An Old Adage

A/N: It was beta’d by the lovely MystressXOXO.

---

Rolf had been working on the finishing touches of dinner when he heard the front door to the house open and close. Luna had been out for a walk through the forest they lived near. She had suspected this time of year was the Blibbering Humdinger’s mating season, and they would be out in the open more. She had been gone for a few hours, tracking through the woods in the sultry afternoon heat. She loved getting dirty and being part of the great outdoors.

“I’m home, Rolf,” her silvery voice called out as she moved towards the bedroom. “I’m going to go wash up before dinner.”

The thought of Luna’s hot body slipping into the bath caused a slow smile to transform his face as he heard his wife coming into the living room. The thought of his wife getting naked was one thing, but he decided it would be more interesting to watch instead. He rushed to place spells on the dishes to be put out on the table. If he got to their bedroom in time, he’d be able to watch her take off the last garments she wore before she stepped into the bathtub. Even after ten years of marriage, he still loved to watch Luna get undressed. It never failed to send a surge of desire through his loins.

He was glad when he finally got to the end of the hall and turned the corner into their room. Luna was just peeling off her last undergarment and tossing it into their hamper. Streaks of sweat and dirt were still about her face and some of her hair had come undone from it’s long braid and had matted itself against her check and down her neck. Her face was flush from being outside all day, and a sheen of perspiration covered her chest. When she looked up and faced him, her breasts seemed to shine from the dusty sunlight coming through the window.

Her naked, unashamed beauty proved to be too much for him. He could feel his body reacting to the delightful sight before his eyes, and he couldn’t help his actions any more than any other magical creature in its mating season.

Acting solely on instinct, Rolf walked toward his wife, shedding his own clothing as quickly as possible, and wrapped an arm around her narrow waist, scooping her up so that her head fell back, and her nipples rose up to meet his descending lips. Her lithe body relaxed in his arms as he sucked in her body— tasting, licking, and devouring her flesh.

He took each hardening nub into his mouth, alternating back and forth between them, sucking the little pink stubs until they were red from the blood rushing to them. He looked up to see that Luna’s head was back, and her normally protuberant eyes were closed. A soft moan escaped her parted lips, and he answered it with a growl of his own. He bent over her and placed his other hand under her knees so he could carry her to the bed.

He knew he would have her— right now, before dinner, before the bath— while she had dirt on her skin and the smell of forest in her hair. Later in the evening, their bed would be a blanket of sweat, earth, come, and one or two leaves, which would have been shaken from her hair, but he didn’t care. He needed to be inside her and feel her soft, warm, wet passage, one he knew better than any other. His desire was overwhelming him to the point of not being able to think in English or even with words anymore.

He felt on fire with desire, and it burned him, trying to be released.

She sighed when he pushed into her, the sound making him want to lose himself in her. All semblance of thought escaped his mind as he watched her mouth form sounds and syllables that he should have understood, but he was too enraptured watching the signs of her impending orgasm. He needed to bring them both to rapture, and any consequences be damned.

Later, when he was lying on his back, he could feel the bottom sheet clinging to him from the lingering sweat that had dripped off them during their lovemaking. He realized he was able to think and form thoughts and words again in his slowly clearing mind.

The sun had lowered since he had first entered the room, and the light was beginning to cast great shadows around the room; it was turning towards dusk. He looked down at Luna as she rested against him. He didn’t think she was asleep, but he loved to watch her when she was relaxed and uninhibited.

Luna’s head was resting on his chest, facing his feet, and her leg was wrapped over his. Her skin was radiant in the ebbing light. Rolf realized he was unconsciously stroking the top of her hair. Her braid had come undone, and he ran his coarse fingers through her soft, silky strands. She smelled of the outdoors, sex, and love. These were moments a pensieve was made for – moments to return to and cherish again and again.

She nudged her head against his chest, and he knew from the movement that she was awake and had something to say. Luna used subtle gestures to give herself away, and being a good observer, Rolf was inclined to note the movement’s meaning.

“So, how was your walk in the woods?” he asked. He knew whatever had caused her to feel restless must have come from something she saw out there.

She sighed and silently brought her hand up to his stomach to twirl the hairs drawing down to his groin into rune-shaped patterns. He could sense she was stalling for time and decided to wait to see what she’d do before he asked again.

The serene and welcoming silence moments before seemed desperate and tense now. Luna showed her tension in her stillness, opting to retreat and wait it out if she felt uncertain. Rolf knew patience wasn’t a virtue to have, but it was a necessity for their marriage. When she did speak, Luna spoke in a whisper, like a child in trouble.

“I think I was able to correctly identify a magical creature we’ve been seeking for the past two years. I think I saw a Blibbering Humdinger rutting in the leaves by the pond’s edge at the far end of the forest. Before I could cast the spell to duplicate the memory, its mate came, and they took off into the air together. It was so beautiful, Rolf, watching them fly together. The larger one, I think the male, flew in circles around the female as she kept a steady path. She would stretch out to him, but he’d pull back, as if taunting her. It was a dance shared just between them, but I could tell she was beginning to be heavy with offspring.

“It was so beautiful to watch, and yet I felt ashamed. It was as if I had blundered in on something sacred. It felt like something I shouldn’t have been able to watch, yet there it was before me. I almost wanted to turn away, but I – I just couldn’t.” She nudged closer to him, almost wanting to curl into herself, but his body kept her from doing it.

Rolf could barely contain himself. They had discussed the possibility of the Blibbering Humdinger living in the area for years but had never been able to track the creatures; as the legends about them suggested, they were known to equally fly, walk or run, and swim. They lived amid the elements air, earth, and water, which made tracking them nearly impossible. It seemed odd, with such amazing news of discovery, that Luna seemed frightened. Despite his wife’s conflicted emotions, Rolf couldn’t contain himself and had to show how excited he was of this new find.

“Luna, that’s wonderful! We always suspected they lived in this region. Do you think you’ll be able to pull the memory and put it into the pensieve tonight? Then we can look at it together. You may have found another magical creature that was thought to be a myth. We could spend the next year together classifying and documenting it.”

He was exhilarated by the news and began squirming, wanting to sit up and talk about this, but worried he’d seemed callous because he wasn’t comforting his wife more. He tried to gently nudge her to move so he could sit up and discuss this with her when she held on to him and began weeping out heartbreaking sobs into his chest. Her reaction confounded him.

Her face was pressed hard into his flesh, yet he could still hear her cries. He couldn’t understand for the life of him why she was upset. This was something they had wanted for so long, so why was she disappointed?

After a while, he put his arm under her and brought her up to his shoulder to cry. His arm came around her thin body as he held her, letting her know he’d be ready to hear what she had to say when she was ready.

When her sobs slowed, he looked down at her. Her face came up to look at him, and he turned toward her. He searched her eyes, trying to understand what had she upset her.

She gave him a sad sort of smile as she wiped some of the tears from her face. Then she closed her eyes and breathed deeply a few times before she spoke.

“Do you remember that old adage they use to say about seeing a Blibbering Humdinger? What it meant if a witch saw one? Well, what does it mean if I saw two? Does it cancel out?

“We’ve been trying for so long that I don’t think I could bare it if – if we never had –” Her voice trailed off as she sobbed more into the crook of his neck. He just couldn’t understand what she was blubbering on about. Witches were such unusual, magical creatures themselves.

Then, like a wind blowing the fog away, an old adage floated to the top of his memory as he recalled something his father had once told him.


The witch who finds a Blibbering Humdinger out in the wild
is soon to find herself expecting a child.


When he realized the implications of the adage, he almost wanted to burst out laughing. Sometimes, Luna really did rely on what she read more than what was real. Her faith, once established, was unwavering.

He shifted a bit and brought her face up from his neck. As softly as he could, he wiped the tears away from her face and pushed the hair stuck to the sides of her face back into their fold. He smiled as he looked into her eyes: soft grey eyes he had fallen in love with so long ago. He’d never tire of looking into them.

“Oh, honey, what’s the worst thing that could happen,” Rolf softly chided. He held her face when she wanted to look away, but this was something they both had been wanting: a baby. This was too important to each of them.

“Maybe it means something else. Instead of canceling each other out, maybe it means that you’ll have strapping twin boys who’ll be as reckless and wild as I was when I was a child,” Rolf mused as he cradled his wife, trying to settle her back down into their bed.

“Maybe we’ve already started the road to parenthood this afternoon. Only time can say what’s going to happen.” He stared at her until her face slowly started to change, and the smallest of smiles spread across her face. When she finally relaxed in his embrace, he was able to laugh out loud without it being construed as malice.

With any luck, he would be able to walk the fine line between comfort and hope and possibly talk his way into another round of sex before they called it a night.