Volanta

The Volantians may have thought that confining Pippa and Oliver to the marble temple wasn’t in their interests, but the littlest things fascinated them both. They could spend over an hour just staring at a carving in the wall, and had really only gotten through the level they were already on before the sun began to set. Oliver had to be completely honest to himself, if not Pippa. He probably would’ve gotten through it all much faster if he wasn’t so distracted by how she was dressed.

Oliver never imagined he’d see more than an ankle from Pippa, let alone her shoulders and back completely bare, and the amount of leg that showed when her skirt would brush to the side. He never really thought of Pippa in that way, and he always thought she had a pretty face, but he never really thought about… the rest of her. He felt sort of disgusting thinking about it then, too. He was probably no better than Elliot. At least he kept it to himself.

“Let’s go up high to see the sunset,” Pippa said.

She didn’t give Oliver a chance to answer before grabbing his arm and leading him away from the carvings, dragging him up four flights of steep stairs. She bounded up them like it was nothing, but Oliver went a little slower. The top level of the temple was out in the open air, with a large reflection pool in the center. Pippa was sitting on the ledge, watching over the city. Oliver was speechless. You could see the entire city of Volanta from up there, as well as the surrounding jungle. As beautiful as it was, Pippa had no idea that Oliver had a whole separate view in front of him. She was so mesmerized by the view of the city, she had stopped fussing with the dress and trying to cover everything. With the sun setting behind her, it created a halo around her head and practically made her glow. Oliver was surprised he was still breathing.

“It’s incredible,” she said breathlessly.

“Yeah,” he mumbled. “Amazing.”

She glanced back over at him and gave him a slight smile, seemingly to suddenly remember how she was dressed and trying to cover up again. He sat on the ledge next to her, chuckling and shaking his head.

“Relax,” he said. “I won’t tell your father. I’ll look out at the city instead of at you, if you want.”

“You can look at me.”

He raised a brow at her and she turned a bright shade of red, shaking her head quickly.

“No, that’s not what I meant!” she said quickly. “I mean… I’m not trying to push you away… I mean I’m not afraid of you. Not that you’re anything I should be afraid of. This is coming out all wrong.”

“It’s okay, I understand,” he said, looking back out at the city.

He saw her scoot closer to him out of the corner of his eye, and pretending like he couldn’t feel her eyes burning holes into the side of his head. She scooted closer and closer, and finally said something.

“Did you mean all those things you said in the jungle?” she asked quietly. “Before we got interrupted. By spears.”

“Of course I meant it,” Oliver said. “Pippa, if I didn’t care about you, I wouldn’t put up with you through all of that if I didn’t like you.”

“I guess that’s true,” she said with a slight smile. “Everything just feels surreal right now.”

“In a bad way?”

“In a good way,” she said.

She reached over and gently turned his head so he was looking at her, a bit hesitant, but continuing on to comb his hair back with her fingers. He leaned in, and she seemed eager to grab him and kiss him. This time, no one interrupted them with spears. Oliver was the one to gently pry her off him, resting his forehead against hers. She seemed all at once disappointed to stop and embarrassed by her own actions, but she didn’t move away from him, holding his hands in hers.

“You do realize that the rest of the crew can’t know about this, right?” he asked her.

“The crew?” she asked. “Oh. I almost forgot about them. They’ll be here soon, won’t they?”

“I imagine they’ll be here by tomorrow evening,” Oliver shrugged. “You do understand, don’t you? What little respect they had before, it’ll be even less when they’re under the impression that this whole thing is just some kind of a honeymoon. We’re here for one purpose.”

“I understand,” she sighed.

“I guess Peter won’t back off,” Oliver mumbled. “I hope the snake ate him.”

“You’re still jealous of Peter? Oliver, he’s harmless.”

“He’s trouble.”

Pippa laughed softly, standing up and adjusting her dress. “Well, we should go to bed. You, especially. I don’t know what Fenro did to you, but you’re exhausted. Rena set up a room for me. What about you?”

“A mat,” Oliver said in a flat tone. “On the floor. Somewhere that resembles a dungeon.”

“Wow, they really don’t trust you, do they?” Pippa said as they walked back down the stairs. “Whatever happened last time, it must’ve been pretty bad. I’ll talk to Rena. She seems to like me well enough. I’ll see if I can ”

“I’m afraid to ask,” Oliver admitted, walking her to her room. “We have time to figure it out.”

“I’ll talk to Rena. She seems to like me well enough. I’ll see if I can get you a better sleeping situations.”

“Thank you.”

“Good night, Otter,” she said, giving him a quick kiss on the cheek while no one was around.

“Good night, Pips.”

Oliver didn’t sleep so well that night. Partially because of his sleeping situation, and partially because he was so eager to explore the city the next day. As promised, Rena was ready to take them for a grand tour right after breakfast. Pippa was dolled up in a completely new outfit this time, now in a shimmery gold. Oliver still looked like trash. He past the point of caring, though.

While Rena was speaking to the queen in the other room, Oliver and Pippa waited by the door. He’d been lost in sketching as she ran around and excitedly looked at everything. Oliver was only faintly aware that he was sketching her, mosting focusing on the details of her face and the curls in her hair.

“You are quite the artist.”

Oliver jumped, clutching the journal to his chest and letting out a startled shriek that was a little more girlish than he would’ve liked. Rena had been watching over his shoulder without him knowing for who-knows-how-long. Pippa turned to look at him, but shrugged and went back to whatever she was looking at.

“She says you’re just a friend,” Rena said, raising a brow at Oliver and crossing her arms over her chest. “What do you think, spotted boy?”

“We are just friends,” he insisted.

“Alright,” Rena said, though she didn’t seem too convinced. “We’ll see about that. Come along, Jahasha.”

“Jahasha?” Oliver asked, following behind Rena and Pippa.

“It means ‘little flame’,” Pippa told him, beaming.

“Oh. That’s a nice name.”

“You should give Oliver a name, too!” Pippa suggested.

Rena didn’t seem too thrilled with the idea, looking over her shoulder as she walked to eye Oliver up and down. She looked forward and continued walking in silence for a few moments before answering Pippa’s question.

“Teyrik.”

“Teyrik?” Pippa repeated, grinning. “That has a nice ring to it.”

“What does it mean?” Oliver asked cautiously.

Rena looked back over at him over her shoulder, giving him a sly grin.

“It means, ‘artist’.”