Closed [The Sanctuary] Ripples In The Pond After The Thrown Stone

[Kavala]

The girl absorbed his power, lying prone beneath him while his hand choked off her air and his fingers invaded her body , laying bare the fact that she owned a lying mouth. Despite her blooming form, she was still a child in so many ways, as was evidenced by her reaction to him and his mark. But he could tell she wasn’t unaffected by him. Dampness in her untouched core belied her feigned indifference, though that was no surprise since Crescent had long staked a claim on him. The servants he tended to spend his time with ended up dead a great deal, usually with his seed still warm within them. Such occurrences made it hard to get a date after word got out. Eclipse had encouraged such behavior, especially when the killings weren’t sloppy and there was no trace of who did it was left behind. His flesh and blood, after all, had to be as cold as the winter was long to survive the God-infested world they lived in. Population was no problem. There were always more people wanting jobs than there were jobs to be had.

Despite all that, Crescent was uncharacteristically quiet as Geode moved about. She watched him with her bright eyes, missing nothing he said or did, anger burning in her gaze. The girl, he could tell, hadn’t quite decided who to be angry with. The Gods? Her Father? Geode himself? She sat up when he released her, and took what he offered her. And still as she watched him move around the room, a great sadness overtook her. It was then, probably in that moment, that she grew up the most in one instant. The etched dagger touched her heart. So too did his words. But neither did little to change the situation.

She would have to tell her father. He knew it as much as she did. Eclipse would find out, if he didn’t already know, and then it would be worse for her because he’d question Crescent and the truth would spill. She was trained to obey her authority, the highest one, and her father was it. She returned the medallion to her neck, slipped the dagger back into its sheath, and then took the Geode in her hands. The dagger with her name on it remained in her lap.

Crescent nodded to his words, watching the only man she’d ever wanted to love pack up his things and prepare to leave her life forever. She had no idea that in just half a year she’d be killing her own father, not knowing who he was, nor that in the year that followed she’d be part of a group that opposed the Ruv’na having in a state of mind where she’d forget this moment forever. She had no way of knowing Geode’s exodus was fortuitous.

Except now she was a Dreamwalker and Kavala bore witness. While Crescent had been destined to forget, Kavala had been destined to remember, showing Adrien just who he was and why he was.

The human girl finally spoke, interrupting Geode before he left. “I remember. I laughed because the stones inside look like a rhino I once saw a picture of in my classes. I didn’t realize you kept the stone along with keeping the nickname because you liked it so much. It’s still here, after all this time, the shadow of the beast.” The girl said, slipping the necklace over her neck as well and tucking it down alongside the medallion in her now rumpled blouse. She shifted, lifting a foot up to perch on the edge of the bed and leaning forward to wrap a hand around her leg and rest her chin on her knees.

“I couldn’t kill you either.” She said suddenly, hugging the box to her chest. “That’s why I’m not going to tell him until the morning. He won’t kill me for it, not like he’d kill you knowing about the mark tonight. That should give you time to get away, disappear, and start fresh. There’s coin in the tackroom in an old saddlebag I keep draped over my saddle rack. It’s for emergencies. I suspect this constitutes one. But… you probably have coin and new papers stashed everywhere already… even safe houses.” She seemed angrier suddenly, as if it was all coming to a head and she knew it. He was leaving.

By the Void, he was leaving. No… no that wasn’t right. He was gone. Gone already, with just a profession of love sliding off his lips and a truth more painful than it should be.

“Will I see you again?” She asked, but it was too late… his form was already retreating down the hall. And it was a stupid question anyhow. He would be in the fortress stables soon and after that on the road. She wouldn’t see him unless he wanted her too and she was fairly sure he no longer wanted her too. But Eclipse wold see to it that she tried.

“You haven’t failed.” She said abruptly, to the thin air, as if it listened to her and would pass the message along. “You haven’t failed…” She insisted, the tears beginning to fall. She indulged in tears now, because after the morning there would be none at all. Eclipse would not be pleasant in his reaction and there would be no time for tears as he set her out to kill Geode. For she knew he’d send her. He had too. And then in the end it would be who found whom first and who just simply got in the first blow.


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Kavala pulled them both out of the chavi hard, breaking back into the Chavena and untangling them from both Geode and Crescents memories. She hovered there for a moment with Adrien, stunned. She’d never walked back on Crescents life past when she’d joined the Cytali. It was something, in retrospect, she thought she probably should have done.

And rather than take them further, Kavala took them home, dumping Adrien’s spirit back into his body and casting hers with equal roughness home as well. She woke with a start, almost in pain from the quick rocky trip and then looked to see if Adrien was awake. If he was, she’d meet his gaze and wait, wondering how he’d react to what they’d witnessed and what they now knew.

[Adrien Dair]

Geode walked the grounds before he reached the stables. Tacking up his own horse his duel sided blade shoved into the ground. Two of the stable boys rounded the corner and walked towards him. He grabbed one, slamming his head into the side of the stall. He moved quickly to pull his blade from the ground and run it through the others chest. Returning his attention to the one without the hole in his chest. He stepped on his throat, slowly pushing down. The murderous hatred felt good to the man. He spat in the boys face before crushing his throat. He saddled up his horse and took off riding into the distance.

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Adrien felt himself being pulled from the memory. Being taken back by Kavala to their own realm. Questions burned in his mind. Wondering about everything that he saw and everything in turn that Kavala saw.

Adrien awoke with quickly. His eyes starting up at the ceiling until they refocused. He still felt Kavala near him. The faint brushing of their skin against one another. His eyes meeting hers as he sat up. Wrapping his arms around her, nuzzling his head into her neck. He didn't speak for awhile. Letting his feeling flow into her. Sadness, fear, slight rejection and curiosity all bound into one ball. He would squeeze her slightly thinking as he was cuddled into her about what he just saw. What it felt like he did. He wanted to know more, wanted to know what happened to the man. Why he left her and ran, he wanted to know what it would mean to him.

He removed his face from her neck and looked into her eyes. His arms still wrapped loosely around her. "What does that mean? Krysus and Geode and Crescent? I was Geode in a past life? I did that to her? Why?" he questioned towards her wondering and praying that she knew the answers. "I wont do that to you. I wont run away... I promise" he said quickly as he pulled her closer. He was not sure what any of it meant but he was worried. Worried that she might think that he would do the same to her. "What happened when he left? What happened to Crescent?" He wanted to know the answer. Holding his bondmate in his arms he took in a deep breath.

"I am so confused. That is not what I expected at all. Why would he do that if he loved her?" he removed one of his hands from her back and ran it down his own face. He pushed himself up farther. Sitting straight up his bare upper half exposed to the surrounding area of her room. His eyes met hers again and he smiled. "Sorry. I just don't know what to think." He had calmed down and moved to pull her closer to him so they could be touching. Still cuddled as they talked. He knew she would want to talk and he wanted to as well. He wanted to know what had just happened and what to make of it.

The touch of her skin relaxed him further as he snuggled into her. He took one of her hands in his and the other traced around her thigh. "Are there still people out there who hunt followers? People trying to do what they did?" he asked. He wanted to know if there was a group that would be after Kavala and therefor after him as well. "I need to get stronger if there are. I need to train in some form of weaponry and more with my unarmed. I can't protect you if I am weak" he said. He knew his rhino form would help. But what if he couldn't change into it. What if she needed his help when he was stuck in human form.

He wondered how long that this had been going on. The hidden secrets of the Ruv'na and the Cytali. He wondered how many more groups there were out there. Hidden cults that hated the gods or followed them. He wondered if there were other past lives of his that were affected by these groups. Then he wondered about Kavala's. "You said one of your past lives was a Kelvic right? What about the others? Do you know of them? Did you know of her?" he asked. There was no hint that he would feel betrayed if she answered him. But she would feel his need to know these answers.

"Can we go back sometime? To see my other past lives? Maybe?" he asked. He was still unsure of how this really worked. But the idea of learning from the past excited him and he wondered if him and Kavala had indeed met even before Geode and Crescent. "Not now. But later" he clarified. His hand sliding in between her thighs and then down to her knee before pulling back up. His hand now warm from her body. He enjoyed petting her more then he enjoyed being petted by her.

[Kavala]

Dreamwalking wasn’t without its consequences. Sometimes, when one woke from the dream, one woke changed. Kavala lifted her eyelids slowly and let her vision adjust to the darkness. She didn’t like waking as abruptly as she did dropping off to sleep, but Adrien gave her no choice. She wasn’t fully conscious until he had her sitting up, his arms wrapped around her, and his head buried in her throat. She listened to the feelings flowing through his bond and understood more about how difficult it was for Irvyn when she was with him and they were fully bonded. Kavala had no choice but to feel Adrien’s emotions. With her Konti gift, she could dampen and mute, but with him, there was no avoiding it.

And before their bond, she would have avoided it with all her heart, running from her emotions and finding a cold dark place in the fortress to loose herself to stonesong and forget for a time she could feel. Crescent’s memories were all painful. She never thought to share them with anyone else, even unwillingly, and yet here was another creature that was wounded just as deeply by that life. Kavala had no doubt that Crescent had fancied herself in love with Geode for years. But the problem was that girls that young had no concept of what that truly meant. Geode knew better. And the man had played a waiting game on her that in the end had run out of time before she’d truly grown up. Kavala didn’t know what had happened to Geode. Undoubtedly his life was hard. Maybe he moved on to do the damage he wanted. Maybe Eclipse had found him when Crescent had told him the truth. What had that telling cost her? It seemed like she sold her soul to a lie, and Geode fled knowing that would happen.

Such waste. Kavala wrapped her arms around Adrien and mourned a little with him. He was understandably upset. She trailed her hands up his back and buried them in his hair, rubbing his scalp and comforting him the only way she knew how. She made soothing noises like she did for her son, and began to rock the rhino gently.

“I don’t know the answers, Adrien. You do though, deep inside, because it was your life and your actions. I suspect you ran because you knew what would come after. Self preservation is a strong instinct. And she was fine, truly, in what happened after you were gone and what happened in the rest of her life. She lived to be old. And truthfully she was far happier than she deserved. Her story was one of transition and departure from the known. I don’t know what your story was, but I do know that too much at once gets hard. We can go back and find out anytime. But we must do it in small doses. Think of how hard this is now. How hard would it be if we lived all of his life in one afternoon.” Kavala said gently, continuing to sooth him any way she cold.

She heard his words and nodded, understanding his confusion. She didn’t answer his questions though because none of them she knew for sure. “Sometimes to love something truly, you have to leave it and let it go.” That was all the Konti would say, not knowing how to explain it to Adrien.

He had more questions, some of which she could answer, some of which she could only hold him tighter. “Yes, the Ruv’na are still out there. The man everyone was afraid of there, Crescent’s father Eclipse? I suspect he’s alive, living even as I am and you are, maybe aware of who he was and maybe not. The Ruv’na are known here in Riverfall and are deadly. They are an enemy, Adrien, and one of the reasons I raised this fortress and carved out the cliff. I never sleep safe, not completely, because they are always there and I know what they are capable of." The Konti said, being utterly truthful.

Kavala glanced down at her wrist then, running her thumb across an odd scar there, one she hadn’t remembered getting. It looked like a rope burn. There was an identical one on her other wrist. Even touching the things made her uneasy. She just didn’t know why.

“That’s why I train too, Adrien. You can use all the things here you want to train. You need it. It is just not an empty lesson I teach to my children and the Kelvics and everyone else here. It is not a matter of if they come, but rather a matter of when.” The Konti affirmed. “But I’ll be ready. I know him. I know his tricks. We won’t give in or go down easily if it comes to a fight.” She affirmed, stroking his cheek and studying his oddly colored eyes a moment.

“We can go back anytime you like. But we just can’t stay long, not right now. We need short periods of rest and time to absorb all we’ve seen. If I don’t have clients and am not tired or overly busy, I can take you whenever you want.” The Konti assured him, shifting and slowly lying back down.

She let him pet her, stroking her body, getting use to the feel of his hands on her. The Konti sighed, drawing one arm behind her head and one across the underside of her breasts. Kavala watched him with icy blue eyes, thoughtful, in a mood that was quietly troubled though not with something she could easily fix by throwing magic or a blade at. Lives woven upon lives. Geode and Crescent were reunited, destined somehow to walk together for a while in this life. She stared at Adrien even as he touched her in his innocent wondering way and knew suddenly what was buried in him. Geode was strong, powerfully gifted in long blades, and a leader with a demanding stubborn attitude. Even as she’d unlocked the past, she knew he’d been an ruthless instructor and a cold blooded killer when he had to be. He hadn’t hated, not like some of the Ruv’na. No, instead, his emotions were quietly dangerous, boiling up and unexpected times. She knew she’d seen him do things, horrible things, and walk away without those things scarring his soul.

How much of Geode was still in Adrien. If she was to be any judge, all of Crescent and all of her training was still with Kavala. She was still Crescent, though not that arrogant fourteen year old girl Geo had threatened and then walked away.

She reached out suddenly, grabbing his wrist as he trailed it across one breast and down towards her belly. She met his gaze clearly, boldly, and asked one simple question… the same question she’d been asking herself.

“How much of him is still in you Adrien. How much of her do you see in me?” She asked, not knowing if he would answer and not knowing where this twisted spiral of lives would end.

[Adrien Dair]

He shook his head and slid down to lay his head on her lap. "More searching inside of myself I guess. He turned to look up at her face. He sighed and bit his lip. "I feel like his story was not so happy. I feel like... He never fell in love again" he grumbled. Almost like he didn't want to believe that it was possible that the man named Geode was him. Or was a part of him in any means. He nodded his head, "I don't want to put you in any harm. I can wait. I am just curious about it. I don't like to think that I would do something like that. But then again it wasn't really me or at least not the me that I am now?" He paused and chewed on his lips again. "I am not quiet sure what to say about it really."

"I don't want to let go of what I love. I agree with what you said. But I think sometimes the thing you love needs to you to hold onto it and tell it that everything will be okay." He was talking about her and if she listened to the way he spoke or the feelings in his heart she would know that. The flash of repressed emotions from earlier made him want to be near Kavala at all times. At least close enough for her to feel his feelings wash over her. He hoped it would be a sense of relief and protection for her. But he knew she was still scared and he was to. He was scared of what could happen in the future. But to him being scared of the unknown and fearing it were two different things. He reached up and took one of her hands. Pulling it down till it was in front of his face. He turned it over and kissed the back side before letting it reset.

He looked at their hands tangled together. An almost perfect fit he thought. But nothing was perfect to start out with. He knew that everything needed work when it was new. His eyes returned to her face as she spoke. He yawned and say back up kissing her as he returned to a seated postion. He released her hand and let his feet hang off of the bed. The room was silent and empty besides the two. He wondered if someone had come while they were asleep. He wondered if he would have even noticed if they did. He turned back around when she said she never slept safe. "You should sleep safely every once and awhile. Let me protect you. I know that you are still unsure about the bond. You are worried that I'll hurt you or maybe that you'll hurt me. But you still deserve a peaceful nights sleep" he said.

"I won't let anything happen to you or yo-" he paused for a tick. "Our family. I know I am still young and have been sheltered from most of the dangers of the world. But I want to protect them and you more then anything." He looked into her eyes with confidence. "Even if Nysel never marks me. I am your bondmate, I will go wherever you go and I will protect you no matter what happens. I care about you tremendously and its scary because I have never felt this way about someone. But I do care about you. I know you need time to accept that."

He sat in silence. His hand returning to gently trace up and down her thigh as she spoke. His only response was to nod along with what she said. His eyes locked with hers as she studied them. The soft hand upon his cheek gave him comfort. "Okay" he finally spoke up in answers to saying that they could go back again. When she laid back down he moved closer to her. His hands gently caressing and exploring her body. They were rough from the work he was doing around the Sanctuary. Working with wood and stone did that to ones hands. But there was a gentle feel to them. A way he moved about to reassure her that he wanted nothing more then her happiness.

He looked at her when she caught his wrist. "I don't know." he said as an answer to her question.

"I love you the same way he loved her. The real way he loved her, not through their training or coated words. I care deeply about you and want the best for you. I want to free you from the things that keep you trapped with fear and hate. I want to be there for you. To be your rock. The one you can rely on when things get rough. I want you to come running to me when you are afraid and I will hold you. I will use my own body as a shield to protect you if I have to. It may sound dumb to you. That I can already feel this way only after a short time. But there is nothing for me to prove otherwise. My feelings are towards you, my mind is always on you. I smile when you speak, when you walk, when I see you, when I dream of you, when I think of you and when I am alone because of you.." Another pause as he took in a breath.

"I was bullied as a child, picked on by Akalak children. I had to force myself not to change. To run and hide and cry alone. Even with my parents I felt there was no one out there for me. I felt like I would be alone for the rest of my life. That I would not bond to anyone. But here you are. The wonderful, beautiful, smart, strong and independent mother that my eyes could not believe was in front of me. From the first day we met you knew what I was. Yet you did not look down on me with hate or fear. You accepted me for what I was. Even when that man stole your coin and I went after him. I could feel your worry and warmth when I came back. I still feel the kiss you placed on my cheek and the words that you spoke. You care so much about others and I only thought of myself. I wanted to impress you when I chased after him. Finally someone who looked at me like an equal. I wanted to prove that I was worthy of it."

He shook his head and closed his eyes. Pain from memories of being pushed around and hit with sticks and fists as a child. He swallowed before speaking again. "I failed but you didn't care. You still took me in."

"I do not feel hatred like he did. My life is not as hard as his, I do not feel that I would know how to wield a blade like he does. But I do remember some of his training. Some takedowns and hand to hand attacks that he was taught and that he taught her..." He looked down into her eyes as he pondered her next question.

"I see someone to protect and love. I see the same part of her that he saw. The part that wasn't over taken by shadow. But he waited to long... I think.. He couldn't do what he needed to." He ran his hand down the side of her face. Pushing her hair behind her ear. "I do not see the arrogance that she had. I do see her strength though it seems to be aided by your own" he said. He laid down beside her again. His head on the pillow next to her as his hand rested on her stomach.

[Kavala]

Kavala wasn't used to the feeling of her head so full of thoughts it was about to explode. As she lay on her back, head cradled on her arm, and one hand across her chest just beneath her breasts, she found her eyes seeking Adrien's in the dark. It was hard to see him. He was just a shadow above her, his rough hands stroking her in a relaxing and comforting way. Her mind imposed Geode's features over his and she realized they looked almost the same. He had the same face, but Adrien's features where more animated whereas Geode's were harsh, unrelenting, wrought tough by time and training.

And as she let things settle in, she suddenly realized why Adrien made her so uncomfortable. Not in his presence, exactly, but in his words. He was open, honest, forthright and forthcoming in his devotion and affection. He was everything Geode was not. Adrien was free with his words. Geode would have never told him he loved her. He would have protected her without vows to protect her. Adrien was making promises he couldn't keep and didn't even realize it. The Sanctuary and its family here had powerful enemies. And while they might have been laying low for the time being, things couldn't stay the same. They'd never be the same from day to day. Kavala was sure there was Ruv'na in the city. There was no evidence of it, but more and more her sense of urgency to get The Sanctuary done, the school opened, and things moving came almost non-stop these days.

Kavala lifted her free hand and rubbed Adrien's shoulder. "You are very different from him, you know." Kavala said, though her voice was pitched like Crescent's.... more sultry, darker, with just a hint of elite entitlement in it. "He would know not to make promises he's not able to keep. Adrien, you say all these things and make all these promises, but in the end they aren't ones you can keep. You can't protect anyone from life. You can't keep them safe, and you certainly can't make them love you. You know we have a deep connection because of the bond. I feel it, you feel it, but do you even know me? I know I don't know you. Are you feeling Geode's obsession with Crescent and am I feeling hers for him? What about us in the now? If you really knew me you'd know that words like you just said make me uncomfortable. You know I have children. You know there's been men in my life. They've all made promises, Adrien. None of them have followed through. The words fall bitter on my soul. They fall empty and hollow, not because of who you are, but because of what you are saying." Kavala said, trying to make him understand that it had all been said before... many times.

And she didn't know why. Was she supposed to walk through this world being lied to and betrayed by the men that professed to love her?

"I don't even know if I'm capable of that kind of love anymore, not at this point." She said, being truthful and wanting him to understand. "Crescent did it a better way, Adrien. She kept everything she felt inside, hiding it behind snark and the spoiled princess veneer. And then she had the tools to back up the snark when it was necessary. But even in her life then, after Geode, men lied to her, used her and kept her always in the dark. I haven't looked too closely at that life because I cant stand to know that there might be more betrayals coming. And I can't handle them over and over and over again." She said, tracing the length of his shoulder, down his arm and then back across his pectoral muscles.

"I'd rather have a quick and dirty petch and no promises and no commitments than get involved with someone on that level again, someone capable of taking the last of my heart and what little pieces are left. I'd like to save them for my children so they will know love... and perhaps too for my friends. Or even a bondmate. But it comes slowly to me, Adrien... in just a trickle. That part of me has been broken a lot, repeatedly, and the words you say... just enrage me. Part of it is Leth's fault because fate is fickle and there's no walking backwards in life. Part of it is because its just to painful to care about someone I want in my life like that. Being a Dreamwalker is a curse, Adrien, in some ways. I've seen my past lives. I never truly ended up happy and loved and not lied too. Even my one Kelvic life that I know about my bondmate left me. He died. And the Valterrian happened and we were all alone to face the destruction." Kavala said, shaking her head, tracing the outline of his face in the darkness.

"You deserve more than that. You would have been far wiser to bond to someone young full of life, full of promise, unjaded, untainted. I once called you dirty, Adrien, as Crescent. But now the roles are reversed. I'm the dirty one." She said, lifting her head up and kissing him softly on the lips. It was a kiss devoid of any sort of promise other than pleasure. He might not see it, but in the dark, Kavala was crying.

[Adrien Dair]

He stared deep into Kavala's eyes for a long time. The silence between them ticking away at the time. She seemed to be thinking and studying him. Comparing him to the life the two just saw. He closed his eyes and imagined himself like Geode. He tried to imagine the hardships and suffering the man went through that Adrien had not faced in his life. Now he was in a world of hidden secrets and enemies. But he did not feel fear, not in the way that someone normally would. Fate was not something that could be plotted out by a normal man. He did not have the tools to see into his own future nor did he want them. He was satisfied in living in the now and preparing for tomorrow.

He opened his eyes when she spoke. Her hand rubbing his shoulder brought a small sense of comfort. He was different from him, and her explanation stung him. His eyes remained locked on her face, studying it as she spoke. He shook his head and spoke "My mother used to tell me that we fall in love by chance, and that we stay in love by choice. I don't know you... Not yet, not as well as I would like. But I don't care. You don't know me, but would knowing me really be of any interest to you. The bond is one thing and our friendship another. They grow together and they live side by side. But they are not the same thing. Geode's obsession..."

He took a long pause before rolling his shoulders. Feeling the muscles and bones move as one, he looked up at her. His face strong as his body, a determined will shining behind his eyes. He was intimidating in his rhino self, a three thousand pound beast with the strength to crush a normal man. Many animals avoided them scared that even stepping near them might send that animal to an early grave. But a tiny bird perches itself on the back of the mighty beast and picks ticks off of it for bells. Adrien shook his head again and looked back up at her. "My obsession is not you. I am not obsessed with you. I understand that you've been hurt, even if I don't know how bad. I wont apologize for my promises and words. But I have told you once before and I will tell you again. I am not them. I will never be them. I don't want to be them and if by some bastard gods hand I turn into them then I will do the same thing that Geode would have done. I promise you he probably hunted for the goddess that cursed him. He probably hunted her until his body gave out." he said in an almost animal like growl.

He sighed lightly as she spoke again. His body relaxing as her hand ran along the muscles of his body, they twitched in response. The veins in his body pushed forward to show under his skin. One of his hands gripped tightly to the furs that lined the bed. "Keeping everything inside until it just burst out of you or causes more damage then you would think. Words are made to be spoken, silence causes more problems" he mumbled mostly to himself.

"I will pray to Nysel myself. I will some how prove that I am worthy of his mark. Not because we are bonded, but because I am still my own self. I want to do things for you, want to please you and make you happy." he said, his fingers slipping away from the fur that he gripped so tightly. "But this bond is a commitment. I don't care about your past to be honest, there maybe much that I could learn from it. But it has no, and will never have, any affect on the way that I see you now. Even if you don't accept it. Take your time, I do not wish for you to rush into anything that you are not prepared for. I also do not plan on dying. I do have instincts and ways that I live my own life."

When her lips met his, he relaxed almost instinctively. Enjoying the tender touch of pleasure for a few ticks before pulling away. His hands gripping her shoulders in an effort to keep her where she was. His fingers held firm but did not bite into her like they would if one was holding an animal. He stared at her, the will and stubbornness burning in the back of his eyes. The grayish green tones shining in the small amount of light that they had. "Enough of that petching bullshyke. I didn't bond to someone else because there is no one else I want to bond to. I am proud to be bonded to you. Hidden past or not, you can say all these things but I'm not leaving. I don't know if you've ever seen a rhino in his territory. But he doesn't give it up. This is my home now and I'm not running away! Not because I want to be some strong bastard that has to prove himself to everyone. Because I want to prove to you and myself that I can do what I want to do. That there is nothing holding me back. I will help you fight these enemies of yours. That's not a damned promise ether. If your god chooses to mark me or not that won't change a thing. I understand that you may need to keep secrets from me. To keep everyone you work with safe. Fine, I'll deal with it. But there is one thing that you need to understand." His arms fell from her shoulders and he stood up.

"I am your bondmate. Not your lover, thought I can be if you wish for that to happen. And I am for damn sure not your kid. I will treat them as if they were my own blood, just like I will treat Larik and Cadra. But you are special to me. I will never to be able to treat you like you are just my blood because you aren't. You are more to me then that."

[Kavala]

Kavala listened to Adrien’s words wash over her from the darkness. He didn’t have a loud voice and truthfully he wasn’t long winded, but when he had something to say he spoke his mind. The Konti drew in a deep breath, letting her air slowly out as Adrien spoke, trying to remain calm and unsure of why she was so upset. Kavala disagreed with what Adrien’s mother had told him, utterly, because she knew better being a Dreamwalker.

Adrien did know Kavala. He knew her because he was Geode.

She didn’t know how closely the two blended, but in her own case, Kavala was just as much Crescent as she was Kavala. Even now, after the Dreamwalk, her soul called to him with an old pain that only rose its ugly head and made itself known when he’d walked away from her as Crescent. He could have asked her not to tell her father. He could have taken her with him. But he had been so keen on making the sacrifice and hunting a Goddess down, that he’d pushed her aside.

Was that the first rejection? Was that why all the ones that had happened in this life had cut so keenly? The Konti laid quietly, listening to his voice, wondering where his mind was and what his thoughts were focused on. She opened her Konti gift up, wanting to feel his emotions… to sense if there was a belief in what he’d just told her. Kavala wasn’t prepared for the feelings that infused her mind. Confusion flooded her senses, mingled with an anger of sorts. He was frustrated, but she couldn’t understand why. She understood the hurt and it smarted as well, knowing she’d caused it. Kavala didn’t like to do this to anyone. And in that moment the Konti saw first hand that she’d been only looking at this from her perspective, only protecting herself… selfish. Kavala closed her eyes, sorrow mingling with her fear, not knowing how to change things and work past them.

She winced when he said enough of the petching bullshyke. His voice reminded her of Geode’s in that moment and some of his temper flared, pulling the frustration to anger on his emotional level. There was passion in his voice, a true belief in what he said, and it made her wonder if he wasn’t capable of everything he promised. Was he what he wanted to be now? No. But she knew after this Dreamwalk what he was capable of. And it wasn’t like he was a two year old boy coming into the world and starting his training.

He was a grown kelvic who’d only had a short time in the world to find his feet. He was advanced for what he was, and had a form that was so utterly strong. Kavala remembered rhinos. She’d walked enough of Crescent’s childhood to remember the rhino hunts Eclipse and Geode had went on and how they had claimed there was no more test of strength than facing one with primitive weapons or bare hands. Sometimes, in those days, it was just simple survival. When one misstep happened, Eclipse’s punishment was delved out in the form of orders and some of those orders could be deadly. If you survived them, you were forgiven in his eyes. If you died, he didn’t want you in his ranks anyhow.

Kavala slowly opened her eyes. It wasn’t right just to think of herself, her pain, her vulnerability when it came to the bond. She was being selfish and she knew it. No matter how wounded she was, treating Adrien like he was all the rest of the men that had been in her life wasn’t fair. It was a low move, one she couldn’t even blame on self-preservation. On some level, she’d agreed to the bond. On some level she felt the need for a bondmate just as much as he had.

One couldn’t bond without consent. Adrien was right. They were bondmates. And though they could be more, they weren’t yet. Kavala could feel Adrien’s sexual frustration a mile away. He was incredibly restrained about it though, for all that she was certain he didn’t quite understand that being a young male in his prime was driving his sexual frustration to a peak. And he wasn’t going to be her child. Adrien made that fact very clear. The thought made her smile softly with relief. And with that relief came a flood of wondering what his true needs were.

Kavala opened the bond as wide as she could, realizing the link had been clamped down to a mere trickle of feeling back and forth between them. She pulled him down onto her, wrapping her arms around him and letting him settle his body upon hers as she rolled them slightly to the side so the bed would be bearing the weight of their forms along their sides. She tucked her head against his and kept her arms around him so she could stroke his spine and tangle her legs with his. Adrien had a slightly musky male scent that wasn’t offensive or overpowering, but rather one totally unique to him.

“I believe you, Adrien. I believe what you say and know you can do what you say you can. I’m sorry I’m such a coward, so afraid of being abandoned and left standing alone that… I have been pushing you away from the start. I didn’t realize… not really until just now… that it was doing to you what I was afraid you’d do to me.” The Konti said running her arm that was not locked beneath him down his form to stroke his hip and back up across his rump. She wasn’t afraid of his body and she wasn’t shy,

“But you need to give me time…. I know you want everything right now to be perfect, but life takes planning and time. Trust takes time. I’m sure being bondmates takes work, just like your mother said being in love did. I want to say I love you but I can’t. It would be a lie. Crescent loved Geode with all her heart and counted on him always being there. He was not. You know events drove them apart. And those events were out of their control. I doubt anyone is in control when Krysus is involved. I know I love the part of you that houses him, but it wouldn’t be the love you need right now… the one you deserve. Adrien, there is nothing wrong with you. You are a beautiful soul, proud, strong, young, and highly intelligent. We just need time. Lots and lots of time.” The Konti said, reaching over and pulling a blanket over them.

She pulled Adrien even closer, seeking to comfort him, and tilted her head to kiss his cheek soothingly. Kavala sensed he needed this comfort, this intimacy, because she knew his history and knew that he’d never once been accepted, not by the children he grew of age with nor by even his bondmate. As angry and worried and messed up inside as she was, Kavala didn’t want that projected onto Adrien and certainly didn’t want him in any more pain because of her.

[Adrien Dair]

Her embrace shocked him, he expected a retaliation of a different sort. The backlash from his words that did not come from her lips confused him more. Her touch brought him comfort as she laid them on their side in the bed. Her head cuddling against his and her stroking his spine caused him to let out a deep, frustrated sigh. A level of relaxation he had not felt for quiet some time rushed over him as their legs tangled. The bareness of both of their bodies brushed against each other, his hands slid to her hips touching the bare skin that hung around her curves. He closed his eyes when she spoke and let his fingers dance along her skin.

Running over the smooth stomach that she had from her runs and hard work, her body an example of what work could do to ones self. Her hand explored his body much like his did hers. One slid up to meet her breast, to squeeze them and feel the firm shape and the other down to her rear. His breathing was labored as he pushed himself against her. He didn't speak as no words came to his mind. He just accepted what she said and nodded to it.

He felt the blanket covering the two of them, the muscles of his body disagreeing with the placement of the cloth. His side twitched as he moved his leg between hers. Brushing his skin against hers brought him a new level of excitement, one similar to the kind he felt on the night of the bond. When she took it upon her self to offer him a form of pleasure.

He licked his own lips as she kissed his cheek, before pulling away slightly from her. He shifted himself to sit upon his knees, resting between her legs. The blanket slid down his body, showing the bare skin that he did not care to hid. She was beautiful in all ways in his eyes. He had fantasied about her body and even dreamed about it while sleeping in the room that was close to hers. He smiled down at her, a smile that did not match his normal one nor one that hid any wicked intentions. It was a smile of desire and pleasure. He leaned forward and planted a kiss upon her lips. His hands moved to scoop under her thighs and pull her closer to him. He pushed against her letting the two rub together as he moved from her lips to her jawline then to her neck.

His breathing heavy again as his hands stroked the backside of her thighs. He moved his hips, taking one hand to line himself up with her. Pushing himself forward until their hips met each other. He pressed his body against her, his teeth pressing against her skin as he bit her shoulder. His hips moved slowly at first, savoring the feeling of them combined. His arms wrapped around her waist and scooped her up. Lifting her and supporting her with his knees, he nibbled and kissed at her collarbone.

His arms wrapped tightly around her body and he smiled. His adrenaline coursing through his veins. The dominate nature of the rhino came out through him as the two danced in their ever lustful dance. He laid her back in the bed and let his hands grab her hips, pulling her against him as his lips met hers. His tongue brushing against the soft skin of her lips as the room was filled with the sounds of their joining. He adjusted himself, pushing his feet backwards to give himself a better angle as his hands kept her hips in place. The lustful gleam in his eyes as he pressed his forehead to hers.

His emotions had shifted from the angst and frustration that he had felt before. His heart pounding in his chest as he hungrily went at her body. Her words echoed in his ears, her want of a quick and dirty petch. He smiled to himself and bucked hard against her. He knew that he would be able to give it to her whenever and wherever she asked. There would be no holding back on his half. Though he felt that they may fight over who would be the dominate one, Adrien had no problems with it. It would make it all the more enjoyable for him. He went to whisper in her ear his words heavy with his breathing, his hot breath brushing against her skin. He whispered her name, his hands moving to cup her rear. He kissed down her shoulder, to her breast. He teased her with his tongue, before pulling her nipple into his mouth and suckling.

[Kavala]

It was suddenly hard to breathe. Kavala sought intimacy with the Kelvic, wanting him to be drawn closer, welcomed even, into her world. She’d been hard on him, selfish, and wanted to give something back to him as a way to make up for the fact that she had been cold. Adrien took it further. It was something Kavala was all too familiar with. He made free with his hands and began to explore her body. He took her need to give him intimacy and comfort an offer of sex. Kavala was momentarily frozen, not sure how to stop it or if she should because of how cold she’d already been. Part of her died a little inside because her idea was to open up to him, to draw him into her world, and to accept him. His ideas went far beyond that.

He was up, shifting them both, and smiling down at her with lust in his eyes before Kavala could react. He dragged her closer as his breath grew heavy and he kissed her even as he pushed himself into her body. The Konti froze as Adrien took the lead, his lips on her neck, and his breathing heavy in her ears. He touched her at liberty and clamped his teeth into her shoulder as he slowly stroked within her body. Kavala felt like a doll, pulled up against him, and nibbled like some treat. He was a Kelvic in full rut and she was the source of his intent. Kavala closed her eye as he laid her back down, the whole act too far along for her to stop. Adrien wasn’t unskilled, wasn’t wholly unwelcomed, but it wounded her deeply that this was what it was and not something slower, softer, with more meaning. Were men only men, be they Akalak or Kelvic? She would have liked to touch him more, take more time, been cuddled or exchanged stories… but there was always this. This was what women were to men. He hadn’t waited for her readiness. He hadn’t studied her gaze, looking for permission or acceptance before he’d pushed past that.

It should have excited her. Once it would have. But Caelum had the healing of her, turning her pain and embarrassment into healed memories. She wanted so much of Adrien. She needed so much from him. But as he moved over her body, she knew he didn’t understand. She knew he didn’t recognize the signs nor the emotion of sadness rolling off her through his lust. Kavala almost wished he’d flip her over, on her hands and knees like a beast, so she wouldn’t have to look at him and hear him whisper her name in her ear before kissing her body.

It was her fault. She’d told him she’d rather have a quick and dirty petch than getting emotionally involved with someone again. But it’d been a lie. Their bond was new. Lies fell easily off the lips. What she had been really saying was how much she wanted that intimacy. Adrien was only giving her what he thought she wanted. The Konti’s fists dug into the furs on her bed, fisting once, then twice, and finally reaching up to grasp his shoulders. She had a choice. Hate it. Hate herself. Or join him and accept it for what it was. The Konti dug her fingers into his shoulders and arched her back to wrap her legs up and around him. He was rough now, holding nothing back, with his perfect form. And in that moment Kavala let go of any hope of ever getting what she needed, of even caring that she had the needs she did. She buried her emotions deep, refusing to radiate them through the bond.

She wouldn’t fight him over dominance. She wouldn’t push him away or deny him what he thought they both wanted. Instead she rode it out like she’d done hundreds of times for her Talvas’, focusing on his pleasure, his needs, and giving him what he wanted; her. She gripped him with her body, held him as close as he wanted, and gave him access to everything without a fight. It was an old habit, a pattern, and one she hadn’t wanted to revisit. But Kavala didn’t know how to ask for something else, or to manipulate the situation to get her own needs met. She’d never been in that place, even if she wanted to… not since she was young and taking her first steps into being a woman on the White Isle. That Kavala was long lost, shipwrecked somewhere in a dark corner of her soul on a barren isle far outside the known shipping lanes.

This Kavala knew how to pleasure a man and how to give all of herself to him to make him happy. She kissed him when he wanted kisses, held him when he pulled her close, and used her keen observation skills to note what he reacted to and what he seemed to ignore. Adrien deserved as much. She wouldn’t withhold this affection like she had withheld her joy from him after they had bonded. The Konti was still stunned they had bonded to begin with. She wasn’t bondmate material, not by a long shot, too distracted, too absolutely wrecked to be much good to someone else in the way bondmates should be good for each other. But she could give him this. Her body knew how and her mind knew how to cope, to make it work for her and be pleasurable.

Kavala gave him everything she could. She dug her hands into his hair, stroked down his neck and spine, held his hips tight as he worked over her. The Konti softly said his name, holding him tight, and softly urging him on. She would take this, this version of his wanting her. It wasn’t the hand holding and the cuddling she needed, but it was something much akin to what she’d imagined when she’d went to town to pick up some company last season. That had failed utterly. Adrien wasn’t failing though. He was good at the physical, much like she knew he would be, and gave attention to every part of her, not just on his needs. Which was what Kavala tried to do, to reciprocate that attention, and move as he moved and meet his needs as he had them until he had everything he wanted.

[Adrien Dair]

His body acted on his own moving against her and with her. The pleasure flowing through his body as they danced in the darkness. A sense of relief flooded his body trailed by something that he couldn't place. His instinct had taken over for him, his youth experiencing the pleasures of another body. It felt perfect to him, a new sensation that he had not felt before. All of the anger and frustrations had melted from his body as he moved.

An odd twisting sensation bit as his gut as though something was wrong between him and his bondmate. The kelvic shrugged it off and continued on with his act. He believe that it was nothing more then nerves of not being able to fully pleasure the woman that laid before him. His breath labored as he grew closer and closer to his climax. The few ticks that it felt like she had not moved her body had now turned into her joining him. Her hands being placed on his body in all the right place.

Her touch excited him more then it ever had. His pleasure flooded through him in every way. Feeling her embrace him as a sort of equal in bed had drowned out all feelings of him being a child. He felt new like his body had gone through a stage it had previously not experienced. An experience she had given him with very little fight. Her hands tugging at his hair caused him to tilt his head into her neck. Lips brushing and kissing at every inch he could reach. He wanted to excite her in every way possible. To feel the effects of his touch through their bond. But he felt very little emotion from her, he shook his head. His hips bucking into hers as he reached his end.

It was a quick moment, one that seemed to last only a few ticks as it came and went. He looked down at her, sweat dripping along his muscled body. A small warm smile down at the choice of his desires and affection. It was quiet aside from the labored breath of the rhino. He slid down slowly next to her and he glanced towards the ceiling. He searched for the bond between them, something that would allow him to see how she was feeling as they laid there. But he pulled back very little from her. He laid in silence close enough for her to reach out and touch him if she desired but far enough as to no crowd her. His fingers spread out on the firs that laid beside them and then contracted inwards. He moved every muscle in his body slowly, he tried to feel as if he was dreaming. If what had happened did not actually happen.

But it did, his movements were normal and the response he got from every muscle told him that it was most likely not a dream. But with the things that Kavala had showed him within the past few months had left the man feeling as if there were more secrets in his life that he did not know about. After a few more ticks of silence from the man he turned his head and said her name in a hushed tone.