A glimmering emerald portal spun open in front of them, a vine draped archway inviting them to step through on the other side. Softly glowing globes bobbled in the air, lighting a pathway strewn ankle deep with pale white flower petals that spilled out onto verdant green sands. A pristine white path of them led down to a canopied shelter where they formed a makeshift blanket. Someone had obviously been busy setting up wine, brandy and food among floating orbs of light.
He nodded towards a scattering of the S’Hean lamps laid out in two parallel lines in the water, and at the end… was a softly glowing pool of green deep beneath the surface. "Feeling adventurous?"
Ghet chuckled. "Hey, I know you're a heartless bastard, and that's what matters. Well, not heartless, really, but I'm never going to mistake you for a fluffy puppy dog. Or you know, someone who just needs to be..." she fluttered her eyelashes at a quite alarming rate, "understood."
The teasing helped hide the glint of tears in her eyes as she saw what he'd done. She was utterly hopeless in the face of romanticism. Most of her defenses were solidly based in cynicism. This sort of thing, and knowing it was meant and heartfelt and genuine and not just an attempt to get into her non-existent trousers, left her lost for a response, vulnerable.
"I take you very seriously." Her gaze trailed out into the water, lingering. There were aspects of her life that she fought to stay in control of, but this wasn't one of them. "Adventurous? Always." She laid her hand in his, slowly, full of complete trust and wonder.
“Good,” his response was low, filled with emotion, “because I’m feeling fairly serious at the moment.” Giving Ghet’s hand a squeeze he stepped with her onto the pathway, leading her down across the sands beneath the looming presence of one of Whispin’s moons. It seemed to dominate the sky in its breakneck race across the horizon, glittering off the illuminated water. Its reflection there was huge, and they found themselves in the midst of it as they waded out into the water.
“Ready?” he asked, giving her a lopsided smile, his expression expressing a melange of emotions, the most prevalent, and most unusual for Y’Roden, a prevailing sense of nervous… something. He inclined his head towards the softly glimmering spot in the lake, then dove in ahead of her, swimming strong beneath the surface.
Ghet walked beside him unhesitating until they reached the water, feeling the softness of the petals on her feet, the slight yielding of the sand under that. She never wore shoes on S'Hea anyway, it was unbearable, like only touching a lover's skin through their clothes.
Ro's mood guided her own, solemn and still, but open, intensely aware of the world around her. The touch of water on her legs sent a shiver through her. She wasn't scared or apprehensive, just... what? Aware of power, weight, significance to their actions. She let him go, and while she watched him dive away from her, she knotted her hair at the nape of her neck so it wouldn't swirl in her face. Then she swam after him, towards the light. One thing she'd never been able to deny; she was a much better swimmer than she'd once been. Her always-impressive lung capacity had improved, her shoulders were stronger, she was simply more comfortable in the water. And she was almost entirely sure Ro wouldn't let her drown no matter what.
The S’Hean King surfaced dead centre of the glimmering spotlight of water, the dancing arc of Aethyr across his skin revealing the truth of what it was. The reason the D’Riel retreat had been built here, one of the rare, natural places where Whispin’s soul spilled through full force into S’Hea. The light glanced off the gems set into his shoulder as he turned, reaching out for Ghet as she swam to him, the touch sending a shock of power through them both.
Drawing his lover close to his chest, he gazed down into denim blues for a breath before leaning into kiss her, their bodies slowly sinking into the Aethyr charged water, spinning slowly as it crawled across their skin and through their souls. It tugged Ghet’s hair loose, deep red strands billowing upwards like flames on the water as they drifted ever down amongst a cascade of bubbles.
Ro drew his head back as his feet touched the bottom, the shift of soft sand beneath his toes disturbing another rush of bubbles. One seemed slower than the rest, and it came to a sedate, rotating halt just to the side. Inside, was a small object that caught and reflected the light.
“I’m not very good at this,” he admitted with an upward tug of his mouth, “but I’m firmly of the belief that marriage is completely about love, not politics… so I want to do this right. Engagement rings are not part of S’Hean tradition, but they are human, and I want us to be true to both of our heritages. The official ceremony will bind us with the traditional armbands… but this, this is us…”
He smiled then, still a little nervous and unsure of himself, Ghetsuhm Riker… will you marry me, not the King, not because S’Hea needs a Queen, but marry the half-elf that has loved you to the point of insanity since the moment he lay eyes on you.
Brain kicked in just in time to stop Ghet instinctively gasping when Ro touched her. It was like holding a live current, and while she'd felt it many times before, it always struck her like this. Awe. She would become so deeply intertwined with the spirit of this land, until it WAS her, and she was it. Would she ever lose this feeling?
She let it roll right through her, through her body and her still-damaged soul. It was a rush of pure energy, but it didn't affect her half as strongly as his words. Down here, there was no escape. Every time she'd been in a situation like this, old instincts tore at her, telling her to run, that the force of this much emotion wasn't safe, that it would damage her independence. It was the briefest impulse, quickly dashed.
She did love him, and if it were possible, she'd have loved him even more now when he stood in a well of S'Hea's power and spoke of the importance of her own heritage, acknowledged her past and her bloodlines and traditions. They were simple words, but the burden they lifted from her was huge, and one she'd not really been conscious of.
Her mind swirled around her like her hair, so much to take in all at once. She honestly hadn't thought about whether she'd wanted to marry him, because she'd known she had to, and odd as it seemed, she was a pragmatist at heart. If she didn't have to think about what she wanted, she didn't have to think about the pain, either. Two marriages down the drain, how could she possibly want to do this again?
Aware that she'd been quiet for far too long at a time like this, she looked up at him, into his eyes, and her face lit with joy. Thinking was vastly over-rated. She slipped one arm around his waist, her other hand reaching out, taking the ring. Yes. Yes, I will marry you. My Rodi, private face and damaged soul, your laughter and screams, doubts, fears, everything. The man who would do a thing like this, because no-one has ever matched me the way you do. You know what you get in return. A not very queenly woman who runs a brothel and goes like an express train and... laughs and cries and breaks and just can't take it sometimes. She put the ring on her own finger, her will twinned with his. I love you, Y'Roden. And I want to be your wife.
Y’Roden’s eyes slid shut, his body relaxing with an exhaled breath and he held Ghet close, the tension brought on by nerves slowly draining away. He pulled his head back and looked down at her, his left hand brushing wild tendrils of hair back away from her face.
The depths of emerald jewels were alight with fierce joy. I don’t think I’ve ever been that nervous in my life, his tone was laughing, self-effacing. You’re perfect… perfect for me. I love your wild independence, every mood, every scream, every tear… all of it. You are my equal in so many ways… I love you Ghetsuhm.
Moving through the cloud of his lover’s hair, Ro kissed her, drawing her body against his. Electricity flared with each contact of skin, green arcs of energy that hummed and tingled. Rough hands urged her thighs up around his hips, a combination of heavy emotion and Aethyr enhanced desire bringing him to hard arousal again. A tender, sweet moment evolving naturally into passion, driven with all the intensity that was Ro’s inherent nature. Fingertips slid up the length of Ghet’s spine, coming to rest at the base of her neck as the kiss deepened and they breathed as one.
Ghet laughed from sheer joy, seeing and feeling his relief. He seemed to actually have seriously believed she might say no. She was incredulous, and a little dizzy: emotion, oxygen deprivation, aethyr-high, who knew.
She gave herself up to her lover's hands, letting his strength and the water take all her weight. She touched his chest, hesitant and awe-struck as green sparked wherever their skins touched, her nerves singing with it, his hands weaving it across her thighs, inside her body... she sighed and let go, no longer holding herself separate from him, or from the power and soul of S'Hea. It wasn't just his any more, it was hers as well, and no less hers for not being her birthright. She understood so much, and it was beyond words.
She kissed him, sliding her arms around his neck to help him hold her, dancing sparks of Aethyr across the sensitive nerves in his spine, her legs wrapping round him and drawing him deep inside her. Perfect.
When Ghet let go, Ro experienced a moment of exhilaration that was startling in its depth. There was a sudden spark of connection that he had never felt before, with anyone. To share something as private and intimate as a S’Hean’s connection with the land was a profoundly inexplicable sensation. By repeatedly falling in love outside his own race the half-elf had been cut off from what most S’Heans took for granted. The intensely deep connection that two souls could find when they Grounded together and gave themselves over to S’Hea herself.
Ghet’s action so many years ago had bound her to Ro and changed so many things about her… It had opened the pathway to this, and somewhere deep in his soul, Y’Roden had always known what was possible. Love had to find its own way, and over thirty years ago he had been convinced that it gone as far as the Fates were going to allow. Now… he felt as if he had been given a gift, something so precious and rare that few were ever fortunate enough to find.
Letting instinct guide him, Ro tightened his grip on Ghet’s body, moving her slowly in the water, languid in the embrace of the planet’s soul… feeling everything in a strange, magnified sense. Aethyr filled his blood, seared through his soul and shone from the depths of his eyes. He could see it reflected in Ghet’s as well, feel it pulse through her body, an electric shock at their point of contact that was a sweet combination of pain and pleasure.
The last few years, Ghet had had enough information to put two and two together, and a steadfast refusal to do so. She'd made love to Ro in S'Hea when he'd been connected and she had not. She'd made love to Galain in S'Hea when she'd been connected, and he hadn't. This... something somewhere deep inside her had known this was possible; she simply hadn't wanted to see it. There was no reason to look away now, even if that had been possible.
She dropped her head onto his shoulder, kissing his neck, lost and utterly relaxed into the slow dance of their bodies, in the heart of the land they both loved, that loved them. She was more than herself, yet she felt no fear, just an awe-inspiring sense of connection. She could feel the flow of power, through each of them, through the connection of their bodies, and she suddenly totally intuited that eternity symbol, together and out and back again, the flow completely uninterrupted and slowly building with the tension in her body; in their body, all the same, shared, rising together. Then there was just a moment of fear as she began to suspect what might happen when so much power found its release. She trembled in his arms, on the brink of withdrawing, and then surrendered. She could make it, she could.
Ro let go. Not physically, but of his soul, letting the emerald galaxy spin out, releasing pent up power in an explosion that swept through them both, forcing an aching, shuddering release of the body as for a moment, his soul eclipsed Ghet’s, holding the bright fire of her spirit within the storm. The water seemed to boil, coming to agitated life against their skin, trying to force them upwards. Instinctively he pushed up from the sands and they drifted with it, entangled, still caught in the heated wave even as they surfaced, drawing oxygen into burning lungs. The end of a ragged cry dragged from Ro, his hips jerking against hers, face buried in soaked red locks.
Green lightning leached off of them, dancing across the rippling water in the reflection of the moon. Dazed, Ro simply clutched Ghet to himself, grappling internally for stability, yet not wanting the sensation that still mercilessly gripped his body to end. This was what they were meant to be, he embraced it, and at the same time, he was petrified. One strand of his soul was still connected to hers, and it was all he could safely maintain. With a monumental effort he pulled his soul back, terrified of overwhelming her, unsure of the domino affect his wounded spirit might have caused. He had seen the result of his sister’s loss of control, and while he would have taken the risk to share such a precious connection with the woman he loved… it was too soon, and far too dangerous.
A low, growling sound rumbled through the half-elf’s chest and he nuzzled Ghet’s jaw line, kissing her soft skin, moving to her lips and laughing softly when a spark danced between their mouths.
Physical instinct made Ghet draw breath as they broke the surface of the water. She was simply too scared to think about what was happening to them. The physical sensation was overwhelming enough, and beyond it, there was so much more. Her body went rigid in his arms, then slowly relaxed, limp and trembling.
Her soul... flared under the touch of his, a bright firestorm that rose to the challenge of the vast emerald galaxy that threatened to swamp it... and then faltered. She wasn't strong enough, not yet. Even so, as he retreated, she yearned after him, almost willing to risk annihilation to hold onto him.
She wasn't strong enough, but she would be, given time. She needed that strength for herself right now. She reined in her wilful soul, confining it, parting from his with a last tinge of promise.
She touched his face, the shape of his smile, the lines by his eyes. She was overwhelmed, tears mixing with the water on her cheeks. "My gods. Oh my gods. I never... never. We have to do that again. But not right now, because I'll die."
A deep, shuddering breath steadied Ro somewhat, a low, choked sob of a laugh the only response he could give for a moment. Leaning into Ghet’s touch, the half-elf closed his eyes and smiled, “We will… most definitely we will… Gods. That was… I have no words for what that was.”
His soul still vibrated with the warmth of her silent promise, an aching throb in the depths humming with the loss of what it had so briefly embraced. Time… they both needed time, and the wait would be a sweet torment, as so much often was with them.
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