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Thursday, 17 August 2006 07:53 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
keaaluIdeas - so far I have it pegged to go into "Darkling" but eh, we'll see. I'm moving things around anyway.
-----
It was a fresh, slightly chill evening, with fantastic clear skies painted in a vibrant panorama of stars, and the air was sweet with the smell of damp vegetation from the afternoon’s rain.
Seeing the ceremonial clearing, however, was apparently enough to lend strength to Lii's misgivings.
“I can’t do this,” he whimpered, softly, wringing his hands, already backing off a step or two. “Riiva I can’t. I’m not old enough. I-I-I should be out earning money so I have the means to support- I can’t-”
Riiva glanced sideways at him, and surmised the problem; Lii was your typical rich Imperial cob, sent off to flight school as soon as he was old enough to walk, drilled in blade handling and social politics, intensively schooled in mathematics and science, but women? He may have seen them in books or holography but that was probably about as close as he got until colliding with Azure, who was unladylike but as ferociously female as they came.
“You may forget, Lii, that whether you go through with the legalities you have already chosen your destiny,” he scolded, and used one stiffened finger to give him a sharp poke in the spine. “You’re a fleet captain; grow yourself a backbone.”
“Whether it fills you with fear or makes your heart ache with need, you have made your choice,” Riiva’s voice was gentle, reasoning. “You have offered to her the greatest thing you have to give and she has accepted – to back away from it now, for so silly a reason, would break her in two.”
Lii glanced over at him, and swallowed thickly. “I don’t deserve-”
“She would disagree, it seems,” Riiva gave him a gentle pat on the shoulder. “Today is no different to the day you held out your hand to her. This ceremony is worth but a piece of paper. You are already partners in the deepest and truest sense of the word – and this event is just a celebration and recognition of what already exists. You and she are already as One, and you have been since you offered, and she accepted.”
“Do you love her?”
“Of course-”
“Then why is it that you so fear a piece of paper?”
Lii stood and fidgeted, wishing he could take on Riiva’s unruffled mantle. In spite of their earlier conversation he felt consumed by self-doubt, glad of his empty stomach because he knew the butterflies he was suffering would have become nauseating. A combination of fear and chill air had fluffed his feathers into a soft moonlit halo around his head, and he felt ridiculous because of it.
Riiva was equally nude, wearing only his ceremonial blade at his hip, and yet in comparison with Lii he was a picture of calm. The older Prime had always been something of a renegade, though, Lii consoled himself – it probably wasn’t that big a jump to drop a few principles to make a good impression, and it wasn’t like either of them had anything that needed hiding…
Lii himself wore his gift from Azure; a delicately crafted carbon-silver rahi, its blade engraved with a line of Kiravai poetry and its hilt bound in fine, supple, deep red leather.
She stepped from the shadows, and his heart gave a great kick in his chest. He’d been expecting her to look pretty, granted, and given her preponderance to slouch about in functional but unfussily plain clothing he’d expected something similar, but she was… beautiful. Stunning. She snatched his breath clean out of his lungs, and he had to remind himself to breathe.
She was nude except for the collar of stars she wore at her throat, the netted edge skimming just across the top of her small bust, and her hair was swept up into a fantastic mound of curls and twists, scattered through with leaves and chips of crystal.
She smiled, shyly, and held her hand out for him; Lii felt momentarily frozen, and it was only when Riiva jabbed him in the spine that he managed to shake himself from his immobility and return the gesture.
-----
It was a fresh, slightly chill evening, with fantastic clear skies painted in a vibrant panorama of stars, and the air was sweet with the smell of damp vegetation from the afternoon’s rain.
Seeing the ceremonial clearing, however, was apparently enough to lend strength to Lii's misgivings.
“I can’t do this,” he whimpered, softly, wringing his hands, already backing off a step or two. “Riiva I can’t. I’m not old enough. I-I-I should be out earning money so I have the means to support- I can’t-”
Riiva glanced sideways at him, and surmised the problem; Lii was your typical rich Imperial cob, sent off to flight school as soon as he was old enough to walk, drilled in blade handling and social politics, intensively schooled in mathematics and science, but women? He may have seen them in books or holography but that was probably about as close as he got until colliding with Azure, who was unladylike but as ferociously female as they came.
“You may forget, Lii, that whether you go through with the legalities you have already chosen your destiny,” he scolded, and used one stiffened finger to give him a sharp poke in the spine. “You’re a fleet captain; grow yourself a backbone.”
“Whether it fills you with fear or makes your heart ache with need, you have made your choice,” Riiva’s voice was gentle, reasoning. “You have offered to her the greatest thing you have to give and she has accepted – to back away from it now, for so silly a reason, would break her in two.”
Lii glanced over at him, and swallowed thickly. “I don’t deserve-”
“She would disagree, it seems,” Riiva gave him a gentle pat on the shoulder. “Today is no different to the day you held out your hand to her. This ceremony is worth but a piece of paper. You are already partners in the deepest and truest sense of the word – and this event is just a celebration and recognition of what already exists. You and she are already as One, and you have been since you offered, and she accepted.”
“Do you love her?”
“Of course-”
“Then why is it that you so fear a piece of paper?”
Lii stood and fidgeted, wishing he could take on Riiva’s unruffled mantle. In spite of their earlier conversation he felt consumed by self-doubt, glad of his empty stomach because he knew the butterflies he was suffering would have become nauseating. A combination of fear and chill air had fluffed his feathers into a soft moonlit halo around his head, and he felt ridiculous because of it.
Riiva was equally nude, wearing only his ceremonial blade at his hip, and yet in comparison with Lii he was a picture of calm. The older Prime had always been something of a renegade, though, Lii consoled himself – it probably wasn’t that big a jump to drop a few principles to make a good impression, and it wasn’t like either of them had anything that needed hiding…
Lii himself wore his gift from Azure; a delicately crafted carbon-silver rahi, its blade engraved with a line of Kiravai poetry and its hilt bound in fine, supple, deep red leather.
She stepped from the shadows, and his heart gave a great kick in his chest. He’d been expecting her to look pretty, granted, and given her preponderance to slouch about in functional but unfussily plain clothing he’d expected something similar, but she was… beautiful. Stunning. She snatched his breath clean out of his lungs, and he had to remind himself to breathe.
She was nude except for the collar of stars she wore at her throat, the netted edge skimming just across the top of her small bust, and her hair was swept up into a fantastic mound of curls and twists, scattered through with leaves and chips of crystal.
She smiled, shyly, and held her hand out for him; Lii felt momentarily frozen, and it was only when Riiva jabbed him in the spine that he managed to shake himself from his immobility and return the gesture.
