Something I Most Certainly Should Not Have Done

Something I Most Certainly Should Not Have Done

Darkwind speaks

I'll live to regret this. I'm very sure of that, very sure indeed. I just pray to the Star-Eyed that She will be so gracious as to stop Elspeth from finding out.

I doubt She will answer my prayers; deities are funny like that. They have a perverse sense of humor, for sure. Deities with twisted humor. That's just what we all need.

Oh, I shouldn't be saying this. It's my own mortal mistakes that caused it; I can't go blaming it on the divinities.

But it's much easier to deal with the facts that way.

Flashback

Firesong tossed his long, silver hair back over his shoulder in an almost habitual gesture. "I," he declared to the room, "am exhausted. I think it would be a good idea if we all went and soaked in the pools for a while."

Darkwind groaned, levering himself out of the position he'd been in for—what? How long? Hours? Days? Weeks? He stopped those thoughts before they could get out of control. "That would be most acceptable," he grunted, twisting around and feeling his back and neck pop with a loud, audible crack!

:Elspeth is gone, you know,: Firesong's "voice" teased him. And it was true, Elspeth had been gone for maybe a week or two now and wasn't due to return anytime soon. It was getting harder and harder to resist Firesong's blatant invitations.

Hellfire, he thought to himself, carefully guarding these thoughts so that only he could hear them. He's attractive as hell and has stated in no uncertain terms that he finds me attractive too. Who wouldn't have trouble resisting?

"The pools then," Darkwind said, sweeping his arm out and watching as the other three people in the room, a Shin'a'in shaman named—what was it again? Oh yes—Ryuo'ka, a Herald he barely knew named Frieda, and another nondescript mage of uncertain background named something even Firesong couldn't pronounce correctly and neither of them had the slightest clue how to spell.

Firesong waited, flashing Darkwind an alluring smile that was known to melt hearts if the handsome face didn't do that anyway. "I'm sorry if I'm making you uncomfortable," he murmured softly, brushing a hand through the fall of silver hair that cascaded onto his forehead.

"No, no," Darkwind smiled tiredly in return. "Really, it's kind of pleasant to have someone chasing after me like a randy stallion. No one's been doing that since Elspeth and I declared our relationship in public."

Firesong's golden cheeks pinked a bit at that, but he smiled wider, with a dazzling effect that was known to turn all heads in the room towards him. "Well, chasing people is my specialty." He neighed, snorted, and tossed his hair like a mane.

Darkwind grinned at that and led Firesong out of the workroom and along the corridors of the palace, emerging in the Companion's Field and making his way slowly through the softly swaying grass to the small Vale Firesong had made at Haven just for his comfort. Not that it wasn't appreciated greatly by the rest of the Tayledras and even the native Valdemarans alike, in fact, it was quite the contrary. The hot pools were often a gathering place for people after the day's duties were finished.

:Ooo, naked Darkwind, sounds like fun to me.: There was a definite tone of impishness in Firesong's Mind-voice as the handsome Healing Adept pushed his way through hanging foliage to find the other three mages already in the large pool and relaxing in the tropical steaminess.

"Haii!" the Shin'a'in exclaimed, waving his hand in greeting. "We thought you two might have been swallowed by a demon or something, it was taking you so long to get here!"

The Herald Frieda had her eyes closed and was leaning back into Ryuo'ka's shoulder, showing in quite definite terms that they, at least, were a couple.

I miss Elspeth, Darkwind mused, stripping quickly out of his sweat-tinged clothes and climbing into the pool. Firesong stood leaning against a nearby tree, a beatific little half-smile on his face.

"Are you coming or not?" Darkwind tilted his head back to look at the handsome Adept.

"I suppose that depends," Firesong straightened. "Do you want me to?"

Darkwind felt himself blushing and then his head chose that time to nod of its own will and accord.

Firesong's ice-blue eyes narrowed and he beamed, with a dazzling, radiant effect on the entire pool. The flowers and plants, even, seemed to turn their heads toward him. "Fine. I'll come." Slowly, tantalizingly, making Darkwind's face flame even more, he began to remove his robes.

"Gettonwifit already," the enigmatic mage whose name was unpronounceable growled. "You don't really have to embarrass the boy that much, you peacock."

Darkwind silently thanked the man and Firesong laughed, stripped quickly, and crawled in to sit beside Darkwind. :Ooo, naked Firesong,: Darkwind teased, and Firesong fluttered long, silver lashes at him. What the hell, his mind told him, you deserve a break. You deserve some fun. And he'd be all too willing to give that fun to you. Go for it.

Darkwind chuckled to himself at Firesong preened and fluttered, watching as Aya, Firesong's bondbird, twirled and danced, flashes falling off the ends of his white feathers, reflecting, no doubt, Firesong's current mood. Hm, he mused, where has Vree gotten to? I wonder. : Vree?: he sent cautiously, greeted almost immediately by a curious :?: from the bird.

:Where are you?:

:Here,: the hawk replied, unwilling to cooperate. :Want sleep,: Vree declared.

:Sleep, then, bird.: Darkwind was mildly amused. He was about to tell Vree something else when a gentle, graceful hand touched his thigh and he almost jumped a mile.

"Eeiik!" he exclaimed, turning to see a laughing Firesong as the rest of the pool burst into laughter. His face flamed again and Firesong fluttered his eyelashes yet again.

"Ooh, jumpy, are we, Darkwind?" the Healing Adept murmured coyly, scooting towards Darkwind minutely.

"Well, yes," Darkwind replied, not moving away, and apparently not really noticing anything. In fact, he almost shifted towards Firesong. You deserve some fun, his mind reminded him again, and then another stubborn corner of his mind, probably his conscience, screeched at him, HELLO YOU IDIOT! You're MARRIED you know! WHAT about ELSPETH?

Well, she doesn't have to know, he replied to that corner of his mind, which in fact rather reminded him of said Herald-Mage. Had Elspeth seeped into his consciousness somehow? : Firesong?: he sent cautiously, as the silver-haired man continued scooting imperceptibly towards him.

:Hm?: came the immediate reply, almost surprised.

:Are you up to having a little fun after this?:

The reply was a blast of confusion (happy confusion, Darkwind thanked the gods) and utter surprise. :Fun?: There was no doubt about what "fun" meant, with overtones like that. :I—fun? You—want to have "fun"? With—me? I--:

Darkwind chuckled mentally as Firesong's actions ceased and his eyes went as big as saucers. The entire pool chuckled out loud at that. Frieda snuggled closer to Ryuo'ka's shoulder, giggling into it, and the other mage shook his shaggy head and chortled gleefully.

:If you'd like,: Darkwind sent, still chuckling and on the verge of breaking into hysterical laughter at this strange, strange chain of events. Who would've thought? :You do want to, don't you?:

:Hellfires yes!: There was no mistaking that reply for anything but a yes, with the way it was sent, in fact, Darkwind almost fell over backwards. :Hahah!: Firesong broke into triumphant laughter, only sending the pool into further hysterics and causing Ryuo'ka to topple backwards, into the water, laughing and spluttering. The hilarity of this entire situation…

Firesong crawled over and plopped himself on Darkwind's lap. "Hello," he murmured, as the nondescript mage succumbed to hysterical laughter and tears.

Darkwind fluttered his eyelashes in reply as the rest of the beings in the pool were reduced to trembling, hysterical piles of laughing flesh and mirth. "Hello," he said, equally coyly. "I'm Darkwind. You must be the Legendary Firesong."

"I am. Would you care to see why?" A hand crawled down his chest.

"I think I might." Darkwind squirmed uncomfortably, glancing nervously at the rest of the pool. I mean, not that Hawkbrothers are in any manner modest, but doing—this? In a pool full of people? I'd rather have some privacy, at least…

Faced with the state he was in, he was probably radiating pleased embarrassment right now.

:Don't worry,: Firesong commented sweetly, :with me sitting on you like this, no one can see you have an erection.:

Obviously, Firesong hadn't sent that only to him. The enigmatic mage crowed and cackled, wiping tears from his eyes and several other noises of amusement came from the other two beings.

:I—ah--: Darkwind blushed crimson and stammered incoherently. :Uh—can we take this somewhere—else?:

:Certainly,: Firesong replied generously. "If you will kindly excuse us," he said, standing up and nodding to the other three people, "I—we—have some," he coughed, "business to attend to."

"Oh-ho-ho. You go right ahead," Ryuo'ka commented, shaking his sopping dark hair out of his eyes. "I believe the three of us shall be just fine."

"Feel free to stay as long as you'd like," Firesong smiled once more as the Herald giggled and blinked tears out of her eyes to look up at him.

"Thanks," she said sincerely, and then equally if not more sincerely, "Now go!"

Firesong hopped out of the pool, not bothering to even grab a towel or robe, and beckoned for Darkwind to follow. :I shall make sure you don't regret this,: he promised, pulling at Darkwind's wrist.

:I have a feeling I won't anyway,: Darkwind replied, scrambling after Firesong, wondering what sort of demon was possessing him at this moment.

Firesong chuckled, pressed a hidden door open, and revealed a large, luxurious bed to Darkwind. Gods above, he has a special chamber just for this? I may be sick…

Firesong shook his sopping silver hair back and smiled predatorily, nudging Darkwind toward it.

Elspeth! Elspeth will kill you! The corner of his mind still shrieked at him, and he had a vision of said Herald-Mage pulling her brown and silver hair to shreds, squealing indignantly. But he obeyed Firesong's nudge instead of that minute corner, crawling onto the bed and looking up at Firesong, standing over him, looking so gods-be-damned handsome and equally predatorial.

Leaning down, Firesong caught Darkwind's mouth gently, closing his eyes and teasing Darkwind's lips with his tongue oh-so-gently.

Song (goes along well with this scene)

Mister could you maybe lend a hand

To help a drowning, starving, soulless man

Whose eyes are blind and feelings all but numb?

Whose ears are all so deaf and mouth is dumb

This is the way, is the way

I fill your spaces now,

It's the way, it's the way

Cause all that's been left for me

Is the fight to fill these empty spaces now.

Night is day and day is night again

And all that's eating bites with toothy grins

The pages of my memory torn in twain

Where reconstructing lies could not contain.

This is the way, is the way

I fill your spaces now…

Darkwind contained a moan. Gods, Elspeth isn't nearly this good a kisser! And his body was certainly proving that to him just fine. Hellfires, I don't even like men!

He parted his lips and allowed Firesong's velvety tongue to explore the inside of his mouth. His arms lifted themselves of their own will and pulled Firesong down onto the bed, the contact of wet skin on wet skin sending tingles all along Darkwind's spine.

"Ooo," commented Firesong against his mouth, "maybe you're not as inexperienced with men as you seem."

The present

Elspeth dropped wearily off Gwena's back and plodded into the palace. Where's Darkwind? She wondered, trudging wearily along. I wouldn't so much mind a soak in the hot pools…that is, if Firesong's not using them. That thought brought a wry smile to her face. The last time they'd forgotten to ask, they'd walked in on something…quite…interesting.

:Darkwind?: she sent a questing thread of Mindspeech out to find him, if he was even awake.

He wasn't.

He was also in Firesong's ekele. What reason could he have for being there of all places?

She didn't care, didn't even bother to check aura overtones. She would just go. Why the hell would he be asleep in Firesong's ekele? Oh well. Maybe they'd been working something and had been so exhausted they'd fallen asleep right there. She ignored the teasing part in the back of her mind that protested, why would they be working in Firesong's ekele?

Trudging into the small building cautiously, she pushed in the door that her senses told her Darkwind was in, her mind not even registering the fact that it was a bedroom, Firesong's bedroom, nonetheless.

Darkwind's POV

Oh gods, I'm sore. What did Elspeth and I do last night? He opened his eyes, wincing as pain shot up his spine. He caressed Elspeth's back gently and glanced over at—

Firesong.

Oh GODS! The slim Hawkbrother stirred, wrinkled his nose, and cracked one eye open, glancing up at Darkwind. "Oh, hello."

"H-hello." Darkwind's eyes were round and about the size of dinner plates.

"I finally did it," Firesong mumbled, reaching a hand up to brush the fall of silver hair out of his eyes and snuggling into Darkwind.

"I—I—" Darkwind spluttered, oblivious of the fact that his hands were still working on their own and moving lower, in fact.

"You, you, you. It's all about you, isn't it?" Firesong teased, and then sat up, wincing at the pain in his back.

"What did we do?" Darkwind had a sinking feeling he knew, but hoped the Firesong would tell him they had fallen asleep naked in the same bed without doing anything to one another.

"A lot. Let's see," Firesong sat up and began ticking things off on one hand as he explained them.

"Enough!" cried Darkwind, as Firesong sent him a sideward glance.

Suddenly they both became aware of the figure standing in the door, mouth hanging open and silver-streaked brown curls falling into eyes with dark circles under them.

"Oh my," said Elspeth, and fell over.

Firesong speaks

Damn, but whenever I find something good, I swear someone always gets in the way.

Oh well, at least I got to enjoy Darkwind's—ah, talents for one night at least.

Quite talented he is, too.

Maybe Elspeth will be willing to share him in the future? Although I quite seriously doubt it, I can hope, can't I? Hope is a wonderful thing, especially when you're courting one half of a married and strongly bonded couple.

For now, I'm so sore I feel as if a herd of dyheli has run me over. I think maybe I shall go take a long soak in the hot pools.

I wonder if those other three are still there?

I doubt it.

I'm quite a doubting person, aren't I?

Well, it's a skeptic's world.

Sometime in the near future

"DARKWIND?" Elspeth squealed, "WHAT HAVE YOU DONE?!"

"I—ah, I had sex with Firesong. Several times, I think, if my body is telling me anything." Darkwind ignored the fact that Elspeth's face was nearly purple with rage.

Firesong snickered to himself, snuggling closer to Darkwind in the bed. Elspeth hadn't taken too long to wake up, after all. And as much as Darkwind was blushing, he wasn't pulling away from Firesong at all.

"How DARE you?" Elspeth raged, shaking her fist at both Darkwind and Firesong, looking about ready to burst.

"Oh I dare," Firesong said quietly.

"HOW DARE YOU?" she repeated, loud enough that everyone within a radius of twenty miles could probably hear her.

"Elspeth, Darkwind needed to release some inner tension and I provided him with an outlet for said tension. We only did this because—" Firesong paused, trying to think of a good lie, "because we both agreed it would be good for him in your absence." Not even quite a lie. They had both agreed that it would be good for him, but not in the way he'd just said it.

"OH you," Elspeth rounded on Firesong. "You're the cause of ALL of this. It's ALL your fault, you sleazy, sluttish bast—"

Darkwind cut her off with a frown. "No, he's telling the truth. It was mutual. Wholly mutual." He crossed his fingers behind Firesong's back, at the "telling the truth" part. The "wholly mutual" part was quite true, though. And, he reflected, it was quite fun, too. Quite fun, and something I wouldn't at all mind repeating.

Apparently, Firesong caught a hint of what Darkwind was thinking, because he shot Darkwind a covert glance of amusement. :She's not going to stop,: Firesong stated, sighing loudly.

:I know.: Darkwind replied, shooting a glance back at Firesong. He looked up at Elspeth. "Well, maybe next time you'd like to join us?"

FINIS

Author's notes

Well, it's done. For a short little fic, actually, I think it's pretty good ^_^ this IS NOT my first M. Lackey fic, however, 'tis my first Firesong fic. Pretty bad considering he's one of my 2 favorite characters, eh?

Disclaimer: Hey folks, I only claim to own Firesong. He's really not mine. Neither is Valdemar or anything. OR ANYTHING. Except Mr. Enigma, Frieda, and Ryuo'ka. Boy how glad I am to have made them up…I don't own those lyrics either. They're © Carl Bell and Fuel, from the song "Empty Spaces"

Sorry to all you rabid Elspeth fans out there. Darkwind's not made of stone, I figger, so sooner or later, he's gotta give in. Come on? * dodges tomatoes * AAH DON'T KILL ME!!! I also have no clue when this happened. Probably sometime between the Mage Storms and Mage Winds… ^_^;; I can't help it, 'twas a cute little plot bunny that jumped into my lap and waved its little butt in my face. Lame ending, I know. I also wrote a lemony part but didn't know if you'd want to see it…if you do I'll be happy to post it. If you don't then I will leave it as it is. I'm happy with it, myself, and I wanted to keep it out of NC-17 range, ^^;; a very difficult task for me, slash writer that I am….I love feedback, by the way * hint hint *

Zhai'helleva!