Closer is Good (1/2)

Writers: Danielle, Eimi
Date Posted: 9th June 2006

Characters: E'dian, Gilsha
Description: E'dian wakes up next to Gilsha after her dragon's flight with mixed feelings...
Location: Dragonsfall Weyr
Date: month 12, day 2 of Turn 3
Notes: Follows "Hurry Up And Rise Already!"

For a moment, he couldn't remember where he was. Aware, now, only of darkness, within and without. E'dian's eyes slowly adjusted to the darkened weyr. He remembered, then, that it was his, now. Not the familiar room he'd left behind at Far Island, but the newer one at Dragonsfall. He was aware of Shandarath's contentment, so complete and exhausted, in the back of his mind. For a moment, it soothed him, made him extremely happy.

Then he became aware of the soft sound of breathing next to him.

A flight. Shan had won a flight. Oh...shards....

There. There it was, the familiar pain in his chest where it heart ought to have been. But it had been shattered, and all the pieces lay at sharp angles inside, cutting with every memory that somehow found its way to the surface of his mind.

Meian. The last time Shandarath had won a flight it had been Meian's and Awenyth's. And it had been Meian beside him. Sleeping.

It wasn't. Meian was dead. But in the darkness, he could almost..almost...pretend that the woman beside him was- they looked similar in the dark. They even looked similar in the light, if it came to that. Dark hair and blue eyes. And yet, his perfect memory would not allow him to do so. Gilsha deserved more than that.

The greenrider shifted beside him, somehow sensing in her sleepy haze that the man who shared her bed was awake. Lazily she turned towards him. A heavy arm flopped across the bronzerider's chest and Gilsha buried her head against his shoulder, her mind trying to decide if it was asleep or awake. She groaned, inwardly debating which state she actually wanted to be in.

For a moment, his breathing stopped, then resumed once he'd come to realize that he was holding it. He allowed his arms to move, to encircle the woman beside him, holding her gently, carefully. Even though she felt so...different. The breadth of her shoulders was a little wider, but then, she was taller too.

Almost unwillingly Gilsha raised her head and her eyes opened just a bit. Her cloudy mind tried to take it all in. The man. The room.
"Where on Pern did we end up?" she asked groggily, turning her confused look up at the bronzerider's face. That was the only thing that _was_
familiar.

"My weyr," E'dian replied softly. "I think it was closer..." He didn't remember much. It had been thoroughly intense, for him and for Shandarath. The first flight his dragon had participated in since...since... He forced his mind away from that, reaching up and brushing back a lock of hair from Gilsha's eyes. He'd sketched her hair, and the way the light caught it. Now, he'd be able to draw it again, but darker, with shadow.

"Closer is good," Gilsha mumbled as she buried her head again in the crook of his shoulder. She still felt warm and relaxed after the flight, and holding her head up just proved too much of a strain. "Is your bronze as smug as Pali right now?"

"I doubt Shan has a smug bone in his body. Thoroughly pleased, I'd call it instead." But without arrogance. Shan simply wasn't that way, not like many of the other bronzes. Sometimes, Shandarath seemed more like a brown. That thought brought a smile to his face.

"Ok..." Gilsha's brain was too foggy still to worry about the semantics of it. All she knew was whatever feelings were emanating from her dragon, they felt sharding good.

He shifted a little, so he could look at her in the shadowy halflight that filled the weyr. In the dark it was easy to pretend. But he'd never been a terribly imaginative person. His fingers found her hand, traced the shape of it gently. Carefully. It was different, the shape of her fingers, the bones where her palm met the wrist. He ran that feather-light touch up her forearm, noting the muscles there- relaxed though but still strong- up to her shoulders and back, noting all the differences in the darkness that he knew were there in the light.

"And just what are you intentions for that hand, E'dian?" Gilsha mumbled into his shoulder. She wasn't quite sure if she was in the mood to sleep or work off the rest of the dragonlust, but his teasingly light touches were starting to make that decision easier.

He was quiet for a moment, his wandering fingertips pausing before resuming their path across her skin. "Intentions...should I have any?"
he said, his tone light. His pulse was beating very fast, against his will. Traitorous body, going against the precepts his mind and heart had made. He was trying, very hard, to keep his breathing slow, careful. And it wasn't helping much with his hands moving as they were across the greenrider's muscled back.

"You'd better if you keep touching me like that," Gilsha replied, finally finding a reason to raise her head and really look at the bronzerider.

"Hmm..." the sigh came unbidden. He closed his eyes, wishing, suddenly, that he was far, far away from here. His body moved of its own accord, and he pulled her closer instead, impossibly needing this human contact that brought with it memories that were sharp as thorns.
"Gilsha," he made himself say her name, once, before he moved to kiss her.

Her fingers slipped into his hair. She returned the kiss with enthusiasm, feeling the burning of dragonlust once more. Leaning back she smiled down at him. "Well, that's better. I was wondering what was taking you so long."

"Just waiting to see if you wanted to be awake or not," he heard himself say. He almost felt as though he wasn't fully here, or awake.
But the warmth of her, and the silken feel of her skin was very real.

"Well, I'm still not sure," she replied teasingly. "I guess it depends on what reasons you can give me to stay awake."

"Oh?" E'dian said softly. He pulled her above him, then ran his fingers softly up her neck and into her hair. He kissed her again- her lips, her neck, the hollow of her throat. He didn't want her to speak.
All the walls he'd been building around his mind would start to crumble then, to fall, to shatter. He started to work his way lower, silently hoping the walls would hold.

Last updated on the June 11th 2006

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Closer is Good (1/2)