[private] you've got a heart as loud as lions; my rhory

[Arrya]

You've got a heart as loud as lions, so why let your voice be tamed?

Probably I should have seen it coming. But ask my Rhory any day, he’ll tell you how talented I am at being oblivious. And apparently it’s not just about other people. I ran back to his side the minute I found a prospective home for us, to tell him about it with a wary sort of hope in my eyes. But I wanted one last night on our own, curled up with my Lionheart and clinging close to his side in the dark, just him and me and the sound of a lonely owl somewhere high in the treetops. And if I was particularly urgent about returning to his side, wanting to be nestled up against him, wrapped up in his embrace, well I figured it was nothing more than just being a little uncomfortable putting myself out there in the Field. Wanting to ground myself in the familiar touch of my best friend.

I wasn’t thinking about the time of year, or the rhythms of my body, or paying any more attention than I usually do to the color of the leaves and the crisp cool autumn air and the way it was starting to wake something in me that had been sleeping for a very long time. Honestly, I haven’t had to worry about it in a while. For almost as long as I can remember, I’ve had some kind of magical influence dampening my heat cycles, at least to the extent that I didn’t have to worry about it. But now...magic’s gone, isn’t it? And turns out that includes whatever whammy Gendry and his mom put on me is gone right along with it.

So when I wake in the night surrounded by my Lionheart’s scent and his warmth and the feel of his skin against mine, heat flares to life inside me, flowing through my veins, pooling in my belly, itching beneath my skin, coaxing me to brush against him, rub my face against his shoulder, trail my lips slowly up his neck. Begging me to touch.

Whoa.

I could let him sleep. I could let the moment pass, slip away to ride out the wave of hormones and come back in a few days with nothing changed between us, maybe a little embarrassed that I’d snuck away without a word, but it was nothing we hadn’t dealt with when we were young. Here’s the thing, though...I don’t want to. I don’t want to slip away into the night, not when it feels...oh, it feels right to stay, in a way I didn’t see coming. But I never do, do I?

“Rhory?” I murmur his name, giving into the urge to trace the line of his shoulder with my lips. My heart starts to race as I follow the curve of his neck up to brush the soft of my nose against his jawline. I’ve touched him a thousand times but never like this, and it has my breath coming a little faster. I know exactly what I’m getting myself into, waking him up like this. “Lionheart?”

You've got the light to fight the shadows, so stop hiding it away.

[Rhory]

I have died every day waiting for you.
Darling, don't be afraid. I have loved you for a thousand years.
It’s been wonderful to have her in his life again. Every day he thanks the luck that had brought them back together in the forest. Anything could have happened during the disaster. With her abilities stripped away, Arrya could have been hurt, and with Rhory’s own condition (he is healthier these days, but years of not taking proper care of himself have taken their toll), the worst could have easily happened. But, somehow, both of them had made it out unscathed. And not only that, but they’d found each other, against all odds, and in spite of the massive changes to the land.

He can’t help but think that, despite the removal of Arrya’s traits, someone had been looking out for them. Someone wants them to make it.

They’ve stayed together ever since, though they, through necessity, have had to spend many days apart (at least they’ve always had the evenings and nights). Arrya has been busy searching for their new home, and Rhory, for his part, has been doing his utmost to discover what has happened to Beqanna and Arrya’s traits. While he hasn’t found a concrete answer (there’s just so much speculation, and so much hearsay), he does think he at least has a possible solution to the latter. He’d been glad to pass on the rumour to Arrya the previous evening.

For now though, he is glad to rest. Or so he thinks …

He wakes to the feeling of her lips travelling up his neck. For a few, hazy minutes he believes it’s just another dream (it must be, after all, nothing like this could happen to him in the waking world life) …

But her soft voice whispers in his ear, and his blue eyes flicker open. And there she is, soft nose against his jawline. “A-Arrya? Wha …?”


Rhory
I'll love you for a thousand more.

[Arrya]

You've got a heart as loud as lions, so why let your voice be tamed?

He stirs slowly but he finally wakes, blinking those lovely blue eyes open and murmuring my name, his voice sleepy and confused and utterly endearing. I can’t help but touch him, my lips trailing along his cheek, tracing a line to the corner of his mouth where I linger longer, crooning his name in return. “My Rhory.” The words are heavy and languid, charged with heat in a way they’ve never been before. It always meant something softer, something sweeter, something gentler than this unexpected need for his touch. I lean into him, pressing closer, needing his skin on mine.

“I can go if you want,” I purr, even if the thought of walking away from him right now feels just about impossible. And like a pretty terrible idea, in fact, given the state I’m in, but if he doesn’t want this I’d never push him. Well, more than the way I’m all the hell over him right now, anyhow. “Slip away for a few days, ride it out on my own, you know? But I’d rather stay.” I nuzzle the side of his face. “Here.” Another kiss to the corner of his lips. “With you.” A gentle little nudge, encouraging him as I croon an invitation. “You can touch me if you want, Rhory.”

God, please touch me.

(lol it’s short, but that’s because if it were any longer she’d be mauling him.)

You've got the light to fight the shadows, so stop hiding it away.