Lass's Tear

He shook his head. "You make it sound so simple." He took her hand and raised it to his lips. "It was an honest mistake, dearest. And she didn't trick me. I miss spoke."

"That's almost worse."
Then, taking his hands, I lead him down the hall. "Come on, I want to talk. Privately."
I close the door firmly behind us, then catch my beloved's expression. "Don't worry, I'm angry but not really at you. At myself more than anything." I take a seat gingerly on the bed. "I was thinking, what you said last night. Two things, actually. First off, you were right. About me, and about...my naming. I almost lost my bag again today. This can't go on." Digging into my satchel, I pull out my naming, dark and silky. I meet Djhuety's eyes.
"I want...will you keep it safe for me?" My heart feels like it's in my throat. His eyes go bright with shock. It makes me smile a little. "I told you, I trust you. More than I've trusted anyone in a very long time." I push the skin into his hands. "I'm...safe, with you."

He blinks, taking the soft folds into his hand the weight and feel between silk and suede leather. Then reaching past it, he takes her hand and pulls her closer. "You're sure?" He runs his fingers over the outside curve of her hand, his skin rougher then it had been, almost like the pad of a cat's paw. "Wouldn't your family...?"

"Technically, my holt will think we're married if I give you my name. If that's too much, too fast..." I shrug. "You don't have to. But it feels good to me, you holding it. I thought it would. You've protected my body. You've healed me. You've made me more myself than I ever thought or dared to be before. I am better for your hand in mine. I think that's merit enough for me." Gently, I spread the skin open across our legs, so that we can see the whole of it. Patterns and subtle colors run across it. I trace the patterns and the words in the Old Tongue. "Can you read it?" I murmur, looking up at him.

"If I wanted to," Djehuty ran his hand over the soft fabric again, touching her's as he did it.. "But right now..." His finger pull the naming over her hand, and he presses, feeling her skin through the folds. The fabric feels... alive... somehow, as it it touches her, it becomes her, making her more real in a way. He lifted the folds of the cloth and gently draped it around her shoulders and leaned in, touching his forehead to her's. "I choose you, to hold and to treasure, to love and protect... I would share your path, as you might share mine. I would that we were mated partners." He wrapped an arm gently around her waist. "Would you?"

I stare at him, shocked. "I would..." I breathe, amazement and delight making the words as thin as a lark's trill. I swallow hard, trying to catch my breath. My heart is moving fast as a minnow as I take his hands, placing my palms flat against his. "If you would have me, I'll share with you my life, my name and my body. My love, my loyalty and my friendship." The hallowed words seem strange to be speaking here, in this little room, in this impossible and deadly place. But to this man...for this man, I think I'd do most anything.

Smiling, he pulls her closer. "Then we are wed." His words hold the edge of his power, and the marks on their breasts flare with sudden heat. His fingers wrapped around the back of her hand, tracing the line of the new ring on her left hand, cast from the memory of gold, and lacing her fingers with his. His forehead touched her's again and he looked into her eyes.

"So we are. I belong to you. And you to me." I smile up at him, the time-worn words swift and easy now on my lips. "Bound by word and by bodies and by wish. May it be so."
Then I lean forward, and press my lips to his, my fingers twining into his hair. In the darkness, the ring on my finger glimmers.
Isis growls, and Ailin makes an annoyed little chittering noise behind us. I raise my head a moment to laugh. "Our two witnesses don't seem impressed."

"No," Djehuty laughs. "But what did you expect from our divas?" He again lifts her skin and swirls it over her shoulders. "You had more you wanted to speak about?"

I straighten, pulling myself back together. Time to get serious. "Yes actually. Doesn't it strike you as odd, the three people who are most vulnerable in our lot falling to emotional failings all in a matter of hours?" I glance at the door. "Something was off with the way that all happened. It all hit too fast for me to pin down, but something was unnatural about it... I think someone's been meddling. What say you? You pick up anything?" I turn to my...my mate. Husband, that's the more usual word. My husband. The words send a delicious tremor through my gut. Whatever is to come, he is my husband, this man I love. Grey hairs and all.
I cock my head as he thinks.

"Lily I can understand," he starts, playing with her fingers, "She and Kiou had a connection, but Sori..." He closed his eyes. "S/he's always been unstable, but this time... Kiou is poison." He opened his eyes and stared into hers. "She is the only new factor we've encountered, and this all centers on her. And now..." He swallows, rising quickly to his feet, pulling Liv up with him. "She's with Liam."

"No..." I pull him back. "I know her look and her power, all red and fierce purple on one side, blue and sweet green on the other. But this....I didn't see it well, but it wasn't either purple nor blue. I spotted it for a moment in Lily I think...a sick sort of black green, like vegetation gone to rot. Not Kiou. Calm down."

"Love," he cups her cheek in his hand... "Just bare with me. I didn't say she does it meaning to cause sickness, but she's the only common factor. I haven't lost my words in years, but in the course of an evening, I managed to age myself thirty years."

I nod, slowly. "And you're not the only one. All of us have been a little...haywire, of late. Lily, she's so reserved, seeing her go off like an emotional firecracker wasn't right for her....though Sori is always on the edge....Even I..." I run my thoughts over the time in the Belladonna's company. My words, my power, had not come. I had let anger distract me from its use. Since when does a bard let such a thing be?! I nod. "Well enough. What do we do?"

"First, confirm." He rose again, pulling her up with him. "I have a thought on that."

"Lead," I state quietly. "And tell me if you want a hand."
I whistle a note, and Isis and Ailin wing to our shoulders as we step out.