[SO-Zeltiva] Of Shadows, Snakes, and Secrets

[Edreina]

A sharp draft of wind danced down the open hatch and into the hold of the Calypso, sending a violent chill up the spine of the redhaired Svefra sleeping below. Normally, she was warmed by the dusky skin of a Myrian as they curled together, equal in innocence to the world around them. But, something was wrong. No warmth managed to stave off the ice of the teeth that rested in the maw of the wind of oncoming Winter.

Wrapping her arms around herself, Edreina sat up, glinting red hair tussled by restless slumber. She was alone on the patch of deck they shared as Razkar had found himself incapable of sleeping in a hammock. "Razkar...?" she whispered, hoping her voice would carry to his sensitive ears. By barely straining her own, she could hear that gentle, growling tongue that had come to be so comforting to her. Most heard the inhuman sounds of a feral beast; she heard the voice of her lover.

After a tick, she heard the gentle thudding of him returning to the hold, and to her. But, something in his eyes immediately told her that he was far away. Did it hurt him to be sailing, but not in the direction of his lost love? A gentle sigh left her lips, and knees came up to her chest, as if to protect her heart from another onslaught. "I'm sorry..." she whispered, looking up at him through thick lashes. In the wan light, her skin looked like dappled marble and her eyes like pools of writhing ethereal flame. One arm remained around her legs, but the other reached out towards him, attempting to offer him some measure of comfort. "I know it's hard, that we're so close... but so far... But Razkar you cannot brood on this. It's not healthy for you..." Little did she know that his brooding was directed towards an entirely different corner of their world.

(c) Wanda Endust

[Razkar]

Blue fire in the darkness greeted the Myrian when he came back below decks, and after a beat of guilty stiffening, a soft sigh escaped his lips and they curled into a wry smile.

"I'm sorry..."

"Don't be," he said easily, still smiling as he sat back onto their rough bed, reaching out to grasp that pale, freckled hand and press it to his face, "My fault, trying to sneak away from a Svefra on a boat, after all."

"I know it's hard, that we're so close... but so far... But Razkar you cannot brood on this. It's not healthy for you..."

That pierced and inked face stared down at her without comprehension for a few ticks, and then a low "aaaaah" of understanding rustled through the air between them. "This". She thought he was still thinking of Aya; how easy it would be to pay off the captain and turn the Calypso the other way, straight to the Isle of Darva...

But he had laid that ghost to rest, if ghost Aya was. No, his mind was on another female; a different set of sorrows and regrets. Part of him counseled to keep up the ruse she had unwittingly put in place: allow her to believe his melancholy was due to his lost love. But...

She will find out, sooner or later... and even if she did not, she deserves to know what glazes your eyes when you stare at Leth on cloudless nights.

"It was not of Aya I was thinking," he said sadly, sliding comfortably next to her, taking her hand and stroking the top of it with his thumb, eyes becoming unfocused again as he recounted. "There was... another female. A friend. One of the finest I ever had. She was a half-breed; her mother a Child of Myri, her father a Dhani scum who bore her through... violation..."

His words dripped with hatred and he reined them back; it was not his place to sully the tale with his own anger. He breathed deep and his lips twisted into a regretful grimace.

"You don't know... You can't know, how hard it was for her. To be sullied with the Ancient Enemy..." He shook his head, the gesture itself futile, trying to encapsulate a lifetime of disgust and persecution. "... but she always rose. She proved herself as a warrior, a hunter... a Child of both Myri and Caiyha. But no-one ever cared. Always they saw her as just an abomination."

He spat the word, and was stunned to find a sliver of the same disgust in it regarding his own people as he did for the Dhani. For a tick he just stared in surprise, but... it made sense.

"My people... they cast her out. But myself and Aya, we tried our best to let her know she was... loved. Valued. Trusted. We saw she did not deserve their scorn..." Razkar let his head fall back against the hull, the rogue waves now a balm to him rather than an insomniacs curse. "But... we left. I left. And she was alone..."

The Myrian was silent for ticks, alone in himself, too, but anchored by his hand on his gentle female. He turned to her and beheld that innocent, beautiful face. Once again, unbidden, he felt the curse on his chest itch like a wound that would never fully heal. He... doubted... whether or not he was fit for her. Or she was fit for his life.

His whole life was war. Everything he was, geared and honed towards ending lives in Myri's name. Could he carry her with him down that path? Could he change for her? Or would she be another female he held so close that only ended up hurt so deeply...?

Razkar smiled, snorted, a mirthless chuckle of the born fatalist. He leaned close to brush his nose against hers, a little foible the two of them had that seemed to ease her when her eyes welled and glimmered with concern for him.

"Forgive a foolish male his ramblings, my love," he said, clearing his throat before attempting, "I talk shyke..."

[Edreina]

It really tears at him... leaving her there... she realized, feeling her heart tug oddly for him. The Svefra were a people constantly coming and going, moving from place to place. The concept of hurting because you were no longer with someone did not sit quite right with her, but she was able to empathize. He and Ayatah were the only ones to make her feel as if she belonged.

Before her eyes his worry internalized and she saw in the creasing of his brow a worry over something in himself. A sigh danced in the silence between them as she contemplated how to help him and wondered if she could. Some pain could be carried only by he who created it. Her hand rolled in his so that she gripped it and brought his palm to rest on her cheek. A pale digit brushed across the hardened surface of his knuckles as she kept her wide, blue eyes on his.

Finally, the spell broke with a humorless snort and he leaned in. In a gesture seen by so few others, they reaffirmed their bond and shared in a moment of affection so tender and fragile she feared that the world would shatter it. Her love... For all of his courage and bravado, he had a heart kinder and truer than any man.

His attempt at Fratavan was laughable, but at least she could understand him now days. If he tried to speak to any other sailor, he would likely be met with laughs and snorts of derision. Well, at least until he managed to clean up that wretched accent.

Sighing, mostly to herself, she skimmed her nose along the side of his until their lips were separated only by breath. A question ran through her mind and, before she could stop herself, flowed from her lips. "Did you love her, too?" The hand that had moved to caress his jaw stilled as she realized how personal a question she had asked. Despite their love, there were things Edreina avoided asking in a sheer attempt to save her own heart.

(c) Wanda Endust

[Razkar]

"Yes."

The answer came faster than both of them were expecting, and a surprised silence followed it. The Myrian shifted a little next to her, around her, the warmth of his nearly-naked body undulating... with guilt? Emotions were hard to decipher with Razkar sometimes; so much hidden behind hostility he wore like an armor against the world.

But he had no need for that with her.

"Not like I loved Aya..." The Myrian's voice stumbled a little, still adjusting to the past tense. Edreina could feel the guilt there. A wound not fully healed. "She was... we were, very close. Something could have happened. But then something happened first: Aya."

He shifted position and turned her face lightly with his fingers cupping her cheek. Black eyes like polished onyx stared into hers, marveling at the scraps of green, glowing like jade shards underneath blue pools. He kissed her lightly and shrugged.

"Past is past. But when we left... I worried. I still do. Not much I can do about it from across the world, though, is there?"

Another sigh; deeper, louder, heedless of the sleeping, snoring figures on the other side of the hold. Razkar looked up through the bars on the ceiling, the stars beyond the grate, like the heavens had been imprisoned. A fitting metaphor, he thought with a wry smile at them...

"She's a survivor, though. Heh... she had to be, or she would have been killed by her own clan long ago. We marched with the Taloba Army. We fought together..."

His eyes took on a vaguely haunted look that Edreina would not have recognized. Usually when Razkar recounted his past deeds, it was... well, just that. Recounting. Explaining. Like he was reading it from the histories. The terror and horror and carnage and sobbing dehumanization... none of that came through in his voice. Just the facts, as he saw them, and a savage satisfaction he couldn't keep out. He would be a Child of Myri if he did.

This was not the case.

"There was a cave... in the deep darkness. Dhani. They'd been underground for... Goddess knew how long. They slaughtered our comrades; her fang." Razkar's hands brushed the puckered lines on his chest. "This happened to me. The Ancient Enemy... they take time, with prisoners... I would not have escaped without her. Nor her, me, perhaps."

More silence. Time for thoughts to marshal. Then he turned to her and flashed a smile that spoke of things best left alone, and things right in front of him that were far better. There was always something lurking in Razkar's eyes, though; unfinished business.

But he didn't want that tonight. The Myrian pressed his forehead to hers and chuckled, nibbling her nose with a gentle playfulness that would have stunned the men he'd worked with and seen him swing steel.

"And you, hmm? No past conquests?" His hands began to wander, feeding his grin. "You certainly seem... rather... seasoned, when it comes to..."

Razkar let his leer finish it for him.

[Edreina]

The tale of another woman lost to the wiles of Razkar was accepted by the young Svefra with a single blink. The way it was told, she pitied this mysterious half-breed. If the troubles she had gone through just for looking different than those around her had been hard, this poor woman... Edreina did not like to even consider the horrors she had been forced to hear and the torments tested upon her skin. It made her heart clench most unpleasantly. "This woman's name... What was it?" She asked at the end, right before the petcher decided to nip at her nose with those damned sharp teeth!

The woman let out a little sound of displeasure, grinning despite herself as she pushed him away, rubbing her nose as she checked it for marks. That would be an interesting one to explain. Familiar hands found her hips and threatened to wander further, sending chills of anticipation dancing across her skin. A knot of the same anticipation curled up between her hips. "I don't remember you complaining about my being seasoned..." She rose to her knees, a playful smirk alighting upon her lips, hands curling around his shoulders.

Her fingers traced the defined crevices that existed between his muscles. "Since you've been so honest... I should do the same. My history is a bit more... pathetic..." Cynicism suited her only with a grin. Biting her lip, she took initiative and climbed into the Myrian's lap, a sight that would have been met with confused brows by any other than her kin. Love and passion were not bound in the way that land-dwellers allowed it to be.

"My first love came when I was a much younger woman. He took my innocence and indulged a need I had, even then, to have stability." Yes, she warred even then with the need to have someone in her life upon whom she could dote her affections as often as she pleased. It was not common among Svefra, staying with any one person for too long. Gnovak and Illsa were an oddity in how often they returned to one another and how long they remained there. It had given Edreina an unrealistic concept of love among her people.

A handful of other lovers passed through her mind, but another one stood out especially. "There was a man in Alvadas I met... His name was Wrenmae and, despite the fact he had been cursed by Laviku, I found him enchanting. He told wonderful stories and there was this... naivety in him to which I could relate. But..." A darker shade entered her voice and she hid her face against the side of his neck, nuzzling and nipping at it gently. "But... He was lost to the sea some time ago..." Her body trembled gently, but that was the only sign of her pain. It was a dull pain that barely reached her heart nowadays. Without knowing, Razkar had put a patch upon the breach in her hull. Nowadays, she never noticed the hurt, only that she was so very sad that such a promising young man had died with so much talent.

"Then, there was a cook in Syliras with whom I had a blast," light reentered her voice, only to leave it again. "But when I returned last season, he was a different man. We weren't even friends." She sighed and rubbed her nose along his throat.

"But... All of that is the past." Her hands roamed down his chest, fingertips resting upon his mountainous midsection as she smiled and bit his neck playfully before rising to whisper in his hear, "You are my future..." nipping gently at the corner of his jaw to punctuate the statement.

(c) Wanda Endust

[Razkar]

The Myrian listened in silence as she regaled him with the other men who'd... beaten him to the punch, as it were. A predictable surge of jealousy went through him whenever each was mentioned, of course, but by that point, even the male was able to quietly mock it from some corner of his mind.

What were you expecting? That she was chaste and untouched before she met you? That's not the way of the Sea People... nor your people, as a matter of fact.

Instead he let his mind focus on each... what they might have been like... how he compared to them. But what would have been the point of that? They were-

"But... all of that is the past."

The male's chest vibrated softly with laughter and the Svefra twisted in his arms, fingers sending little tendrils of pleasure through his pectorals before she nibbled at him.

"Took the words out of my mouth, love."

"You are my future..."

He looked down at her again. It was one of his favorite hobbies. Just... staring at her. Marveling at her. The more pragmatic part of him knew that eventually her beauty would fade, like everyone else. Skin would wrinkle, curves would flatten or bulge... but that spark in her eyes? He didn't know if any evil or despair could stop that. Not to mention the wisdom in such a naive and innocent girl, who'd rarely traveled beyond her kin before they met, and now...

Now she is leading us as much as you are. You have your strengths, and so does she.

"When I doubt... when I weaken... when I allow heave like waves in a storm..."

He spoke softly in his native tongue, even though he knew she would follow only a part of it. But the way his hands stroked around her face, caressed her cheek... the way his eyes lost himself in hers like a man leaping into a pool after years in the desert...

"I remind myself all you have endured. I remind myself of your goodness... your resolve... your passion."

He sighed and the smile grew wider, though she may have thought he was mocking her confused frown. Not that Razkar gave her a chance to voice it, of course. Not after he pressed his lips to hers, tongue gently exploring the space between them...

"And most of all... you chose to stay. Because you love me... and I wonder what I ever did for the Fates to gift me to you..."

Unable to take anymore guttural growling, melodious as he was trying to make it, she asked what that all meant. Razkar grinned wider, giving her a wink as enigmatic as it was smug, and didn't that just make it impossible for her to hate him?

"I said, 'I love you.'"

[Edreina]

He stared into blue and she into black, they marveled at one another and the bond they shared. So often they had to hide it, to cover it in dirt and leaves and hope that the passing world would not see it, would be unaware of the way it glimmered and shone in secret. When most looked to Razkar they saw so little of him. Their opinions of him would forever be trapped by the piercings and the scars and the tattoos. She could wax on about him until Syna and Leth, the cosmic lovers, would vomit.

Myrian when spoken by a Myrian sent chills up the spine of anyone sane; the tremble that racked Edreina was entirely different. Something about that low, guttural language served only to remind her of the more primal aspects of her lover, a trait she had come to appreciate quite deeply. Though, as he continued to speak she found herself mildly confused, and curious, above all else. What could persuade him to be so verbose?

Eventually, she gave into the annoyance of having confusion go unsated and punched him in the ribs, twisting her knuckles in an attempt to tickle him. "You know I don't mean what most of that means!" She grumbled, tickling his ribs again, or at least trying to. She should have been pleasured by his grin but it made her all the more antsy to know what he had said.

The answer was, apparently, simple. "Hm... either there was more to it or Myrian is even more roundabout than I'd thought." In any case, she rubbed her nose against his chin, grinning. "Anyhow... those men in the past..." A sly, playful look crept into her eyes and her features as she reached down to where his breeches hampered further travels. "They had nothin' on you..." Her lower lip disappeared between her teeth before her face was hidden completely as she moved in to make her intentions more carefully known.

And, petch, she had seen a few of her kin eyeing him curiously; she did not need another Moretta.

(c) Wanda Endust

[Razkar]

Just because it was the middle of the night, that didn't mean everything on the Calypso was asleep. Razkar knew too well, after a season sailing with the Svefra, that there was always someone wake. Ships didn't sail themselves, after all... and that was without passengers on-board, weary and still, yes, but did that mean they weren't awake?

As the lithe girl shifted on his lap, straddling him and arousing something that was not meant for public display, Razkar flicked a cold, piercing glance over her shoulder.

Hmm... no. Definitely not worth the risk-

"They had nothin' on you..."

Then he felt the warm, nimble touch of her hand over his breeches. Tracing an outline over something that was rapidly and uncontrollably swelling... and there was nothing Razkar could do about it. His breath hissed and a sharp breath was half-grunted out of his sharpened teeth.

Blue eyes... so innocent and guileless and thus the perfect vehicle for such a carnal soul... started to descend down... down...

Ah... petch it!

"Wait...!"

Strong hands gripped her shoulders just as she was getting to the... ahem... good part. A look of disbelief flashed in her eyes as she saw the very real pain in his eyes, heard the sharp order in his whisper. For a moment the two of them froze, both weighing their options, the sound of lapping waves and low snoring the only accompaniment to them...

Then a grin split Razkar's face, a white flash of sharpness on a shadowy face. But Edreina would see enough to see the two gleams from his eyes dim for a moment. A wink. Conspiratorial and mischievous and determined. After all, it had been "wait", not "stop", so...

"Not here..."

Razkar rose without a sound, head craning around, licking dry lips. Something else he'd learned with the Svefra: if you were smart, and timed it right, there was always somewhere private on a boat...

You just had to know where to look.

[Edreina]

"I just might have an idea..." Edreina said with a grin. Unlike her own casinor, palivars had the space to section off their subdecks. In this case, much of the space had been dedicated to accommodate the refugees. The rest was filled with personal possessions, foodstuffs, and other items needed to live on a ship for any amount of time. What Edreina honestly hated most about non-Svefra on the sea, including her beloved Razkar, was the way that they necessitated barrels upon barrels of water. Poor shykes could not taste the sweetness that was the water of the sea without getting sick.

But, this meant that there were entire compartments occupied only by beings without senses. Fighting the urge to giggle like a much younger woman, Edreina led Razkar from the main sleeping quarters, up onto the deck. Smiling over her shoulder conspiratorially, she tiptoed across the deck, and then hesitated in the shadow there. If the opportunity was presented, the blue-eyed lass would press Razkar against the thick beam of wood, rise to her toes, and kiss him, as slowly and gently as she could manage in her excited state.

An odd thrill quickened her heart at the possibility of someone chancing upon them as they snuck about.

From that shadow, she crossed the rest of the deck, opened a hatch, and jumped down into the cargo hold of the Calypso; her legs trembled too much for the ladder to be safe. The scent of wood and tapestry and dried foods captured her senses, but it all seemed to be in monotonous shades. She had eyes only for brown skin that seemed to strain over rippling muscles and those dancing black eyes. "Well... you've got me alone... Now what?" As she spoke, she started to wind her way backwards through the barrels of food and drink, as if preparing to evade him. All the while her eyes danced with barely constrained mirth; thoughts of past loves and lovers were far behind her now.

(c) Wanda Endust

[Razkar]

He was always amazed at how swift and certain she could be when provided with the proper... incentive.The Myrian was no stranger to women who could flit from shadow to shadow, but he'd always seen it in the grim and shadowy half-light of the jungle... and it had provoked a very different breed of smile on his face.

Instead he watched with a grin stoked with mischief as she led him across the softly-rolling deck, his land-walker feet trying their best to keep up with her. The pilot was elsewhere on the top deck, it seemed; the Myrian could just make out the glow of a torch at the very rear of the boat, perhaps the man was having a smoke to fight off the-

Focus, damnit!

"Well... you've got me alone... Now what?"

Ah, didn't she just know how to motivate him, too? They dropped into the hold that heaved and creaked with lashed barrels of fresh water and grain and meal, all foodstuffs for the wretched hive of Sunberth... and she began a slow and mocking "retreat" from him. The quotation marks are warranted: Razkar knew when he was being drawn to pursue, not plain-and-simply avoided.

Her glittering eyes told him that much; orbs so blue and beautiful should not have shone with such carnal intent, like a shark waiting under a calm sea. But the sight of it just spurred him onward, savage visage made stark and... hungry, by the thick shadows surrounding it.

"I can think of things, oh..."

It was the work of a moment to close the distance between the two of them, and her hands came up-

-only to be gripped at the wrists, pinning them in mid-air-

-as his lips bruised hers, banishing and obliterating all past threats or comparisons for both of them. All that was left was them, both of them, in the cool and dark and blind hold...

Razkar snapped her hands by her side and shifted his own to the firm curve of her hips, holding tight to them as he lifted her up with little effort onto a low shelf. All the while the Myrian explored her lips, her tongue, careful to keep his fang-like teeth from marring and marking her.

"... the things I can think of..."

Then the dark and urgent shadow pressed against her front. A broad, hard chest that crushed against her, raw-boned hips and something firm and far more insistent between her legs, straining against the cloth confines they both wore. Razkar damn-near purred at the stunned gasp and the shuddering exhalation it provoked from her, then growled his approval into her lips, nipping at them softly.

"Why don't..." He said in the tones of one not really asking a question, one hand snaking down her stomach, fingertips brushing abdomen muscles that flexed into hardness with his touch. "... we get rid of... these...?"