Hello again everyone, old readers and new readers alike! Khor is back in the Deltora Quest fandom, after a full loop of his other stories!
For the ones who didn't get the memo on both Demonic Redemption and A Darker Shade of Gold, I went offline for a week because of WiFi woes. Thus, I had more time to write, and I wrote 7 chapters among 4 fics... this oneshot included. I'm really in a good mood, despite here being past midnight, so I'll keep this brief.
This oneshot is shorter than my other DQ oneshot, A Different Beginning, but honestly I didn't want to make it longer. The next oneshot I have planned will be written soon... hopefully.
Jasmine sat stiffly in the room as people hurried about. 'We are wasting time,' she told herself, and it took all her willpower not to jump out of her chair and start to run. Only the knowledge that they were worried just like her, even if not as much, stopped her. They were doing their best, and their fastest. She could not ask for more.
A hand laid on her arm, and she looked up to find Sharn's dark eyes looking down at her. "Rest your heart and mind, Jasmine. We will find Lief and Barda." The Toran woman slid down on the chair next to hers and removed her hand. "And even if we do not, we will go and ask the Kin for more Dreaming Water. We will not lose hope."
The girl nodded at her words, but in her heart she could not help but pray they would find them. She did not know if she could handle any more dreamless nights. She did not know if she could handle any more nights where she could not find Lief and Barda.
They had to be somewhere. They could not have been dead.
Sharn seemed to read her mind and her heart once again. "Do not fear. You said you have dreamed of them on the Sleeping Dunes, and I am sure we will find them there. You have done well. Now, allow us to do our part."
"I just wish we could be faster," sighed Jasmine, her voice betrayed the tiredness behind her stubbornly strong expression. "I cannot wait to see them again. It has been only nine days, but it feels like nine years to me."
"And to me. Soon we will be ready. Zeean has been awoken, and we shall waste no more time. But I beg you to wait just a little longer. I know you are worried, but so am I. Lief is my son, and my husband and I were Barda's closest friends for a very long time. I am afraid you and Lief now hold that title, though." Sharn smiled fondly and even Jasmine felt part of the heavy burden weighting down her shoulders become lighter. Indeed they were. After all, they had been the ones to share with Barda life-or-death situations, crazy adventures and quests deemed impossible by most.
"I just… I know there is nothing I can do. I just cannot help but worry."
"It is natural to worry about the people we love. It is a sign that you care, and you care very much. Most people would have given up after the first few nights of nothing, but you endured all the pain they brought you and eventually you found them." The woman's smile faded slightly as she frowned. "I… I am not sure I could have done the same. I am strong, but even my hopes had begun to dwindle before you told us you had dreamed of them. Lief is right, you are strong indeed."
"I fear mine was not strength," replied Jasmine, oppression settling onto her once again. "I just could not accept the knowledge that they were truly gone. Not like this. After all our adventures together, not separated."
"Desperation it might have been, but still it saved them, so I do believe we should be grateful to that desperation," said the Toran.
"Maybe," conceded the girl as Zeean finally strode into the room. "Maybe we should."
/-/
The journey to the Sleeping Dunes was uneventful, but it did not matter to Jasmine. All it mattered to her were the two distant figures that had eventually appeared on the sand of the dunes. One was a tall man who was at least five times as large as the other figure, a short boy with a flowing silvery cloak that could be seen even from that distance.
The Toran magic crossed the distance in just a few seconds, the figures becoming more and more detailed – the man's thick beard, the boy's dark hair, both their weapons. As soon as the magic stopped, Jasmine had already begun to run toward the two of them. Lief met her halfway in a hug that sent them both rolling on the sand.
Jasmine did not care about the sand, nor about the people, as she finally allowed herself to put her worries at ease. Even the nagging doubt that had tormented her during the journey on Toran wind had disappeared. Untangling herself from Lief and allowing him to stand up as well, she ran to hug Barda as well, surprising the tall man with her unusual display of affection. She rarely initiated physical contact, after all.
Hugging Barda was, to her, more or less like hugging a tree. She had no hopes of moving the larger man of even one inch. That did not deter her, as she still held the embrace for a few seconds before stepping back and allowing Zeean to greet them as well.
As she did, her eyes met Lief's, dark into dark, but both so full of light. No words needed to be said. Soon, Lief broke eye contact to tell them of the condition of the Dragon of the Amethyst, and soon Zeean hurried back to Tora with Barda, leaving the two of them with the dragon.
Their eyes met again, and Jasmine allowed herself to hug Lief once more. After nine dreamless nights, she felt she deserved it. However, her eyelids soon began to feel heavy for the lack of proper rest. Worry and fear had only eroded her energies further, and by then she was standing just out of sheer willpower.
"Jasmine, are you okay?" Lief asked, speaking to her for the first time in nine days.
"I am… I am just tired. I will rest later." Even as she spoke she felt the exhaustion begin to catch up with her. She steeled her mind and body, but the signs had not gone unnoticed by the boy.
"Jasmine, lay down. There is no need to waste any more energies. The Dragon of the Amethyst and I will keep watch." Lief allowed himself a small, ironic smile. "And I doubt we will be ambushed by anything that can defeat a dragon."
"But it is trapped. It cannot fight," Jasmine protested.
"Its head is free, and dragons can breathe fire. If needed, I can give it strength with the Belt of Deltora. Believe me, we will be safe." Lief gently pushed her down. He was met with minimal resistance, a sign of just how tired she really was. "Just rest. We will soon be able to sleep properly. You cannot go on like this. Not if I have a say in it."
Jasmine wanted to protest. She really did. But her body betrayed her, and she lacked the energies to stand up. Something warm and soft was draped over her – she realized it was Lief's cloak. She remembered her brief conversation with Sharn just before they had departed from Tora. It is natural to worry about the people we love. It is a sign that you care, and that you care very much.
Lief cared about her. He loved her. She knew that, and he knew she loved him back. They had fallen in love so much time prior. They had fallen in love during their quest to rebuild the Belt of Deltora. They had fallen in love before Lief had been elected King. They had fallen in love during days like that one: days out in the wilderness, days of adventures and of companionship. It was only natural that he would worry for her.
Her eyes felt heavy. She closed them. Almost immediately, a heavy torpor settled over her body. She felt Lief shift beside her, and shortly afterwards her head was laid on a warm surface. Probably his lap, since he had just sat down on the sand. She tried to fight back the drowsiness, but it was a losing battle.
Lief was watching over her, and he had a dragon with him in case danger arrived. Zeean, Barda and the others would soon be back. Kree and Filli were both already asleep, and she could not feel any kind of danger nearby.
Her mind was slowly falling asleep. She felt the feather-light touch of Lief's lips over hers, his fingers through her hair, and then sleep claimed her, restful for the first time in ten nights.
In the books, it's implied several times that Jasmine and Lief fell in love during the first series. At the beginning of the Cavern of Fear, first book of the second series, Jasmine is upset when she believes Lief is going to marry a Toran, so that means she already loves him. And Lief admits in his thoughts, in The Shadowlands (third book of the second series), that the Enemy used his love for Jasmine to lure him out of Deltora and into the Shadowlands. So, I didn't even need to really build up a romance here. I am writing of an established couple, and they are so SWEET!
Don't mind the anime. Some episodes are nice, but most are just odd, some are extras, and the Lief/Neridah and Jasmine/Dain were just weird and totally not from the books.
Also, Lief has dark hair in the books, lol, and dark eyes... I think.
Until next time,
Khor Evik Vlakhavlakh