The Skabelse

A Fine Line

As Bjorn left, Rowan had gone to the bathhouse to wash up for the evening. As her friends both new and old, chatted to her, the only thing she could think about was the evening she would soon spend with Bjorn. She felt bad for not paying much attention to Torvi's stories, and tried her best to listen to her fascinating tales.

Once Torvi and a few other Starkewomen finished, Rowan smoothly made her over to Kestrel. She had attended the Glade's last Skabelse and knew she would be able to answer her personal questions.

"Rowan," she greeted with a smile. Her long blond hair clung to her face and swirled around her in the water.

"Hello Kestrel," Rowan said, leaning back on the ledge of the bathing pool. She was nervous to ask her such open and embarrassing questions and was thinking of a way to bring the topic up when Kestrel chuckled. Rowan looked over to her with a raised eyebrow. She can't possibly know.

"Can I help you with something?" Kestrel inquired. She had noticed that her princess had been distracted during her bath and knew something was on her mind.

Even in the dim lighting from the candles, Kestrel could make out the blush on Rowan's cheeks.

"Actually yes..." she answered, trailing off and sinking slightly lower into the water. Many of the girls had left but she wanted to wait until they were alone before she pressed on.

When the last Gladeswomen left after a few more moments, she continued, "I wanted to ask you some questions though I do not know how to even start."

Kestrel smiled widely, causing the small gap in her teeth to stand out. "They concern your Rorik, yes?" Rowan gave her a sheepish look, answering her question. "Wouldn't it be best if you talked to your mother about this?"

Rowan sighed and shook her head, "I don't think I could ever do such a thing. Yes she is my mother but even more importantly she is my queen. It would be improper to talk about such things with her..." she said, trailing off. She and her mother had never been as close as many of her friends were with their mothers. Sometimes it would bother Rowan as she would like to have a similar relationship with Queen Lana, especially when she was maturing into a young woman. As time passed she learned to not allow herself to linger on such feelings and focus on her training and schoolwork and slowly her relationship with her mother warped into what it is today.

Kestrel pursed her lips and slowly nodded her head, understanding where her princess was coming from, "Very well. But I will only answer a few questions. I believe that if you had this talk with your mother it would strengthen your bond."

Rowan fought a groan, knowing that she was right. "I'll take what I can get," she muttered, causing Kestrel to laugh. "Considering you have already attended a Skabelse, you have come to know a man..." she paused, trying to gain courage to continue, "Can you tell me what to expect?"

Kestrel smiled slyly, "The best piece of advice I could give you is to relax. Your body already knows what to do so let it take over. Allow yourself to shut everything out and just focus on him. If you do this, it will be very enjoyable."

Rowan sat in silence for a moment, pondering her words. She was still mortified for even talking about such things with another person, but her need to lay with Bjorn was more important than her own silly embarrassment. "I heard many stories that it will hurt. Is this true?"

Kestrel chuckled and pushed the soapsuds around in the water with her finger, "Sadly, this is one of the only tales that are true about men. But as I said, if you relax it won't be so bad."

Rowan nodded her head and began to play with the soapsuds as well. A few moments of silence passed before she spoke again. "How do I initiate it? I fear if I do not then we will never become familiar with one another."