Date: Sun, 18 Dec 2005 10:04:20 -0800 (PST)
From: John Pepper <trissana@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
>
Subject: [DL-J] Sharing The Night Together (JP)
Late Night, Day 1
After finishing their mission of getting the Kataani healers to the
med center, Eliase and Ansel headed back to her apartment to try and
get some sleep. Khamorray reported that his and Ansel's apartment had,
regrettably, been the scene of one of the many skirmishes between the
Kataani landing forces and Hsina's handpicked defenders. The stone
walls were of course undamaged, but everything else was pretty much a
mess, the seadragon reported. Eliase's apartment, by contrast, was
undamaged.
Ansel tried to contact Menia to let the red dragon - and more
importantly her rider - know that he was okay. He hadn't talked to Bel
since just before he'd set out with Corwin's wing on their 'training
cruise,' more than 24 hours earlier. Since then they'd fought a war
and mourned many lost riders, dragons, and warrenfolk. He knew that
Bel wasn't among the lost, because he could sense Menia's presence; the
red dragon was just asleep and not therefore not able to answer him.
That told him at least that Bel had come through all of this as well.
He was too exhausted to search tonight, though. Between the fighting
and worries about Tara, all he wanted was a place to fall on his face
and sleep for a week.
The walk to Eliase's apartment was quiet, each rider deep in their
own thoughts. Eliase ushered Ansel into the apartment and she glanced
around. It was a small place, really only one big room. She moved
past the small table and went to sit on the edge of the bed. She kicked
off her shoes and stretched a bit, rubbing her shoulders as best as she
could.
"It's not much, but come on in," she offered to Ansel.
Ansel nodded wearily and looked around the small room. It was
typical for a seadragon apartment, very similar to his own. These were
usually of restricted size because of the need to build the human
quarters on a higher level than the dragon's. Thus, they tended to be
walled ledges more than anything else.
Like his, it had only one bed. "Thanks," he said, sitting down on
the floor and leaning back against the wall facing her. "I almost feel
guilty that we're not out there helping with...something."
Eliase nodded and reclined back on her bed. "Well I guess we can try
and get some sleep and then after that we can try and help out more."
Ansel nodded back and they yawned at the same time. Eliase laughed a
bit and took a moment to peek out on the ledge where their two dragons
were resting comfortably, snuggled together. Eliase yawned again and
within moments she was asleep.
The dreams came slowly at first. The warren under attack worse than
had really happened. Eliase was fighting alongside the others, but
they were losing ground. Eliase began to moan softly in her sleep. In
her dream everyone was dying around her. Corwin, Hsina, Tara and then
Ansel. She began to cry, sweat covered her body and she became tangled
in the sheets as she thrashed on her bed, in her dream fighting for her
life.
Ansel was only sleeping lightly. He was continually expecting to hear
the bad news from Khamorray...or hear the horrible scream from his
sister's queen before she vanished forever. He wished someone could
have told him something about her condition, anything...
He snapped awake at the sounds of someone crying, his fogged mind
telling him that the worst had happened. He sat bolt upright, and only
then realized it was Eliase. He got up and hurried over to her,
kneeling down by the bed.
"Eliase...are you ok?" he asked in a worried whisper, placing a hand
on her shoulder to try and wake her. "Eliase?? Wake up!" She'd been
so sick before, he hoped that he hadn't asked too much of her, dragging
her off to get those Kataani healers...
Eliase gasped and sat up in bed. With wide eyes she looked over at
Ansel. "Ansel..?" She threw her arms around him and began to cry again.
"Hey, it's all right," he told her, putting his arms around her as
well. "You must have been having a bad dream, that's all." He
continued to hold her, not sure of what to do next. "It's all right,"
he repeated.
It took a few minutes before Eliase began to calm. Then she sat back
and brushed her hand across her face. "It was so awful.." she
whispered. She glanced up at Ansel.
He nodded understandingly. "Well...there's been a lot of awful things
happening out there, so its no wonder people are having bad dreams
about them." He couldn't help thinking about the casualties in their
own wing, which had somehow come through mostly intact. But Gus and
her wing...he quickly pushed the thought out of his mind. If he
started thinking of Gus, and of all the friends of Alpha wing they'd
lost, Khamorray would pick up on his feelings and might unconsciously
pass them along to Riyanne...from which they'd surely reach Eliase, and
tha was all she needed.
*How is Riyanne holding up?* he asked Khamorray, wondering if the
seadragon could provide any reassuring thoughts.
Khamorray opened his eyes. <Hey, how are you feeling?> he asked,
nudging her.
Ryianne looked at Khamorray before snuggling closer to the other sea
dragon. {Eliase is scared. She is having a hard time sleeping, and so
am I. Do you think your rider could do something to comfort her? That
might help her sleep.}
<I guess he is trying to do that,> Khamorray told her. <He's not real
good at things like that, you know. Um, what do you think would help?>
Ryianne thought for a moment. {Well maybe if they snuggle? I mean it
makes me feel better to be snuggling with you. So maybe it'll work for
them too.}
Khamorray passed that suggestion on somewhat dubiously, knowing that
his rider was not as accomplished a snuggler as he himself was. Ansel
was surprised to get that sort of advice from Khamorray, but it did
seem to fit. He put an arm around Eliase and drew her against him.
"It will be all right," he said to her again.
Eliase pressed to Ansel, trembling slightly. After a while her
trembling stopped. "Thank you," she whispered softly. Ansel nodded
and started to remove his arm, but Eliase held him close.
"Please stay," she whispered.
"Okay," he said, making no further move but keeping his arm where it
was, protectively around her. He hoped he was doing this right...he
was afraid that when it came to things like this, he was pretty inept.
"It's...it's okay now," he tried to reassure her. He only hoped he was
telling the truth.
Eliase relaxed against Ansel. She was exhausted, but afraid to go
back to sleep. She reached to pull the blanket up around herself and
rested her head against Ansel's chest. "Ansel," she said softly. "Did
you want to kiss me? Back on the beach?" She tilted her head slightly
to look up at his face.
Ansel blinked in surprise. "I...heh, I guess I did," he said with an
embarrassed smile. "After all that's gone on, it's hard to believe
that we were having so much fun just a few hours ago!" He wondered
when things could be that way again.
<Well, maybe now?> Khamorray asked. He looked at Ryianne. <What
does your rider think, does she want him to...?> he asked suggestively.
Ryianne snuggled closer to Khamorray. {I don't think she would have
brought it up if she didn't want him to. She is scared. I think she
is just looking for something to distract her, make her not so scared.}
Khamorray nodded. <We both think it would be a good idea,> he decided.
<It would make her feel better, and probably wouldn't hurt you too
much either.>
Ansel smiled at his dragon's typically weird choice of words. He
slowly moved his head down and nervously brushed his lips across hers.
Eliase smiled a bit as she felt his lips on hers. She snaked her
arms around Ansel and pressed her lips to his, her tongue tentatively
tasting him. She smiled again as she felt Ansel stiffen slightly. "You
are nervous," she whispered against his lips.
"Um...well...aren't you?" he asked in surprise, his words cut off as
her lips met his. His first instinct was to pull away, but he didn't.
He instead leaned into her a bit more.
Eliase let her kiss deepen some. She brushed away any thoughts of
Ansel being with another woman. In that moment the world was just her,
and him. Her arm tightened around him as she let the kiss go. She
leaned her head back a bit and looked up into Ansel's eyes. "How
many.....women have you been with?"
Ansel hardly knew how to answer that one. He'd wanted Bel to be his
mate, and had once asked her.but she'd been unsure of what to do,
probably because she was still technically mated to Ce'lot. He'd
comforted and supported her - much as he was doing tonight for Eliase -
but she hadn't been ready for complete intimacy. He knew she liked him
and cared about him, and of course Khamorray and Menia had gotten on
great together - but he wasn't sure exactly where he fit into her life.
Just as he wasn't sure where he fit with Eliase right now.
"Um.well.I.not really." he stammered, realizing only after he'd said
it that it didn't answer her question and didn't really even make a
whole lot of sense. He must be more exhausted than he'd thought. "I
guess I'm not.much of a warren-type," he said, thinking of the
landbound view of the stereotypical dragonrider, flitting from
relationship to relationship on almost a daily basis.
"So does that mean only one, or only three?" She smiled a bit trying
to lighten his nervousness. Ansel started to answer her, but Eliase
pressed a kiss to his lips before he could say anything else. "You
know what, I don't care," she whispered against his lips. "I guess the
most important question is do you want to be with me?"
"I...well...yes," Ansel said hesitantly. He and Eliase had literally
spent the Day From Hell together, been through a war, hopefully saved
some lives while watching others be lost...how could he *not* want to
be with her? He wanted to be with Bel, too, but he didn't know what
her situation was right now...other than the fact that Menia's being
asleep indicated she was safe within the warren. Eliase, on the other
hand, was right here and she clearly needed him. He was too tired to
sort out his scattered thoughts and feelings tonight. That would come
with the morning, and he gently put his arms around Eliase and drew her
to him, to protect her from the night's terrors.
Submitted by:
Rachel (Eliase and Ryianne)
and
John (Ansel and Khamorray)
Jasra Warren
Summary: Late Night, Day 1: After bringing the Kataani healers, Ansel
is unable to contact the sleeping Menia to let Bel know he is safe and,
with some hesitation, accepts Eliase's offer to stay at her apartment.
Knowing that Eliase is feeling shaken after all she's been through, he
stays the night to comfort her.
|
