Private Tales A Return

[Kailyn]

Ragash

Alabyad Palace: Room of the Golden Pond

(Ashuanar and Gerra: if one dares to show)

Kailyn had spent some time visiting the different great cities of Amol-Kalit. It seemed to coincide with Gerra's crusades. She hadn't seen the half-fire giant in quite some time. Nor her friends like Nehemiah or Noelani. Not even Medja. She'd been learning more about her magic and art. And when she finally did return to the great, towering city, she felt a small sense of relief.

And tiredness.

The once slave was more than delighted to find one of her favorite rooms unoccupied. The room of the golden pond. The waters were still and looked more like a sheet of glass. Turning her head toward the massive set of doors on the other side, she felt perhaps, a little more bold than usual. She'd always wanted to bath in these waters and perhaps, perhaps now was the time just to try it. This was the month of festivals. A time of celebrations in the larger city. Most people would be out and about.

As evident by the unusually quiet and empty room. Setting the towel down that she brought, she began to unlace the straps of her sandals that curved up around her calf. Then her fingers dropped to the straps of her dress.

 

[Gerra]

Slow, heavy footfalls announced the entrance of the emperor, but they paused as soon as he saw the figure taking off her sandals by the pool.

“Kailyn?” rumbled Gerra, brow furrowed in confusion.

 

[Kailyn]

She paused, like a canary caught by a sand leonine. One strap of her dress was already off one shoulder. A mixture of feelings welled within her chest.

"M'lord," honeyed eyes took him in before they immediately dropped to the polished floor with a bow of her head. "I did not realize anyone would..that you," a gentle clear of her throat. "When did you return?" Her head remained bent in reverence. Legs still curled beneath her as she perched by the edge of the pools.

 

[Gerra]

“I could ask the same of you…”

The emperor’s eyes wandered over her familiar form, pausing upon her legs as they seemed on the edge of dipping in the pool.

The surface of the water reflected the light from the gold-leafed walls, giving it the appearance of a pool of liquid gold.

A pool which Gerra had once fallen into, bleeding out from the thrust of a dagger.

His brow furrowed deeper.

"You are aware this pool is not for bathing?"

 

[Kailyn]

Eyes finally lifted. Tentatively. A tuck of fiery-golden hair behind one curved ear. His voice seemed to hold all the more power echoing within the massive chamber. Empty save for the two of them.

"I was not intending to bathe," a flicker of a sly look across her face as she held his gaze.

Those burning embers of his.

She pushed to her bare feet, leaving her sandals discarded to the side. "Would you really ask that question of me. Want, no, care to know when I returned?"

It seemed she and he had parted ways quite suddenly. The last time they were together. She of all people knew his reputation. And she had to wonder how many others had warmed his bed in her absence.

 

[Gerra]

“Why would I not?”

Gerra clasped his hands behind his back, causing the smooth black robes he wore to pull tight against his chest.

“But you are here now… and… not bathing.”

An eyebrow rose as he noted the strap loose over one shoulder. “What exactly did you intend on doing?”

 

[Kailyn]

“Why would I not?”

"Because I am but one female in a kingdom full of many other...delicacies," a small smile as her feet took her closer to the Emperor. That familiar ashen and cedar smell. The artist looked at him closely, noting the deeper worry lines on his skin.

She made no move to pull up the one strap to her dress that had fallen over one curved shoulder.

Her hands lifted to smooth over the black fabric across his chest, her chin tilting to look up at the half-giant. "Skinny-dipping. Have you ever heard of it?" She doubted he'd ever tried it. Gerra and water had never been friends.

 

[Gerra]

The emperor snorted.

"I am not who I was."

Eyes that once burned with the seductive fire of a hearth in winter now only smoldered like weary embers, awaiting their time to go out.

"After Drakormir - well . . . how can you have an appetite for delicacies when all you taste is ash?"

Kailyn

 

[Kailyn]

She’d changed too. She was no longer the completely shy and timid slave girl from before. She had a thriving business. The only evidence of her time in bondage were the slavers marks on the insides of her wrists.

She never looked away from his mournful embers. She knew it was more than Drakomir. His crusades across Arethil were no secret. Her hands drifted around his torso and she pulled the half-giant into an embrace. Her body pressing against his own. Holding him. Chin pressing into his chest as she kept his gaze. Golden-red hair tumbling behind her.

And that was it. If he wanted to talk, she’d allow him the space to do so. If he didn’t, she’d leave space for that as well.

 

[Gerra]

Gerra stiffened as she wrapped her arms around him and pulled close to him. The memory of the taste of her lips, her skin, came to his mind. He knew that if he pressed his to hers once more he would not taste them. All he had were the memories now.

He reached up and placed a hand on her head, fingers running through her red-gold tresses.

“Why this kindness?”

 

[Kailyn]

She didn’t pull away. Her arms didn’t loosen around his giant form. She stayed there as if she could be all the strength and comfort he needed. As if she could somehow protect him.

A sadness at his question.

“Do you feel as though you don’t deserve kindness?” She stepped back a few inches so her chin wasn’t pressing into his chest. So she could better see him. Her arms remained wrapped around him. Small strokes along his back.

 

[Gerra]

"Deserve?" the half-giant's features grew distant and he looked past Kailyn toward the surface of the golden pond, staring down into his reflection.

"I deserve many things, Kailyn."

Gently, he separated them, but let a hand continue to rest on her shoulder.

"I have brought peace to a land rife with war. I have also slaughtered thousands. I have ended the persecution of the Abtati, slain the god of dragons, and constructed marvels. I am loved, worshipped, feared, and hated. All at once. But kindness? Kindness is for the farmer dwelling in his hut by the Baal-Asha. Kindness is for the blacksmith after a long day of honest work. I forge the future, Kailyn. Yet those simple men leading simple leaves have something I do not."

 

[Kailyn]

Time and his many exploits had created a chasm between them she struggled to cross. Warm-caramel eyes never left his smoldering twin suns. A small frown as he put her at literal arms-width away.

"Perhaps you just needed someone to show it to you," gently, she took his hand off her shoulder and brushed her lips along the back of it before releasing it. "But it's up to you on if you want to receive it." A gentle release of his hand as she stepped back and began to walk away.