Private Tales For the Dancing and the Dreaming

[Nerisyrre Silvern]

The sun was going down in Elbion. It had cast long, deep shadows through the city, but lamps were going up to combat the growing darkness. Evening came early in the winter months, but the bustling streets were alive at all hours. Some businesses had closed for the day while others would be open late into the night.

Her week had been long and arduous. Syrre's wrist was stiff from transcribing countless spells and taking notes. Her fingers on her left hand were still tender from messing up a spell and burning herself, hidden beneath a pair of soft leather gloves. Bundled up against the cold, her fair nose and cheeks were rosy from the breeze and exertion as she walked from the college district into the lower parts of the city.

Eager to see Liam, she waved at her companions, a couple of other mages training to be healers like herself. They had walked together all the way to the outer districts, where she veered off toward the outskirts of the city to meet him. It had been days -- a full week, to be precise. While she'd been adjusting to the college life well enough, living apart had not been easy. Syrre often found herself daydreaming, wondering what he was doing or where he was, if he had eaten or if he was keeping warm. The promise of seeing Liam for two days had carried her through the rougher part of the week. Years apart had not prepared her for how badly she would miss him, and it was with such she hastened her steps toward their meeting point.

She saw him with the horses at the well and started smiling so brightly that she was certain her face was going to shatter. Out of sheer will alone, she had kept her pace to a brisk walk as she'd come near, but upon seeing him she took a few jogging steps in excitement.

"Kite!" Syrre raised her hand and waved, getting his attention as much as the horses' as she quickly closed the distance between them. She threw her arms around him and clung to his neck, giggling like the lovestruck idiot she was. For a moment she buried her face in his neck, but eventually sat back to pepper his cheek with kisses.

"I've missed you so much," she told him as she hugged him again. "I'm never going to let you go! You'll never be parted from me again."

// Liam Silvern //

 

[Liam Silvern]

While his wife was enjoying a life of academic fulfillment, Liam had been living off the land outside the city walls. It was a cost saving measure he had taken up to make sure they could pay for her tuition. He had not yet decided to tell her he was doing that though. For the past week he just made his name and face more familiar in the places sellswords could be hired at. So far all he had gotten was a temporary job to guard a warehouse for two nights. They were uneventful.

The meeting spot was a well the two had spent some time at when they first arrived at the college. It was not in the college itself but near to it. He was rarely allowed inside and the few times he was it was always with some kind of guide to keep an eye on him. Liam couldn't blame them. Places of learning like it always had very valuable treasures inside. He had brought the horses with him into the city and while they waited he took the time to wash them with a wet brush while they grazed on the grass and drank the water he drew from the well. It surprised him how there was grass in the city like this, but Elbion did things like that.

The horses were finished and the supplies put away before an intimately familiar voice screamed out his name. Liam turned to look at his wife and suddenly found himself in an embrace with a face buried in his neck. Kisses on his cheek followed. The entire thing caught him completely off guard. After a moment he wrapped his arms around her waist and gave her an brief yet intimate kiss on the lips.

"I missed you as well Flower." Liam responded to her with a warm smile. "Don't forget you have to go back to your room later. The most important thing for us right now is your schooling."

Nerisyrre Silvern

 

[Nerisyrre Silvern]

She giggled playfully and shook her head against his shoulder. "Nope. I'm never going back. We can live as vagabonds and charlatans -- never settling down, surviving on your stale biscuits and wild onions."

With one last squeeze, however, Syrre stood back and held him at arm's length. Her eyes roamed over him, her fingers brushing at a patch of dirt or a patch where his shirt was looking worn. He seemed to be well, with all of his pieces properly assembled and in their right places. She gave him a bright smile as she slid her hands down his arms to take his hands.

"I see you have managed to keep all your fingers and limbs. Does that mean you've been staying out of trouble this week?"

// Liam Silvern //

 

[Liam Silvern]

"But there are no beds or comfy bedrolls where I am Flower." Liam responded to her with a smile. "There is only the hard ground, smelly creatures, and ugly men."

Syrre was getting her hands all over Liam. He definitely noticed that fact as well. Was she truly that lonely without him around for a week? He had missed her greatly himself, but it was odd seeing her being clingy. Well not clingy. She was always like this with all the little touches and keeping close to him. It just felt different this time around. Before she just seemed to be enjoying herself casually. This time it felt as if she was doing and taking as much as she could.

Liam squeezed his wife's hands. Her words were said in seriousness to him about him still being in one piece. She had worried. That was both sweet and worried him that she felt that way. He kissed her cheek then said, "Don't worry. Just basic guard work. The boredom is the most threatening thing to my life. Thieves don't look for challenges after all just easy targets. I'm there to tell them it isn't easy."

Another kiss on her other cheek followed his words. Liam smiled to her warmly for a moment then continued, "How has your schooling been this week? What have you been learning?"

Nerisyrre Silvern

 

[Nerisyrre Silvern]

He seemed less playful than usual, replying with such sound reasoning to her banter. But she was compensating for his rare show of sobriety with a bit of silliness on her part. Syrre had missed him sorely. She would have even taken his coarse teasing, merciless and pointed right at her weakest points. Generally, his jokes had a way of worming their way into the back of her mind, questioning if they were made in jest or in some serious observation veiled as sarcasm. Today she would have welcomed it, simply that it was Liam's attention.

With a kiss to her cheek and a squeeze of her hands, he assured her that he was well. His work was more boring than dangerous, and his mere presence deterred most prospective troubles. Syrre nodded.

"I'm glad," she said, offering her cheek to him as he leaned in to kiss the other. She hadn't smiled this much all week, and the muscles in her cheeks strained with the joy of it.

"If the boredom of guard work was threatening your life, then I'm afraid you'll surely expire listening to me drivel on about such things as phosphoromancy and herbology," she laughed. But she sighed, obliging him. "Although, I learned that I'm horrid at fire magic. It would seem I truly am your flower, too afraid to control it properly."

Pulling off her glove, Syrre presented her fingers for his inspection. They didn't look anything like they had when she'd first burned herself. The mistake had quickly been used as a secondary lesson in healing magic. The skin on the inside of her thumb, index, and middle fingers were glossy and pink, still tender and new regrowth that had replaced the blistered and red mess that had been the L of skin on her right hand.

"It's fine, just a bit tender," she assured him. "I might not have done too well with the fire, but I did splendidly with healing my mistake."

// Liam Silvern //

 

[Liam Silvern]

While normally Liam's full attention would be on his wife when he was with her today it was not. Today his mind was on that promise of work made to Joseph Tailor. A deal with a devil had been made and that devil was now calling. It was pressing on his mind as he had no clue what exactly he was expected to do. He knew he was rusty as well. It had been months since he left Vel Anir. It had been months more before then that he had been a soldier. Even before he left his life as a soldier he hadn't fought for a few weeks due to that ship wreck he was a part of. He was rusty and the uneventful work hadn't helped warm him back up any.

Those thoughts left his mind though as Syrre entertained his question about what she had been up to. Liam knew what herbology was, since she had spoken about it before they even arrived, but wasn't sure on phosphoromancy. A follow up question on what it was did not happen though as she spoke on her experience with fire magic and revealed her injured fingers. A deep frown touched his lips and he immediately yet tenderly took her hand. He was very familiar with burns given his two trades and so recognized that the worst of it was over and it was healing fine already. But knowing that and how the sight of any harm to his wife no matter how minor made him feel were different matters.

A kiss was laid onto the area delicately then a worried tone followed. "We need to find some aloe plants. I know a balm recipe that will help." Liam didn't really wait for a response before he was already moving to get his wife onto one of their horses. One would think she was dying with how serious he was acting and the intensity of his movements combined with the tenderness of his touches.

Nerisyrre Silvern

 

[Nerisyrre Silvern]

Syrre saw the shift in him, from tired and distracted to pensive and concerned. His attentiveness was endearing, and the way he gently took her hand in his to kiss it made her cheeks flush a delicate shade of pink. They might have been married but they weren't married yet, and she wasn't quite immune to blushing when he was sweet. It would take far longer than a few months to make that go away. But she couldn't help but giggle when he steered them toward the horses.

"Kite, it's alright." Syrre planted her feet and took his hands to turn him to look at her. "Look, I'm fine. I've already healed it, I just haven't learned the grafting spells yet to weave new skin over it, so I just have to let time take care of that." She raised her palm for inspection once more, encouraging him to look again.

"See? All's well, just a little burn -- nothing to fuss about." But she put her glove back on, just to be sure that nothing happened to break the delicate, shiny skin left behind by the healed burn. Offering him a smile, she took his hands in hers, looping her fingers into his.

"You're so serious tonight. Are you sure everything is alright?" She tipped her head to peer into his eyes. Liam's family and friends seemed to think they were the color of malachite. But to her, they'd always reminded her of the bright, bluish-green stems and leaves of daffodils.

Sighing, Syrre squeezed her fingers tighter around his. "Come on. I've been cooped up in the college all week and you've been dying of boredom. How about we do something fun tonight? We've only got the two days; we might as well spend one of them being silly."

She offered him a bright smile. Liam had seemed saddened by the sobriety of her matured personality, a result of high spirits broken after he'd gone, so she was showing a bit more lightheartedness for him tonight. They would see each other so rarely that she wanted to make sure that the limited time they had with one another made up for what they missed. If this was to be their life for a little while, Syrre would do everything in her power to make these visits precious and pleasant.

// Liam Silvern //

 

[Liam Silvern]

The stone man just frowned at his wife's words. Syrre was assuring Liam she was fine. He knew she was as well. The problem was he hadn't seen her for a week and had such serious thoughts on his mind before. It all made him worry. She stopped him from taking her to the horses. Her words felt like cool water upon his dry heart. The worry about why he was so serious and then the mention of some plan for them to have fun together. This woman was far too good to him.

A kiss was laid upon her lips. "Sorry Flower. It has just been a long week without you and I was worried about you." Another kiss followed. "What did you have in mind?"

Liam wrapped his arm around her waist and pulled her in close. He wanted to embrace his wife. It had been too long without her. He had never missed anyone as much as he missed her. And this short time apart had shown him it didn't matter how long that time apart was for. His heart would be empty of anything except pain and loneliness.

Nerisyrre Silvern