Escorted Visit [D2 E]

[Kevan Dunn]

The way he saw his own dilemma reflected in her behaviour emboldened him, and he looked at her with more emotion. "Blame my idealism, Lady Arwyn, but I want my marriage to be more than a transaction. I want the bond to be stronger than that."

[Arwyn Forrester]

"I... never expected to find myself in the position to hope for more than that," she admits, turning toward him. It wasn't getting closer the way she wanted to, but facing him more fully scratched that itch at least a little bit. "And of course, the politics are still important. But... I want to marry someone I can have a bond with... I'd like to be with someone I can be myself around." She lets out a soft, self-effacing chuckle. "It might be a bit naive."

[Kevan Dunn]

He mirrored her turn, closing his grip on his knees to keep his hands from restlessness, but his attention was fully on her and her words, his flickering aquamarines catching the ascendant moonlight. "Even though I haven't lost politics from sight you've awakened that hope in me. If that makes me naive, so be it." He smiled fondly at her. "I'd have a wish, my lady. Would you agree to be yourself around me, so I could learn what it takes to make you happy and fulfilled?"

[Arwyn Forrester]

She looks at him for a few moments, obviously thinking, then takes a deep breath, smiling and nodding. "All right... I'll warn you, I can be pretty stubborn by nature," she replies, a warm, genuine grin crossing her face. In some ways, it's like the person that had only been hinted at occasionally came out into the light, despite the deepening evening. Her shoulders more square, back straighter, gaze more direct, cheerful, and filled with the light of determination within.

[Kevan Dunn]

"I'd have it no other way, my lady." He laughed softly, observing her transformation. "Stubborn is another word for dependable. Besides, if you heard anything about my father, you'd know that the Dunns are not too malleable either." He smirked at that even though his face expressed wonder at her beauty and poise. The compliment was about to roll out of his tongue but he held it back, perhaps having second thoughts on how it could be received. And he said something else, perhaps more honest in the end rather than conventional. "The way you are now, this is how I'd like to see you as often as I can."

[Arwyn Forrester]

"True. Some believe what's a positive trait in a man to be undesirable in a woman," she notes in reply. Her smile didn't abate, bright and warm as though the sun was still above the horizon. "I can't express how happy I am to hear that from you." She took a breath, held it from just a moment, the reached out, touching her fingertips gently on the skin on top of his hand. "It may be the kindest thing anyone's asked of me."

[Kevan Dunn]

"I'd feel sorry about incredulity of the others if it didn't feel so wonderful to be privy to the wonder of the real you." His fingers perked up at the touch and entwined with hers, sliding gently in between them, their palms against each other. He did so gently and carefully, reverently even. If a maester with a sash to wrap around their joined hands came out of the woodwork that moment, he wouldn't mind it in the slightest. He kept his gaze connected with hers. "Hence I choose to be selfish and unapologetic about being so privileged, my lady. I choose to preserve and defend this privilege if you graciously allow it."

[Arwyn Forrester]

She kept his gaze and let of a soft breath at the feel of his palm against hers. It was warm, matching how her heart felt in that moment. Maybe a match between them wouldn't happen... but right in that moment, it didn't matter. This short stretch of time, at least, this feeling, was something no one could take away from them, regardless of the future.

Her fingers slid between his until they were fully folded, the tips resting between his knuckles. She could feel the calluses that spoke to his practice as a warrior. "I will allow it," she says, warmly, then adds, in a tone just slightly playful, though not so far as to take them out of the moment, "It's a privilege normally reserved for family."

[Kevan Dunn]

His hand felt as strong as her brother's, perhaps even stronger, though a practised swordsman like himself had a perfect control of the force of his grip and kept it close but gentle. The promise made amid trees, the bond forged in moonlight with no dishonesty about it between them, that felt ancient and powerful, like the very customs of the First Men when all not was drowned in habit and convention but embedded in a genuine oath. The warmth of her hand wrote itself onto his memory, as did the smile, the gaze, the poise, everything. He knew he would not give up on that, it felt too precious. She awkakened a thirst for this authenticity in him, making political considerations secondary. Having Maester Oswell's remarks about complementarity in mind, he believed now that they indeed must come second in the sense of resulting from the power of their bond.

"Then I pledge this to you, Lady Arwyn Forrester, before the Old Gods and the New, that I will do do my utmost to make this exception you've granted me ultimately conform to your rule."

He managed being both solemnly serious and exuberantly playful in his pledge, with his raised brows and bright smile and gaze that sought no detour from her face.

[Arwyn Forrester]

She was taken by surprise in some ways about how seriously he meant it, even in the playful joy that he had, that they shared. There truly was not dishonesty here, the shackles of convention, of society far outside this makeshift godswood. She could almost feel the eyes of the forest on them in that moment, bolstering her confidence and resolve. She wanted to hold onto this feeling, the authenticity between them, and the sense of freedom.

"I pledge the same to you, Kevan Dunn, before the Old Gods and the New. To strive to bring us together as family." It would be too painful to let go of it now. Far too painful to let go of this kind, determined, good-spirited man who wanted her for who she was, who she really was, not the mask she wore for the world at large. She had to try.

The moment took her and she leaned forward, sealing the agreement with a brush of her lips against his, light as a feather but warm.

[Kevan Dunn]

It may have been intended as featherlight, but his instinct was to lean toward her as well and when their lips met, it turned out to be fuller and deeper, parting his and her lips because of mutual pressure. But while the grip on her hand tightened ever so slightly he convinced himself not to make a move beyond that, even though his imagination got caught up in the moment, the sweetness of her kiss bringing the significance of the evening for his life up by another degree as the words of her pledge still resounded in him. So many meaningful words have already been said that left little the same that even once their lips would part he would stay silent for a moment, captivated by her beauty, caught in reverie.

[Arwyn Forrester]

When their lips finally part, and it takes much longer than she might have initially intended, she has to take a long, steadying breath. She rubs her lips together briefly, eyes closed, as if sealing the sensation, maybe the entire evening, into her memory. It took her own willpower not to go farther, but she managed it... barely. In the moment of silence, her blue eyes, darker in the pale moonlight than the bright ice color of the day, met his, looking deeply into his. She felt like there was something more to say, something important, but it was lost for a moment in the comfortable silence.

[Kevan Dunn]

An ever so gentle stroke of his other hand on her cheek was a harbinger of words to come. He had read her untold expectation for more to be said from her moonlit gaze and he it encouraged him to say what was on his heart. He spoke in an intimate whisper, but his voice was on the verge of breaking into a laugh of joy, as if it was hard for him to contain the happiness.

"Yesterday, after you left, I told Maester Oswell I could love you. It starts tonight, you are the lady of my heart now. Some may say no affection can flourish this fast but I know this not to be true, and your words and eyes tell me that I am not wrong. This is the truth I will fight for. My only regret is that I didn't ride in the lists with your ribbon today."

He began to rise and pull her up with him, not losing their connection of gazes even though or because of the deepening dark was increasingly obscuring vision.

[Arwyn Forrester]

She listened silently, eyes brimming with affection. It felt like a bubble of happiness was rising in her chest, and she wasn't sure if she was going to laugh or cry with it when it came out. Her hand reaches up, resting over the one on her cheek for a moment as he spoke. When he rose, she rose with him, and after a moment, she moved closer, wrapping arms around his shoulders to hold him. "I feel like I couldn't be happier than I am right now," she says quietly, murmuring so quietly it would be only for his ears, even if they'd been surrounded by people. "I want to make something for you tomorrow, if you'd like something of me to keep with you."

[Kevan Dunn]

"I want every bit of you. Whatever you make for me, I'll cherish beyond words." He softly whispered back, embracing her at the small of her back, and pulling closer, playfully rubbing the tip of his nose against hers while still closely watching her eyes from beneath his expressive brows. His were like mirrors for her affection, but also shone with the light of their own, just like the sparkling sand in shallow waters on the shores of Arbor, a surfless semi-reflective aquamarine of the Sunset Sea. "You make me so happy I need to read up some minstrel poetry to find words to express it properly. I am awed and marvelled by you, Arwyn, and I'd have it no other way."

[Arwyn Forrester]

She smiles as he rubbed the tip of his nose against hers, and leaned up to touch her forehead against his, resting them together for a moment. "What you've already said this evening has been poetry to my ears."

[Kevan Dunn]

"And what you've said to me has been music to mine." He suddenly took her off the ground by the waist and whirled round before keeping their foreheads connected, until he put her feet back on her feet, laughing. "The music I feel like dancing to."

[Arwyn Forrester]

She held on as he suddenly whirled her through the air, the air of the clearing filled with the honest, joyful sound of her laughter. It felt like it had been forever since she'd really laughed like that. As soon as he's finished speaking, she leans up and kisses him again, this time in sheer happiness and affection, little of the tentativeness or relative solemnity of their first.

[Kevan Dunn]

Enthusiasm and mirth was the mood in which he reciprocated even though he kept his deeper passions for her tethered and leashed. He struck the middle ground by drawing out the connection, rushing nothing and bringing no sense of impatience or insufficiency to her lips with his own. It wa far more instinctive than deliberate, to cherish the moment of connection for as long as it could last and with intensity she could accept without later second thoughts. The easy way to describe the way he kissed her back is: lovingly. Even if he wanted to be more calculating about it he couldn't be, the taste of her lips shot straight into his consciousness and coloured it in stark hues that banished all that was grey. But for all his being caught up in the moment, he did not forget how to kiss for her to feel wanted, just like he had pledged she would be by him.

[Arwyn Forrester]

She had never felt so wanted in her life as she did in his arms, with their lips together. She drew out the moment, similarly instinctively, for as long as she could. Finally, though, she had to pull back. Her hands finally slid from his shoulders, tracing down his arms as she disengaged and took a breath, anchoring herself back in the world. The fingers of her left hand find his, though, barely staying in contact as though she didn't quite want to end contact. "I suppose we should head back... We should talk tomorrow. I mean, on our own again, but also with Marqus." She chuckles and smiles. "We have a reality to make conform to our promise." The last words are soft and happy, but have the force of her determination behind them.

[Kevan Dunn]

He knew the moment for greater tenderness had passed but feeling how reluctant she was to let it go made it easier to accept; the dearly momentous evening might be drawing to an end but it carried the power to change their tomorrow and many days after that. The words they had shared wouldn't fade away but live in them. Kevan never felt more certain about the next day than at the moment of parting lips and fleeting touch, followed by a gentle goodbye.

"I also promised your brother some time, so let's meet together by the Cockleswent for the afternoon."

He sought out her eyes with his to share the certainty dwelling in him.

[Arwyn Forrester]

She smiles brightly, warmly, meeting his eyes with an expression of both caring and complete confidence. She squeezes his hand before finally turning to head back to her own horse, who was beginning to grow restless. She turned back toward him, inclining her head, long, waving hair shifting in the wind, visible even in the dark. "Would you be willing to escort me back to the pavilions?"

[Kevan Dunn]

He chuckled, moving to grip Tymagon's reins, not losing the general silhouette of her for one moment, hungry for the little things that would make the story of this evening ever richer in his mind, and he wasn't disappointment with how the wind played with her beautiful hair.

"Not escorting has never been an option I considered, my lady."

[Arwyn Forrester]

She smiled brightly and started off, moving slower until their horses walked alongside one another, taking their leisurely moments traveling back to continue talking and enjoying his company before they finally had to part.

/scene