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“Farmer?” A familiar voice called out through the opening crack of your front door. The slab of wood creaked further and a horned figure peered inside. “Oh, my dearest farmer…” he said once he saw your sorry state. Moonlight poured out behind him, covering his hair and shoulders.
“Calderus…” you turned further onto your stomach; covered in blankets.
“I am so glad to see you safe and sound.” His voice rapidly approached, along with the tap of claws on wooden floorboards. “What is…” he tentatively placed his fingers on you and you groaned into your pillow. “Are you unwell?” He whispered. Not wanting to look at him, you nodded. A moment passed, and the sound of something dragging across the floor pinged at the headache behind your eyes.
Presuming Calderus to be sitting in a chair at your bedside, you blindly reached out with one hand. It found its target and you tightened your hold to never let go.
“Is there anything I can do for you? I know I am not very good with cooking, but perhaps I could-“
“Juststayherewithme…” you mumbled, squeezing his hand to prevent him from leaving.
“Of course.” He responded in a silent nod, wrapping a second hand around your own. “Whatever it is that you want.”
A long, drawn out hum escaped your lips in satisfaction at the newfound peace of his presence. Your body was positively aching at the work you couldn’t pass up for your farm animals, just from the past few days alone. You’d been so busy, and so tired, and so sick that you couldn’t even visit Calderus.
“‘m sorry I didn’ visit you…” you told him, not able to keep the guilt out of your tone. The creak of the chair indicated him leaning forward as a hand held your shoulder.
“You do not need to apologize for that. I could handle you not visiting me for a few days. Right now, I am much more concerned about your own health.”
You hated how worried he sounded. Not because you hated him, no, quite the opposite. But because it just served to make you feel even more guilty.
“Please don’t worry about my health.” You cried suddenly in a high voice, the pain of your body aiding in your pained emotions. A tear or two ran down the side of your nose while you clutched your abdomen beneath you. Everything hurt. It hurt so much. You just wanted it to be gone and you wanted him to stay and make everything better.
Something touched your eyebrow and you flinched.
“Please do not cry.” You heard the wobble in his voice as he said it. A clawed finger brushed some hair away from your temple before running down your moist cheek. “Anything but that…” he whispered more to himself than to you. His fingers trailed down your shoulder before sliding under the blanket. “I simply cannot bear it…”
“Calderus-“ you failed in your attempt not to sob.
“Shhh…” he hushed to you, caressing your back up and down with his hand. “Just allow me this, please, and if it is what you want, I shall leave afterwards.”
You squeezed your eyes shut farther and focused on his gentle touch. The blanket got pushed back, and he smoothed his palm up between your shoulder blades before rubbing deep circles into your side. It felt… so nice…
A humming originated from his mouth. The sound was music to your ears. He played a soft tune with his lips as he sought to quell the horrid aches within your back. It flowed into your ears and softened the hammering sensation behind your eyes; all melting away. Once he changed up his tactic and began scratching you through the thin cotton of your nightshirt, you couldn’t help the sigh that escaped you in an easy breath. His curved, yet gentle claws dragged up your spine and over your shoulders. At times they would reach the neck and delicately graze the skin there; sending tingly feelings through your nape and emitting more happy sighs from your parted lips. Those same sensations drew up and down your spine from the trail of his claws, and it made the experience all the more enjoyable. The musical hum of mysterious nature continued to grow, and as time went on, illegible words peeked through in a mumble of syllables. It was not in the common tongue. Something about it seemed ancient, but so was Calderus, and there were many things you had yet to learn about him.
And then you caught something among the words; something you had heard Calderus mutter to himself on occasion.
“What does that mean?” You perked up, blinking your bleary eyes in the moon-lit darkness. Calderus halted his movement and music in favor of focusing on you.
“What is it that you are referring to?” He inquired. His hand returned to his lap, and you mourned the loss of contact.
“That word you said.” You jutted your face forward for a second before laying your head sideways over folded arms. Now, he was horizontal on your visual axis. Still just as beautiful.
“Which one?” He leaned down. You spoke a jumbled version of the word you heard.
“I hear you say it all the time whenever I visit. You mumble it to yourself.” You explained. In leu of answering you immediately, Calderus’ face turned darker in the shadows. It reached the tips of his ears and he bashfully looked away; fingers covering his mouth.
“Calderus?” You tilted your head a bit. He hunched further away. “What does it mean?” You asked again, curiously.
With a shuddering breath, he parted his fingers and looked at you from the side; a single visible eye framed by a blush.
“It means ‘my love’.”
Oh.
Oh.
Heat flooded your cheeks. You buried your face into your pillow to smother it. How could you literally face him after hearing that? You would just tell him you still weren’t feeling well. Yeah, that would work. That is, it would have if you didn’t just hear him say your name with such love and tending care.
“Yeah?” You responded nervously, turning timid.
“It is getting late, and I cannot yet stray too far from my home. It is with such a heavy heart that I inform you I cannot stay any longer.”
You think your heart just broke.
“O-oh…” the word warbled out of you. The chair beneath him creaked as he went to stand up. “W-wait.” You told him. You weren’t sure what you were doing.
Scratch that, you knew exactly what you were doing.
“Yes?” He hummed, doing as you asked and leaning close again out of concern. In your spontaneity of not wanting him to leave you, you desired one last act of affection before he did. It would tide you over until you could see him again.
Sitting up from your formerly relaxed position, the blanket pooled around your hips and you reached your hands forward. Calderus found the sturdy base of his horns within the tight grip of your fingers to move as they pleased. He quietly yelped. Firmly, you pulled his face close and connected your lips.
Immediately after, you parted with a gasp-like intake of air, but didn’t let go of him yet. He looked much like before; only this time with a much, much darker skin tone on his cheeks. His eyes were so full of wonders and questions, but regretfully, neither of you had the time.
“Visit me tomorrow.” You pleaded, standing up on your knees now and looking down at Calderus’ face. He just stared in awe; sliding a hand up your arm before wrapping it around the one you had on his horn.
“I will.” He lilted, starry eyes turning heavy. His second hand found yours. Pulling them both off of his head, he brought them to his lips and kissed the knuckles with such a gentleness that it cured you of all misery. “My love.” He added, tightening his hold on you.
“I’ll be here.” You conceded in a slight lamentation. You slipped out of his hold and plopped down onto your feather mattress. “Don’t forget me.” You uttered quietly. Calderus crouched and pressed his forehead to yours. It was a clumsy gesture, but it was perfect.
“I could never forget you. Even if I were to lose all of my memories, even if I lost every essence of myself, I know that you would still stay in the deepest recesses of my mind. You are too important to forget.” The last part was barely a breath.
You squeezed your eyes shut and pressed your mouth closed in order not to cry. You would not cry. Not again.
“Just as long as you do not forget me either.” He said. Your eyes opened. He was about to leave, but the thought was unimaginable. Forget him? How could you ever forget someone so lovely? Someone so impossibly intertwined with your life that your very soul came to rely on him for air? For life?
“Never.” You whispered.
Then he left. You were alone once again with just your sickly body and the echo of his presence.
But you were happy.