Mist [EM4]

[Kevan Dunn]

A rider was crossing the wet morning vapour of the clearing, in accompaniment of owls who didn't het the memo that overcast sunrise shrouded in mist still makes a day. Water was sprinkling all around from under the hooves, and onto the horse and the rider themselves. The combination of humidity and chill was changing the aura into one of small needles pinching the skin with every move of ungluing the cloth from the body. And yet the sweat kept coming as if the rider had just stepped out of a sauna.

But he was not exactly there to cool off, at least not by risque gallop through the mist. He wanted to get to a place in the clearing, nondescript and unimportant to everyone but two people in the world.

[Arwyn Forrester]

The other person was already there, in a dark cloak against the morning's chill. They turn as they hear the approach of the horse. The woman under the hood smiles as she sees the rider. "I was getting worried."

[Kevan Dunn]

Seeing her was a major relief. It instantly filled him with a feeling that things were falling into their places again, that the world was on track rather than on some wild ride to perdition. He wondered how he had coped with uncertainty when she hadn't been part of his life yet, and he frankly couldn't remember. Probably doing something violent, stupid or lustful.

But it was irrelevant now because she was there. He stayed his destrier and hopped off then strode toward her and knelt on one knee in wet grass, taking her hand and kissing its back, in as much of a reassurance to her as he needed it himself.

"Needlessly. I will always come to you unless someone successfully stops me. And those who try may as well count their blessings." He managed a smile. "I missed you, Arwyn. It's getting harder for me to tolerate the time without you." That was true, but it was no reason to be proud. Managing his emotions in her absence was becoming an ordeal that could lead to incidents he would not forgive himself. Her smile was the sheriff for his reckless leanings.

[Arwyn Forrester]

Despite her nervousness after hearing some of the conversations this morning, seeing him was still as much of a relief to her as it was to him. He eased her heart, and she felt like she could finally take a breath... Sleep had been hard after what Alessia had told her, with so many possibilities sweeping through her mind. Her hand moved up to run through his hair affectionately when he bends to kiss her hand.

"It would be quite to their detriment," she replied with a soft smile. "I missed you, too. I suspect I would have slept easier if you were there with me." She shifts her grip to squeeze his hand, unaware of his near miss the previous night. "It isn't so long to wait."

[Kevan Dunn]

"I wish I had been there with you, for the sake of both of us." He sighed, keeping the position while nuzzling into her hand gently. "Lonely nights have turned hard to bear." The details of the nocturnal ordeal could be left out for now. He wanted to keep a cool head as long as it could last, well knowing that with all the pent-up feelings he couldn't do it without end. He had not heard the rumours though, not yet. He closed his eyes.

"I have news about my father. The rider arrived before dawn. He was indeed delayed, his carriage broke and he had to travel on horseback, making more stops because of his condition. He should be arriving tomorrow." He left it at that for now, taking a breath.

[Arwyn Forrester]

She keeps stroking a hand through his hair softly, noticing that he hadn't risen yet. Even bending down and kissing her hand like this was unusual. She was about to ask if something was wrong when he revealed the situation with his father. A smile came to her lips as he spoke. "I'm happy to hear that your worst fears did not come to pass. I'm looking forward to meeting him."

[Kevan Dunn]

He finally rose from the wet ground to look at her. There was some confusion hiding behind his usual smile, his expression couldn't lie to her. Something had happened, but that thing was probably the news about his father. "We need to prepare for this. My father is an opinionated man... ok, he's a stubborn, unresponsive and dismissive boor most of the time, I can say it now that I know he's alive without any sense of guilt, and we won't have a second chance to let you make a good first impression." He got used to kissing her hand so much that he wouldn't let it go now, raising her fingers back toward his mouth.

[Arwyn Forrester]

It gave him a confident smile, not even a shadow of self-doubt marring it. "Ingratiating myself is my specialty." The fact that she'd initially used that skill on Kevan before she'd learned more was beside the point. "You won't have to worry about a good first impression, especially after everything you've told me about him."

She ran her thumb gently across the soft skin of his upper lip. "Is anything else troubling you? You seem... I don't know how to put it." Something was just odd. Maybe it was his father, but the kneeling wouldn't be related to that...

[Kevan Dunn]

"Good. It feels good to be able to put trust in you." He sighed, biting his lips, some inner struggle visible on his face. He was way too honest for his own good, especially before those he deeply cared for. "Before the rider with the news arrived, there was an incident last night. A young woman came to my tent to wake me up, scantily dressed, innocent but driven at least in part by curiosity about matters of the bedchamber... And I was very tempted to take advantage, though in the end we managed to find reason and honour, and nothing happened. But it came way too close for my tastes to breaking faith with you. I am ashamed of being so weak-willed about my lowly urges. I want you to have an unwavering confidence in me and yet how I can expect that if I don't even know if can trust myself." He fell to his knee again. "This is shameful, but I will strive to do better. I beg for your forgiveness, my lady." His solemnity and remorse were not feigned, and his choice of words reinforced how seriously he had thought about it. His hand gripped the pouch with her lock.

[Arwyn Forrester]

She schooled her face into careful neutrality, and it would be tempting to think she didn't hear him at first if not for how intent her gaze was and a certain tension in her jaw. It was good that he hadn't, but the fact that he'd come so close... Did his promise mean- no, it had to mean something, because her stopped, but... She hated being emotional. It only ever got in the way. She had to get her mind back on track... Whether he was faithful didn't matter all that much in the end, did it?

Why did her face feel colder than before?

She reached up and touched her cheek, her fingers coming away wet. Her head hurt a little, too. Was she crying? She tried to take a calming breath, but emotion forced her to suck in the air too quickly and came out like a sniffle. She didn't trust herself to speak for a moment.

[Kevan Dunn]

He withstood the heavy silence in his deferential position, but at the sniffle he no longer could. Rising and looking up, seeing the change in her face... that devastated him, the awareness that he had hurt her. He blanched, and his gaze filled with dread and desperation. But at the same time, it was not his place to be broken, to be weak in the face of his own transgression. To expect understanding was preposterous, he had to realise it. He had to be stronger than that. He reached for her hand, hoping she would not reject his touch.

"I will be stronger than that. I've learned from this. You live in my heart, and this is the strength I have to draw from to deter weakness. This is what I did. I will let it guide me... in everything, to leave no opening. I'd sooner end myself than hurt you like this ever again. If you have me, despite the flaw I will now mend."

He wanted to say more about what he felt for her and yet this was not something he wanted to confess at a moment like this, as it would be forever mired by the context. And yet, if she graced him with one look, she would see love in his eyes, as clear as the morning would be once the mist would fall.

[Arwyn Forrester]

Was this because she jumped into things too quickly. They really didn't know each other that well. What if she was involved with someone who was just going to go around making bastards with village girls when she was away? She didn't reject his touch, her other hand just coming up to wipe her tears. But...

Her voice was a little thick, still, when she trusted its steadiness enough to reply. "... I will trust your words. Your actions show them to be true. You held back from... what must have been dire temptation for my sake." Her clear blue eyes met his blue-green, a little scared of making herself vulnerable with this second chance, but wanting desperately and sincerely to be able to trust him. "You are forgiven." After a moment, she says, with a small half-smile, "She must have been beautiful, to tempt you so."

To be honest, despite the pain of knowing that he'd nearly forgotten his promise in the haze of lust, the thought of him and a pretty girl together... well, it had its appeal. She hoped the cold on her cheeks would hide the light flush.

[Kevan Dunn]

At her scant smile he rapidly embraced her close, letting his grip say about how desperate he was to receive her forgiveness. He had been some of those things she imagined now alongside her second thoughts, but it was her who was the very reason to terminate them, and he did, though apparently not all at once. Still, he sensed this was as far as her forgiveness could go, so whatever trial and error there still was, it needed to end right there. Either he would grow out of his bad teenage habits, or he would lose her. Not in marital terms, their match was still politically sound, and she herself had admitted indirectly that it had begun rather dispassionately. But in those that really mattered to him. He felt he had a chance to build something with her that in a world obsessed with alliances and birthright happened rarely, a true bond of love, trust and more.

He cradled her in his arms, rocking gently, pressing his cheek against the side of her head. "It doesn't matter what she was. It shouldn't matter and it won't ever now. You're the one for me, your are the beautiful. And you're my chosen." Swallowed by thoughts on another pole, he perfectly missed her blush even though he soon after leaned back to kiss the tears off her face, carefully and conscientiously, seeking her gaze between dips.

[Arwyn Forrester]

She clung to him, burying her face in his shoulder and chest, letting out her emotions with a few hidden tears. He can feel her shoulders shake a little bit, and her suck in air quickly a few times before her breathing finally calmed. She leaned her head into his cheek, and other thoughts were gone for the moment, subsumed in the tight, warm embrace he held her in. She felt like she was in the most secure place in the world, and she couldn't help but believe him. "And you're mine..." When she looked up to meet his eyes, the blush was gone, and she was smiling a little more, despite her eyes being a little red.

[Kevan Dunn]

"Yours." He averred without hesitation, a smile finding his way to his lips, his brows arching in an unspoken encouragement for her to smile too, then leaned in for a tender kiss that turned passionate soon enough, to the point of saddling her on her forearms and lifting a bit off ground. "By quick conquest... Gods' will... converging interests... leaps of faith... doesn't matter why or how. I am yours... and you are mine. This is the foundation we'll build on." Another long kiss, that was meant to taste like one of its kind, of unbridled and unguarded devotion.

[Arwyn Forrester]

"Yes," she agreed, smiling a little more and returning the deep kiss softly. "It does seem a little ironic now that on my way over here, I heard rumors that suggested you were 'sneaking off' with some Northern girl," she comments, a little humor coming into her voice.

[Kevan Dunn]

"Some northern girl? I think you may know that one." He smirked. "Eyes like the the skies on a sunny winter day, hair long like winter nights and black like raven wings, the cutest nose and the most sensual lips a man can imagine. If the world still saw any fairies, they would look like her, just not as beautiful. Practically unmistakable, I think her name was not mentioned in the rumours just because the rumourmonger feared her wrath. I'd sneak out with her anywhere, anytime. But since they've tracked us, she and I need better hideouts for our passionate rendezvouses. If all goes well as it must, however, soon enough we won't have to sneak or hide."

[Arwyn Forrester]

She laughed softly. "Maybe the two of you do," she replied with a smile, leaning up to catch his lower lip and tug gently at it before lowering down. "She was tempted for a little bit to make the rumor true to make things easier on him... But she can wait a bit longer, even if she also feels very impatient."

[Kevan Dunn]

He mirrored her tease on the lip, challenging her a bit with his flickering gaze. "Maybe she and I haven't found the right place at the right time yet, and we're swamped with all kinds of concerns that make us think that their passion is never timely. But I am hopeful that at some point she'll get past those concerns at some point, and reward my patience with her impatience... I pay no mind to rumours though, and it's not about easy or hard; as long as we're together, no challenge others mount feels too big. Remember that she's from the North. It's hence more about when she decides is the right moment to satisfy her curiosity.." He leaned in for a light chew of her lips before following through with a deep kiss. His hands closed on her bum and by that grip he turned full circle with her in the air. His smile was playfully daring "...whether I make love as well as I fight."

[Arwyn Forrester]

She was never one to back down from a challenge, especially not one of will like this. As he speaks, though, her gaze goes down thoughtfully, thought she gasps in surprise at the whole series of events as she returned his kiss enthusiastically, eyes going wide as he grabs her rear and spins her by that. When he lowers her, she asks, "And if she were too impatient to wait for things to reach the point that the world dictates such things should be done... Would you think less of that young lady?"

[Kevan Dunn]

The aquamarines bored into her, but only as much as a tide would amid the rocks that offered an opening in the first place, washing them in a complete, all-encompassing embrace. "I love her. Everything that comes with it cannot come soon enough for me." He kissed her gently, his eyes flickering with intensity of thoughts swirling in them. Simple ones, but strong. "I'd marry her tonight if I could so that our life together could start right away. I desire everything that she is and I am not ashamed of it. If she desires me as much, how could I ever think less of her?" His full attention was on her, he didn't want to shed one moment or misremember one blink.

[Arwyn Forrester]

She looked up at him with bright blue eyes, too warm to compare to the northern ice right now - more alike to the summer sky. "I wasn't sure... if you'd still think of me as highly as you do now if..."

[Kevan Dunn]

"I probably still don't know much about you, my love, but I want to think that I know those things that really matter. And my devotion to you, my admiration of you because of that is only growing, and it won't waver. And i am not speaking about just this one thing, but all of them." He chuckled warmly, passing some mirth onto her with his smile, holding her affectionately close. His tone turned reassuring, but also a little amused because of what he was about to say. "Don't worry. You can find safety in my own brand of stubbornness - about you."

[Arwyn Forrester]

"I suppose we don't really know too much about one another, do we..." She chuckled a little bit and reached up, stroking his cheek. "We should learn more. None of it will shake how I feel, either."

[Kevan Dunn]

"Let's learn each other then, Arwyn. I want that. I was in the market square the other day and wanted to get something meaningful for you until I realised I didn't know where to start. I want to know your desires and fancies, big and small. Your plans, hopes, dreams, peeves, the words you use to describe things that matter to you, everything you will ever feel like sharing with me."

He kissed her wrist and reached out too, to play with her hair. "And what I feel for you gives me the drive to learn all this."

He smirked more wryly after a pause. "I like it when we analyse things together, when I can learn your perspective and measure my own against it. My sister taught me to make sense of things this way, pushing me into thinking by making various claims with partial information, or pulling me into discussions on any subject she was currently reading on. You and her are not unlike, like I may have mentioned. Perhaps that's why I can adore and cherish a strong-willed, clever woman like you without feeling inferior, and feel excited about everything in your head."