Closed Knockin' On Hell's Door.

[Nai'a]

13th of Spring, 513 AV
Evening Time
Valo's Cottage



Nai’a was not sure why her feet were leading her to the familiar cottage, but there was something pulling her there. Maybe it was the fact that her heart still longed for the exotic red haired man, maybe it was because his child grew daily in her womb. The Healer was not sure why she was going there, just knew that she had to. Her heart called out to the man, no matter how hard she tried to make it stop. Their intimate affairs still made her skin burn late at night, when she laid in her bed, lonely, thinking of what they had once shared together. She missed it, but she missed the man’s company more. His presence in her life was a need, not a want. She needed Valo, like the air that kept her body alive, she needed him to keep her alive as well. She could only hope that she would not be met with rejection.

She felt his rejection before, though the words were not spoken, she knew he had rejected her love. He chose another’s bed to warm, another’s arms, another’s body to touch. The jealous made her almost insane with rage, that the woman actually had her Valo for even a little while, made her want to strike out in anger. But she knew she would never be able to harm another, it was just not in her nature, but she still could think about it. She was still a little mad about the rejection from Valo, that he actually chose someone besides her. She was amazing after all, or at least she thought she was, so the rejection hurt a little. Though finding her bondmate at the end of winter, seemed to heal most of that rejection up. He saved her from the insanity of emotions that seemed to have taken her over, he brought her back to her old self. She would be eternally thankful for his love and care.

Finally the Healer had made it to the door of his cottage. Her heart was racing against her chest, like the hooves against the solid earth. Nai’a inhaled a deep breath of the Spring air, trying to calm her racing nerves, her ponding heart. She wanted to see her love, wanted to feel him, to touch him, to kiss him. But she was still worried; worried that he would not want her. He had changed after all, though she still did not completely understand what exactly he was, she knew he wasn’t the old Valo.

Nai’a banished the thoughts, and knocked softly on the door. She waited on the step patiently, waiting for the door to open, and to see her lover standing in the frame of that door. Would she see happiness in those eyes? Or would she see hate?

[Valo]

Suffice to say, Valo's love life was not the most perfect. His very first love was betrayal, having chosen hi sister over him and for what cause? To destroy his family? To cause the young boy artist to forsake his own flesh and blood? The questions unanswered, yet the though still burned within him. a profound hate to wards Kovac. His second real love was his childhood best friend whom he had forsaken, just like he had forsaken his family. Left behind for the dream of Zeltiva. His third was the cause of his death, Weylin, who was now dead, her strider in his possession. His fourth could not bear the thought of the third and he could not bear being without her vivid pink locks, her soft skin, her very wonderful personality. But as much as he feared being without her,he feared being with her for hear beauty boiled his blood. With every touch his self restraint would slip.

But Valo was not without love for there were two things he loved far more than he loved people. Those things for which he'd sacrifice much. The first being Tiva herself. The city he had grown so very much in love with that the thought of leaving her, which already was a plan in his mind, was as much exciting as it was painful. Her granite structures which he had painted so often,once complaining about the fact he had to yet now wishing he could paint just one more time, her bone snapper, her shipyard workers and rolling waves. The trident bore it's eternal mark upon his heart which no longer beat. He would return one day to fall into the loving, outstretched arms of the city, only to destroy her again. An abusive relationship of the worst kind.

The other was his divine adoration, his god who had saved him, Ulrd who's mark now glowed like embers in his eyes. He would start each day with a deep gratitude at sunrise, praying in meditative reverence. And each day he would end with the screaming of how he could further please his god, how further he could take the cause. Hom he might deprive of mortality for the essence of unlife to be breathed into. And on that chosen day, where true mass of the soul could take place, he would turn off his emotion by an invisible switch and succumb to blind craving. A sacrifice for that he loves more than anything.

Valo's love was a strange one. Yes every man needs a woman just as every yin needs a yang. The one woman Valo believed to need was Nai'a who bore his seed. Nai'a who had his child. And he loved her just as much as that new life they had created. A life which bore so much potential to be educated in the ways of his deity, only to join it's father when the age was nigh. A child to be loved and spoiled and cooed over. A child which no doubt would be beautiful just as it's parents were. A family perhaps. Just coss Valo was dead now, didn't mean the prospects of a family were alien to him. The threads of mortality still bound him, even if loosened significantly. And he was not villainous. In fact it was love that caused him to wish his own fate upon others for he believed more than anything that this Returned state was more happiness than the shackled at the feet of humanity. A god who cared for people, unlike Tanora or Lhex who aloof in their obliviousness bore only sadness and age upon humanity. Returning was his own freedom from Tanora, one day he would be free of Lhex also.

In serenity he sat, calm and quiet, eyes closed in focus. This was not yet quite meditation, but a state so peaceful that he may had been slipping in and out of such for a while now. The thought of his love and Zeltiva and Tanora and Lhex and Uldr. All that was a melting pot of pondering in his head. Freely he allowed those thoughts to flow for no wish to withdraw would hinder him.

A knock on the door ripped him from his though. At once he sprung up to his feet in anxiety of whom it might be that calls upon him at such a time. Cautiously he cracked open a slit in the wood, a painful moan as it swung open for beyond was one of his three most beloved. It was not Tiva, nor Uldr, no. This was the pink dazzlement of his most passionate, sensual adoration. His emotional haven. Abruptly he bit on his lip, sending a tear of pain though that clowds of buzzing craving which already sprang forth. No, he would not hurt her. he would not allow himself to.

A flash of discomfort was present upon his bone white feature as a prerequisite to the most jubilant of smiles as the door swung wide open. The host already welcoming Nai'a inside if such she chose. A mask of softness and slight but pleasant surprise. In fact he had been much more animated now that ever before when she had known him. Emotion of happiness and gladness that she was to seek him out, pored from him like light. A welcoming. "Nai'a my love, how good it is to see you again." He acted as if the argument about Weylin was lost to him. As if it never happened. All that was visible was joy.

[Nai'a]

The door opened slowly, cautiously, revealing the man her heart called to. There he stood with his vibrant red hair, and stark white skin. Those beautiful eyes looking slightly shocked to see her standing there, but quickly turned to that of pleasantry, to happiness to see her. This look, this welcoming of the man, melted the anxiety she was feeling inside at being here. His elegant words stroked her ears, rubbing her the right and wrong way, she was through with such mannerisms with the man, that time was over now.

”There is no reason to be with such manners Valo. I think that time is over. But it is such a pleasure to see you again.” Nai’a said, her face calm, smooth. Her words coming out like the easy flow of the Spring River. The Kelvic walked through the door, giving the man a small smile. The contents of the cottage had not changed much. He was still the artist she knew him to be, yet he had changed slightly, and she was not sure what had caused this change. Probably that harlot of his.. Nai’a thought, green with jealously. She did not like the fact that her love had been taken by another. She was still angered at him and her both, but she did not want to start that argument all over again. No she was here for other reasons.

She stood there with her back to the man, stayed there calm and quiet for a full chime, before turning around to look into those eyes of his. ”I came here… Because… Well Valo… I… Nai’a sighed, glancing to the side, concentrating on a small speck on the wall across from her. ”I love you.” She whispered in a soft tone. Placing her hands on her slightly swollen womb, she glanced back at the father of the child growing inside her. ”We love you Valo.” She said with the faint mist of tears shiniing in her dark grey eyes. She was begging him with those eyes, begging him to say the same to her. For so long she wandered the streets aimlessly, with Valo on her mind. Wondering if he loved her, if he cared, even if she did not carry his child, would he feel the same, or was it just because she was with child.

She stood there before the man she loved, the man whose seed gave life inside the garden of her womb. The Kelvic stood tall, proud, and confident. The only shake in her demeanor was the tears lingering in her wide eyes, ready to slip out at any minute. Tears of fear, fear of rejection from the missing part of her heart.