward around him like she normally did. And once she realized that, she realized that maybe Garth wasn’t the only one who’d developed feelings here. Which instantly worried her. Because what if she’d just jumped to the wrong conclusion? Feelings were hard and she didn’t like them.

Clearing her throat, she looked away for a minute, feeling awkward all over again, but forced herself to look him in the face before adding, “I, um… I’ll miss you too.”

Garth was grinning at her after she thanked him and put the dog down to wander and she returned it with a smile of her own. This was still one of the weirder encounters she’d had with him, but after her revelation, she was enjoying herself. Especially when he started blushing after she said she’d miss him too. She was fairly certain she’d never made anyone blush before she’d met him. It was adorable.

Then he started talking and just… didn’t stop. Iliana tried her best to keep up and pay attention, but he was unloading a lot of information on her at once. “I can,” she answered quickly with a nod, when he asked about her watching his dog for him while he was gone. He offered her money for it, and she wanted to tell him that wasn’t necessary, because he’d just bought her a dog, but he’d already moved on. “What? Oh, thank you!” she added when he pulled out a second bag of jewels from Skagerrak, apparently. “Why?” She wanted to know, but assumed his answer was going to be ‘because I wanted to’ or ‘because I’m nice’ or something similar.

Now standing there a bit awkward, with a pouch in each hand, Iliana looked up at him with wide eyes as his face turns red and he looks away after saying he needed to tell her something. He was admitting to liking her now, and she was both pleased and surprised at the same time. She’d only just realized that he had feelings for her to begin with, and now he was just blurting it out like that. Was this how it normally worked for people? She honestly didn’t know.

He took a step closer after telling her he liked her quite a lot, and that he wanted her to be safe, which was still a little funny to her. She’d been entirely on her own for quite a long time now, him suddenly worrying about her safety seemed silly. And while she certainly appreciated it, she was more worried about his safety than her own, and thought he should be as well.

She simply nodded at him, raising an eyebrow at the very good point he was making. Telling her all of this before leaving for who knows how long was not a very nice way to go about revealing you had feelings for someone. Especially because now she’d realized she also had feelings for him, and he’d be gone for… maybe months? And when he added ‘if something happened’ she realized what he meant and she honestly got more worried than she had been a moment ago. He’d taken another step closer, and when he told her he wanted to kiss her, her eyes widened in surprise. He just… was really that nice, that he was asking permission to kiss her?

He mentioned ‘and so many other things’ and she felt herself blushing as she put the pouches down on the table beside them so she was no longer just holding them like an idiot, and this time it was her turn to take a step closer. He was blushing worse than she was, and she thought it was pretty cute. Finally, Iliana nodded at him quickly. “Kiss me, please,” she told him, honestly a bit surprised she’d worked up the nerve to actually say it, and hoping to put a stop to his rambling.

Iliana was still having a lot of trouble adjusting to the fact that Garth was just an incredibly nice and thoughtful person. So while she wasn’t surprised by his answer for why he’d bought her jewels from Skagerrak, she still had trouble wrapping her mind around it. She couldn’t imagine ever becoming accustomed to someone just giving her things out of the goodness of their heart, for no real reason beyond ‘I saw it and thought you’d like it.’ How was she supposed to be friends with someone like him? Her mind just didn’t work the same way and he’d get sick of her eventually, right? Now that she’d come to the realization that he probably had feelings for her and she might have them for him as well, that conclusion wasn’t one she was particularly fond of.

But then he came right out and told her he felt, and asked if he could kiss her and she was almost shocked she’d said yes but luckily he wasn’t waiting for her to change her mind. He took a step closer and his hand was on her cheek and she felt a bit awkward and self-conscious for a moment. It had been a while since she’d been this close to anyone. When his lips first touch hers, she was a bit timid; unsure what to expect from him, or even just what to do with her hands. But when he applied more pressure, she stopped thinking altogether and leaned into it, kissing him back. Her hands rested lightly on his chest, until he deepened the kiss, and she balled them into fists in his shirt, pulling him closer. Iliana was no stranger to kissing but she’d never been kissed quite like this before. Like he had all the time in the world and all he wanted to do was kiss her.

When he finally pulled away, it was probably a good thing he didn’t try to step away from her immediately, because she still had his shirt clutched in her fists and she wasn’t certain she’d have let go in time. But she did so now, while he told her she’d made him very happy, and apologized for overwhelming her. She nodded in reply quickly, because he had most definitely overwhelmed her.

“Yes, well apology accepted,” she told him with the hint of a smirk. Iliana imagined she’d accept just about any apology that came after a kiss like that, honestly. “But when you get back from this raid, I think the first thing we need to discuss is your awful timing.” How was she supposed to just wait around for the next month or two for him to kiss her like that again? “Because it’s really bad.” She nodded again, sending him a teasing smile. “You’ll probably have to make that up to me somehow.”

This whole interaction was going far better than Iliana had assumed it would. That wasn’t too unusual lately, especially where Garth was concerned. Iliana’s pessimistic nature meant she was always prepared for the worst, which, if she was being honest, had left her pleasantly surprised quite a lot lately. Because of him. Plus, it was always nice to hear how people really felt about you. Typically those conversations went very differently for her. This was definitely a first.

It struck her that everything between them had suddenly become far more intimate than they’d been just a moment ago. They were standing very close together, he was using words like ‘we’ and ‘home’ and they were discussing the future. And he’d just had his tongue in her mouth. But she was quite surprised to discover she didn’t hate it. She didn’t like the uncertainty that this raid suddenly brought, but she was willing to admit, to herself at least, that she certainly had feelings for him. And that wasn’t as worrying or upsetting as she would have thought.

Nodding in agreement when he said they’d have a discussion about his bad timing, she tilted her head at him just a bit when he added that he’d give her anything she asked for. She would’ve replied if he hadn’t kissed her again, but whatever she had to say couldn’t have been that important because she promptly forgot all about it when he wrapped an arm around her to pull her closer.

She didn’t hesitate this time, reaching up to link her hands behind his neck. He was an excellent kisser, and Iliana rather wished he wasn’t going on the raid at all. They could have a chat right now and then get back to kissing. But she knew that wasn’t an option. He had to go on this raid, and he wanted to, and it would certainly give her plenty of time to think about her own feelings and adjust to this whole thing. She typically didn’t rush head first into anything, so this had all worked out rather well. Except for that part where he could die, of course.

When he ended the kiss, he didn’t pull away this time, and she knew she shouldn’t have liked that as much as she did. But the result of years as a blacksmith were extremely plain, pressed against him like this, with his arm around her waist. She couldn’t help but roll her eyes ever so slightly when he said he’d bring her something back with him. “Just bring you back, and I’ll be happy with that.” She knew that’s just how he was, he’d made that plain from almost the first time they’d met. But the ever-present negative thoughts in her head intruded, wondering how long it would take for him to think she was just using him because she knew how generous he was? Logic told her he’d never think that, but it did little to quiet those thoughts.

Luckily, she wasn’t given much chance to add anything else because he pulled away as one of the puppies had managed to hit the small table in the corner while they were playing and knocked over an empty pitcher. She grinned at him. “I’m sure we’ll be fine. I get on far better with dogs than I do people.” She paused for a moment and poked him gently in the chest, now that they weren’t quite as close together. “And I mean it, you don’t need to bring me back anything. You’ve already been generous enough for one day.” Between the dog, the jewels, the money, and the kissing, Iliana had to admit, she was having a great day.  “When do you leave?” She knew it was soon but she didn’t know the exact details because she hadn’t really been paying too much attention. Until now, it hadn’t really affected her very much. So now she was torn between wishing she had more time to talk to him about all of this, and being kind of glad she’d have plenty of time alone to work it all out for herself.