[Soothing Waters] Playing in Your Element (Hadrian)

[Kendall Saarinen]

The elements seemed to have reached their boiling point, so to speak. Kendall felt a small buzz of heat running through the skin of his wrist. The fire that encircled it could not help him control the flames or even multiply them. It did help him concentrate on the warmth of the element. To feel the fever of the flames in the body, running through one's skin like it was their blood made the connection to the element much easier. To become the fire and to know its temper was still on the horizon for Kendall. He was still new to being an Azenth. Slowly, he was picking up the hints the fire hissed. He was getting there even if it was slowly. As the drops of water began to fall Kendall tried to channel the fever within him into his Res. He breathed out as he saw what he had created with Hadrian. They had made steam and more importantly, they made it together. He felt a small blush warm his cheeks as he felt Hadrian's arms lift him up. He did not know Hadrian was strong enough to lift him up. He giggled as he looked into Hadrian's deep blue eyes. He kissed him lightly as he wrapped his arms around Hadrian's neck. "Sounds like a fine idea to me." When Hadrian set Kendall down the blond man walked to the side of the pool, dropping his towel only inches from the edge of the water. As he slipped into the water he did not feel as much comfort as one should in the warm pool. The water was hot enough to statsify most people but to an Azenth the water seemed just a bit too cool for his liking. Looking up from the edge of the pool Kendall smiled at Hadrian. "It seems good to me but I think you should join me. I think it will warm the water up a bit." Kendall longed for Hadrian to be in the pool beside him. He wanted to feel him in his element. More so, in the element that contained both of their energies.

[Hadrian]

Hadrian smiled as Kendall walked over to the tub, memorizing the lines of his bare back from neck and shoulders until they slid down underneath his towel. The young enchanter followed, waiting and watching as Kendall removed his towel and climbed in before following suit. The water was certainly hot enough for him, and he wasn't going to let on that it was nearly painful. It was nothing to be close to Kendall. Now he understood what those artist meant back in Zeltiva when they were talking about an arresting aesthetic. He wanted to see Kendall all the time, naked and without distraction, to marvel at him. Of course, Kendall had drawn the eye as a woman, as well. It must have been some essential, inner quality that filled the fleshly sculpture with its allure. "You're beautiful," he said again, hoping that these little slips of the tongue weren't annoyingly redundant. "Sorry..." He smiled and tried to settle into the mingling of their elements, the work they had done together. Deciding to perform another little trick to delight Kendall, he gathered his djed into one eye and then, in the space it took him to wink at the other magus, he added a yellow pigmentation to the blue iris, so that when it opened, he had one green eye. Put that together with the platinum blond hair, and it was very clearly a picture of Hadrian as Kendall, an invitation to call him by his name. "I wanted to catch you up on what I've been doing. My work, my networking, everything... But I can hold off if you would rather do... other things." The flush was from the heat of the water, of course, rather than embarrassment. It was!

[Kendall Saarinen]

The sight of Hadrian was astounding. Light skin, light hair, and deep blue eyes. The sight was even more astounding when the towel around his waist was dropped, showing his lean but beautiful body. A small blush shaded Kendall's cheeks when his own eyes look upon Hadrian's body. He was letting Kendall in again. Letting Kendall see a part of himself that the rest of the world was not allowed to see.  When Hadrian dropped into the water Kendall moved slowly to his side. Lifting his arm out of the water he ran his fingers over Hadrian's arm. He smiled in the silence that was only broken by the methotic drip of water from his skin back into the pool and the quiet wake of the waves. Hadrian felt warm thanks to the steaming water. Kendall simply smiled at Hadrian's comment. "Thank you. You don't need to say sorry. It feels good to know someone still thinks I am beautiful." Intwining his fingers with Hadrian's Kendall leaned in to kiss him softly. Every time Hadrian complimented him he felt his heart race. "I like that you tell me I'm beautiful. It sounds more right to me than being called handsome." Kendall's hand tightened around Hadrian's when the hydromancer winked at him. When his eye opened to show a beautiful green color, much like Kendall's own eye color, he felt his heart skip a beat. The way Hadrian copied the little details of Kendall made him feel like finally someone was really seeing him. "You are very beautiful too Kendall. You take my breath away." Kendall smiled at the words. One could not breathe underwater much like at times Kendall felt like he could not breathe under Hadrian's gaze. In a good way of course. "We can talk about it. It is not as though we are in a rush right? There will always be time to other things later." Kendall wanted nothing more than to get onto other things but he could not deny that he was very interested in what Hadrian had to say. He did not know much about what Hadrian did past the few times he had caught him studying and the times they had worked on magic together. Besides, the things Hadrian spoke about and the things he found interest in amazed Kendall. So much of it was a world that he was never allowed to see until very recently. Kendall could not take his eyes off of Hadrian. Everything about him seemed so fantastic and comfortable. Kendall's eyes trailed across the hydromancer's pale skin with a content smile. The smile began to fade a bit when he saw a shade of red burning on Hadrian's skin. The water was too hot but Kendall wasn't able to tell before. He reached out, placing his finger tips against the reddening skin under the water line. "The water is too hot isn't it?" He looked into Hadrian's eyes sadly. "I'm sorry I couldn't tell."

[Hadrian]

"Well," he said matter-of-factly, "you are beautiful. Handsome too, I suppose, but there's just something... luminous about you." He glanced away nervously, still skittish about opening up around anyone, though Kendall seemed to have the most leeway into his heart. "Oh, the water's a little hot, but it won't kill me. I'll just tell you about my work and all now so when it gets too cold for you, that will be out of the way and I can warm you up." He laughed, again nervously. This wasn't how he was accustomed to speaking to people. "Thank you," he added belatedly for the compliment. He knew better than to contradict it, and if he didn't see it, he would have to trust that Kendall did. "Anyway, let's see... I was working on two side-by-side projects for the Order. Two sets of the same thing, something I've made for them before. I'm not sure how much I can tell you, but it's basically a set of enchanted stones to help units maintain cohesion. My own design... based on the Blood-Compass I made for my thesis project at the University. Did I tell you about that? Anyway," he continued right along, running down the list of what he had been up to all this time. "I have been training with a squire named Dimitri Chenkov. I think he knows my little brother. He wants to be prepared for magical warfare, and I get to practice, so it all works out. They sent me an assistant for my project, a girl named Milya, but she didn't really do all that much. Mostly she added her reimancy to what I was working on and, you know, odd jobs. My friend Vizyous... the Symenestra I met in Alvadas, he came by to see what I was working on. You can visit too, if you're interested. Next time." He frowned, upset that he hadn't thought to invite Kendall earlier. It just never occurred to him that Kendall would be interested in something so, well, it only seemed interesting to other magecrafters. "Well, and I met this Kelvic eagle who seems determined to become my apprentice. I thought... perhaps. His aura looks clean of malice, and it might help to have an eagle about... Send letters, scout ahead when we're going to Ravok..." He blinked, then hurried on before Kendall could comment on his desire to accompany him to Ravok. "I met a man who knew one of my older brothers, too. A sad mercenary. Oh, and a little cat Kelvic came up to my window for a snack. Didn't know he was a Kelvic, of course, not at first. And then I went out into the woods and managed to Void for the first time! And I took the coordinates and other stuff I learned while in Alvadas and managed to open a portal to the world Swalden, where they have these stones, Memosites, that carry memories... they swap memories, actually. And I got some coordinates from some pre-Valterrian magus..."

[Kendall Saarinen]

Hadrian's words warmed Kendall in a way even the hottest of waters never could. He liked that someone was still speaking to him like he was the beautiful girl he used to be. He felt a little bit guilty that Hadrian had to brave the pain of the hot water. He wondered if there was a way to channel is resistance to heat to Hadrian. If there was a magical way he would have been the one to ask. As Hadrian spoke Kendall was interested as always but he truly had no idea what half the things Hadrian talked about were. It all sounded very exciting though and Kendall simply nodded along as Hadrian spoke. "You didn't tell me about the Blood-Compass. What is it?" There was so much information to take in and it seemed to be continuing in a torrent of words. Not tar Kendall minded too much. If Hadrian was talking Kendall would listen. He had to focus to keep his mind from wandering off as he looked at the hydromancer though. He could not stop thinking about his body and his eyes, even the rhythm of his voice caused Kendall to feel like he was warm inside. Kendall scowled a bit when he heard Dimitri's name. He was not the man's biggest fan. Kendall wanted to speak up and gossip about the man like he used to with guys he disliked with his female friends. "What did you think of Dimitri? I met him once. He seemed a little… proud." Kendall bit his tongue, trying to keep from saying anything else about the man. He was happy to hear another name come up after the squire's. He had met Milya and he had enjoyed her company more than most people he had met in Syliras. "I met Milya once at the shore of the Suvan sea. She seemed nice but there was something bothering her. I could feel it." His flames could tell him that the girl had a lot of pain deep within her but not why it was there. "I would love to visit. As long as you are there I would be overjoyed to be there." Hadrian could have been sitting around watching grass grow for all he cared. Kendall would sat by his side just to have the chance to be near him. He didn't have to entertain him. He didn't even need to speak. Just being arounf him made Kendall content. "Just let me know when and I'll be there." The talk of Kelvics made Kendall smile. He had not seen much of Cathan lately. Possibly the man had been letting his beastial side take over for a bit and was in the Wildlands. Kendall worried a bit about the man but he had to keep in mind Cathan had been fine before meeting him and would be okay without him. In truth, Kendall needed Cathan much more than Cathan needed him. Kendall cared deeply for the canine man, much like a brother. Cathan had been more hospitable than his own brothers. The talk of kelvics was washed away when Hadrian brought up going with him to Ravok. Just last season Hadrian had been admant not to go to the city and now he wanted to go with him? "Well, if the eagle is anything like Cathan is I'm sure he would be a good companion. I'm sure Cathan won't mind him either. He is pretty easy going." There was another kelvic in a conversation, a cat kelvic. "I met a cat kelvic too. Ageru. I met him at Kova's Well actually." Kendall smiled at Hadrian and kissed him with a small wave of emotion. "Where we met... At least properly, for the first time." Kendall was not sure if he should share what had happened between them with a simple handshake. "He was a Ranuri and... he saw my desires." Kendall couldn't keep his gaze on Hadrian. He was too embarassed. "He saw... you." Kendall's cheeks flushed a bright red after he finally admited what had happened. "I'm sorry. I suppose that could have been a bit awkward." "Swap memories? Did you lose some of your memories or did you just share them?" This topic interested Kendall. While he did not have any memories that the previous owner of his body had he did experience cravings like those the boy before him had. That seemed like more of a shared emotion for the fact he had cravings of his own, completely unrealted to what this body wanted. "What was it like?" He wondered if it felt forgien or strange, maybe even good. "I bet it was amazing." He smiled at Hadrian softly. "Your life seems very interesting. Much more than mine."

[Hadrian]

Hadrian made a valiant attempt to answer all of Kendall's questions in order, because he was afraid in juggling their conversation that if he let one ball drop, he would drop the lot of them. It was rather difficult to concentrate in the mind-numbing water with the electric feel of him against his skin, though. "Ah, the Blood-Compass was my thesis project at the University. Basically I took a man's blood and phased it into a sphere of rutilated quartz and enchanted it such that the single large rutile would point like a compass arrow at the person of closest blood relation to him. He was an orphan in the world but for his lost sister, so it was an attempt to help him find her. I hope he did... "Dimitri? Well, he's a squire. They all think they're going to be the next Loren Dyers, so..." He shrugged. "Pride runs rampant among them, I think. And well, I mean, the enchantment is laid already. I'm waiting to deliver it to the knights. But I'll let you see my next magecrafting project. They're really rather boring. I mean, fun to see once, but there isn't a lot of action. It's a very slow process, especially the more powerful or complex the enchantment. "Ethan... seems great, really. Surprisingly so. Like an apprentice, almost. And he finds such childlike joy in things. I appreciate that. Anyway, Ageru. Well, that explains things a bit..." He blushed, hurrying on. "I think I just shared memories, but... well, time will tell on that one, I suppose. Now I know it's safe, I can let you watch next time. It was a handy way to find coordinates for a new world to which I might build a portal. I just... forgive me, but I can't let you near things I think might be dangerous. Not until I take their measure and know I can protect you from them. I know you know how to wield a sword and I don't, but..." His arms slipped around Kendall almost too tightly. "You have to let me protect you. "Anyway," he continued, a bit embarrassed at his own vehemence. "I'm sure your life has been interesting too. What have you been up to when I haven't seen you?"

[Kendall Saarinen]

Kendall had not heard words like these since he was with Kay'lan. Granted, they were in a much different context. While Hadrian spoke of wanting to protect Kendall from harm Kay'lan had only spoke of protecting him from other men. Never once did the Vantha utter the words "You have to let me protect you". He said things more on the lines of trying to make sure Kendall did not get anywhere close to other men. Kendall felt tears coming to his eyes. Hadrian cared more about his safety than making sure that other men did not try to come onto him. Although now it seemed women were the bigger issue. Kendall had spent so many seasons fending for himself with only Cathan at his side. It was not to say Cathan was not a good companion. He was by far the best one of the best companions a person could ask for. He was more of a brother to Kendall than anything though. He was driven by instinct to serve and protect, the nature of the Kelvic. Hadrian did not need to do anything. He did not need to stick around or even protect Kendall, yet he did. Tears began to roll down his cheeks as he thought Hadrian's words over. He didn't want to cry. He wanted to be strong for Hadrian! The frightened girl from the morning he was marked seemed to be coming out. "I want you to protect me. I am really scared to be alone. I try so hard to be strong and to look like I don't mind being away from Zeltiva but it is so hard. I miss my family so much." He held his body close to Hadrian's sobbing into his shoulder like a child. "I know they never want to see me again but... I still love them so much." Kendall sniffled as he laid his cheek against Hadrian's shoulder. His skin felt soft against his tear stained cheek. "I'm happy you want to protect me. I don't want to be alone anymore." Looking into the laping water Kendall tried to think about anything interesting he could share. He was a little embarassed about how his life seemed to be quite boring in comparison to Hadrian's. He was not ready to let go of Hadrian's body so he simply spoke looking out into the water around them. "Well, the obvious event, the night I got kidnapped..." He stopped the comment there. He did not feel like he needed to dive any further into the explination. He would if Hadrian asked though. He felt he could talk about it when Hadrian's arms were around him holding him together. "Then I was marked by Ivak shortly after. I am very thankful for my mark but it really was not the most plesant experience." Kendall held Hadrian tighter. He didn't want to think back to those days. Not when he was so happy now. "I met Cathan shortly before I left Zeltiva to head north. He was being chased by a small mob of people for stealing food. I pretended he was my dog and then our friendship sort of blossomed from there." Kendall smiled at the thought of Cathan. "Then in the Wildlands I met Sondra who traveled with us here to Syliras." Kendall had not seen the Konti much since stepping through the gates of the city. He understood that Cathan had managed to get in a few sitings of the lady Azenth though. "While in the Wildlands I met a kelvic who tried to kill me. Her name was Nadala and I think she was some sort of cat. I made it out in one piece, obviously. It scared me a bit though." Kendall was embarassed of his encounter with Nadala. He had made himself look weak much like a push over to the feline woman. "I also met Ageru the cat kelvic. He was an interesting person. If I had known he was a Ranuri I wouldn't have reached out to shake hands with him... I'm sorry." He was embarassed that he had allowed someone to see his desire for Hadrian. Even more so that Hadrian had to find out after meeting with the cat in question. "I cannot think of much else. Sadly my life has not been too interesting except for... you know." Kendall tried to think of something interesting to bring up but nothing came to mind that could compete with the interesting things Hadrian had done. "Back in Zeltiva Cathan thought me how to shave. Other than that, it's just been minor meetings that really didn't amount to anything." Kendall reluctantly pulled one of his hands away from their place wrapped around Hadrian's body to wipe away a few tears. "Meeting you was by far my favorite happening on this strange adventure of mine though."

[Hadrian]

Hadrian listened with all due attention, though things took a turn for the worst when Kendall began sobbing so violently. Like many men, Hadrian didn't know what to do when a woman cried, let alone when a man cried, or worse yet, when a woman in a man's body cried. He did what he could, which was mainly to be there, to hold Kendall, and to whisper that everything was going to be all right. It was, if he had anything to say about it. Already he was speaking of Ravok as if he would go too. It was the first time Hadrian had made major plans with someone else's wellbeing in mind. Thankfully, the tears didn't last overlong, so apparently just being there was enough. It wasn't so bad. He got to hold a Kendall who wanted to hold him back moreso than usual, and he got to pet hair, rub cheeks and the like. All in all it was a good thing, except Kendall was upset. At the end of everything, he chuckled and fixated on the thing he thought might cheer Kendall up the most. "Well, I look like an idiot with facial hair. I wish I could have taught you to shave... That's silly, isn't it? But I do wish that. Oh well." His fingers twined Kendall's shorter hair into a small loop around his finger, a false curl. Everything about him was so soft, but the strength underneath that surprised him. "Someday you'll have to let me shave you. I'll take good care of your face. It's too precious to mar."

[Kendall Saarinen]

"You are coming to Ravok with me right?" Kendall had heard Hadrian talk about accompanying him to the chaotic city but he was not sure if he was being legitimate or simply saying it to sound kind. "I don't have to go. Seeing the city is not important to me. You are and I don't want to uproot your life here in Syliras." Kendall was not sure why he had wanted to go to the city in the first place. He knew there had to be a reason. It must have slipped away. "If you are considering it... I would like it if you came with me. I would feel safer knowing you were there." Kendall blushed at the words. He sounded so weak and defenseless. It was better so sound like a coward than to have Hadrian think that Kendall didn't need him though.  A tiny smile formed on Kendall's lips when Hadrian began to play with his hair. Even as a girl he had loved when people played with his hair. It was much shorter now and lacking it's beautiful dark color. It still felt just as comforting when he felt fingers intwine through his hair.  Mismatched eyes looked up at Hadrian as they tried to assess whether he would look good with facial hair. "I'm sure you would look better than me. My facial hair is pretty much white." That sounded weird. Kendall had never really admitted out loud that he had facial hair. He usually just danced around saying it directly. "This whole... thing of facial hair is still very odd to me. I would love your help with shaving... If that isn't too odd. I just can't seem to do it right." There had been a great deal of spilled blood on Kendall's part during his attempts to shave. "I know it is strange but... I sort of want to shave my legs." Kendall blushed a little at the statement. "I know guys aren't supposed to do that but I am so used to it. It really shouldn't matter since my hair is so light but... I don't know. It feels odd to have hair on my legs."

[Hadrian]

"If you are going to Ravok," he said, "then I am going to Ravok. Someone has to make sure the Ebonstryfe doesn't decide to keep you for itself." His smile bespoke layers of meaning, but that was all he said on the subject, glad to be needed and wanted and all of that. Once that was decided and they were both grinning at each other, he listened to the talk of facial hair. Truth be told, his own was rather scraggly, not full the way a beard ought to be, and so he kept it shaved. He imagined Kendall with golden down upon his cheeks, imagined it growing as they trekked north until he had a platinum beard. It was a strange thought, but not repulsive. He smiled. "I will shave your face if you wish, or your... um, legs..." He laughed nervously, but he wouldn't mind the excuse to inspect Kendall's body up close, inch by precious inch. "If you want me to."