Who

Willimina, Tallel,Javid, Aztrexia, NPC Jezka

What

Willimina and Tallel reunite and some of the world is right again, some, not so much

Very Adult Content, nudity, mentions and allusions to rape, talk of death

When

Just days after A Daring Rescue

Where

Keroon Sea Hold

OOC Date 05 Jul 2017 06:00

 

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"I want them dead Tallel… All of them."


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Keroon Sea Hold

Gone are the sands and swamps following the Igen River down to the sea, once that expanse of water is crossed and left behind. Eastward and southward winds the road to the sapphire sea and pale bluffs of Keroon Sea Hold. Though by no means the largest of Pern’s sea holds, Keroon is quite old, and it shows in the stately, worn walls and caves of the Hold proper. A wide, sand-scoured courtyard surrounded by palms and arched ramparts opens up behind the columned and domed lighthouse tower on the southernmost palisade. The remainder of the Hold unfolds downward, into and behind the bluffs, and the dock cavern for the a portion of Keroon’s fishing fleet yawns darkly below, no matter the height of the tide.


It's been a rough couple of days for Willimina, still recovering from her ordeal and dealing with having to travel with the bitch who helped kidnap her. Willimina has entertained all manner of ways to kill the raven-haired Aztrexia, who rides bound and drugged with Javid's adept. Willimina herself rides with Javid. She hasn't said much the last few days either, she just spent her time thinking of ways to make all who dared help with this pay. And beyond riding with Javid, she hasn't let anyone touch her. She's still trying to sort through the few memories she has of her kidnapping, trying in vain to remember what had happened to her. Not knowing is something that drives her a little more than mad. And then there's the feeling of just wanting to be home, to be with her children and husband and know that everyone is alright. As of this moment, she dozes lightly in the saddle, head leaned lightly against Javid's back.

Communications happened in a flurry once Javid and Jezka found Willimina. The spymaster had informed Tallel first, of course, followed shortly by Timotin and Ethelinda. It didn’t take very long at all for questions from the mother clan’s guard captain and various of his adepts to come along. Twilight and Dusk had been kept very busy at every stop along their route - the straightest practical path toward Keroon Sea Hold that Javid could navigate for them. Though it could be worse, Willimina’s state troubles him, and he would see her reunited with her family as soon as possible, Tallel in particular. At least she feels safe enough with him to avail herself of his back so that she can sleep. It may be a small reassurance, but he’ll take it.

Rukbat climbs steadily higher in the afternoon sky, glittering brilliantly upon the ocean waves in the distance. Shielding his eyes, the spymaster tugs lightly on the reins to slow them a bit, allowing himself to gain a better lay of the land. The hold itself sits as a pale sentinel upon the palisades in the distance, the dome of its lighthouse glinting a muted copper against the sea. The land between there and where they are is quite rocky, though rolling and shaded here and there with copses of palms. And bridging the gap between two of those, just under a league away, he spies the arcs of a wagon circle, a faint plume of smoke rising lazily from its midst to bend and evanesce in the breeze above the trees.

“Willimina,” the spymaster rumbles, gently shrugging broad shoulders to help rouse her. “We’re close now.” Close enough that gallop could bring them there in very little time.

It’s been a sleepless night for Tallel, mostly spent wrestling over the notion of “an eye for an eye” and what exactly that means under the present circumstances. Even more, does he truly believe in it? The wrestling match within his mind and heart has gone on from sunset to sunrise and then some. Were he truly a cruel man, he would have simply let Exsuss die. Instead, he drugged the old wretch with fellis and reset his broken fingers, binding them in splints before checking the cracked ribs and laying him out in a way that would allow him to breathe easier. He checked to make certain Versai was breathing and little else. Brienne, he bound and gagged and made sit with the others.

Two elongated stone mounds exist past the edge of the camp now, the result of his resolve to bury Argus and the adept that had fallen to Shurga’s kicking. Mostly mindless work that it was, he’d done much of his thinking during that time. With no one to keep watch, he dared not sleep, not that he could have. At least there was food to be found. Now he waits, his headscarf stripped away and his face and arms cleansed of the dust and sweat that he’d found so pointedly streaking his skin from the night before. The three Elders remain bound and gagged as he peers off in the directions allies should be approaching from. He has to remind himself it will be some time yet, though he suspects his first signs will come from the west - the Kheeriin, having left not long after he found himself on Keroon’s borders.

His gaze rests in that direction for a time, also watching for any sign of the two runners bearing two people each that ought to be coming from the direction of the river. It can’t be soon enough.

Willimina is slow to rise, the fog of sleep wanting to keep her under its spell. But she lifts her head, blinking furiously against the light and the blurriness in her vision. Wisps of hair are tucked out of her face as she looks around at their surroundings. The sight of the camp and knowing that Tallel is within its circle has Willimina's mood lifting a bit. “How long?” she asks quietly, arms adjusting to Javid's sides in case they take off.

It's a good thing they found a way to secure Trexa to the runner because she would have fallen by now had they not. She's been in and out of consciousness for Faranth knows how long. She certainly doesn't. Faint memories of terrifying happenings in the swamps haunt her when she is awake, leaving her to wonder what was truth and what was made up by her drug addled mind. For now, she's just coming to consciousness again, and she groans, eyes opening to the glaring light. “Where are we?” She croaks, throat as dry as Igen's desert.

Javid doesn’t take them off at a gallop, of course, instead un-slinging his waterskin and passing it back to his caravan leader. “It depends on how fast you’d like to go,” he replies. “A candlemark walking, half that at a trot… We can manage a slow gallop with two of us and be there in about twenty minutes, if we get onto the path there.” He gestures with a dust-coated hand to the faint trail of worn earth that serves as a rough road, the main thoroughfare being some distance off from where they are. This isn’t a highly-traversed area, which is likely why the Elders chose it.

The sound of Aztrexia’s voice turns his head, and he glances over to Jezka, a motion with his chin silently indicating that she should give the traitor-spy something to drink. “We are at the end, Aztrexia,” he drawls in answer. “The Elders’ camp at Keroon Sea Hold, which is rather empty, I’m afraid. Though it should make things go quickly, for you and the rest.” Sharp amber eyes settle keenly upon her, significant in their weight. He had said she would come to no harm by the Elders’ hands, and he means to remember that promise.

Willimina accepts the waterskin gratefully, slowly taking down a large drink of it. She sends a murderous look Aztrexia's way, a sickly sweet smile forming on her lips when Javid speaks of it being the end. Oh yes. The end is very near. There has only been once in Willimina's life that she ever felt so murderous, it had been Tallel that brought her back to herself, this time she is not sure even he will stay her hand. “Your mounts have been pushed enough, and with double the weight. Let's not tax them, but don't dawdle either.” Regina has been glued to Willimina's shoulder since she was found, now, Willa balances herself carefully in the saddle and pries the gold from her place. The little queen gives a creel of protest and Willa soothes her before sending her off with a short note to Tallel. I’m coming, almost home.

Aztrexia cowers from the look Willimina sends her way and accepts the water given to her. She's basically accepted her fate at this point. As long as Javid keeps her from the Elders, she'll take whatever punishment is given. Saving death. That might prompt an escape plan. She's hoping Willimina and Tallel are as merciful as Javid presented to be, despite the severity of her crimes. She remains silent for now, eyes blearily looking out towards Keroon.

Trotting it is! Javid gives a nod and spurs his mount forward at a quicker clip once Willimina is finished with Regina. Questions of who deserves what can wait for when they arrive and their allies come to bolster them. The priority right now is reuniting his caravan leaders.

The moment Tallel sees Regina, his heart leaps painfully in his chest, the note he reads keeping his pulse quickened. Every fiber of his being screams at him to mount Shurga and meet them along the way, but there would be no one to guard his captives if he did that. So for now he must wait, facing west and watching them grow steadily closer and closer until his wife is no longer beyond his reach and protection.

With each hoofbeat Willimina’s heart swells, her eagerness to be there vibrating through her very soul. When they hit the edge of the camp, Willimina slides from the back of the runner, and hits the ground looking for Tallel. When she spots him she heads for him at a dead run, nothing more on her mind than to be in on his arms.

Aztrexia remains silent and still in the saddle, not eager to bring attention to herself, even if her bladder is screaming for release. She doesn't dare speak a word. Watching Willimina run for her husband has the young adept puzzled, never having understood that kind of ‘blind’ devotion in another.

Tallel can’t help but pace like a restless feline as he watches the two runners approach. It seems to take them forever to arrive, even when in reality it’s only around twenty minutes. It’s the longest twenty minutes of his life. He forgets to breathe when he sees Willimina slide from the saddle, his legs moving with minds of their own and the resulting run soon making his lungs demand air once more.

They collide but find stillness in the resulting embrace, his arms wrapping around her so tightly that it’s as though he means to pull her into himself. He buries his face in the wild mass of her hair, so familiar and missed, breathing her in with ragged gasps as tears break free to flow down his cheeks and become absorbed in it. “My love, my love…” he murmurs hoarsely against her neck, his tone nearly choked. “Never again, saikhan. You are mine and I am yours, and nothing will ever take us from one another. Ever!”

Javid dismounts as well, quiet as he crosses to Jezka and Aztrexia and relieved that his leaders are finally reunited. “Come,” he tells the traitorous adept, gripping the bindings upon her wrists to steady her dismount. He instructs Jezka to go keep watch over Tallel’s captives for as long as necessary, then pulls Aztrexia off toward a nearby stand of palms, knowing full well what she needs to do. It’s a scene they’ve played out to familiarity at this point.

Only once she feels Tallel's arms around her does Willimina let down some of the carefully erected walls she'd placed. She clings to him as if she can't quite believe he is real, and that she is finally where she belongs. She weeps, slightly frailer frame trembling with the depth of her sobs. She can afford to lose her strength now, to let down the wall and give in to the tears that have been threatening for days now. And she doesn't care who sees her come undone at this point. She'll deal with that later. “Never…” She repeats finally, drinking in a large calming breath.

All too eager to be away from the two leaders, and happy to relieve herself, Trexa follows Javid placidly to where she can do so. While in the midst she looks up at Javid, half attempting some humor. “Aren't you tired of watching me pee yet?” She gives half a smirk, still a bit foggy and giddy from whatever Javid has been knocking her out with. “I'm not going anywhere…”

“That is beside the point,” Javid replies, arms folded as he gazes up at the swaying palm fronds above them. “And it’s not as though I’m staring at you while you do.” He lapses into thought quickly after that, however. Soon enough, he’s going to have to figure out what angle to approach the subject of his captive from with Willimina and Tallel. Carefully is a given…and perhaps appealing to Tallel’s dislike of death to help avoid causing more than necessary in the end.

Tallel holds his wife all the more tightly as she weeps, the flow of tears from his own eyes never ceasing even though he doesn’t fall to sobbing himself. He’d spent all of that on his ride across the leagues to get here. Once they’ve both steadied enough to breathe evenly, he pulls back to kiss her with all his heart, every ounce of love and possessiveness and protective fire he can muster poured into that deep-forged connection. “Are you hurt, min khair?” he asks urgently, tawny eyes burning with too many emotions and thoughts to track as they hold hers.

“That as it may be, I'd figure you'd be bored with it by now.” Aztrexia finishes up her business and stands, doing up her pants as best she can. She catches sight of Willimina and Tallel's embrace, an eyebrow quirking up and fear skirting across her face. She comes to stand next to Javid. “She wants me dead you know. I can see it in her eyes. You may keep the Elders from getting me, but you might not be able to stop her.” her tone is solemn now, no trace of humour. She staggers a bit, head swimming. Perhaps she'd stood too quickly.

Willimina returns Tallel's kiss, yet, while the love she has for him burns bright as Rukbat's rays, she is reserved, even a bit stiff in her return. She looks up at Tallel, chocolate-hued orbs confused and shattered like a broken mirror. “I..” she starts, “I have a knot on the back of my head, and they kept me drugged until they hid me…I-I can't remember everything that happened…” Heartache sweeps across the young leader's face, and a healthy dose of fear. “I was kept in the dark and silence otherwise.”

Javid grasps Aztrexia’s collar to steady her, watching Willimina and Tallel for a moment. “Your best hope is that Tallel’s reason will prevail,” he says, his voice a low rumble. “I can only add what facts I’m able. They will do with them what they will.” And he will not argue whatever decision they reach.

Tallel can feel the reserve in Willimina’s return of his kiss and is shocked by it, the burning in his eyes taking on a decidedly enraged edge when the possibilities stemming from her reply flash through his mind. Deft fingers gently feel out the knot she speaks of even as he continues studying her eyes. “Come with me, saikhan,” he says, and starts to lead her toward one of the wagons. “I need to make certain you’re alright. With a Healer’s eyes.” Which means he must force himself to look without the hazed vision of an emotional husband, just for a bit.

Aztrexia heaves a heavy sigh and nods at Javid's words. “What is to be, is to be. I made my bed, now I lay in it.” Aztrexia turns her eyes towards Javid. “I don't envy the ones who actually touched her.” She hadn't seen any other hostages when Javid and company had returned.

Willimina sucks in a hissing breath as Tallel's finger hits the knot at the back of her head. She nods when he asks her to come with him,eyes looking around the immediate area for the first time. Her eyes darken when they pass Aztrexia, and deaden to ice when they land on the captured elders. However, she follows in Tallel's wake rather than spew the bile she feels for these treacherous letches as loudly as she can.

“They’re dead,” Javid informs Aztrexia flatly, taking hold of her wrists again and leading her further into the camp. Stopping in the shade of still more palms, he gestures for her to sit on a crate that happens to be sitting there, then proceeds to bind her feet as he always has when they’ve stopped. Then a firelizard appears to demand his attention, the note it bears pulling the spymaster’s attention northward momentarily. A quiet nod, and he scrawls a quick note back, sending it on its way before turning to confer with Jezka for a moment.

Tallel completely ignores the bound and gagged Elders he’s left sitting outside under Javid and Jezka’s care, having had far more than his fill of their hateful faces already. The wagon he leads Willimina into is cool and quiet, the air carrying a very familiar scent that closely resembles their yurt after he’s been mixing medicines. That is precisely what lines one wall in abundance, all manner of medical needs provided for in a space that seems almost incongruously comforting in such a conflicted camp. Tallel breathes deep as he shuts the door and latches it, leaning on it heavily. Despite all he’s done and witnessed and let his heart bleed for over the past sevendays, the Healer in him remains, flickering like a guiding candle in the shadow. He straightens and turns, makes the space his with a glance. Then he takes Willimina’s hands and guides her toward a cot.

“I need to look at you, my love,” he tells her quietly, gently stroking her knuckles with his thumbs. “All of you.” There is an ache that comes from asking her out of necessity - and what it could reveal - rather than out of the intent to love all of her hurt away, and tears spring to his eyes again. He does his best to hold them at bay, to fight them back to where they need to wait while he examines her. Trying to summon up a reassuring smile, for he hopes with all his might to find nothing further wrong, he gives her a nod and glances toward the cot, then back to her.

Aztrexia had expected as much. She swallows and sits and let's out an impatient huff when her feet are bound. Had she not said she wasn't going anywhere? However, it seems she may have to deal with it, since Javid becomes engrossed in conversation with Jezka. At least he hadn't sat her with the Elders.

Willimina is a bit happier once the door to the wagon is shut, it's bright enough within that she feels no sense of claustrophobia or anything. She nods most mechanically, slipping back a bit to slip out of her road worn clothing, the dancers outfit she'd been abducted in. Thankfully it had been long of sleeve and leg. It doesn't take long for her to strip, and there are bruises,most from travel, some over neck and shoulders from the clocks to her head. Weight is missing from her curvy frame and she has bags beneath her eyes, dark circles that speak of lack of nutrients and restful sleep. She remains standing however, eyes searching Tallel's for… something, afraid somehow she'll see her worst fears come to light on his face.

While Willimina strips down, Tallel takes the time to pull the weaponry he’s been wearing free of his back and belt. Sun and wind have darkened places his skin in places around them, so long has he worn them without much removal. He goes to a basin and washes lingering dust from his arms and face, suddenly looking as though a dragon’s weight has been removed from his shoulders. Turning back to her, he draws a deep breath, letting it out slowly as he comes closer to inspect the bruises more clearly.

His fingertips move gently over her skin as he looks her over. “You need…a good, full meal cooked over our fire at home,” he observes, a certain longing for the same for himself evident in his tone. “I think Lillia may want to make it for you…” And Faranth, he misses their children, too, as he’s certain she does. “And restful sleep,” he murmurs, his hands coming up to cup her face and his thumbs carefully pulling below her eyes so that he can look into them, assessing. “The bumps and bruises are what I’d expect from being tied up on runner-back…and jostled around being put on and off and into a dark hole…” He scowls as he says it, the expression fading only with the reminder that those who did it to her are dead now.

“I just need to make sure that they didn’t…” He doesn’t even want to invite the possibility further by saying it, swallowing hard as he looks earnestly into her eyes. “Lay down, saikhan.

Willimina stands still as a statue as Tallel looks her over, occasionally wincing if a spot is particularly tender, but nothing hurts too horribly. She swallows, eyes going a bit blank when Tallel mentions her prison. Mention of her children has Willimina filled with such a painful longing that it nearly breaks her composure. She misses her children, has an acute need to touch and hold them and see for herself that they are whole and safe. “How far out are they?” She asks, voice soft and for Tallel's ears only. And then he needs her to lay down, to make sure… she doesn't even want to think it. Nodding, one silent tear dripping down her cheek, Willimina walks to the cot, hand swiping the moisture from her face. She lays down with a shuddering sigh and stares at the ceiling above. Desperately she hopes there is nothing to see… nothing to find, because if Tallel does find something, she might break and never heal.

“They’ll be here tomorrow,” Tallel manages, his throat thick with his own heartache. “They’ve been with Timo the whole time.” Which doesn’t change the fact that they both still need to have their children in their arms, but at least assures their safety. As Willa lays down, he feels himself bracing inside, all that’s within him clinging desperately to the glowing sphere of hope that resides in very core of his being. How treacherously thin are the bindings that hold them both together in this moment, ready to strengthen or snap based on what he finds.

Tallel looks first, guiding her legs to where he needs them for her to do so. He’s completely silent save for his breathing as he works, thorough and slow, touching gently just to make certain he’s looking everywhere. Then he shifts, dipping into a pot of warm, neutral oil, whispering for her to tell him if anything he does hurts. Where he cannot see, he must venture by touch, and takes his time about it, so much so that he feels as though he loses track. But he can be no less than thorough, all the while gentle and careful…

But finally, he finishes, wiping his hands clean of oil and guiding her back to laying out straight. He kneels beside her on the floor beside the cot, the tears coming free of his eyes again…but a smile quivering upon his lips as he clasps her hand in both of his. “Nothing,” he whispers. “There’s nothing, saikhan. You’re sound…” He bows forward, his forehead upon her chest as he allows himself to weep his relief. The hope inside him roots and blossoms, and strength takes hold again. There’s nothing to break him anymore.

Willa is tense throughout the whole examination, but hope lifts with the fact that nothing in those areas hurt, nothing. She knows she's sound before Tallel speaks, but hearing the words means so much more than she can express at this point in time. As Tallel weeps with relief, visible and physical relief noticeably flows through Willimina's frame and she holds Tallel close, much of her physical guard dropping. Of all the things that could have happened, the two worst did not, it's something she's eternally grateful for. “I should have left Javid or Timo in charge, I should have come with you, we all should have gone with you…” She begins, meaning herself and the children. “I'm so sorry my love. I'm so sorry I was so stubborn, that even though we knew what they were up to, I chose to stay.” The words come out in a rush. As much as Willimina places blame on the Elders, she blames herself for her situation. “They took me right from camp… .right from the center of everything…I still don't understand how…I'm so sorry…” Willa bursts into fresh sobs, hands lifting to cover her face, to hide her shame.

“No, Willa…no.” Tallel lifts his head, shaking it, and then moves in his entirety, much of the familiar fluid strength that normally infuses his movements having returned. He comes to the cot, gathering her against his chest as he turns to sit, holding her in his lap. Spying a nearby blanket even with bleary eyes, he plucks it up and pulls it around her, embracing her beneath it. “I had to be much faster than we all could have gone, or I might not have made it in time,” he reasons, his voice gravelly with emotion. “We couldn’t put the life of the caravan on hold; you were trying to be strong for them. Javid said you were drugged, and most all the guards, too…” The main explanation for how she ended up taken.

“We can’t change any of it, my love,” he tells her, stroking her hair, “but none of this has been your fault. They began it, carried it on. We end it. We’re together now, and we’ve won. We’re stronger than they could ever be, together…and because our people are with us.” He holds her quietly for long moments, his forehead against her temple soothing. “Saikhan,” he murmurs at last, gently pulling at her hands. “Look at me. See me now, my love.”

Willimina is malleable in Tallel's arms, grateful for the warmth of the blanket he pulls over her. So much… too much, had happened. Willimina feels spent and broken, tired and world-weary. And yet, a rage burns within her, just waiting for it's time to strike out, to engulf and destroy those who dared do this to her, to those who have broken her spirit, her trust in the world around her. Though Tallel speaks calmly, Willimina can feel hysteria lingering at the edges of her mind.

So many emotions run rampant through Willa that she almost can't breathe through the rush of them. But she swallows and lowers her hands, raising tear reddened chocolate eyes to meet the tawny depths of those belonging to the man she loves most in this world.

Something within Willimina steels itself, hardens in the depths of her eyes to an icy determination, yet the fire of her rage, and her fear, burns there brightly. “I want them dead Tallel… all of them.” Willimina shivers, she doesn't ever want the possibility of any of the scum without kidnapping her again, or worse, one of the children.

Once Willimina’s hands come down, the one Tallel has free comes to rest against her cheek. But in the wake of her reply, he doesn’t speak right away, instead studying the deep, rich brown of her eyes, what is locked in ice within them and what burns. His heart aches for what he sees there that he never imagined seeing…yet he knows the same can be found in his own. His weariness, the hatred that’s been dragged up painfully from his depths, the cruelty he’s delved into, blood and injury and death caused because of his actions when he’d only ever meant for healing and life to be given by his hands… All of it is worn easily before his wife, raw and painful.

But he knows what is important.

After a time, he nods, the motion subtle and resigned. “Exsuss and Versai should,” he agrees, handsome features drawn and hurt. “Argus already is. Brienne is a sheep. But Willa…” His gaze is earnest now, pleading, slow tears building again and refreshing the wet tracks down his cheeks. “You and I…we need to take now, and be us until the morning. Everyone is coming to us, with more to be judged in tow, and we need to let them see us together, and strong. Whole with one another, not…these broken things that are half-ready to jump at shadows. It’s what they wanted us to become, but we’ve overcome them. And we need to fight away the damage they’ve left us with. For the Zingari, for our children, for each other, my love.” And at the moment, they’re both so shaken that they’re not going to present any sort of strength and good judgment very well for very long.

“We need food, and sleep,” he tells her, setting his forehead against hers once more. “We’re useless right now. We need clear heads. And I don’t want to think about anything more except you until we absolutely have to.”

A bit of shock registers on Willimina's face when Tallel half agrees with her, she'd half expected him to try and talk her out of it. She looks pleased at news of Argus’ death, less pleased that she must wait to pass down the righteous judgements that fight for dominance in the recesses of her mind. But, she sees the truth and wisdom in her husband's words, knows the truth of them all too well. It hurts her to see the rawness of his emotional state, to see her level-headed healer with tears in his eyes.

Willimina sighs and shifts to lay her head on Tallel's shoulder, curling into his frame like a child needing the comfort of its parent. One thing that helps her convince herself to wait is the fact that she really doesn't want to give up being in Tallel's arms just now. “Can we sleep first?” She finally asks, weariness present in her tone.

Tallel may still try to talk Willa out of a thing or two, but everything is catching up with him now, and his own need for sleep is something he feels down to his bones. “Yes, saikhan,” he answers quietly, both arms folding around her again. “We should.” He shifts a bit, as though he means to stretch out with her on the cot, but pause briefly. “Do you want something else to wear?” he ventures, not that he cares whether or not she’s clothed right now…but she might. “I…grabbed something from my mother’s wagon before I left. I’m not sure why I thought to, but I did.”

Willimina is relieved, sleep was something she'd had precious little of lately and it tugs at the corners of her mind. Tallel's pause only has Willimina cling to him tightly, mass of curls bouncing lightly as she shakes her head. The blanket is enough for now, now that she feels less violated than when she'd arrived, and it's her husband here, not anyone else. She trusts Tallel. But one thing, one thing swims up through the depths of her mind to taunt her. Aztrexia is without. With Javid… but still. “I'm fine my love…” she begins, “But….” Willimina trails her last, as if her request might garner refute.

“But…” Tallel echoes, unmoving as he urges Willa to go on.

“Keep a dagger close…”


Considering how close his daggers are, that isn’t hard, and hopefully enough reassurance for Willimina when he points them out. That done, Tallel shrugs out of his vest and sets it aside, then decides to strip fully himself before slipping under the blanket with his wife. He tangles them together, intimate in the press of skin against skin and the embrace of bodies in full, further reassurance and steadiness gained as they lie together in such a state. Sleep falls heavily and swiftly within moments of stretching out, carrying him effortlessly through candlemarks until it simply seems right to wake once more. Even then, he doesn’t open his eyes right away, letting all his other senses fill with her to let him know she’s finally there with him again.

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