Completed Moonglow II

[Tazrae]

Timestamp: 5th of Fall, 522 A.V.

The firelight danced across the pavilion, which Tazrae had completely open to the sea. The front was rolled up, secured, and the back sides were down. Her little reading nook with her green wing-backed chair was exposed to the world, with a brazier set up next to it keeping the bugs at bay while Tazrae read by its light. Taz found the sounds of the world around her soothing; the crackle of the fire in its pit and the sea gently lapping the sand. She loved the breeze blowing through, toying with her spiraled locks and sometimes even lifting tiny goose bumps on her bronze skin. It was blistering hot, but the breeze negated the long still-summer night.

Syka was endless summer, even in its coldest nights. And the beginning of fall was no different. Night animals – insects, frogs, darkness-loving birds – all created a melody that couldn’t be replicated anywhere. Everything was dark and if she mustered the energy to rise and walk a few steps from her home, she’d see a million stars above her past the firelight. But she wasn’t interested in stargazing tonight nor rising from where she lounged. Tonight, she wanted to relax, get some good sleep and put a few things out of her mind.

But first, she wanted to finish her book. It was something she’d borrowed from Reclaimed Knowledge… though borrowed might not have been an operative word. The Silas Journals section was a playground for her and she currently had one on psychology on her lap and another one on herpetology ready to be read. So far, she hadn’t had much luck into getting the psychology one to open its contents for her to read, but she had high hopes that one of these evenings she’d talk the damn thing into it.

Stifling a yawn, Taz tried once more, running her hands over the spine and whispering how much she wanted to know more about the human mind and how people thought. The book wasn’t convinced though and its bound and locked cover had remained so, not unfastening as her magecrafting tome had.

She sighed and leaned back in her chair, her legs outstretched on her footstool. Taz smiled thoughtfully, yawned again, and felt her body relax. The setup was amazingly comfortable, as comfortable if not more so than her giant bed. She’d slept in the chair more than once, a warm blanket draped over one wing ready to be pulled down into position. She reached up, only half aware she was doing so, and made a grab for the blanket. She really didn’t need it.

It was more for the weight of its comfort than for its warmth. Yawning again, she shifted her spot in the chair, snuggling down, and let her eyes drift closed. She didn’t bother to make another try for the blanket, nor did she seem to notice when the psychology tome slipped from her lap to thud on the floor with its oversized weight. She was fast asleep, more exhausted than she realized, as her body demanded the rest whereas her mind usually demanded nocturnal wanderings.

[Tazrae]

Tazrae slept deeply. It hadn’t always been that way. But living with Ixam, especially the hatchlings and juveniles that moved around in the night caused her to slowly get acclimated to noise, movement, and things coming and going, especially on her bed. In fact, her friends who sought her out often said she could sleep through a hurricane, even a tropical one, and still wake up refreshed and as if nothing had happened even if the world or say the pavilion got blown away around her. That fact was only partially true. It was true insofar as she could actually sleep.

Taz had nightmares.

She often dreamed of monsters since she’d studied them so thoroughly. Tazrae often dreamed of invaders and storms and slides of mud or volcanos blowing up. Something had caused Pavena to be evacuated and quickly. Was it the Valterrian? Would such a thing ever happen again? It could, she’d decided, early on. The Gods still walked among them, still loved, and if her friends were any indication, their lives were still messed with heavily. So while she could sleep deeply, that sleep only came when her mind was quiet and her fears were somehow soothed.

Tonight, seemed to be one of those nights, thankfully. For Tazrae didn’t stir when the beating of wings was replaced by bare feet quietly padding across the wood floor as something or rather someone landed on her literal doorstep. The creature inhaled deeply, glanced around curiously, and walked forward as a man having traded his wings for arms. While her place was spacious, the woman sleeping in the wing-backed chair wasn’t hard to locate.

The Moon Eagle turned man frowned at the woman’s exhaustion. Lines crossed her forehead, causing the flesh between her eyes to furrow as if something were worrying her. He’d been watching her a while now, having followed her back from the scouting she’d done of the invaders. Her and the other, the man with multiple arms, had snuck into the encampment where he was being held. And while they hadn’t engaged the enemy, they’d certainly caused havoc. He’d watched stoically as the woman had crept around to where the riding lizards were. She relieved them of the burdens of their tethers and chains, freeing them to run loose through the encampment causing a distraction.

And in the chaos that action caused, she’d gone further, releasing the caged birds and monkeys and finally pausing at his cage and throwing the iron bars of it wide open as well. He’d been wearing his moon eagle form then, but still their eyes and locked and when he’d thought his profound thanks at her, she’d nodded as if she’d heard him. She’d paused, not trying to touch him either, as she swung the bars of his cage open. “Someone as beautiful as you should never be behind bars.” She had said thoughtfully and had released the slightly glowing incredibly large eagle into the night.

He had not wanted to leave the vicinity… not after hearing her voice, feeling kinship with her through the Phylonura mark she wore, and the way she’d freed him without question. She was ferocious, and beautiful, and yet there was true kindness in her eyes. He hadn’t had much contact with the other man, the one with multiple arms. But he was grateful to that individual all the same for his help.

The Kelvic rose up, crossed the distance between the chair and where he’d been quietly observing, and gently gathered the woman in his arms. He carried her securely to the bed without waking her and laid her on it. He reached down and pulled a throw blanket up and over her. He leaned forward and brushed his lips across her forehead then carefully took her place at the chair.

He picked up the dropped book.

It opened immediately for him and he began to read. He might only be three, but he had schooling before he had gone off into the wild. Sure, it was simple Svefra schooling, but it was schooling nonetheless. He began to quietly read, watching out for the woman as she slept from the distance of the chair.

[Tazrae]

The night crawled on… and eventually the Kelvic leaned back and closed his eyes, drifting off to sleep as easily as Tazrae had in that position.

He was a Dreamwalker. It was something almost unheard of, being born to it, but when he was birthed among the Svefra as a Kelvic, he’d born Nysel’s Mark rather than Laviku’s sign. It had been a scandal until his eyes flashed red in the dark and people understood inherently as he grew at a phenomenal rate that he wasn’t human but was Kelvic instead. Neither of his parents had Kelvics in their line, having been able to trace their lineage back through the pod over time… with everyone knowing everyone from almost the Valterrian itself. His mother took a lot of ribbing, but both knew she hadn’t taken a lover other than his father.

Sometimes things just happened and outliers cropped up in bloodlines. It made him a loner, but also made him invaluable to his parents once they understood what he could do. So, as he slipped off to sleep, he reached out to the woman he was with and caressed her Chavi, and slipped into her memories, wanting to know her and her life. It was the first quiet safe moment he’d had a desire and opportunity to do so.

Sitting next to her, their chavi’s were almost touching and it took him no time to slip into her life stream and trace it backward getting to know her through her memories. There were memories upon memories and he lived her entire life in the bells between the time she dropped her book and the time she opened her eyes at the dawning. He saw things as she saw them… the jungle, Syka itself, and even her family problems and the loves lost and found in her life. And because he’d walked her chavi, he knew her as no threat to him, nothing to hide from anymore.

She’d welcomed Bree into her life and the Ixams that had wandered by, filled her bed, and all but crowded him out. She would welcome him as well, and he could stay, knowing finally that Syka could be a place for him to settle if he wanted too… a home he’d been looking for with perhaps someone he could dedicate his life to serving. And so, he waited, through the small long bells of the night, until he grew bored and brushed her Chavi with his own, sending her a dream.

Warm lips grazed Tazrae’s temple in her sleep. She smiled, thinking it was someone she knew - someone she loved - but he’d never made that sort of gesture. She inhaled deeply, smelling the freshness of the jungle mixed with the spice of something masculine and foreign to her. She frowned as ghostly lips traced down her jawline and kissed the corner of her mouth. She shifted, moving her face towards the warm presence and scent.

Lips kissed first one eyelid then the other as rough palms trailed down across her shoulders and traced her way to her elbows, feather-light and gentle. Her skin warmed under the touch, pebbling as she arched her back involuntarily, loving the sensation of being touched in a way that indicated she was precious and beautiful. Taz inhaled deeply, without opening her eyes, lazy and wanting.

She’d not had touches like this since her own initiation a lifetime ago and the short days that had followed it until the mage had fallen for a healer who gave him his life back. Taz had tried to gift such things to others, but it had been one-sided and unreciprocated.

[Tazrae]

This felt good, oh so good, and she reveled in it still buried in her sleep. Hands skimmed across her chest, across the small mounds of her breasts, and lingered until the flesh of her nipples peaked through her colorful blouse. Thumbs circled them, teasing through the fabric, in wonder and curiosity, the sensation transmitting through the digits and directly into her skin. Her lips parted in a silent O as she sucked in her breath, arched her back, and made an animalistic sound softly.

Taz tossed her head in her sleep, shifting, as a ghostly hand trailed down her spine, tracing the length of her back as if getting to know her body. She reached out with her own hand, seeking, and encountered hard ghostly flesh. Warmth infused her as she touched bare skin and traced its muscled lines of it. A body reached for her, drawing her close and she felt herself wrap around another figure, warm and protected. She felt those hands trail across her shoulders and suddenly she had no fabric separating her flesh from the stranger’s touch. She arched into the body, lifted a leg, and wrapped it over a set of narrow hips. Hands trailed down her rib cage and across her hips.

Hands flared out, splaying across the curve of her rump, drawing her pelvis closer to whatever warm thing she wrapped around. Her own arms encircled what held her, finding the form larger and more muscled than her own. She found herself tracing the lines of a set of sharp clavicles, well-muscled, and firm. Lips brushed the nape of her neck, teeth grazing her skin there. The hands on her rump pulled her into the body that held her and she found herself rubbing against hardness that hit her in all the right places. She was trembling now, needy, with a light sweat breaking out across her body.

A hand slipped down between the pair of their bodies, seeking, slipping into the nest of caramel curls between her legs. Her netherlips were parted, a thumb pressing upwards, causing her to gasp and bury her head against a shoulder that held her as the thumb did its work. Tazrae cried out, her legs tightening around the body that held hers. Closer… oh so close… she rode the body and the hand, its fingers working pure arcane magic on her core. She burned, needed, and was so close to exploding… so close. Her hands formed claws on the forearms she gripped, held wrapped in the stranger's arms. So very close…

She inhaled, shuddering, and opened her eyes. Tazrae found herself alone, all alone, not held in anyone’s arms, her body not being played like a musician played a fine instrument. She was sprawled on the bed, her own hands on her own body, a light coating of sweat all over her. She was breathing heavily, touching herself, and trembling. A light chuckle sounded from across the room, from a form tucked into her wing-backed chair in a casual lazy pose. Blue eyes studied her as she studied the man… boldly, unashamed of her nudity or what she’d been evidently doing to herself. Slowly, ever so slowly, she sat up taking a better look at him.

Slim, muscled, with the grace of a predator and eyes that were so blue they couldn’t be human… the man studied her equally curious. His lips curled up at the corner of his mouth as if he’d just witnessed what she’d been doing in her sleep – in her dreams – and was utterly in favor of it. Taz brushed a mass of curls out of her eyes then slowly reached for a light wrap that acted like her robe. She slung it about herself, still studying the man, curious.

[Tazrae]

“Hello.” He said slowly, his voice rusty from disuse. “Don’t let me interrupt. Or… if you’d rather, let me… “ His smile widened as if to indicate he’d join her in a heartbeat and follow through with whatever it was she’d been doing. A lazy smile brightened his lips. “You are Tazrae. It’s nice meeting my liberator. I am Jaelis.” He added, first gesturing to her and then touching himself.

“I’ve come to stay.” He added an eyebrow lifted as if the statement was more of a question. Tazrae didn’t answer him. Instead, she swung her legs off the bed, unafraid, and traveled around to rest on the edge of it on the side closest to the chair.

“I know you from somewhere.” She said, lifting an eyebrow, and studying him further. She knew he wasn’t human. He just didn’t have the look of one. His eyes were a bright blue that flashed red, predatory, while his hair was a cascade of silvery white down his shoulders and back. He had the start of a beard, more of a shadow along his jawline as if he shaved regularly but hadn’t gotten around to it today. He reminded her of something… someone… until she realized his skin was faintly luminous as was his hair. She blinked, startled, and then realized it wasn’t a trick of the light.

“You are the Moon Eagle… the one I set free.” She said softly, relaxing now, putting the pieces of the puzzle together. “You were also the light that’s been stalking me.. the glow in the forest.” She accused, lightly though, not in anger.

He nodded. “Very good… yes. You let me out of my cage after I was very foolishly captured. And I followed you… because you are more than you seem and far more than human.” He added. “And appealing to a creature like me who needs to be around others. May I stay? At least a while… ?” He asked, tilting his head sideways, blinking, the red flashing in his gaze.

Slowly Tazrae nodded. She could do no less because of the creature’s honesty. “Yes, you can stay. But no more of that… whatever that was that woke me.” She added, her firmness inherent. “It’s invasive and unwelcome,” Taz explained, not sure that was exactly true. He hadn’t pushed anything on her she hadn’t enjoyed nor welcomed.

Jaelis slowly nodded. “I’m one of Nysel’s children. The Dreaming is no different than the waking to us. I will abide by your wishes though until you wish differently.” He added, a flicker of a smile crossing his face. It wasn’t arrogance, but rather a certainty born of how much he’d witnessed of her reaction moments ago. Jaelis had no wish to keep secrets though. It wasn’t in his nature. He was plain-spoken and honest, like his human Svefra kin.

Once more, Tazrae nodded. Her life… it seemed… was about to change yet again. She had recognized the moments, one after another after another, as time passed and she grew into her own. They were moments that might seem small, but made for big things in the long run. A moment was sitting in her favorite chair watching her curiously. And she’d be a fool, which she wasn’t, to not recognize it for what it was.

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