First Morning....After.

[Salinye]

This is part of a saga that some friends and I wrote together to go along with an rpg game. (However, this three part episode was all my writing. I want to offer a bit of explanation since you are not getting the entire saga here. If you like this, maybe I'll post it's entirety. :0)

 

The thing you must know to understand this three part story that I'm posting is this. Dainin and Tek are the same person. Sort of a Mr. Jekyl and Mr. Hyde type character. His persona shifts every time he sleeps. Tek is evil and aware of Dainin's happenings when Dainin is in control. Dainin is unaware of Tek's happenings when Tek is in control. To make a long story short Tek is weilding a master plan of evilness, and this portion of the story is a sordid romance. I hope you like it. I'm still nervous posting works here.

 

Tek sat in a chair beside the bed in his regular room in High Hold Keep. His eyes leaving their softened edge the moment he knew the wizardess was asleep. Her hand lay limp in his. So frail that she had wrapped small pieces of bandages around her rings in order to keep them on her fingers. He raised his gaze to stare at her form rise and fall gently beneath the plush blankets. Her frame was much thinner than it should be, not skeletal, but not far from that either. Her skin appeared soft and creamy since she had placed the magical cantrip upon herself to hide the scars. The drows eyes darkened as he thought of this. "I warned him...If she's too damaged", he thought darkly to himself. Not concerned with her well being as much as he was concerned with what he wanted her to be and how he needed her to fit into his life, his schemes. The irritation of the moment was lifted as sly smile of pleasure developed on his lips. Everything in his plan was falling right into place. He need not worry too much.

 

He slowly and quietly left his chair to kneel at the bedside gently placing her hand upon her stomach. The high elf stirred slightly at the movement and rolled turning her back to him. Tek knelt there silent, still observing her. It was not until he was satisfied that she was still sleeping soundly that he pulled back the covers just enough to slide his sleek form beneath the sheets as well. He knew her well enough to know that she would not wake up from this movement, but was surprised when she naturally sank back against him entwining her feet with his. He raised his eyebrow and smirked thinking perhaps she was more fun when she was sleeping then when she was awake. Even in her condition the drow found his attraction to her very apparent, something he didn't entirely understand. He had no emotional feelings for her, certainly no love. However, the girl was naﶥ. He could play "loving" nearly as well as Dainin. He had observed it enough by now, and the challenge of convincing the girl of a love and devotion that did not exist excited him. "Foolish Elf." He thought as he gently draped his arm around her stomach and couldn't help but smile at the agony this would cause all of them. Not only will Dainin be shocked to find himself now in bed with his presumed dead fianc鬠but also Salinye will KNOW who he was in bed with, and Dainin will wonder just how close she had come with Tek that she would sleep entwined in his arms. Then there is Lleana, the girl who thinks she can outsmart a drow. The girl was not as naﶥ as Salinye, but just as easy to hurt. They both wore their hearts on their sleeves. They both were full of the weaknesses of kindness and goodness. Weaknesses that made them easy to manipulate, or if need be kill. The drow found new joy in this scheme as he thought of the bard and her wild spirit.

 

As a final measure to make the feigned intimacy between Tek and Sal, as well as between Dain and Lleana seem strong he slipped his hand underneath the sleeping woman's shirt to rest on the skin of her stomach. The warrior had a hard time relaxing enough to fall asleep with the pleasure of his torturous plan spinning in his head, and the effects it would have on the three fools he played like puppets.

Edited April 10, 2003 by Salinye

[Salinye]

Part Two

 

The early morning sun had only begun to sneak through the slit in the curtains sending its golden ray onto the inn floor as Dainin began to stir from his sleep. A soft smile graced his handsome features as he felt the soft skin of Lleana's warm stomach beneath his hand. It had been so long since he had been able to wake up with a smile. He owed so much to this bard. This dear friend turned romance. In so many ways she had saved him. Saved him from the agony and sadness that threatened to consume him. Saved him from turning back into what he had worked so hard to overcome. But mostly, she had given him reason to smile again. Had shown him the heart could go on after love lost, and even explore avenues of more love.

 

Not to say that he was healed Infact, he was not so sure that day would ever come. He was certain he would always have an empty ache somewhere in his heart for the loss Salinye. Infact, this ache, this loss is part of what brought him so close to Lleana. She understood his pain, never belittled it, and allowed him to share it with her. She never insisted he leave those thoughts and replace them with her. This wood elf was truly a unique gift. She is someone who has a kind heart and an ocean of understanding within her soul. In some respects she was so similar to Salinye, and in others, the two could not be more different. Perhaps it was their similarities that made it so easy to love the beautiful bardess, and their differences that allowed him to keep the two loves separate in his mind and heart.

 

Dainin pulled his companion close into his body and nuzzled his face, eyes still closed, into her hair. He placed a gentle kiss on the back of her neck whispering, "Mornin", into her ear. Salinye smiled still half asleep cuddling naturally in response to the warrior's affections. Dainin breathed in the sweet scent of her and his breath caught in his lungs as confusion began to settle on him. Something was....different. He couldn't quite pinpoint it, and wasn't fully alert, but knew that the sweet scent he just breathed in had triggered something in his mind. The drow warrior let out his breath and slowly opened his eyes to find his vision clouded by long locks of golden hair. "Blonde?" Realization and shock did not have time to settle in before the much more hollow than he remembered features of Salinye turned to him. Salinye looked at Tek and groggily and smiled saying "Good Morning."

[Salinye]

Part Three

 

The warrior felt the blood drain from his face, something he had not felt since the night he learned of Salinye's disappearance. The pressure of his heart beating filled his ears and his vision tunneled, his body threatening to lose consciousness. He clumsily let go of Salinye and rolled over to a sitting position fumbling off his side of the bed. He looked around the room as if trying to grasp the reality of where he was and if this really could be happening. He wondered if he was once again stuck in the half reality nightmares he used to have when Tek first started appearing. He sat on the floor leaning his back against the bed. He pulled his knees to his chest feeling as if the walls of the room would enclose upon him. He folded his arms and hung his head into his palms, shock consuming him.

 

Salinye forced herself to alertness as she was nearly tossed off the bed by the sudden movements of the warrior. She quickly rolled onto all fours defensively facing the back of the drow. If drow prison had done anything to her, it had made her very reflexive, jumpy. She no longer responded well to sudden surprising movements. She instinctively regarded them as a threat and reacted accordingly. However, upon spinning around and seeing the hunched form of Tek, her own fears and jumpiness was overridden by compassion and worry. "What's wrong?"

 

The slumped form of the drow did not move as he spoke to her in a raspy whisper. "Salinye?" The question surprised her and she crawled across the bed towards him.

 

"Yes, now please, tell me, what's happened, what is wrong?" Still his form did not change as he responded.

 

"Salinye?...Salinye?" The question was repeated as if her answers were not heard. She quickly reached his end of the bed and knelt behind him placing her hands upon his shoulders.

 

"Tek, what's wrong, you're scaring me." The words were barely out of her mouth when the warrior jumped away from her recoiling from her very touch and the fact that she had called him Tek. He spun around to a crouch facing her, his features etched with shock and devastation. This hostile (or it seemed to her) movement startled her enough that she fell back onto the bed and hastily scrambled off the other side into a heap upon the floor.

 

"Salinye...is that really you?" The warriors voice was laced with pain, his eyes glossed with tears that threatened to fall. It was his voice, and the very question that made Salinye realize that it was not Tek who crouched before her on the other side of the bed, but Dainin. She slowly lifted her head from her heaped position on the floor and met the blue eyes of the man she loved. The two sat in their own prisons of shock with their eyes locked not knowing quite what to say. Finally it was the wizardess that broke the silence with emotion thick in her voice.

 

"I didn't know...He..he didn't tell me he was going to sleep. I..He...I didn't know...I didn't want it to be like this. I..." Salinye looked away tears welling up behind her eyes. "I know everything, Dainin. Everything." The words seemed to hit the warrior like an arrow through the heart. He fell back to a sitting position and looked to the ground avoiding her eyes. "I'm not angry, Dainin. You...You didn't do anything wrong." She said the words with sincerity, but could not disguise the pain the knowledge caused her. Dainin began to stammer as if defending himself and his actions. Something Salinye had not intended to make him do.

 

"You were gone...We thought for good. I..I didn't know. I..." He looked away the first of his tears falling.

 

"Dainin, after Tek found me, he told me everything. You didn't know I was alive. I don't blame you for moving on. You didn't know" Salinye's words were cut short by the sharp and angry outburst of the warrior.

 

"Yeah well someone knew. HE knew. HE found you, and I'm sure he DID tell you everything. AND I HAVEN'T moved on!!" His words were laced with bitterness and his eyes darkened in a way she had never seen in him before. His reaction scared her and she began to tremble slightly. Hearing his own anger and seeing her cringe from him made him drop his eyes in shame again. Salinye spoke in broken whispers through her tears.

 

"I would hope that you would just be happy I'm alive, and not care WHO found me. I know you don't trust Tek, but in his defense, he has been nothing but kind to me. I was nearly dead when he found me, and he's helped me recover and to be with you. The only thing I thought of for two years was being with you." Dainin couldn't stop his own anger from welling up.

 

"Yes, and he just so happened to bring you to where I last slept with Lleana? He just so happened to fall asleep and not tell you?" Salinye looked away as he mentioned sleeping here with Lleana but answered nonetheless.

 

"He hadn't slept in weeks, I'm sure it was a mistake. As far as bringing me to this room, don't you have this room semi permanently paid for? Trust me, this is not the way I wanted you to see me for the first time." She subconsciously reached up to touch the scar across her face that her magics could not cover. Her shear defense of Tek was enough to make the warriors stomach turn. He raised his eyes to look on her, wanting to make her understand how foolish she is to trust Tek. As his eyes fell on her, he noticed for the first time the scar. His eyes drank her form in; it was so frail, her face so hollow. Suddenly he felt ashamed. Ashamed he had allowed himself to get caught up in his own failures instead of offering her the love and support she needed.

 

He arose from the floor causing Salinye's eyes to widen and look at him. He understood all to well her need for slow and predictable movements and slowly walked around the bed to where she sat still in a crouched defensive position. She moved her head so that her gaze could stay with the moving warrior, but she did not flinch from him as he approached. He slowly slumped to his knees before her and gently lifted a finger to trace the scar on her face. He then pulled her into his arms and did something she had never seen him do before. He buried his face into her shoulder and cried. She leaned her weight against him and cried with him. For a long while no words were spoken. They simply held each other and cried, each in turn exploring the others features with a tender touch, almost as if for the first time.

 

It was Dainin who broke the silence as she wiped tears from his face. "I'm so sorry...are you alright? What did they do to you? What can I do?" His eyes revealed his feelings of helplessness and his jaw clenched at the thoughts that now swirled in his head of what her captivity had been like. She silenced his questions with reassurances.

 

"I'm fine..I am..Really..I'm getting stronger every day. I just....my goodness...to be here, and with you....I can't tell you the feelings, but..." She paused to take a deep breath. "We can talk about that later. There is something else I need to tell you." Her words choked in her throat and she had to look away from his eyes to continue. "I know about... her, and how you have finally found happiness after so much darkness. I...I want you to know, that I don't expect you to change your life just because I'm back." She quietly and painfully pulled her engagement rings off of her fingers and held them out in her hand looking away. "I offer you your freedom. No guilt to be had, nothing to be held against you. Dainin stared at her in disbelief trying to comprehend how she could even say such a thing. He took the rings from her hand, she closed her eyes as he did so assuming he was accepting her offer of freedom. Gently he took her hand, turned it palm down and slipped the ring back on her ring finger, then did the same with the other hand.

 

"I love you Salinye. I've always loved you. I will always love you. These rings, and what they stand for are meant for you. I do love Lleana. She has always been a dear friend, and was there in a time when I really needed someone. We offered each other comfort and love at a time when we both needed it. I won't lie, the separation will be hard, but Sal.." He gently turned her face so she had to look at him. "Sal, if you had been here, I never would have sought out romance from that friendship. I never would have had a void to fill in that area of my heart. You're here, nothing has changed in the way I feel for you. I love you. Please..." The warrior hung his head in desperation and then looked back up to her eyes almost pleading. "Please, if you believe anything, you've got to believe that." Salinye smiled softly nodding through tears.

 

"I do believe you, and I love you too. I won't deny it, this is going to be hard, but in my struggles to accept what has happened, please don't mistake my emotion as doubt in you, or disbelief or mistrust." Dainin looked into her eyes and lovingly stroked the side of her face with his hand. He leaned forward and for the first time in over two years tenderly placed his lips to hers in a kiss that revealed their mutual love undaunted by time.