[Stormhold Beach] Sandcastles and Silken Kites

[Nya Winters]

Oddly enough, she enjoyed the time playing with the sand and stretching the proverbial legs of her powers. Nya was done, by this time, sculpting the hills and valleys. She didn't quite have the ability to carve trees, so instead she gathered little bits of seaweed and flotsam that had washed up at the foamline and planted them in the ground around the tower. Then she moved around behind it and began carving on the back side. Shai wouldn't be able to see what she was doing from where he was, but Nya had a plan. With the completion of his city gates, she knew she couldn't compete. So instead, she diverted, going off and doing something she'd always wanted. She hollowed out the tower from behind so she could make the actual rooms in the tower like some sort of sandcastle dollhouse. Nya had always wanted a dollhouse when she was smaller, but her father had thought it too human and her mother thought it something she'd outgrow too fast. Both were probably true in their thinking - but she'd still wanted one. She hadn't even known what they were until her mother had unearthed an old one, crumbling, at one of her research sites. There were dolls for it too, crumbling faceless things lost in the rot of time. The one her mother had recovered had been to fragile to play with, but in Zilvia's patient studious manner, she'd explained to Nya what it was with a sigh. The Kelvic had wanted one ever since. So she carved out the back of the tower, carefully forming the rooms and the staircases, leaving out the inner walls unless they went perpendicular to the back rather than parallel to the back. The truth was Nya couldn't figure out how to make them properly... though the staircases weren't hard - just uneven. As she molded out the rooms, she thought about the memories in them. Some made her smile, and others made her soft moss colored eyes darken with pain. There was so much she hadn't told Abashai. She knew they had a lifetime to share memories together. Some, she hadn't told him because they just seemed unimportant. Others, she hadn't verbalized because they were potentially too painful. Some of them - she just wasn't sure how too. One of those surfaced and bubbled out of her lips - almost unwillingly. But Shai was Shai... and he'd tell her straight. It was something she'd always wanted to know, even if it was going to hurt her. "Shai, before I left Lormar, something had changed. It was... I've talked about this before... but it was like they were afraid of me. My mother and father were always close. I've talked about it before... close like we are." She moved closer to him, to settle at his side for a moment, taking a break from making and using her Res to carve out the inside of the sandcastle tower. "They enjoyed touching too, a great deal, for my father was always willing to go further as is the nature of a stallion. But before I left, something had changed. He was still protective, still often close, but I don't remember him kissing her, touching her.... like they normally did. Zilvia had gotten sick, Shai... more than once. I had asked her if she was okay because she ate almost nothing and if she did she threw it up. I... had that incident, before the herbs, and they locked me in the tower because of Ulvik.... but I didn't understand what was happening. When things were better and they let me out they told me I had to leave. I upset my father and they said I was dangerous. But I never tried to hurt them. I always bowed to his will." She always had. Her father was a formidable male, in either form, and she'd always been respectful. Nya rubbed her cheek against his shoulder, glanced up at him, and asked the question that was on her mind. "Her scent had changed. I don't know what was different about it, but I think it affected my father. Do... you think they made me leave because Zilvia was with child again? That they were afraid I'd hurt her of it? She said she wasn't sick, but I kept watching her get sick.... it doesn't make sense to me otherwise. Because she didn't look ill. She looked healthy, like she was carrying a secret close to her heart." She asked softly, a tiny bit of hurt creeping into her voice. Nya's very human tongue, though Abashai knew it was only a ruse, flickered out and ran up the length of his arm. She nipped the skin there and licked where she nipped. His sleeveless tunic gave her access to his skin and he knew she was tasting him, gathering his scent, calming herself from inner turmoil. Shai knew the problem with Nya, most of her problems in fact, stemmed from the fact she didn't view the world as a human would. Instead she viewed it as a forest cat. They were sociable creatures, prone to take mates for life and to keep their offspring around for years as they matured to help hunt for the kittens. She didn't understand family or even a herd like her mother and father did respectfully. Nya's world included all that Abashai cared for - his friends, his horse, even his things. Her definition of pride was loose, open, willing to be fluid. And she was confident in the ability to protect things within the pride as if they were her own... because in fact they were in a way and in her mind. Her folks wouldn't have seen things her way, regardless of how smart they were. There was no way for them to understand that a young Nya was less capable of jealousy than most - especially for an offspring of her parents. Mates were different. Far far different.

[Abashai]

As Abashai worked on some final details along the length of his sand Yahebah, he glanced over at Nya's creation. It was curious to see her work with such care, knowing that what she built so diligently was so familiar to her. He studied the structure, the hills she had crafted around the tower. It was her home. Somewhere in the Talderian wilderness the actual Lormar Tower stood, still a mystery to him. The Benhsira watched her shift to the back of the pinnacle, working on some fine detail elements he could not see. He smiled to himself as he wiped some sand from his cheek with the back of his hand . Whatever Nya chose to do, she always did with all of her heart. Abashai closed one hand over the other, pooling more res and working to create some small hidden in his palm. When Nya's voice lifted over the rumble of the surf and she slipped down beside him, he closed one fist around his work. The Benshira could feel the pensive mood that eminated from his bondmate, the soft, inquiring tone she used when she wished to pose a question that bothered her. As Nya revealed what laid upon her heart, Abashai wondered how long she had suspected that her mother had been pregnant. Nya had told him she thought Zilvia and her mate expelled her because of the powerful nature of her feline heat cycle, that it made her dangerous. She had never mentioned the possibility of a sibling birth. Nya's licking and nipping confirmed the hurt he detected in her voice. It had taken Abashai some time to learn to understand the subtlties of the Kelvic's touch. There was even a difference in the way she would use her tongue and teeth. This was not the playful sensual affections she showed when they flirted. This was a need for comfort. Nya had told her mate she found comfort in his scent, the feel of his skin and his taste. It was like being hugged by every sense. Running his free hand through her windblown brindled hair, he leaned his head down to rub his cheek against the top of Nya's head before answering her. "Nya, I don't know. It is a possibility I suppose. I know women get sick pretty regularly when they are with child. I don't know about kelvic males, but I have have seen Benshiran husbands act much like Ulvik. They aren't quite sure how to behave around a pregnant wife, I think they are afraid to hurt them or the child. They are very protective though." "It is as natural an instinct in humans as most any species to protect newborns. If your parents made you leave because of a baby, it is was out of love not only for it, but for you too I am sure. I cannot believe Zilvia would make you go unless she felt you were ready, and that you needed it just as much." His hand slipped from her mane to wrap around her shoulder. "They could not know how you would react." He knew at times she was homesick for Lormar. There had not yet been a response to the letter Nya had sent her mother with the trader the previous autumn. He hoped that sometime he would be able to go with her to visit her home. He wondered now if the need for Nya to visit was more urgent. "You know I would go with you anytime to Lormar, Nya." Abashai opened his closed fist and Nya could see in his palm two objects. They were rudimentary figures of stone, one larger than the other, nothing more that ovals with smaller roundish heads on top. Abashai set the rough figures next to each other at the gate of his sandcastle city. He wondered if she would understand who they were.

[Nya Winters]

She listened to him carefully, not only with her ears but with the bond. Studying his sand creation of the massive city of Yahebah, Nya was impressed with both the detail of Abashai's work and the carefulness in which he answered her question. He believed, firmly, in what he said. And regardless of what the reality of the situation was, it made Nya feel better. She was a creature of thought, of deep contemplation - she couldn't help it - but sometimes in that thought she became deeply afraid. When she was younger it was more apparent, because she had been unbonded and in many ways clouded. "Shai, sometimes I wonder what I was really like when I was at home. I want to go back to Lormar Tower, to see them, but I am afraid. We will go together, maybe sometimes soon. Maybe this quest will take us by their doorstep. I would not be surprised if Zilvia had some knowledge that would help us... But I'm not sure if she would." Nya shifted and then settled leaning partially against her bondmate. She didn't look inclined to go back to the sandcastle anytime soon, which meant her attention had waned or she needed a break from it much like any young person would when doing an intensive task. "This is going to sound strange... but I can almost divide my life up into two parts right now. One part was my childhood, before our bond. I think back to it and I remember but it is as if the memories are blurred now. I remember scaring my parents, and in some ways taking great joy in it. I remember the taste of my father's blood, though I cannot see through the haze that blurs how I know what it tastes like. I remember as if someone told me in a tale, Shai, how these little prickles of irritation covered my skin and how strong and powerful and superior I felt. I remember my father going a little crazy, but it was like I was watching it from outside of the situation. We fought and I don't remember why... I thought him weak and diminutive and only a piece of meat for my stomach. It's like I read from a book and only remember half the story." Nya took a deep breath and paused, looking thoughtfully at him. "Its strange that I remember so little of it clearly. I remember everything that has happened to us quite intensely. I think back to that time, just before I left and how bad I was... maybe I would have hurt someone. I could have. I dimly think maybe I wanted too. Zilvia did something to me though, when I got really bad, and wrapped something invisible around me.... holding me... restraining me... and then she sobbed. I'd never seen her cry. It almost makes me cry to remember it. Because then she brought this collar in. It was a huge thing, with three buckles. And she cinched it so tightly around my neck I felt like it was choking me. Then she told me if I shifted with it on that the collar would break my neck." Nya swallowed - glanced up at Shai - and then continued speaking. "They were afraid of the cat. I don't remember them seeing the cat as their daughter, only me the woman... the girl. They had every right to be. The Cat wanted things the girl didn't understand, not then, not like i do now." Nya said softly. "So maybe they were right. Maybe I would have hurt them. Maybe it was time for me to go. I'm glad for it... for all of it, though it hurt badly. it still does. But it was for the best. Yes... for the best." She settled then, stretching out on the sand. It was obvious from her demeanor that she was more relaxed - building the sandcastle with the aid of reimancy was taxing - far harder than she chose to admit. Nya yawned once, twice, and stretched out even further making good use of Abashai's thigh as a pillow. He could tell she was settling in for a customary mid-morning or mid-afternoon nap. There were still kites to fly, and a basket full of food which Nya would most likely want after she awoke from the brief respite she was obviously going to take... that is if she didn't decide to go catch a seagull or two. Fishing wasn't exactly even out of the question, though that involved getting a whole lot wet and having zero results in producing fish (though she suggested over and over again she just needed more practice)... But as she drifted off, probably for a good twenty or thirty chimes... Nya spotted the two stone figures at the gates of Shai's city and smiled. "That's us, Shai... isn't it? That's us visiting your home!" The forest cat said in a sleepy voice punctuated by a yawn. For all that she was his wife, the kelvic was still young, still prone to growing punctuated by napping and insecurity. If Shai didn't pay very close attention as he continued working, Nya would swipe the figures sometime during her nap, secreting them in the little bag in her pack that also contained the first sand Shai had ever created from his very own res.

[Abashai]

Abashai listened to his bondmat's heart, leaning back on one hand to support them both as Nya leaned against him. His other arm still encircled her, his fingers tracing the raised battle scars on her bared upper arm. He would glance down into her eyes thoughtfully when she turned to look at him, but held his peace. Nya often worked her thoughts out as she revealed them to her mate. As close as they were, aspects of his Kelvic bondmate still perplexed Abashai. Nya spoke of her childhood as any human would, as a distant memory. Abashai would have to reach back more than twenty years to his childhood. But the woman resting against him was barely four years old. It was beyond him to understand how Nya became who she was in such a short time. It was the nature of Kelvics, he knew. Abashai usually stopped the line of thought at that point, for further contemplation inevitably raised the question of Kelvic longevity. A subject Abashai had refused to ponder. Abashai had never considered the fact that the forest cat Nya could or would hurt him. He had never seen anything that suggested it. But he knew, deep down, that she feared she would. She was afraid because of what had happened at Lormar Tower. She had said as much. Whether out of naivete or stubborn devotion, Abashai was convinced he could handle whatever may happen. His musings compelled the Benshira to hold Nya a bit tighter as she yawned, loosening his embrace as she slipped her head down to his thigh. He knew she would take a cat nap, that's what she was after all. Abashai saw her mossy green eyes settle on the figures at his sandcastles gate. "Yes dear, that is us. Someday I will take you to see the Holy City," he replied with a grin, tracing his hand down her arm and then her torso, following the curve of her hip and back up again until her chest rose and fell in the deep, even breathing of sleep. Then, producing just a little more res, he polished off his handiwork.

[Nya Winters]

It was amazing, sometimes, how Abashai sensed the alienness in Nya even when he himself was completely unaware of it. When Marcus Kelvic had created his servants, everyone assumed they were humans given animal forms or animals taught human form - but they had been something entirely different. Because of his work for the Suvan Empire, Marcus was a top knotch mage but one with incredible discipline - the kind that only came from a nation so locked in its militaristic style that there were in fact no actual citizens. Children, from the age of ten, were given lifepaths they had to follow on orders of the Emperor. They did not get a choice, and for all his bloodlines, Marcus and his twin sister had been assigned just like everyone else. Because of their magical background, from an early early age they were trained relentlessly to utilize familiarity and make use of the creatures trolled for through the summoning gates. Most creatures were completely useless to the empire. But some, like where the kelvics had originated from, were utterly ingenious and quite handy. He'd called them mimics, for they could perfectly copy life. But the mimics had needed a host, a living body from Mizahar to infest like the parasites they were in order to survive the air, the bugs, even to be able to take nourishment. And once they infested, they could not be separated. Animals were easier to infest, because they did not go crazy like the humans did - understanding there was something 'else' inside of them. And when the animals bred, they passed on a bit of that parasite that allowed them when exposed to human blood to mimic humanity as well. But for all of that, infecting the animals made them more like the animals than anything. Subsequent generations saw the infestations flowing back and forth between the humans who caretook the kelvics and the kelvics themselves. Genes were contaminated until there was a whole new race - something unable to go back to being what it once was elsewhere. It couldn't. It was too much something else, too evolved, to even remotely want to try. Nya was the product of the years and years of breeding and intermingling. She was the product of secret gene contamination and an excellent mimic of life for all that she didn't understand that was what she did. Before she'd met Abashai, she'd been something wholly independent yet incomplete. Mimics needed something to mimic. After her bond, the newfound link had allowed her horizons to expand. Shai had needed things he didn't even know he did. He'd needed intelligence. He'd needed grace and beauty and sensuality. He'd needed absolute trust - one that would never betray him. And he'd needed religious faith, for his own went deep. He'd needed someone who trusted and depended on him for guidance and leadership - natural leaders always did. He'd even needed sexuality to help bring out his own that he'd repressed for years and years. And finally, he'd needed something so strong willed, so driven, that he himself could match that drive. That was what the kelvics did. They augmented, expanded, and sustained. And so as Nya lay gracefully stretched out with her head on his knee slumbering in a cat nap he knew wouldn't last - he got a chance to really look at her. She was older, though no gray infused her brindled locks. There was a softness in her face that had lost its child-like qualities that had cost him so much hesitation. Her mind was still immature. He knew that. But her body was well ahead of the game. The Benshira didn't know it, but forest cats under normal conditions could live well into their forties. In the wilds, their lifespan was perhaps half that. But because he'd bonded in the middle of his own life, he'd spared himself the certain grief of watching her grow old and die as he himself only stalked middle age. Instead, when her growth spurts stopped and she leveled out - Shai would have a young woman at his side even as his own hair started to gray. She'd catch up later in his life, graying as he did and slowing down... but he had years longer to enjoy her. Nya shifted in her sleep, stretched like the creature she was, and opened her eyes. He sensed something from her, in that instant, that was oddly out of place. For a moment, their link blazed with an odd sense of fierceness in her - as if she woke inclined to fight. It was gone in a heartbeat, leaving him uncertain it had even been there at all. She stretched, yawned again, and studied him. Then she pushed aside whatever was in his hands, crawled into his lap like she used to before he was comfortable with it, and leaned up to run her jawline up his - first the rightside then the left. Love infused the bond and the joy she sensed to wake with him. After her very cat-like greeting (as if she hadn't just spent the whole morning with him anyhow) she leaned closer, nuzzled his lips, and then kissed him gently. Teeth tugged his lower lip, coaxing his mouth open until she could slip her tongue inside and taste him as well. It was a unique sensation with the bond as open between them as it was. He felt her joy and trust and lust all at once as she kissed him soundly and intimately. Nya often woke from her midday naps feeling the need to be with Shai. And if he let her, she'd assume the lead and take it further. She knew all the shortcuts to get to the parts of him she wanted immediately. Clothing annoyed her so she had no patience trying to undress her bondmate. Shai had learned quickly that Nya's ardor rose and fell cyclic and when she wanted him, she rarely bothered completely undressing him. Her needs were in a way completely unhuman - wholly the cat. She didn't ever initiate slow lengthy and drawn out lovemaking. Instead, she preferred fast hard couplings that kept Abashai off center and fully involved before he realized it. Slow came later when he initiated it and brought the woman side of her persona forward first and foremost, forcing the cat back. The woman was hesitant, blushing, sometimes playful and wholly different than the cat. Shai had to teach her - that aspect of Nya - what true love was about. And he had to teach her the difference between sex and lovemaking. The cat was all sex, though the woman had embraced the other aspect wholeheartedly. The key was making her human side think. Once she was thinking, she wasn't a cat she was a human, and that made all the difference in the world. They were both wholly Nya, wholly unique - but Shai could pick as his needs dictated just as soon as he'd learned to switch one on and one off... which had come rapidly when living in a city. This Nya was more human than cat, and feeling playfully recharged after her nap. So she kissed him in greeting, rose to her feet, stretched, and said the first thing he might expect. "I'm hungry Shai! What did you bring to eat or should I go catch a gull or see if someone left a baby seal alone?" She said, rising and stepping back. She surveyed the city, frowned because she knew she'd lost, and glanced at the kites. Strong, beautiful, rarely able to focus when there was no need too... Nya was Nya. Hunger, Sex, Play - her three driving forces of which she rarely segregated so nicely. Food could be played with and sex could bring on hunger. Some things never changed. "Can we fly kites soon? I can feel your stiffness... you need to stretch after all this kneeing anyhow." Food and play. Typical. Now that her ardor had receded, Nya's hunger was broadcasting itself loudly.

[Abashai]

Abashai did indeed cherish the moments he could study Nya at rest, especially since she had begun the curious practice of concealing her face from him. Rarely did he get the opportunity to observe her in the warm sunlight. Yes, Nya had matured. His eyes traced his mate's soft but distinct jawline. Above it the contour of her cheek hollowed out subtly, enhancing the curve of her cheekbones. Her brows were dark and delicate, free of any crease as she slept. the gentle slope of her nose had lost its adolescent roundness, now gently curving to fit in perfect proportion with her mouth. Nya's lips were parted slightly, their ruddy roundness tempting the husband to press his own against them. The Benshira drank in every curve and angle of her face, framed by Nya's thick dark mane. His hand had begun to slide along her torso as his exploration continued when Nya stirred from her sleep, her soft lids opening to reveal the stunning green eyes. He caught the flash of emotion through the bond, almost hostile in nature. It was enough to release a burst of adrenaline, but Nya's fierceness dissipated almost instantly. The bond instead resounded with the sensations he adored, Nya's happiness and sensuality. He welcomed the once shunned position Nya assumed on his lap, the weight and warmth of her body pressed against him always an intimate pleasure. He returned her kiss, and did not resist as Nya's tongue reached into his mouth, instead allowing his tongue to entwine with her's. The passionate kiss stirred a familiar burning, which his bondmate knew was kindled with very little encouragement. The question was, who did he have on his lap, the cat or the woman? The woman won out. But not wholly. Nya rose, vibrant again with energy and the hunger of the cat. Abashai reluctantly subverted his rising passion and laughed out loud at his mate's quip about the baby seal. He pointed to the basket sitting in the sand nearby. "I believe we have food in there, but if it is not sufficient, I am sure you can catch me a nice crab or something." He teased with a wide smile. The basket contained a round loaf of dark bread, some hard cheese, along with a pouch of nuts and dried fruit. Wrapped in a small napkin was a couple sweet rolls, the kind with which he often surprised his mate. But Shai would not be surprised if the forest cat did make a quick search for some fresh meat as well. Abashai rose from the sand, and indeed he was stiff, having shifted little while Nya napped against him. He stepped away from the sandcastles towards Nya. "kites, huh?" Nya had the definite advantage there. The Stormwarden could summon gusts of air to do her will, or so it seemed. But she had to make one first. "How about we have a bite and then fly those kites?" Grinning, he leaned into her....baring his teeth and laying them against her neck just below her Chevas mark, giving her a playful nip.

[Nya Winters]

Nya smiled then laughed. "I'll catch you anything you want. There's a few beachcombers south of here. I can smell them...." She teased and then retrieved the feast. Nya carefully divided up the food, giving him far more of it because she indeed did have plans to catch a gull or two if she could as the day progressed - and she liked to steal a bit of his as they ate. Gulls tasted a great deal like chicken, and if you didn't mind all the feathers - which she'd gotten quite good at getting rid of all at once with the hide - then they were absolutely tasty. She did wrinkle her nose at the lack of meat, peering at the nuts and knowing that Abashai's people considered them satisfactory substitutions for it. Nya wondered absently sometimes if the hot sun of the desert had made all the Benshira a little off due to its constant boiling exposure. After all, one would have thought he'd love goat for all that they were herders. Nevertheless, she nibbled hurriedly at the bread, enjoying it along with the dried dates and figs he had. Nya had never had figs, growing up in the north, but they were a treat she did enjoy. She could also smell the sweet rolls, which would explain why she ate so fast. Sweets were her favorite - though she'd never had any (besides the occasional special cake for a birthday or holiday) before coming to Syliras. It seemed the knights and their people truly did love their sugars. Either that or cane and beets were far more common in the milder climate. They ate together, without much talk - Nya ending up with a goodly amount of his own food too because she'd distract him by pointing out something just past the waves or a strange creature (usually just a stray dog or cat) wandering the tideline up the beach - then snitch whatever it was he was eating. Most of her nuts got added to his pile while some of his figs disappeared faster than he was eating them. Food was always an event, always fun... and normally time to talk. But Nya was restless, managed to get to her sweetroll first, and was unraveling her bright red kite (leaving him the deep sapphire blue one) before he knew it. "Have you ever flown kites, Shai? I have... I loved it. My father would carry us high up a ridge that opened into a little meadow when I was younger and there mother and I would fly them." She said, untangling lines and straightening strings. Nya got Abashai's ready when her own was done, fitting small sturdy sticks into dovetail grooves and stretching the wax coated silk so it caught the wind. When they were both ready, Nya laid her kite onto the ground - nose pointed to the sky - and backed away from it stretching out the lines. There was plenty of wind at the coast - there always ways - but it was a matter of calling for its attention and asking its assistance. The Winds were different than breezes. Breezes were light airy things that one and all had a mood that tended to match their nature. Some where talkative, and some were curious... but all of them loved attention. The winds were different. They had things to do, places to go, and an assigned importance that made them moody and with more force of personality than a simple breeze did. But a breeze wouldn't make their kites dance... and Nya wanted them to fly. She tipped back her head, stood straight and braced, and called the Winds. There were many many of them along the coast. Shai would see her hair lift, feel his overcoat swirl and dance around him, and feel the full force of them hit when they answered her call. It was like the two of them, with their kite strings stretched out, were in the center of a vortex of swirling personas. Nya felt the winds, heard their voices, and greeted them like a sister.... She raised her hands, for both the kites had two strings, not just one, and had a roll of string in each wrapped around a sturdy handle. She sorted through the voices, neatly, releasing those who seemed angry, self-important, or reluctant. The rest, the playful enthusiastic even a tad violent she kept around them... and with a single word and a nudge that caused the gnosis of a swirling hurricane on her shoulder to whirl.... sent them to lift the kites. It was a violent motion - wind filled their silken bodies and carried them aloft. In moments they were high, as high as the pair could feed out string, and dancing with the winds that obviously wanted to play. Strings threatened to tangle as the swirling mass of air tossed the slashes of color first one way then another as the people below fought to hold onto them. The winds did battle, each one picking a silken toy and then tossing them at each other, tugging, swirling, growing more and more competitive as they tended to form a red team and a blue team.... Leaving the mated pair below fighting to hang on and at least in Nya's case, oozing mirth as she laughed and laughed and laughed, caught up in the delight of being trapped in a whirlwind.

[Abashai]

Nya had indeed awakened from her nap with new vigor, she almost pranced as she moved about, hastily separating the food. Of course he noticed the increase in the ratio of nuts to teh rest of the foods in his meal, but he would never let on, all part of the games they played. Even the most routine daily tasks were interesting with Nya around. Lunch swiftly devoured, Abashai rose as he watched his bondmate prepare the kites. "Uh, no Ny, I have seen them, but have never flown one." Shai tried to imagine what Nya looked like as a child, flying her kite with her mother and father. He felt a bit if sadness, realizing her whole childhood would have lasted only a few seasons. Then Shai caught sight of his mate's bright beaming smile, dispelling his pondering, and he accepted the blue kite from her. Following Nya out a bit, he mimicked her movements, holding his kite as she did, nose up. Shai's first attempts were failures, the kite rising only a few feet and diving into the sand. But when the winds began to swirl, his kite seemed to take on a life of its own, rising over the beach. The brisk air tugged at his curly dark locks, flapping the hem of his coat. He glanced at Nya, seeing the concentration in her face, her lips moving as Zulrav's minions toyed with her brindled hair. Then he knew that his kite was not what contained life, but the very winds themselves, coming to play at his mate's bidding. Grasping onto the stick and spools of string, again, like Nya was, Abashai simply allowed his kite to dance. The whirling winds increased, surrounding them and whipping about, so much more determined than the Stormwarden's breezes. He burst into laughter, echoing the joy he could hear from Nya over the roar of the winds. Glancing at her, Shai watched Nya, bubbling with joy, commanding the very currents that engulfed them in a whirlwind. Shai could not help but reflect. Not even an year ago, he would have never imagined this, the richness of his life with Nya, the freedom from guilt. He had all the reasons to live, and remain alive, in spite of the monumental task that loomed before the mated couple. His kite dipped treacherously, drawing back his attention. Some rogue wind had stolen it, only to lose it to a kinder one that lfited it up with Nya's. He glanced over at the Kelvic girl, flashing her a broad smile.

[Nya Winters]

She moved over closer to him, though with the lines and dancing kites it was far more dangerous to be nearer to him than away due to the danger of the lines tangling - but she did not care. She edged closer until she was standing shoulder to shoulder with him. Her arms were outstretched, trying to keep the lines straight as she shouted gentle directions to him to help him reclaim the bright toys from the war the winds had started with each other.

"Shai... look look at this.... here... like this!" She said as she suddenly yanked hard on one line, bringing her right fist into her chest while leaving the left line still stretched out. The kite seemed to pause in the air, then started violently spinning to the right as if it were a living thing itself. Nya laughed, then reversed her fists, letting the right one fling out while bringing the left one into her chest in a mirror image of the move she just did. The kite suddenly halted in its spin, then tipped up and began spinning violently in the other direction. Her lines were seemingly hopelessly tangled. But when she reversed the order, they straightened out of their own accord. Once that move was demonstrated, Nya was able to show Shai how he could track his kite across the sky, making it dance first to the right then to the left just by pulling first one line or the other.

And while the winds still warred with each other, it was obvious to the Benshira that the bonded pair actually did have control of the bright pieces of silk. Nya seemed to have a hang of kite flying, coaxing her red banner across the air so it tangled in Shai's blue silk's strings. Then once his kite was captured she'd spin it again, releasing it, then make the bright silk dance off across the sky as if teasing him into yet another sort of game with her.

Nya knew, deep within her, that life was short. The whole point in living life was to enjoy moments like this. It was perhaps one of the reasons why she was a Stormwarden. Some wardens were born what they were - inherently knowing themselves as kin to the winds. Some were made - expressing their passion and enthusiasm in bright fierce loves of violent storms and blustering gales. Nya was the former kind... her inner hurricane was banked and deep rooted She grew up with only the voices of the breezes as her friends. And news she got of other places - of far off lands - she got from the winds that knew no boundaries throughout Mizahar. It was perhaps why she loved being what she was so acutely. There were no boundaries. She wasn't tethered to the earth like the kites were - to be controlled by hands one would never understand. Instead, Nya was something else... something that controlled as much as she herself was controlled. And it made a great deal of difference - in fierceness when it came to living life and in doing so living it to the fullest. Shai understood, Nya suspected, in that he tried very hard to bridge the gaps between their worlds and integrate them both seamlessly rather than fight or deny that which he could not. She had tried to do the same for him, caving in to some of his rules and respecting his wishes... knowing full well he too was still finding himself.

She turned suddenly, looking at him, and smiled as her kite danced up behind her in the sky - all but forgotten. For a moment she simply just watched him, playing and in some ways fighting with the winds. He was stronger than he knew... more powerful as well. And she was incredibly proud of him. She was proud enough that eventually the strings went both into one hand which made the kite loose its grace, while she took the time to walk up behind him and slide her arm around his waist to hug him gently from behind. "You would have made a good Stormwarden if Yahal hadn't spoken for you first." Nya said softly, nuzzling his neck and nibbling his ear playfully. The winds, still frenzied, tugged at his overcoat and tangled their hair together. But Nya didn't care. All she really cared about was that they were together, laughing, and having a last moment of fun.

[Abashai]

Abashai mimicked Nya's movements, glancing at her hands as they worked the kite strings. The Stormwarden proved quite adept at kite flying. It should have been no surprise, for the currents of the air had become his bondmate's domain. It took a short while for Abashai to get the feel of the kite, applying Nya's techniques either too abruptly, causing his azure kite to plummet, or too softly, resulting in only a teasing wiggle of the contraption. He would grin wryly at his mate as she skillfully entwined her strings in his, as if she had blundered, only to shift her hands and free their kites as easily as they had entangled. These moments of playfulness, the carefree joy that beamed from Nya's face, filled Shai with such contentment. It was only for a moment he knew, an exception in the hard life to come, so he savored every chime, hoped to prolong it as long as possible. He laughed loud and often as their kites danced and touched, circled and soared, his eyes darting between the brightly colored silks and the cheerful green eyes that still captivated him. Having finally gained enough understanding to guide his kite, Nya retreated. Shai focused on his toy, trying more daring maneuvers. He chuckled softly as Nya crept up behind him, the arm around his waist stirring a giddiness that he still experienced at her simplest touch. His grinned widened at her softly spoken compliment and the loving nip at his ear. The randy winds blew locks of her brindled hair around Shai's head, lightly brushing against his face. His head tilted to rub against hers, then twisted so he could plant his lips on her cheek, then the corner of her mouth. Under his breath the Benshira thanked Yahal for guiding him thousands of miles to find Nya, and Zulrav for giving Nya to him. "Thank you Nya, for today." He laughed even as his lips still brushed hers. "...for everyday." Taking both strings in one hand, he turned into her, his free arm wrappinig around her waist, his lips pressing fuilly against hers, then opening in a passionate kiss that seemed to summon the winds to whip around them with a playful fervor.