Summary:Zahara debates matters of trust with Cerin.
XP:C1, Z1
Tags:< It Cannot Be As Simple As All That | Sol Invictus Logs | The Fate of Nations >
Cerin ::Would you mind if I came and carried you away, my love?:: Cerin enquired as Zahara moved about in the waves with Lucent.
zahara ::And people say that you disappear people with no warning or reason...:: she replies, her mindvoice amused.
Cerin ::Your present location does present slight difficulties with a footstep:: he admits.
zahara ::Ah, well, we make do with what we have.::
Cerin ::Just so:: And then Zahara feels strong arms wrapping around her, and a sudden sensation of lightness and movement, and then a kiss.
zahara smiles and kisses him back, casting an amused glance back at where Lucent splashes alone in the waves for a moment before noticing. She wraps her arms around him in turn, then, and looks into his eyes, "Hello, my love."
Cerin looks back at her, and then kisses her again. IT would be at about this point that Lucent might notice the black rectangle floating on the surface of the sea.
zahara "Well, now, where shall we go? Some place away from the others, hmm?"
Cerin "We could swim over to an island near here. I imagine some of them have wonderful beaches..."
zahara "I would race you but I'm a terrible swimmer. You swim, I'll just walk." She scans the horizon and picks out a likely island, one that's not their island but similarly pretty. "How about that one?"
Cerin "That one looks wonderful," he confirms, looking over the island.
zahara begins picking her way over the waves, on a cushion of air.
Cerin swims along beside her, easily keeping pace.
zahara takes the opportunity to admire the way he moves as they proceed. As they reach the island, she slows, making sure no one else is there. "I can't believe Herons was one island over from us."
Cerin "No, it is a little vexing. We should perhaps have moved slightly further from the first beach we found," he says with a grin. "There seems to be a nice bay on the other side of the island," he takes her hand.
zahara squeezes his hand and follows him
Cerin leads her around the edge of the island, over an outcropping of rocks, and then down into a sunlit bay which is catching just enough of a breeze to be pleasantly cool. "Here, I think."
zahara digs her toes into the sand where the waves wash up over the beach. She stares out over the waves, looking at nothing, just taking in the serenity. There is a tension beneath it in her mind, wondering when it will be rent asunder.
Cerin "You seem tense, my love," Cerin notes as he kneels on the sands behind her.
zahara "It's all so beautiful, isn't it?"
Cerin nods, as his hands start slowly to rub. "It is."
zahara "Don't you sense it, though? There's always something..."
zahara closes her eyes, letting his hands soothe some of the tension.
Cerin "Always, but we prevail," he continues to work
zahara "Yes," she says slowly. "That's true." She drifts off into the moment before opening her eyes again, blinking against the glint of sunlight on the waves. "How do you do it?"
Cerin "Do what, my love?" he asks, unfastening the lower strap of her top as his hands move down lower.
zahara "No matter what happens..." she hesitates, trying to work out what she's trying to say, distracted as she is now. "You are still you. Cerin the Wolf."
Cerin slows a little. It was not his intention to distract Zahara too much, just to relax her somewhat. "Perhaps it is because I am satisfied with who Cerin the Wolf is," he says.
zahara nods. "I thought I was satisfied with who I was. I never yearned to be different. But it cannot have escaped your notice that... I am."
Cerin "You have changed a lot and yet you are still Zahara."
zahara pulls her legs up against her chest, and rests her arms on her knees. "Sometimes I wonder if there is anything left of the woman you fell in love with. The only thing that I know is that I still love you, even more than when we first fell in love. I just hope that it will be enough."
Cerin "I fell in love with you for less than that, my love," he murmurs by her ear.
zahara "Oh?" She tilts her head, "and what was it that drew you to me, then?"
Cerin "Just the sound of your voice. The power you represented, and still do. The words you whispered."
zahara smiles, turning to him and pressing her lips to his ear, her voice a throaty whisper tickling his skin. "Shall I remind you of my power again, Love?"
Cerin shivers, just a little. "Yes," he whispered. He didn't really need to say more.
zahara *some time later*
Cerin "Thank you," Cerin whispered softly in Zahara's ear.
zahara untangles herself and the Bonds from Cerin, then lies back, looking up at the sky. "You are... quite welcome," she murmurs and smiles. "It is good to be alone with you again."
Cerin "Yes," he lies back next to her. "We should make more time for it, somehow."
zahara "What use, power, if not for my own ends?"
Cerin nods, with a smile. "At least a little, yes."
zahara thinks for a moment, feeling the ebb and flow of their shared emotions. "Lucent has brought to my attention that we two are the only ones remaining of the original Circle."
Cerin "It is true. Rannath never was, it seems. Markuran is dead, Birds is no longer. Much has changed since then."
zahara "The new Circle is so different and... not as close."
Cerin "The new Circle did not grow into its power together," Cerin observes.
zahara "No, and all of them had their own agendas before joining."
Cerin "Of course."
zahara "As did you," she elbows him gently with a grin
Cerin grins. "I could perhaps have been more disruptive than any of them. Without you."
zahara "oh, perhaps is it?"
Cerin "It is hard for me to judge. The old circle was that much more stable."
zahara "mmm. Yes... For what good it did us. So the question comes to this - how can we make the new circle more stable?"
Cerin "I do not know, my love. My experience is with stable cells of infiltrators, not ... Circles of power."
zahara "Do you think the Unity of Dreams brought the first Circle together?"
Cerin "I think that it helped. We moved with a common purpose when together, even when apart we were still together. But we were closer."
zahara "...do you think I should cast it on the new Circle?"
Cerin "Perhaps we should see how people are after the week of meditating together."
zahara "hmm. Perhaps." She rolls on her side to face him. "I am not sure I want anyone else to visit my dreams."
< It Cannot Be As Simple As All That | Sol Invictus Logs | The Fate of Nations >