brave_kreyu | OOM All Skate Skellig Dream Magic Weirdness -Part 10

"So do I," she agrees She nuzzles him a bit. "I want you to have all the pleasures life can offer, want to experience them with you."

"See the world's wonders, its joys, its blessings."

"Each day as the sun breaks above the horizon...even if I do not see it rise..." Because they are often busy doing something else...or each other. "...I know with it comes promise of discovery."

He leans down and gently kisses the top of her head, lips pressing to her hair.

"I would experience this world with no one other than you, my mate."

"I am so very glad it was my village you wandered near, that I chose to show my wings to you, that you have chosen to stay over and over again," she says, voice soft.

"It is you I would have at my side, wherever I might go."

"We truly were made for each other," he says. "As unlikely a pairing that we are."

(After all - if he had not stumbled across her, as he wandered through the heat of the desert sun - who knows where he might have ended up? Another village? Taken by another with powers greater than his own, an oddity for study? In chains as a plaything? Or simply lost to the sand and sun, left for dead on the ground?)

Better not to think about what might have happened, there are so many terrible options.

"Made for you," she murmurs as she drifts off to sleep.

Morning will come and with it, perhaps, a journey on to find a dragon.

While the accommodations here are not quite as lavish as those at The House of Blue Lotuses, the bed is comfortable (very important, for this type of clientele!) and there is a modest breakfast spread waiting for them outside their door once they have risen and bathed.

Eating is straightforward enough.

Cleaning up the feathers...less so. As they are preparing for the next leg of their journey, Skellig is looking at his options as far as clothing...

"Do you have an opinion, love," he asks, in regards to some of the chitons she has packed for him for this journey. "As to what you'd rather see me in?"

"It is a difficult decision," she says, smiling. "You look so lovely in either of the blues, but the gray is better suited for the rigors of travel."

"Then we will choose the gray for now, save the blues for later."

He repacks the blue ones, chooses more basic pins to secure the one they have settled on - even with the amount of practice that he has had so far, he is not quite fully able to get the drape 'right' given his wings, even with them concealed via the spell from the amulet. He will need help, once she is finished with her own.

(This also gives him time to watch her dress - which he appreciates, even in a non-sexual way.)

She dresses slowly, partly to give him more time to appreciate the view and partly to help him learn how to 'drape' the outfit properly.

"Almost," she says encouragingly as she moves to help him get the drape right. "Not designed for wings, I fear."

She kisses him when she's finished, careful not to rumple him.

"Thank you, love. I am getting there..."

He smiles. "And no, it is not, but the way it is able to be worn makes it easy to adapt as needed." Plus, if it is that 'off', he will just shift the attention of anyone who might look at him elsewhere.

He takes a moment to don his sandals, before he finishes securing their bags - it is a slight bit more gear than one might expect a wealthy couple such as themselves to be carrying (especially without 'help') on a route, but he has learned to live (and pack) minimally, and they will get warmer clothes as needed when they head north.

"Do you wish to fly once we have cleared the city, again?"

She ponders this for a moment. "Yes, I think so. It will be much easier to reach where Koschei was last spotted by air than by road. Quicker too. He was hunting monsters in the area, strange and dangerous beasts."

Wry, he snickers under his breath.

"Never a dull moment upon our travels," he teases lightly, leaning down to press a kiss against her cheek before he shoulders his bag - and hers also, because she is a Lady and appearances matter, even if there are not likely to be many guests awake at this relatively early hour as they make their way downstairs.

She chuckles. "Thank you, love."

"With luck, he will have killed the beasts already and be...celebrating in a village somewhere." Kreyu flushes slightly. She understands some innuendo NOW that she didn't the last time she met Koschei.

Skellig spots Thia - Ajax is nowhere to be found this morning, but he does not sense any trouble (or the offending heartbeat of his brother which he was keeping track of last night) so he is not concerned. "One moment," he tells Kreyu. "I would leave our friend something, a symbol of our promise."

Might the meaning behind it be construed differently by Ajax? Possibly. Skellig moves over to Thia, and procures one of his feathers from somewhere - it is a large primary flight feather, patterned. (But there is no need to ask where exactly he was carrying it up until the moment he has it in hand.) 'Sokratis' leaves it, with a few quiet words and a coin for Thia to pass along the message.

He returns to Kreyu's side promptly, dropping his voice as they walk outside. "It was one I dropped last night," he mutters. "Molted several. I am...going through a change, I feel." He will need preening, soon...

"I would much rather join Koschei in celebration versus the alternative."

She smiles at his explanation. "I think Ajax will appreciate that."

"I'll be happy to help you preen, later," she whispers in his ear.

She flushes MUCH darker when Skellig mentions joining Koschei in celebration. "Better than in mourning or defeat, to be sure."

"I didn't understand the...innuendo, when I last met Koschei. That his appetites, ALL of his appetites, are prodigious, especially after a fight."

Skellig is not looking directly at her when she flushes, but he can sense the shift in her energy and glances in her direction as they walk, as she speaks and explains the bit regarding the innuendo.

"...all his appetites...oh." Now it is Skellig's turn to flush. "I understand. Perhaps...he will have had some time since conquering the monsters, before we come across him."

"Likely. He would not press us if we were not interested, but if his appetites are unmet he is likely to be busy finding those willing to help him sate them."

She chuckles. "Rumor has it that a great number of princesses have expressed their gratitude toward Koschei in ways that upset their kingly fathers. I know he told me when we last met that he was off to abduct a princess at HER request. Something about an unwanted arranged marriage."

"I mean, that is a generous offer of 'rescue', and one I could also support. No one should be forced to wed another who they do not care for. I understand that it is just...the way some of these kingdoms have gone on for hundreds of years, but it does not make it right."

He reaches for her hand, intertwines their fingers. He is very glad that he has a wife that WANTS to be with him!

"I would too," Kreyu replies. "The nobility in many nations rarely marry for love. Marriage is a matter of alliances, of diplomacy, the consolidation of power."

She squeezes his hand. "Luckily, I do not HAVE parents to arrange a marriage for me," she quips, tone slightly teasing. "So I may have who my heart desires."

"Lucky indeed," he teases right back. "Whoever it is who ends up by your side will benefit greatly from your kindness, your wit and cunning, your fierce loyalty to the one you call mate."

A smirk pulls at the corner of his mouth. "And will also benefit from your desires and wants, very much so."

"So certain, you sound. Almost as if you had some experience to back up your opinion." Still clearly teasing.

She puffs up a little in pride at his praise.

"I may have a small bit of experience in the matter. Maybe a rumor or two made it to my ear."

There is a stray wildflower growing in a crack near a low wall that they pass; he contemplates plucking it and handing it to her, but knowing that they are soon to be headed skyward and further on their travels, he leaves it for another to find. Perhaps a child, or a young suitor for their lover to be...

She kisses him on the cheek, smiles widely.

"And I may have heard a few rumors about a lovely man with magical hands and an owl's wings. A gentle soul made for me."

Soon enough they are outside the city, in a hidden place where she can change shape. "Time for me to take these off, I suppose," she says, gesturing to her clothes. "Unless you'd like to get more practice in with the pins?"

"It would do well for me to practice," he admits. "You are still so much faster than I am."

He steps closer to her, brings his hands to her left shoulder, allows his fingers to fall to the pin that holds the fabric in place. With their bodies this close together, it is not purely an accident that his chest brushes softly against her side as he works, or that his glances to meet her eyes is faintly loaded with other intentions.

"I would kiss you, if you'd have me do so," he whispers softly. "Should learn how to do this while distracted."

"I would like that," she says, voice soft.

She tilts her head for easier kissing. The bronze of the pins is textured, easy to grip and a stark contrast to the smooth linen.

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