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Tay stopped short midway down a hall and turned, gazing at her own reflection caught in the burnished surface of a heraldic shield. Not one to often primp and fuss over her looks the Amazon suddenly found herself frozen in shock, the sight of her own drawn features… so waif-like and marred, striking a chord.
Delicate fingertips lifted to trace her bruised cheekbone, cherry lips opening slightly with an indrawn breath of horror… for a moment, emerald greens lost themselves in memory. Had it been so very long ago?
“Lovely?” The Amazon snorted, “Now you sound like Reece. I’m far from lovely… I’m half-Elven trash, not fit for human eyes. Or so I’ve been told many a time by many a human in the past eight hundred years.” She let her hair fall back down as Galain finished with the laces, “and a redhead to boot. Though it’s the ‘freakish’ eyes that get them the most.” Turning around she batted cat-slit gem like eyes at him. “Obviously demon possessed… or some such thing.”
“You’re joking right?” he didn’t mean her cleavage and he bent his knees to look up at her. “You don’t really believe what you just said, do you? Because you’re very lovely and that makes you doubly unfit for human eyes. Your hair is alive and wonderful. And your eyes are compelling and unusual and hardly freakish.”
A small, choked sound welled up from An’Thaya’s chest and she tore her eyes away from the much-changed image of herself, stalking on down the hall. Blind fingers found the latch and pushed open the door to Jaiden’s room, letting it close softly behind her.
The Windling was just emerging from another room, sensing the arrival of her wife. Her arms opened for an embrace and she nearly ran to An'Thaya, drawing her close.
"I've missed you," she said.
The Amazon fell into her wife’s embrace with a relieved sigh, resting her head on Jaiden’s shoulder and closing haunted eyes as slim hands ran up the Windling’s back, hugging her close in return.
“I’ve missed you too,” the words were a whisper, though thick with emotion. Gods, here was so much peace, no sense of being tugged at or torn in two. Jaid was Jaid, a constant force in her life that never demanded or betrayed. The only shadow on their relationship was Jaiden’s mortality; her lifespan had already been extended beyond what was normal.
The differences in time and space between Beta Blu and Whispin had somehow drawn her existence out through centuries of An’Thaya’s life. Jaid would go home every now and then, and it was often decades before the redhead saw her wife again, yet to Jaiden, she had only been gone a few weeks. An odd anomaly, but anything that kept her longer in the Amazon’s life was a precious gift in Tay’s eyes.
Dropping a kiss on Jaid’s shoulder, Thaya lifted her head and met the Windling’s warm brown gaze. “How are you? All right? And the children? Come lay down with me and tell me everything, I’m so tired… but I want to hear.”
"We have all been fine. Just a few heart-stopping moments here and there, but truly, we are all well and we have simply missed you," Jaiden said, complying readily to An'Thaya's request and leading her wife to the bed where they fell upon the soft covers, the Windling catching the fragile Amazon in her arms with a laugh.
"I'm not sure we're entirely welcome in the nursery, mostly because the quads are such... aggressive creatures. We've spent a lot of time in the gardens and I've been trying to wear a few more clothes. I like robes. Robes are nice. They can be very thick or very thin. An'Thaya... love... sleep if you must. All right?"
“Beth is the tolerant sort,” the Amazon said with a soft laugh, “and you look absolutely beautiful in robes… or without them. I’m rather partial to without, myself. You do realize nudity is perfectly acceptable around here. You haven’t noticed all the rabid S’Heans tearing off their clothing and diving into the nearest pool? You’ll not be shocking anyone here anytime soon.”
Jaiden laughed. She'd noticed and had been rather glad. She'd not thought S'Heans were rabid... but they certainly enjoyed water.
A frustrated sigh exploded form the redhead then and she stretched slightly, “I’ve decided that sleep is a waste of time… I’ll sleep when I’m dead. So much to see… to love, to experience… I hate wasting time…”
Despite her words, Tay’s eyes were hazy with sleep, a sensation of comfort and contentment cocooning her in Jaid’s presence. A sleepy murmur came from the Windling’s hair as the Amazon nuzzled into it, strands of chestnut silk that tickled her skin.
"That's right love," Jaiden said quietly. "Sleep might be a waste, but it might keep you sane... a little." She kissed the tip of An'Thaya's ear and let their bond quietly wrap the Amazon in peace.
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