Closed [The Dust Bed] Calls Best Left Unanswered

[Kaie]

Fall 20th, 514 AV
18th Bell

Ah, free at last, The Myrian thought with a deep exhale of relief as she waded gently through the brush. Every few steps her boots found the withered spine of a fallen leaf, whose crackling made her cringe each time. It was tricky business, remaining quiet through the thick, dry forests of Sylira. The jungles of Falyndar certainly had their own challenges, but the moist climate kept grounded foliage soft and strong when they bent beneath her. It was far easier, too, moving silently through the rain forest with bare feet against cool dirt. Yet dwelling on the advantages she'd have in her homeland wouldn't keep her carelessness from scaring off potential quarry. At least once she set a few snares and vacated, she wouldn't have to worry much about such follies. If Caiyha looked fondly upon her that evening, she'd find a lifeless rabbit looped in at least one trap come morning. She had an inkling she'd be needing the rations soon...

It was only a budding feeling at first. As the days went on the nervousness grew along with the unbridled violence in the streets. Her own hands had been far from clean in that ordeal. Since the true chaos had erupted from the bowels of the sea like the abominations that bred it, there had been a clambering for power that came in the form of resources. Namely, food. Ruby had always done a fine job with providing meals for her stars just as she did with her guards. The Myrian didn't doubt her clout within the city to gain what she needed either. The unrest she had experienced in Sunberth this time had been of another sort, though. Any foreigner could feel the danger brewing, blind as they may be to which angle it may strike. And though she still couldn't untangle details from the grand scheme of things, Kaie refused to be caught unaware.

Good a spot as any, She thought to herself as she spied a section of grass leading toward the thickets: an obvious running path. The Myrian kneeled into the dirt, the gladius strapped to her hip unsheathed and stabbed into the ground beside her. Fingers reached back toward her pack to grasp the wound up collection of wire. Not a twitch up this time. Squirrel pole will take too long. Best we stick with something simple. The wire was measured out before her, a visual exercise to decide how much she should use. Her hands went to search the tall grass for fallen sticks to utilize. And then everything stopped.

She was frozen, paralyzed like a deer trapped within the gaze of a predator. In a sense she was. Amber eyes slowly drifted upward from her previous task to find what made her hair stand on end, and fingers extend silently for the handle of her blade. No barbarian needed to explain to her what animal wore the shaggy, grey hide that laid in her sights. Through the thickets ahead, perhaps two dozen paces away, a smallish wolf snuffled at the ground by its feet. Her heat trumpeted in her chest. It would seem the beast hadn't found her just yet. Flashes of bared fangs and malicious barks replayed in a not-so-distant-memory. She grasped her gladius and slipped it from its filthy sheath. Not today, you petching mutt, She cursed to herself. As if its ears were sensitive enough to hear her violent thoughts, the wolf snapped its head up in her direction. The Myrian held her breath. Then she heard the howl.

Her first instinct was to run, to dash toward Sunberth or hole up in high in a tree before the weight of the pack could fall upon her with a vengeance. Instead she turned to stone...and not a single bone in her exotic body had a reason why. The wolf's ears perked to the symphony of calls about the woodland, some closer than others, and lifted its head to add its own verse to the chilling song. The Myrian's lip curled and her muscles tense, blade presented before her in preparation for blood. However, the wolf never charged. In fact, it never gave her so much as a second glance. With a flick of its tail it had turned on its heels and trotted toward one cry in particular back toward Sunberth. And without the faintest idea why her very spirit had willed it so, Kaie too wandered toward the howl.

[Aider Silander]

It was already late as Aider stood out in front of the Dust bed. Waiting for his contact to come. His hands were tucked in his pockets, cloak wrapped tightly around him. A yawn escaped his lips. "Why is he late..." he said as he began to paced around in front of the graveyard. "This place was his idea. He's the one who wanted to meet here so where was he" he grumbled. He heard the faint howl of a wolf out in the distance. He shook his head, turning his eyes to the streets as he crossed his arms. "Where is this boot licker of Uphis at" he grumbled. He rolled his neck, leaning against one of the walls. His knuckleduster wrapped tightly around his hand, it was the only thing that he had that was easy to carry and easy to use. It wasn't to hard to swing and hit someone and with the duster it made his strikes more deadly. But he hadn't really had the chance to use it. The chance to feel it connect with someones face. He looked up into the sky. Violence had become part of his life living here.

The man had adapted to his surroundings. Taking to defending himself and fighting drunks in the street. The way this city worked was different then his hope. Everything was straight forward, there was no mystery aside from rumors and lies. The spiritual feeling that was his home was now little more then a faded memory in the Nykians mind. The night was setting in, and he didn't want to be left out to late. His eyes turned to the graveyard itself. "This petcher isnt coming" he said with a grumble. He walked inside, his boots hitting the dirt with a thud. Frustration was setting in one the mans mind. Annoyance that his contact hadn't showed up. That he wasn't going to get paid.

He was wandering aimlessly. Following something that was drawling him to a certain point. He stopped his eyes looking up from the ground. Before him sat a wolf. Is this the one that called earlier? he wondered. He crouched low, hiding behind a gravestone. He peered out from behind it. The wolf didn't move, instead another one came to join it. Aider's brow rose in question. Just two? Didn't wolf's travel in packs? he thought to himself. His eyes remained locked on the wolves that now shared the graveyard with him tonight.

[Kaie]

There was never a moment when the thought to ask what or why entered her head. The notion itself seemed irrelevant, useless even to question. Although her actions were far from orthodox in the eyes of the everyday person, quite the opposite was true for the Myrian. It was a natural, thoughtless reaction.

Perhaps it was Syna's descent into the depths of the horizon, whose bursts of orange and pink across the sky signaling the coming of Akajia's reign, that was to blame. The arriving night that appeared in the form of gathering blues of twilight sparked her flame. The budding darkness swelled something primal in her very soul. It was like it was a part of her. She supposed it must be so. Her clan's connection to the evening was an unusual but deeply rooted one. So deeply rooted was it in the Cutthroat Shadow histories and customs that it practically ran in their blood. And with the awakening of her inner animal, she knew it to be true.

Her stalk was textbook to that of her people. Her heels hit the earth first in their attempt to limit sound, knees were bent low, and body given a slight forward lean. The gladius in her right hand was employed to push away the shrubbery that provided obstacles to her mission. All the while her amber eyes were fiercely locked upon the animal of her fixation. It wasn't so unlike her tendencies as a child back in Falyndar, when she would dart through the jungle watching the creatures of her environment in their element. Studying was probably a better description. The Cutthroat Shadows strongly believed much could be learned from observing the animals around them. In them, it was said, one could find strength in their unique traits. Shouldn't it be so for the animals of the barbarian world?

Already she was discovering the wolf she followed to be different from its especially murderous Ravokian counterpart. It trotted before her for some time, taking her for a ride through the dark forest toward the unknown. Then, as if sensing an urgency in the air, its pacing turned to a jog. Kaie, feeling apparently bold, broke into a run to keep up at the sacrifice of her stealth. She clutched her gladius in the event things turned sour. Though this wolf appeared docile or careless to her presence (if it hadn't noticed her before it surely did now), she knew better of the natural world than to trust it. Not even once did she question the distance traveled or where she might end up. There was only the stalk of the mysterious animal, and the study of it that captivated her mind.

Before long she broke into a clearing. Like a ghost, the wolf itself vanished. Gone was her grey-furred guide from view, which was probably aided by the unusually thick mist that began to suffocate her. The Myrian paced into its mouth in search of the wolf. Several ticks in and she seemed to come to her senses. Then she was turning, twisting around to check her back and dashing the sword defensively before her to ward off any would-be attackers. The toe of her boot knocked against something hard, and she'd been damn near close to face planting over the thing. Upon crouching down she stared at the stony object. Kaie didn't need to know how to read to know what the mossy, neglected piece of shaped rock was: a tombstone.

Where the petch have I gotten myself?

The Myrian whipped around several times, suddenly realizing her rotating before had made her lose her bearings on direction. Which way was the forest? Which the city? Where is the wolf? Am I alone? Were questions that tore through her mind. The last was answered when her nervous pacing bumped her into a humanoid body. Upon rebounding from the unidentified person with her in the thickening mist, Kaie gave a defensive cry and raised her sword.

[Aider Silander]

It was like the nights of his home, creepy and unexplained. The mist had gotten thicker without the young Nykian noticing. The twilight created by the two lover gods had shone a mysterious light down on the graveyard where the man sat. The wolfs practically vanished within it almost like spirits. His head turned quickly, looking for anything that he could actually see. The tombstones around him, a light and kind of path that he could find. But there was nothing but mist that greeted him. With his knuckleduster tightly wrapped around his hand he stood. His feet planted firmly as he began to walk through the mist. Hunting, searching for a way out. It probably was not his smartest move. The man reacting on instinct rather then knowledge. Traveling blindly into the mist was a good way for the young man to get attacked, robbed and left for dead. His body would not be found until the mist had cleared or a grave tender had come. A loud sigh escaped his lips. It was hopeless, he felt as if he was just walking in circles.

"Maybe I-" he said, being cut off by the human like body that bumped into his. Then the scream that came for behind him. He stepped back quickly, lifting one hand out as a sign to stop and his other one was held back, ready to strike if he could. "Hold! I am not your enemy" he shouted quickly. Hoping that his assailant would stop. "I am Aider Silander, I've come in search of someone." Gods willing he would not feel the wind from a blade or worse. The only thing he could hope was that who ever it was was willing to listen to reason. Or at least was willing to share the way out. Even if it cost him. Gold was no where near the mans life.

The mist dissipated slightly in front of him. The figure of a woman tall in stature appeared before him. A sharp sensation smashed into the mans chest. His muscles felt like they were squeezing down on him. The tan skin slowly showing through the mist as Leth rose into the sky. "Kaie?" he said, a ting of surprise in his voice. He could not tell if it was really her. His fear of being struck down kept him from approaching, or even moving at all. The mans only true danger before moving to the city is when she was around. Not that he cared. The potential danger was something he had grown a taste for as well as her company. To him even if it meant he might die, it was worth it to spend time by her side.

An echoing howl could be heard in the distance again. But the man did not move his eyes. Leth was slowly climbing into the sky. The mist blocking a lot of the light that he provided the two. The man's breathing was steady even though his body was clutched by fear. He managed to shift so his stance was more centered. His feet spread apart at an equal length. He stood up but was relaxed. Trying to show his companion that he was no threat to her.

[Kaie]

It was a wonder her reflexes were quick enough to stop her assault. The blade jerked to a halt still well above her head before she committed to the downward swing. Amber eyes widened with bewilderment, and for a moment she almost tripped again on the tombstone when she went reeling back. She lowered the sword and sheathed it with a frustrated groan. "Gods dammit, Aider!" She hissed at him with a scowl. A glance was offered toward the mist around them but no searching yielded a hint of her furry guide. "I could've petching killed you!" She throw a half-mocking punch into his shoulder with her right fist.

Oh how petching poetic, Her mind jeered dryly as she took in the irony of the situation. The first time she'd met the Nykan was in the godsdamned mist. It was only right she'd rediscover him within the wretched city the same way. "You were right, Aider. It's like the gods are laughing at us." The Myrian turned on her heel at the sound of the howl, but the single call was not alone. Farther off she heard the calls of its brethren and wondered which could've been the wolf she'd followed before. No longer was she in her animalistic trance, not with Aider in her presence so vulnerable with her in their blindness. Still there seemed to be no clue of direction. In fact, she could hardly find Leth.

Kaie turned toward Aider again, and as if no thought had come over her before she acted, stepped forward until she was close enough and kissed him. It wasn't one of much length. Just a few moments so that her hands could caress his jawline and the side of his neck. Then she pulled away and looked about the unknown. "Well, if you're really planning on staying in my city, Dira take me if you die on my watch." Her left hand touched against the back of his right shoulder once she'd moved to flank him. "Best not to lose each other in the mist. Do you know where we are? Which way is out?"

[Aider Silander]

He chuckled at the Myrians words. "Could have killed me again. For the what? Third time now?" he said the smile wide on his face as he watched her sheathed her blade. Something he had gotten used to now. It made him wonder though if one day she would not sheath it. Instead if she would drive it down into his skull. The image vanished when he felt her fist hit his shoulder. He stepped back with his right foot and rubbed his shoulder. His stomach had already been filled with butterflies but the feeling intensified when she spoke. He let out a happy sigh as she spoke of the gods.

"They are. Maybe its because you follow them and allow them to help guide you and I don't?" The statement coming off as a joke. But a truth remained in it. After all the mans years and close encounters with the Myrian and in the city itself. He still offered up no praise to the gods. No asking for guidance or deliverance. It was not that he did not believe. He just chose not to pray. He turned his head in the direction he thought the howl was coming from watching in the mist just in case. He was ready to fight if he had to. His gaze turned back toward Kaie as it went quiet again. He went to speak but was cut off as she turned and planted her lips on his. He pushed back against hers for the brief moment it lasted.

Her hands sliding down his jawline and then his neck made him shiver. The moment took him by surprise. He stood there staring at her for a chime. The woman who had vanished from her own room the morning after the night that they had shared. He could not help but feel confused for a moment. His feelings fighting against each other as he stood there. Before she spoke again, saying something about Dira. He shook his head and looked at her. Then she had moved, her hand against his shoulder. He turned his head to look at her. With a simple nod he said "Kind of. I believe this place is called the Dust Bed. I remember how I came in. Though it maybe harder to tell with this fog."

He began to move, making sure to walk slow enough for her to follow and to make sure they did not run into anything. The mist did nothing to help the man find his way. They walked together dodging tombstones here and there. One of his hands extended slightly to find anything major to guide them. But there was nothing. Chimes pasted as they walked before he finally stopped and turned back around to face her. "This petching mist is not helping. I can not see anything I recognize through it." A look of frustration crossed the mans face. This is not where he wanted to be with her. Stuck out in the graveyard with something around them that they could not see.

[Kaie]

To his accusation the Myrian offered a guilty grin and rolled her amber eyes up at him. So she might've sneaked up on him a time or two. The one time she tackled him, mistaking him for a vulnerable stranger travelling alone in the woods, was an honest mistake! Could she really be blamed for her caution in such a barbaric world so different from her own? His deduction about the gods and their will was rather curious, though. Maybe there was something to it, some sort of cruel irony of some sort mere mortals like them were too ignorant to understand. After all, what could they really be? Star-crossed lovers? Her thoughtless kiss upon his unprepared lips certainly didn't help dispute the ridiculous idea.

"The Dust Bed?" She echoed curiously, glancing about through the fog with little gain. With each of his steps she was close behind, her fingers moving to wrap around his thick bicep instead. Once or twice she came narrowly close to knocking herself down over a tombstone or equivalent. Forever they seemed to wander and forever did the mist seem to expand. Even the howling of the wolves had stopped, as if they were naught but eerie ghouls that danced with the dead in the dark like watch dogs.

"You're right. This is useless." The savage woman let go of his arm then and pivoted to face him. She studied him for a tick, face twisting quizzically as she stared up at him. "What were you doing here anyways?" But before he spoke her eyes seemed to change. Kaie bit her lip as she surveyed his figure, then allow her amber eyes to flash up to meet his with a careless sigh. "Oh, I don't even care."


The Myrian lingered closer to him then, hips gliding against his as she diminished the space between them. Breasts pressed against his pectorals, and her fingers spread and ran down his chest until they reached the beginning of his pants. Her tongue raced across the edge of her bottom lip, amber eyes hungry for him. "Well...if we can't see five feet in front of our own faces, neither can anything else." Kaie worked from the top, undoing each button and progressing quickly to the next. Never once did her gaze leave his. When his shirt was open to her, she worked on her own vest. It was only a tick before the single button in the middle was undone. "I want you, Aider," She murmured toward him as the leather slipped from her arms and hit the floor, exposing herself to him. Her heart beat like a drum within her chest, lust overtaking the collective cool usually present in her stare. Kaie leaned upward toward his ear and let the warm of her breath dance upon his neck. "Now."

[Aider Silander]

"The Dust Bed. Home of the people lucky enough to get buried in this shyke hole" he said. Feeling her arm wrap around his bicep. He stopped to catch her as she dodged tombstones and nearly fell or pushed into him. "Why are you out here Kaie?" he asked as they walked before he came to a stopped.

His eyes reflected the same passion he had always had for her whenever she faced him. "We may just have to wait. Maybe the fog will dissipate and we'll be able to leave in a few bells." he said. Watching her look at him with the same face she had every time they ran into each other. Questioning the man ether had a very obvious death wish or craved something more. Craved her even if she refused to see it. He had often wandered out of Nyka for a few days to try and find her. To hope and pray that they would run into each other. To curse the gods and strike out when he could not find her. The hunger that burned in his chest for the Myrian he could not have. The one he loved so deeply that he was willing to face death to get to her. Though it was true that he could have left the city after he ran into her it was impossible. He could not run from her. Not when she was so close. He remembered that night that they spent together often.

He had not the chance to speak before the Myrian spoke out again. Kaie with her foreign was for everything. She stepped closer to him. Her eyes lustful and her fingers hungry. Her hips glided against his and he met them. Her hand raced down the mans chest and to his pants. Her eyes burning with want, and she wanted him. He nodded with her statement only watching as she moved. "That is true." As she worked his shirt open the man stepped closer. His arms going behind her as she undid her own shirt. Exposing her breast to him, and his chest met hers. Pressing against her as she stared into his eyes.

Then she said it, her vest hit the floor and his shirt matched it. His arms drew closer to her as she pressed against him. Telling him she wanted him and now. Aider was not about to refuse her. His fingers grasped onto her rear squeezing and pushing her against his body more. His lips found hers kissing hungry and passionate. His eyes looked back into hers after the furry of kisses. A look she would have only seen on the night they shared together. Hungry and strong. He would slowly lead her to the ground. Using his shirt as a makeshift blanket as he laid her down. His fingers working at her loincloth as he kissed down her waist and hips as he pulled it off. Kissing and placing small nibbles on the inside of her thighs as he worked inward, before his lips found her. The part of her that he enjoyed awhile back. His lips and tongue would go to work quickly. He wanted to hear her voice. His eyes looking up at her as he tasted of her.

[Kaie]

Passion was such a finicky thing for the Myrian woman. It came and it went just like the men in her life. Sometimes they perished on the account of an ambush on the road, a sword in the dark. Other times they left her, alone and tangled within the sheets of the bed they shared with no more goodbye than a tray of bread and wine in a whore house. More often that not, she was the one to leave them in the middle of the night when the deed was done. Perhaps it was due to some twisted independence complex she had going for her, or simply commitment issues. Whatever the case, when passion and lust did burn so very brightly in those curious amber eyes, it did so with intensity. Every second counted, on the battlefield as well as the bedroom. And in that moment with the man who had won her affections, not a tick was meant to be wasted.

The affirmation of his own intentions with a squeeze of her rear and lips upon hers was all Kaie needed. She let their chemistry guide her movements. Her tongue slipped between his lips in time with their rhythm, eyes closed, and hands found a firm placement on his lower back. The fall air rushing through her dark curls was brisk, enough to send shivers down her spine and prick at her exposed flesh. She let him lead her down to the grass, let him disappear with her beneath the veil of mist in the place he called The Dust Bed. Their stares were potent, hungry and animalistic in character. Who wants the other more? they seemed to challenge. It was different from the time they'd passed at Ruby's. There was no alcohol, no suppressed aggravations over recklessness. Tonight they were pure, untainted in their advances. They were made for this moment.

When he found her she let out a gasp, back arching and lips parting in quiet bliss. Tanned fingers laced their way through his short black hair, curling into harmless claws when they pulled back toward her. Soon enough he heard her moaning his name, begging him not to stop until her own cultural mentality got the best of her. Hands cupped beneath his jaw line and she drew him up gently, beckoning him silently with her eyes to come over her. When he did she let one hand rest on the back of his neck and the other upon the elbow he braced the ground with. Then, with a mischievous curl of her lips, her hips met his with a twist, flipping him onto his back and leaving her to straddling him on top. Dark curls cascaded over one shoulder as she straightened up on top of him. Hips rotated teasingly over his pelvis until she'd worked the side ties of her loincloth free, discarding them nearly by a careless toss.

"Now it's your turn."

[Aider Silander]

Craving, passion, lust the man could not tell what was between the two. His lips on her as he twisted and turned his tongue. Only stopping to place a bite or kiss on her inner thigh before he went back to working on her. The man let his mind believe there was something more between the two then lust. Some deep passion that would work out in the end. Her fingers digging and tangling in his hair, the sound of his name from her lustful moans gave him enough convincing that he was doing fine.

His eyes looked into hers. The passion and lust burning in them. He knew it wouldn't be long before the pride in her took over. Fighting against him for a position of dominance and control. He would let her. Let her pull him up to look at her face. Beckon him with her eyes and smile. Pull her closer to him drawling him deeper into his desire. He'd lay beside her and brace himself as she lifted herself onto him. Straddling him and looking down at him with a satisfied look on her face. He was hers, everything that belonged to him might as well been her. He would give up everything to travel along side her and there was no hiding it. All she had to do was ask.

His eyes watched her as she threw the loincloth that covered her to the side. Now exposed to nature and him. He licked his lips hungrily and lifted his waist to remove the cloth that separated them. Tossing them aside he looked up at her. A defiant look in her eyes. One to suggest he would not give up, not even to her. He may not be her equal in combat and the way she lived her life. But he was not below her by any means. His hands on her hips as he laid fully on his back. His hips pushed up while he pulled her down. Meeting flesh to flesh as he smiled an almost wicked smile. His body moved fluidly, lifting her and pushing against her all at the same time. Bouncing her on his hips as he sat up to meet her lips with his. Biting on her lower lip as he looked into her eyes.

Their lustful dance being the only sound that was heard around them aside from the rustling of trees or leaves on the ground in the wind. He would continue to fight her for power. Letting her take control then taking it away from her. Never fully giving into her will as their bodies met and separated countless times. Her name leaving his lips with every moan that escaped his lips. His fingers gripping her hips as he tilted his head and bit her neck. Moving down it to her shoulder. He would follow it up with kisses up the same path, until his lips met hers again.

He would lift her and flip the two of them over. Laying her on her back again, taking full control over her as they met. He looked down at her, lust in his eyes. His heart pounding in his chest as the feelings of love and pleasure worked along side by side instead of against each other like they usually did. The last time they met playing out in the mans mind only cause him to move with more determination.