Aurora, Chapter 02 

"Breaking the Ice" 
(P-M1g1, H-N)
An (eventually) erotic story by Katryna
Last updated 12/17/06 

This adult story is (C) by Katryna. It may be redistributed subject to a few 
provisions but may not be sold or otherwise used for profit and must have this 
heading attached. Please read my legal notice as downloading, redistributing, or 
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within it. 

"Aurora?" 

"Yeah. I know. It's weird..." 

"It's beautiful." 

"Really?" She smiled again. 

"Yeah. It suits you," He responded. 

She blinked, then blushed slightly as she understood. "Thanks," She responded, 
smiling a little sheepishly. 

He nodded. "Are you feeling any better?" 

"Yeah...um, like how?" 

"Warmer, feeling your feet and hands, that sort of thing." 

"Sorta, yeah. Still flippin' cold though." She half-giggled apologetically, 
punctuating the epithet. 

"The feeling part is good. The cold we'd better do something about." He pinched 
his chin, pondering, fingers unconsciously grasping several hairs. "You are, or 
were, suffering from hypothermia, but it's a relatively mild case. You haven't 
been exposed for that long, so despite the cold water dunk and the subsequent 
evaporation from you clothing, it's mainly your extremities that have been 
chilled. With me so far?" 

She nodded, listening quietly. Her color was looking better, he noted, but she 
was still quite pale, and visibly cold and sluggish. 

"When a person's core body temperature's been lowered a lot you aren't supposed 
to do things like giving hot baths to warm them," He continued. "Most life forms, 
humans included, don't respond well to rapid changes in temperature. You're in a 
relatively stable condition right now, though, so what I'll do is I'll run you a 
lukewarm bath. That way the temperature change won't be such a shock." She 
nodded her agreement. "If you want I can run you a warm-warm bath after that. 
And then a hot bath if you need it." He shrugged, smiled. 

"Sounds good," She murmured, smiling warmly. 

"Okay," He said, leaning forward to kiss her forehead gently. She giggled 
affectionately. "I'll be right back, Aurora." 

"I'm not goin' anywhere," She replied with a wry smile. 

Joe nodded, then began to raise himself to his feet, looking down reflexively at 
his hand as he positioned it on the floor, then stopped, blinked, and shook his 
head, snickering at the ridiculousness of the situation. Aurora laughed with him, 
weakly, yet wholeheartedly. "I was wondering when you were going to notice," She 
said with a bit of a mischievous smile. 

Joe grinned back, almost basking in her merriment, and relishing his role in 
causing it, as he slipped his remaining glove from his left hand. He tossed it 
atop the pile of her clothes, then reached down and unlaced his right boot. He 
pulled it from his feet with a grunt and tossed it aside, and thirty seconds 
later the left boot followed. His socks weren't completely dry, though no snow 
or water had penetrated the boots. It was absolutely amazing, but in spite of 
his body having been, on average, chilled to the bone, his feet must have been 
sweating on the trip back to the cabin. 

He stood up and walked over to the door, then slipping his feet into the pair of 
warm, and worn, sheepskin slippers he often wore around the cabin. They shuffled 
softly on the polished pine planks of the cabin floor as he rounded the corner 
of the living room into the entrance and headed upstairs, less frantically this 
time, but still hurrying. He rounded the corner at the top of the stairs, again 
turning right, and hurried down the short hallway that formed the shorter part 
of the inverted L-shape of the hall, past the spare bedroom, to the bathroom 
door. He turned the knob, then grunted as he forced the door open with his 
shoulder; the hallway door of the bathroom, which he was now struggling with, 
had never fit quite right and had slowly warped to the point where a significant 
effort was required to open it. He made, for the hundredth time, a mental note 
to fix that damn door, then stepped into the bathroom, slippers squeaking 
slightly on the faded linoleum. 

Joe reached over and flicked the light switch, bathing the bathroom with the 
glow of the four fluorescent bulbs in the ceiling mount. As the lights flickered 
on he caught a glimpse of his own reflection and studied it for a split second. 
He was, he recalled after a moment, about six feet tall; he had no idea what he 
weighed these days but about 220 was a good guess. He was in good condition in 
terms of muscle and endurance but slightly overweight. The light tan he'd 
acquired hiking during the previous summer had mostly faded; his complexion was 
otherwise slightly ruddy. His hair was wavy and fairly thick, about two inches 
long, and it and his eyes were both nondescript brown. He hadn't shaved for 
about a week, and it showed. 

He moved over to the slightly oversized painted-metal bathtub, nearly stubbing 
his toes on one of the ornate gilded feet, and began to fiddle with the knobs. 
He started with a trickle of water and experimented until he got it to a 
decently lukewarm temperature, then turned the heat up slightly, plugged the 
drain and turned up the faucet. The water level grudgingly rose as he stood by 
the tub, fidgeting impatiently. When it finally reached about half full, he 
turned the faucet off, smiled grimly, confirmed with a glance that there were 
still fresh towels on the towel bar, and headed out into the hall, leaving the 
bathroom door hanging open. The last thing he needed was to have to force it 
with her in his arms. 

He paused, pondering that prospect momentarily. The memory of her body as he 
undressed her was still deeply imprinted in his mind, and he felt himself 
stirring slightly at the thought. He wasn't sure grabbing her up like that would 
be the best idea. What if he... "Hell with it," he muttered. She was still quite 
weak and probably couldn't make it up the stairs on her own. He'd carry her as 
he needed to, and ignore what a hypothetical observer might say. 

The slight echo of his footsteps on the stairs brought another smile to Aurora's 
face, signaling, as it did, his return. She shivered slightly, swallowed 
nervously, and smiled again, in anticipation of a nice, warm bath, with--her 
thoughts were cut short as he rounded the corner, looking at her with concern, 
and then returned her smile. 

"Bath's ready," He replied. 

"Okay..." 

"Kind of rhetorical, but...can you manage it on your own?" She faltered a moment, 
looking worried and kind of embarrassed. "Be honest." 

"No...no I don't think so..." She said, blushing. 

"All right. I'll carry you then," He replied, crossing the distance from the 
entrance to the fireplace and kneeling beside her again. He started to slip his 
hands under her, feeling her bare, cool skin, and remembered ("how could he have 
forgotten") that the girl was naked. "Um, what do you want to do about...well..." 

"Hmm?" She asked, cocking her head and reddening a bit as she began to grasp 
where this was leading. 

"Covering you up," He finished. 

She blushed deeper. "Ummmm...well, my clothes are soaked...can't use them...uh, 
just...roll me up in the blanket I guess," She replied, shrugging slightly. 

"All right. Um, you're gonna have to hold on to this part--" He guided her hands 
to one side of the blanket. "And I'll turn you on your side, then we can get 
this wrapped around you." 

"Okay," She responded, smiling weakly and holding the edge of the blanket firmly. 
Joe slid his hands under her, and she giggled, blushing further. Puzzled, he 
slowly rolled her onto her side, and realized what she was embarrassed by. His 
left hand had slid under her shoulders; the right hand, unconsciously, had slid 
partway under her butt, within a few inches of cupping it. He blushed as well, 
staring unconsciously at her butt, small and round and..."compact" was the word 
that came to mind, after he pushed "tight" away on grounds of its connotation. 
Between the hypothermia and her natural skin color, it was, like the rest of her 
body, deathly pale. 

His reason and sense of propriety reasserted themselves, and he pulled his hand 
away from her butt, where it had lingered, feeling her shiver slightly. Feeling 
quite flustered, he pulled the blanket around her back, then helped her to roll 
onto her back again, positioning his arms underneath her. Grunting a bit at the 
effort, his muscles still protesting from the ordeal earlier, he lifted her, 
positioning her so she was more upright in his arms rather than draped across 
them. His right arm was underneath her thighs, just below her butt, the left 
behind her back, her legs folded up halfway to her chest. It was an awkward 
position, but serviceable. 

She snuggled close against him as he carried her, and he felt her shivering 
again, gently. "Or trembling," he thought. "Or quivering." He mentally shrugged 
(the physical movement difficult with her in his arms) and continued, grunting, 
trying to ignore the response of his body to her proximity, blanket or no. He 
paused for a moment on the landing. She cocked her head and whispered "You ok?" 

"Yeah. Just need to catch my breath," He replied. 

"I can try to walk..." She murmured, tilting her head, looking at him with 
concern. 

"No, really, it's fine," He replied, then took a deep breath, crossed the 
landing, ignoring the burning, cramping feeling in his shoulders, arms, and now 
lower back, and resumed climbing the stairs. He was breathing hard as he reached 
the top, but he forced himself to keep going, around the corner into the hallway 
and across the ten-odd feet to the halfway-open door. His left elbow bumped it 
and it swung fully open, striking the wall with a soft "thump" and adding 
another tenth of a millimeter to the dent in the board. He ignored it. 

The tub was against the far wall of the bathroom, opposite another door. "Uh..." 
She murmured, glancing around the bathroom. Joe paused, then understood the 
source of her confusion. 

"How do we do this?" He responded. 

"Without the blanket gettin' soggy, you mean?" She replied, looking up at him, 
pondering for a moment. He nodded. She paused for a moment, then smiled. "Here, 
put my feet down." 

"All right..." He nodded, helping her squirm around until she could stretch her 
legs downward to touch the ground, her body facing away from him. She wormed her 
shoulders out of the blanket. 

"Here, gimme an arm," She said. He complied, holding out his left arm, and she 
grasped it, supporting herself. She shrugged the blanket loose, using her left 
arm to unwrap it from around her, and let it fall. As the blanket slid from her 
shoulders he took the opportunity to take another lingering look at her butt, 
just a few inches from his hip. He felt himself stirring further, and quickly 
raised his eyes to her shoulders. 

"All right," He said quickly. "Ready to get in the tub?" She nodded, smiling 
briefly over her shoulder, then reached up, wrapping her right arm over his 
right shoulder and around his neck. He stooped down a bit to help her, and she 
adjusted herself, then took an unsteady, experimental step forward, gaining a 
few inches. He took a matching short step a moment later, and they traded off 
for the twelve mini-steps it took to reach the tub. 

She turned herself around to face him, holding onto his arm for balance. Despite 
the nice view this offered him of her Full Frontal Nudity, he managed, barely, 
to keep his gaze focused on her face. She furrowed her brow, concentrating, and 
lifted her right leg, slinging it over the edge of the tub and into the water, 
pausing. "Kinda cool," She said, apologetically. 

"I didn't want to warm you too much too fast, like I said..." He explained. 

She nodded, smiled, and lifted her other leg, stepping into the tub. He stepped 
closer, and lowered himself slowly, helping her ease into a sitting position. 
She sighed softly as her butt and thighs slid into the lukewarm water and came 
to rest against the metal. The ornate tub was long enough to accommodate a grown 
man lying on his back, and so, when she leaned against the short end opposite 
the faucet, she easily had room to stretch her legs out. She did so, then looked 
up at him as he got to his feet. "Um...call me when you're done, I guess," He 
said, and shrugged. 

"Okay, but...maybe..." She trailed off, thinking. 

"Hmm?" 

"Maybe you should stay...um, I mean..." She blushed progressively deeper as she 
spoke. 

"I figured...you know, you'd like...some privacy...he said, and shrugged. 

"Yeah, but...if I slip..." She paused, reddening a bit more. "I might slide 
under the water and not be able to pull myself up," She finished, after a moment. 

He nodded. "Yeah, you're right. Uh, here, I'll get the door for you," He 
suggested. 

"Huh?" 

"You'll be warmer this way," He explained as he pulled the door to, then grunted 
pushing it all the way closed, again out of habit. 

She nodded. "Thanks." 

He turned and looked around for someplace to sit. The bathroom counter and 
toilet were lined up with the tub. The counter had a nice clear space on the end 
near the tub, and it was closer to her. He smiled, keeping an eye on her without 
staring, as best he could. She purred softly, closing her eyes, setting off 
mental warning bells. "Uh, you ok?" He asked, trying to control the hint of 
alarm creeping into his voice. 

She opened her eyes. "Yeah, I'm fine. The water just feels nice." He nodded, and 
she smiled weakly. "Didn't mean to scare ya." 

"Just making sure, honey," He replied, and she smiled a bit at the pet name. It 
was remarkable, he thought later, how at ease they were like this, with her 
naked and exposed before him. 

Or, at least, how at ease she was. His half-erection had never really subsided 
since he'd helped her into the tub, and though his posture, thankfully, hid the 
bulge between his legs well enough, he felt his swelling shaft straining 
insistently against his pants. He tried not to appear nervous, but he definitely 
was. He realized, dimly, that such a strong response to a body which was 
unambiguously that of a "girl" should unnerve him, but for some reason he felt 
only slightly nervous, and a bit awkward, on that score--and this, he realized 
in retrospect, was the main thing unnerving him. 

Her extremities slowly warmed up to room temperature, and she began to wiggle 
and twist her fingers and toes as feeling returned to them. He smiled, watching 
her. Her skin was still uncommonly pale, but the bluish tinge was gone. He 
admired her budding breasts again, eyes drifting surreptitiously downward, 
trying to maintain the impression of focusing on her face. Her legs were 
stretched out straight, but parted slightly, with a little space between her 
thighs, and he glimpsed a hint of her soft little folds between them. He 
hurriedly moved his eyes back upward, feeling his shaft straining harder against 
his pants. 

After a few minutes, sitting there silently looking at her began to feel a bit 
awkward. He tried to think of a topic for conversation, and was still struggling 
for something to say when she broke the ice. "So, um...what is this, exactly?" 

"Hmm?" He cocked his head, wondering what exactly she was referring to. 

She gestured around her. "I mean, do you live up here, or...?" 

"Oh. Yeah." 

"I was just thinkin' about...well, you know how a lot of people have homes up 
here that they use in the summer..." 

"Yeah, I know. This is the only home I've got, though." 

She nodded. "Um, if you don't mind me askin'..." 

"Why I live up here like this?" 

"Yeah. I mean, it's a nice place, but...don't you get lonely?" 

"Sometimes. It's nice and peaceful up here...that's the main thing I like about 
it." 

She nodded. "Um, hey...how do you drain this thing?" 

He indicated a small, inconspicuous lever underneath the faucet. She scooted 
forward, reached out, and pressed it. The water level in the bathtub immediately 
began to drop, and she watched the drain in fascination as a whirlpool began to 
form around it. He smiled, watching it as well, silently welcoming the 
distraction from his seemingly unseemly appraisal of her body. His erection 
began to subside, slowly and slightly. 

The last of the water trickled and gurgled down the drain. She turned the water 
on again and began fiddling with the knobs. "Mind if I take a hot bath too?" She 
asked, cocking her head. "I dunno know much hot water you've got at a time...I 
don't want to use it all up." 

"Go ahead. It's continuously replenished, actually," He responded. She smiled, 
adjusting the stream of water for a moment, adjusting the knobs with her right 
hand while holding her left under the faucet to test the water. After about 
thirty seconds she found a temperature that she was satisfied with, and flicked 
the lever back, closing the drain. She scooted herself back in the tub, purring 
as the warm water caressed her feet and began to rise to envelop her legs and 
hips. 

"So...how does that work?" She asked after a moment. 

"Geothermal heating system. The whole cabin runs on it." 

"Huh?" She blinked; this subject was clearly beyond her experience. 

"Um...where do I start. You know much about volcanoes?" 

"Sorta. Molten rock squirting up through cracks in the earth?" 

"Yeah. Well, sometimes there's molten rock underground, but far enough that it 
doesn't squirt up. Instead, it sorta heats up the surrounding rock. This cabin's 
built nearly on top of one place where there's hot rock underground" 

"Uh huh," She replied. 

"Geothermal systems take advantage of that. The rocks can get hot enough to boil 
water, so if there's water down there already, or it's pumped in, it can be 
heated using the heat of the hot rocks. ." 

"So it's heated...it rises as steam...and you collect it...?" 

"Yeah. The steam's cooled to the point where it condenses, but the resulting 
water is still very hot. The water's then stored in a big tank, with an outlet 
and an inlet, so there's always water coming from below for it." 

"But cooling the water...doesn't that get whatever you're using really hot?" She 
asked, interested. 

He smiled. The kid, for her lack of experience, was obviously bright and eager 
to learn. "The extra heat is used to heat air, and that hot air is used to heat 
the cabin," He explained. "The water from the hot water heater loop provides a 
lot of that heat, but there's also another loop dedicated to heating and 
powering the cabin." 

"Powering?" The warm water was up to her waist now, and she leaned forward, 
turning it off, then scooted back in the tub, leaning against the back of the 
tub again. She slid down so most of her body was underwater. 

"Yeah. When the hot water comes up as steam it's used to turn turbines in small-scale 
electrical generators. Between the dedicated heating-power loop and the water 
heater loop, there's easily heat and electricity enough for the cabin." 

"Oh. Then why the fireplace?" She asked curiously. 

"It works quicker, for one thing," He replied. "And it's kinda nice sitting in 
front of a crackling fire." 

"Is it? Never really done it," She replied. 

"Never had a fire before?" He asked, surprised. She shook her head. "Well, you're 
welcome to enjoy mine once you're done in here if you like." 

She smiled warmly. "I'd like that, Joe," She replied, closing her eyes, savoring 
the warmth of the bath. He smiled as he watched her, looking her over again with 
a warm feeling of affection that had little to do with the half-subsided bulge 
in his pants. She was so small, so beautiful, seemingly so fragile. He was 
amazed, and impressed, that she had survived the ordeal of the water and the 
storm. 

"So you designed all this?" She asked, opening her eyes slowly. 

"Oh, hell no," He replied with a chuckle. "I actually inherited the cabin, as is, 
a few years ago." 

"From who?" She asked, cocking her head. 

"My Uncle Martin. He was...um, weird," Joe responded 

"How do you mean?" 

"Very intelligent and knowledgeable, interested in technology, not much of a 
people person. 'Left-brained' is one way of putting it. Our family actually 
owned some land in town here, and when he found out someone had discovered a 
small hot spring up here, he managed to buy the land it was on. He set the cabin 
up to have somewhere to relax and study data from, but it was also supposed to 
be an experiment in small scale geothermal power." 

"And it worked?" 

"Reasonably well. The cabin's got adequate heat and water and such. The 
maintenance is a bitch, though." She giggled at the profanity. He smiled and 
continued. "My uncle was a better theorist than a designer, let's put it that 
way. Had some trouble with organization, for one thing." 

"Ah," She said, and smiled, glancing to the side. 

"Kind of explains the floorplan here, doesn't it?" He said with a chuckle. 

"Yeah," She replied, giggling. "I noticed it does kinda look..." 

"...like it was designed by someone who'd taken two or three architecture 
courses and pronounced himself an expert?" 

"Yeah," She replied, laughing harder. 

"Well, it was," He said with a grin. She nodded. "It's actually pretty 
serviceable," He commented. "The big issue is that one of the bedrooms up here 
was sort of designed to fill up unused space over the kitchen-slash-dining room...and 
as a result it's so narrow it?s almost unusable." 

"Almost?" 

"Yeah. He managed to get a set of twin bunk beds into the narrowest part of the 
room, but it would be...well, real cozy, to put it one way," Joe explained. "It 
was supposed to be a guest room. I mostly use it for storing stuff." 

"Okay...so this is the bathroom...downstairs we were in the living room...the 
dining room is on the other side of the stairs, right?" 

"Yeah; that and the kitchen. And up here the junk room is on this side," He said, 
gesturing to his right. "And the main bedroom is on this side," He finished, 
indicating his left. 

"Ah," She said. She paused, then cocked her head again. "So...your uncle was a 
scientist, kind of a hermit," She said. He nodded. "What brings you up here?" 

"Peace and quiet, mainly. I'm not much for crowds of people either." He shrugged. 

"Ah. Um, what do you do up here?" 

"You mean for a living?" He asked, cocking his head. She nodded. "I write, 
mostly." 

"Ah." She smiled. "What kinda writing?" 

"It varies. A lot of nonfiction, on biology and ecology mostly. Some 
philosophical stuff. Some fiction too...science fiction mostly, some fantasy and 
horror. A lot of short stories; a few novels. Why?" 

"Just thought I might have read something of yours," She said, and shrugged. 

"Maybe so. Um, let me think..." He counted off the names of a few books he'd 
written, at random with regards to category. On the eighth title, one of his 
fantasy novels, her eyes widened and her face brightened in recognition. 

"Hey, I know that one!" 

"Small world," He said, and smiled. "What'd you think of it?" 

"Good...there were a few parts that needed polishing though. The scene with the 
griffons was great though." 

"The griffon colony?" 

"Yeah," She responded smiling brightly. "I think the volcano was the best." 

"Really? I kinda stumbled there." 

"Huh?" 

"I was tired, kinda grasping for material. It didn't feel like my best writing 
to me." 

"It was good," She repeated. "Nicely suspenseful but without, um..." 

"Unrealistic melodrama?" 

"Yeah, that," She replied and giggled. She paused. "I feel nice and warm now," 
She announced. 

He nodded. "Ready to get out?" 

"Yeah, before I get all pruny." She giggled, then looked down at herself, re-realizing 
suddenly that she was naked in front of a near stranger. She blushed, moving her 
arms to cover herself; the left slide across her chest horizontally while the 
right slid downward. 

"You ok?" He asked, unsure whether to be disappointed or relieved that she was 
covering up. 

"Sorry," She stammered. 

"What for?" He asked, cocking his head in puzzlement. 

"I didn't mean to embarrass you...or bother you...or..." 

"Embarrass me...why? By you being naked?" She nodded, blushing deeper. "Don't 
worry about it," He replied, smiling reassuringly. 

"It doesn't bother you?" She asked, cocking her head. He shook his, and she 
smiled, blushing a bit more, then slowly, hesitantly slid her arms back to her 
sides, watching him intently for any reaction. He made a point not to stare at 
her chest or groin, and managed, albeit barely, to keep his gaze focused on her 
face. 

He slid off the counter, stretched for a moment, groaning, then walked the few 
feet to the side of the tub. She reached forward and flicked the drain lever 
again, watching the whirlpool for a moment as the drain gurgled and the water 
level dropped. He held out his hands to her and she grasped them in hers, using 
him as leverage to pull herself first into a crouching position, then rising to 
her feet. Her bare, wet body glistened in the light, and again he had to force 
himself not to stare. His erection, momentarily forgotten, began to strain 
against his pants slightly. 

He reached over to the towel bar and pulled a faded navy blue towel from it, 
then handed it to her. "Here you go," He said, and smiled. He paused, feeling 
vaguely as though he'd forgotten something, then smacked his forehead. "Your 
clothes..." 

"...are still soaking wet," She finished for him. He nodded. "Um...maybe I could 
borrow, you know...a T-shirt or something? Something long, that'd hang down 
enough to cover...me..." She asked, blushing just slightly. She seemed to be 
getting used to this, which he found a little disconcerting, but which was also 
a relief. The last thing he wanted was to make her uncomfortable. 

"Oh, sure, I'll find you something," He said, and took two steps towards the 
other door in the bathroom, the one that was still closed. He grasped the knob, 
glanced back at her once more as she began to dry herself with the towel, then 
opened the door and stepped through into the master bedroom. 

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