Completed [The Dreaming Lady] There Comes a Time... (Chemar)

[Kovac]

Timestamp: 26th Day of Fall 512 AV It was not the first time he had passed the door. Four days ago Kovac had returned from Thunder Bay, where he had supported the effort to rebuild the part-time settlement after the devastation of the Storm. At least twice he had passed down this corridor, past the entrance to the Dreaming Lady. But he had always had duties, he reminded himself. Wind Reach was hectic. Recovery from the catastrophe of the events of Spring had severely hampered efforts to prepare for Winter. Everyone in Skyinarta, Inartan or not, worked long hours towards the same goal, making sure they would all survive the coming season. But this time, the avora had turned down this hallway with the intention of stopping. He had considered it at length, going to see Chemar. After he stayed the night with her, things had seemed to fall apart, or perhaps he had unraveled the seams intentionally. An already dysfunctional relationship with Shayth ended the next day, a messy, ugly affair that left deep wounds in both parties. Chemar continued to haunt his dreams, as did the memory of that revealing night. He had denied the fact, the strange phenomenon between the synchronous beating of their hearts and the presence of the woman in his dreams. The truth was, he had been frightened, as much by the fact that she opened herself to him as he was the eerie encounters he seemed to experience every time they met. So he avoided them, everyone, in fact, whom he had drawn close to in anyway. Shayth, Chemar, Adaira, Sairque. Kovac was a brave hunter, but a coward when it came to things of the heart, an emotional juvenile. Then the Storm came. Workers were needed to rebuild and repair Thunder Bay's settlement. It was his way out. Kovac volunteered to go as well, to hunt for food to support the labor and to protect them from the uncertainty of the wildlife affected by the massive djed release. The appearance of the Chemar dreams faded with the distance between them, the unhealthy power Shayth exerted was gone, all temptations removed. The isolation did serve one purpose. In the absence of others in his life, Kovac had nothing left but to face himself..and it wasn't pretty. One would not call it a turned leaf, for Kovac was still cynical and sarcastic, was still referred to on occasion as a petching arse by those he worked with at the Bay. But the epiphany of his atrophied emotional state had been sobering, as he looked back and saw the results of his weakness of heart. The hunter decided against any effort to reconcile with Shayth. The damage was done, in fact,they had damaged each other enough long before it ended. He had seen Adaira, and now, the one he had been putting off. The Dreamwalker. Since his return to Skyinarta, the Chemar dreams had resumed, a reminder of a meeting long overdue. Drawing in a deep breath, Kovac opened the door to the Dreaming Lady and stepped inside for the first time in over a year.

[Chemar Tisserand]

Windstryfe. McEllen.

Her long pale finger danced across the names as Chemar went over the remainder of her day in the book of appointments.

Calder. Aaron.

Some of the names were familiar, but most not, she closed her eyes and leaned her hips against the desk as she blew a long steady breath past her lips. There was so much more of her day yet to go, but her next appointment was three bells away, leaving her time to relax and collect herself. Recent days had found her on edge, as though something were looming just outside her notice. She felt as though she were missing something obvious, uncomfortable in her own world. An audible groan escaped her throat and she pushed away from the counter to take a spot on the ledge where she usually sat to relax. The wall felt warm against her back as she pulled her knees close to her chest and closed her eyes.

Solas had taken a day for herself, so the Lady was still and silent. The dreamer's current mindset would not allow her to walk with any efficacy, as she had proven earlier in the day, her client would be long in recovering from those nightmares. She winced at the visions of the ravaged skeletal creatures that had invaded the most recent walk, men and women, wearing loose hanging coats made of a macabre blend of human and animal flesh, their glowing eyes loose in hollow sockets. She pressed the butt of her hands into her eyes, trying to press hard enough to rid herself of those images, but they held fast as though tattooed on the inside her eyelids.

Something was wrong.

A nearby lantern snuffed itself out, the oil drained from the reserve. She let her legs slip off the ledge and padded over the cabinet near the front counter to retrieve a small bottle of lamp oil, then took to the job of refilling and relighting. Every movement she made was announced by the chiming of tiny teardrops of glass woven throughout her hair. Most were shades of rich gold, red and green, but hidden among them was one solitary tear of black, and as she lit the match to relight the lantern, that tear caught her attention. The way it absorbed the light, offering no reflection in return, greedily holding every ray of light it found for itself. She replaced the lantern and gathered the long red ribbon of hair that held that black tear and walked back to her perch on the ledge.

For one year, that wraith-like tear had existed within the coppery flow of her hair, holding a part of Chemar that would not again see the light of day. She ran her thumb across the smooth, dark surface as she held it dangling in front of her face. That bead had been woven into her hair as a reminder to keep her dream and waking lives separate, there was no room for one in the other; A lesson learned on the night she allowed Kovac to see her for exactly who she was. Since that day, there had been no word, no contact and no dreams. The temptation had been there to seek him out where she knew he could not avoid her.

But she had not

It would have been too easy to find him in his dreams and call attention to his cowardice.

But she would not

She dropped the bead and it slipped into the river of her hair, disappearing from sight but not mind. That was done, she needn't worry about it any longer and she tried to make her mistakes only once. Relax Chemar. Another long sigh was pushed past her lips and she once again closed her eyes only to feel a chill run the length of her spine that would have woken her from death. Her back went stick straight as she opened her eyes in perfect time with the click of the front door latch. She turned toward the door and saw the familiar face, immediately squelching any reaction, involuntary or otherwise, that her body and mind had to him. Her mouth was a perfect line, her eyes, glowing rings of gold and her hands, fists clenched around ropes of her own hair.

"Did you come for a walk?"

[Kovac]

Kovac swung open the wooden door. He expected some buffer, waiting customers, the other girl who worked the desk out front, something to offer him a moment for composure. He should have known better. Not one step into the empty lobby of the Dreaming Lady and Kovac was nearly face to face with the Chemar. His vital organs ceased to function for a beat as he met her signature gold-rimmed gaze. The lines of her mouth offered no reaction, the soft corners turning neither up nor down, the gilded green gaze offering nothing to hang a response upon. The parlor of the Dreaming Lady felt close. Not that it was particularly small, in terms of the average rooms cut out of the rock of Skyinarta. But the air was warm and moist, heavy with pleasant scents that clung to him. The amber lights were low, subduing the room's space. Sound was tamed as well, the pillows and plush rugs strewn about the floor making Chemar's first words seem to go no further than the short distance between them. The avora suddenly wondered if this was the right place for this reunion. "Did you come for a walk?" Petch. How did she do that? Chemar addressed him with no more consideration that a drop-in customer, no hint of acknowledgment. Well, he supposed he deserved it. Maybe now, to her, that was all he was. Kovac managed a small smile. "No, well..." Not at that moment, at least. He suspected he would though, in time. He was certain Chemar knew that was not why he was there. "Look..." A plethora of excuses lined up on his tongue, ready to aid in his exoneration. A year earlier, he would have let them fly, hoping one would stick. Now, too much time had passed, and, once he stopped thinking about himself to reflect on Chemar, he realized she would need more than excuses. Kovac found himself in a position in which he was unfamiliar...contrition. He had gotten over the pride in the matter some time ago, leaving just a small measure of ego to swallow before he continued. "I was wrong." He blurted out. The avora met the dreamwalker's lucid gaze with conviction, taking a few step at an angle, changing positions but not the distance between he and the woman. Nervous energy needed bled off. He had managed to come to grips with some things while he was gone. But heartfelt sentiment was still difficult to communicate. "I was scared and...stupid." Alright, he let a few excuses slip out, but he guessed Chemar would not refute them. "What happened...between us, and this..." his hand waved between them, gesturing towards his heart, than hers, "Well, there is something there that I...we...need to figure out." Again his own green eyes searched hers for some reaction...any reaction. He took a chance going to see her. In his typical hedonistic way, it had been some time before he considered what those things meant to Chemar, and to consider that she was more than the cool, controlled mistress of nightmares.

[Chemar Tisserand]

I was wrong

The grip Chemar had on her hair relaxed upon hearing those words and she let her feet slide along the ledge straightening her legs slowly. While he continued, he was afforded no reaction beyond those small movements, but there grew a turmoil inside her body; a tightening of her stomach, a sudden dryness in her throat, and a heart echoing so loudly in her chest that she could scarcely hear him over the sound of it. But every bit of it went without notice as outwardly, she remained as though encased in a skin of glass, still like silence.

But still. I was wrong She had never imagined those words passing Kovac's lips. The weight of his words seemed to lower her chin toward her chest, and soon she looked at him through a fringe of auburn lashes and a fall of fiery hair.

I was scared and...stupid. She forced her chin to rise, reclaiming the convictions that had woven the black tear into her hair. This Kovac sounded more familiar. Scared? She recalled that cacophony of thunderous pounding that had woken her from sleep that night, and the hands around her throat as he accused her. Scared.

Coward

Try as she might, Chemar could not stop the progression of her thoughts, she could not stop with the bitter mood of that night, and before she knew it her mind's eye was filled with the memory warm breath on her skin, a perfect tangle of limbs and the fingertips gliding along the valley of her back. Stop it! She turned away, focusing on a flame burning in the closest lantern.

There is something there that I...we...need to figure out.

Stop speaking, Kovac! She wanted to scream at him, a rush of emotion she'd tried so hard to squelch came surging to the surface, threatening to break her house of glass. With a brevity of movement and a speed she usually withheld for fear of missing life's details, she swung her legs off the ledge and moved to face him. Roughly, without thought of his comfort, she seized his hand and jerked him toward the darkness of the dreaming chambers.

"A walk it is."

More than anything, she wished to be invisible. Hidden in the one place where she had the advantage of sight, and he did not. She tried not to focus on the familiar hand clasped in hers and the memory of it draped lazily across her body as they slept. Why had she let him in? She virtually dragged him through the corridor, the warm darkness of the mountain calming her frazzled mind and claiming his advantage. Darker and darker it became. As she rushed them through a passage usually taken with so much care and consideration, he stumbled and she found herself staying his fall, her arms wrapped around his waist. He was burning up.

I was wrong.

With every amount of strength she has she forced him away from her body. Driving him toward the wall with a powerful thrust of her arms on his already off balance form. As though repelled in opposition, she backed toward the opposite wall, her breath shallow and her eyes locked on the near blind Kovac. She pressed her back against the safety of her place, but the threads of light that led her through the passage offered no comfort as she stared at Kovac.

No words could be spoken, for fear of screams or sobs acting as accompaniment. Why had she offered him everything that night? Her hands were like ice as she pressed them to her chest to try and calm her heart. Without thinking, she closed the distance between them and slammed her hand to Kovac's chest, surely they were no longer in sync. Please She begged for it to be lost, it would ease her mind to know that their unexplainable connection had been severed.

She felt it beneath her palm, rapidly pounding within his chest. After drawing a deep breath, she could concentrate, focus on the two...one steady rhythm. Still. She shoved him away, but his back already rested flat on the wall.

"What do you want from me..." Barely a whisper, she spoke the words into the darkness, letting her hands fall to her sides.

[Kovac]

It was not as eloquent as he had imagined, his apology. It seemed to fall short, sinking flat into the rugs covering the floor. Chemar refused to offer a hint of how his sudden appearance, and awkward confession, made her feel. She just sat there. His worst fear was that she, in fact, had no emotional response whatsoever. Maybe she was able to write him off, just someone who came and went from her life in a brief flash. Well, for better or worse, it was done. Maybe it was a chapter he could close out too...if it weren't for the dreams. The avora hovered a moment, his next inclination to turn and head for the door. But the sound of her sliding from the ledge turned his head again to her. The quickness of Chemar's movement actually caused him flinch, for she made at him with stout determination set in her jaw. Oh gods, she is going to hit me. Kovac steeled himself to receive the blow. Instead, Chemar's hand latched onto his with a strong grip, jerking him so that he was pulled off balance, stumbling to keep up with the resolute dreamwalker as she dragged him down the hall. There was strength in her grasp, and an urgency to the rough motion she employed to ensure he followed her. "A walk it is." Kovac strained through the shock, and the darkness, trying to understand what Chemar was doing. The chamber was familiar, the same one where he laid for their dreamwalk. It was dim and warm, as he remembered, and a bit disarming. It was Chemar's lair. With alarming force she shoved Kovac away, the man stumbling as his back slammed against a wall. He could not see Chemar, only her dark form now and again against the colored veins running along the rock wall. Even in the obscurity, the emotional tension from the inartan was almost palpable. Kovac was wrong. She did have feelings about their past, and his return. Very strong feelings. He sensed, more than saw,Chemar approach again, feeling her small hand collide against his bared chest, pushing him against the stone wall again. She was checking, feeling their pulses. Kovac held his breath as the dreamwalker held dead still in the darkness. The test concluded without a word, though somehow he knew the hearts were still beating in rhythm. Shoving him away again, Chemar seemed to lose her fire. "What do you want from me..." Her tone was almost defeated. Only then did Kovac start to understand just how his selfishness had affected the woman. His heart and mind offered no direction, no ready words to vindicate him, or reverse what had happened. He wanted a lot of things. He wanted to make things right. He wanted to understand why their hearts were connected so. And he wanted to be near her again. There was one thing, one thing only she could do. It had been the start of it all, what brought them together. "Take me on another dreamwalk, Please Chemar."

[Chemar Tisserand]

In this, her safe place, Chemar was able to look at Kovac with the freedom not afforded her in the outer rooms. She watched him, searching for any change in the man she had known. At first, his face was a mask of alarm and confusion at having been dragged the length of the hall by the red headed dreamwalker, brutishly hauled against his request toward who knows what, but as he considered her question his face softened. Compassion? Surely not. Her head cocked to one side as she stared at the Avora. His green eyes, unaccustomed to the darkness, were straining to see her, filled with something that looked suspiciously like regret. Seeing that in him caused her to step back, recoiling from what she assumed it meant.

Was it for starting up with her at all? Perhaps it was all he could do not to bolt from the room and never look back, all the while kicking himself for ever returning to her threshold. She held so much doubt where he was concerned, doubt that had been compressed into solid stone by the weight of so many months that now there existed near impenetrable barrier between Chemar and Kovac.

She could no longer stand still, so she began pacing, her bare feet silently padding across the warm floors. Say something. She felt undone, hating the feeling of imbalance. Why did he have any power over her at all? He'd come here with some agenda, in spite of his clumsy apology; in her gut she knew it. She felt the knowledge creeping across her skin like a thousand spiders.

She had taken him at his word once, and it had left her exposed and vulnerable, as raw as an open wound. Say something! She shouted in her subconscious, growing impatient in the wait for him to get it over with.

Take me on another dreamwalk, Please Chemar.

Chemar. A physical reaction shook her as he spoke her name. Dreamwalker. Bitch. Those were the names afforded him within the scope of their history, but not Chemar. She leaned against the wall, hands shaking as she replayed the words in her head. What could he hope to prove by going back? Did he seek to best her there as well, to defeat the one who exposed him for who he was? A thin trickle of sweat slipped along the valley of her back and she could not swallow the lump that had seized her throat, she was terrified to go back. What if she once again lost control in the only place she had any...

Please Chemar.

Kovac's eyes would soon adjust to the darkness, so before that happened, she approached him without a sound to look for the complexion of duplicity on his face, and in his eyes. She stood next to him for longer than she'd intended, staring at the planes of his face. Nearly close enough for him to feel her breath when she caught herself. Damnit Chemar! A murky blend of his betrayal, her vulnerability, shared lust and something else she would not acknowledge, began to cloud her mind.

I will regret this...

"Nothing you experience on our walk can follow..." She nearly bit her tongue as she clipped the phrase she had said so many times. It very nearly made her laugh aloud when she thought about it. Clearly unaware she was so close, Kovac jumped at the sound of her voice, even though it was but a whisper. "Lay down." A light touch on the small of his back guided him toward the pallet. She curled her long fingers over his shoulder and softly pushed him toward the floor as she would have any other client, but this touch sent a charge of energy up the length of her spine that made her flinch away as though she'd been burned. "I'll be right back. Get comfortable." For a moment she watched him get settled, and then she walked briskly away and back out to the outer room.

Once in the main room, she paced back and forth, breathing deeply to try and calm herself. "It will be fine." She sought to reassure herself, erecting a stronger wall even as she placed a sign on the entry door that apologized for her absence and offered her services at another time. There would be no other walks today, not after Kovac. Gathering the key from its hiding place in a scarf tied around her hips, she threw the bolt that locked the door.

Windstryfe. McEllen. Calder. Aaron. Would all have to wait. She could not continue unless this thing was finished. The dreamwalker pressed her icy hands to her burning cheeks and ran them toward her hairline, replacing the shattered face of the betrayed with mask of cool detachment. Like a ritual, she slowly gathered her long fall of hair, and looped it through itself to form a loose, tumbling tail that snaked between her shoulders and down her back, nearly brushing her hips at it's end. Wild curls tickled along her collarbone and along the column of her neck as she made her way back to the dream chamber that held Kovac. Upon entering, she saw him, prone on the pallet, awaiting her return.

So as not to startle him a second time, she spoke his name as she moved toward his head. "Kovac." She knelt at the head of the pallet and placed her hands on his cheeks. "You remember how this goes...?" Rather than sit along the wall as before, she settled where she was, so she might easily speak to him. With her head bent over his face she talked about the walk, her hair tracing faint lines across his shoulders.

"The mountain will put you to sleep shortly. The dream will begin, and I will join you." Her voice, while soft and subdued, was clear in its direction, as though he'd never been in her hands. She withdrew her touch from his cheeks and let her hands rest in her lap.

"Go to sleep, Kovac." One other night, under very different circumstances, she had spoken those same words, her stomach twisted as she remembered it.

[Kovac]

Kovac understood that a dreamwalk amounted to a cessation of control. But he no longer wanted to struggle for the upper hand with the walker. His feelings about Chemar were still tangled, unsure of what he felt, or what he wanted to feel. In the waking world, they had shared some intimacy, and the avora saw the inarta woman's vulnerability. But in the dream, facades and propriety and social decorum held no sway. Who they were in the dreams, was who they were. However unnerving that seemed to Kovac, he saw a dreamwalk as the best way to sort out what was going on. He allowed Chemar to lead him to the pallet, ignoring her half-spoken ironic disclaimer. Kovac reclined, settling into the comfortable bedding. Once the woman left, he allowed his eyes to close, and began to inhale the mountain's fumes in slow, deep breaths. He was barely conscious of her return, the cool touch of her hands on his face. He nodded when asked if he were ready. Chemar assumed the role of her profession and after her last instructions, waited for him to fall asleep. Kovac slipped away, and in due time the dream began. He was in the forest, not unlike any of the wooded slopes that surrounded their home. The season must have been summer, for the trees were in full leaf, and light undergrowth covered much of the forest floor. Kovac was bare chested, was following a rabbit. It did not dash away, as they do when sensing imminent danger, but lopped along at a leisurely pace. The creature was not difficult to track, for its fur shimmered in the rays of sunshine filtering through the canopy. It shifted in color from gold to blue to red randomly. For his part, Kovac had no bow, not even a talon sword, both of which he never left Skyinarta without. His only gear was the long, single-edged knife that hung from his belt. Yet he followed the rabbit, in hopes of catching it.

[Chemar Tisserand]

The slow rhythm of Kovac's breath came just as Chemar lost her hold on the physical world, as she slumped over in her seated position at the head of the pallet.

No sooner had she drifted off than she was surrounded by the comforting strands of the Chevina, they filled her with possibilities and rejuvenated her as she sought out Kovac among the endless strands. Her hands grazed along the Chavi until she found her own. There it was, glowing with the essence of her life, greens and golds shimmered across the living thread. Carefully she looped it across her little finger, slowly separating it from the masses that surrounded it. Liking weaving with spider web, she took great care to leave the others behind, gingerly extracting hers from the clinging strands of light. But one stubborn strand would not let loose, it spiraled around hers like a viper, casting it's reddish black glow upon her. Kovac. Not bothering to tear them apart, she gathered the two chavi in her hands and closed her eyes.

Once again she walked of her own volition into the tangled mess.

The brightness of the sun dappled forest made her squint, she was bewildered by the images put forth by Kovac's subconscious. He chased the rabbit like a child, taking care not to make a sound as his prey bounced through the underbrush with happy ignorance. Chemar did not enter as the auburn haired walker that would be expected; in his dream she existed only as a darkness, a void within the shadows of the looming trees, and she watched his every move.

The chase was not hurried, as though he was enjoying the act of the chase without really hoping to catch the rabbit. Chemar felt a little sick at the crystal clear message the dream seemed to offer, but hers was not to change Kovac's true self, only to reveal it. In the span of a few moments, there appeared another option for Kovac to chase, a shadowy copy of the gentle rabbit, black as coal before him. Yet another appeared, and another, until there were six in all, a collection of rabbits in varying shades of gray from which the Avora could choose.

They're breeding like rabbits... Chemar smiled at the thought, actually laughing aloud and thus betraying her presence to Kovac, who stopped dead in his tracks and searched for her. He could scan the woods as long as he wished and never see her, she felt safe in her camouflage of shadow.

He did not search. As his gaze passed across her location he stopped, staring at the very spot she stood. All movement drained from her, and she was as still as the breezeless forest. Still he stared, then took a step toward her.Not possible. All her confidence was drained, and her shadowy refuge dissolved until she stood before him,exposed in the same billowy chemise she had worn that night.

"I see you Chemar." His voice was soft and uncharacteristically gentle. Everything she feared in life and dream stood before her.

[Kovac]

Kovac seemed satisfied to trail the multi-colored rabbit, his focus on its every move, trying to predict where it would hop next. But then another appeared, and another. the mongrel's pace faltered. More rabbits. He temporarily lost the original as the others bounded back and forth in front of him. Then he heard the laughter. It was mischievous, familiar, and close by. The avora paused, scanning the forest. He saw nothing, but he didn't have to. the void was as visible as the shadow on a sundial. A smile played on his lips as he moved directly towards it. He called her bluff, and Chemar's form appeared before him. There was no caution, she was rather disarming in her simple garment. His head turned back to the rabbits for a moment. Kovac realized he could name them all. Names he knew. They were so appealing, cuddly looking even, and he wanted to touch each one, to see what they felt like. His gaze returned to the woman standing before him, barefoot in the forest floor. But he avoided her eyes. He knew what was there. Expectation. "Do you like rabbits, Chemar?" He asked playfully. His gaze swung back to the rabbits. They were beginning to scatter, if he did not return to them soon, they would be gone and he would have to track them down all over again. When he turned back, suddenly Kovac was hyper-aware of the woman. What had been an amorphous presence, then a woman, was now a being flooding his senses. Color saturated her appearance, the light garment she wore a serene pastel, clinging in vibrant highlights and shadows created by the contour of her form. The auburn cast to her hair deepening in glossy crimson, the streaks of gold and copper brightening, the colored beads woven in her locks becoming a lighted rainbow of points in her mane. Ivory skin gleamed unblemished, as if glowing with Leth's light. He could hear her breathing, soft wisps of current drifting in and out of her nostrils and parted lips like the gentle waves of Thunder Bay. A myriad of aroma's lifted from her smooth skin and silky hair, crafted perfumes and her own natural scents, each easily separated and perceived. It was beautiful and overwhelming. And her eyes. Living green gilded with a rings of gold. They were windows, and in the pupils were dreams and memories, unfamiliar to him, she was not in them, for they were seen with her eyes. He didn't think he should be watching, wondered if she knew he could see within them. The phenomenon bewildered Kovac and he took a step back. Tearing his eyes away, Kovac saw that the rabbits had disappeared. When he dared look back at Chemar, her form was as when she first appeared.

[Chemar Tisserand]

As Chemar reeled from the knowledge that she could not hide from Kovac she missed his playful question. "What?" As so often happens, when she took pause to search her mind for his words, she knew what he had asked.

"Rabbits?" As though he were speaking another language, she couldn't understand the question, or the reason he asked, having forgotten about the rabbits entirely. Something was wrong. One look at Kovac was proof that he knew it too, the look on his face was one of bewildered wonder, and he stared at her as though he could see right through her. The Avora's captivated gaze put her immediately ill at ease and she willed him to look away. What was he seeing?

She pulled in a long breath of relief as he turned to scan the forest, and she used his change in focus to move, padding over the soft mossy ground. The sensation of his green eyes on her once more made her freeze like a deer in a hunter's sight and she dropped her gaze to the forest floor.

"No..." Unaware that she's spoken aloud, she spun quickly to glance at the path she'd just walked, horrified to see that the moss along her path had blossomed into varying shades of crimson and blackish red. Where she'd been standing, a circle of the mutated ground cover was left behind, and all along the trail of her footsteps. She dropped to her knees and dug her fingers into the moist dirt, tearing away a section of the spongy moss to create a bare spot of earth, halting the trail where she stood. She did not lift her eyes to see Kovac; she even went so far as to avoid eye contact entirely as she made sure she'd stopped the colorful progression. After a moment her shoulders lifted and her mouth curled into that familiar, enigmatic smile.

With her chin held strong, she rose from the ground to stand before Kovac. This was her home, not his.

"Rabbits are for children." As if her words had manifested into his reality, all six of the rabbits appeared at Kovac's feet. She did her best not to look at them, for fear she might smile at the innocence they embodied. A shiver ran the length of her back, and she realized she still appeared in her light shift. With a gracefully fluid motion, she pressed her palms together, trapping a section of her long red hair, and then through pursed lips she blew a soft breath from the base of her thumbs to the tip of her fingers. Magically, her focused breath sliced through the locks of hair and red tresses slipped in a silken tumble to join the rest leaving a long scarf of copper colored silk spilling from her hands. After fanning the scarf out in a shimmering curtain, she threaded it behind her back and tied it in a secure knot around her hips to sheath her long pale legs.

Kovac's collection of rabbits sat patiently by his feet, each one curled up in a fluffy little loaf awaiting his attention, leaving Chemar the freedom to breath in the environment he'd created. It was really quite serene, so unlike you, she thought, glancing over her shoulder at Kovac. As she passed through a bright ray of sun, she paused, turning her face upward and closing her eyes.

"Is this place real?" Her tone was oddly conversational, something she was unaccustomed to within this place. "It's awfully optimistic for you." She walked to a tall straight tree and ran her hand over the smooth bark. As though a reaction to the contact, Chemar was jolted by a stabbing pain in her side and as she winced her body contracted and the bark beneath her palm turned to blackened ash. She tried to ignore it, lifting her hand from the surface as she willed the ash to fall away, leaving pristine bark in it's place. But it was too late. From overhead, a silent rain of leaves began to fall, shrugged off by branches that had begun to wither and die.

Amidst the downpouring of leaves she returned her attention to Kovac, unaware of the ruby circle of moss that once more began to spread at her feet.

"Which will you choose?" She gestured with a nod of her chin toward the virtual zoo at his feet. The dying trees made way for larger shafts of sunlight, and very soon she was bathed in a column that made her glow. She seemed not to care that the forest around them was soon decimated into a skeletal vision of what it had been and only waited for his response.