Be Still

[Elyna]

67th Ashan – Early Hours

They hadn’t intended for it to be another late night, so they’d retired to bed as soon as Malcolm had finished making his preparations for the journey. They hadn’t had much sleep either, despite the fact that the Warden would have a long day ahead of him, and a night under canvas to look forward to. Malcolm planned to be back long before their baby was due, but who knew where the road would take him? Unlike her lover, even exhausted, Elyna did not sleep. Instead, she lay awake and listened to the sound of her breath in the dark, watching the steady rise and fall of his chest. Her nose pressed to his back when he turned away, and his arm wrapped around her waist when he rolled back and held her tight against his body. As though, in sleep, he was afraid to let her go.
She wondered if he worried about Vakhanor? If he thought that the moment he walked out the door, she would betray him? Surely it was the treatment he had received before, and she was disgusted with her own behaviour. The young woman wished that she could go with him, but it wasn’t practical. She wished that she had the courage to ask who would be accompanying his band of Knights. Ben, Kathryn and possibly Zedarius she’d heard at the barracks. What about Violet Warrick? What about the woman he’d made love to, in a cold and lonely night on the mountains? Unable to lie still any longer, Elyna rose from the bed. She pulled a loose sweatshirt of the mortalborn’s over her sleeping shirt and slid her feet into a warm pair of socks before padding through the rooms. She peered in at Elsie, who was snoring. Vara should have been asleep downstairs, but she had curled up, nose to tail outside the baby’s room. The puppy lifted her head before following Elyna down the steps, eager to be let out and explore the garden.
It was still dark outside as she remade the fire and set water to boil for tea. Then she cleaned, scrubbing the kitchen work surfaces with her sleeves rolled up. This was too like the other departures the man had made. Would he be coming back in a casket this time? Would she lose him again? Her thoughts made her still, hands on the kitchen sink as she stared out of the window at the first touches of grey light. It was time for him to wake. Elyna returned up the stairs, one heavy step at a time. She crossed to the bedside and bent to kiss the exposed skin of his shoulder.
“Mal,” she whispered, “Mal it’s time to wake…”

[Malcolm]

He smelled of soap, wolf hide, and her. Malcolm had not dressed, but slipped into sleep moments after whispering goodnight to his lover, and to wake to her voice, well, he did count himself a lucky man indeed.
The warden turned on the bed, blankets pulled and moon bathed skin revealed as he twisted to put his arms around her. He was careful, and coaxed Elyna onto the bed with a warm kiss.
“I dreamed of you,” he smiled, and bestowed another kiss.
Was it already time to wake, he felt as if he had scarcely slept.
Malcolm turned to look at the curtains and could see the crosshatched window frames through the soft fabric, painted grey in the morning light. A discontent sound rolled in the back of his throat and he propped himself up on his elbow, if just to look at her a while.
Scooping up the woman's hands, Malcolm appeared intent on kissing every knuckle, and did not cease until he had counted all ten. Finally he touched his hand to her belly, moving it under the knitted jumper to smooth it over the fabric of her night-dress. He was concerned, but did not utter a word, not wanting to frighten her.
“Promise me,” he said, “that you will take it easy until I am home. I want to be here for you, I want to be first hold our child.” He smiled, forced to turn his thoughts to other things, like the whereabouts of his clothes.
Another kiss and he was on his feet, bare, but not for long.

[Elyna]

“You’ll have to write, and tell me about your dream,” she whispered, watching as his lips grazed the tender skin. “You have the scroll still?” Elyna had hers, tucked into a bag beside the bed. Ready for her next adventure with the skyriders, whenever that would take place.
“This feels like…” Elyna held the words on her tongue, as she twisted. The young woman sat, edging back to prop her back against the pillows. She crossed her legs at the ankle and held her hands in her lap, curled around the bump. She looked down, pulling at the woollen strands of her warm socks as he shuffled through the room in search of his clothes. “Malcolm, this feels like when you left for Ne’haer.” He didn’t intend to be gone for long. Not like before, not when he had sailed away and she’d not known the date of his return. Still, it seemed like an endless wait before she would see him again. Elyna lifted a hand to the necklace she wore, a small silver chain with her ring hanging from the centre. Too dainty now to fit over her fingers, swollen as they were from the pregnancy.
She rubbed her thumb over the smooth gold and the dark natural pearl. “I’ll take it slow,” she promised without looking up. A shiver ran over her skin and she forced herself to meet his gaze, to watch him moving around the room.
“I need you to give me a name…” she searched his eyes, “a name for a boy, or a girl…”

[Malcolm]

A name. Malcolm stood frozen to the spot, mind racing. The name of the slave? Elyna soon elaborated and the muscles in his shoulders that had pulled tight with tension, let go. The warden slipped on a fitted gambeson, and over this he dressed himself in a black tunic, his leathers stiff with the cold. The tongue of his sword belt was long, and he wrapped it through the metal eye, making sure the buckle held tight.
“I shall be in my boots if word is sent and I am to return swiftly,” he told her. “Perhaps we should name her after your mother, it would honour her.” Malcolm smiled, convinced they were having a second girl. “And if he is a boy,” the man sat on the edge of the bed and took Elyna’s hands in one of his, “I insist you name him, anything but Edmund,” he squeezed, and the look on his face said he was joking.
Malcolm stood up, he still needed to get to the stables and meet his unit beyond the west gate.
But first, breakfast.
Before heading down stairs, Malcolm crept into Elsie’a room and bent to kiss her cheek, brushing the sweet little curls of dark hair flat around her face. The girl’s eyes looked to move beneath their lids, but she did not stir, sound asleep and dreaming.
At the dining room table, Malcolm was happy for a piece of bread and cold soup from the night before, soaking the crust until it was easy to chew.
“Don't give me that look, woman.” he smiled at Elyna. “I will write to you, the parchment is right here,” he lifted the folded piece of paper and tucked it into his tunic over his heart. “And if we are to change course, I will send a raven.”

[Elyna]

It was hard not to smile at the thought of Malcolm Krome, racing home in just his boots. Harder still not to laugh when he suggested calling a baby after her mother. Malcolm and Caelan did not get along, that much was clear. Her Mother glared daggers after the Mortalborn at every opportunity, still piqued that he’d held Elsie before she’d been given the chance to cuddle her granddaughter.
“I’ll think about it,” she grinned and stared into eyes as green as the ocean on a stormy day. Anything but Edmund? Elyna nodded, he didn’t even need to say it. Her duty to name their child? It was time to think long and hard about the possibilities. Perhaps Rahi, after her famous noble ancestor and one of the sacred seven. A biqaj name. Elsie was of course, Elsie Adele after rulers and nobility of Rynmere for generations long past. Perhaps it was time to recognise her heritage. She let him have his time, listening to his steps across the landing to Elsie’s room. Then down the steps. Only once he’d settled, did she follow, eager to keep him in her sight for as long as possible. The young woman sank down on the bottom steps and watched him eating. He’d promised to write before. I promised to be faithful, to love you, to speak the truths that were asked of me and to come home… Promises easily broken. Not worth the breath they’d been spoken with. That was what she had told him. Don’t me a promise you’ll only break tomorrow.
“Perhaps I’ll let Elsie write to you,” she offered a cautious smile. Unable to sit still she picked at the thread of the shirt beneath the wool. “No one, except me, held Elsie before you, this would never be any different.” Unless it was over my dead body. She thought, but didn’t add. It was macabre. Childbirth was dangerous. Who knew what the future would bring. Still, she thought, the baby wasn’t due for a while yet. Malcolm should return in plenty of time.
She tried to stay out of his way, knowing he’d have gear in the study and perhaps in the guest room. Though hopefully he would have removed anything noisy the night before. So she lingered on the steps, until there was a stirring from the room upstairs. Elyna stood and retreated, only to return with Elsie wrapped around her chest, arms slung around her neck and toying with the soft strands of hair. One thumb in her mouth, she peered out with sleepy green-eyes. “We love you,” Elyna lent against the study wall. Vara had bounded back into the room through the slim gap in the back door. She sat at the Skyrider’s feet, upright, attentive and tail wagging.

[Malcolm]

Malcolm rinsed his plate and went into the study to gather up the bags he had packed the day before, along with a waterskin and second weapon. He stared at his papers and textbooks for the university scattered about the place, and sighed. He was always on the go, any downtime spent planning the next big mission away from home. He had no fear that this one would go as well as the rest, but was apprehensive about crossing through Hunter’s Pass once they reached the end of the mountains.
Elyna returned with Elsie and Malcolm tried to press a kiss to his daughter’s cheek, but she turned from him, shy and sleepy. When she looked at him again with eyes that were his own, she smiled. He took the sleepy babe from her mother and dotted her face with kisses, much to her amusement and joyful squeals.
Upon handing the girl back into Elyna’s arms, he put his arms around them both. “I love you, my darlings. You are everything that is dear to me.”
Malcolm turned and opened the door, gathering up his things to find Benjamin outside, holding the reins of Malcolm’s new horse, Kaiba.
“All saddled and ready,” Benjamin said.
“And rideable?” Malcolm laughed.
“The open road will break him.”
“Hopefully before he breaks me,” Malcolm added.

[Elyna]

Elsie tried clinging to her father, until Elyna bounced her on her hip and tickled her tummy, distracting the child till she giggled and hid her face once more. Then she looked out into the quiet street and the new horse, sorry that she hadn't had a chance to inspect it properly, before Malcolm trusted his life to it. It couldn't be helped, she was staying away from animals that she didn't know or trust. How long till he returned? How long till she could welcome him home with loving arms?

How long till he forgot her face and her kiss?

With that, the skyrider strode forward, after the Warden. She caught his arm and pulled him back around to face her. Her hand slid along the side of his face and she balanced, baby on her hip, and kissed him gently on the lips. Usually their displays of such affection were private, secretive almost. But her lips moved in careful exploration of his mouth. Had she stunned the sense from him? She hoped so. Her mouth moved a hungry, determined dance over his before she was forced to draw air, and sank a little, but did not withdraw. Her lashes brushed his cheek and she whispered to him.

"Don't make me a fool, for loving you..." A soft plea that she would never repeat. As she opened her eyes once more and met his endless gaze. Elsie was playing peekaboo behind her tiny hands and Elyna studied her daughter before turning back to the house. Cheeks burning.

[Malcolm]

Stopped only a few steps from the door, Malcolm spun about to be faced with his lover’s embrace once more. He dropped his things and put a hand on her hip, the other going to her cheek as he returned the kiss wholeheartedly. Benjamin cleared his throat behind the pair and when the kiss ended and the warden was able to look over his shoulder at the man, Ben only smiled.
He found the woman’s parting words rich, seen as she had been happy to make a fool of him on more than one occasion, but he understood that she was merely concerned about what had transgressed in the mountains, something she would now associate with him being out on the road.
Malcolm gave no reply.
With the bags and waterskin strung up to the horse, he led the animal full circle, watching the way the stallion almost danced across the stone, as if he weighed no more than a feather. The beast moved like a naked flame set against the wind, and Malcolm could tell he was flighty. He touched the black velvet of Kaiba’s nose, and the horse threw its head skyward, making a shrieking sound that caused the small hairs on the back of the man’s neck to stand on end. It was going to be an interesting ride.
“Don't worry,” Benjamin elbowed him, before climbing onto his own horse, one Elyna would recognise as Red. “He will be so busy galloping across the countryside that he won't have a chance to buck you off.
Malcolm had done some work with the new horses, but not nearly as much as he would have liked before going on such a long trip.
“I don't know about this, in the city?”
A sharp whistle saw the man turn about. It was Kathryn riding up the street uptop her own mount, leading three other horses in tow, one Malcolm recognised instantly as Mithril.
“It was all Ben’s idea,” she told the warden, “wanted to scare you.”
“Mission accomplished.” Malcolm laughed. “I knew we had discussed taking two horses for such a long trip, and I was starting to think Benjamin here had forgotten.”
“Elsieee!” Kathryn beamed. “Hello, lady Elyna.” The woman leaned forward on her horse and handed the second pair of reins to Malcolm.
He climbed up onto Mithril and took a parting look at his family. “No heavy lifting,” he warned Elyna. “Let Anna chase after Elsie.” I love you, he mouthed. “Keep well.”
Benjamin lifted his hand in a lazy, backwards wave and followed the Mortalborn towards the gate, Kathryn once again left to play catch up behind them.

[Gangui]

Elyna

Knowledge:

To Know Thyself: I worry about Malcolm before he departs on long missions.
Malcolm: Sleeps with other woman when away from home.
Ashan 717: Tasked with naming my newborn from Malcolm.
Ashan 717: The last kiss before malcolm rides out
I love him so much; Malcolm and his children is all I think about.

Loot:

N/A

Injuries:

N/A

Fame:

+1 Kissing Malcolm in front of the troops.

Magic:

These points can NOT be used for Domain Magic

Devotion:

N/A

Story:

5/5

Collaboration:

5/5

Structure:

5/5

Malcolm

Knowledge:

I love Elyna.
Ashan 717: This may be the last morning waking up next to the woman I love.
Elyna: worries about me so much, she requests letters on my progress.
Naming my children: Anything, but Edmund
Naming my children: A task delegated to Elyna.
To break my fast before work.
Ashan 717: New horse for my mission.

Loot:

N/A

Injuries:

N/A

Fame:

-1 Kissing Elyna in front of the troops.

Magic:

These points can NOT be used for Domain Magic

Devotion:

N/A

Story:

5/5

Collaboration:

5/5

Structure:

5/5

Comments:
As usual, since I started the Peer Review program, I have learned more about the other character's in the game. It is very strange feeling to be teleported to this scene without knowing anything else going on with your characters. I'd probably suggest a link at the top to the "previous thread"? Not sure if you'd care about that, but seems to me that you guys have a long story line going on, so new readers might get lost, especially with one of these moments that ya'll are playing out that ain't easy to comprehend in a stand alone way. Regardless, this does not warrant any points removed. Just letting you know my perspective.

Regardless of what I just said, you guys are really good writers! ever considered writing a novel if you haven't already? *nods sagely* You guys are playing some really solid, time tested themes. Though it's not important to the thread, when I read about Malcolm getting ready to depart, I was yearning to see his preparation ritual as a warrior. Elyna, you played the inner voice, fantastic, what a great mother *nods*.

Anyways, PM if I gave you some wacky Knowledges you don't want or want a knowledge I didn't give you!

Huzzah!