This was it.

Alistair moved to smash his useless sausages for fingers together, as if a clap would prove him to be valuable, but in his state he missed completely. One hand sailed through the air while the other clanged against the metal bit strapped to his cuirass. Its call rang out over the campsite, beckoning everyone to look over at the man who went from bouncing nervously on his toes to breaking out in a rash.

Gulping and waving that errant hand which was probably going to bruise tomorrow, Alistair tried to ignore the concerned looks from Leliana and Wynne, the snake glare from the witch, and a…disturbingly smug one out of the elf. What did he know?

"Ali…"

Forgetting Zevran instantly, Alistair turned to the reason he could feel a river of sweat sliding down his back. With a smile forming from his lips down to his toes, he turned to the person he really wanted and feared to speak with.

It'd been forever since they last saw each other. Three days to be precise, Talia saying that she'd need Sten in their trek through the forest. Something about requiring someone really tall so they didn't get lost. And also that Alistair needed to rest a minor stab wound from a genlock. He'd thought it a nice break…for all of about thirty minutes until his heart lodged in his throat and refused to get down.

What if she was injured? What if she was distracted and didn't feel darkspawn creeping up on them? What if…?

The fretting was all for naught, Talia and the others rolling back into camp by a late afternoon sun little worse for the wear. Okay, Morrigan looked as if she got into a fight with a bear, but that seemed to be her preferred attire style. And, Alistair would only feel sorry for the bear. The moment his eyes locked upon Talia's return, he shook away every damn fear that'd been clogging his tongue and vowed to march over to her.

It only took him an hour of the others busying themselves for dinner to get as close as banging his knuckles into his belt buckle.

Talia had her hair all bunched up at the top of her head in one of those round things girls do. Maker, he wanted to rustle it apart and dive his fingers through her ebony locks. Instead, Alistair settled for limply digging his bruised knuckles into a hip and jutting one out in an attempt to appear collected. It was clearly not working, judging by the snickering from the assassin.

"Was there…something you wanted to tell me?" Her beguiling eyes darted across his chest before tumbling into his sight. Achingly slow, she drew the wet, pink tip of her tongue against her rosy lips, leaving Alistair even more dumbfounded than before. Which was bad since he started dumb and couldn't get much further down.

"I missed you," he blubbered, his foolish hand trying to cut through the gap between them. Brush up the side of her leathers, tousle in her hair, cup the nape of her neck and tug her to him for a kiss.

"It was three days," she laughed, glancing around at their fellow companions who could hear the star-struck ex-Templar with ease. Alistair had trouble with his indoor voice. Talia took one step closer to him, her chin brushing near his sternum as she whispered, "I missed you too."

"I want to," fell out of his foolish lips so fast he moved to smack his forehead.

"You want to…?" Talia bounded on her toes, tucking her hands behind her back as if she feared to touch him. Or feared others watching.

Oh Maker. Alistair's wild eyes shot to the entire set of them gathered around, listening to his bumbling, probably about to weigh in suggestions and… No. You're trying to get out of this.

"I've been thinking," he began before scoffing, "I know, warn the fire brigade. Surely something's about to spit flames. I mean…after everything we've been through, every…" Andraste's pretty toenails, this shouldn't be so hard!

Okay, it should be hard in the right places.

"From all of this, what we were tossed into. Having an entire blight thrust upon our heads." Damn it, why did everything he say sound dirty? "I just wanted to say that I'm so happy that the Maker made you you."

"That's, um…" Talia's lips twisted up in thought before she finished, "sweet?"

"There's more. Which, maybe I should have written down," Alistair took one last glance around the group, praying none of them were listening in. Forget the others, forget the chantry, forget whatever foolish fears were chewing through your brain. Say it!

"I want to be with you."

Her eyes widened in surprise, along with a soft, "Oh," escaping her beautiful lips.

"In the tent, together. Doing the…tent things one does." Maker's breath, were his palms sweating? And he couldn't stop bouncing his damn leg either. Alistair looked as if he was about to launch into a jig. Stop fidgeting, stop panicking. Stop it now!

When her hand caressed up his arm, Alistair's body froze, his head swiveling up to meet her gaze. She'd turn him down. She'd have to after that…was it even a question?

"Are you sure?" Talia whispered, her body pressing closer to his.

The scent of the forest was almost palpable on her. Honeysuckle and juniper wafted off her knotted hair, the heat of her taut body that was straining at its full reach upended his vocal cords. Stricken fully numb, all Alistair could do was nod. He did his best to nod decisively though.

Skirting her hand into his, Talia enveloped her fingers around his and began to tug towards his tent. "Then, come on," she smiled guiding him towards the place he slept every night. It was a good thing too because Alistair's mind leapt off a cliff and would have taken his body with.

This was it. The thing he'd been mulling over, fretting about, fearing, then aching for for the past three weeks. Maker take him, he'd even tried to get Zevran's advice. That got as far as the elf narrowing his eyes and saying in that flippant accent, "Are you asking how one goes about wooing someone?"

He swore to never ask anyone anything after that. Which left him at such an abysmal starting place, he was starting to question how pants worked never mind the bits inside of them and the joining there of.

Talia lifted his tent flap, still not a euphemism, and with her warmth holding him guided Alistair inside. As the door dropped behind with a thud, he heard his heartbeat bounding about like a fireball trapped in a chimney. Slowly, Talia reached her delicate fingers up to her hair, plucked a few pins out, and the ebony tumbled to her shoulders.

It was instinct that caused Alistair to reach out and catch it in his fingers. Maker's breath, it was softer than a kitten's belly, shinier than onyx. His fingers climbed higher, gently parting her downed hair to the tip before starting anew.

"Ali," Talia whispered, drawing him to look up, which was when she pounced. Both arms locked around the back of his neck, her sultry lips smashing into his. He almost cried out in an exaggerated pain, when her tongue rolled around his bottom lip and tugged it between hers. Strawberries, a hoppy ale, and serenity floated on her tongue. The drumbeat in his blood surged to war as he tasted what he missed. From behind, he felt her fingers rustling through his hair, electricity charging his scalp and bringing a moan up his throat.

Breathing in deeper, he smelled something new on Talia, a sharp note he couldn't place. Sweet but also impatient, it grabbed his groggy libido and shook it awake. His fingers fumbled for her breasts, hungry for the perfect scoops that molded to his needy palms. At the brush of a nipple, it was Alistair who moaned, and Talia popped away from their slovenly kisses.

She brushed her forehead against his and whispered, "We can take it slow."

"I thought we were, what with me taking days to figure out how my co…undercarriage rattles."

Her hand locked tighter to the back of his head, pulling him closer as she smiled, "I meant tonight." Those sharp eyes that ensnared him from across a battlefield melted as she stared up at him, "We have all the time in Thedas."

Alistair kissed her, his famished tongue happy to plumb her mouth and lick her lips. They fell into what he knew best, kissing across her beautiful neck, a few pecks to the half moon of skin she displayed above the collar of her armor. His hands found their way to her breasts, Talia moaning whenever he did something she liked. Seemed she was really fond of him cupping underneath, that bringing out such gasps he felt his little soldier swiping against his trousers. It wanted to get in on the action.

Oh Maker, it could.

"May I?" Talia spoke, startling Alistair from licking her collarbone. He had no idea what she wanted to do. Compose a love ballad? Borrow one of his socks? Fart? It wasn't until his eyes darted to her hands which were placed to the front of her leathers that it kicked in.

She wanted to get naked.

Sweet Andraste did he want her naked. To touch her satiny skin and…

Gulping, Alistair nodded, his eyes filling to the brim as she quickly undid a thousand clasps he'd have panicked and gotten his hair stuck in. He was enthralled, mesmerized into being, until he caught a sliver of naked, tan flesh and instinctively turned away.

Damn it, she wanted you to see. You don't have to…to… At the sound of her leathers flopping to the ground, Alistair swallowed deep. Okay, he wasn't ready to watch her undress. Somehow that seemed more erotic than her simply being naked. Not that he'd ever seen her naked and, damn it, brain. Make sense!

His numb fingers bounded into the mess of armor he wore, trying to unhook all the metal bits. As each one clanged to the ground, he held his breath, somehow fearing that Talia might suddenly sober up and rush out the door. When the final landed, leaving him in nothing more than a linen undershirt, he felt her palm trace over his shoulder. It dipped lower, following the curve of the muscles. Goosebumps erupted down his arms from the whisper touch.

He wanted more, wanted to feel it on his bare skin and…

Without a second thought, Alistair yanked his shirt off his head. Slowly, he pivoted in place, growing concerned about what she'd think. What if she didn't…? Was as far as he got before his brain filled with one thought — her. Naked. Beautiful. The brown on her arms burned from weeks in the sun contrasted to the lighter olive shade of her breasts, bringing them into a tantalizing spotlight. He stared in awe at the soft, inviting curves dangling from her chest. Both nipples of a rosy tan pointed slightly downward, the image replacing whatever Alistair concocted in his fantasies.

His eyes traveled down from the breasts, not that it was easy, towards her stomach. A stark white scar broke up the tans, calling for Alistair's fingers. That was what he touched first on her shirtless body. Not those tempting breasts, but a scar still healing from their fight. He kept trailing it downward even as his fingers bumped into the waist of her trousers.

"Well?" Talia coughed out, her beautiful brown eyes widening by the dimming light.

"You're the most beautiful I've ever seen," Alistair whispered in awe.

"Beautiful what?" she laughed, a rosy blush claiming her cheeks. Was she nervous too? Couldn't possibly be as nervous as him. Alistair feared he might melt into an explosion…because he'd find a way to make that work.

Curling his palm to her burning cheek, her elegant black waves caressing the back of his hand, Alistair whispered, "Beautiful everything." Never weary lips found each other, the kisses sloppy but neither caring as they tasted each other. Talia's hand gripped onto his bicep, fingers digging into his muscle. He moved to flex it, to prove that he wasn't a bag of jelly, when her curious tips trailed down his chest.

With a flitter, she twirled her fingers through his mop of chest hair, finding the more patchy sections fun to scrape her nails over. Alistair gasped at the attention, his leg trembling as it strained behind him. He couldn't say if it was out of fear of the unknown or excitement of what was to come.

Ha. Come.

"Mmm," Talia murmured, her wily lips slipping up to his ear. That wandering hand paused just below his belly button, her warm palm falling flush to his stomach. "You're shaking."

"I," Alistair flinched, his head swiveling back to take stock of the cursed leg that wouldn't cease. "I must be cold. Very cold. Shivering."

"I see," she nodded, her tongue making another lap of her lips. Alistair took that as an invitation and moved closer for a kiss, when her fingers slid off his bare skin and down to the proud tent pole trapped in his trousers. Sweet merciful Maker, he wanted to cry out in joy. To push his hips forward so she'd wrap more of her delicate fingers around him. Didn't matter that there were knickers in the way, this felt…

"Let me help you warm up," Talia purred, her fingers quickly undoing the mess of buttons he had for a fly. Two were notorious for sticking, sometimes requiring Alistair to yank the whole thing down to take a piss. Hilarity often ensued. He should warn her, help her, but he was frozen in place. All he could do was stretch his torso higher, hoping to give her all the room she could to…to…

Cool air stung his backside first, proving to Alistair that she'd gotten his pants off. He clenched those appley cheeks tight, eyes locked up, as he waited for her warm hand to cup his twig and berries. No, branch. Oak tree, really, and…something large that was also round.

When her hand landed on his shoulder, Alistair gulped in shock, nearly tumbling back on his ass. The move drew him to open his eyes into hers, Talia pursing her lips in thought, "You're all tensed up."

He forced out a laugh, the smile trying to assure her he was fine. The fact his leg was still shaking didn't really give him much backup. Come on, body, get it together. You want this, right?

A quick glance down to his ol' third handshake told him that yes, and it was getting rather impatient and veiny about the delay.

"Here," Talia gripped onto his chest and slowly spun him about as if he were on wheels. When he faced away from her, his view no longer a beautiful naked woman but the tent flap, Alistair tumbled to his butt. A cramp tried to wiggle through his legs but after the shit they kept pulling he wouldn't hear of it.

Forlorn and uncertain, Alistair tugged the last of his trousers off. The pants skittered over the mess in his tent, which he just realized he should have picked up before asking Talia to join him. Maybe put out a candle…though the likelihood of him setting his pubic hair on fire would have gone up exponentially.

As if it was all going swimmingly now. He'd made a fool of himself a hundred times over, babbled incoherently when she got naked, and hadn't even touched her goodies yet. Slumping forward, Alistair let his legs fall into a cross. He was about to engage in full on pout mode, when warm hands soothed over his shoulders.

"You need to relax," her alto voice hummed in his ear. Thumbs dug into the knots popping up along his shoulders, causing Alistair to moan as she tried to work the stress free. It'd take a week and a battalion of qunari walking on his back, but he was grateful she was trying.

Talia's massage slipped lower, cupping along the higher back muscles. Taking in a deep breath, Alistair tried to obey her suggestion, when she grazed her teeth against his earlobe. Her hand slid forward, cupping his pec.

Hot breath burst into his ear, "You'll live longer." Sliding up, her fingers bumped against his little dot of a nipple. A fire sparked along Alistair's spine, his body folding tighter to hers. Talia caught on quickly, her voice sensuous, "Do you like that?"

"More than I'd have…" Alistair gulped. "Here I assumed mine were only ornamental pulled out for really fancy parties or when greeting the Divine."

The giggle behind him didn't stall the flames churning in his veins, but it did bring a smile to his lips. She was still Talia, even while having sex. Why did he think she'd be someone else?

Legs enveloped outside of Alistair's, naked legs. She must have removed her knickers when he was panicking. Which meant that…? Yup. He could feel a soft prickle of hair bounding into his tailbone. Hair that was hiding away her, um, secluded grotto? The thought of a woman's muff bouncing against him nearly brought a moan to Alistair's overworked throat, when Talia's right hand slid up to dig into his thigh.

"How do you feel about…?" she danced her finger tips like waltzers skipping up his leg, down the inner thigh, and then… "This?"

Bare skin, warm as a summer day and softer than silk curled around his dick. She started at the base, guiding his little friend further out for attention, while Alistair's vision exploded. "Th-th-that's…" He tried to assure her how wonderful it felt, perhaps with hand embossed stationery, when her pulsing grip slipped up to the head.

"Hm," she whispered, her palm swooping over the knob in thought, "I've never been with anyone intact before."

"Oh?" Alistair sputtered, trying to find anything he could cling to. His mouth was drying out fast, his toes clenching in the dirt, and all she did was give him a little tug. How was he supposed to go for… Maker, he didn't even know how long one was meant to last.

"Elves tend to…never mind." Despite her lack of one-on-one time with the foreskin prior, she picked it up quick. Closing her fist tight above him, as she drew it down over his dick she'd open just enough to provide the perfect fit. As if his crown was made for her palm.

Talia scooted closer, her hand increasing in speed and sending Alistair careening for the cliff. Her own breath broke into a spattering pant, allowing him to feel her stiff nipples bounding against his back. The thought made him even stiffer, causing all sense to flee his brain. Sparks flickered across his vision, his thighs clenching tighter and tighter as he tried to hang on.

In his own hands, he'd have popped off and rolled over to sleep by now. In hers, he didn't want it to end. To have her determination, her passion, her compassion jacking him off was…it was…

Alistair spun so fast in place, he nearly bashed his jaw into her teeth. Talia reared back, her rogue instincts protecting her lip from being smacked, but she stared up at him in confusion. "I…I want to do that to you. The massage and stuff part."

She smiled and nodded, "Okay." Rolling her mass of hair into one long twist and piling it over her shoulder, Talia turned away from the blubbering man. Without her watching, he tried to tamp down the explosion that was a mere centimeter from hitting the gaatlock barrel. It took quite a bit of squeezing to redirect the blood and even then, he hadn't seen his dick that excited to be in this world since he was fifteen.

Think unsexy thoughts.

Alistair repeated the mantra to himself as he brushed his fingers over a beautiful woman's hair and prepared to massage her naked back. Yup. So unsexy there. Nothing to get excited about whatso—

A moan erupted from Talia when he dug into the first knot. At the second, she threw her head back until it bounded against his chest. He'd remained on his knees, uncertain if folding around her would help anything with his problem. Staring down at her glistening skin, her hooded eyes closed in rapture, succulent lips parted in ecstasy, and both her nipples ready for action, Alistair lost every stupid concern in his head.

He dipped to her, his mouth pressing a kiss upside down to her fluttering lips. As she pulsed her top lip against his bit of a soul patch, their tongues glancing against one another, he drew his hands forward and cupped her breasts. Maker, this was the softest thing in Thedas. Each gentle knead of his pads brought a silly giggle to him. He was touching her breasts, her naked breasts. And they were more amazing than anything he could have dreamed of.

Talia grazed a hand through his scruff, tugging him deeper into the kiss, when he felt her other palm brush against the back of his hand. He was about to pull away from her breast, but she guided him from the curve of giving flesh to the nipple.

"Like this," she instructed, teaching him how to thrum his fingers over them. Nodding to try and show he understood, Alistair followed her movement, the budded nipple bending as he lightly tapped into it. A hum reverberated up Talia's throat, her tongue stilling from their kisses.

Hungry to hear more satisfying sounds, Alistair threaded his fingers around both nipples. Each light knock from his thick hands caused her to sway. A thought struck him, and curious what she'd think, Alistair cuffed his first and middle finger between her nipple and rotated them in a circle.

"Oh Maker," Talia gasped.

"Bad?"he sputtered, prepared to scamper off of her.

"No. Good. So damn good. Don't you stop."

Pleased with himself, Alistair went full in, his lips pressing kisses to her throat that was warbling with gulps and gasps. His fingers were the nimblest they'd ever been, drawing her taut nips out then sliding back to curl around all of her breasts.

Talia's hand rustled through his hair, her head thrust back as she mumbled, "Sweet blood of the Maker," before chewing on her lip. She kept rising on her haunches, swaying herself back and forth as if…

Like the siren song it was, Alistair's eyes broke from the moaning woman's ecstatic smile straight down those bounding hills to her mysterious cavern of wonders. A black forest guarded the entrance, obscuring his view, but he needed to know more. His fingers — rapscallions that they were — smoothed down Talia's stomach. They curved with the little pooch from her sit, dipped into her bellybutton which caused her to laugh, and landed right on the edge of the ebony fluff.

The certainty in his veins evaporated, leaving Alistair circling through the top of her pubic hair like a knight riding before the castle gates. Oh, he wanted in there, beyond measure, but he wasn't certain he knew the trick to slipping inside. Was there a password? If so, it was probably swordfish.

Her squirming ceased as Talia realized he wasn't thrumming her breasts to a slow dance. Reaching across her hips, she enveloped her small hand above his. At first, she cupped it in her palm, Alistair concerned she'd pull him away because he picked the wrong move, when Talia slid her thighs open wider.

Guiding his hand as if she was trying to summon a spirit, Alistair gulped at the soft curlies caressing his fingers. Only two tips were on point, the most experienced and daring who stood above the precipice to the abyss. What was down through that darkness? Who knew? Gold? Dragons? A gold dragon?

Alistair was about to suggest such a thing, but Talia cut him off. Curling her thumb and pinkie around his palm, she drew the tip of his finger against the reason for being. Warm folds invited him in for a cuppa, maybe a little looksee. Giddy, Alistair skirted his fingers around the tender skin, his chest bounding into Talia's back as she squirmed in place.

While the warmth and satiny touch drew him in, it was when she dipped his finger deep into herself that Alistair lost control. Wet heat tugged him further and further inside, his tips bounding into each cushioned pocket which caused Talia to groan. This was it. The big secret girls kept hidden between their legs.

Maker, no wonder. It was exhilarating, not only watching her slip further into the throes of pleasure but to feel it clenching back against him. She was both thrusting his fingers deeper in while her whole wet frock was trying to drag him in too. And that could be his cock in there.

Andraste's blood. He buried his face into her shoulder, trying to shake off the thought, but the anticipation wouldn't leave him. Nor did the glean of sweat rising off of Talia's sculpted shoulder help distract him. Mouthing all the blasphemes he could think of against her perfumed skin, Alistair tried to ground himself. But in doing that, his teeth scraped and nibbled up her shoulder and down her back.

That sent off Talia's moaning, her breath so hitched it wasn't breaking wild without a hacksaw. She left Alistair in charge of thrumming her inner workings, but wrapped her slick fingers around his thumb. Uncertain where she wanted it, he waited until Talia plopped it upon a secret pea hidden within.

Absently, Alistair swiped his smooth thumb against it, not expecting much from such a tiny node. It nearly sent him tumbling on his ass when Talia threw her entire head back and cried incoherently. Okay, that was a good button to remember. Very important. Touch that little pea. He tried to find a rhythm, swishing his thumb back and forth over the node that he'd swear was getting bigger.

"Yes, yes, yes," she panted, trying to swallow in order to get a word out. "Like that. Please, dear Maker, like that!"

With all that envious dexterity in her body, she rose up on her haunches and began to thrust herself onto Alistair's fingers. It was beautiful to watch, her naked skin flushed with exertion, her breasts bounding from the force. By the void, he wanted it to last forever. He just made one minor miscalculation.

Somehow, between Talia's throes of passion and Alistair having to shift around to keep his fingers in place, that sneaky ol' trouser snake found its way right against her bountiful backside. And with every thrust of her body onto him, she was riling it up more.

Think about darkspawn. That rotten meat smell on their breath. A rancid heat that'd wipe over his face along with a pile of slobber. Warmth. Slicked up heat. Not helping!

Hats. The chantry. A withered old Mother glaring down at his penis and clucking.

"Fuck, Maker, yes!" Talia shouted, ripping away whatever delusion of control Alistair had. He was thrown back into the truth — a gorgeous naked woman was riding him, pleasure seeping from every pore on her perfect skin as she cried out for him.

There was no stopping it now.

Hips swinging forward twice, his engorged and enraged cock slicked against her warm back. It was Talia that thrust down, catching the crown perfectly and setting off the cascade inside him. It burned hotter than the sun, erupting from his loins out to his toes and up his chest. By the time it reached his brain, leaving him crying incoherently, Alistair glanced down at the sticky mess building up on her back.

Oh Maker. He grimaced, trying to catch the rest in his hand to stymie both the embarrassment and his cum. It seemed nothing could stop either, his entire chest bright red while he had to blow one of the greatest loads of his life onto her spine.

"I'm sorry," Alistair mumbled, "I'm sorry, I'm…" He couldn't think of an excuse, so he just kept repeating it over and over. Beyond ashamed, his eyes found the floor and locked in place.

The heaving breaths slowed from Talia and she turned in place. No doubt one hand was trying to wipe away his mess, while she weighed her options. He did warn her before. Sort of. Why did it have to be her he tried with first? Why wasn't he already experienced so…?

"Hey," warm palms slid up his scruff, trying to lift Alistair's heavy head. His neck gave in to her attempt, but his eyes remained downcast. Talia pulled him closer, his forehead not just brushing but nearly beaning against hers. From the edge of his eyes, he caught her lips now cherry red and still whiffling to catch a breath.

She swallowed once more, seeming to have trouble, when she brushed both of her thumbs up under his cheekbones. "Ali," she whispered.

"Sorry for, uh, cutting the festivities short," he gulped, his toes curling inward.

"I told you," her voice breathed against his reddened cheeks. Hooking her fingers under his jawline, she finally lifted him up so high he met her eyes. A twinkle sparkled inside those bottomless depths. Leaning closer, she whispered, "we have all night."

"Really?" Alistair gasped, trying to search her face for a lie.

A smirk rose on those lips he could kiss a million times. Talia straddled up higher on her haunches and snagged her hands around Alistair's chest. Before he could even move to return the hug, she suddenly dug her knee into the ground. With all the force in her lithe body, she spun the two of them around. Her back landed on the ground while he, and his still dripping cock, ended up above her.

Twisting her head up, the smile not dimming for a moment, Talia parted her fingers down his chest, "Have I ever told you that I prefer seconds?" She drew her foot higher, the toes almost tickling his inner thigh. With a little fanfare flicker, she nudged into his balls, sending Alistair gasping. It may not take her that long to wait.

Maker, she was beautiful and writhing under him, caressing him, begging for him. Balancing on one hand, he cupped her breast and started to wind his fingers down her gleaming skin. There was no hesitation as he reached her forest of intrigue. After dipping his finger into her pulsing gap, Talia greedily opened her legs wider.

"Have I ever told you that I really love…" Alistair circled around those juicy lips once more before pausing at the top. "Peas," he laughed.

Talia's face pinched up in confusion, but not for long as he began to thrum against her magical pea. She arched her back higher into the air, begging for him to thrust his fingers inside of her. Happy to oblige, Alistair did as ordered, free to delight in the pleasure wracking her body. One of her legs lifted higher until it wrapped around his waist, Talia trying to grind against him. She didn't care that his cock took a little nap after its first show, and neither did he. No, Alistair was far too enthralled with testing every twist and turn of his fingers, every touch to her glistening skin, every pant and gasp from the woman he loved, to even notice.

"Ah-h-h," her mouth parted, tongue dropping low as the breaths pinged out like crossbow bolts. Alistair watched as her eyes seemed to roll into the back of her skull, her head twisting under her as she heaved her lower half higher. A tremor ran up her body, Talia's limbs locking in tight as she moaned.

Oh Maker, he didn't kill her, did he?

Worried, he froze in his finger ballet only to feel Talia pulsing against him. "What…?" Alistair gulped, partially praying that she'd move or say something. Blessed Andraste, how could he explain that injury to Wynne? "What was that?" he mumbled out, wincing at what was probably the obvious.

"Hm?" Talia seemed lost, a limp hand brushing over her sweat-soaked hair. A frill of ebony clung to her forehead as she staggered back on her elbows to stare up at him. Blinking slowly, her tongue rolling through her mouth, she smiled wide. "That was my turn."

"Your turn?" Alistair scowled, trying to remember if there were any rules to this game. He glared at his arm, the wrist in particular mentioning how it was tired of supporting his weight, when he caught Talia's wicked grin. "Oh! You're…" he coughed out, chuckling to himself.

"I didn't know that girls, I mean that that was how it went for…them. You?"

Her warm snicker wiped away his clinging concern as she guided her hands up his slick back and pulled him on top of her. "It is," Talia lavished him in kisses while her nails scratched along his spine, "for me."

"Excellent to know. Adding it to the…" Alistair began, when she once again hooked both her arms and legs around his torso in order to flip him over. He helped a bit better this time, sliding onto his back while the beautiful and satisfied woman stood on her knees above him. With graceful moves, she drew both her hands back over her forehead through her hair, trying to knot it out of the way.

While he could happily watch her do the most mundane of tasks, it was the bouncing breasts that beckoned to the man trapped between her thighs. Both hands, ecstatic to be free, enveloped hers accruements. Still just as firm and cushiony as he remembered all of whenever this started. Five hours ago? Alistair pushed both breasts up higher, causing Talia to tip her head back in a laugh.

As she turned back to him, her palms kneading against his chest, she asked, "Enjoying yourself?"

"Mm-hm," he nodded, as if it wasn't obvious.

She slid further down his body until a charge bounded through his veins. A sly smile reverberated over Talia's smile as she purred, "Feels like someone's ready for the main event."

"I…" Alistair swallowed, trying to keep his soul jammed inside his body. At the moment it was highly focused on his whole fruitful loin area, every sway of her boundless backside shaking him to the core.

This was it. Cast off the last illusions of purity and dive right in. He'd been afraid that she'd laugh at him. Foolish, she only laughed with him. That he'd fumble and hurt her, but Talia writhed around in such pleasure from his touch he couldn't contain himself. One more hurdle to get to the fabled finish line.

Licking his scorched lips, Alistair smiled while his eyes burned into hers, "More than anything."

Talia bent down, her hair falling in curtains around their faces as she kissed him. Alistair raised his chin to try and kiss her back, but she was already on the move. Those wily fingers circled around his cock, Alistair bracing himself for more of before, but when she slid lower and opened her legs, his vision blanked.

Toes digging into the mottled dirt, as Talia flanked his sword at every turn, he happily thrusted deeper into her trap. Maker, what a trap it was. Warm, soft, sweet, it beckoned his cock home, enveloping him into its embrace. He could lay there forever, staring into his love's eyes as she accepted him in a way no one ever had.

"Are you chanting?" Talia laughed, her chin pivoted quizzically.

Alistair clacked his jaws and tried to replay back what his tongue had been up to. "Was I?" he admitted.

"Sounded like, 'Yes, please, yes, now,'" she was relentless, her fingers pawing at his chest hair and then nibbling around his nipples.

"Big moment," Alistair gulped, "want to remember it forever."

Her hot tongue lapped around her lips, those beguiling eyes shifting to the ceiling. "The best part's yet to…" Talia raised up on her thighs, Alistair feeling himself sucker out of her. With a chuckle, she plunged him back in, her words finishing with, "come."

Sweet blood of Andraste! He thought her hand was a miracle, this was…he had no comparison. Alistair's fingers flexed against her breasts, his body slipping further from his control. "What do I do?" he gasped, his heels flailing in the dirt while Talia began to moan.

"Whatever feels good," was her answer.

Whatever felt good? It all did. From the tips of his rusty hair down to his chipped toenails, his body was an inferno and she fed the flames. What felt good, what he wanted was…

His hands fell from her breasts to grip onto her flush hips. With a groan, Alistair thrust himself deeper in while pulling Talia lower. "Maker's balls!" one of them groaned, maybe both. He couldn't tell as her panting sped up along with his thrusting.

One more. One more. Just one more second!

His danglers all but slammed up into his crotch, kicking off a chain reaction that sent Alistair flopping to the ground. When his ass hit, he somehow thrust himself further into Talia, inviting her to give his crown one good squeeze. Every hair on his body rose, the pleasure overload screaming up to his brain. It knocked about, bringing both a gasp of a shock and a chuckle from his lips.

Exhausted more than he'd ever been in his life, Alistair flopped back like a jellyfish. It seemed fitting, that orgasm melted his bones. He was certain. No way he survived that one intact. Something had to pay for that kind of body ransacking pleasure. Worth it, though.

Talia slid off of him, the last few dribbles of his goo plopping onto his stomach. It didn't matter. He certainly wasn't going to leap up and clean it off. For starters, he was without bones. Also, there was a beautiful, perfect, body-breaking woman sliding in beside him. She curled up on her side, and by a true miracle of the Maker, Alistair was able to cup her hip.

As he heaved himself up onto his side to stare into her gorgeous eyes, Talia leaned forward and pecked a kiss to the tip of his nose. "Well? Was it worth the wait?"

Maker's sake. Alistair chuckled at how he'd been such a fool before. To put it off so long in the hopes that… He sobered up, one hand drawing over her downed hair so he could stare at her face before clasping to her back to pull her flush, heart to heart. It had to be her. It couldn't have been anyone else. No one would have taken her time, guided him, given him the resolve to see it through to the end.

"It was beyond anything I could have dreamed. Which I mean in a good way, not a 'Ah everyone's belching fire and has eight eyes now' type of dream."

Her sweet laugh enveloped him. Like a protection spell, Alistair knew as long as he had that at his side nothing could hurt him. Talia's eyes drifted around his face, her warm, spent body cuddling tighter to him.

From the depths of their conjoined limbs, her fingers rose to cup his chin as she whispered, "Maybe it's too soon, but…I love you."

"Have I not mentioned it before?" Alistair laughed, "Because I love you, adore you, would worship you if the chantry allowed it and I had any sculpting skills. An epic statue of you right over there would really liven the campsite up."

"To think, if not for the blight," she circled her fingers down his chest, fluffing the hair caught between his folded pecs, "we never would have met. If I hadn't left with that strange human I'd… Who knows where I'd be."

Alistair huddled her tighter to his chest, needing to feel her warm, alive breath on his skin. There was so much riding on their success, and the likelihood of either of them surviving — never mind both — seemed impossible. Still… She was there, at the right time, in the right place, picking him up, saving him from his own despair. Guiding him. If not for her, what would he be?

Brushing his nose against the top of her hair, breathing in her woodsy scent, Alistair swore to both Talia and the Maker, "It had to be you."