Anurith's Golden Ram ~ Rylas

Guest · Post by **Guest** » Sat Aug 06, 2005 5:46 am

"My day?" He gave her an unbelieving look. "Forgive me if small talk seems out of place at the moment," he said with obvious sarcasm. "And if that hole in the ground could be called a room, then yes." Rylas sat on the edge of the bed opposite her and rifled through the nightstand for his toiletries. He hadn't decided if he would bathe, or skip it and just sulk himself to sleep. "But, that was before the attempt on your life that you partially blame me for. Ah, and we cannot forget your two sneak attacks so far. Are we working on number three?"

That night at Tedrin's had been something of a turning point. Some things about his "uncle" were the same. Others, which Talnyah had told him, were all but confirmed. Rylas didn't have a good feeling about anything, now, and recalling the unstifled bitterness with which the two attacked each other brought forth another wave of anxiousness in Rylas about letting her stay.

'...Tedrin's daughter...unless you have been enjoying such Panlike endeavors with Talnyah...I've heard stories...all you've done, and now you still sit there and pretend as if I don't even exist...'

Rylas glanced over his shoulder at the achadhiel. He believed her, but if she was in a vulnerable state now, how long would it be until the loose cannon he pictured went off again? She could've killed him either time she had surprised him. What if he were not so fortunate again? She had proven herself quite capable. The two guards at Tedrin's initiated the confrontation, in fact, and Rylas believed Talnyah could've killed them without any injury to herself if she had only been focusing.

He dwelled on her a moment. Acrobatic legs, taut stomach, firm... Hrm, I wish she would not sit like that, he thought, heat rising ever so slightly in his face. He stood rapidly from the bed with a sour expression and started hunting for a candle. Like what, you primate? How else does one sit? Don't be pathetic.

'...that girl seemed to revel in living off of scraps. You are much better than that...it's his fault. He killed her...'

Rylas slid the candle and holder onto the table in the corner, along with the bath supplies he had gathered. 'I wanted to know if Tedrin...killed your father.' He lowered himself onto a chair and palmed one of the books he had read through not long ago. 'It's his fault.' He opened it and flipped through the pages idly, giving himself something to look at besides her. 'He killed her.' Rylas spilled out the note paper from Tedrin he had saved. Slowly, he lifted them off the floor and turned them over in his hands, wondering if his mentor had written the messages himself or had one of his sycophants do the chore.

"Tell me of your mother." His voice was hushed, and lacked the acerbic edge of almost every other statement he had made to her since she appeared, and quite possibly since the day they had met.

Ashari · Post by **Ashari** » Wed Aug 17, 2005 4:38 pm

Talnyah smirked as Rylas destroyed her idea of friendly small talk. "I've basically realized there was no way you were going to help me, I should've before I had you come along to Tedrin's. It was a mistake." She shook her head. "I've made a few of those since you've been around, I'm not sure why, but I get cocky around you. It's not good for me -- definately not healthy." She rubbed her stomach absently remembering the seemingly fatal wound she had sustained in his company. "I thought I could convert you from Tedrin's aid, show you he wasn't the man you thought you knew." The achadhiel shrugged. "That was a foolish thing of me to do, since you aren't the child I remember." Talnyah wasn't sure how he was going to take that, it wasn't meant as an insult, but more that he had grown up a good deal since the days when she saw him sparring with her father.

Her dark blue eyes followed him as he moved around the room over to the chair where he sat down silently. She had already tried to break that silence, and had managed to shatter it into uncomfortable small talk, it wasn't a very good improvement, so she kept her mouth shut this time around, just content with watching him. Her sight drifted downward with the papers as they floated to the floor. She didn't know what they were, but she couldn't help being intrigued.

Talnyah had almost gotten used to the quiet of their lacking conversation when Rylas spoke. She almost jumped, but kept herself from it, it was what he said that made her stomach immediately knot up. "Oh sure, so pleasant small talk is a crazy idea, you'd rather ask me extremely personal questions?" She seemed utterly shocked. However, he hadn't been rude about it, he just seemed to honestly want to know.

"What do you want to know?" Her blue eyes appeared bluer, brighter, or more turned on, as if she were paying more attention now. A light had lit within her, and it was the same light that had appeared when she was defending herself. "She was human, and she was stupid for having fallen in love with Tedrin." Her jaw clenched a bit, but not nearly as mich as her insides had. "They had one of those star-crossed ill-fated love affairs. You know the kind..." She looked up at him and sighed. "Destined to burn out, not fade away." Then she looked back down at her hands.

"It's almost sort of sweet how they met though. He had saved her." Talnyah's lips twitched to the side, almost as though she would smile, but she didn't, instead she licked them quickly and brushed away the emotions. "I guess she was being attacked. She was beautiful. A travelling musician, but alone. Women shouldn't travel alone." The way she said it made it seem as though the achadhiel knew it for a fact. "But he saw her, and their eyes met, you know the routine. He would've done anything to keep her safe, all the way up to the end, but then she had to go and get sick, and there wasn't anything he could do about that." She took in a deep breath and her eyes looked much too shiny. "You can't kill illness."

The girl swallowed and bit her bottom lip before looking back up at Rylas. "Not sure what else to tell you about her. She had a tragic life from the very beginning, but when she was with Tedrin, and when she had me... I guess she was happy for the first time. Some people aren't meant to be happy." She pulled her legs up and wrapped her arms around them, hugging her thighs against her chest. Talnyah sat her chin on her knees. "I miss her sometimes, but I'm still mad she left me with him. He couldn't look at me, he saw her in me, and it killed me -- killed a part of him, too. Easier to bury yourself in work." The achadhiel ran her tongue over her teeth rubbing away the hot saliva that so often accompanied such a close call with tears.

Guest · Post by **Guest** » Thu Aug 18, 2005 3:21 am

Rylas had little in the way of visible reaction to Talnyah's comments. He wasn't the boy he had been. If one were to ask him, he would say it was due to conscious choice, rather than residual scarring from the events preceding his departure as one might expect. However, it was a matter of philosophy whether one begat the other, making the two indestinguishable.

He had felt that Tedrin was very different in some ways than the person Rylas called "uncle," and he came close to admitting it. But, as much as he recognized Talnyah had obvious talents, he still firmly believed that if she hadn't let herself be goaded into losing her head, no help would've been necessary.

Rylas pegged her tone as defensive when she began to answer. Annoyed, he clapped the note papers inside the book once again and reached to replace it on the shelf. He figured now she would dodge the question with some barb. Yet, beyond his expectations her words kept coming. He knew the question would strike a nerve, but he knew not its depth.

Stormy-colored eyes coolly regarded her. They were an accurate reflection; what was silence for Talnyah was a tumult for Rylas, as it was most of the time. Destiny, hmpf. Some are good at making themselves unhappy. At first, it was clear she felt bitter about her mother. He wondered if "human" was meant to be as derogatory as "stupid," and the idea produced even a little more bile within him. A voice inside him felt vindicated that a mere human had got under Tedrin's skin, and made up half of Talnyah's.

For an instant Rylas forgot that she was speaking of Tedrin. In those days he hadn't truly seemed like the sort of man who would create such roots or tie himself down. With his brusque way of business recently, he seemed even less likely today to take a wife. But, Rylas knew that most of the time spent with Tedrin in the past was spent as a boy, and what would a boy know of such a man's motives? "What was her name?"

Rylas was also still unsatisfied regarding his motives to eradicate his own daughter. He understood how it might pain him to see his late wife in Talnyah, or more appropriately how she could remind him of a period of weakness. But murdering her for that seemed like using a claymore to cut fingernails.

For only the second time since they had met, Talnyah alluded to certain difficulties arising from being female. He could really only guess at what she meant, or rather, how grave the circumstances she hinted at were. As much spite as he brimmed with at times, he had not yet met anyone he would ever wish to befall the images that appeared in his head.

"There is...so little class in the world." Cogitation still swirled just behind his eyes, but the relative calm in his speech persisted. For now, he was either finally convinced that she wouldn't betray him, or content to believe that the cockiness she spoke of would save him from her again. Unlabored by such stresses, his tone lacked the grittiness - like metal on metal - that made most any statement sound like a threat. It was clear, baritone, perhaps even rich. The range was a little reminiscent of Jeric's voice, which had been a tool for the merchant that helped bring him prosperity in all his deals, except the last fateful one.

"It could be my imagination, but you almost sound as if you wish you hadn't been a woman." His eyes fell from her again, leaving her to answer or not as she pleased as he began to pull off his boots at place them under the table. "Do you have such things as soap?"

Ashari · Post by **Ashari** » Thu Aug 18, 2005 4:48 pm

"Hmm?" Talnyah looked up at him. "Her name? -Talyn." She paused. "I don't know her full name, or surname or what have you. When I was younger I asked Tedrin, he wouldn't tell me. He was afraid I'd go find her family - shame them with what I was." The achadhiel clamped her jaw shut for a flicker and didn't speak. "She was from somewhere outside World's Mouth, I know that much atleast, because she had gone to a school there for a short time before she left. The Mouth is pretty much the worst place for an adhiel, nevermind an achadhiel, so it would take more than a wondering at my roots to go back there."

The young woman looked up at him as he spoke of the lacking of class in their world. She didn't reply, just nodded knowingly. In the yahren she had lived Talnyah had seen many things, many of which were rather unsavoury, things that clung to the back of the mind during the daylight and surfaced when it was dark and your tired eyes closed.

She studied him for a moment. "No, not that I'd rather be a man. Many times it works to my advantage being small and seemingly weak thanks to my gender. Men don't expect me to be as strong as I am, and I can catch them off guard. Just men don't have to deal with some things that women do. There are less worries." Talnyah shrugged.

"Soap? Yeah.. in my bag." She put her hands on either side of her and pushed against the floor, rolling her knees beneath her to crawl over to her pack which was pushed into the corner. "Hpw girly do you want to smell? I've got lavendar and I've got... green." She looked down at the bar of soap. "I'm actually not sure what this one is. It smells sort of minty though." The streetrat looked over to him and smiled. "I've got some other necessities in here too, what else do you need?" Grasping the strap she pulled it over to where she had been sitting before, closing the wide gap between the two of them that had developed when she went for the parcel.

"Oh, I meant to ask... how did Tedrin appreciate getting back his diamond?" Her eyes smiled more than her face did. "He was missing it ever-so much."

Guest · Post by **Guest** » Thu Aug 18, 2005 6:49 pm

So she is her mother's namesake...musician from World's Mouth. Rylas didn't understand why World's Mouth was a bad place for adhiel, having nto traveled as much as he wanted, and he didn't ask. Based on previous conversations with Talnyah, she made it sound as if there was no good place. "Talyn," he repeated, filing it away. He absentmindedly passed a hand over his cheek, wondering just how Tedrin might react to the mention of it.

Rylas unconsciously drew away a little as she came nearer with her soaps, not unlike someone who had met with a strange creature. Indeed, it wasn't far from the truth for him. While Talnyah was obviously female - her shape was unmistakable, in a word - she hadn't often shown herself to be quite so ...femenine...girly. Similar to Lianelle's impression. It was the minor details that caused him to make the connection. The way the latter had come to Yabal in need of a father figure. The fact that the former had two different scented soaps.

Effeminate quirks, and the option of bathing. Rylas felt a little relief as he thought of it. His first few days on Amun Rah, and on the ship before, neither were very readily available. And Rylas found it surprising just how far the two went in making him feel separate from the simplistic and vulgar. It was a step toward having a little panache in his daily life, which he would say his aesthetic sense craved.

Rylas narrowed his eyes at Talnyah. In harboring her, it was even more questionable to when it would be taken away, and he would be sleeping in another cellar.

"No...no thank you. Being that you're on the run, I didn't know what you had been able to take, and what you were doing without. I was just going to offer to...halve mine," he said, holding up his own plain lye soap. He pursed his lips a moment, then stood and straightened up. "If you're going to stay with me, my quarters are not going to be covered in travel residue and odors like a stable."

Moving to the chest of drawers and fishing out other necessities, like fresh braises, he made to leave the room. "I'm going to take a bath, and I suggest you take the opportunity to do the same. But, don't parade in the hallway for the caretaker to spot."

Ashari · Post by **Ashari** » Sat Aug 27, 2005 9:34 pm

"I'm always prepared incase I have to leave quickly." Talnyah said and shrugged with a small smile. The smile faded as he commented on not wanting his room to smell like a stable thanks to her. The achadhiel's shoulders slouched a bit and she just looked up at him as he stood. Her dark eyes were incredibly dark from this angle, as if they were absorbing the blackness of the shadow that crossed over her face.

"You are unbelievable," she growled as she pushed her limber body up off the floor with the grace of a cat. It was reminicent of the liquid movements as she had crossed the timbers when they were sneaking into Tedrin's lair after she had leapt up off of the crates. She stalked across the room with her bag hanging from her closed fist. "Don't worry, I'll keep out of Yabal's way." The young woman sat abruptly on the bed with her back to him and started pulling things out of the satchel. The first of which looked like the soaps she had spoken of, after that it was clothes and she continued to paw through the pack.

Out in the hallway it was dark thanks to the lacking of windows. The bathroom was a bit lighter. Though it had grown toward eveningtide, there was still a lot of sunlight around especially in the tiled room which seemed to glow with it's own illumination. Part of the help was the consistantly burning fire on one side of the room where the water was heated for the hot baths.

Along the right wall were shelves. Some had towels, others had robes, then there was the wide collection of scented salts and soaps for the dancing girls of Yabal to use before and after their performances. It was grueling work, and many of them bathed following their routines. Right now, however, before eveningtide began, it was an empty room. Tubs, some out in the open, and a few others with the availability of curtains to be drawn around them, were all empty. Rylas's footfalls echoed through the chamber.

Talnyah silently made her way through the hall and appeared aside Rylas like a shadow alive. In the better lighting of the room the faint mark of a bruise along her neck was easier to see. The achadhiel paid little mind to the man she was bunking with as she passed him with a cool breeze caught behind her. She moved toward the second of the two tubs that had a curtain. Talnyah set her things down gingerly and then moved over to the fire. Stoking it, the flames curled and rose, before falling back toward the embers. There were two pots, both of which were full of steamy water.

The woman returned to her own tub and started to draw the cold water. She glanced over to Rylas briefly before turning the tap to it's full potential, drowning out any other sounds in the room with the cascading waterfall noise as it hit the surface with crashing thunder. Her hand reached down and put the plug in the hole in the centre of the bath. Walking back as if Rylas weren't there she grasped the closest full hot pan and moved back to her own tub. She pulled the curtain closed behind her, and then shut off the tap, leaving the young man in relative silence.

Guest · Post by **Guest** » Tue Sep 13, 2005 8:36 am

Rylas gaped at the offended Talnyah as she sprung upward and away. He hadn't expected her to react quite so bitterly, though it made sense as he repeated it in his mind. He watched her a moment longer as she rummaged, and without really thinking he breathed a small, relieved sigh. Leaving Talnyah to gather her things, he took his own bathing supplies - consisting entirely of his lye soap and his last fresh pair of braises - and stepped from the room.

While he had been on the subject of bathing, it had slipped his mind that there was only one bath room that he knew of. As the aroma of the salts and oils reached his nose and Talnyah slipped by, he drew his sigh back in.

Bathing could be something of a ritual for Rylas. Both a luxury and necessity as he saw it, little else made him feel better as quickly. His clothes were crumpled near the end of his tub - which also had a curtain - and he was inside before the hot water from the fire had a chance to spread evenly. He slipped his head beneath the water, then slowly slid back up just enough to breath. With eyes half-closed, he lay still as the hot water around his torso cooled and the cold water warmed and the antipode melted away. As his skin grew accustomed to the temperature, a muscle or two twitched, releasing its tension.

He relaxed in this way for a moment more before beginning the cleansing. He hastily worked a lather into his hair and over his body, hoping to be finished before the water became too cool for comfort. In between the little splashing sounds he made, he couldn't help but to listen for Talnyah's on the other side of the room.

With the bath sufficiently cold and cloudy with soap, Rylas stood and wrung his hair. Water flowed in rivulets down his roughly v-shaped outline and dripped from his extremities. He stepped out of the tub and into his braises, which clung to his damp flesh.

Gathering his used clothes under one arm, he stepped halfway from behind his curtain. His eyes glanced down at himself, then rolled as another little oversight occured to him. Looking down, he huffed and slinked away for his room.

Ashari · Post by **Ashari** » Wed Sep 14, 2005 5:57 pm

As Rylas bathed, whenever he took a pause, he could hear the gentle sloshings of what could only be assumed to be Talnyah's tub water as she did the same. The slight scent of lavendar drifted though the air, filling the young man's nostrils with it's herby aroma.

Looking down the length of the bathroom he didn't see the achadhiel, but could hear sounds of a tub draining. The curtain behind which she had gone, was drawn closed. Steam hung in the air, clouding it just a bit, and filling his lungs with thicker air than was usual. Everything seemed stained with the lavendar.

Once Rylas reached the door, and out into the open hallway, he was met with cooler, drier and fresher air. It was only a few steps to the door, but as he approached it, Yabal appeared from a room that was just about across the hall from his room. "Good bath?" He asked, looking at the closed door and half-clothed mob messenger as he shut the door behind him.

The young man was given a brief view of a room full of vanities and mirrors and makeup and glittering costumes. It wasn't a mess, but it wasn't tidy either. Chairs were moved about haphazardly and set up infront of each mirror that was available. Shoes littered the floor to the right of the door, and there was just an overwhelming feeling of 'woman' from the entire thing. "Have a good night," he said and then moved onward down the hall. It was a necessary pleasantry, he wasn't trying to be friendly.

Inside his room Talnyah was already waiting. She had slipped on a tightfitting cloth chemise. By nature, chemises were supposed to be loose, but this one was not. It extended only to the end of her elbows, and infact, could've been designed for a child to wear, rather than an adult, but still, it wasn't too small for her. It was light blue, and contrasted against her dark skin nicely. The front laced to her clevage where there was a small bow of the leather string that held the piece together. She had put on a white skirt that fell to her bare feet, but hung at her hips, leaving a wedge of exposed skin at the small of her back and around her waist between the chemise and the skirt.

She was sitting on his bed, braiding her wet hair. At first she didn't glance over to him, instead she slowly turned her entire body, her lithe fingers still moved quickly through her somewhat curled damp locks as she pulled them together in the knots. Her dark blue eyes were brighter with the aid of the blue top she wore and they appraisingly drifted over his form like a cat with a mouse. Smiling she turned back to her braiding without saying a word.

Guest · Post by **Guest** » Sat Sep 17, 2005 9:08 am

At first, Rylas gaped at Yabal like a teenager caught sneaking out after dark. Gathering himself in the next instant, he simply nodded in reply and hoped he hadn't been joined in the hallway by Talnyah.

As much as Rylas habitually puzzled over things, it never occured to him to wonder at the contents of other rooms in the inn (aside from his allegedly highborn neighbor and her bodyguard, but that was mainly after he already knew they were there). That the dressing rooms for the evening entertainment were just across the hall was unexpected.

Prior to Talnyah's latest appearance, Rylas had noted with some alarm that Yabal made him feel too comfortable in that he always seemed to say a word or two more than he intended in conversations. Alarm, because he held no delusions regarding friendship. Thus, Yabal's salutation went mostly unnoticed. However, as Yabal passed and Rylas opened his door, he did pause to wonder what brought the barkeep to the ladies' dressing room at eveningtide.

Rylas was getting good at making a surprised face. "How did..." he muttered, poking his head back into the hallway in confusion before looking back at the delectable achadhiel. Then, his eyebrows flared as he actually looked at her, displaying an expression somewhere between discomfort and frustration. He turned his head to look elsewhere, but his eyes didn't follow. They stayed with Talnyah, moving nimbly as her fingers in her hair, and one or two of Rylas's more neglected inner voices held a festival of Pan in his head.

His lip curled and he looked down at himself, pushing his own wet locks toward the back of his head. He instinctively moved to cover his body, but lost the will and dumped his old clothes at the foot of the bed with a huff. Grimacing harder, he moved briskly to lock the door and extinguish the lights as she cracked a smile and continued weaving.

Fully expecting that they would both refuse to sleep anywhere but the bed, he flipped the covers back and slapped his pillow into the middle, meaning for it to be a barrier. Flopping over into the mattress, he drew the covers to his waist.

Rylas lay still for a moment with his back to the other side of the bed, then changed his mind and tossed to his back. I will see the knife coming, at least. As his body sank into the bed, his chest fell with a punctuating exhale.

Ashari · Post by **Ashari** » Sun Sep 18, 2005 3:48 pm

Talnyah felt the pillow press against the small of her back as he pushed it between them. Afraid I'll bite? She almost said it, too, but she contained herself. Grabbing a small ribbon that was sitting in her lap, the achadhiel made quick work of tying the end of the braid and wrapped the extra length around several times so it wouldn't get pulled out while she slept.

She listened as he plopped down against the straw mattress and then tossed and turned for a burn before deciding that he wanted to lay on his back and look heavenward. His heavy sigh filled the room with silence as Talnyah considered where she was going to sleep. Although it seemed as if he expected her to just lay down right on the bed, she wasn't quite sure she wanted to do that.

The young woman could see his outline carved against the lighter wall he was infront of. Even his silouhette looked stressed. Biting back her reservations, Talnyah laid down with the pillow at her side. She stared up at the ceiling with bright awake eyes. "How's your shoulder?" He had already made it quite clear he wanted to go to sleep, but all of a sudden she was very awake. "I'm sorry I snapped at you... it's just, you go and ask me something about me, and then I answer you. I guess I just didn't expect you to be an asshole after that, atleast not right away."

Talnyah fiddled with the end of her braid as she looked upward. She twirled the strands that were unknotted into a twist that curled almost perfectly. Perhaps he had been expecting a knife, but her tone had been dull. If it were a weapon, it might've been better compared to a club.

Guest · Post by **Guest** » Tue Sep 20, 2005 9:15 am

Rylas had yet to close his eyes. He wasn't afraid to, exactly. It was more like he didn't want to miss something important. At any rate, as the mattress shifted with the weight of Talnyah's body, he began to expect he'd never manage to fall asleep tonight.

"Fine. It is healing fine, since I stopped passing time in basements," he muttered. He hadn't thought much about his shoulder in the past couple of days, save for when it smarted or stung. Looking after it was becoming part of routine, like getting dressed. He quickly forgot about it again as she continued talking.

"That's your idea of an apology?" he asked, turning his head in her direction. Rylas almost sounded genuinely curious. "And as I recall, I never made any direct comment about you." His head rolled back toward the ceiling. "Simply, there are consequences to not washing. But we've taken care of that."

Rylas breathed deeply through his nose, wondering in back of his mind whether she had used the lavender soap or the "green." And he wondered how the aroma would linger in her hair...
There was a strident sound of air as he irritably breathed out his nose and forced that voice to again subside.

"And yours?" he asked to move the topic forward. "Your...injury?" Hers had been much more traumatic. A talented healer just had to be among her contacts in the city.

Ashari · Post by **Ashari** » Wed Sep 21, 2005 5:03 pm

"I am sorry." Talnyah turned to look at his silhouette to judge his reaction and was surprised to see that he had turned as well. For an uncomfortable flicker her eyes met his silently before he spoke about the comment not being directed at her, but then he was looking skyward once again. "It was definately directed at me... I doubt you'd refer to yourself smelling like a.. what did you say? Stall or something?" She shook her head lightly.

She wondered what he was thinking about as he drew quietly inward, and then sighed out so loudly as if pushing the thoughts from his mind. The achadhiel decided not to push that, atleast, and really, that was quite unusual for her. Infact, so unusual that it was eating her up inside.

"It's alright. Sore." Talnyah became very quiet. "Just another scar, I guess." Rolling over on her side, facing Rylas, she propped her head up on her hand. "Whatever doesn't kill us makes us stronger," she said. "But thanks for asking. You know, sometimes, you aren't so bad. Why are you so harsh." Her pause on the word was purposeful, as it had been made quite obvious the reasons why she acted the way she did, even if they were consistantly erratic. "Because of what happened to Jeric?"

Guest · Post by **Guest** » Thu Sep 22, 2005 8:42 am

Stable, he thought, but he didn't correct out loud. In truth, he had thought of himself in such a way, especially during and after his ship trip which he remembered often and with revulsion. And for all the things about Talnyah that upset him in some fashion, her scent itself was not one. But, he thought it best to let the issue drop.

A minor dread rose in Rylas as she turned to face him. It was a sign of coming conversation at a time when he hoped for the simpler existence of sleep. And Talnyah seemed to haplessly pull at strings which others would be hard pressed to notice; things that were among the last that Rylas wanted to think about.

"No," he said gruffly. It may not have been the truth, though he didn't really know what happened to Jeric, only that it ended with his death. At present, that fact was enough for him to consider the matter closed. "He likely could have prevented the incident with some foresight. Most such things can be prevented. But he had grown...complacent."

Where Talnyah was specifically concerned, out of those few he presently knew (which was a very short list) he considered himself harsh only to her. However, even if he wasn't outwardly harsh to all, he hadn't exactly warmed up to anyone he had met, either. Why he was cold in general was an issue that didn't have a lot to do with the achadhiel.

His lips grew tight. "No. If-" He paused and rolled his eyes in anticipation of a reaction to his wording. "-When I am harsh to you, it is reflex, just as one keeps a certain distance from an open flame." His lips grew tighter. He had just done as he sometimes did with Yabal, speaking one sentence too many, one that was meant to stay in his thoughts.

Ashari · Post by **Ashari** » Mon Sep 26, 2005 1:49 pm

Complacent. And you don't want to succumb to the same fate. She looked at him, and thought of saying it, but then, she wasn't quite sure if that was actually it, and she didn't want to push him without her being correct. Talnyah did prefer being right.

The achadhiel's brow raised as he answered her question. "Oh." Was all that she could say, as she stared at the man laying next to her. "Well... if you're going to consider me dangerous I guess it's good I'm compared to a flame and not a blade. Atleast there's a compliment I can get out of flame, not so much with a blade." She smiled and tried to soften his expression with it.

"We should probably get some sleep."

Talnyah rolled back over onto her back and stared up at the ceiling, before she rolled onto her side, leaving her back exposed to Rylas. She gave a deep pre-sleep sigh and then she quietted and seemed to have gotten herself comfortable.

After a few burns sleep came to Rylas as well. It washed over him like a wave and pulled him toward the aether where he walked and experienced his dreams. Dreams which were, atleast tonight, far too full of the achadhiel that was laying beside him in the tether. She was indeed dangerous, and she proved as much as she killed Tedrin right infront of Rylas' eyes, and then approached him, with her bright smile and dark eyes. Many ask if a person has remorse, but it was obvious she didn't as she giggled. Then, as she looked down at her blood stained hands, her face started to change, and she shook her head, and started to just sob. The scene played several times through the night.

When Rylas awoke he was surrounded by the scent of lavendar. Each breath he took in was intoxicatingly full of the sweet herb's odor. He could also feel the warm body of the young woman he had slept with conforming to the line of his own. His face was nestled into her neck and her hair, and his arm was draped over her side, an arm which she lightly held onto the hand of as it resided next to her firm stomach.

Guest · Post by **Guest** » Wed Sep 28, 2005 9:51 am

Rylas averted his eyes toward her as she commented on flames. Compliment, perhaps, but Rylas's thought at the time was that death by a blade would be less agony. His expression only softened when she confirmed it was time for sleep, which he eventually managed after a last glance.

Rylas hated dreaming. He didn't consider it very restful when one's brain wouldn't leave them alone even in unconsciousness. And this dream was as far from restful as any he could ever remember having. Almost torture, he detachedly thought as he was made to watch as his last connection to his previous existence was cut again and again. ...must do something...how?...who?...I...helpless...hate...

A bed is never more comfortable than it is when one first wakes; when one's body has been at rest and still is, and had released the day's tribulations hours ago. On top of that fact, the bed was even more comfort on this morning than ever. He breathed deeply the lavender scent, and an "oh" of delight from deep in his chest followed the breath back out. It muffled itself, not quite making it past his throat.

His head moved as he began to wake, and he unintentionally nuzzled the achadhiel's tresses. Velvet came to mind at first, but this was more exquisite yet. His mind looked for a comparison, but it wasn't up to the task.

Rylas's eyes slid open lazily. Dreaming, he decided, and why not? Every other dream had been of her. At least this one wasn't a nightmare. Rylas was relieved. His eyes slid closed again, and again he slowly nuzzled her neck. The uncanny warmth down the length of him was almost as good. It was completely different from the heat of Amun Rah which had sometimes left him to wake to an unpleasantly damp pillow if he slept too long. This was soothing, and his arm faintly contracted that he might further embrace its source. It was like the way a leaf turns before rain for no reason other than nature.

As the impulse reached the end of his arm, his palm flattened against her abdomen that it might better feel. Again, the sensation couldn't be matched to some other sense memory. It could only be described in terms of what desires it evoked. To relish, caress, to continue to feel. It felt...

...real. The mind is slow to react in the moments after waking. Rylas's eyes shot open. The reassurance that he was dreaming and his situation held no substance was torn away. Muscles tensed and became rigid as awareness burdened him. He jerked away (appropriately) as if he had been burned. He scooted across the bed to open the distance, unmindful that he was speedily running out of ground to cover, and scooted right off the edge.

Ashari · Post by **Ashari** » Wed Sep 28, 2005 4:32 pm

Perhaps under the same drowsy influences, Tanyah's shoulders shifted as he pulled in the scent of her lavendar locks. She gave a deep sigh out of her nose of contentment and her body pressed closer to his as his warm exhale washed down her neck. It almost made her shiver, but she suppressed the feeling as her lazy blue eyes opened and started to take in the visual of where she actually was.

Rylas's arm tightened around her lithe body and brought her closer to him and a soft mummering noise escaped her throat. As his hand flattened across her tight stomach she actually began to wake up, the sensory images and reality finally catching up with her just as Rylas's every muscle tensed and he pushed himself away from her with alarming speed.

The achadhiel sat bolt-upright as he created such a huge gap between them that he rolled right off the bed itself. "Rylas!" She crawled over the bed and looked down at him on the floor. "Are you ok?" Her eyes were full of sympathy as she stared down at her compatriot, but already she was fighting a smile, even if she was honestly worried about him. Talnyah's hair had come out of the braid she had done it in the previous night, and hung around her, and dangled downward off the edge of the bed. She bit on her bottom lip and tried her best to hold in the fit of laughter that threatened to surface at the confused look on the man below her.

Guest · Post by **Guest** » Thu Sep 29, 2005 9:58 am

As he grasped what exactly had transpired, Rylas bore a pained look. It was mainly out of irritation at thoroughly waking up and falling off of the wrong side of the bed, though a couple spots at the rear could've certainly done without the knock. He closed his eyes, wishing already that he could fall back asleep and start the day over, then looked up wanly at Talnyah's face.

Feeling teased by her barely contained laughter and the silky strands that hung down to him, free of last night's braid, he wondered if he had freed them himself. He thought back to when they had gone to bed in the first place. It had seemed harmless enough. Where had his pillow wall gone? Of course, he couldn't expect to remember what had happened while he was asleep, but that didn't stop him from boggling over it. Maybe it's best I don't know.

He turned and his hands slapped against the floor, and he quickly pushed himself up. Like many people in embarrassing situations, he wanted to move on and try to forget anything had occured at all. However, even as he hunched over the dresser and dug around for clean clothes, the aroma of Talnyah's bath soap stayed with him.

He pulled on a muslin shirt and leaned heavily on top of the chest of drawers. He wanted to lay some sort of blame, to say it was part of some plot she was hatching to get underneath his guard. But the truth of the matter was that he had been at her back, with his arm over her. How did I manage that? he thought, shaking his head. A pang of shame swept over him for more than one reason, and he glanced over his shoulder at the bed, saying, "I apologize."

Back turned, he continued getting hastily dressed.

Ashari · Post by **Ashari** » Thu Sep 29, 2005 6:34 pm

The pain in his shoulder as he hit the floor blossomed and spread like wildfire through his newly relaxed muscles. It was the vibration, the shaking of his whole body that had caused it. What had just gone to the back of his mind as a dull roar was fully alive once more as if he had just been stabbed by the tiny dark achadhiel's blade.

Talnyah contained her laughter as he placed his hands on the floor and pushed himself off it abruptly without a word. She sighed, and as the exhale fell from her full lips, so did the last remnant her radiant smile which was trying so hard to push through. She just pulled the blanket around her again to replace the warmth that Rylas's body had provided and crossed her lithe legs, though they were mostly hidden beneath the wooly gray mass. Just her tanned bare feet, and her dainty toes were visible as they hung off the edge of the bed.

"It's alright," she said quietly and watched as he dressed started the process of changing, but then averted her gaze to the nubbly surface of the comforter. "You don't have much of a sense of humor, do you?" Her dark blue eyes looked up at him and she smiled softly. "Because, you have to admit, that was pretty funny. You should've seen your face." Her eyes widened mockingly. "Your eyes were huge." She allowed an actual grin, but then turned more serious. "I'm really alright, Rylas. You didn't hurt me." Damn him for being so quiet and cautious. Stop talking so much, Talnyah. She berated them both equally for the uncomfortable situation.

Guest · Post by **Guest** » Sat Oct 01, 2005 9:10 am

Rylas leaned heavily against the chest of drawers, listening and waiting for the pain to subside, surprised by it. He had thought that the worst was over, but given the short amount of time that had passed he was evidently expecting too much of his wound. It did indeed feel as though he had been stabbed again, and it made him wonder bitterly if he really was right back where he started, fated to injury as long as he didn't keep his distance from Talnyah.

Talnyah spoke, and he could hear the humor, the smile in her voice. He wondered if it was the same smile she bore in his nightmare. Rylas believed in fortune-making rather than fortune-telling, but his fears from when she first reappeared echoed immediately with the memory of the dream. What sort of choice had he made by letting her stay?

"Right," he replied brusquely. He turned sharply at the waist and appeared ready with some acid comment, but the next sound was only a stymied growl as the corners of his mouth were pulled in a wince. Whether it was the way Talnyah looked wrapped up as she was, or the throb that accompanied his sudden movement, the retort never took form. He lowered his eyes again and trudged to the corner with the bookshelf.

Easing down into one of the chairs and putting his elbows on his knees, Rylas tried to think of what he would even do with the day. He couldn't seem to remember what Tedrin's last note had said, which added to his anxiety. And what was he to do with Talnyah now that she was here? If he dragged her around with him, he ran the risk of someone seeing and reporting to Tedrin that he had picked up a hitchhiker. But can I afford to leave her alone? No telling the trouble that'd find her, and then me.

He looked up toward the bed as though he had asked the question aloud and was awaiting her answer. After waiting this way for a flicker, he did quietly ask, "Did you pack any other changes of clothes? We can't just sit in here."

Ashari · Post by **Ashari** » Tue Oct 04, 2005 3:18 pm

Talnyah sighed out through her nose. It was a rejected sort of noise, as if she had been expecting a different response out of him. So much for expectations. She had been careful to never want of anything from anyone, and yet here she sat, staring across the room at what, for a flicker, she considered her closest thing to a friend in the city. How could she call him that after all she'd done to him? -After all he'd done in return?

"Yes." Was all that she said as she pushed the blanket off her shoulders and sucked in her last warm breath before braving the cold, lonely, morning air that the desert left after the freezing nighttime. Her small feet hit the wooden floor and then crossed it with no sound as if after she touched the ground she sprouted wings and just flew the rest of the way to her pack. This time, she cared not for formality. If he watched her, so be it. She just assumed he wouldn't.

With her back to him she pulled off the tight blue chemise leaving her in a state of undress he had only briefly viewed when she was attacked in her home and so rudely tossed around by one of Tedrin's huge men. He could've counted each one of her ribs, if he'd taken the time. Stuffing away the article of clothing she pulled out a tan, baggy, chemise which she pulled over her head. She pulled out her hair and fluffed it. It fell in waves down her back from the braid.

The skirt was to come off next. Talnyah already had her expectations of what Rylas would do let down this morning, and she didn't need a more surprising one. So, she turned sideways, so she could still watch him, as she slid the skirt down her hips to the floor. Beneath the skirt she had been wearing a pair dark blue underwear. Quickly gathering it up she found a more appropriately lengthed dark brown skirt and pulled it on.

Once atleast covered up she found her dark brown leather bodice which she pulled over her head and over the chemise. She tucked in her shirt, and then started lacing up the sides of the piece. "So, what then, do you expect me to follow you around?"

Guest · Post by **Guest** » Sat Oct 08, 2005 9:07 am

Rylas watched with dull interest as Talnyah glided across the floor, and he wondered how Yabal had ever managed to hear her sneaking last night. He was special indeed. Why did he run a tavern, and not much more? Who is to say what he does and doesn't control? Rylas reminded himself, and Talnyah removed her top.

Only after a flicker did it occur to him to puzzle and worry about the sudden brazenness. Isn't it enough that we slept and awoke the way we did? As he gaped, one of his deeper inner voices that had been rather vocal in the last two or three days answered, No. The genteel side of Rylas protested at both the thought and the fact that he hadn't looked away yet, and he obeyed.

He thought that he should be much more put off than he was, even angry. Whether she knew it or not, she always seemed to do just the things that shook his resolve the most, the things that he would exactly choose for her not to do. He did want her to stop, didn't he?

He turned in his seat toward the bookshelf as Talnyah continued. For now, he was content to believe that his renewed pain made it hard to be upset about anything else. Wanting to ease the aching, he leaned on the table and slumped his shoulders. Casually surveying the titles on the shelf - he was bored with them and wished for a new one - he thought about how thin Talnyah was. Anyone who kept her lifestyle would be lean, and he had attributed it to that. But the plain sight of her ribs caused Rylas to guess she was at least as malnourished as he had been when he arrived. He was trying to rejuvenate himself and thought he was succeeding, but when had her last real meal been?

He cocked his head as she spoke her question. "I had been thinking about that," he replied flatly. "If I keep you with me, there is the danger of being spotted. But leaving you alone seems just as risky." Rylas shrugged his right shoulder. "What do you want to do?"

Ashari · Post by **Ashari** » Sun Oct 09, 2005 4:06 pm

Talnyah continued to lace her bodice as he made statements and asked his questions. She looked down at the simple brown leather string as it wound through the metal eyelets of her top. Licking her lips she gave it a sharp tug and then started to tie a knot.

"Well, if I follow you around then I know that we will be spotted. Tedrin has lower associates everywhere, and nearly all of them know my face." She grumbled a bit at that. "Which is my fault." She shook her head and pulled up the other chair at the small table next to the bookcase. "No one knows that I would come here, I mean, why would I, right?" She put her arm on the table, and leaned on her elbow. The wide sleeve fell down, exposing her arm and the faint hintings at scars, wonderfully hidden beneath her tanned skin. Around her wrist was a length of thin ribbon which she unwound and laid on the table as she began to rebraid her hair.

"I could just stay here.. and.." She glanced at the bookcase that he had been so intently staring at. "Sharpen my blades or something." She continued to braid. "Or -" An abrupt knock sounded on the door to Rylas' room. Talnyah's dark eyes widened, but she didn't say a word, instead her hands dropped and she crossed the room to her pack and picked it up, before tip-toeing over to the bed.

With as quiet as movement as she could manage she stuffed the lumpy satchel under the bed, and looked at her partner in crime a final time before dropping to her knees and crawling beneath the bed they had shared the night before. She disappeared underneath, and it was as if she hadn't been there at all.

At the door, there was a small scratching of metal on metal, and then a soft clicking noise coming from the door handle, no, not the handle, the lock.

Guest · Post by **Guest** » Sun Oct 09, 2005 5:57 pm

Rylas hoped against hope that Talnyah was right. That noone besides the two of them had any idea that she was staying there. But one thought that nagged him was that if it was important, Tedrin always seemed to know it. Rylas didn't doubt his "uncle" would think this important.

As if in answer to his thoughts, there came the knock. He glowered at the door, then stood as Talnyah and began to pace the room for his bec de corbin. Why knock if you're going to let yourself in? he silently asked. He glanced back at Talnyah as she slipped under the bed, and she again seemed vividly like a lost, little girl.

He could only think of two people who would try to get to him. Yabal, or one of Tedrin's men. Either way, Tedrin was the ultimate end of most any information. The sound of someone trying to unlock his door - his door, which made him spiteful - eerily reminded him of his previous thought. Tedrin always knows...

Rylas strode barefoot toward the door in his half-dressed state. His shirt was untucked and loose, and his weapon arm hung at his side, as though he only needed to be holding it to prevent any trouble. Looking back once more to make sure Talnyah was hidden, he reached out his right hand to grip the knob and fling open the door.

Ashari · Post by **Ashari** » Mon Oct 10, 2005 3:44 pm

Tedrin stood, or rather, crouched infront of his door, holding his small lock-picking set. "And to think, I almost had it." Half of his mouth lifted in a smile, and as he stood he scanned the room behind Rylas -- mostly out of habit, partly out of curiosity over the state of the room where his newest recruit was staying. "So, this is it then? You know, striking similarity, I stayed in this room, once upon a day." He lifted his hand, palm turned partially upward, to motion himself in, "May I?" before taking two generous steps into the room.

"I had requested that you attend the Market tonight, I've changed my mind on that bit. I have it on good authority there might be violence." Tedrin continued to look around the room, even from his still position. "I'd prefer to stay out of it, and for you to as well." The dark adhiel frowned. "Not that I'm protecting you, don't be getting the idea that you've got some preferencial treatment because of my knowing you. If nothing else, I'm more willing to put you in perilous situations, because I know you can handle it. Let's sit." He moved over to the chair where Talnyah had just been.

Her hair ribbon was still sitting on the table. If Rylas were psychic, he'd have felt the realization from Talnyah once she figured out that she'd left it there. He also would've felt Tedrin's mind as it turned over the interesting little piece of fabric. However, he wasn't, and instead, he was left with looking at the dark adhiel as he looked at the ribbon, and then to the young man, and left with the thought of the dark achadhiel under his bed, her heart beating like the wings of a mosquito.

"Now, here's the thing, Rylas. I don't know what company you keep." Tedrin's eyes met those of his pawn. "And that bothers me a bit, and honestly, I was hoping to walk in on you, in the embrace of some street girl, or working girl -- though I doubt you'd need to pay for your women. It bothers me a bit that that isn't the case, that you've taken no company since you've been here." He paused. "And yet that your room smells as though a woman has just left, a woman which Yabal does not know of..." Though Rylas had become accustomed to the scent of lavendar that flowed from Tanyah's pores, Tedrin had just walked into it, and though subtle to a regular man, Tedrin was trained to pick up such differences. "And that gives me a reason to question you, son." His brow raised a bit.

For a man who was normally considered nearly a king, he was casually dressed on this day - as if blending in with his surroundings. He wore a white tunic and light breeches, and sandals on his feet. Beneath the tunic was an impressive and light armor, and several weapons, but those were not visible, which was exactly how he liked it. "So how exactly do you explain that?" He lifted up the ribbon with one thin index finger, bring it up just a few inches from the table before dropping it again.

Guest · Post by **Guest** » Sat Oct 15, 2005 8:20 am

Rylas stared through the doorway at Tedrin, unbelieving. It was similar to what he expected, yet much worse. Rylas was stunned. It was like all activity in his head reached absolute zero. It couldn't have been a much worse scenario if a tsunami washed all of Amun Rah into the ocean.

Tedrin had already invited himself into the room before Rylas's brain began working again. With the dark adhiel's footfalls, a thought occured in his brain (as opposed to being formed). Think, Rylas! Now! This IS the worst case scenario. There was a lag from his brain to his expression. As the lapse ended, Rylas slipped into practiced attitude. "You could have waited for me to answer the door," he uttered at last, bass but clear. Some of his previous spite at having his space invaded threatened to return, but Tedrin's words echoed. 'I stayed in this room, once upon a day.' It was Tedrin's money. It was Tedrin's city. So of course, it was Tedrin's room, and he seamlessly assumed control as he invited Rylas to sit. He stiffly obeyed, and he felt the same childish shame he had attributed to Talnyah before.

In his head, Rylas managed to bend Tedrin's comment until it was a compliment, though it did leave him with an odd discomfort. He wasn't sure how he wanted Tedrin to see him, but he was pretty sure that wasn't it.

As Rylas's brain began to grind into motion again, it was obvious that Tedrin was suspicious. A king doesn't leave his castle just to visit, and it became more apparent as he spoke. But why had he become suspicious so quickly? Tedrin always seems to know, he reminded himself, and as his eyes fell on the ribbon, he had to fight to keep from freezing up again.

Tell him, his thoughts urged. Tell him that Talnyah is alive and in this very room. Openly rid yourself of the burden, and perhaps he will be lenient. The argument sounded good enough. Rylas could perhaps be rid of Talnyah again, maybe once and for all. He could learn under his childhood friend, and dig himself out of destitution. Rylas's mouth opened to a slit, and the words were there, waiting for breath enough to push them out past the edge of being able to change his mind.

The argument sounded good enough, but for the last word. Lenient? he thought again, and his resolve rose with his indignation. Am I some mere pawn that crawled to Tedrin from the gutters of this place? Rylas remembered Talnyah's story, and how Tedrin seemed to easily cast aside his kin. If his own daughter was no more important than that, why did Rylas put so much stake on his relationship with the dark adhiel, which wasn't half as unique or special? It was one realization that Rylas had been struggling for days to put his finger on. An elementary one, but one he hadn't been able to grasp until Tedrin sat before him now. In a small way, Rylas began to see Tedrin less in the mythic way that he had as a child. He also saw himself more apart from Tedrin, more individual. And as he lastly recalled the unique sensation of his "dream" with Talnyah, and breathed in the lavender which was part of the disaster an instant ago, he was ready to talk.

Rylas carefully leaned his weapon against his chair leg, then eased back from the tabletop nonchalantly. "Your assumption puzzles me, daini.* I would suppose that refraining from such indulgence means I am focused." Honesty was the best policy, if it wasn't the wrong honesty. "There are better outlets for my energy, like those locks you gave me, for instance." He smirked wryly, and his grey eyes met Tedrin's across the table. "Besides, I would no sooner...lay with 'some street girl' than I would share the same one glass of wine with ten other boors."

There was the truth of the matter. Now it was time to get creative. Rylas licked his lips and plucked up the ribbon, rubbing it with his thumb and forefinger. Lianelle? No, that would be terribly easy to confirm. Then where...ah! The idea came to him like inspiration. Thank you, Yabal. "I am a collector of details. If you'll look through those books on the shelf, you'll find every message you ever sent me. Maybe it's strange of me, but you never know when something might become important." He flicked the ribbon back to its original place on the table. "I found it in the hallway outside my door. I expect it's a scrap from one of the dancers' costumes or somesuch. Their dressing room seems to be right across the hall from my quarters."

Rylas relayed the information like it was simple gossip, though he badly hoped that Tedrin's suspicion would be allayed just a little. "That odor you smell is no doubt the musk they wear. I know that the bathroom is heavy with their oils and salts, and I wouldn't be surprised if I was too, as a result." His report finished, he looked expectantly - and perhaps hopefully - at the underworld king. "I do hope it wasn't just concern over my night life that brought you all the way here," he added with a touch of feigned amusement.

*(respected one)