And You Thought It Was Okay? (Vanator)

[Khiara]

Sitting in the mud, uncaring of the rain steadily soaking her hair and clothes, Khiara didn't want to feel like this again. Vanator's words only tore at her heart, making her feel even worse. He felt bad, he was sorry. She knew this, and mostly she felt like he deserved to feel like that. But the sincerity in his voice and the sorrow in his words made the vantha feel like the bad guy. Almost doubled over where she sat, the brunette felt the warmth of his body as the golden skinned man tried to shelter her from the rain. It was futile, as the sky rumbled loudly a fresh sheet of water fell from the clouds. The young woman felt cool water trickling down the inside of her drenched cloak and down her chest. She was dirty, wet and miserable. What a state the new wife of Vanator Denusk was.

The drykas spoke of warmth, begged her to come home to Kashik. Had the first wife already forgiven him? Had she caused such a fuss. Khiara felt little. Was she such a child? Then he said he would sleep somewhere else. He would leave.

"No!" The brunette cried in a panicked sob, grabbing for the mans wet shirt and looking up at him with bright golden eyes. The tears had reddened the rims, but dissapeared amidst the raindrops on her face. Crying, Khiara gripped his shirt tightly and shook her head.

"Please, don't leave. I...I don't want you to leave. I...just...I love you and I don't want to go either." She blurted out between sobs, unable to leave and unable to let him go, even if her instinct was to flee. The rain was cold, and even if she was impervious to the sheering icy winds, her body couldn't fight off the lowering of temeperature the water brought. Shivering slightly, Khiara stared at him, gold fading into a dull tone of violet. Her sobbing subsided a little and her hands let him loose.

"I just want to know that I haven't let go of Eliac for...for nothing. He wanted me to let him go, and to be happy again. But...I can't be happy if what I treasured and abstained from for you...means nothing. Is as common as a greeting peck. I can't be the shamed ice-maiden of the village. A joke. I have lost so much...but I never lost my honor. I never kissed another man before Eliac, or after, until you. My heart was never swayed nor my lips. My body has known no other but you. I feel...as though I've betrayed Eliac, and myself...if you can so easily give up what I so closly treasured." Shuddering again, Khiara closed her eyes with a furrowed brow.

"But I can't leave, and I don't want you to go. It's too much, I can't breathe." She was babbling.
 

[Vanator]

He had crushed Khiara. The couple appeared pathetic, kneeling in the mud, dripping wet. The Vanthan woman's body shuddered as she sobbed, the Drykas man trying desperately to console her. His words only seemed to tear at her all the more. Khiara turned her wet face to him, wide eyes a panicked gold, her hands gripping his tunic and clinging to it. He saw the fear in her face, the frantic confusion and unrestrained emotion as she wept openly, begging him not to leave. It was almost more than Vanator could take, to see the woman he loved so deeply reduced to this state by his own actions. Gold turned to violet as Khiara gathered herself. As she opened her heart, her lilting, pained words cut at him with a knife's edge. Even more than his betrayal of his beloved Kashik, Vanator grieved for how he had shamed Khiara. Her life had been rife with tragedy, loneliness and pain. She had claimed he was her savior. Now, he made those things he did to restore her seem like nothing. Van's stomach tightened, his chest pierced with the realization. He felt helpless to save her this time, as the one who caused her pain. Her hands slipped from his shirt, her eyes squeezed shut. If the moisture that ran down Vanator's face contained his own tears, no one would know. His hands raised to take her face between his palms, his dark eyes waiting to see hers again. "Khi, I never intended to disrespect what you have endured for me, what you have done for me. I never meant to damage your love for me. Gods, we waited so long, had to be apart even when we ached for each other. Yet you waited until we could finally be together. Khiara, that is most precious to me. I was a fool to ever betray that. I love you, I ask for your forgiveness, and I promise on the Cheva's mark on my skin that I will not betray your love or trust again." He took her by the arms, gently, and raised her from the muddy earth beneath them. "Please, come home with me. We can work this out." His hand moved to pull away the strands of dark , wet hair stuck to her face. He wanted to kiss her, to hold her close. But he would not, not yet, not until he was sure she would welcome it.

[Khiara]

Opening her eyes as the golden skinned drykas took her face in his hands, Khiara gazed into the depths of his rich brown eyes - once again noticing the gold flecks that almost indicated the sun was bursting to escape from inside his very being. His warmth and the sincerity in his words cut through her defeated heartache, and her shifting eyes searched his face. She wanted to believe him, more than anything. Shivering again as the cold penetrated her core, Khiara allowed herself to be helped up from the mud. The rain slough over them in gentle waves, dripping off their hair and washing the mud from their bodies.

As Vanator reached up to move the hair from her face, he begged her to come home. The girl felt her anger fading, even if the sting of betrayal still lingered, she loved him more than words could say. And he understood. Now, he understood. Khiara didn't want to fight any more, she didn't want to be upset. Standing in the cold rain, the vantha looked up at the man, remembering the feelings that stirred inside the first time she'd shared a stolen kiss with him behind the tavern. Her breath released little pouts of faint steam as the temperature dropped slightly, but she didn't notice. A feeling of butterflies rose in her stomach as her settling violet eyes glanced from his eyes to his lips. The tears had stopped, even if occasionally her breath would catch a little. The brunette felt as though they were starting again, and again she felt the beat of her heart in her ears. It was like a poison, irresistible and overwhelming.

[Vanator]

Even in the dim light of evening, the liquid swirl of hues in Khiara's vanthan eyes betrayed her emotional turmoil. As Vanator's strong hands gently held his wife's arms, he watched her irises settle into the violet that displayed to him her calming emotions. She still snubbed a time or two, the aftermath of the tears that flowed from a wounded heart. Each one tugged at Van's soul, marking again how he had wronged his young bride. The couple held one another's' gaze for a long moment, each peering into the other as if through candlelit windows on a dark night, revealing what lay within. Vanator shared the moment with Khiara, feeling the same giddiness, as strong as the first time they felt that undeniable connection between them. He remembered the first time he looked into her eyes, having never seen the shifting colors contained in the eyes of the people of Avanthal. That captivating gaze still affected him so strongly, even more so now, for, along with the depth of love that they showed him, her glance also offered a broken heart willing to take him back. In spite of the cold rain washing over him, the drykas felt a comforting warmth course through him as held Khiara loosely. Even as her gaze dropped to his lips, his own took in the smooth, olive skin of her face, her features refined by the grasslands, but still holding the softness of her people. One hand raised again to rest against her face, and with a quick glance back into his wife's bright eyes, Vanator leaned in, carefully, until his lips brushed against hers. They were cool and moist with rain. Pulling away almost imperceptibly, the husband pressed a firmer, impassioned kiss to Khiara's mouth. Holding the long lingering kiss, Vanator finally released her lips, looking up again into Khiara's eyes. The man was overwhelmed. This day he had been humbled, by his wives and by his own shortcomings. The proud, mighty heir of the Denusk Pavilion had been cut down, a victim of his own selfishness. His selfishness had made Kashik and Khiara the true victims. If anything good could be said to have come from the day, it was that he learned in a deeper way how passionately he loved his wives, and how much his wives loved him, in spite of his foolish actions. The man also realized how easily one can fall. Vanator pulled Khiara close against him, wrapping his arms around her. His head tilted down to speak softly in her ear, only loud enough to be heard over the rain. "Khi, I love you, as deep as my soul goes, I love you. Do you, can you forgive me?"

[Khiara]

Khiara breathed softly, tilting her head softly against the warmth of his hand and lifting up in her toes ever so slightly as the sunkissed drykas leant down to brush a featherlight kiss against her lips. Closing her eyes, the girl breathed deeply as he drew her into a firmer lingering kiss, thunder rumbling across the sky. Meeting his gaze as Vanator drew away finally, the young brunette felt her heart flutter. The sound of rain seemed to grow louder and Khiara tucked closer as Vanator pulled her into an embrace. 

As the older man spoke softly in her ear, Khiara wraped her arms around his waist. Still the rain fell, chiling the couple as they stood together in the cold night. Vanators words twisted in her stomach and made her heart beat harder. Did she forgive him? Lifting her head, the vantha smiled slightly.

"I do, Goddess knows I love you too much not to." Lifting her chin, the young woman kissed him gently, followed by another, and another. Each kiss became a little firmer, a little more empassioned. With a small furrow to her brow, Khiara reached up to wrap her arms around his neck and kiss him as though it was their last night together, wet clothing clinging to the chilled curves of her frame. She didn't like fighting, didn't like feeling seperated by the distance their arguement had created. Relief and emotion swamped her, displayed in her actions. 
 

[Vanator]

Vanator looked down into Khiara's eyes with anxious anticipation. Deep was the wound he had inflicted in her, shaking her trust in him, bruising the love they had waited so long to embrace, nurtured so carefully over the past few seasons. Would he forgive him? Kashik had. She made him pay for it, in a way, and Vanator had accepted it to honor his wife. But Khiara was different that his drykas wife. Kash lived and loved hard. Quick to anger and passion, just as quick to submit and forgive. Van's vanthan wife was a complex soul, raised in a culture different from his own. Her emotions ran deep and strong. He had seen her in deep despair and elated joy. Tonight he had seen her in anger and insult. Was she one to hold a grudge against him? A long moment seemed to pass as the rain cascaded down the couple's dimly lit forms, the shadows of the horses moving around them, oblivious to the human's intense interactions. Oblivious except for Vsenri, whose white bulk lingered nearby, watching his mistress. Finally Khiara spoke. Her words were reassuring and welcomed in the drykas man's ears. Her sentiment was emphasized by a soft kiss to his lips, followed by others that increased in intensity. Vanator threaded one arm around Khiara's back, the other reaching behind her knees. With ease the man scooped his wife up into his arms without interrupting their impassioned kisses. Van carried Khi through the muddy arena, holding her close against him until the reached they horse tent. Ducking under is shelter, Vanator carried his wife to a clean, empty stall, a fresh layer of straw strewn across the floor. Breaking away from her kisses and kneeling down, he laid Khiara carefully upon the dry straw, reaching up to drag the stray strands of wet hair stuck to her olive-hued face, glistening with moisture. "Khi, I will never betray your love again." By the light of a lone lantern hanging in the center of the large tent, Vanator leaned in again to kiss her, tugging at her rain-drenched garments to peel them off of her wet skin.

[Khiara]

Lifted in the golden tanned arms of her lover, her friend, her husband - the young vantha allowed herself to dwell in the feeling of relief. She had hurt, had felt betrayal and heartache. But she knew he loved her, and a life without Vanator filled Khiara with a deep sense of pain and aching. Love was never meant to be easy - if she had learnt anything from her tragedies it was that. The drykas man was passionate and wore his emotions so openly for the girl, to deny forgiveness would be foolish. Unbearable. There was no more thought on the kiss, no more anger. What was done could not be undone, and Vanator knew now the complexity of his actions.

Feeling the slightly scratchy straw underneath her, Khiara was grateful for the soft warmth the lantern gave off. Her skin was clammy and a slight shiver caught her as Vanator peeled the wet clothes from her form. Hardy against snow and winter winds, the vantha wasn't designed for freezing wet rain. Ultimatly no human was. It was both colder and warmer as the still air inside the stable caressed her skin. Kissing her husband between the removal of her clothes, Khiara tugged his wet tunic over his head and threw it aside, before her chilled fingers tugged at the swolen ties of his breeches. Water dripped from the braids in Vanator's blonde hair, trickling down her throat and between the soft swell of her breasts to settle with the other beads of moisture clinging to her wet form. 

Finally freeing the ties, the young woman pushed off his leggings and with a soft whisper of undecipherable words in vani, Khiara wrapped her amrs around his neck and pulled the warmth of his damp naked form to her. The heat from their bodies quickly served to drive away the chill in her.
 

[Vanator]

A few years ago, Van would been accused of trying to bury the memory of his dead wife in a blanket of promiscuity. Even his sister had accused him of such. But now, the intimacy he shared with Khiara was as meaningful and binding as any exchange of words they could share. In her soft hands and warm lips were forgiveness, promise and profound love. In his, vows of loyalty, protection and adoration. Thunder pealed overhead like a thousand-strong herd of striders, the rain beating down again on the structure's fabric roof in a muffled roar. Khiara and Vanator made love in the makeshift stall, the air rich with the aroma of horses, leather and the vanthan's moist skin. It was the perfect combined scent for the drykas man, and he inhaled deeply as they shared a long intimate encounter. The voice of the thunderstorm raised with the cries of the husband and wife, riding their final moments of culmination in abandon. A horse outside whinnied powerfully, and Vanator knew it was Vsenri. As he collapsed next to Khiara, panting, painted with rain and sweat and her kisses, he looked over at his beautiful young wife, brushing the hair from her face. They lay in the straw for many chimes, simply holding each other. "I will always love and honor you Khiara, you and Kashik both." He smiled warmly, trying to put behind him the shame he had brought on his wives. "Now, we should go home, before Kashik sends out the Watch to find us!"