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Sometime in the wee hours of the morning Lydia's prediction came to pass, to their satisfaction and the great frustration of the girl Linley. Still, it was probably a fairly regular happening considering the way the accommodations were set up.

Lydia watched her Thane as he walked across the bridge. He certainly had his oddities. The pale hair was really no oddity to her, but his skin did have an odd pallor. No denying that he was a very desirable male though. Handsome enough of face and form. Even if he didn't have the bulging thews Nord women were supposed to fancy, he was well built. His muscles moved under his skin like skeins of wire and he had a graceful feline grace to his stride.

She had a thought of lightning leashed into a human body, ready to explode into action. She'd never seen a man as quick with his blades. They had practiced together in the training room of Dragonsreach. With wooden swords she found herself at his mercy several times in succession. Even granted he wore a very light armor, she'd never seen a more agile warrior.

Bastard made her feel like a clumsy cow even though she was accounted one of the finer warriors of he hold. Then Bruno of the night watch expressed his scorn for Witchers even after seeing him fight. Richard's only response was to accept his challenge and trounce him in seconds with the use of one sign. When he protested the victory by magic, Richard allowed a dozen of them to take him on... they with live steel, himself with only the wooden blade.

That fight lasted all of seven minutes. He had two wounds both barely more than scratches. Among the guards, two broken wrists, a broken arm, a fractured shinbone, two cracked ribs and numerous dents in helmets. Between sign and blade he dominated all of them from the first moment.

Eventually even Bruno had to admit that Witchers were damn good fighters. Even if they fought dirty. Even she knew that when you fought for your life, fighting dirty was only good sense if you wanted to survive another day. They were Nords by damn, not some perfumed Cyrodilic Chivalry tilting at each other in the game that Jousting had become.

They reached the start of the Seven Thousand Steps. She looked up.  It was going to be a long harrowing climb up to where the mountain disappeared in clouds.

"My Thane"

"Yes Lydia?"

"About last night... as much as I enjoyed it, it was mean of us not to include Linley. I think she would have enjoyed it too."

Richard paused and turned back to look directly at her. "You actually wanted to bring her into our liaison?"

"The way she was whimpering touched my heart. And she's not uncomley."

"Lydia. I had no idea you liked women too."

"Oh, I've tried it, and I much prefer a man. But I think you could satisfy two women in one night without too much trouble. And if the way Irileth walked for two days afterward I think I wouldn't mind another woman about to relieve me when next you take a Dragon's soul."

Richard just looked at her in amazement. Outside of a couple of very randy prostitutes he'd never met a woman who wasn't somewhat jealous about her lover. He admitted, that for some reason women were attracted to him. Some had even offered him money to bed them. The daughter of the Count of Cheydenhall even wanted him to get her with child. He had no idea why they did such things, just that it did occur. He seldom lacked for bed-mates if he really desired one.

"Besides, It might be fun for two women to play Daedra and Battlemages with you."

He chuckled softly. "We'll see." he turned and resumed the climb.

Odd, he mused, Lydia had not struck him as any sort of wanton. She had even resisted when he suggested she give him a try. She told him that the madness he'd felt was just so much bunk and bluster till she talked to Irileth about it. Afterwards her curiosity had gotten the better of her and she slipped into bed with him the second night in Breezehome. She hadn't slept in her own bed since.

Richard certainly didn't mind satisfying her. It was damn enjoyable for both of them. She certainly wasn't Seline, but even Witchers had a hard time keeping up with her appetites... Dunmer, Witcher, and in love with sex she was almost an elemental force in her own right... Coupled with the fact she was an extraordinary musician and singer Seline was one of a kind, even among Witchers. He wondered what Seline was up to right now.

Lydia enjoyed his graceful controlled movements. She enjoyed even more the feelings he gave her. She'd had orgasms enough, but not so many at once... And his size... he filled her to that cusp between pleasure and pain, that knife edge between ecstasy and agony. She liked her Thane... perhaps even to some extent loved him, but not with a thought of husband and wife. She was content to be his comrade and bed-mate. But still... another woman to share him with might not be such a bad idea. Particularly if he'd been lying or mistaken about being a mule. The thought of getting with child right now made her blood run a bit cold... If these really were end times as the prophecies said, it was the wrong time to bring a child into the world. But if it did happen... she couldn't think of another man she'd be happier to give a son or daughter.

"My Thane? Are all Witchers such good lovers?"

Another question that brought him up short. He turned to her again. "I really couldn't tell you. Outside of Selene, I've not bedded a Witcher myself. But for some reason we do have a lustful reputation. Part because we're sterile I suppose, part that we're long lived and have sufficient time to develop such skills. Selene used to say that lovemaking might be the closest thing to art that Witchers possessed."

"Art?"

"We don't compose songs... most of us are bad singers to start with. Most of us can't dance very well. At least I can't. Some of us can play music fairly well though. Selene was the best of us at it. Come to think, she could even dance. Our sketches are mostly details of some new monster we've run across, and our writing is mostly confined to adding new information to our bestiaries.

"All of those are skills we haven't had any real time to cultivate to any extent. If they are any bit above adequate its probably some natural talent. I have a bit of talent playing the lute and recorder, enough to entertain a few friends. Perhaps enough to pay for a supper at some diversion starved place like Ivaarsted."

He paused to look up at the clouds wreathing High Hrothgar above him. "Perhaps when we get back down the hill I might ask Linley if I could borrow her lute for a time to see if I still remember how to pluck out a song or two."

Privately Lydia wondered what rent she might charge him.