[Sacred Arch Hotsprings] A Union of Iron & Clay (Ha'na)

[Alistair deGrey]

It is time. It has been so forever, since time is nothing but a human expression. We have had forever, and we will have it as well. There was almost an external force binding Alistair to Ha'na, like they were two magnets. But he allowed her to separate herself, and he followed, docile as a lamb, as she guided him to his knees. "Yes, let us." His voice was calm, surreal as what he had realized not so long ago. That very concept found itself to him again as Ha'na spoke of marriage. A link that would last until all else had turned to dust. Alistair stared at the oases that Ha'na possessed, two pools of water holding onto their identities amongst the endless sand. He drank from them, an ever thirsting man. Ha'na's words enthralled him as surely as a hypnotist's might over many months. deGrey did not know why, but he attempted to hold back the smile that played across his face. This moment should have been solemn and severe, but he could feel nothing but unbridled hapiness. "Though I find myself sorrowful when hearing of your previous tribulations, I also feel joy for the present. So much calamity has befallen you my love, I might not even come close to imagining." Memories of his own past flickered through his head like a series of old sketches. The carvings, the crimes, the insanity of Rowan Cedany amounted to naught beside the past Alistair had manufactured for Ha'na. "I will do everything within my power to continue to bring you happiness. Invention, sleep, breath, all come secondary to this task. It is to you I devote myself, if you would have me as your husband." His hands squeezed hers a little bit, anticipation quickly stirring into the cauldron of bright emotions stirring within the man who was no longer an inventor.

[Hana]

Her smile broke free like sunshine from behind a cloud as he spoke. There was joy in her expression, stronger than she’d ever had before. Here was someone willing to walk the road with her, hold her hand through it, help her… Their two paths were to join together, merging into one. She realized how truly blessed she was to have him willing to do so. When he squeezed her hand, she squeezed back. Her smile only grew. She took his words, listening fully, and absorbed them until they were a part of her. For a time she was quiet. She had thought long and hard at what she’d wanted to say to him in this exact moment, but it all fell so hollow now that she was there. So instead she took a deep breath and said, “Alistair deGrey, I want nothing more in the world than for you to be my husband… I…” It was a point where normally her eyes would have dropped down as she struggled to find what she wanted to say, but she kept her gaze softly on him, taking in the contours of his face – The intensity of his eyes and the very corner where his lips met to form the smile there. She couldn’t help but let the grin return to her mouth. “I will be your family and your home. Every morning I will rise with the intention of putting your happiness even before my own… And each night I will hold you while you sleep to protect you from nightmares. I want more than to be your wife, if you will have me, I wish to be your equal – Your partner and your safety from the storm. You no longer have to be alone.”

[Alistair deGrey]

In ages to come, when both of us have faded away, let them find us. When they examine our skeletons, intertwined as we are, they will scratch their heads and ponder us. We shall be the debate among scholars and magicians, the mystery of the modern world. Shall their metal hearts ever know it to be love? Ha'na's words rung with a finality that brought so many coalescing currents together in a great storm of euphoric emotion. All of the rhetoric and wordplay, the silent looks, the endlessly deep embraces, converged as they rose to this pinnacle. Everything amounted to this, and the whole was certainly greater than the sum of its parts. In fifty years, if anybody inquired as to the greatest moment in Alistair's life, he would relate this instant. It was only a moment, a fraction of a chime, but the impetus carried deGrey over an edge, and into renascent waters. Cool air greeted Alistair's hands as he extricated them from Ha'na's grip and brought them up to brush her hair back. His bride's neck, once barren and smooth, was now graced by a silver icon. deGrey knew the same image had appeared on his neck, and he flushed with pleasure at the transcendent bond. At long last, deGrey was chained; though being chained to the goddess before him was not an unfortunate fate. It seemed as though the smile on Alistair's face would never fade, and he leaned in to wrap his arms around Ha'na. His right arm slid up Ha'na's back to the silvery figure embossed on her neck. His finger traced along the three sides, marvelling in the sweeping curves and sharp angles. "My love, we have arrived." So many things had been constrained, waiting patiently in dreams to flash into reality as the right words were spoken. The passion experienced earlier was conservative to what waxed within Alistair now. One emotional dam after the other had collapsed before Ha'na, and each had felt like revelation. But after countless renaissances, Alistair knew this was what he had been searching for. The one moment that had kept him waiting for twenty eight trips around the sun. A great sigh of release escaped Alistair's mouth, the last wall had fallen with not a thunderous cacophony, but a few soft words. His lips sought Ha'na's, hungry for her taste once more. Among the trickling water and whispering trees, Alistair deGrey was married.

[Hana]

She let out a tiny sigh as she seemed to sink into the emotions that were breaking through her. There was a release there, and she realized that she hadn’t understood how tightly she was gripping onto her emotions to keep them in check. Now they flooded inside of her as if some great dam had broken, and the water began to leak out of the corners of her eyes. In that moment there was the certainty that she was, in fact, feeling joy. It was powerful and humbling, she found herself afloat in the warmth of happiness and something else… Something she couldn’t completely put a finger upon. Safety? Peace? Perhaps it was peace. Whatever it was, she thought it welcome. Her head tipped just enough that she could peek curiously at the mark upon her groom’s neck. She touched it gingerly as if it would fade away under her scrutiny, whispering, “Dearest, Cheva has left us with the most wonderful of gifts…” They had arrived. She thought about how she had been so tired and alone in the world, so much so that she wasn’t able to travel on to some new place. It was exhaustion that had caused her to stay in Syliras, but it wasn’t until Alistair’s arrival in her life that she had found a home there. Any training in the past, any lessons learned, any habits made were forgotten in that moment. His lips were on hers, and her mouth opened to him. She slipped in so that there was no longer space between them, for she was certain that it was only the physical bodies that had remained that way. And she kissed him with a strange mix of timidity and certainty, for she was sure that this was the first time in her life that she had ever truly been kissed.

[Alistair deGrey]

I am so close, I should feel her heart beating. Yet I only feel one pulse. The water continued to flow over the rocks and into the pool by the lovers, and the trees continued to gently stir in whatever breeze they could catch. But these small events slipped by Alistair as surely as they would had he been dreaming. Events that did not immediately concern the body pressed close to his were wreathed in unimportance. Only the woman before him carried significance, and it was that of the world. The two might have been a flurry of motion to an outside observer, or they might have been locked in place like a statue. Alistair's brain was too fogged with Ha'na's breath to analyze what was happening. After telling himself so many times that he would never lose clarity, he had cast it to the wind in favor of his bride. deGrey's hands, so accustomed to manipulation, slowly traced a path down her back. They slid around to her sides, softly unlacing ribbon that bound her dress. The pink fabric was luxurious underneath Alistair's fingertips, far removed from the unyielding metal of his trade. Two long lengths of ribbon hung from Ha'na's sides as Alistair neared completion, it was far easier to unlace than to do its converse. He moved his lips south, leaving the hot contact of Ha'na's mouth, in favor of exploring her neck once more.

[Hana]

This was the first time she hadn’t gently separated herself from him when passion arose, modest and determined to keep to her principles even though it always pained her. Instead she struggled with attempting to remove his tunic and keep herself against him at the same time. Her blackened palms found his sides, rolled over his back and up to his shoulders as if she was working with clay instead of skin. “I love you,” she whispered, gasping for breath as if the moment would drown her if she wasn’t careful. She swallowed, kissing over his shoulder like it could heal the scars of his past. She repeated, “I love you.”

[Alistair deGrey]

The ultimate exposure is the one that might occur with no fear or anxiety. When naught but the act itself exists, one knows that it is as simplified and primal as the universe might allow. The world disappeared for a moment as Ha'na pulled off Alistair's tunic. His vision flooded once more with his bride as the article was tossed aside, a mere obstacle now removed. A shiver ran down his spine as she kissed his shoulder. It was, for once, an act more of anticipation than anxiety. Never had Alistair felt so comfortable in exposure; though never before had he been in Ha'na's arms. Most of deGrey's existence since Cedany had been spent in clothing, uncomfortable with his body even in isolation. But Ha'na's touch was reassuring like breath, a reminder that she would be his aegis as he was hers. She healed him there. Alistair's hands, having finished their task, slid the dress from Ha'na's body to have it pile at her knees. deGrey's hands ran over soft skin now, a familiar and still novel medium. Alistair reciprocated his dearest's words with a breathless whisper, "I love you too, Ha'na deGrey."

[Hana]

“Ha’na deGrey,” she whispered, testing the name out for the first time on her own. She’d only said it once as half-jest, and only a handful of times silently to herself in the days leading up to this moment. Now, though, it was solid and real. That was her name. Ha’na deGrey. The smile that was already resting on her face only grew. She moved, easing them down to the ground. No more words were needed. Perhaps they would have even lessened the intensity of sensation. Maybe they would have distracted. Maybe they would have simply been ignored, made to float out into the air only to fall upon deaf ears. Language failed the situation, because they were one. The last of their clothes were shed and put aside, if not tossed rather frantically away. There seemed a certain urgency building, something just beyond desire to melt into each other and remain that way – To make their bodies match their spirits. They were too caught up in the moment to notice if this new union was awkward or uncomfortable. They moved as if they’d never been apart, as if this act of love was the only thing they had ever known. Time stopped. The world around them slipped away. There was only Alistair, Ha’na, and their love. The emotions arced and flew to a crescendo, leaving them crying out joyfully and shuddering through every molecule of their being. It did not go away, simply settled into muscles that were suddenly tired as their bodies collapsed against the ground. Awareness began to seep into the edges of consciousness once again. The only bit of energy Ha’na seemed to be able to gather, she used to wrap an arm about the back of her husband’s shoulders and to turn her head so that she could kiss the mark commemorating the vows that they had taken to each other. She was hard-pressed to think of a happier moment in her life.

[Alistair deGrey]

When intercourse ends, the passion does not fade. it is simply held in check, put in reserve to grow and wax until it might be released with the strength of a storm. Breathless, the world returned to life. The noises and objects passion had driven out returned. The antebellum had shattered, and this place once more vied for prominence in Alistair's senses. Ha'na's breath, coming more regularly now, the creaking of a nearby trees, a bird's return call, the stream. Above him a canopy of bright spring leaves stretched, broken by the bright grey of the morning sky. Had he been given time, Alistair would have simply remained, and their lovemaking might have reoccurred. But a new noise broke through quiet natural orchestra. A faint voice, the sound of hooves. Soon enough, some words could be made out, a creaking voice was speaking, "Therapeutic youw..." More indecipherable words, "Doctor Levine told me..." The hooves and voices grew louder. Alistair blinked a few times, setting aside the cloying haze. He sat up, how long had it been since they left? For somebody who made clocks, Alistair was remarkably poor at keeping time. He spoke to Ha'na, in a low voice so they might not be overheard, "It appears as if we have company." He lay his lips on her neck once more before sliding off the rock and into the pool beside them. The water, slightly milky from the minerals circulating its depths, was pleasantly warm. Alistair sighed as his legs and then stomach slid into the pool. A mischievious grin lit his features, "Come dearest, I fear we have little time to conceal ourselves." The thought of Ha'na's reaction to being discovered as she was amused Alistair, though he was now working to prevent it. Truth be told, he would have reacted the similarly to how he predicted she would, which was why it brought such a smile.

[Hana]

At the distant sound of voices finally trickling into her mind, her eyes widened in a manner typically reserved for seeing acts of the gods or perhaps a ghost. The feeling of security and peace was for the moment stripped away from her, and she was quick to access the situation – Her hair was tangled, her clothing removed, her skin cast with a warm glow, yet she clearly hadn’t been into the water. Alistair barely had to say anything at all, and Ha’na was up and moving to get to a place to protect what modesty she kept close to her. Unfortunately she slipped on the rock and took a rather ungraceful plunge into the water. Arms and legs flailed about as she splashed, giving some final helpless yelp in Shiber before her head went under. When she came up she was spitting and sputtering, still carrying on in her native tongue. Her hands reaching for something to right herself with, grabbed onto whatever was nearest her as she gasped for breath. She wondered what was worse, getting caught in the act of making love or demonstrating a complete lack of grace to one’s newly-wed husband.