Valhaven

Al'Kaera listened with rapt interest while Ana told of her abilities. He had never been particularly good with animals, himself. On the occasion he might have gained a companion of a wolf or other beast, but for the most part he and they avoided each-other.

He could not help but quirk a brow when Ana excused herself. He could tell the signs. Her nervous glances towards Nachytsm, who was glancing over and occasionally staring. Tact was clearly not a strength for either of them.

"Nonsense," Al'Kaera said to his wife. "I think in different circumstances, she would have been more than willing to carry on what would have surely been quite a fascinating conversation." He bore no sarcasm in his voice; he would have also liked to hear them talk.

"But, I think she has other things on her mind..." He chuckled lightly, looking pointedly at Nachytsm.

"Why don't you go keep her company, Nachytsm? Maree and I have some things we need to discuss that would best be done so in private."

Nachytsm had been oblivious to Ana's reasons behind leaving. He was conflicted all the same. He found that he liked her presence. At the same time, he was relieved. With a slight sigh he looked over to Nel briefly before he heard what Al'Kaera said.

"Er," he replied. He didn't want to reconflict himself again so quickly. But he knew Al'Kaera would want his privacy.
"Okay," he then said. Standing up, he pets Nel on the head briefly before making his way out.

Once he was standing outside the doors, he stayed there, with his back to the rest of the room. He didn't know where Ana had gone. He wasn't sure he ought to try finding out. Maybe he would do best to be alone for a little while, he decided. Go on patrol maybe.

This was a good thought.

Nachytsm turned around to face the rest of the chamber outside the dining room, a half-smile on his face.

Maree arched a brow inquisitively at her husband's statement. They had need to talk? Yes, she thought. They did need to speak but Maree had to wonder if Dhaelhel had spoken to Al'Kaera. The Ascension was supposed to have stayed between the goddess and herself. Her husband would not do well with the outcome of Naar's defeat, if they were to make it to that point.

Maree had asked Dhaelhel to not speak a word.

The elven woman's hand fumbled for the fork and she lifted it. Maree pushed her food around on her plate. The smell of it was making her stomach turn. She did not want to eat but she could also hear that Al'Kaera had not touched his food either.

"You should eat, my husband. You need your strength. Tell me, what is it that we must discuss?" Maree said with a timid smile on her face.

Anaree breathed in a lungful of air but her breath caught in a hitch. Her shoulder was causing her a good deal of agony. In the half minute she was alone, Anaree had set down her plate on a dusty table and pulled down the shoulder of her shirt. The bandage was starting to bleed through.

It was a good thing she had excused herself before the blood had begun to show on her clothing. She pressed her hand against the soaked cloth. A single bead of blood trailed down her arm and dropped on the floor.

"Fantastic," Anaree said. Abbil's saddle bags had bandages. She was sure the kind Dejah would not have minded if they were used. It was best to dress her wound in privacy too. Anaree didn't want Al'Kaera finding out that she hadn't kept her word.

The night air was cool and crisp; refreshing. All day long Anaree had been breathing in dust from the Valhaven as she cleaned it with Al'Kaera. Al'Kaera. It was always strange to think of her father by any of his names. And yet, it was refreshing to not be his child but his companion.

The barn door creaked loudly as Anaree stepped inside. It smelled of decayed manure and hay. It wasn't too difficult to see. The moon shone bright though the holes in the ceiling of the barn. Abbil was sleeping in a corner pen. His ears swiveled around when Anaree began to walk further into the room.

The saddle bags were sitting on a wooden chair. Anaree began to dig through them in search of the bandages.

Al'Kaera could not help but smile slightly at Maree. She was quickly mastering her loss, by attuning her other senses. That she could tell he hadn't eaten just by sound was telling.

"I do not wish to eat while you suffer hunger," he replied. "Surely you need more strength than I, as you bear a great burden." He paused.

"I... spoke, briefly, with Dhaelhel," he then said. "He told me what we must do, in order to remove Naar from you. What we must create... and destroy." He spoke with a level tone. He had to be strong for her.
"I know we have seldom spoken of having a child. It seems... sudden, for me. But it will provide a door for our future."

He did not know what else to say. They both knew what must be done. In the circumstances, he did not simply wish to come onto her. It was strange, attempting to speak of such an intimate, important thing like this.

Maree allowed Al'Kaera to speak without interruption. So, that was what Dhaelhel had told her husband. There was a profound sense of relief that washed over Maree.

"I looked into Dhaelhel's memory. I saw Naar in his true form; The Old God of Death, Aderas," Maree said to her husband in a soft voice.

"In turn, he saw me and the god was pleased. I should have been more careful of my actions but seeing you again distracted me from taking precaution," Maree said as her hand slid across the wooden table. It was a slow and deliberate move. Her smooth fingers found her husband's hand and she grasped them firmly.

"I do not regret it," she said to him before he could interrupt. Somehow her blind eyes found his.

"Naar placed a seed inside of me, a piece of himself that feeds off of my very essence. I cannot eat because the very smell of fresh food sickens me, I cannot sleep for the fact that Naar shows me his dreams, and I am growing weak from fighting against the evil that wishes to take over my very soul, Aderas."

"There has been evil on Terra before and I have vanquished it with the help of others, but those were lesser evils. The Old God of Death is unlike any force that I have ever faced before. He touched this world and I felt the darkness spreading. It was frightening beyond anything I had ever felt before. And now that darkness is growing inside of me, Aderas. I fear that I will fall to it and never come back, that you will lose your wife."

"Dhaelhel has told us how to rid my body of Naar, of how to contain him inside of me," Maree said in a wavering voice. A sadness was creeping into her words as she spoke of what they had to sacrifice. Maree's free hand fell down to her belly.

"I almost cannot bear the thought of killing your child, Aderas. Our child. There is a small part of me that rather die than take the life of your firstborn," Maree admitted.

And then she added in a whisper," ... but I do not want to die. I cannot die. I am not allowed to die just yet, Aderas. I do not know what to do."

A tear slid down her ivory cheek.

Nachytsm had wandered the halls of Valhaven for a short time before a nagging sense of familiarity began to claw at his nostrils.
Blood.
But not just any blood. While he had only the briefest taste, it was a deep one, and one he would not soon forget.

Ana was bleeding. The man could smell it, he wasn't imagining it anymore. He was positive.

Retracing his steps, he followed the smell for a while before he saw the first signs of Ana being wounded. Her plate lay abandoned on a dusty table beyond the chambers Al'Kaera had cleaned out. It hadn't been touched since she left the room.

Then he saw the sole droplet of blood on the floor. It had mingled with the dust and been disturbed by footprints. Ana's footprints, which trailed away, followed by random drops.

Nachytsm's hasty deduction concluded to him that she had been attacked by something that did not leave footprints.
An Assassin.

Fearing for her life, the simple brute followed the trail until he got outside. Once there, he had to concentrate on the smell of her blood.

It didn't do him any favors, smelling it fresh on the breeze. The feeling of heady confusion didn't drown out the worry he felt, so he carried on.

It didn't take him long to find the barn. The door had been opened, and the scant trail led right to it. Ana must have been chased inside. With a serious expression on his face, Nachytsm ran forward, ready to lunge inside and draw his weapon at any moment.

He stumbled to a halt when he actually passed the threshold of the barn door, seeing only Ana and the horse. Ana's shoulder shone red with fresh blood, slowly drizzling down her arm as she dug around in a bag.

Nachytsm looked around for a moment, seeing no threat. He hadn't been quiet entering, but maybe he could slip away still...

The silhouette that sat in a beam of moonlight was Anaree. The sound of bottles tinkling against each other was audible as she dug through the leather bag. She hissed between her teeth and clutched the soaked bandage around her shoulder. There was a noise and Anaree turned in alert. She feared that her father had followed her into the barn but when her bright blue eyes fell onto Nachytsm, Anaree froze.

Her bright blue eyes darkened until they were such a dark blue they could have been mistaken for black. Anaree's heart raced in her chest and it became difficult to breathe. Each and every time that Anaree saw Nachytsm it was more and more difficult to deny her feelings for him. It tugged at the very center of her core; her soul. It frightened Anaree.

Nachytsm was her father's most loyal guard. She had grown up around him, and in turn, Nachytsm had watched her grow up even though he did not yet know it. It wasn't until Anaree reached her adulthood that she began to want more than friendship for the brute. For her father's sake, Anaree had attempted to dislike Nachytsm and to push him away. It didn't last long. Her feelings for Nachytsm were inevitable.

"I think I am tired of being wounded now," Anaree said with a helpless smile. She tucked a thick lock of her blond hair behind her ear in a shy manner.

Nachytsm made her so nervous.

"I-..." Anaree started. She licked her lips to wet them as her eyes lingered on an old rusted bucket.

"I would like it if you could help me, Nachytsm," Anaree said to the dark figure at the corner of her vision. She took her hand away from her wound. The sweet smelling and sticky blood made the bandage stick to Anaree's hand. It tore open the fragile clot and she began to bleed more freely out of the blade's wound.

"Please," Anaree asked.

Al'Kaera listened to his wife tell him of her experience with Naar. It hurt him to know that she was wounded, again, by his actions. He would not show that pain however. He knew it would only make hers worse, and possibly entertain the foul Naar.

When she took his hand, he returned the gesture by taking hers in both of his own. He wanted to show her that he was there for her.

He felt another pang of guilt regarding her inability to eat, and another that she could not sleep. He had been through trials to reach Terra, but now Maree suffered.

Then she spoke of what they must do. Al'Kaera released her hands, standing and kneeling beside her. Then he wrapped his arms about her and closed his eyes to share in her blindness, if only superficially.

"You need not sully your hands with taking an innocent life," he intoned. "I have the blood of a world on mine. One more makes little difference, even if it is of my own kin."

He stooped in to place a brief, passionate and sorrowful kiss upon her lips. "You have borne the burden long enough. I will do whatever it takes to see you rid of it."

Nachytsm too froze when Ana's eyes locked onto him. He thought he had been so stealthy. He swallowed slightly when she smiled at him. There was something else about her that had changed subtly. Something he felt he should have noticed. But he was by that point avoiding eye contact entirely.

"I, uh," Nachytsm started to say. He didn't know what he was going to say. He wanted to leave, but that gaze Ana gave him held him to the spot as if she had tied him down. The smell of her blood was stronger there, and Nachytsm had to fight aggressive influences to remain neutral.

When Ana asked him to help her, Nachytsm flickered his eyes towards her. She had removed her hand from the wound, and the blood flowed freely down her arm. It soiled her shirt, her pant leg, and pooled on the floor. It beckoned to him, but he resisted.

Until she asked, in her tender voice, 'Please?' Shuddering, Nachytsm glanced away. He could not deny her if she wanted his help. He shuffled forward amidst the sound of rustling armor.

Maree looked around with her blind eyes as if she were looking for something. When her hands found her husband's face, Maree's face turned upward at him. Another tear rolled down her cheek.

"I cannot ask this of you, Aderas. I cannot. Terra is my world, my home, and I am the one that will bear the burdens that come with it," Maree said to Aderas.

"You have beared the burdens of your home and now it is my turn, my beloved. You cannot carry the weight of two worlds upon your back," she told him as her fingers stroked over his skin, and through the hair at his temples.

"I make this choice for myself, Aderas..." Maree said with her voice wavering into sobs.

"And I will selfishly make this choice for our future. I am not ready to die and leave you just yet, Aderas. I cannot... I cannot."

Maree's gentle hands drew Aderas closer until their lips met again. It was a slow and sensual kiss, one they had not yet been able to share since reuniting. However, there was a tinge of sadness and sorrow in Maree's kiss. She choked on a sob and deepened the passion.

She was going to drown herself in Aderas; in her love for the elven man. It would chase away all the horrible but inevitable events to come, at least for that very short while. His warmth and his heartbeat would drown away all the nightmares to come.

Anaree had avoided Nachytsm most of the day until they were forced back together at the dinner table. As she watched him come closer in the dark, Anaree could see and hear that he still wore his armor. It made her wonder if he had tended to himself at all.

Anaree, knowing Nachytsm, doubted it. She sighed at the poor state of him. There wasn't much that could truly harm Nachytsm, if he could be at all. He was a strange creature, in the least, to Anaree. There were a great many mysteries surrounding Nachytsm and Anaree wasn't sure if she wanted to learn them all, if any.

"Nachystm," Anaree said as she stood up. She walked toward him and stopped once she was a bare inch from touching his armor. Anaree lifted up a hand and rested it on the piece that covered his chest.

"Take off your armor," Anaree said to Nachytsm. "If you help me with my injury I will see what I can do to help yours. I think its a fair trade..."

"I almost can't believe that my-..." Anaree stopped herself from completing that statement. She let them float unfinished in the air as her fingers ran through the long strands of his black hair.

"I make you uncomfortable, don't I?" Anaree asked in a small voice.

Aderas wanted to fight his wife's words, deny what she said and place himself in that position. It destroyed him to see her hurting so. But she spoke with such conviction, he could not bring further sorrow upon her by arguing about so terrible a thing. When the time came, he would take action. He would not see her soul destroyed by taking an innocent life.

When Maree kissed him, Aderas closed his eyes to delve into it. He played one hand across her back to pull her in more closely. With the other he stroked her hair, running his calloused hand down the length of her silk covered back. He touched her lip briefly with his tongue, but he did not press forward.

Instead, he broke away. He did not leave her, but he distanced himself from the kiss. He placed one warm hand upon her cheek and stroked her chin with his thumb.
"Am mathanuon," he said, deep and earnest. "Let us join in a moment of peace... take the first step to rid you of sorrow. Bring joy back to your life." He brought his lips to hers again, warming himself to what they would do.

Nachytsm stopped himself when Ana almost walked right into him. He was taller than her by a good amount, so it was easy enough for him to just look forward and ignore her until she asked for his help. He tried to make it look like he was just keeping an eye out.

She had other plans in mind, though. She told him to remove his armor. She said she wanted to tend his wounds, too. He grimaced at the thought. Likely she thought his only wounds were those recently inflicted. How would she know that he still bore the damage of a battle he had nearly lost?

"I'll... be okay," he said, his voice deep, though surprisingly clear. He couldn't take off his armor even if he wanted to, besides; usually he had Molko, or in more dire circumstances, Al'Kaera help him, if he even decided to take it off at all.

Nachytsm was about to ask 'her what' when she asked another question of him, first.

"Er. Well," he grumbled. "Not... used to women." It was honest enough. She didn't need to know how he felt about her in particular.

It was all he could do to ignore the scent of Ana's sweet, warm blood so close to himself. He wanted to taste her again, but he knew he could not. He had to keep in control. If he didn't see it, it didn't exist anymore.

It had been decided. The one she was bonded to would bring another life into the world with her, and yet they would have to destroy it. Maree's heart was shattered. Her own carelessness now caused her to pay the price of taking Aderas's first child away from him. Not only his first child, but hers too.

"Li mathanuo la," Maree whispered against Aderas's lips as her answer. "Having you near always brings joy into my life." Her hand pressed against the middle of his chest. She could feel his heartbeat beneath the palm of her hand. Her own heartbeat matched it.

"I will be with you, Aderas Keegan, my bonded," Maree said to her husband. After her consent was said, the woman's hand began to wander on his body like they had not in the past. The dip and rise of his muscles beneath his clothing made Maree curious of Aderas. Her soul ached at not being able to see him in that moment. Maree could not deny the sensuality of not being able to see him, either. She seemed more attuned to him than before and it made the moment more intimate.

Maree's arms wrapped around her husband and slipped beneath his shirt. Her fingers trailed over the flesh of his back. And then Maree stopped and pulled away from Aderas.

"It will be a son. My kind always give life to sons first, and then daughters," Maree told Aderas. Her eyes drifted down in acceptance. The child would likely die even before it was born into the world.

"I know," Anaree said, "I know..." She untangled her fingers from the man's hair.

"Stay here," she told him. Anaree, despite her injury, walked over to an old wooden stool used to milk cows at one point. She placed it right in front of Nachytsm and stood on it. They were at eye level and Anaree had to avoid looking at him in the eye.

"I know you are injured under all this armor. You tried to help me in the way that you could and now I am going to try to help you. It is what..." Anaree's eyebrows drew together. "It is what friends do for each other," she finished lamely.

Without asking for permission, Anaree slipped her slender fingers beneath Nachytsm's armor. She began to relieve the man of the adorned burden. It had been removed by her before so Anaree knew how to take each piece off of Nachytsm.

She took her time and was careful with Nachytsm's armor. Her touch was gentle and tender. The entire process was silent for Anaree and she was severely focused on being extraordinarily gentle with Nachytsm.

When it was all over and done with, Anaree gasped as she remained standing on the stool. He looked dreadful. Her dark eyes roamed over Nachytsm and suddenly it was difficult to see him. Anaree's vision swam in her eyes. She was crying.

"These are not just from this morning, Nachytsm," Anaree said before she bit down on her lip. It had been trembling and it needed to stop. Her eyes fluttered up to his for a split second before she watched her own hand reach out to touch him.

Anaree winced before she was able to touch Nachytsm. A small cry hummed between her lips before Anaree held her wounded shoulder.

Al'Kaera's eyes shifted briefly when Maree spoke words of love to him in his own language. She seldom spoke in it, but when she did it was always a pleasant surprise. It was more meaningful, especially now that so few were left who knew it.

Her hands wandered his body. It was a strange sensation, but not unwelcome. She spoke again, and he wished that he could look into her eyes. They both anticipated this evening. Al'Kaera looked upon it with mixed excitement and worry.

When she pulled away, he took her hands in his own to stop her leaving him entirely. "Do not fret over our child, love," he said to her. Bringing her back to him, he wrapped his arms around her waist and back. Softly, he brushed errant strands of hair away from her lips before he kissed her once more.

Then, he stood and lifted her into his arms. "Let us... make our union at long last true." There was no longer a ritual or rite for him to perform, no family or council to request askance of. Only Al'Kaera and Maree existed in that moment, so far as he was concerned.

He took her from the dining chamber, holding her as if they were newlyweds. He had made sure that one of the bedrooms was cleaned and prepared earlier in the day.

Nachytsm had intended to tell Ana to stop. He didn't think, even in its state of disrepair, she would be able to remove it.

He was wrong. He didn't understand it. After removing his shredded cloak, each piece of armor came off just as easily, like she had worn it herself. Nachytsm began to tremble, silently looking at her in surprise. He finally recognized those fleeting, familiar glances. His long dead wife had acted like this, long ago when they first began to grow on eachother.

But she had known what Nachytsm was. Ana did not. He couldn't let her be longing for him like that.

Nachytsm had been thinking about this when Ana finally removed the last of his armor. Some of it, he knew, would need to be repaired before it could be fitted back to him.

The clothes underneath looked ancient. They were tattered, torn, forever dyed in blood. More than a little of it was probably Nachytsm's. The clothes did little for him, when it boiled down to it. Their sole purpose was to keep his armor from chaffing him. Every muscle, every curve of his body, could be seen through them. He almost may as well have been naked.

He did not smell particularly good, either. It was likely he had not removed that armor in weeks, and bathed in an even longer time. It was a scent of blood mingled with his own natural, male musk.

The man shuffled nervously for a moment as Ana looked at his body. Tears welled up in her eyes as she accused him of being harmed.

She cried. Nachytsm had few weaknesses, but a woman's tears were something he could not deal with.

Before he knew what he was doing, he stepped forward and wrapped his arm around her, burying her face in his chest.
"No," he said. He was still trembling almost imperceptibly, but he could not let her cry for him.
"Not for me," he rumbled out. "Not worth it..."

Anaree exhaled against Nachytsm's chest and closed her eyes. Her fingers clutched to the rags of his tunic until her knuckles turned white. It hurt to have him hold her but Anaree didn't utter a single sound of discomfort. He had never held her before, not like that.

It was then that she knew she loved him. Anaree loved Nachytsm.

"You are an idiot," Anaree whispered against the battle worn man. She slipped out of his arm and stepped off the stool. Anaree used the back of her hand to wipe away her tears.

"Take those rags off," she told Nachytsm as she turned away from him. Anaree walked back over to the saddle bags and hastily dug around for what she needed. Eventually she pulled out a white bandage. Her shoulder was quickly wrapped in a crude way and tied with a knot. It would do for the moment. She could bear the pain of her shoulder but she could not bear the pain of seeing Nachytsm like he was now.

Anaree went over to the rusted bucket and turned it over. The inside was still good, still silver and intact. She filled it with cold water. Anaree set it beside her stool and then went back to the saddle bags.

She came back to Nachytsm with a clean cloth and a bar of kudzu soap. Anaree was going to be sure to thank Dejah when she was her next; if she ever did.

It was hard to concentrate and keep her eyes the same color for Anaree. Looking at Nachytsm is such a state created all kinds of conflicting emotions inside of her. They were pulling her every single direction and Anaree didn't know if she was going to split into a million pieces or remain in turmoil each time she was around Nachytsm.

She dipped the soap and cloth into the freezing water. Anaree stood back up on her stool and began on Nachytsm's face.

"You are to never, ever, let yourself look like this again, do you hear me Nachytsm?" Anaree said to him, looking directly into his eyes. She wasn't going to look away until he answered and Anaree wasn't going to allow him to look away either. Her fingers wrapped around his chin to hold his gaze on hers. Anaree's shoulder ached and her arm trembled. She didn't know if it was due to the pain or other things.

"Promise me, Nachytsm," Anaree said.

The silence that descended for a moment between them deafened Nachytsm. He had nothing to focus on. Nothing he wanted to focus on, anyway. He found himself staring intently at the horse, happily and obliviously chewing away at something or other.

He could smell Ana well now. He didn't want to, but he could. Not just her blood, but her natural body scent as well. The two aromas intermingled and made a heady bouquet that Nachytsm had to resist.

And if he wanted to, he could still see her. Ana had bled freely, down her arm and her body. Her blood was on him, now. But it was all worth it. She had stopped crying. Nachytsm didn't know why he thought that would work, but it did.

He stared at her for a moment when she escaped his grasp, as if he didn't want her to have left it. And then she ordered him to remove his clothing.

His eyes widened. He didn't have a particular problem being naked. He'd fought battles completely naked before. He'd walked through towns and villages in his bare glory. He knew, by Ana's following actions, what her intentions were. She wanted to clean him, something he had not been able to do himself yet.

But it still sparked a horrible, wonderful feeling in his gut. Looking down at himself, Nachytsm mumbled wordlessly and simply ripped the shirt off. It had practically been to the point of falling off on its own anyway.

His bare flesh was covered in scars from innumerable battles. More fresh looking wounds were surrounded by caked on blood. Rippling muscles showed beneath that across his form. He had little body hair, save for a line of chest hair that traveled down his navel.

He decided against removing his leggings. He felt strangely self-conscious revealing himself to Ana. It did not help him that he was feeling the first faint pangs of a... stirring. He fought that with every fiber of his being.

When Ana returned to him and demanded he never let that happen to him again, he had no choice but to look into her eyes. She held his chin firmly. Nachytsm could have escaped her grip, if he wanted... but he did not want to.

His eyes had no color. They were and always had been pitch black.. aside from when he entered a rage.

"I... I can't," he said. "Fighting is what I do," he replied slowly. His heart was thumping. Her bloodied hand was clasped around his chin, and the smell was intoxicating him.

"I didn't say to not fight," Anaree said sighing away her frustration and sadness. For the briefest of moments the girl's eyes dropped down to his mouth. A curious and raging urge wanted her to just lean forward the few necessary inches. Anaree blinked and began to wipe away the blood, dirt, and grime away from Nachytsm's face.

"You can still fight but you have to take care of yourself too, Nachytsm. I won't allow you to go around looking like this anymore, and I want you to promise me that you will take better care of your body to the best of your ability," Anaree said as she gently but firmly took away the filth around his eyes.

Anaree receeded into her thoughts as she washed Nachytsm. It was an easy method of dunking the cloth in the water, standing back on the stood, and removing the caked blood on him. Her strokes were tender but rough when a particularly thick cake of dark matter stuck to Nachytsm. Anaree did his neck, shoulders, his remaining arm, and then down to his chest.

Her eyeslids dipped to conceal the change of her irises. They had turned to the darkest shade of blue imaginable once more. Anaree felt a strange enthrallment overcoming her senses as she watched droplets of water slide down his chest. The girl's eye dilated so drastically that her eyes almost matched Nachytsm's in color.

Anaree paused. She was breathing like she had just ran miles and miles. Her body trembled. There was a noticeable ache and want deep inside her core. It was the first time Anaree had ever felt anything like it in her life. She wanted to wrap every inch of her flesh around Nachytsm's. Anaree thought about how it would feel to have his muscles working above her body as they-...

Anare blinked and dropped the stained cloth in her hands. She looked over the mostly clean Nachytsm in wonderment and amazement, but her face was perplexed too. She was attempting to understand something inside her mind.

Slowly, ever so slowly, Anaree bent down while her eyes locked onto Nachytsm. Her gaze feasted on him and commited each detail to her memory as her hand reached out for something near.

Her fingers wrapped around the pail and Anaree stood up again. She ran her tongue along her lower lip to wet it before she dumped the bucket of freezing water over herself. Anaree gasped and dropped the metal pail as she stood soaking wet in front of Nachytsm.

She took a few deep breaths of air and laughed.

"Okay," Nachytsm had stated dully. "I... promise." He didn't know what he owed the young woman to make him promise that, but Ana was... helping him, at least, by cleaning him.

He took it upon himself to remain completely silent. Still. Eyes dead forward. The smell of the soapy water was helping cloud the overlying blood. The cold water on his skin helped him, too.

He just had to remain in control. He was fine, for a while. She finished with his face, then his neck, shoulders. His arm. He felt a pressure building as she worked down his chest. He fought against that thought. Fighting was all he knew, when it boiled down to it. She would have been able to feel his heart beating as she worked. That was one thing he could not hide, try as he might.

Ana was dabbing above his navel when the chill of the rag left his body for longer than usual. Nachytsm gulped, looking down at the girl. She was just looking at his body. Her eyes were... almost like his. Nachytsm blinked. Before he worked up the nerve to say something about it, she had dumped the entire bucket of water on herself.

Nachytsm stared at her dripping body for a moment before she started to laugh. He didn't get the joke.
"Er," he mumbled. "S'posed to scrub first, not rinse." Given what a good job she had been doing on his body, he wondered why she did that. Without even taking anything off.

He decided not to think about that last part anymore.

Anaree gave Nachytsm a mischievous smile and nodded in a sage-like manner. She stepped off the stool and picked up the bucket. It was easy to fill it from the tap and carry it back over to Nachytsm. She stood back up on the stool. Anaree lifted the bucket above her head as she gained a few more inches by standing on her tiptoes.

Anaree dumped the bucket of freezing water on Nachytsm and dropped the pail again.

"There. Rinsed," she said to him. She softly laughed and let her feet fall flat. It left her at eye level again with Nachytsm.

"Can I tell you a secret, Nachytsm?" Anaree asked him. She didn't wait for his reply before she mustered up all her courage. Anaree took in a deep breath, took Nachytsm's face into her hands, and closed her eyes.

Anaree kissed him. It was nothing like when Dhaelhel had kissed him. It was soft, uncertain, and yet demanding for him to respond to her. But before he could accept or deny the kiss, Anaree pulled herself away from him.

"I-..." Anaree failed to say what she wanted. "I care for you Nachytsm. You are a good person. I know it is strange to hear it from a person that you barely know, but believe me when I say that I feel like I have known you for a very long time. I wasn't sure if I did care about you but now, being here, I know that I do." The words all came out in a rush and left Anaree breathless.

The barn suddenly became cold. Anaree hugged her arms across her breasts. Maybe dumping cold water on her was a bad idea. She had done it to clear her head but it hadn't worked beyond those few scant minutes. Just being near Nachytsm made the confusion come back ten fold. If only she could tell him her terrible secret.

'Nachystm, we've known each other for three hundred years. You've watched me grow up ever since I was born. You are my best friend and I wish that you would be my lover...'

Anaree sighed and felt vulnerability crawling into her heart.

Having had the water dumped on him as well, Nachytsm simply sat there. That made sense. He could sense Ana was being playful about it, but he told himself it only made sense to rinse him off after scrubbing him with soap. That was all there was to it. All there was.

Nachytsm was almost panicked. He had to say something. He started to open his mouth to speak, but Ana got to it first.

She kissed him. It was nothing like Dhaelhel, lusting and forceful. No, Ana's lips were timid, soft. Inviting. It made Nachytsm's head spin. Ana pulled away from the stunned man before he could even think of a response.

She said she cared. She couldn't care. Even if she felt she did, she couldn't care for him.

Nachytsm's throat was dry when he managed a response. "You can't. You can't... care about me. I'm a monster. I've done... terrible things." It was the most she'd heard him speak since coming back to the time period. Nachytsm's head, despite the spinning, felt remarkably clear.

That scared him, too. Lear wasn't bothering him. He was alone. He was thinking for himself, with no external influence, and he knew what he wanted. He knew he couldn't take it. She had no idea what he was, so he had to tell her.

"I'm a Demon." He looked away. He could tell she was shivering from the cold. He wanted to comfort her. Warm her body with his own. Heal her still untended wound.

He focused on that, suddenly. "You're still hurt," he said, not meeting her eyes. "You want my help or not?"

"I know what you are Nachytsm," Anaree said in a quiet tone. Of course she knew him in a different light than he knew himself. He called himself a demon but Anaree shrugged it off as how he felt about himself. She did not realize that he meant it in the literal sense. There was no way that she could accept thinking of him as a demon. No possibility.

When he asked if she wanted his help or not, Anaree nodded.

"Only if you want to help me, Nachytsm," she told him. Anaree looked at her shoulder. There was red leaking through the cloth already. She was feeling lightheaded but Anaree figured at it was due to Nachytsm overwhelming presence.

"It's really not that bad," Anaree said. "It just keeps tearing open. I hurts but its nothing I can't stand. I'm sure you've had worse..." Her eyes looked over his numerous scars. It was an understatement. She knew that he had had worse injuries. Nachytsm was missing an arm after all.

And yet, even thouh Nachytsm was marred beyond anything Anaree had never seen in her life... he was... beautiful to her. She could see beyond the scarring and into the man beneath. At least that is how she felt. Anaree was still young and naive when it came to emotions. Her eyes had not yet been opened up to the nature of the bestial man but she thought she knew him well enough to judge her inner feelings.

Anaree's fingers carefully pulled away wet strands of Nachytsm's hair out of his face.