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GrandChildren |
Ce'Leste D'Riel
Va'Lan D'Riel
An'Lin D'Riel
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Shadow stood in a sea of fog that tugged her from dream to memory, through laughter and tears. They brought a bittersweet smile to her sleeping face and tears to her closed eyes. She didn’t want to revisit the life she had with her husband, it just made her long to join him even more. But that wasn’t about to happen, not with being in Y’Roden’s care.
Y’Roden. She so wanted to box his ears. The twit. The words drifted through her mind and she laughed out in her dreams. She’d known so many as father…and had been disappointed by them, that sometimes she was afraid of calling him Desh’ketai. But she did anyway, and was glad for it. Though at the moment she rather despised him for his sensibleness, knowing deep down just how right he was.
Her thoughts turned elsewhere, once again sweeping her into memories that seemed to go on forever, and to her body, still on Arlsynian time, it was.
The forest elf shifted restlessly, fighting through the flower-induced fog that had kept her asleep. For some reason her anger and pain didn’t flare up like it should have. Instead she felt nothing but calm, something that scared her to her core until she replayed the moments before she fell asleep.
“You drugged me,” she murmured groggily, knowing that her father was there, remembering his promise. Dark lashes swept up, “That’s cheating,” the hint of amusement in her voice didn’t reach her sorrow filled eyes.
Y’Roden stirred where he had fallen asleep in the chair, his lip curled in amusement as one emerald eye peeked open to look at his daughter. “It’s your own fault, Desh’iel,” he accused, “you are a bad influence. First pick pocketing, now drugging, you bring out the worst in me.”
Shifting out of the chair he stumbled for a moment, muttering something in Drow that wasn’t fit for civilized ears. “My foot is asleep.” Settling in on the side of the bed he shook his boot in irritation before taking Shadow’s hand in his and giving it a gentle squeeze.
“How are you feeling, ruffian? Thirsty? I’m going to have bruises, you know, and a few permanent bite marks. So cruel to her frail old man,” he teased gently.
“I have never drugged anyone,” she tried to sound insulted and scolding, but it didn’t quite work, “Okay, I’ve never drugged you.” Shadow grinned slightly, a snort escaping her as he stumbled about
“It serves you right, threatening to shackle a poor defenceless maiden after she’s been attacked by slavers. Water?” She asked as she push herself into a sitting position groaning as the room threatened to spin. “Who was that masked man…” she muttered, she had to admit she felt good and if it wasn’t for the sleepiness she’d probably be in a damn good mood. But the memories were nagging at her, leaving a slight pounding in her head.
She turned the strange sensations over in her head, logic seeming to be the only ‘emotion’ she was going to trust at the moment. “How are the children? I feel Cade and Kaiden, but I don’t feel Kegan. They are always together, I don’t feel any of the others either…” A frown pulled at the corner of her lips, “What was that flower.”
Y’Roden chuckled softly; glad to see she was holding on to a sense of humor, though that could easily be blamed on the drug. “The flower was a Kaima-Lokte, otherwise known as a Sleeping Blossom. Don’t worry, it is only meant to make you sleepy.” He left out the feel good part quite on purpose.
The second question gave him more pause and it took him a moment to formulate an answer. Rising he went to the bedside table and poured a glass of water with which he returned to the bedside and offered it to his daughter. “I’m not going to lie to you Shady. You can feel Cade and Kaiden because they are here, in the nursery with your little sisters and brothers. Robin elected to go to The Diirlathe with Callan, Raven and Kaltaur went to Ingraelis with Lhach. I’m waiting to hear from Silverthorn on the others. Mel and a few others are tracking the Slavers and Thorn has a flight of Callan’s Guard helping out where they can.”
“You never do,” Shadow smiled slightly.
“That doesn’t surprise me, about Robin I mean, she hasn’t wanted to stay in the forest since she gave Callan that feather.” The forest elf took the water and sipped a soft chuckle escaping her, “Humans tell stories of Elves being lost to the sea the moment they set eyes on the water, I’ve lost my daughter to a sea of sand.”
She took another drink of water then pulled her knees up to her chest, her ankles crossing under the sheet. A habit from childhood that she’d never been able to break herself of. “I’m sorry about the whole knee to the groin thing,” a sparkle entered her eyes, “it seemed like the most logical thing to do at the time.”
Y’Roden laughed softly, “Quite alright, I wasn’t planning on having anymore children anyway.” He smiled then and sighed, “I know what you mean though. I’ve lost my sisters to that same sea of sand. An’Thaya and B’Elya rarely come home anymore. There seems to be some sort of siren call in the Diirlathe… and I highly doubt it is Callan himself. I’ve heard him sing and it is more likely to drive them off screaming.”
Shadow burst out laughing, though if she was sane, she probably would have wondered why the thought of Callan singing was so funny. But when one thought about it, a dragon singing was rather funny and she couldn’t help but wonder if they trilled and if they could read sheet music properly. Did they use their tails to keep the beat?
The more that her mind travelled down a different path, the more loopy she felt. “At least it wasn’t castration!” she squeaked out as she tried to take another drink and rewarded herself with a good strong choking fit. “Home,” she began between coughs, “is where the heart is.”
Ro went a little pale and his legs automatically closed in a knee jerk reaction. “Bite your tongue!” He paused as she coughed, “I didn’t mean literally.” Emerald eyes sparkled softly and the King tilted his head to regard his daughter, “Aye… home is where the heart is, which means mine is scattered all over the place giving how many children I have and where they have ended up over the years.”
“But speaking as the oldest?” she paused slightly hesitant with the comment, “We always end up coming back. It’s safe and a port in the storm, and that flower was more than to just put me to sleep. I should be throwing things at you and trying to burn the place down around me.” Shadow sighed, “It’ll come to that you know, eventually. Damn, I think this is the clearest my mind has been in quite awhile. I‘d say not to let me go, and keep me drugged up, but then that would be too dangerous.” Loosely she wrapped her arms around her legs, mindful of the water, “How long does it last?”
“We have a few hours until it wears off completely,” he answered. “I understand, you know. To say it hurts is to completely miss the mark, it goes way beyond that and you have every right to hate me for keeping you here. I just know the time has not yet come for you to pass beyond the veil Desh’iel, and it isn’t just because I’m your Father and the thought of losing you breaks my heart and tears my soul. It is more than that, its… premonition, if you want to call it that. My Amil was always prone to it… and An’Thaya is as well. Perhaps there is a little of that in me somewhere.”
Shadow sighed and rubbed at her chest, “I’ve had worse…He didn’t make it to my soul.” Some things she was just leery about and for good reason. “I don’t hate you for keeping me here, it just hurts that you took away my choice. I made that choice because I don’t want to be hurt again, not ever again. It was the same decision my Mother made. She didn’t want to lose someone she cared about again…But then she loved Ravin, and right now, I’m trying to figure out if I loved Darien or if I just gave in because he wouldn’t leave me the hell alone.”
The forest elf grew quiet for a moment her eyes unfocused, “I don’t want to die…” the words were hardly a whisper. It was the truth, plain and simple. Deep down she never wanted to die, it was her honour that would send her on her path to destruction, her pride that wouldn’t allow her to ever break an oath. “Desh’ketai, don’t let me, please. You said you had those collars? You may need one…Selene‘s tears, what I wouldn‘t give for one of those damnable collars of Blagden‘s.” Her mind was racing, trying to come up with anything that would help when she lost it again. “You’re going to need light…lots and lots of light.”
“You are definitely on the right planet for lots and lots of light.” Though what he was going to do during the sixteen hours of darkness was up for debate. Drawing Shadow to him for a tight hug Ro smiled ruefully into her hair. “I will not let you die Desh’iel,” he promised. He had indeed kept Tallin’s collars, simply to remind himself that they were all fallible under the right circumstances. “I’ll keep you safe.”
Pulling back a little he brushed a silver strand of hair away form his daughter’s face. “Are there any grieving rituals or the like that might help? Anything else you need to get through this?”
“Oh, but see, I didn’t have a choice in the matter, I rather like darker areas, its not so hard on the eyes.” The forest elf half joked then sighed, letting herself be tugged into the embrace. She liked the feeling of not being the adult right then. To once again be a little girl comforted from the pains of the outside world by her father.
Shadow blinked at Ro, then buried her face against the sheet covering her knees and what sounded like a muffled sob escaped her until she looked up again, choked laughter coming from her in erratic spurts. Why! did she find that so funny? “There are, a few, but one consists of you giving me my mother’s dagger. I promise to be a good girl, blood is not involved what-so-ever.”
Ro was silent for a moment, studying the depths of Shadow’s eyes, and then he nodded. Reaching into his shirt he produced the dagger and held it out to her hilt first. “Alright, I’m going to trust you, but you have to give it back when you are done.”
Her eyes travelled over the twisted black ivory hilt, its silver accents and the lavender stones reflecting what light was in the room. Her fingers moved to the white feather still tied in her hair, the nimble digits releasing the knotted leather and let it fall to the bed. Shadow’s slender fingers wrapped around the dagger’s hilt, leaving her starring at it for a moment before she grasped her hair in one hand, placing the dagger behind the handful with the other.
“Im úuva nallan fae wanwa leitha, nan'im kirim findlea an le ikotane nayes i vanas bele en, imesse orë im nienor an le.” she recited in her native tongue, slicing through her thick hair and letting the locks fall to the bed. The chin length hair sprang towards her head like a spring that had been pulled taunt for too long.
“I hate my hair…” she muttered as her head became more and more dominated by banana curls.
“You have beautiful hair,” Ro said softly, stroking the shorn curls. He didn’t question the ritual. When the half-elf had emerged from Tenobrous his hair had been worn in traditional S’Hean style, long and wavy. Cutting it off had been a way of leaving the past behind and moving forward. “Now… do you think you can eat something? Best to try now before the flower wears off.”
“Food?” Shadow grunted out as the last of the strands fell and she shook her head, tight curls flying about her head. She felt like she’d just lost hundreds of pounds. But that was the case when it came to long hair…it was always so heavy, and adding Whispin’s gravity didn’t help much.
She shoved the mass out of her face, though a few unruly curls tumbled back into her face, leaving it rather obvious as to where Robin and a few of her other children’s unruly hair came from. “I guess I could if I had to. Though I’m not that hungry, technically it’s still a half hour or so until the Golden Morning.”
“You have to,” Ro nodded, moving off the bed to open the doors to the balcony and the table laden with dinner by light of Whispin's massive dual moons. “Besides… any time is a good time to eat. Golden Morning or no.” It was a D’Riel tradition… even for the adopted ones, apparently.
Shadow poked at a shorn lock of hair and sighed before shoving the covers away and staring down at herself. “I have blood on me, and no clothing,” she observed wryly, ignoring the fact that she was naked in front of her father she clambered out of the bed anyway and spun around.
“What did you do with my clothes? Damn it!” The Taurësúlë paused; snatching what she hoped was a robe and slipped it on when her suspicions were proved to be true. She ran her fingers nervously through her hair and padded after the S’Hean King, pausing at the door to eye the food as if it would jump up and bite her.
“You’re not going to drug me or anything again, are you?” she asked, approaching the table like some jungle cat expecting a trap. Slender fingers picked up a piece of cheese and popped the dairy product into her mouth, choking when Ro’s words sank in, “Dinner?” she gasped out, coughing as she did so. “When in the hell did it become dinner time?”
“Several hours after lunch time,” Ro grinned, “it usually does work that way. And no, I’m not going to drug you… as long as you behave.” The half-elf winked at his daughter and snagged a drumstick as he fell into a chair and kicked his feet up on another. “You were asleep for quite a long time.”
Pouring a glass of Mai’Tus he leaned forward and offered her some, waiting for a nod either way with the decanter held above the glass. “To ease your mind a bit… Robin is doing fine. Jaiden and the Horrors are taking very good care of her. Callan and An’Thaya were seeing to her, but it seems my sister went into labor,” his forehead creased with worry, “hopefully we will here something soon. Those two always seem to have to do everything the difficult way.” He glanced up at Shadow and grinned, “Seems to be a family trait… blood D’Riel or no.”
Shadow narrowed her eyes and nodded, watching as the purple liquid poured into the glass. “I don’t behave and you damn well know it.” She snapped and instantly regretted it, sinking into the chair across the table. She winced at the pain that shot through her side but ignored it other wise. A smile of relief flashed across her face, “Robin is a fighter, and she’s with two of the people she loves most.”
Idly she stared at her bandaged hand, turning it over to unwrap the white linen from the burnt copper digits. “I don’t remember doing that,” she murmured before pulling her thoughts back towards her father.
“That’s my fault, isn’t it…Selene’s Tears.” She shoved her fair hand; she didn’t seem to have a good hand, through the mass of curls in frustration. “We probably all get it from being around you.
"Which reminds me. I need to kill Argent. I‘d say I‘d kill you but I think Silverthorn would kill me and while the thought of going out with a fight is something I‘ve always dreamed of, I‘d rather die fighting someone that isn‘t needed, like that Ashev, than fighting a friend.”
“You can kill me later,” Ro nodded, rolling his eyes upwards and touching large fingers to his reddened forehead and bruised temple, “ I can’t imagine why you would blame me, being the peace loving, kind and benevolent King that I am.”
He paused to take a drink and ponder her words for a moment, “I would pay good money to watch you kill Ashev, high entertainment value there. Although, he has been fighting for your people all day, so that may put a damper on his death.”
The reminder of where his wife was had him touching on the wards, breaching them momentarily to check on her welfare. His expression darkened for the space of a heartbeat when he realized she was about to go into battle yet again, but said nothing, either to her, or Shadow. A smile was on his face when he looked up again, “They found Kegan, he is in the nursery with Cade and Kaiden now.”
The half-elf didn’t know how to tell her that Darien’s daughter hadn’t made it… so he didn’t, for now.
“Can’t imagine? Does the fact that you bodily dragged me from my home, man handled me into a damn bed then shoved a flower into my face so you could put me asleep and are forcing me to remain in this hell hole that I call a life, ring a bell? Or did I hit you too hard?” she retorted, temper rising swiftly as clear air, time and food began wearing on the frightening clarity that had come.
“I don’t really give a damn if he has been fighting for my people all day, that’s a minor detail,” she did appreciate it though but refused to think about it, “He’s there because Callan ordered him to be. Nothing else, just like the rest of them are. They don’t care!” Shoving out of her chair she stalked to the railing, planted her elbows on the architecture and dropped her head into her splayed fingers while trying to get a hold on her racing heart.
Spinning back around, she pointed a finger at the S’Hean King, “You weren’t suppose to be there, you weren’t suppose to know what was happening. You and Silverthorn, Callan and An’Thaya, none of you were suppose to know anything about it! I can’t get a damn thing from Gent because he has his memories on a loop and if I try to force my way through I just get a damn headache.
“Kegan?” the forest elf switched gears so fast that she almost made herself dizzy, “He’s all right? All three of them are all right?” Ranting switched into concern and she slid to the ground.
Letting her head fall forward for a moment a deep breath escaped her, “He’s really gone, isn’t he?” she asked, switching topics once again. “That’s how you knew what was happening? That’s why Cubby sent for you? He knew I’d give up, didn’t he?”
Watching someone you love fall apart is never easy, and Ro had been forced to do so more times than he cared to think about. It was strange, that someone who had been a destroyer of lives, hand spent so much time in the past few centuries patching them back together. Callused hands that had once dealt only pain and death were surprisingly capable of gently lifting up the broken and wounded. Ghetsuhm, Arianne, and others along the way, yet somehow, there was nothing worse than seeing it happen to your children. It seemed most of his were marred spiritually in some fashion and he was helpless to fix it.
Booted feet slid off the chair in front of him and he crossed over to where Shadow had slid to the ground. Wrapping an arm around her shoulders he kissed the top of her curly tressed head and hugged her tight.
“Aye… Desh’iel, he is really gone, and aye… Gent knew. How could he not? We love you too much to let you go. As I said, you can hate us for it as much as you want, but it doesn’t change our minds.”
“I’m just…” For a moment, she burrowed closer, like a child that had just woken up from a terrible nightmare. It was so easy to think that way, to let her mind fall back through time and be a little girl again. Too easy. But she really didn’t care. She didn’t care if it made her look weak; she just wanted everything to go away to stop.
Dark lashes swept down to cover teary eyes and she laid her head on Ro’s shoulder. Right then she was relieved that he was her father, even if it was by adoption, it didn’t matter. It was nice to have a parent to turn to. “So tired. I don’t want to give up, but I don’t want to go forward, does that make sense? I just…
“Why does it hurt so much? Why do they all die?” A wry chuckle escaped her, “I don’t hate you, Desh’ketai, at least not right now.”
“That is good to know,” Ro murmured with a smile. Settling down on the floor he held her close, for a moment automatically falling into a smooth rocking motion that every parent seemed to fall into when comforting their child. “You don’t have to go forward, not yet. It is safe here, I’ll take care of you until you are ready to face things on your own.”
Silence cloaked them for a moment, the roar of the waterfalls encroaching on their quiet little place. “There is an equal reaction for everything… the greater you love, the deeper it hurts when that love is gone. There is no rhyme or reason… things just happen, and we go on. You will go on, and there will be joy in life again someday. I promise.”
Sniffling she rubbed at her nose, turning it a bright red, "Ow" she murmured, forgetting about the burns before looking up at Ro. "What if there isn't?"
Ro smiled down at his daughter and wiped a tear away from her cheek; “I am going to tell you something that a very wise Taurësúlë told me once. Love can be a handicap that causes great pain, when you are with the person you love, or when you are a part. But like all handicaps, it makes you stronger. Sometimes the paths we take are the ones we do not want to choose because they are chosen for us. Shadow, Darien was a part of your tanaii, the path that you have chosen, but not part of your tanaii-ka, the path that is chosen for you.”
Emerald eyes were gentle as he tilted her chin up with one finger, “Do you remember that day in the woods when Ghet and I parted ways? You said something very similar to me that day, and you were right. My soul was stripped bare and I was certain, for a moment, that I would never see happiness again. You also said that I had found two people who loved me, and asked what made me think there wouldn’t be another? I was wrong, you were right.”
“You have the worst timing when it comes to reminding me of things that I say, do you know that?” Taking a deep breath she offered a smile, “Hantale. Now could you do something with this bubble mass I call a hand? Because it‘s really itching, and I‘m getting hungry and I figure it‘ll be good to get all of that done before I turn psychotic or something because my heart is doing the whole massif sharp pain and echoing thing that it did with Suriel and it just bloody well hurts.”
“Well I’m the King of Bad Timing,” Ro chuckled, taking Shadow’s hand in his and weaving the Aethyr through his fingers. The blisters and blackened skin reflected on his own flesh for a moment, then rapidly healed, leaving no evidence behind. “Now, back to the food, and I’ll have Fadil or Ash dig up one of those collars.” He kissed her hand and sighed, “I wish I could do something about the pain in your heart tittanya nosse fea, but only time will heal what the Aethyr cannot.”
Shadow wrinkled her nose at the thought of being collared, “I fight to keep my people from being collared with slavery, and fall into needing to be collared for safety. Now there’s irony.” Chuckling dryly she rose stiffly to her feet and offered a helping hand to the S’Hean King, bracing herself for the difference in size.
“Food, bath, collar, sleep; hopefully in that order because I stink. I mean really, I don’t think the Dandies would like a psychopathic stinky female in the palace, now maybe a pleasantly smelling psychopath they wouldn’t object to.”
Shadow padded back to the table and curled up in the chair, her legs pressed against the table as she leaned around her knees, snatching a piece of what looked to be chicken. “I wouldn’t want you to even if you could, Desh’ketai, it’s a pain and a scar that is mine to carry.”
“Now there is my girl,” Ro’s eyes lit up as he joined her at the table. It was going to be a long road ahead… but there was hope, he could see it in the depths of those forest green eyes. One day at a time.
Conversation had faded to companionable silence over the course of the meal, and afterwards Ro kicked his feet up on a chair, his head leaning on the knuckles of one hand, elbow propped on the table, wine glass held in the idle fingers of the half-elf’s free hand. His eyes slid shut for a moment in what seemed quiet contemplation before chestnut lashes lifted again and he smiled at Shadow.
“You are a Dara again,” he murmured, “Cal’Lanth came into the word safe and sound.” A brief sojourn through the wards had found An’Thaya sleeping comfortably and a brand new thread on the web. It had also found Silverthorn embroiled in battle on Arlsyn, but Ro forced himself to remain calm. His wife was more than a capable warrior; the humans pitted against her didn’t stand a chance.
A knock at the chamber doors brought the S’Hean King’s head up, “That would be one of the Rangers I suspect.” Rising, he gave Shadow’s hand a squeeze on the way by, disappearing inside.
“Your Majesty,” could be heard from the inner room, “I’ve brought this from Captain Elgerig, per your request.”
“Hantale, Ar’Tek,” Y’Roden’s rich baritone filled the chamber just before the click of the door announced the Ranger’s departure. When he reappeared, the half-elf held a square, relatively flat black box in his hands, which seem to have gone a little white around the knuckles.
Shadow smiled, a slight curl of her lips and nothing more, “Good.” She fell back into silence contemplating how quickly life followed on the heels of death. Life continued on, a thought that left the taste of bitterness in her mouth. It reminded her of defeat, the two tastes were so similar, so much the same and yet so far apart. For a moment tears threatened to spill down her cheeks. The world and everyone in it could go to hell in a hand basket and she wouldn’t care.
The knock on the door was a welcomed distraction.
Her head turned quickly towards the inner rooms, her stomach knotting and twisting until she thought she was sure if she stood it wouldn’t be straight. In silence she listened to the conversation, slowly pushing to her feet as she did so. She had just taken a step away from her chair when the King returned.
Forest green eyes fell to the box in her father’s hands, fear that bordered on terror flitted across her features. It was every Taurësúlë’s nightmare to be captured, trapped and collared. It left them feeling like a caged animal and Shadow was no different. She’d been there, she’d done that, and she didn’t want to go back, not matter what the cause.
“I promise I’ll be good?” It was a poor attempt at humor, an even poorer attempt to hide what she felt.
Y’Roden managed a watery smile and lifted his gaze to meet hers, emerald greens shadowed with emotion.
“I wish that was enough,” he said quietly, “all I’ve ever needed was your word on anything, and I’ve never doubted you. This is different though, Desh’iel. I know what it is like to lose your mind, and no matter your best intentions…”
He set the box on the table and lifted the lid, revealing the delicate silver collar inside. The front had a small panel of buttons set into a round disk, runes marking their surface in an odd pattern.
“If there was any other way, you know I would take it,” he said gently, “but even I am not equipped to handle an angry child of the gods.”
“I know, but…” She was backing away from him and she didn’t even realize it. “I’ve lost my mind once already, thank you very much and I don’t even remember for how long
.
“There is no way in hell I’m going to let that…thing,” she gestured towards the collar, “go around my neck without a fight, and you damn well know it! I may not be done with this life, but I’d rather die than to have something like that on again.”
“Shady,” his baritone was low, “it is just a piece of metal, and I will not let anything hurt you, not even you. You have to trust me, all right?” He made no move towards her or the collar, yet.
“Oh I trust you. But that thing? To you it might be a piece of metal, but where I come from it has a completely different meaning. No,” Shadow shook her head, “I’m sorry. I know what I said but no, I won’t do it. I can’t.”
With a sigh, Ro scrubbed at his face and ground his teeth. He hated having to do this… and the stray thought that it had never been this difficult to get a collar on Ghet… just wasn’t helping. “It is either willingly, or I get out the flower again.” For some reason this smacked of B’Roden’s bedtime routine.
“You wouldn’t da…” the words died on her lips, she didn’t like that look. That was the look of a parent getting exasperated with their child and wouldn’t hesitate in taking extreme measures to get done what ever it was needed to be done. She’d given that look countless of times…she’d received that look more times than she cared to remember. “You would…damn it. I don’t want to have anything to do with that flower again, I don’t like what it does.”
She had a choice, wear a piece of metal around her neck and get use to it until the danger had passed, or wake up feeling groggy and knowing that you shouldn’t be as happy as you were feeling. The collar was looking to be the lesser of the two evils.
“For how long.”
“Until you can say I’m not going to hurt myself, and I believe you,” the half-elf said gently, “I am hoping not very long. I don’t like this any more than you do.”
Shadow raised an eyebrow. “You’ve got to be joking. Remember me? Husband’s dead, I’ve been known to have a death wish, not to mention seeing just how far the whole ‘Sildanai saving my ass’ thing extends to, and you want me to get to a point where I say that I’m not going to hurt myself and you believe me?”
A look of exasperation crossed her face “Right. You need your head examined, I must have hit you too hard. Your brain has jarred loose, either that or you’ve lived in Utopia for too long.” Crossing her arms she planted her feet shoulder length a part. “No.” she repeated with a stubbornness that was more of desperation and a clinging to pride than anything else.
Ro gave a derisive snort, his patience coming to an abrupt end. Sometimes, talking to Shady was just that, talking to Shadows. There was something there; they just didn’t talk back… at least, not in a language that translated to him. Snagging the collar between callused fingers he stepped forward with a speed that belied his size, leaning in at an angle that bent his daughter neatly over his shoulder. With what sounded like a sigh, he heaved her up and strode back into the bedroom.
“Fine, we do it the hard way,” he muttered, tossing the Taurësúlë flat on her back, fortunately hitting the bed, and pinning her down with one thickly corded, muscular arm, and both knees. “Just remember that I love you,” he said to his struggling daughter, “and we’ll all be alright… except if you manage to kick me there.”
“Get off! Damn it!” She was beginning to hate S’Heans and Whispin, or was it just the gravity thing. It was probably the whole gravity thing, but it didn’t help her situation any. “Don’t tempt me!” She was trying though, while attempting to free one hand so she could slam a fist into her father’s jaw.
“I love you too,” Ro said calmly, then made the mistake of letting one of her hands go free. There was an impressive crack as Shadow clobbered him one in the jaw, and he made mental note to commend her right hook… later. For the moment, he was grateful that he hadn’t tried this before Shady had cut off her hair, the lack of locks made it much easier to get the collar around her neck and it slid home with an ominous click.
Shadow went deathly still, the near silent click sounding more like the slam of a prison door. “Are you happy now?” she snarled, forest green eyes darkening until they looked more like flakes of black slate. “Or do you want me to try and fry your ass to see if it still works.”
“No,” he said softly, “I’m not happy, just reassured.” Moving gingerly to the side he released his grip, “You can try, if it will make you feel better.”
Shadow scooted away, glaring angrily at Ro with a sense of betrayal that she knew she shouldn’t feel but did anyway. She glared down at her hand, flexing the copper digits for a moment before straightening them out. A spark ignited in the palm of her hand, pulsing along the lines that mapped the smooth callused hand. For a moment the fledgling flames acted as though they’d erupt towards the ceiling but died with in moments of sparking to life.
She slumped back, completely lost for a moment. “It’s gone…it was there and its gone…” Alone and empty were two words that would have been a vast understatement at the moment so she focused the feelings elsewhere and took another swing at Ro.
The half-elf worked his jaw for a moment, then turned the other cheek, so to speak. “Could you hit this side this time? Sort of even out the damage a bit?” A soft sigh expanded his chest, “hopefully, someday, you’ll forgive me for that. In the mean time, you are stuck with me, whether you like me or not.”
“It’s a love hate relationship right now,” Shadow crossed her arms, still glaring from her now kneeling position, “get used to it. Now would get the hell out. This might be your palace, but right now this room is my cell and this inmate would like a bath, or do you want to make sure I don’t drown myself.”
Her last flood of anger had swept away the remaining effects of the flower, and with it any sense of peace that had invaded. Once again, she didn’t want anything to do with life and anything wrapped up in it. Ro had taken away her weapons and left her with only one way to follow through on a promise made centuries ago. She’d just have to keep pushing buttons until someone snapped and took her life for her.
Scooting backwards, her feet hit the floor and she crossed her arms once again, “While you’re at it, you might want to bolt the balcony doors and strip the curtains and bed sheets, wouldn’t want me to throw myself onto the rocks or hang myself now would we? That would defeat the whole purpose of you and Gent working together. Have you planned the rest of my life out yet? Or are you waiting until Silverthorn gets here to hold your hand.”
Ro had a tendency to be rather unflappable, and it didn’t fail him now. He gestured towards the bathroom and smiled, “go ahead, take a bath. Leave the door open though, cause… yeah, I want to make sure you don’t drown yourself. As for the rest, I could probably use Thorn’s help, yes. Considering how long the average Elven lifespan is, that could take a great deal of planning.” His eyes traveled slowly across the draperies and bedclothes, apparently considering Shadow’s suggestions.
Shadow snorted, picked up the nearest object and threw it at her father. “Go to hell.” she half snarled, half growled and spun on her heel. Purposely slamming the door to the bathing room so hard that it bounced back open. She didn’t care, right then she simply wanted to fume and get the blood off of her to see what kind of damage had been done.
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