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[Rhodri]

Rhodri was lost. He never learned to swim and so he was washed overboard by the rising and swirling tide of emotions- left to drown. He couldn’t hide the pain and confusion any more than he could hide his arms. The Eypharian thought she wanted a way out; an escape, but instead she was putting her hands on him and forcing him to stay. Claire ran yet she was holding him hostage. The desert warrior thought that such a concept should make him happy. Who wouldn’t enjoy the notion of being wanted? Rhodri certainly expected people to worship him so it was something he craved but this display, the show that was being performed, felt different…heavy.

The symmetrical cheek bones and crisp nose were red with frustration as she balled up her fists and pounded away on his bare chest. It didn’t hurt and normally such attempts would be met by a reciprocation of violence but her words rendered him immobile. Each set of blows rocked him back another step as he stared at her piercing eyes with his own earthen gaze which was fragmented under the weight of a shattered understanding. When Claire touched him, Rhodri felt sparks shoot through his skin and jolt his heart. The tall man could swear she made the life-pumping organ skip a beat more than once and his pheromones began to react to her warm presence again. Stunned as he was, the Eypharian was able to hear and process all that she was shouting at him. Most of it did not make sense but he was least able to follow her line of logic. The kelvic had targeted him for some kind of bond that forms between members of her race and other people. The aristocrat couldn’t blame her for choosing him but he found more questions than answers which made his long face seem almost in pain.

Logic and reasoning did not apply in this situation and the thought seemed to snap something inside of the man with gilded skin. As the light from Syna’s races squeezed through a window and bathed him in its warmth which he reflected outward in a gold glow. The brown eyes flashed for a moment. The beguiled expression vanished and his features hardened. His middle set of hands caught her wrists and pinned them against his chest. Rhodri spread his feet a bit more than normal so that his stance was lower which made it easier for them to make and maintain eye contact. The exile bored his stare into her deep eyes as an epiphany reached down and plucked him from the maelstrom of emotions that had swept him away. She had said her piece and now it was his turn.

The Eypharian cooled his gaze and took a deep breath in through his nose. His countenance exuded patience and though he restrained her hands, he was gentle. He paid close attention to her breathing and waited for her to calm down before his lower hands reached out and took her by the waist with a delicate touch that was the closest thing to a cloud that she would find without her wings. His voice was no more than a whisper and there was a softness underneath his tone that she had never heard before.

“Claire.” The six-armed man lingered over name for a few ticks. A bubbled grin split the serious face for just a glimpse and then he repeated it again. “Claire, I appreciate you finally being straight with me.” There was nothing on his face or in his body language that registered fake or fraudulent. “I want to talk about this that but I don’t know how to say it without breaking…” The vanilla liquid was trickling down his neck and onto his collarbones. “I mean, I don’t want to take over.” Rhodri abruptly shut his mouth and closed his eyes. He wasn’t making sense to himself so the likelihood that she was catching his meaning was low if not impossible. “You chose me. You left me standing alone.” His voice never lost the light touch nor did his expression change from the soft and contemplative expression. “You say we’re supposed to be together and I believe you.” The aristocrat leaned his face down towards her, his top hands stroking back her hair and catching her face. “I believe you.” He whispered then released her head and hips and went back to his relaxed stands, still clutching her wrists to his chest. “I lingered then I loved and I watched you fly away. I lost you.” He swallowed hard.

“I lost a piece of myself.” The inflection in his voice changed on ‘self’ –a crack in his golden armor. Rhodri’s face was calm and he was still but there was a cold air that swept around him and the light from the window faded leaving his skin as lifeless as the stone wall that supported him. He just stared at her and slowly released her hands. His neck still made the sweet aroma that filled his space but his eyes were sad –almost tired. “I had given up on you and in time, I found a way to deal with the hole you left behind.” The Eypharian laughed and rubbed his face while his middle hands slapped down on his thighs. “Then you showed up in my life again and now I feel my insides being ripped apart even though I…ache…to touch you.”

Rhodri peeled from the wall and moved out into the tower a few steps so there was distance between them. He turned around to face her with an exasperated look yet his voice remained even. “I’ve never admitted fear until right now- I’m scared, Claire.” He threw all six hands up in the air. “I’m terrified of the way you make me feel and now you tell me I don’t have a choice.” More laughter kicked itself out of his mouth to the point that his shoulders shook. “What am I supposed to do with that?”

[Claire Lexi'lya]

For a tick, it was tempting to rip her hands out from under his grasp the moment his fingers curled around her skin. His touch always rendered her oversensitive, and now was no different. But the desire to remain close to him kept the motion still. Because he had been willing to leave just moments before—there was no telling if she would get the chance again.

The Eypharian shifted, releasing the pressure in the back of her neck as she no longer had to force her head back as far. It seemed so backward. One moment the two of them hissing insults to damage the other, and the next they softened without a reason. As if they had been doing it forever.

As he gathered his mind the Kelvic was aware of the hands that settled on her waist. Almost barely there but setting fire nonetheless. Claire let the moment wash over her, the sight of his skin and the smell coiling from his neck. It was all very solid. Once again the whisper appeared on the edges of her mind. Home.

He spoke so softly the raptor nearly missed the words. Her name, which seemed to pull a small smile from his lips, caused her heart to flutter wildly. The golden man did not stop however and Claire found herself watching his lips in an attempt to focus on what he needed this time. And he had the same trouble she had at first, words confusing until he found the right ones to settle on.

It broke her heart a little as he gently grasped her face, insisting that he believed her. It should have brought her joy—but she could see it on his face before he uttered the words. There was raw pain floating in his eyes. It was nearly enough for her to consider pulling away entirely from him. This wasn't what she wanted...

Her fear had caused a great deal of damage between them.

This side of Rhodri was familiar to her, however. It had just been harder to trust the first time it surfaced. The fading light did not just leech the color from him, but her as well. The dark brown hair and eyes turned black, her skin almost pale. It seemed fitting given how the day had progressed.

He pulled away from her, but the Kelvic remained froze, save for the drop in her neckline. Her fingers moved under her chin, rubbing along her own skin in an attempt to regain some sort of heat to them that his absence stole from her. Claire was aware it made her look small, but she didn't care.

She winced slightly as the Eypharian claimed he did not have a choice. That he ached to touch her but had found his own way to deal with the pain, her absence. It spoke wonders to her because she had yet to find a way to dull the pain.

“I never said you didn't have a choice Rhodri. I said you couldn't just tell it to fade away.” It hurt to think about—to speak of. But he wanted the truth and she had done enough damage for a lifetime. “You just… have to be dedicated to it. And then it will fade.” A dedication she wasn't sure she had in herself. The Kelvic prided herself on such a trait, but with Rhodri it seemed the only dedication she could manage was twisting the two of them in knots.

“The bond has to be a choice one way or the other. We both have to accept it, or one of us has to pull away. It's how I know you haven't yet. Because the pull to bond with you is still there.” The raptor refused once again to look at the Eypharian. It was terrifying—being so open without any idea where it would lead.

“Once the bond is formed… I don't know how to describe it. I've never been before and my mother avoided the specifics. But I do know, it's like flashes of the other. Emotions and feelings like pain. The longer it remains the deeper it gets…”

And if you chose to break it, then it would break me.

It wasn't something she could voice. The idea cracked pain through her chest and the girl could do little but let out a rushed sigh. She could remember her mother; thin and frail, clinging to the windows edge when she thought Claire wasn't looking, just waiting for her father. Instead, she lifted her eyes to his, chewing on her bottom lip a moment before shaking her head.

“I shouldn't have left you there. I was wrong for it. But you are to blame as well. Every time I've run into you—you act differently towards me.” The Kelvic finally released her hands to drop to her side, nose twitching slightly as she gathered her thoughts. The wrong words would only set them off again in another circle.

“The bridge… the way you told me that story left nightmares in its wake. Everything from watching a faceless girl fall, to you being the one to break my wings and throw me over yourself. And I know you did that on purpose.” The Kelvic sighed before shrugging helplessly.

“Then you show up, showering praise after our previous engagement left me rattled on the ground. And then you're kissing me, telling me that you want me. So yes, I was terrified to trust you. Telling you the truth could be tantamount to some game you're playing with my head.”

Claire finally dared to approach the man, however in order to keep him—and herself—from feeling cornered, she kept at least an arm's length between them. “You have a choice Rhodri, but it's not a light one to make. It isn't one you rush into, or away from. But it is your choice.”

Common | Isur

[Rhodri]

There was a strange chill in the air now that the light had changed. Rhodri felt cold which wasn’t uncommon but this was different. The absence of the desert’s dry, radiant warmth was something that he was slowly coming to terms with but this icy sensation ran deeper than skin and bone. The brown eyes turned to Claire as she spoke and a spark inside of him listed over tinder as if awaiting an order to set the blaze. He furrowed his brown and tried his best to soak in the phrasing –the importance of what was being explained. The tiny woman was unveiling so much information that Rhodri was having to pick and choose which parts he felt were most important.

A pause followed a drop in her tone then she exhaled in a way that caused his body to react. Rhodri moved to close the distance between them as if he anticipated her to fall over but she didn’t and it left him in an awkward position. Even as she bit her lip, his hands – all of them- half-heartedly stretched out towards her but when she continued to speak, it froze the big man. She drove him crazy from the inside out and the thick aroma of sandalwood and vanilla was proof of it even if they were only two who understood. He opened his mouth to speak and question her pause but Clair kept pouring more truths from her thick lips.

The kelvic had leveled him. It was sheer pride that kept the tall Eypharian upright after getting bombarded by waves of guilt with each stage of their engagements stretched out before him like an unjustified kill; evidence that he was a buffoon. He had meant to scare her and it had worked. Certainly, a man of divine descent would not be so frightened of ghost stories. Yet in the next chapter, Rhodri had started down a road of manipulation and folly but ended up drawn in as a piece in his own game. His eyes cast themselves downward for a moment and studied the shifting shadows on the floor. When the small and slightly skewed hourglass moved towards him, the earthen gaze lifted to trace the subtleness of the woman’s body in her simple garb. His mind flooded with the finery of his home and even some of the new fashions he had seen in Riverfall. Claire certainly deserved such dresses and jewelery. With her long, wavy hair and penetrating eyes, she could dazzle Leth right out of the sky but it wasn’t like with most women. The little healer didn’t need those things to present her beauty.

Whereas many folks use fine threads and shiny things to build a look that chases perfection, Claire simply was perfect without any aid from such things. The desire the Eypharian had to adorn her with gifts and tokens was simply homage to the light that she created. Even now as the stone washed her skin tone of its normal radiance, the deep emotional pool that she was speaking from burned like the fire of a thousand torches to the man with six arms. The fact that she remained consciously aloof from his grasp pained him but her words explained the reasoning this time. No anger or malice shown on his face and Rhodri was beside himself for it. All of the beautiful thoughts that flowed through his mind; peaceful, joyous and enlightened were constantly challenged by the loud screaming of his upbringing that she was just a slave and useless. He wondered if that would ever go away. While he held that same arrogant attitude towards every other being he met who lacked six arms, Rhodri could never view her in a lesser light and trying to explain that made his throat clench.

Finally, she had given him the ultimatum. It was up to him to decide and he knew what he wanted but as he moved to speak, something nagged at him. It wasn’t the angry racist – that voice never quit and it sounded like his father. It wasn’t the divine supremacist. Claire would always have to deal with that side of the man. His very blood was of divine origins and no amount of love for any creature would ever change that. It was the look on her face when she talked about the bond. Something was left unsaid.

“I’ll decide but not today.” He tried to make sure his voice wasn’t too loud but it came out as barely a whisper like his voice had run away. Rhodri cleared his throat and tried again. “Too much has happened and I need to think but Claire…” He reached for her with one hand. So often had he taken to her with a full stride that he realized that she was never the one to instigate such contact. This would be different. “You have to tell me everything.” He inclined his head down and tilted it a bit so he had a more direct line to her face. The desert exile continued. “You paused as you talked about shared emotions. My gut tells me you left something out.” He forced a small smile. “If you truly wish me to be sincere in my decision to join you…to –bond- with you, then you have to tell me everything.” The idea of being a part of her shook him to the point that he clasped his lower arms behind his back and held them tight against his spine to prevent any visible signs of the tremble.

“Please, don’t let your fear jeopardize this.” His eyes floated on a line of tears that were never going to fall but the slightest bit of light glinted from them just as dawn first kisses the river. “If you can do that then I can promise I won’t make you a part of some arrogant game. I…” He stopped and lowered his stance by spreading his feet and leaning against the wall. “I know that I want you and want to be with you. What I need to find out is if I can live without you.” He head lulled back as he spoke the last statement. She would be hard pressed to hear it if there was any other noise.

[Claire Lexi'lya]

Not today…

It wasn't the most outrageous request. Not in the grand scheme of things. The Eypharian was just now getting all the facts. The very things he could have mulled over by now if she had stayed with him in the vineyard. Logically they both should step away. They hadn't exactly handled the situation as it should have been and only now after—well the Kelvic had lost track of time really—they had finally softened enough to get decent words out.

But the idea of spending more time away to think was heavy. As if they had reached the edge of their possibilities and to stop now would only cause them to fall away from each other rather than together. The fight left them raw and open—it would be easy for him to talk himself out of this. He had already said it, perhaps in anger, but there was no telling just how much truth was buried in his words.

He saw her as half animal, not as a whole. Something that would disgrace him. A pet by any other standard. The bond saw something of equal between them, but perhaps this was not what he wanted. The idea couldn’t help but claw at the back of her mind. Distrust apparently came as an instinct to her, and it reared its head at the very idea the racist man would see her as an equal.

It was the outstretched hand that made the voice pause, however. Rhodri had always been the one to initiate touch, especially in any sort of gentle tone. The very fact he did not take lead and simply grab her hand made her head spin. It was a choice on her part—whether or not she could return it.

Touching was something Claire found to be rather reactive on her end. She willing touched those she cared for, even down to the simple healing of a wound. But she did not touch those outside her family who did not seek medical help. It was a boundary line for her… one that the Eypharian crossed often. Every time he had touched her, it was impossible not to react back, but the choice was never hers to start with. His hand lingering in the air meant something far more than just a touch.

It meant trust.

It had been the very thing she had been seeking since the winery… something she hadn’t really found. Perhaps because it wasn’t something one could just pick up when they needed it. It had to be given—even if it meant he might break such a precious moment later. Claire either had to trust him or let him go.

It was his insistence that brought her out of her musing, that she had left something out. He lowered himself just enough to catch her gaze and the Kelvic couldn’t help the pained expression that passed over her face. The question drifted so very close to the memory of her mother. To answer it meant she would have to relive some of the memories, even if she did not directly speak of her mother. But he promised her… not to use her as a game. Compromise. A stepping stone that would leave them somewhere in the middle and not on opposite sides, all the while trying to figure out just how far the other would jump.

Rhodri’s faded words made her flinch, however. To survive without her. He had no idea how close his comment came to what he wanted to know so badly. The idea simply forced shallow breaths from her chest, and she felt the urge to run again deep in her gut. He had said before he found a way to deal with the hole she left. He could do it again. The raptor could let go and find someone else…it was easier after all.

For a moment her fingers lingered at the Eypharian’s fingertips. The slightest brush of skin against skin, but it still sent shockwaves up her arm. The Kelvic drew in a sharp breath, pressing her lips together, before allowing her fingers to move from the edge of his to his palm. Her middle finger traced a gentle circle to the skin there before she slowly rotated her hand so that her fingers could twist between his own. Her grip was gentle—if he wished to pull away… well, he was stronger than her anyway. But it felt more comfortable to let him adjust to her own intrusion. It didn’t stop her thumb from running lightly across the base of his wrist.

It seemed once she started however, it was impossible to stop—as usual. Claire let herself step close as she dared, not pressed directly against him but just barely. She couldn’t see his face this close however which was probably for the better. The urge to kiss him while being so close—the smell of his pheromones threatening to make her head foggy but not the driving force—was proving just how little self-control the Kelvic had around the brute.

Instead, she tilted her head up just enough to see his jaw, and without thinking raised her free hand rest just below his ear before retreating just enough to let the back of her fingers follow the trail of scruff to his chin, and then slowly return along the same path. She repeated the motion several times, nearly mesmerized by the simple feeling. But he had a question he needing to be answered.


“It’s in all Kelvics. The need to bond with another. It doesn’t have to be you.” Claire sighed. That didn’t sound right. Offensive and dismissive. “I don’t want you to feel cornered. That if you should choose not to, that I will end up alone and miserable... is all. There will be others if you decide no.” After all, she already was those things—even if she often denied them and covered it with work. But it was harder to deny when she was so very close to him.

Drawing a deep breath, the Kelvic closed her eyes. It was tempting to let herself rest against him, but he needed to hear her words. “The longer a bond goes, the deeper it gets. However, the bond is capable of being severed even after it is made.” Opening her eyes, the raptor focused on his collarbone as if it alone could give her courage. “If you chose to bond with me and decided later that it was a mistake, you would not be forced to remain.”

Her heart hammered painfully in her chest as it reminded her that the words were drifting so very close to memories. Yearning and withering away… “For the Kelvic however it is… not easy. We are driven to find a bondmate. To lose them—by death or choice, it doesn’t matter. Some lose their minds. Others… cannot live with the pain. Some simply give up the idea of living at all.”

Claire suppressed the urge to shrug as if the words she had uttered did not matter. There were tears threatening to choke her, but she refused to let them stop her. She knew what she had to do, but the idea of it made her queasy. Claire swallowed thickly and let her hand drop from the side of his face. It took insurmountable strength to step back from him so that the only tether holding them together were their fingers.

“You need time and I can give that to you. I don't know how much, but I will try. For you.” Looking down at their hands, the Kelvic couldn't help but cock her head to the side. His hand was so much bigger than hers… yet they seemed to rather fit. “If you decide to, well the infirmary would be the best place to find me. If not… I'd like to ask a favor?”

It didn't seem like a fair question, but for her own sanity, she needed some control. “If you decide no, please don't come to find me. Just… let it go? I'm terrible with goodbyes.” It wasn't a false statement, just that it was too hard—or rather she was terrified that the weight of one would crush her. Some part of her wanted to be able to hide if everything fell apart.

“I need to go. Just know I'm not running okay? You need time to figure out what you need and that requires space.” The girl gestured weakly between the two of them at the space she in fact just created. Part of her wanted something more… the urge to kiss him had not yet faded. “Rhodri…” His name fell from her lips before she could stop herself, slightly choked in sound, but she managed to force the urge back. It wouldn't be fair to either of them. It would muddy their thoughts and feelings, and it mildly felt like an attempt to sway his mind using the desire between them rather than his own free will.

So the Kelvic did the thing she could think of. Gripping her fingers tightly around his, she pulled his wrist to her mouth and pressed her lips to spot she knew his pulse would lay. Her lips remained for a tick or two before she pulled away entirely and let her fingers unwind from his. It felt like someone was tugging her heart from her chest in the process. Part of wanting to believe he would come find her, another side whispered that he wouldn't dare, not after everything she had put him through—today alone.

But she didn't run. Claire managed to keep herself steady and in one piece despite the tears gathering behind her eyes. Calmly the girl slipped through the exit and for a long moment silence followed her. Many that had gathered to watch the display began to disperse. One, however, remained against the farthest wall covered mostly in shadow. He had slipped in during the fight, watched the entire thing crumble, fall, and somehow rebuild itself.

It was trouble.

Tristan grit his teeth together as his dark eyes locked onto the one figure who was going to blow every piece of their plans to bits. His father would string him up if he let Claire bond—but he had always thought his sister had better smarts than to choose an Eypharian for a bondmate. He couldn't even make sense of the two of them. He could have sworn they hated each other. And then one of the bent for the other and it became some so… opposite. He didn't want to try and label what it was. All he knew was that it was hard to watch. Like looking in on a private conversation. The again, it probably should have been. He needed to put a stop to this now before their father arrived.

“It's a very bad idea you know. The bonding that is.” The man's voice carried easily in the room. There was an accent to it, though not heavy or particularly distinctive—a trait he worked very hard for. “Bonding to Kelvics will mess with your head. Change who you are and what you want.”

Pushing off the wall, Tristan dared to approach the gold-skinned man. He was barely taller than his own sister, but the hulking six armed man did not unnerve him. At least not outwardly…

“Whatever you feel for her, it's not worth the trouble it'll bring you. And it will. Trouble follows her wherever she goes.” It wasn't a lie per say. Just that his sister had no idea just how much trouble she could easily find herself in by crossing the wrong street corner. “She's not staying all that long anyway. Do yourself a favor—and some dignity while you're at it—and stay away from her.”

Common | Isur