It was the early hours of the morning before I made it back to the farm. By the time I had given my statement and walked home I was absolutely shattered. The house was silent as I walked in. That is something that I very much appreciate. Living so far from the city makes the nights so much more peaceful… apart from when Tadwick wakes up screaming that is. When we have stayed in town during quests and things I have always struggled to sleep due to the sounds of drunks in the street.

  As I walked through the kitchen towards my room, I heard footsteps. I looked up to see Kiyui coming down the stairs towards me. By the gods is he a sight for sore eyes.

  Dwynfel: “Sorry… did I wake you?”

  I’m so shattered, being stealthy really didn’t occur to me.

  Kiyui: “Don’t be silly. I’ve been helping Tadwick get back to sleep. He had one of his moments. It was a pretty bad one.”

  Dwynfel: “They’re getting worse… there has to be something that we can do.”

  Kiyui reached the bottom of the stairs and wrapped his arms around me. The warmth of his embrace was exactly what I needed.

  Kiyui: “All we can do it talk to him and try to help him process things. If he can do that, then maybe what happened to him will no longer plague his dreams.”

  Dwynfel: “Gods, I hope so.”

  Kiyui took a step back and looked me in the eye with concern.

  Kiyui: “So why are you back so late? I thought you were just popping to the guild to collect the reward.”

  He won’t admit it… but he’s been staying up because he’s been worried about me.

  Dwynfel: “Oh, somebody cut down Verity’s favourite tree… things kinda spiralled… and Damecus and I ended up rescuing some slaves and killing a major crime lord.”

  Kiyui: “Not entirely sure how you got from a tree being cut down to that. But its late, so you can tell me in the morning. We should get you to bed.”

  I went to walk to the bedroom and Kiyui stopped.

  Kiyui: “You’re limping.”

  Dwynfel: “Am I?”

  You know what… my entire body feels so fucked that I didn’t even notice. I must have hurt my leg more than I thought when I jumped from that balcony.

  Dwynfel: “I’m sure it’ll be fine by morning… let’s just get some sleep.”

  Kiyui: “Don’t go brushing it off like it is nothing. You’re hurt, let me help you.”

  He swooped over to me and helped me to hobble to the bed so that I could sit down. He assisted me in taking my clothes off and started to inspect my leg.

  Kiyui: “Well, it doesn’t look bruised or broken. Probably sprained the muscle or something.”

  Dwynfel: “Yeah, probably… I didn’t even notice I was limping until you mentioned it.”

  Kiyui: “Must have been quite the night for you not to notice something like that.”

  Dwynfel: “You have no idea.”

  He looked up at me and smiled.

  Kiyui: “Well, I’m very proud of you. It can’t have been easy taking down a crime lord.”

  Dwynfel: “If I’m honest… it was mostly Damecus. I was just kind of… there.”

  Kiyui: “Don’t do that.”

  Dwynfel: “What?”

  Kiyui: “Play your role down. You always do that. Well, I’m not having it. You tell me that my role is important and that I’m just as valuable as everyone else, but you always act like you are being carried.”

  Probably because I am most of the time… sometimes literally.

  Dwynfel: “Sorry…”

  Kiyui: “Don’t apologise… it’s sweet that you aren’t overconfident like a lot of adventurers. Overconfidence is what gets most of them killed. But some confidence would be nice to see.”

  Dwynfel: “I’m just not a naturally confident person.”

  Kiyui: “I can see that, Dwyn. I just need you to know that you have so many things to be confident about.”

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  Dwynfel: “I really don’t. I’m basically just floundering through life as best as I can.”

  Kiyui spread my legs and shuffled his way in-between them whilst still kneeling on the ground. He raised himself up slightly so that his eyes were level with mine.

  Kiyui: “Floundering or not, you’re an amazing person, Dwyn. You have a truly beautiful soul. True beauty comes from within. Which makes you the most handsome man in the world. You care about those around you. You do your best to help them. You don’t even think twice about it. When I asked you about rescuing Alexi, you didn’t question whether we should. You simply questioned how we go about it. I’m sure that you didn’t have to go along with Damecus on whatever on earth happened today, but you did. You care… you care so much… and that makes you better than ninety-nine-point-nine percent of men out there.”

  Dwynfel: “Kiyui… that is incredibly sweet of you to say… but caring isn’t enough… I need to have the ability to help the ones I care about.”

  Kiyui leaned forward and kissed me. His touch was so slight… a mild brush of the lips… but it felt so tender and sweet.

  Kiyui: “You do have the ability, Dwynfel. You do things to help all of us all the time. That’s why everyone loves you. That’s why I love you. You may not be the strongest, you may not be overflowing with magic, but you always do what you can. And that is the most important thing. You do what you can. If everybody did that, then the world would be a much better place. So please… please try to have a bit more confidence. What you do matters… how you feel matters… you matter.”

  He leaned in again and kissed me again. This time he lingered on my lips… it was firmer than before. I felt his mouth open slightly, mine opened instinctively and his tongue lightly caressed mine. I felt one of his hands on the back of my head and his other hand on my chest. He slowly lowered me from my seated position on the edge of the bed until I was lying on my back… all the while continuing his loving embrace with me.

  I felt myself starting to tear up. He makes me feel so good about myself… he makes me feel so happy. I love him more than anything and I just wish that I could express that to him without collapsing into a puddle of nerves.

  That’s it… I’ve decided… I am definitely going to marry him. I just need to ask him… I need to find the perfect way to ask him. Should I ask him now? Do I need to get a ring first? Or can I ask him now and get the ring later?

  I could spend my share of the quest money on a really nice ring for him. Something that matches his necklace… that red orb in the eagle claw that he wears… fuck… he’s holding my penis… fuck… I was lost in thought… I didn’t even realise his hand was heading in that direction… I didn’t even realise I had an erection… fucking hell… I am the worst ranger ever… I am so easily distracted.

  He pulled his head away from mine momentarily.

  Kiyui: “I love you, Dwynfel.”

  Dwynfel: “I love you too, Kiyui.”

  This is it… this is the moment… I need to ask him now… I want to ask him now… fucking hell he’s moving the skin up and down… fuck… don’t get distracted. I need to make him stop… it will really ruin the moment if I ejaculate all over him in the middle of asking.

  I reached down and took his hand. I placed his hand on my chest and looked him in the eyes… in his big beautiful blue eyes.

  Kiyui: “What’s wrong?”

  Dwynfel: “Absolutely nothing. Everything is perfect… you are perfect. I just... I wanted to ask you something… Kiyui… you mean the world to me and I love you more than life itself… so I was really hoping…”

  Suddenly, a horrendously loud scream resounded through the house. It just kept going.

  Kiyui: “Shit, he’s woken up again. I’d best stay with him… he’s waking up loads tonight. I’m really sorry, we can pick up where we left off some other time.”

  He gave me a quick peck on the lips.

  Kiyui: “You mean the world to me too, Dwyn.”

  He proceeded to grab my erection and wiggled it about in a light-hearted manner.

  Kiyui: “And I am really sorry that you will have to deal with this on your own tonight. Love you.”

  He gave a playful giggle and toddled out of the room. I hate to see him leave… but he really does have the world’s most beautiful bottom. I was so close to asking him… bloody children… they always need you at the worst possible times.

  After a few minutes the screaming stopped and silence returned to the house. I think I will go ring shopping tomorrow… that’s what I’ll do… I’ll get up early and go looking for a ring. I want to do this properly. I’m glad we got interrupted. I couldn’t ask him when he’s in the middle of wanking me off… that would be an awful story… could hardly tell the kids that when they ask how I proposed. No… I need to ask at the right romantic moment… and the first step to that it getting the right ring.